Wabash Commentary

The Wabash Commentary (TWC) is a journal of conservative news and opinion at Wabash College, located in Crawfordsville, Indiana, USA.

History
The TWC evolved from a publication that was launched in February, 1993 by Ian J. Karnell '93, Jeremi D. Karnell '93, David K. Landrith '95, Christopher R. Rowland '94, and D. Brent Waltz '96 as a response to two significant events. The first was the 1992 vote by College trustees that Wabash would remain a men's college; the second was the election of Bill Clinton. The original founders' intent was to provide a journal to Wabash and the larger community that would be thoughtful in substance, cheeky in tone, and unabashed about advocating for the liberal arts and a traditional Wabash. It has grown to become the most conservative publication on campus.

In 1994, an editorial and production team consisting of Bradley Cowan '97, Matthew Gladden '97, Morgan Knull '97, Jonathan Poletti '98, and James M. Scurlock '97 oversaw the conversion of TWC into a general conservative journal. TWC subsequently was officially recognized as a student publication by the Wabash Student Senate. Incorporated in the State of Indiana as a nonprofit organization, TWC's sponsoring organization (The Foundation for a Traditional Wabash, Ltd.) was granted tax-exempt status by the IRS, which afforded the journal greater opportunity for private and foundation fundraising.

In spring of 1997, TWC led a successful effort to defeat faculty proposals creating academic minors in "gender studies" and "multicultural studies." TWC organized opposition to the minors through a direct mail campaign to alumni and a lecture on multiculturalism by Stanford economist Thomas Sowell. Although the minors had received overwhelming approval from the faculty, the Wabash Board of Trustees refused in May 1997 to consent to the minors' creation.

In 1997, Matthew Rarey '00 became publisher, and then editor, of TWC. During his editorial tenure, Rarey expanded TWC's lecture program by sponsoring events with Pat Buchanan, William F. Buckley, Christina Hoff Sommers, Dinesh D'Souza, Richard Pipes, and Christopher Hitchens. In addition, TWC's pages continued to feature interviews with prominent scholars such as Gerard Bradley, Alan Kors, and James Hitchcock, as well as journalists (including Bill Gertz) and Wabash professors.

TWC's effective presence has secured the journal considerable renown beyond the gates of campus. It has been mentioned in the pages of the Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Law Journal, The Washington Times, Focus on the Family magazine, the Indianapolis Star, Indiana Policy Review, and Arts Indiana, and in collegiate publications such as the Purdue Exponent, the IU Daily Student, and CAMPUS magazine. It was applauded in The Shadow University, a book attacking political correctness on college campuses. TWC's editors and efforts have been televised on C-SPAN and FOX News, heard on the radio through Network Indiana and talk shows nationwide, and carried on the Associated Press's wires. The Arizona Republic observes that TWC "long has irritated the ideologically smug," while the Indianapolis Star notes that the publication "regularly lampoons political correctness."

In the summer of 2000, TWC launched an online version, which was relaunched in 2005.

The Split

In the spring of 2006, sophomore Patrick Smith was appointed to the editorship by the Foundation for a Traditional Wabash, but later abdicated the position to a fellow classmate. After of a year and a half of service, and with his senior year pending, the Foundation voted to initiate an orderly transition of leadership to sophomore Royce Gregerson. The editor took the issue to the Wabash College Student Senate. On March 20, 2007, the Senate chose to create a new student organization, named the Wabash Conservative Union.

On April 6, 2007 Gregerson resigned as Editor, citing (in a letter to the Board) the extensive involvement of alumni in publication affairs as well as a personal issue against Morgan Knull, the Foundation's Secretary. The Foundation Board has not yet selected a new editor for the publication. The Wabash Commentary continues as an independent student magazine at Wabash College.

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