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Zeiger, staff relinquish Conservative
positions
By Nicole Stanley
Collegian Reporter
Just a week and a half after the first issue
of The Hillsdale Conservative was published, former editor-in-chief
and freshman Hans Zeiger was asked to resign and did so. His
resignation was followed by a number other members of the Conservative
staff.
The Hillsdale Conservative, as the title suggests,
is an independent, student-organized, conservative magazine
sponsored chiefly by the Hillsdale College Republicans.
In its published mission statement the Conservative
seeks "to expose the hidden wickedness of moral relativism
by pursuing objective truth." It continues to say that
the publication will "take the spiritual fight for truth
to the arenas of politics, economics, and religion."
Such statements are the root of the problem for the College
Republicans Executive Board.
"There was an important difference in
editorial style," said Stefani Zimmerman, chairman of the
College Republicans Executive Board. "It was purely conservative
thought and not what we had laid out."
These differences were discussed in a meeting
with both the Conservative staff and the College Republicans
Executive Board on Feb. 10, the day after Zeiger's formal resignation.
"My vision was pretty set in stone and
their vision was completely different," Zeiger said. "[The
magazine] was basically too much conservative, not enough Republican."
Since the magazine is sponsored by the College
Republicans, the college organization is ultimately responsible
to the Republican National Committee, who would not be pleased
with the product, Zimmerman said.
"We have to protect our image and stay
true to what we set out to do," Zimmerman said.
Zeiger said he was confused about the controversy surrounding
the mission statement since it had been approved by the leadership
last October, but said he is responsible for not defining his
relationship with the College Republicans.
"Though I could change many aspects of
the way the magazine currently operates, I would not pretend
that I will consistently cheer on individuals, committees, and
causes with the Republican label in all ways and at all times,"
Zeiger said in his letter of resignation.
Other issues the executive board addressed
at the meeting were administrative concerns about the use of
the clock tower symbol, the creation of a Web site and the amount
of association the magazine had with the college's name.
Provost Bob Blackstock said in this case he
was simply a bystander and the administration was not "pushing
the issue."
Although he said the use of the clock tower
could be a potential copyright infraction, the college was not
particularly concerned about it and that the restriction of
the Web site had only been a suggestion, not a ban.
Others who resigned from the magazine include
circulation manager Justin Vander Ark, political columnist Abraham
Armstrong, photographer Sean Engel, advertising manager Dean
Simmer, assistant executive editor Matthew S., political
columnist Andrew Fink, executive editor David Morrell, political
editor Nathan Mortier and religion editor Chris Walker.
Many who resigned accused the College Republicans
of unfair actions, uninhibited political ambition and unfounded
accusations by the College Republicans Executive Board as reasons
for their resignations.
College Republicans member and Conservative
staff member Carisa Bergen said the situation has been exaggerated
and rumors of the magazine turning into a propaganda source
for the College Republicans are untrue.
Blackstock said it is not unusual for an organization
struggle internally at the beginning.
"This is fairly standard organizational dynamics,"
he said.
The magazine will continue with the goal of
communicating conservative ideas.
Stephani Deichmann accepted the position of
editor-in-chief and said her vision for the magazine is to create
an opportunity for students to hear what professors, outside
conservative thinkers and their peers think about certain political
issues.
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