The Collegiate Network, an organization that funds conservative and libertarian student publications, awarded $6,500 to the Northwestern Chronicle for the 2004-05 year.

The publication has received money from the Collegiate Network for at least the past four years, said Jacob Weinig, managing editor of the Chronicle. All papers are reviewed based on their political stance. Funding is not restricted only to conservative publications, but about 80 percent of the network’s members are. The other member newspapers are libertarian.

“The Collegiate Network is a great foundation and we’re very appreciative,” said Weinig, a McCormick senior.

According to the Collegiate Network, a subgroup of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, student newspapers must be a member to apply for a grant. Publications submit applications and copies of receipts in May and Collegiate Network tells them how much they received in August. Newspapers can re-apply each year.

“It is very important for alternative or opposing views to be voiced on campus,” said Sara Longwell, director of public affairs for the institute and Collegiate Network, which is based in Wilmington, Del. “There can be no scholarly debate if students only hear one side.”

Longwell said that because most student newspapers tend to be liberal, the institute, an organization that works to “educate for liberty,” funds mostly conservative papers.

“People learn best when their ideas are challenged — not when everybody agrees,” Longwell said.

The institute is funded by private donors and other external sources. This year it distributed $180,000 to 61 university publications. The Chronicle does not receive any funding from NU and instead relies entirely on donors and advertising revenue.

Reach Corrie Driebusch at [email protected].