Faculty Group Publishes 'Upstart'; New Radical Socialist Magazine

The University Radical Union (URU), "a group of radical socialist, mainly graduate students and young faculty, who work in, around, and in spite of Harvard University," has published the first issue of a new magazine, Upstart.

According to Arthur MacEwan, assistant professor of Economics and an editor of the magazine, Upstart "is primarily directed at the university community" at Harvard. MacEwan said that Upstart, unlike many other radical magazines, aims at a narrower audience and will carry a different writing style.

"Many students are put off by more hasty and rhetorical forms of radical ideas that they find in leaflets and rallies," said Frank Ackerman, a second year graduate student in Economics and editor of the magazine. "[They] are interested in a more coherent discussion of radicalism," he said.

The first issue of Upstart contains several articles on the University and its relationship to radical politics, including statements from a number of radical organizations within Harvard departments.

Ackerman said that the editors of Upstart hope to go beyond commenting on single issues like ROTC to "a substantive radical critique of our different disciplines and of the university as a whole."

MaoEwan said that Upstart's concern with the role of the University does not mean that URU stands "in opposition to working with other parts of the movement."

URU is an offshoot of the New Uni-versity Conference, a national group of radical university professors and graduate students with offices in Chicago. The Harvard group has been meeting informally for several months now. "We have as yet no formal structure," Ackerman said.

Upstart's first edition of about 2000 copies is being financed mostly by the editors. Some money coming from URU's cosponsorship of the films China and One Fourth of Humanity will also help pay for the issue. URU hopes that the magazine will break even after sales.