a new publication on the U of Arizona campus

[jedymastyr]

The Student Objectivist Society at the University of Arizona has just started publishing a weekly newsletter to be distributed around campus (which is also available online).

(when I use we here, I am referring to the couple of people working to put this publication out)

We have quite a few reasons for doing this:

--We want to better understand Objectivism by writing about it (which often helps provide a deeper understanding of the material)

--We want to get Objectivist ideas out more prominently in the community we live in

--We want a fun way to interact with other local students of Objectivism and promote a greater discussion of the issues

--We want to get our viewpoint out without being heavily edited by people with opposing viewpoints (as the school paper has done to several club members, including myself)

If anyone is interested, our website is www.slantnews.com and all the articles (along with a pdf showing what it actually looks like) can be found there. Some of the articles won't be on topics that are of general interest (many will focus on local issues), but anyone interested is welcome to read our articles.

I should mention that as students, we are not and do not pretend to be "masters" of Objectivism--we will probably make some--hopefully few and unimportant--mistakes in applying Objectivist principles. We will try our best to make our articles consistent with Objectivism.

We're printing the newsletter on 11x17 paper (which is equivalent to two 11x8.5 pages when folded down the middle). This removes binding problems and four page faces are plenty for us to try to fill every week (if we have problems with this we may change it to bi-weekly). I found a used, broken commercial-quality copy machine for really cheap--and was able to fix it (or at least enough of the features so it would work for our purposes). Since then we've acquired a paper folder and everything else we need to print the newsletter ourselves and keep costs to a minimum. We will try to get advertisers to pay our variable costs (paper, ink), but they're pretty small and so we're willing to pay them if necessary.

I don't have much more to say about it right now, but I figured some people would probably be interested to hear about it. If anyone has questions, I'd be happy to answer.

[stephen_speicher]

The Student Objectivist Society at the University of Arizona has just started publishing a weekly newsletter to be distributed around campus (which is also available online)....If anyone is interested, our website is www.slantnews.com ...

It is not easy to put out articles of substance on a weekly basis. I wish your group the best in this endeavor.

I have one suggestion. You might want to consider putting a sprinkling of quotes by Ayn Rand in your articles, quotes that are appropriate to the subject at hand. There is nothing like the clarity of Ayn Rand's own words in getting many points across, and being beginning students of Objectivism this will enhance your consistency with Objectivism as you attempt to apply the philosophy to rather specific issues.

Also, perhaps you should consider posting a PayPal account (or some other means) here and on your website for those of us who might want to offer some financial assistance.

And, do you have a faculty advisor for this project?

[jedymastyr]

It is not easy to put out articles of substance on a weekly basis. I wish your group the best in this endeavor.

Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I'll relay the message, as well.

I have one suggestion. You might want to consider putting a sprinkling of quotes by Ayn Rand in your articles, quotes that are appropriate to the subject at hand. There is nothing like the clarity of Ayn Rand's own words in getting many points across, and being beginning students of Objectivism this will enhance your consistency with Objectivism as you attempt to apply the philosophy to rather specific issues.

That's an excellent point! I didn't even think of it, but there's not a single Ayn Rand quote in the entire first issue. I will be sure to tell the others and try to integrate some good quotes.

Also, perhaps you should consider posting a PayPal account (or some other means) here and on your website for those of us who might want to offer some financial assistance.

Thanks, another good idea. It never really occurred to me that other people may be interested in helping us that way. I'll look into getting an account for our club for that.

And, do you have a faculty advisor for this project?

Sort of. Our club has a faculty advisor. We called around and got all the permissions we needed to place racks on campus, etc. without needing any advisor signature.

The club advisor was actually quite difficult to find. The only Ayn Rand-sympathizing professor I'm familiar with at UA is a Kellyite (he actually had David Kelley speak to our class...). Our main hope was to get an advisor who would not really care either way about our views so that we could just get the permissions we need and do the rest ourselves. All other advisors the club has had in the past have ended up with significant ideological disagreements that resulted in them no longer sponsoring the club. I just last week finally found someone who didn't care much and would sign forms for us...so we have an advisor for the club. None specifically for this project...and the club one isn't really much of an "advisor."

[stephen_speicher]

The club advisor was actually quite difficult to find.  The only Ayn Rand-sympathizing professor I'm familiar with at UA is a Kellyite (he actually had David Kelley speak to our class...).  Our main hope was to get an advisor who would not really care either way about our views so that we could just get the permissions we need and do the rest ourselves.  All other advisors the club has had in the past have ended up with significant ideological disagreements that resulted in them no longer sponsoring the club.  I just last week finally found someone who didn't care much and would sign forms for us...so we have an advisor for the club.  None specifically for this project...and the club one isn't really much of an "advisor."

That is sad and funny at the same time. Sad that you cannot find a really decent advisor, but funny that the best one under the circumstances is one who doesn't care. But, considering that not that many years ago you could not even put out an Objectivist-oriented publication on many campuses, perhaps your situation is not so bad.