Right Wing Collegians

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The student editor of the California Patriot, a right-wing student newspaper at the University of California-Berkeley, claims that conservatives are the true heirs to the university's free speech movement of the 1960s. "The conservatives on Berkeley's campus have employed various strategies in order to insert their views -- whether they're wanted or not -- into campus debates," writes Michael Gaworecki. "They feel that linking themselves to the Free Speech Movement is key to their cause, and employ leftist rhetoric accordingly." But unlike the movement of the 1960s, which was homegrown, "here is a large network of well-entrenched, well-funded, national foundations and organizations sponsoring publications like the Patriot." Organizations like the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's Collegiate Network, the Leadership Institute, Young America's Foundation, and Young Americans for Freedom offer training, financial subsidies, assistance with public relations on campus, and even editing stories if they need it to neo-conservative campus journalists, along with a network for getting jobs after they graduate.