They say that a conservative paper, which holds such “radical” views, should expect to be vandalized. The article can be viewed here. They mention a couple of recent examples to support their position, which I deal with in detail below. Unfortunately for the Red & Black, copies of our paper were also stolen the first year it was in existence, long before any of the “ultra-conservative” events the Red & Black describes. Furthermore, there are over 140 conservative college newspapers, and many have had their paper stolen at least once. This isn’t an isolated incident, and we can rest assured that the perpetrators were not simply out one evening looking for a good time when they stole these papers. They had the specific purpose of suppressing conservative voices.

         Our staff worked collectively for countless hours to produce this issue, and the opportunity to reach UGA students was ripped from us by a group of totalitarians. These were not people engaging in some sort of protest. These were people whose hatred of, and intolerance for, our conservative views led them to break the law and to squelch our ability to present our views in a peaceful and reasoned manner. The theft is especially ironic considering that the issue stolen celebrated free speech on campus at Georgia Tech (a topic the Red & Black also misrepresented).

     The editorial went on to say that in the past, when the GuardDawg peacefully protested the tactics used by campus homosexual organizations and when we insisted that there exist in the world a minority of Muslims who are fanatical terrorists then we deserve to have our paper stolen and vandalized. To the Red & Black Editorial Board our views are “radical” and “uber-conservative,” instead of simply the views similar to those held by the 60 million Americans who elected President Bush and the majority of Georgians who elected a conservative government. 

      Moreover, they “understand” why these crimes were committed, but they cannot fathom why the GuardDawg believes it was a suppression of our ability to speak freely on campus (i.e. free speech). After all, they reason, free speech under the First Amendment is something the constitution bans the government from violating, not private individuals. They are right. Unfortunately, they are confusing the issue. No one at the GuardDawg is claiming that these people are violating the First Amendment. In others words, the Constitution does not ban individuals from stealing newspapers, statutory laws do. We’re asserting that they are breaking the statutory laws of Georgia, and by doing so, are denying us the right under these laws to express our views freely in a paper that shouldn’t be stolen or vandalized.

          As examples of the GuardDawg’s intolerance, as opposed to the understandable actions of those who vandalized our bins, the Red & Black provides the example of our protest last year of “gay coming out day.” Our point, as we have explained to the Red & Black elsewhere, was that the tactics used by the GLBT organization were offensive to large numbers of students. For example, they wrote in chalk all over campus, in violation of UGA policy, “wear jeans Monday to support gay coming out day.” Furthermore, we were making the case that homosexual politics are far more welcome on this campus and in the classroom than conservative views. The response of liberals, who discovered the startling fact that some people may dissent from their political orthodoxy, was to tear down our fliers, steal our papers, and call us names. Why the GuardDawg is the intolerant party in this particular situation is left unexplained by the Red & Black.

     The perpetrators wrote “communist” and “pinko Bas---” on our bins. A couple bins also read “gayDawg”. Some people have asserted that this is irrefutable evidence that the criminals weren’t “liberals,” after all, but implies that they may have been members of some right-wing faction. When confronted by such utter nonsense it’s useful to remember that no such radical groups exist in substantial numbers in Athens. And no such groups have ever used such language to describe the GuardDawg in the past. A variety of leftist organizations, on the other hand, have. Should we believe that these shadowy fascists came out of the wood-work for that one important evening to vandalize the GuardDawg? The messages were obviously a sarcastic attempt to say that The GuardDawg tosses around insults such as those written on our bins (which we don’t).

    The GuardDawg is a monthly independent journal of opinion. We do not pretend to be objective, and we do not pretend to present all of the news a person needs to know throughout the month. Like National Review or any opinion magazine, we provide analysis-- hopefully from a conservative student perspective that students at UGA won’t find any where else on campus. We don’t call people names like “ultra-liberal” without offering serious evidence and commentary. The Red & Black, as an objective daily campus paper, should take a lesson.

     Editor's note: On September 29, the editors at The Red & Black distanced themselves from the views we describe above. They now believe "free press for all, even the GuardDawg." What made them change their minds? Although it was noble to retract the embarrassing and absurd editorial, we suspect it was pressure from the student body and not a sudden change of heart that produced their new found ideals. Letters expressing student outrage can be viewed here and  here .