Becoming Salient: Free Speech and the New Rise of a Conservative Campus Magazine at Harvard University

In 2021, Harvard University undergraduates revived The Salient, a self-proclaimed “free speech” publication that has since become a vehicle for conservative and white Christian nationalist discourse. Originally founded in 1981, the magazine has a history of controversy, including past critiques for homophobic and Islamophobic content. The 2021 revival coincided with right-wing mobilization in the Trump era, reinforcing narratives of conservative victimhood, religious nationalism, and reactionary resistance to progressive campus politics. This paper analyzes how The Salient constructs itself through religious and political claims, drawing on an archive of Salient issues I have collected over time during my experience as a Harvard residential staff member (2021–2025). By tracing The Salient’s evolving rhetoric—from free speech claims to explicit anti-queer, anti-immigrant, and Christian nationalist messaging—this paper situates the publication within broader right-wing efforts to reshape campus discourse, challenge academic freedom, and frame elite universities as battlegrounds for ideological control.