Conservative Publication Trashed at Brandeis -- 02/22/1999

Conservative Publication Trashed at Brandeis

22 February, 1999

By Bruce Sullivan
CNS Staff Writer

(CNS) – Brandeis University has produced its share of student radicals – Abby Hoffman, Angela Davis, Bryan Rudnick. Who is Bryan Rudnick? He's the publisher of the conservative journal Freedom Magazine, which the student senate has cut funding for by 50 percent after one member branded it as "fascist."

One student senator, Mathew Sugarman class of '99, has taken matters into his own hands and according to his admission thrown hundreds of the bi-monthly publication, which describes itself as a forum "allowing for freedom of expression in a scholarly and artistic manner," in the trash.

"I'm just helping the janitors out," Sugarman told CNS.

Sugarman says that his visceral dislike for publisher Rudnick stems from Freedom Magazine's criticism of the student senate in several articles, not on the overall conservative flavor of the magazine. He said the magazines he threw away were already on tables in the student center, not at their distribution points.

"I would have done the same thing to a liberal publication," said Sugarman, who describes himself as politically "moderate."

Rudnick, a junior in the class of '00, wasn't born yet when Hoffman, Davis and other members of the New Left were shunned by some of their classmates for disrupting classes with sit-ins and anti-war protests. However, Rudnick's conservative views are considered by many at the Massachusetts college to be just as politically incorrect 31 years later as the Weathermen and Students for a Democratic Society were in 1968.

"I've had many students congratulate me on what I did," said Sugarman.

To protect his right to free speech, Rudnick told CNS that he has filed charges against Sugarman with the university administration, who told him no action can be taken until next week. "If copies of a leftist magazine were stolen and destroyed the university would take immediate action," said Rudnick.

Rudnick is printing a disclaimer on future issues saying that each person is only entitled to one copy of the free publication. "Every issue someone steals or destroys copies," he said.

University officials didn't return repeated CNS phone calls, but John Hose, the executive assistant to the Brandeis University president said in a letter about Freedom Magazine dated Feb. 8 and sent to an alumnus that federal regulations prevent the university from commenting on disciplinary matters concerning students.

Hose also said in the letter that free speech was flourishing at Brandeis. "I am convinced that tolerance for diversity of opinion on the broadest range of issues is alive and well at [Brandeis,"] he wrote.

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