Campus Reform: Rutgers University - New Brunswick

ACORN wasn't cracked in one day. James O'Keefe, now famous for revealing corruption in that organization, started off the same way each and every Campus Reformer does: outnumbered and overwhelmed on his leftist college campus.

Stunned by how little actual reporting was being done by the campus dailies, O'Keefe became the founding editor of The Centurion at Rutgers. Around the same time, frustrated conservative student Joe Basel started The Counterweight at the University of Minnesota-Morris. Both papers were started with assistance from the Leadership Institute "Balance in Media" grant, which is still available for students starting conservative and libertarian campus publications today.

I had the chance to talk with O'Keefe and Basel and get their advice on how students can become effective leaders through campus publications.

To protect their ongoing investigations, I can't say exactly when or where the interview was conducted, but the contents are below:

Campus Reform: What was the inspiration for each of your student publications?

O'Keefe: We were actually inspired by a different publication on a different campus, the Tufts Primary Source in Boston. And having seen that publication I was really inspired to start a new publication.

I think it's encouraging to take a look at other campus publications like Tufts' Primary Source, like the California Patriot, Bucknell Counterweight, take a look at those publications and see their layout, see their creative ideas on breaking stories, reporting on campus orientation on the first week of school. That's a really great way to inspire people to think about starting their own newspaper.

Basel: We started The Counterweight, the conservative publication there, my freshman year with a group of other freshmen.

I wasn't that politically active before college. Once I got to that liberal of a university they basically pushed me to it. It was more in response to their hegemony on campus.

We just felt like one of the better ways to amplify the conservative student voice on campus was to start a conservative paper, and that's what we did the fall of my freshman year.

Campus Reform: Who did you guys look to for staff when you needed to get your papers started?

O'Keefe: People generally come to you. Especially when you put out the first issue. Suddenly, things start happening. The main thing about publications is you've really got to be daring. You must not be afraid of your professors and administration.

As long as you're telling the truth in an engaging way, as long as you put out that first issue, that's when people are going to start coming to you, emailing you, coming to your meetings and getting involved and getting excited.

Campus Reform: What changed in life on campus when you started your papers?

Basel: I think people have gotten used to the status quo, they've gotten used to not being questioned, they've gotten used to thinking and assuming that everyone was liberal at the campus. And I think when you print a couple thousand copies of a minority opinion, people begin to wonder if it's actually minority opinion.

If you effectively articulate conservative or libertarian values on campus and you're willing to call people out on what they need to be called out on, you'd be surprised how much that changes the dialogue. So, the left is responding to you. The administration is responding to what your publication is doing.

Now, if you just go into a classroom and spout off, or quote some right-wing hack, they'll probably laugh you out of the classroom. But if you force them to respond to an issue through publishing something, then you're setting the agenda. And the agenda can be framed on our terms if you do it correctly.

Campus Reform: What did you take away from your student publication experience that really made the difference in your career?

O'Keefe: It's the year 2010 now. We've really got to start using multimedia. Videos and audio and YouTube. I mean, I started out doing a publication, but, I [also] started taking videos of my professors, and that's what got me into being a videographer and a filmmaker.

So, I would suggest just take photos, take video, take audio of your professors' classes. You know, print the transcripts in your paper. And do your own fact finding. Don't just respond to news, but actually create your own headlines. Make demands upon your professors. Make demands upon your university to actually change things. Don't just wait for something to happen and sit back and report on it.

 Campus Reform: Would that be the difference between journalism and advocacy journalism? Do you guys practice advocacy journalism or activist journalism?

O'Keefe: I focus on content more than labels. I happen to call what I do shoe leather journalism and not advocacy journalism. So, I would consider it just journalism.

Basel: I guess I wouldn't call it activist journalism either. I think the only real agenda with what I did at the University of Minnesota was to pursue truth and to hold the administrators and hold the professors' feet to the fire. To hold them accountable for what they were getting away with, what they were doing in the classroom and out of the classroom, in the community. 

So, I think if you just make your agenda the truth or a fair chance at the truth on campus, you'd be surprised what falls in your lap if you work hard and keep doing it.

Campus Reform: A lot of people look at the videos you've put out recently and they say 'Gosh, I wish I could take a page from his playbook and expose other corrupt institutions.' For a student who is on a campus right now, where should they be looking to uncover the dark underbelly of the leftist status quo on campus?

O'Keefe: Follow the money trail. Especially in terms of the financial crisis - state universities' budget shortfalls. Follow where the money is going. Go to the student allocations for the budget. Find out where the money is going with the budget and what the groups are getting.

Is there a marijuana club getting $1,000 a month? Is there a club that the taxpayers would be completely opposed to funding? I don't care what it is...if it's a [explicit] Club.

Maybe you want to test the judgement of your university bureaucrats and simply ask the question if the university would be willing to sponsor a [explicit] Club. If the answer is yes, there's your headline. But you have to really investigate the money. And the way to get bureaucrats to react is to actually pressure them via their money supply and their donors.

Campus Reform: One final question. As you guys got more involved in student publications, what has been your experience with networks and professional opportunities?

O'Keefe: The more bold you are, the more opportunities will be open to you. The less bold you are, the less opportunities in life will be open to you. The less calculated risk you take in college, the more you're going to be looking for a job.

But the more you put yourself out there and you take those calculated risks--the contrary of what people actually think is going to happen--you're actually going to get opportunities. Especially with someone like Hannah [Giles], who is a college student in Florida, you know, everyone telling her 'Oh, don't dress up like a [explicit]. Don't do that, you're going to ruin your career.'

Well, now she's working for Andrew Breitbart! And she's a journalist for Breitbart doing investigative journalism for the new site BigJournalism. So, I would encourage everyone to take on the challenge in college of being as assertive as you can possibly be in going after the truth.

The investigations into ACORN had the incredible impact of forcing Congress to suspend their funding of the organization, but many banks that receive Federal bailout money continue to subsidize their activities. Be a part of the effort to protect taxpayers by organizing an ACORN protest with your student group.

Campus Reform can also help you follow in the footsteps of young leaders like James O'Keefe and Joe Basel by training you to start a student publication on your campus. Contact us today to learn about our Student Publications Workshop.

And for that inspiration James was talking about (as if his videos weren't enough!), check out the inaugural copy of his old newspaper, the Rutgers Centurion, complete with an excellent editor's note by O'Keefe himself.