"They said if any governmental body tries to restrict the distribution of the Chronicle in the future, before it can even be considered, the Appeals Board will look it over to see if it's too close to what they've already ruled on," Witteles says. "We were rather pleased with the outcome."
The Chronicle should be rather pleased with the entire affair. Before the Senate took action, 1995-96 had been a noncontroversial year, according to Witteles. Now the Chronicle is getting all the benefits of martyrdom, with virtually none of the painful consequences. Conservative college papers have two primary goals: spread the conservative gospel to the unwashed masses corrupted by leftists and liberals, and expose the left as evil, intolerant, and stupid. Mission accomplished on both counts. Readership has gone up dramatically, according to staff. And the student government's antics were covered by the campus media and beyond. The Daily covered the story closely for weeks.
And the Chicago Tribune ran three stories on the controversy, including a front-page article. "Overall the media coverage has been very positive," Witteles says. As an organization, the Chronicle staff is more united than ever. "Anytime you have an us-versus-them situation it's going to bring you closer together. With the new staff members especially, it was like David vs. Goliath, the little conservative paper against the entire student government," says the editor.
In the last couple of years, a number of leftists and liberals have argued that political correctness is a myth created by conservatives. They maintain that instances of actual censorship and ideological conformity are few and far between. Events like those at Northwestern show that it's not for a lack of trying. College campuses are dominated by would-be totalitarians who would love to stamp out dissenting opinions--they're just incompetent, at least at the student level.
But these events serve a useful purpose. They remind people that freedom of speech and freedom of expression are still threatened. And they remind people, and conservatives in particular, why protecting these rights is so important, which is always good. For Witteles, he has fought his last battle in the campus culture wars. He's graduating and heading to medical school, confident that the Chronicle is safe for the near future. "I don't think they'll mess with us again," Witteles says. But he can always hope.
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