Students interested in publicly debating social and political issues will soon have a new venue to do so on Northern Kentucky University’s campus. Student publication The Lost Cause Review has been in and out of commission since the 1970s, and editors are working to release an issue before the end of this semester.

“The campus is becoming more civically minded and political,” said student co-editor Alex Kindell. “The Lost Cause’s time really is now.”

According to assistant English professor Dr. Chris Wilkey, the review’s faculty advisor, the publication isn’t going to be like a student newspaper and will be more like a political and social commentary. The review will “give students practice in how to debate complicated controversial issues in ways that are productive,” Wilkey said.

The review is returning to publication due to the demand from many people, according to Kindell. “The campus climate is at such a critical mass with all the social and political issues going on that students need a responsible way to get their voices heard,” Kindell said.

This “responsible way” to voice opinions is something that NKU’s campus is lacking, according to Kindell.

Co-editor Dan Cheeseman said he also hopes the review will serve the purpose of informing students about these controversial issues happening on campus. “One of the problems on campus is if you are not aware of things going on, you can’t comment on them,” Cheeseman said.

According to Cheeseman student involvement on campus is critical to its success, so a goal of the review is to “push people’s mental capacity and challenge them to get involved with their community and their campus.”

Co-editors Kindell and Cheeseman are both active members in the campus’ student organization Students Together Against Racism (STAR). Wilkey, the review’s faculty advisor, is also the faculty advisor of STAR.

Though the same people involved in STAR are those who are in charge of the review, Wilkey stressed that it will not be a biased publication. “That’s one thing I wanted to make clear; this is not a propaganda piece for STAR. It’s an opportunity for anyone to debate issues,” Wilkey said. “I want good, productive, respectful, ethical discussions over these issues.”

The review is currently accepting articles at thelostcause@nku.edu from any student interested in expressing his opinion about any issue. If enough articles are received in time, the review will be published in the last two weeks of this semester.