Non-woke college newspapers find home in new Drudge Report-style publication

The Collegiate Network, a program from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) that provides grants to student-led publications combating liberal groupthink, has launched an aggregate platform that will highlight stories and reporting on college campuses.

Founded in 1953, ISI's stated mission is to promote "conservative thought and the Western tradition" on college campuses. Grants provided to the student-run newspapers go towards operational expenses like cameras, printers and costly materials for physical copies.

Over the decades, the Collegiate Network has backed over 90 publications at some of the nation's most elite universities, including The Cornell Review, University of Chicago's The Harper Review, Harvard University's The Yard Report, Columbia University's The Sundial and The Stanford Review. The network fosters complete editorial independence among its papers.

The initiative hits close to home for Slayback, who was a student journalist at the University of Pittsburgh and worked as an education reporter for The Daily Caller before joining ISI.

"We're taking the work that they're doing and showcasing it in a way that gives them national visibility. And that's all in pursuit of kind of building out a talent pipeline," Slayback said. "Success means more young journalists are feeling confident that their work matters and that their voices, especially those that aren't always amplified, have a real audience."

"There's a growing demand for insight into what's happening on college campuses, but I think there's also recognition that not all perspectives are equally visible, and I think this platform addresses both those gaps," Slayback said. "So it does provide that real reporting from students on the ground, and it ensures that viewpoints, particularly conservative ones, the ones that might otherwise be overlooked as part of the national conversation, that those are prominently featured."