Common Sense is a joint student and faculty publication at the University of Notre Dame that began in 1987 when the Observer's editorial board refused to publish articles supporting gay and lesbian student rights, or written from a clearly feminist perspective, or criticizing the University's investments in then-apartheid South Africa. There was no other campus outlet, so Common Sense was born.

We are a publication whose fundamental commitment is to social justice, and also to providing a way for those voices to be heard that oppose the complacent and self-serving orthodoxies of State and Church, Media and Corporations. Common Sense is for the underdog.

We publish articles about campus issues, and much more besides. By reprinting articles from the national and international press that would otherwise be unseen here, we hope to promote a wider sense of the tasks that face persons of intellectual and moral responsibility than a simply local publication could do.

Common Sense (ISSN 0897-2885) is devoted to the examination of social justice issues from many diverse disciplines, be they cultural, political or aesthetic, and at many levels, from campus life to international affairs. Common Sense is published six times during the academic year at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily reflect those of the Common Sense editorial board.