“We are the people of Praxis, an independent publication by and for the community of Auburn University; our goal is to provide a medium for public expresion for the people of this community.”
These words appear in the second issue of the nearly forgotten, 44-year-old Auburn student publication, Praxis, as an introduction to the alternative newspaper published in 1971.
Only seven issues of the newspaper were published, but each covered a variety of topics and controversial issues. Praxis is no longer in print.
While Praxis was an independently published paper not affiliated with Auburn University, it was written and published by a group of Auburn students.
“We had a group of people who wanted to reflect a different view than you saw in more conventional papers,” said Jim Mengel, founder and co-editor of Praxis. “I envisioned presenting a practical and critical view in a positive way.”
Praxis was initially a local publication and was distributed only in the Auburn community.
Eventually the newspaper was distributed across the state in Tuscaloosa and Huntsville, among other major cities.
“While Praxis was originally intended for Auburn’s community, we felt that what we had to say was applicable elsewhere,” Mengel said.
Praxis not only expressed views seen in conventional papers, but views that are considered progressive and controversial today, such as the promotion of women’s rights, gay rights and the legalization of marijuana.
“They had articles about how to grow marijuana, how to get out of going to jail,” said Hailee Walls, freshman in agriculture communications who wrote an undergraduate research paper on Praxis. “They had a plea in there for one of the students to get him out of jail because he was arrested for using drugs at a concert. There are just a lot of interesting things.”
While the paper focused on many controversial topics, Mendel said Praxis was able to maintain a generally positive relationship with most people on campus.
During their years of operation, the paper did face some opposition from University administration on multiple issues.
“I think that most people were willing to discuss those issues and were somewhat supportive,” Mengel said. “There was at least an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of these issues. But in my mind, that kind of opposition is actually healthy. The controversy, actually, will likely result in a better outcome over the long run than if differences were not expressed.”
Sparking a debate among opposing views was, after all, one the main objectives of Praxis, as mentioned in the mission statement published in each edition.
Nearly every paper contains a community letter section expressing a variety of views, as well as interviews from key figures on each side of contentious issues.
“I think that’s important to not only have a place for students to grow in their writing skills, but also express their feelings and thoughts and collaborate,” Walls said. “Maybe people will agree, maybe they won’t. Either way, you’re getting different sides of the story out there so people become more open minded. I wonder if there is enough diversity and liberalism on campus that we could bring something like this back, just a place to express opinions that aren’t mainstream.”
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