The Dartmouth Review Pleads Innocent edited by James Panero and Stefan Beck (ISI Books, 400 pp., $25.00). On June 7, 1980, an ambitious group of Dartmouth students printed the first issue of a publication that would change the school forever. In the spirit of William F. Buckley Jr. and National Review, the Dartmouth Review challenged the college's leftist administration and faculty with conservative opinions, harsh criticism, some humor, and a lot of verbal bomb throwing. After several highly controversial incidents it received national attention, and over the past 26 years it has prompted responses ranging from administrative discipline and legal action to physical assault and sabotage.

Thanks to former Review-ers James Panero and Stefan Beck, the entire tumultuous history is now accessible in one easy-to-read volume. With additional commentary from Buckley, Jeffrey Hart, and others, The Dartmouth Review Pleads Innocent presents the paper's most famous episodes in its writers' own words. Their youthful, passionate, and often humorous language bares all, allowing readers the pleasure of joining in their battles with ruthless administrators, unforgiving faculty, and radical campus groups.

For instance, when a Dartmouth Review founder, Gregory Fossedal, scooped the Journal of the American Medical Association by revealing a medical school professor's recent breakthrough, he was dragged before Dartmouth's College Committee on Standing and Conduct. This kangaroo court consisted of judges who despised the Dartmouth Review and could not be counted on for objectivity; eventually he was found guilty of misappropriation. A similar group, the "Committee on Standards," would harass and even suspend members of the Dartmouth Review for years.

Contributors have fallen victim not only to administrative pressure, but also to physical assault. Benjamin Hart was distributing the paper one day when an administrator, Samuel Smith, decided he'd had enough. After Hart ignored Smith's command to stop delivering the Review, Smith lunged at the college student from behind, "hitting his face and back." After Hart subdued Smith in a headlock, Smith decided to sink his teeth into the young man's right side. As a result, Hart had to go to Mary Hitchcock Hospital to receive a tetanus shot. Smith was convicted of assault and paid a small fine.

During most other famous episodes in the paper's history--printing the transcript of a Gay Students Association meeting, proposing the return of Dartmouth's Indian mascot, having a Hitler quotation inserted by a saboteur, etc.--the Dartmouth Review has received unfair treatment by critics. But it would be disingenuous not to mention that some of the Review's writing has been in poor taste. Consider, for example, a piece that compared administrators to Nazi leaders and the conservative writers to Holocaust victims, and referred to a "'Final Solution' to the Conservative Problem."

But, overall, the Dartmouth Review's writing has been candid, intelligent, and witty. When asked by Dinesh D'Souza, a former editor, what he thought of the publication, William F. Buckley Jr. replied, "If you are asking me whether I would find anything in the Dartmouth Review worth revising, I would say, sure. But my impression of it is that it is serious . . . it is lively; it has spirit; and it has a considerable capacity to meditate its own weaknesses."

Since its inception, the Dartmouth Review has provided a much-needed service to a college community that too often tramples on conservative beliefs. Rather than hurting Dartmouth, as some would claim, this pioneer in collegiate journalism has breathed new life into the campus. It continues to do so today.

--Jamie Deal