Introducing the Brown Spectator

At a time when Western Civilization faces attacks from within and without, and a period in which liberalism has degenerated into its opposite, we proudly present to you The Brown Spectator, a monthly journal of conservative thought and opinion committed to the dissemination and discussion of the ideas and values of Western culture. The publication of this first issu e of The Brown Spectator is the culmination of months of reflection and retrospection that began with the David Horowitz controversy.

On March 13, 2001, the Brown Daily Herald published an incendiary advertisement by David Horowitz contesting the idea of slavery reparations. The campus erupted in an orgy of radicalism. As the conflagraiion engulfed the campus for several weeks it became painfully apparent that the real tragedy was not in the excesses of these cultural Marxists, but it was in the absense of any conservative reaction. The College Republicans did little more than maintain an existence on paper. When the opportunity to invite David Horowitz materialized, they rescinded their invitation and surrendered dialogue to moderate and extreme liberals. Not surprisingly, a faculty forum convened ostentatiously to debate the issue instead featured one speaker after another emoting over “civil rights” and eschewing “hate speech.” Dissent was demonized and dismissed and consequently dialog—that ever elusive ideal perished. The professors and the students of this frst class pander-thon had—in the words of ]ohn F. Kennedy—substituted the “comfort of opinion” for the “discomfort of thought.”

Conditions have improved in the past two years. The arrival of a new President devoted to academic integrity and freedom of speech offers the opportunity for institutional reform. Moreover, new organizations such as Students for Liberty and Young Americans for Freedom have joined the College Republicans in a revival of campus conservatism. The Spectator will endow this burgeoning community of conservatives with an intellectual voice and a regular forum for engaging this campus in real dialogue.

To this end, The Spectator has enlisted the support of a broad coalition of open-minded liberals and conservatives-paleo and neoconservatives,libertarians and legal authoritarians, and enlightened Democrats-representing the depth and diversity of “conservative” thought in the broadest meaning of the word. Although we may often find ourselves in disagreement with each other, we are united in our defense of Western Civilization and the constellation of ideas and values essential to the exercise of liberty.

This conservation of culture must strike a balance between the tyranny of tradition and the monopoly of the moment. Only a critical awareness of the modern world and an allegiance to timeless truths can inform the great debates of our time. For we are not here to massage fragile egos or tiptoe around insulated worldviews, but rather to provoke thought and discussion.

Stephen Beale
Editor-in-Chief