The ''Brown Political Review'' (''BPR'') is a quarterly, student-run political magazine and website at
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
in
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
. It covers the politics of regional, domestic and international affairs, the political culture and dialogue at Brown and the ongoing state of
political journalism
Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power.
Political journa ...
in the United States. ''BPR'' is managed and edited by undergraduate students of Brown University, and features writing from staff contributors and submissions from the Brown community. The magazine also features original interviews and media productions, as well as student artwork from Brown and the nearby
Rhode Island School of Design
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...
. It is sponsored by Brown University’s
Political Theory Project
The Political Theory Project (PTP) was an interdisciplinary research center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The center has since transitioned into the university's Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
The center's sta ...
.
Background
Founding
The magazine was founded in 2012 by Brown undergraduates. It receives financial sponsorship from the
Political Theory Project
The Political Theory Project (PTP) was an interdisciplinary research center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The center has since transitioned into the university's Center for Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
The center's sta ...
, an interdisciplinary think tank at Brown that has attracted criticism for acceptance of gifts from conservative foundations. The magazine was conceived as a destination for political news analysis, emphasizing strength of argument and well crafted reporting over partisan status or ideology.
Present
The magazine features the original writing and reporting of students at Brown. Staff writers and columnists contribute daily t
BrownPoliticalReview.org while a quarterly print edition features articles developed through student pitches selected anonymously by ''BPR''s editorial board.
![BPR Media Panel 2013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/BPR_Media_Panel_2013.jpg)
The magazine is also known for its extensive interviews section featuring notable political figures including
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
President
Jim Yong Kim
Jim Yong Kim (; born December 8, 1959), also known as Kim Yong (/金墉), is an American physician and anthropologist who served as the 12th president of the World Bank from 2012 to 2019.
A global health leader, Kim was formerly the chair of ...
;
Grover Norquist
Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primary ...
, founder of
Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is a politically conservative U.S. advocacy group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today." According to ATR, "The government's power to control ...
; former governor and presidential candidate
Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 200 ...
;
Tom Donohue
Thomas James Donohue (born November 15, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player who played two seasons for the California Angels of Major League Baseball.
Donohue won the 1967 Senior League World Series with the Westbury Littl ...
, CEO of the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest lobbying group in the United States, representing over three million businesses and organizations. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urgin ...
; and numerous senators and governors. The magazine has also interviewed prominent journalists, including
Arianna Huffington
Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''Th ...
,
Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein (born May 10, 1984) is an American journalist, political analyst, ''New York Times'' columnist, and the host of ''The Ezra Klein Show'' podcast. He is a co-founder of '' Vox'' and formerly served as the website's editor-at-large. He h ...
,
Tucker Carlson
Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television host, conservative political commentator and writer who has hosted the nightly political talk show '' Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News since 2016.
Carlson began ...
,
David Frum
David Jeffrey Frum (; born June 30, 1960) is a Canadian-American political commentator and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, who is currently a senior editor at ''The Atlantic'' as well as an MSNBC contributor. In 2003, Frum au ...
,
Sebastian Junger
Sebastian Junger (born January 17, 1962) is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on Dirty,_dangerous_and_demeaning, dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of Light_infantry#United_Sta ...
and
Josh Marshall
Joshua Micah Jesajan-Dorja Marshall (born February 15, 1969) is an American journalist and blogger who founded ''Talking Points Memo'', which in 2004 a writer for ''The New York Times Magazine'' called "one of the most popular and most respected ...
. BPR's filmed feature interviews include Governor
Lincoln Chafee
Lincoln Davenport Chafee ( ; born March 26, 1953) is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a m ...
and MSNBC's
Chris Hayes
Christopher Loffredo Hayes (; born February 28, 1979) is an American political commentator, television news anchor, activist, and author. Hayes hosts ''All In with Chris Hayes'', a weekday news and opinion television show on MSNBC. Hayes also ...
.
In October 2013, ''BPR'' hosted its first alumni panel in conjunction with Brown University, titled "Investigative Journalism in the Age of Polarization." The panel featured journalists Chris Hayes,
David Rohde
David Stephenson Rohde (born August 7, 1967) is an American author and investigative journalist who currently serves as the online news director for ''The New Yorker''. While a reporter for ''The Christian Science Monitor'', he won the Pulitzer ...
, and
Dana Goldstein
Dana Goldstein is an American journalist and the author of ''The Teacher Wars'', published by Doubleday and a ''New York Times'' best seller. She is currently a domestic correspondent at ''The New York Times'' and has worked as a staff writer at ...
.
In 2018, BPR started a radio
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
that publishes regularly on
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
and
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
.
Staff
''Brown Political Review'' has a staff of over 200 students, making it one of the largest student organizations at Brown. Staff members contribute to ten different boards: editorial, interviews, content, business, media, creative, podcast, copy editorial, data, and web. The current executive team is made up of Editors in Chief Alexandra Mork and Mathilda Silbiger, Chiefs of Staff William Lake and Cole Powell, and Chief Operating Officers Stella Kleinman and Gidget Rosen.
Staff writers are in charge of producing the majority of BPR's content, typically publishing four articles per semester. Writers are divided into three sections: World, US, and Economics.
Writers have had commentary featured and included on Fox News,
MSNBC,
Huffington Post and Slate.
Controversies
Jesse Watters
On October 3, 2013,
Jesse Watters
Jesse Bailey Watters (born July 9, 1978) is an American conservative political commentator on Fox News. He frequently appeared on the political talk show ''The O'Reilly Factor'' and was known for his man-on-the-street interviews, featured in his ...
, a correspondent of FOX’s ''
The O’Reilly Factor
''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October ...
'', visited Brown to showcase a student event titled “Nudity in the Upsace” for his television segment, “Watters World.” The student event was intended to “confront stigmas about the naked body.” Watters stood outside the event and questioned exiting students on camera about their participation. During the same week, ''BPR'' Media featured a series of interviews with some of the students confronted by Watters, which was later replayed on ''The O’Reilly Factor'' where Watters and O’Reilly debated the footage. During one exchange, Watters told host
Bill O'Reilly that campus-wide coverage helped bring about a change of heart, saying, “They persuaded me,” adding, “I think there is some value in it.”
Ray Kelly
On October 29, 2013, then New York City Police Commissioner
Ray Kelly visited Brown University to deliver a lecture titled, “Proactive Policing in America's Biggest City.” Student demonstrators convened outside the event location to protest what they perceived as racial disparities among law enforcement in New York City, including the controversial "stop-and-frisk" practice used by police officers. Students and community members inside the auditorium then mounted a protest that prevented Commissioner Kelly from speaking, leading to the cancellation of the event and briefly sparking a national news story. BPR Media featured a documentary account of the events inside the auditorium
"The Kelly Protest From the Inside" footage that was later featured and debated on
FOX News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
and
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
.
''BPR'' later obtained an exclusive leak of Kelly’s undelivered remarks, publishing the speech alongside an explanatory note titled
“Why The Editors Published Ray Kelly.”ref>
See also
*
The Brown Spectator
''The Brown Spectator'' was a student-run journal of conservative and libertarian political writing at Brown University. It was originally the product of a student independent project. It was first published in 1984 "as a two-page offering of st ...
*
The Stanford Review
''The Stanford Review'' (also known as ''The Review'') is a student-run newspaper that serves Stanford University in Stanford, California. It was founded in 1987 by Peter Thiel and Norman Book.
History
In 1987, after around 500 students particip ...
*
Columbia Political Review
The ''Columbia Political Review'' is Columbia University's undergraduate multi-partisan political magazine. The ''Columbia Political Review'' is the official publication of the Columbia Political Union, the largest political organization on campus ...
*
Berkeley Political Review
The ''Berkeley Political Review'' is a semesterly, nonpartisan political magazine and website founded at the University of California, Berkeley shortly after September 11th, 2001. Through printed publications and multimedia projects, the ''Revi ...
*
Harvard Political Review
The ''Harvard Political Review'' is a quarterly, nonpartisan American magazine and website on politics and public policy founded in 1969 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It covers domestic and international affairs and politica ...
References
External links
''Brown Political Review''Political Theory Project
{{Brown University , state=collapsed
2012 establishments in Rhode Island
Brown University organizations
Magazines established in 2012
Magazines published in Rhode Island
Mass media in Providence, Rhode Island
Political magazines published in the United States
Quarterly magazines published in the United States
Student magazines published in the United States