Liberal. Conservative. Anarchist. Non-affiliated. Whatever the ideology may be, this campus has a student publication that can serve as an outlet.
The University has four publications produced by students and funded by the incidental fee — The Oregon Commentator, the Oregon Daily Emerald, the Oregon Voice and The Student Insurgent.
Despite the University’s liberal reputation, none of these publications claims itself to be left-wing.
The Oregon Voice is considered a general-interest entertainment magazine focusing on music, movies, interviews and occasional social commentary, Publisher Scott Carver said.
“We have tried not to project a political persuasion, simply because those angles are already covered by the Commentator and the Insurgent,” Carver said.
The Student Insurgent provides a forum for “those working towards a society free from oppression based on class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, species and free from the threat of ecological collapse,” as stated in the final issue of the 2003-04 school year.
Insurgent staff member Jack Crocifisso said the paper’s goal is “to uphold independent media and unveil the lives that are behind the print.”
“Giving the humanistic touch to
issues of national prominence can lead to a better understanding of these issues, as other campus publications do not typically give them the amount of attention the Insurgent does,” Crocifisso said.
Any publication that receives funding through the incidental fee is required to publish a certain number of issues, depending on the amount of money allocated by the ASUO Student Senate.
“We have an obligation instead of an actual deadline,” said Tyler Graf, editor-in-chief of the Oregon Commentator, a conservative magazine that has been publishing on campus since 1983.
If an issue exceeds 24 pages it is counted as two issues, something Graf said the Commentator often does for the annual “Back to the Booze” and “Hate” issues.
The Oregon Voice has had problems in the past publishing enough issues to continue receiving funding, but Carver said enough issues were published last year that he does not anticipate any future funding problems.
The increase in funding will allow the Voice to continue focusing on popular culture and the entertainment world without relying on advertising revenue to stay afloat, Carver said. Every issue of the Voice was ad-free last year.
Finding students eager to contribute to a student publication on a campus as large as this one is not difficult, but Graf said the Commentator has more staffing problems than most.
“We’re the only conservative publication on a predominately liberal campus,” Graf said. That combined with the lack of staff stipends makes it difficult to attract new staff members, he said.
This ensures that those who do choose to volunteer their time for the Commentator are passionate about their work, he said.
Graf said the Commentator works to fill the conservative void that exists on campus: “We try to look at things with a sense of indignation. We know that the ASUO is going to screw up, so we’re there to catch them when they do it.”
Carver said the diversity of the publications makes it very likely that, so long as something is well-written and well-reasoned, there will be a spot for it in the Emerald, the Insurgent, the Voice or the Commentator.
“Most students don’t realize how few barriers there are to getting something published here on campus,” Carver said.

Meghann M. Cuniff is a freelance
reporter for the Emerald.