Several racks of The Purple Patriot may have been empty or off the stands for the past two months, but Editor-in-Chief Isabel “Booey” Mittelstadt says that the conservative publication is here to stay.

The decision to delay publication for the months of January and February was due to funding and restructuring of the newspaper, Mittlestadt, a junior political science and film, television and digital media double major said.

The first three issues were funded by selling advertisements to local businesses and politicians like Mark Skinner and Konni Burton, along with the help of donations. However, finding an alternative source of financial support has been challenging, Mittlestadt said.

This semester, The Purple Patriot received funding from the Student Government Association, according to Jeffrey Chatman, chairman of SGA’s Finance committee.

Since The Purple Patriot was a new organization last semester, it did not fulfill all the requirements to qualify for funding through the SGA Activities Funding Board, Chatman said. However, it was awarded $892 through the Secondary Funding Process for producing their newspaper.

The paper focuses on political issues on the national, local and university level. With the new organizational structure, Mittlestadt said there will be more focus sections, candidate profiles for the upcoming elections and a new layout.

“You don’t have to be a political science major to understand what we are writing,” she said. “We are just trying to start a conversation on campus.”

So far, The Purple Patriot has been met with both positive and negative feedback, Mittlestadt said.

“As with anything that is politically oriented, you are going to have people that disagree,” she said. “That just shows that we are a force to be reckoned with and that we are making a change on campus.”

‘The new paper on campus’

It may be the first newspaper of its kind, but it is not the first student-run publication that has established itself on campus.

The Purple Patriot joins a list of publications that include TCU’s Journal of Arts eleven40seven, the Daily Skiff and Image magazine, which are run through the TCU journalism department.

Mittlestadt hopes that The Purple Patriot will also become recognized and well-established on campus.

Now in her third year at the university, Mittlestadt hopes that The Purple Patriot will continue beyond her graduation from the university. She said there are many younger members that are involved and when the time comes, she will be ready to pass it along.

The Purple Patriot resumes publication the first week of March.