Ergo was a student-run newspaper, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but distributed and staffed by people from other colleges in the Boston area as well, primarily Harvard University and Boston University. It was started in 1969 as a conservative-libertarian alternative to the often socialist student activism that was prevalent at the time. It was published weekly on Wednesdays; support came from advertising, contributions, and subscriptions; MIT provided free office space but did not otherwise support the paper.