Daniel Flynn

A Villanova administrator confiscated an entire press run of a conservative student publication because of its content. The cause of the March 15 theft of the Conservative Column is widely believed to be the result of a feature in the periodical which outlines the exclusive banking agreement between Villanova, a Catholic institution, and First Union, a bank that supports pro-abortion causes.
     In a message left on Conservative Column editor Chris Lilik's voice mail, Villanova's Tom Mogan said, "We obviously have some serious concerns about the content of the Conservative Column." The director of student development continued, "Therefore, I will be removing all the issues of the Conservative Column that I see."
     After his statement was made public Mogan changed his story and claimed he removed copies of the Conservative Column because the paper didn't have an adviser. The uproar over his actions sparked the university to return the papers one week later.
     Mogan refused to respond to Campus Report's request for an interview, but did tell the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Officially, we were upholding university policy that says student groups must have faculty advisers," adding that "the tone of the Conservative Column might be alleviated if they had a full-time adviser."
     The offending item in the paper is believed to be a graphic feature with the headline "First Union Bank," appearing above a sub-headline which reads, "A proud sponsor of Planned Parenthood and CHOICE." In between is a picture of an aborted baby. "Turn Your Catholic Cash into Blood Money," the ad concludes. Lilik contends that two different sources told him of Mogan's rage over the ad.
     This is not the first time that Mogan has interfered with the publication of the student journal. "He's done a lot of shady things," Lilik remarked. For instance, last month Mogan called the publication's printer and told them not to print the magazine after the it had been sent to them. This was done without the knowledge of the publication's editors. Lilik asked, "He has the nerve to cancel our paper when I've got advertisers? When I have people paying money to advertise in my paper?"
     When the paper offered up a faculty member as an adviser, Mogan rejected the choice because the professor would be retiring soon. "They just don't want to give us a conservative advisor," Lilik reasoned. "What they want to do is for an advisor to act as a surrogate censor….They want to give us an advisor who is going to crack down on what we're doing, censor our voice, tone everything down, and make everything politically correct." Lilik added, "We have several people who want to be our advisor but they don't have tenure and they won't get tenure if they act as our advisor." The controversy provoked Chemistry Professor Oliver Ludwig to come forward and agree to serve as the embattled magazine's advisor.
     The Conservative Column hasn't been the only paper that Mogan has deemed too dangerous to be read by students. Lilik reports that Mogan has removed copies of the publication you are reading, Campus Report, the only other anti-PC publication distributed on the suburban Philadelphia campus, as well. Lilik claims that Mogan told him that if his paper didn't receive his approval, it would suffer the same fate as Campus Report, a paper that he had been collecting and trashing. At the time of the conversation Mogan did not know that Lilik was Campus Report's distributor at Villanova.
     Releasing their first issue at the outset of this school year, the Conservative Column has sparked debate at Villanova by taking the school to task for failing to live up to its Catholic mission. The publication has grabbed the attention of the campus community by opposing a course, "Constructing and Deconstructing Homosexuality," which promotes lifestyles inimical to the teachings of the Church, criticizing the school for inviting National Abortion Rights Action League board member Anna Quindlen to give last year's commencement address, and wondering why bigoted comments comparing priests to pedophiles appeared in the school's newspaper. The paper's editors say it provides a viewpoint that is lacking in Villanova's marketplace of ideas.
     No apology has been issued to the student journalists by administrators. Stealing free newspapers, courts have consistently ruled, is illegal.
     "If we want to give a Catholic conservative viewpoint at a Catholic conservative college there really shouldn't be any qualms," Lilik explained, concluding that if people disagree with his magazine they should start their own publication, not steal copies of his.