There’s a new voice in campus media – a conservative one by its own admission that hopes to “balance the liberal saturation with conservative viewpoints,” according to the publication.

The Riverfront Review distributed its first issue Sept. 24 with four pages filled with conservative commentary on campus and national issues.

Editor in chief, senior Kristy LeTourneau, said colleges, by nature, are liberal institutions and being conservative on campus is looked down upon.

“I’ve had professors that feel like it’s their duty to preach to their students because they’re in a higher position,” she said.

LeTourneau mentioned that other campus media leans to the left, citing The Flip Side as a liberal publication.

“That was the purpose of the paper,” she said. “We’ve never had a conservative paper on campus.”

The Flip Side editor in chief, senior Phil Kolas, disagreed that the publication was liberal. He said anyone who submits work will get published, conservative or liberal, as long as it isn’t bad.

“If it was purely liberal I probably would have gotten bored with it and quit,” he said.

Kolas said that while the submission policy is completely open, The Flip Side tends to receive more liberal articles than conservative. He said he wishes more conservatives would submit their work, because that’s what makes the paper exciting.

“That’s why I like the Riverfront Review,” he said. “It’s interesting. It’s not stuff I would usually read.”

LeTourneau said The Spectator is for the most part non-partisan, but cited a time when the publication did not publish her conservative friend’s letter to the editor.

As of the Sept. 24 issue, the Riverfront Review had six staff members, all of which are volunteer positions, LeTourneau said.

Thus far the paper has been funded by a grant from the Leadership Institute, an organization with the goal of training future conservative leaders, according to its Web site. Friends of the College Republicans have also donated, LeTourneau said.

The first issue was comprised mainly of opinion-based writing. LeTourneau said in future issues she would like to divide the paper into sections and also report news.

The next issue will be eight pages. LeTourneau said she has a couple interested advertisers and also plans on doing fundraising to finance the paper.

Kolas said he wishes the paper the best, but did say it should identify itself as a conservative publication if it isn’t going to accept all viewpoints.

LeTourneau said her paper would allow liberal submissions in the future.

The next issue is set to be released in mid-October and will remain on a tri-weekly cycle.