BUZZ
Editors of women’s magazine say they ‘will always hold true to progressive values’
Two student-run magazines will relaunch under new names this spring after the University of Alabama cut funding to both due to concerns about discrimination.
The magazine Sixty-Three, formerly Nineteen Fifty-Six, is focused on black students, while Selene, formerly Alice, is “by and for” women, WVTM News 13 reports. Both are now privately funded and independent of the university.
The two magazines also have editorial teams exclusive to their audiences: Sixty-Three’s is all black, and Selene’s is all women, according to staff photos posted on their Instagram pages.
“Founded as a platform to share the creativity and experiences of college-aged Black people, Sixty-Three exists to be read and enjoyed by all. We seek to foster inclusive and meaningful dialogue with our audience,” the magazine posted on Instagram over the weekend.
The women-focused magazine issued a similar statement late last week “welcom[ing] all readers … regardless of gender.”
The Selene “staff finds it imperative to the magazine’s mission that we uplift marginalized voices and stories. Selene is for everyone as we all deserve a place in journalism despite what administrations and the wider culture may say, and she will always hold true to progressive values,” the magazine stated.
It’s not clear when the magazines will begin publishing issues again. As WVTM reports, the alumni organization Media Alumni Seeking to Highlight Equity and Diversity led fundraising efforts for both magazines.
Most of the new magazines’ editors are the same as the old ones, 1819 News reports.
Late last year, the University of Alabama stopped giving money to both magazines, citing the Trump administration’s crackdown on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” practices, The College Fix reported previously.
University leaders pointed to a memo from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi warning public universities that they could lose their funding unless they ensure that activities like student magazines “do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, or other protected characteristics-no matter the program’s labels, objectives, or intentions.”
The decision prompted censorship accusations from both in and outside the university.
Previously, a spokesperson for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression raised concerns about the Alabama institution violating students’ First Amendment rights in a comment to The Fix.
“When a university bases its decision to kill off a student publication because of what it expresses, that causes a constitutional problem,” FIRE spokeswoman Marie McMullan said.
“A public university cannot silence a publication based on its specific editorial perspectives and opinions,” she said. “That is what appears to have happened here.”
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