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''The Dartmouth Review'' is a
conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
newspaper at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...
in
Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Eng ...
, United States. Founded in 1980 by a number of staffers from the College's daily newspaper, ''
The Dartmouth ''The Dartmouth'' is the daily student newspaper at Dartmouth College and America's oldest college newspaper. Originally named the ''Dartmouth Gazette'', the first issue was published on August 27, 1799, under the motto "Here range the world— ...
,'' the paper is most famous for having spawned other politically conservative U.S. college newspapers that would come to include the ''Yale Free Press'', '' Carolina Review'', ''
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 ...
'', the ''Harvard Salient'', ''The California Review'', the '' Princeton Tory'', and the '' Cornell Review''. Past staffers have gone on to occupy positions in the Reagan, Bush, and Trump administrations, write for a number of publications, and author political books. Some of the most famous include Pulitzer Prize-winner
Joseph Rago Joseph Rago (January 6, 1983 – July 20, 2017) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American political writer, best known for his work at ''The Wall Street Journal''. Education Rago attended Falmouth High School in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where ...
of ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', Hugo Restall of ''The Wall Street Journal'', James Panero of ''
The New Criterion ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'', author
Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...
, talk-show host
Laura Ingraham Laura Anne Ingraham (born June 19, 1963) is an American conservative television host. Gale Biography In Context. She has been the host of '' The Ingraham Angle'' on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of LifeZette ...
, and
Hoover Institute The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...
research fellow Peter Robinson. Author, columnist, and former Nixon and Reagan speechwriter,
Jeffrey Hart Jeffrey Peter Hart (February 23, 1930 – February 16, 2019) was an American cultural critic, essayist, columnist, and Professor Emeritus of English at Dartmouth College. Life and career Hart was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Aft ...
, was instrumental in ''The Review''s founding and served as a long-time board member and advisor. As of 2013, the paper has 10,000 off-campus subscribers, distributes a further 2,000 newspapers on campus, and claims 50,000 unique viewers per month on its website.


History


Founding and early years

The history of ''The Dartmouth Review'' can be traced to 1980, when a number of campus conservatives met in
Jeffrey Hart Jeffrey Peter Hart (February 23, 1930 – February 16, 2019) was an American cultural critic, essayist, columnist, and Professor Emeritus of English at Dartmouth College. Life and career Hart was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Aft ...
's living room to discuss the school's prevailing political culture. Out of these conversations, the idea for a new publication was born. As early ''Review'' contributor
Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...
tells it, the immediate impetus for the founding was a schism at daily campus newspaper which pitted a group of young Reagan-supporters against the organization's progressive editors. After then editor-in-chief
Gregory Fossedal Gregory Fossedal (born 1959) is an American writer and political/economic theorist. He served as chairman of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI). Fossedal, Gordon Haff, Benjamin Hart, and Keeney Jones founded the '' Dartmouth Review'' in ...
began writing in support of the Republican national platform, other editors set about removing him from his position. In response, Fossedal resolved to start an alternative weekly paper of his own. With the help of Professor Hart and other like-minded conservatives, this is what he ultimately did in May 1980. When Fossedal left ''The Daily Dartmouth'', he took a number of the paper's younger staffers with him. In the years that followed, this group of writers would form the core of ''The Dartmouth Review''s early leadership and include some of the organization's most famous alumni. Among them were Benjamin Hart, Keeney Jones, Gordon Haff, and Dinesh D'Souza. Peter Robinson, who had graduated the previous spring and was then studying at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, became an early correspondent and supporter of the paper's efforts. In June 1980, ''The Dartmouth Review'' published its first issue. Distributed to graduating students before the school's annual commencement exercises, it focused on the College's declining academic standards and the controversy surrounding its recent board of trustees elections. In a series of articles that received attention from many Dartmouth alumni, the editors endorsed write-in candidate John Steel and publicized allegations of improprieties amongst the administration-backed Alumni Council. In the months that followed, the paper began printing on a weekly basis and released a revised statement of purpose from editor Dinesh D'Souza. In his words, ''The Review''s mission was "to become what it was set-up to become: a responsible, bold publication of conservative opinion" and a prodigious source of "unbiased, reliable articles
ritten Ritten (; it, Renon ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Territory The community is named after the high plateau, elevation , the Ritten or the Renon, on which most of the villages are located. The plateau forms t ...
without fear of administrative clamps." Throughout its first few months of activity, the organization and its leaders sought to achieve this greater degree of professionalism by publishing suggested revisions to administrative policy, investigative reports on fraternity controversies, and interviews with notable conservatives like
William F. Buckley Jr. William Frank Buckley Jr. (born William Francis Buckley; November 24, 1925 – February 27, 2008) was an American public intellectual, conservative author and political commentator. In 1955, he founded ''National Review'', the magazine that stim ...
It also gained notoriety within some campus circles for its vocal support of Dartmouth's disused Indian mascot and its criticism of affirmative action policies.


The 1980s

In the spring of 1982, ''The Review'' published a series of editorials that disparaged the administration's affirmative action policies and lamented their effects on Dartmouth's academic rigor. Among them was an article that used a combination of Ebonics and heavy satire to mock common excuses for the deficient classroom performance of many black students. This episode, when combined with the paper's ongoing support of school's controversial Indian mascot and its criticism of a black professor's Music 2 class, led many on campus to accuse its editors of racism. Some student groups joined with concerned faculty members and administrators to condemn the editorial stances of the publication and denounce "its particular breed of journalism." During this period, the paper weathered many episodes of controversy and faced down several lawsuits, threats, and instances of vandalism. Despite this hostile reception, however, it continued to build a loyal following among many students and alumni and gained a national reputation for its high-quality writing and energetic style. In its first decade of activity, ''The Dartmouth Review'' published several notable articles and led student opposition to a number of the administration's policies. After the paper launched an editorial campaign that used a survey of national tribal leaders to defend the Indian mascot, support for the defunct symbol became so strong that undergraduates unfurled banners at home football games and proclaimed its return. Earlier that same year, the paper conducted an investigation into the Gay Students' Association (GSA) and its use of College funds. It attempted to reveal improprieties, but the administration did not withdraw its financial support of the GSA or reform its internal controls and standards in response to the paper's investigation. At this time, the paper also leveraged its burgeoning reputation to conduct interviews with several political and cultural leaders. Among them were
Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
,
Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...
, Czeslaw Milosz, Abbie Hoffman,
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
, Donald Rumsfeld,
Bobby Seale Robert George Seale (born October 22, 1936) is an American political activist and author. Seale is widely known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with fellow activist Huey P. Newton. Founded as the "Black Panther Party for Self-Defense", ...
, Charlton Heston,
Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
,
Charlie Daniels Charles Edward Daniels (October 28, 1936 – July 6, 2020) was an American singer, musician, and songwriter. His music fused rock, country, blues and jazz, pioneering Southern rock. He was best known for his number-one country hit "The De ...
,
Gennifer Flowers Gennifer Flowers (born January 24, 1950) is an American author, singer, model, actress, former State of Arkansas employee, and former TV journalist. In January 1998, President Bill Clinton testified under oath that he had a sexual encounter wit ...
, and
Norman Podhoretz Norman Podhoretz (; born January 16, 1930) is an American magazine editor, writer, and conservative political commentator, who identifies his views as " paleo-neoconservative".
. Due in large part to these features and the success of its campus activism, ''The Review'' received early endorsements from the likes of
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, Jack Kemp,
Bill Bennett William Richards Bennett, (April 14, 1932 – December 3, 2015) was the 27th premier of British Columbia from 1975 to 1986. He was a son of Annie Elizabeth May (Richards) and former Premier, W. A. C. Bennett. He was a 3rd cousin, twice removed ...
, and William F. Buckley Jr. Far from being damaged by the controversies, ''The Dartmouth Review'' grew throughout its first decade of publication.


The 1990s

The 1990s began on a controversial note for ''The Dartmouth Review'' when an unknown saboteur slipped an anti-Semitic quote from
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
into the paper's credo. Although then editor-in-chief Kevin Pritchett immediately recalled the issue and apologized to all who had been offended, the incident fueled further accusations that the paper and its editors were racist. In response to popular demands from students and faculty members alike, President Freedman and the administration organized a "Rally Against Hate" to promote campus unity and censure the actions of ''The Review''. Many alumni and national media outlets were critical of this decision and faulted Freedman for not conducting a fact-finding mission before assuming that the Hitler quote was a deliberate ploy. Despite this blowback, however, the incident severally damaged the reputation of the publication and led to the resignation of several key editors. It would be years before staff recruitment and fundraising fully recovered. Throughout the rest of President Freedman's tenure, the paper remained a vocal presence within the campus debate and was a consistent critic of the administration's affirmative action, governance, and free speech policies. After President Freedman retired and was replaced by James Wright in 1998, ''The Review'' became embroiled in yet another controversy as it spearheaded popular opposition to a proposed fraternity reform plan. In the end, Wright's proposal to force the fraternities to go coed was defeated by overwhelming criticism from students and alumni alike. In the aftermath, many cited ''The Dartmouth Review'' and its national readership as the key to the opposition's success.


The 2000s and into the present

Since 2000, the paper has continued to play an important, albeit more moderate, role in the College's political discourse. Between 2001 and 2005, it became a critical force behind a series of governance fights in which the school's alumni attempted to reassert their influence over the trustee selection process. In what came to be known as the "Lone Pine Revolution," a plurality of alums succeeded in independently nominating and electing four trustees who were critical of the College's stance on issues concerning free speech, athletics, alumni rights, and the curriculum. Among them were Peter Robinson, a member of the Class of 1979 and an early contributor to ''The Dartmouth Review'', and
Todd Zywicki Todd Joseph Zywicki (born January 18, 1966) is an American lawyer, legal scholar and educator. He is a George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law, teaching in the areas of bankruptcy and contracts. ...
, a member of the class of 1988 and a vocal critic of the Freedman administration. The two would later observe that their campaigns were aided immensely by ''The Dartmouth Review'' and its favorable coverage of them. In 2006, the paper sparked campus-wide controversy for its decision to publish an issue with an Indian brandishing a tomahawk on its cover. Inside, the editors included several articles that criticized the College's apologies for a string of incidents that many Native Americans found offensive. After many campus groups expressed their outrage, the paper's leadership apologized for the cover and admitted that it was a mistake. In the last few years, ''The Review'' has focused on the administration's policies concerning the fraternities, governance, free speech, and student life. After President
Jim 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 ...
announced an unpopular new meal plan in the spring of 2011, ''The Review'' took the lead in criticizing its deficiencies and suggesting more cost-effective alternatives. The paper was also quick to defend Dartmouth against allegations of "institutionalized hazing" brought by Andrew Lohse and ''
The Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its cove ...
'' in the winter of 2012. Since then, it has supported Dartmouth's Greek system against the administration's renewed attempts at reforming it. In 2013, ''The Dartmouth Review'' completed a major internal reorganization under J. P. Harrington and Nicholas Desatnick, then Editors-In-Chief and Stuart A. Allan, then President. The Review built a web and social media presence, increased donations, substantially revised editorial and business practices and moved operations into a large office on
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
's Main Street. As a result of these reforms, the rejuvenated paper gained national attention for its coverage of campus protests that disrupted the school's prospective student weekend. After representatives from a number of interest groups forced their way into the "Dartmouth Dimensions" show and began protesting racism, elitism, and other social ills, ''The Review'' became the first campus publication to cover the event and release full-length stories on its website. In the incident's aftermath, the paper was supportive of campus reform efforts but remained critical of the administration for canceling classes on the following Wednesday and for not punishing the students who were involved. In the months since, the paper has begun publishing commentary on national political events and their reception by various student constituencies on campus. ''The Dartmouth Review'' also launched its inaugural Great Issues debate, modeled after Dartmouth College's lauded Great Issues Lecture Series which ran under the college's President
John Sloan Dickey John Sloan Dickey (November 4, 1907 – February 9, 1991) was an American diplomat, scholar, and intellectual. Dickey served as the 12th President of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, from 1945 to 1970, and helped revitalize the Ivy L ...
until the late 1970s. The inaugural debate was between former reviewer Dinesh D'Souza and Bill Ayers. As of 2016, the paper has more than 40 writers and business associates on staff and produces sixteen issues a year.


Format

In the years since 1980, the basic layout of ''The Review'' has remained largely unchanged. Published in a black-in-white, broadsheet format, each issue is typically 12 to 16 pages in length and includes upwards of 25,000 words in original content. On the first or second page, a letter from the editor-in-chief appears next to the masthead and below a slogan borrowed from the
Scottish Highlanders The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sc ...
:
nemo me impune lacessit ''Nemo me impune lacessit'' (''No one provokes me with impunity'') () was the Latin motto of the Royal Stuart dynasty of Scotland from at least the reign of James VI when it appeared on the reverse side of merk coins minted in 1578 and 1580. I ...
(''no one threatens me with impunity''). The remainder of each issue contains articles written by regular staffers and the occasional guest contributor. It is traditional for the final page to include "Gordon Haff's Last Word," a compilation of quotes related to the issue's central theme, and "Barrett's Mixology, a humorous (and often anonymous) satire written in the form of a cocktail recipe. ''The Review'' also makes a habit of publishing letters from its subscribers as well as a number of cartoons and caricatures donated by supportive alumni.


Editorial stances

Founded as an advocate of conservative ideas on Dartmouth's campus, ''The Review'' has been a consistent and vocal advocate for a number of social and political positions. In addition to defending the traditions and customs of what many consider to be "the old Dartmouth," the paper has long supported students' rights to free speech, the fraternity system, a Western core curriculum, Dartmouth's undergraduate focus, and more stringent academic standards. It has also criticized affirmative action policies, academic multiculturalism, and administrative restrictions on alumni involvement in issues of College governance.


Controversies

After ''The Dartmouth Review'' first gained notoriety for opposing affirmative action policies in the early 1980s, the paper became the focal point of several legal and political battles that garnered a great deal of attention in the national press. Although ''The Review'' has become considerably more moderate in recent years, it retains its reputation for having outspoken views and for actively shaping contemporary campus debates. Examples of controversy from the organization's history include: In March 1982, ''The Dartmouth Review'' published an article in which author Keeney Jones criticized affirmative action policies by donning the persona of a disaffected
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
student. Entitled "Dis Sho' Ain't No Jive, Bro," it was written entirely in Ebonics and included such excerpts as "white folk be itchin' to be puttin' us back into etters and "we not be includin' dat Uncle Tom, Tom Sowell, in dis." In response, several campus groups and faculty members voiced concerns about the stereotypical nature of the column and its potential effects on race relations at Dartmouth. ''The Review''s editors defended the piece by pointing out that writers like
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...
and
Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To N ...
had previously used racial dialects in social satire and that, since many claim jive is a viable alternative to traditional English, the article was the equivalent of publishing a feature in French, Spanish, or Latin. In May 1982, ''The Dartmouth Review'' cofounder Benjamin Hart was delivering copies of the paper's latest issue when he was attacked and bitten by a black administrator from the College's alumni center. The Dartmouth faculty voted to censure the actions of ''The Review'' and support the alumni center employee who was convicted of assault and sentenced to three months probation. A number of campus groups, including the Afro-American Society, the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, and the Undergraduate Council, similarly condemned the publication and issued statements "deploring tsparticular breed of journalism." Following the attack, Benjamin Hart sought treatment at Mary Hitchcock Hospital and was released after receiving a tetanus shot. In January 1983, ''The Dartmouth Review'' published an article by
Laura Ingraham Laura Anne Ingraham (born June 19, 1963) is an American conservative television host. Gale Biography In Context. She has been the host of '' The Ingraham Angle'' on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of LifeZette ...
criticizing Professor William Cole's Music 2 course and judging his curriculum to be "one of Dartmouth's most academically deficient." In response, Professor Cole visited Ingraham's campus dorm room and, finding her absent, pounded on the door until a startled roommate calmed him down. The following Tuesday, despite repeated warnings from the Dean of the Faculty, he cancelled his class for two sessions and demanded a public apology from ''The Dartmouth Review''. When the editors stood by the content of the story, he sued them for libel and sought over $2.4 million in remuneration. In the months that followed, the case garnered considerable national attention and pitted much of the Dartmouth faculty against the publication and its supporters. After Professor Cole's representation was unable to demonstrate that there were any factual inaccuracies or generalizations in the piece, he decided to dismiss his libel suit in June 1985. In May 1984, ''The Dartmouth Review'' published an editorial that contained various anecdotes from a Gay Students' Association meeting. The event was advertised as being open to the public; however, the reporter in attendance, Teresa Polenz, brought a tape recorder hidden in a Kenya-style handbag and recorded the meeting without the consent or knowledge of those in attendance. Polenz was subsequently charged with violating New Hampshire privacy statutes 644:9 as well as state wire tapping and eavesdropping ordinances. After a five-month review of the case, Polenz was acquitted of all charges and permitted to re-enroll at the College. In January 1986, a number of Dartmouth undergraduates formed the Committee to Beautify the Green and used sledgehammers to dismantle the shanties that had been erected in the center of the campus as part of a campaign to promote institutional divestment of South African assets. The timing of the "attack", as ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and other media referred to it, was 3:00 am, and two Dartmouth students were sleeping inside one of the shanties when the sledgehammer attack began and were "awakened by the sound of hammers and glass shattering." Prior to the event, the shanties had been deemed illegal by the Hanover Police Department and the College had requested that the protesters vacate the Green prior to the traditional festivities of the
Dartmouth Winter Carnival The traditions of Dartmouth College, an American Ivy League college in Hanover, New Hampshire, are deeply entrenched in the student life of the institution and are well known nationally. Dartmouth's website counts the College's "special traditions" ...
. Despite these efforts, the protestors remained in their wooden structures and refused to stage their demonstration elsewhere. When negotiations with College administrators reached an impasse, a band of twelve undergraduates took matters into their own hands and drove a flat-bed onto the Green, dismantled three of the four shanties, and sent the lumber off to a local charity. Former Editor-in-Chief of ''The Dartmouth Review'' and "Committee to Beautify the Green" spokeswoman Debbie Stone was reported as acknowledging that the Committee was "partly a project of the ''Dartmouth Review''." The news of the shanties' demise provoked campus-wide uproar and received immediate censure from President McLaughlin. Ten out of the twelve individuals involved were affiliated with ''The Review'', leading to the paper being blamed for the incident. Charges of racism were levied against its editors because the demolition had occurred the evening after
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
's birthday. Student activists barricaded themselves in the President's office with demands that the Dean of the College issue a public repudiation of the paper and host teach-ins about racial tolerance. In response, the administration canceled classes on the following Friday and filed disciplinary charges against the twelve perpetrators. After an internal judicial review found them all guilty of violating the school's Code of Conduct and selectively suspended the ten who wrote for ''The Dartmouth Review'', concerns about the apparent bias of the proceedings and witness tampering led to national outrage and calls for a retrial. With help from New Hampshire Senator
Gordon Humphrey Gordon John Humphrey (born October 9, 1940) is an American politician from New Hampshire who served two terms in the U.S. Senate as a Republican from 1979 to 1990, and twice ran for Governor of New Hampshire, though both bids were unsuccessful. E ...
and Governor John Sununu, the ten students successfully appealed the findings of the panel and were able to remain enrolled at the College. In February 1988, ''The Dartmouth Review'' published an editorial in which its editors criticized several courses for their lack of academic rigor. Among them was Dr. William Cole's Music 2 class. Prior to the completion of the piece, then Editor-in-Chief Christopher Baldwin informed Professor Cole of the paper's intent to publish anecdotes from his course and that, should he desire it, ''The Review'' would give him a space to respond. After Baldwin was rebuffed, he and three other staffers went to speak with Professor Cole personally. When Cole saw them, however, he became enraged and began berating and physically threatening ''Review'' editor John Sutter. In the confrontation that followed, Cole repeatedly poked at Sutter's eyes, grabbed the paper's photographer, and ripped the flashbulb off of his camera. When prompted for an apology, Cole beckoned at Sutter and told him to "come and take it from me." On February 26, Dartmouth's Committee on Standards charged the four students involved with "harassment, violating the right to privacy, and disorderly conduct." An attempt by ''The Review''s editors to file similar charges against Cole and the African American students who subsequently threatened them was blocked by Dean of the College, Edward Shanahan. In the judicial proceedings that followed, the committee voted to separate Baldwin and Sutter from Dartmouth for six terms, suspend photography editor, John Quilhot, for two, and place ''Review'' contributor Sean Nolan on disciplinary probation for four. Because of perceived procedural errors and the admitted bias of several members of the panel, all four staffers sought to appeal their punishments, but their requests were denied by the administration. In response, both Baldwin and Sutter sought a legal injunction before a full-scale jury trial to readmit them at the start of the following term. In what became a closely followed case that drew national media attention from outlets such as ''
The National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief ...
'', ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', and ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', Judge Bruce Mohl of the
New Hampshire Superior Court The New Hampshire Superior Court is the statewide court of general jurisdiction which provides jury trials in civil and criminal cases. There are 11 locations of the Superior Court, one for each county and two in Hillsborough County. Jurisdictio ...
ruled in favor of ''The Review'' staffers and ordered the administration to "forthwith reinstate the plaintiffs… as full time students at Dartmouth College." He also noted that although the College's own judicial proceedings were rife with procedural flaws, he found "no persuasive evidence that Dartmouth adretaliated against or otherwise pursued disciplinary action against the plaintiffs on account of their association with ''The Dartmouth Review.''". When Professor Cole resigned from faculty in the fall of 1990, he would cite this incident and his checkered history with the paper as one of the reasons for his departure. In October 1988, ''The Dartmouth Review'' published a column by James Garrett that compared the administration of College President James Freedman to that of the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Entitled "Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Freedman," the piece suggested that Dartmouth's first Jewish president had used his charisma to seek "'a
Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...
' to the Conservative Problem" and was actively persecuting ''Review'' staffers for their political beliefs. Many student groups, faculty members, and alumni criticized the editors' decision to publish the article and accused the publication of anti-Semitism. The staff, a quarter of whom were Jewish at the time, defended the column as an instance of "shock journalism" and issued an apology to those they had offended. In the fall of 1990, an issue of ''The Dartmouth Review'' appeared not with the traditional quote from
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
in the masthead but with several lines of text from Hitler's '' Mein Kampf''. When the discovery was made, then Editor-in-Chief Kevin Pritchett recalled every issue that had not already been distributed, publicly apologized for what had occurred, and pledged to conduct "a thorough investigation into the source of the sabotage." Rather than work with the paper as the editors had requested, however, President Freedman and the rest of the administration publicly censured ''The Review'' and organized a "Rally Against Hate" to promote racial solidarity and condemn what was assumed to be a deliberate act of anti-Semitism. News of the campus controversy quickly attracted attention from national news outlets, including ''The New York Times'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', and ''The National Review''. In response to assertions that the paper was racist, Pritchett commissioned two independent reports, one from the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission and the other from the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'irth, to investigate ''The Review''s treatment of Jewish religious and social matters since its inception. Neither organization " oundany hint of bigotry or prejudice" and concluded that the Hitler quote was most likely inserted as a deliberate act of sabotage. The paper also worked with the Hanover Police Department to identify the culprit and conduct a thorough internal investigation. Although the inquiry named several suspects, no one has ever officially established who inserted the Hitler quote into the masthead. The November 28, 2006, issue of ''The Dartmouth Review'' featured an image of an Indian brandishing a scalp with the headline: "The Natives are Getting Restless!" The paper contained multiple pieces criticizing both Native American students' complaints about a string of incidents perceived as racist as well as the College's apologies for them. In an interview with the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
, the ''Dartmouth Review'' editor-in-chief described the issue as a response to "the overdramatic reaction to events this term." Editors subsequently issued statements expressing their regret and called the cover a mistake. In fall of 2012, ''The Dartmouth Review'' ran a cover with a picture of Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson and the Director of the Greek Letter Organizations and Societies office, Wes Schaub, posed in the style of '' American Gothic''. The issue criticized the College's new alcohol and walkthrough policies as unsafe and invasive, predicting they would force the College's fraternities to shut their doors to freshmen in an effort to reduce liability. Later that year, the College's Inter-Fraternity Council moved to impose such a measure for the following school year. Throughout its history, ''The Dartmouth Review'' has met opposition for its controversial use of the College's name. Many critics of the paper have claimed that because it does not have any institutional affiliation with Dartmouth and because its social stances are perceived to be inimical to the values of the school, the paper should be forced to change its name. For its part, ''The Review'' has resisted such charges by reminding opponents that many of Hanover's independent shops and businesses have adopted the college's name. As a result, requiring a political organization to strike "Dartmouth" from its title would be seen as a selective infringement on free speech and would set a dangerous precedent for future abuse.


Influence and legacy

Critics have charged that the paper is more provocative than effective, though the staff asserts that the combination of its investigative journalism and its consistent advocacy of issues relating to the curriculum, governance, and free speech have led to changes at the College. Some have credited its writings for the resilience of the fraternity system, reforms to club and activity funding, and greater alumni involvement in internal policy formation. The fact that early contributors like Peter Robinson could later be elected to Dartmouth's Board of Trustees testifies to the paper's ability to influence public opinion and have a lasting effect on mainstream campus debates. Since 1980, dozens of similar publications, including ''The Yale Free Press'', ''
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 ...
'', ''The Harvard Salient'', ''The California Review'', ''The Princeton Tory'', and ''
The Cornell Review ''The Cornell Review'' is an independent newspaper published by students of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. With the motto, "We Do Not Apologize," the ''Review'' has a history in conservative journalism and was once one of the leading c ...
'', have been founded at peer institutions and credited ''The Dartmouth Review'' as a guiding influence. Outside of the academy, the paper has also had an important impact on the conservative movement as a whole. As Peter Robinson relates: :''At the Reagan White House, I wrote speech for the President, Will Cattan '83 wrote speeches for the Vice President, and Dinesh D'Souza '83 helped administer the Office of Domestic Policy. Within a few blocks, Gregory Fossedal '81 held a senior position at the
Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
, Benjamin Hart '81 produced position papers for the
Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the preside ...
, Michael eeneyJones '82 wrote speeches for the Secretary of the Treasury, and Laura Ingraham '85 served as an assistant to the Secretary of Transportation. So many Dartmouth students went from ''The Review'' straight to positions of responsibility in the nation's capital that
Sidney Blumenthal Sidney Stone Blumenthal (born November 6, 1948) is an American journalist and political operative. A former aide to President Bill Clinton, he is a long-time confidant of Hillary Clinton and was formerly employed by the Clinton Foundation. As a ...
, a reporter for the ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', composed an article about us in which he hinted darkly at some sort of conspiracy.'' It is because ''The Review'' has graduated so many prominent alumni that many cite it as a key training ground for future leaders of American conservatism.


Notable alumni

''The Dartmouth Review'' has produced alumni who have gone on to distinguish themselves in the fields of journalism, politics, and law. ''Dartmouth Review'' alumni include: *
Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...
– A former editor-in-chief of ''The Dartmouth Review'', member of the class of 1983, and former fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. The author of ''Obama's America'' and a frequent contributor to conservative talk shows, his 1991 book ''Illiberal Education'' spent 15 weeks on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list. *
Harmeet Dhillon Harmeet Kaur Dhillon (born 1969) is an American lawyer and Republican Party official. She is the former vice chairwoman of the California Republican Party, and a National Committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California. She is ...
- A former editor-in-chief of ''The Dartmouth Review'' and a member of the class of 1989, Dhillon was a law clerk to U.S. Court of Appeals Judge
Paul V. Niemeyer Paul Victor Niemeyer (born April 5, 1941) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and a former United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. E ...
, ACLU board member, San Francisco lawyer, and Republican party official. During the coronavirus pandemic, she filed lawsuits against California for its implementation of stay-at-home order to halt the spread of the coronavirus. *
Gregory Fossedal Gregory Fossedal (born 1959) is an American writer and political/economic theorist. He served as chairman of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI). Fossedal, Gordon Haff, Benjamin Hart, and Keeney Jones founded the '' Dartmouth Review'' in ...
– A co-founder and former editor-in-chief of ''The Dartmouth Review'' as well as a member of the class of 1981, Fossedal is a senior fellow at the
Alexis de Tocqueville Institution The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (AdTI) was a Washington, D.C. based think tank. AdTI was named after the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville. Founded in 1988, its president was Ken Brown and its chairman was Gregory Fossedal. At its pe ...
and the author of ''Direct Democracy in Switzerland''. *
Laura Ingraham Laura Anne Ingraham (born June 19, 1963) is an American conservative television host. Gale Biography In Context. She has been the host of '' The Ingraham Angle'' on Fox News Channel since October 2017, and is the editor-in-chief of LifeZette ...
– A former editor-in-chief of ''The Dartmouth Review'' and a member of the class of 1985, Ingraham served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and is the host of the nationally syndicated ''Laura Ingraham Show''. She has also written a number of books and is a frequent contributor to the Fox News network. *
James Panero James S. Panero (born December 15, 1975) is an American cultural critic and the executive editor of ''The New Criterion,'' a conservative culture journal. Early life Panero was born in New York City, and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhatt ...
– A former editor-in-chief of ''The Dartmouth Review'' and a member of the class of 1998, Panero is now the managing editor of ''The New Criterion''. *
Joseph Rago Joseph Rago (January 6, 1983 – July 20, 2017) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American political writer, best known for his work at ''The Wall Street Journal''. Education Rago attended Falmouth High School in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where ...
– A former editor-in-chief of ''The Dartmouth Review'' and a member of the class of 2005, Rago received a
Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Journalism. It has been awarded since 1917 for distinguished editorial writing, the test of excellence being clearness of style ...
in 2011 and was a member of ''The Wall Street Journal''s editorial board until his death in 2017. * Peter Robinson – A former correspondent for ''The Dartmouth Review'' and a member of the class of 1979, Robinson was the chief White House speechwriter for Ronald Reagan and is now a fellow at the Hoover Institution. In 2005, he was elected by petition vote to the Dartmouth Board of Trustees. * Blake Neff – A former editor of ''The Dartmouth Review'' and a member of the class of 2013, Neff was the head writer for ''
Tucker Carlson Tonight ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' is an American talk show and current affairs program hosted by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson on the television network Fox News. The show premiered in November 2016 and includes political commentary, monolog ...
'' before he resigned from
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 ...
in July 2020 after it emerged he made anonymous posts on the message board
AutoAdmit AutoAdmit, also known as Xoxohth, is a website for prospective and current law students and lawyers. Its largely unmoderated law school message board is now the only active section, though it previously featured pages for undergraduates, busine ...
that featured content that was racist, sexist, and homophobic in nature.


See also

*
Collegiate Network The Collegiate Network (CN) is a program that provides financial and technical assistance to student editors and writers of roughly 100 independent, conservative and libertarian publications at colleges and universities around the United States. M ...


References


Further reading

* *


External links


Official website of ''The Dartmouth Review''Stories from the ''New York Times'' on the shanty scandal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dartmouth Review, The Publications established in 1980 Biweekly newspapers published in the United States Dartmouth College publications Student newspapers published in New Hampshire Conservative magazines published in the United States John M. Olin Foundation