A sudden change in Commentary leadership has lead to a Student Senate change in funding the campus’ conservative journal. Commentary alumni leadership voted Thursday night to remove Brandon Stewart ’08 as Editor in Chief effective fall 2007. At the time of the decision, Royce Gregerson ’09 was named editor in chief-elect. Stewart later resigned, and Gregerson immediately became editor.
In a voice vote the Senate passed a resolution officially changing the name of the student organization “The Wabash Commentary” to “The Wabash Conservative Union” and the newly named organization formally broke ties with the Foundation for a Traditional Wabash and the conservative journal The Wabash Commentary (TWC).
That resolution, introduced by Senator Sean Clerget ’09, came after a similar resolution passed Senior Council earlier that evening recommending the withdrawal of the Senate recognition of TWC as a student organization. TWC will continue to publish its journal without Senate funding, according Gregerson.
“I felt that it is very fair to say that Senate funding goes to organizations that are student ran,” said Student Body President Jesse James ’08. “There are outside organizations that obtain funding from other sources, but nevertheless remain student ran – their officers are chosen by student members of the organization.”
Gregerson rejects the Senate’s interpretation of the situation and sees The Wabash Conservative Union as, in essence, a new organization.
“The Senate’s decision to simply rename the club is just that, a simplification,” he said. “The Wabash Conservative Union is not a true continuation of The Wabash Commentary, as that organization has always agreed to the control of the Foundation.”
Stewart’s decision to form the Wabash Conservative Union was supported by many TWC staff members including managing editor Joshua Bellis ‘08, Senator Clerget, and events coordinator Tyler Gibson ’09.
“We felt like no matter what others would like, there is a staff here which has worked hard for over a year to rebuild a publication and its events program,” Stewart said, “so why should we just simply sit back and let this happen?“
According to Morgan Knull ‘97, the first editor of TWC and current secretary of The Foundation for a Traditional Wabash, the decision for choosing the TWC editor is made by the board. The Foundation’s board is comprised of 14 people with four students as full members. As it currently stands, the student members of the board are Stewart, Bellis, Wes Prichard ’09, and now Gregerson. The editor of TWC is an officer of the board and Gregerson consequently became a member upon his ascension.
Knull characterizes The Foundation as the “fundraising arm” of the student organization, The Wabash Commentary. The Foundation is a tax-exempt not for profit organization, and has to file paperwork with the government each year because of that status. According to Knull TWC was a student organization before The Foundation’s inception. However the Senior Council resolution that states “The Wabash Commentary appears to be under alumni control”.
Senior Council member Ross Dillard ’07 said it was the opinion of the Council that since a board that includes alumni chooses the editor, it should not receive student funds and should not be recognized as a student run organization.
Stewart views his termination as being based upon differences in how the journal advocated its conservative message. “I feel like there was some real stylistic disagreement about the most advantageous way to be an advocate for conservative ideals, he said. “Whereas some felt that attacking the person was the better route, we have tried to attack ideas instead.”
Gregerson disagrees with any characterization of the TWC being negative in its past, including personal “ad hominem” attacks. “The Commentary’s legacy is not that of a character assassination machine,” he said. “A review of past issues, I think, would show the primary focus of the magazine has always been to intellectually engage the issues facing Wabash and the world from a conservative perspective.”
“That said,” he added, “we often employ humor to that same end, and I see an increase in the use of wit in TWC features and articles under my editorship.”
Stewart says the Wabash Conservative Union is examining their options in putting out its own conservative journal.
“We obviously are at a disadvantage without the sort of funding we enjoyed before,” he said. “But we plan to eventually get something together. We're going to continue what we've been doing, but this has really fired up our guys to renew our dedication to our cause.”
As an organization recognized as a student club, a new journal would have to follow guidelines outlined by the Senate and may be a part of the Board of Publications.
TWC Faculty advisor, Dr. Stephen Webb ’83, advocates caution before making any judgment on the situation. “It's been a difficult time and nobody should jump to conclusions or pretend to know more than they do,” he replied in an e-mail. “That’s about all I can say at this point.”