Dartmouth’s Liberal Paper to Get Even More Funding

Dartmouth’s liberal publication, the College-funded Dartmouth Free Press, is set to receive a hefty grant from the new Campus Progress Network, a group founded by the Center for American Progress to counter the idea that “liberal values rule our campuses.” According to the Washington Post, the Free Press and eight other papers will share $750,000 in an effort to reinforce the liberal agenda.

The Campus Progress website declares its mission:

strengthen progressive voices on college and university campuses nationwide; counter the growing influence of right-wing groups on campus; and empower new generations of progressive leaders.

It further declares independent campus publications like The Dartmouth Review to be simply part of the “Right-Wing Noise Machine,” presumably a close relative of the “Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.” The website will also provide policy guidance for its member organizations in the form of “talking points,” founder and former Clinton speechwriter David Halperin told the Washington Post.

The Free Press, which occupies rent-free space in Robinson Hall’s campus publications office, publishes several times a term in full color on high-quality paper–all on the College’s tab. Among the more notable articles published in its five-year history was a wildly inaccuate tale of date rape at a fraternity; the original article apparently elaborated many details to make a political point.

Even the mainstream media sees this effort as a bit of overkill. The Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz, for example, wondered whether Campus Progress’ mission to expand college liberalism isn’t “a bit like pumping sand into the Mojave Desert.”