This is the second article in a two-part series looking at a funding request from the student journal Discourse. The first piece looked at the proceedings of a treasury appeal in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, while this article focuses on Discourse's relationship with the Institute of Global Leadership and how the TCU Judiciary approves new student groups.
Last month's Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate vote to fund part of one issue of the student publication Discourse exposed differing perspectives on the merits of giving money to student groups with ties to non-TCU organizations, and ignited a debate about whether certain organizations deserve to take advantage of funds designated for student activities.
Senators at an Oct. 25 meeting voted 13-5 to give $5,450 to Discourse, a student-run interdisciplinary journal, after members of the publication appealed an Oct. 21 Allocations Board (ALBO)-recommended award of $3,700.
The decision to give Discourse any money at all irked some senators, who said that the publication, which has strong connections to the Institute for Global Leadership (IGL), abused the student group recognition process by seeking approval for the sole reason of requesting funding after the IGL could not provide for it.
The IGL, which has in the past served as the journal's main sponsor, had told student editors earlier in the semester that troubles with the institute's endowment prevented it from fully paying for Discourse at a time when the publication's editors wanted to expand from one to two issues a year.
Discourse staff members turned to the Senate for funding, first seeking recognition from the TCU Judiciary (TCUJ) as a student organization and then applying for new-group funding.
Senior Adam Weldai, a trustee representative, called the Senate's decision to fund Discourse "a really bad move." As a trustee representative, Weldai sits on the Senate as a non-voting member.
"At least in my opinion, they became recognized for the purpose of funding," Weldai said of Discourse. "I really think that is an egregious abuse of the recognition process."
During the Oct. 25 Senate meeting, debate over how much funding Discourse deserved centered on the question of whether it mattered that the journal had only come to the Senate to request money after the IGL could not deliver.
At the meeting and in an interview afterward, students involved with Discourse worked to downplay the journal's connection to the IGL.
Discourse was founded in 2007 and was always intended to be open to the entire student body, not just the members of the IGL, according to its editors-in-chief, juniors Lumay Wang and Aalok Kanani. It prints essays, poetry, photography and fiction on international and domestic issues.
But the authors of the articles appearing in the first and only two issues of the publication are overwhelmingly students associated with the IGL, and the institute's name and logo appear on the journal's cover.
This year marks a major change in that approach, though, the two editors-in-chief said.
The journal's masthead has ballooned from four students to 18 this semester, and the new ranks include many not associated with the IGL, they said. Fifteen editors and members of the business staff attended the Senate meeting.
"I think that even though we brought in our entire masthead, I think that our main point was pretty much lost," Wang said, referring to the Discourse staff's insistence that the publication is increasingly involving students from outside the IGL. "I think we had to bring up our main point again and again, and it seemed to fall on deaf ears."
She suggested that underlying tension between some senators and the IGL influenced those members' opinions, adding that senators regularly praise groups for gaining co-sponsorship from other groups.
"I think that if we had been talking about another department or another co-sponsor that would not be an issue," she said.
Weldai thinks the editors' arguments are weak. "Discourse is a publication of the IGL, whether or not they're trying to distance themselves from it," he said.
Senator Dan Pasternack, a junior who chairs the ALBO council that deals with student media, said that the IGL's involvement did not factor into the ALBO decision, and that he thought that Discourse should be seen like any new publication going through a "trial" period.
"There are so many ways to consider Discourse that people weren't entirely sure what platform to consider them on," TCU Treasurer Aaron Bartel said. "With Discourse, we didn't have any good comparisons."
It's not the first time Discourse has turned to the Senate. Last spring, the publication received $2,000 in co-sponsorship money for its second issue, after a budget shortfall left the IGL unable to fully fund the journal, according Bartel, a sophomore. Just ALBO, not the full Senate, considers co-sponsorships, he said.
Some senators at the Oct. 25 meeting said the Senate should have waited to take action until the IGL indicated how much it could pay, but TCU President Brandon Rattiner, a senior, argued that IGL Director Sherman Teichman would most likely not have given a definite number if the body had requested one.
This semester, Discourse staff members thought the publication was already recognized as a student group, but found that they were not on the books and had to apply as a new student group.
The TCU Senate disburses funds from the Student Activities Fee to officially recognized student groups. The TCUJ takes on the role of recognizing organizations.
Learning that it was not yet on the books and hoping to seek TCU funding, Discourse successfully filed for official recognition as a student group this fall.
For Discourse's editors, even having to go through the process this semester came as a surprise. Kanani, who is also a photography editor with the Daily, and Wang — both of whom joined the publication's staff in the spring — assumed that Discourse was already recognized.
In order to become official, prospective groups must "not overlap with any other previous organizations," hold a general interest meeting on campus and draft a constitution, according to an Office for Campus Life guide for prospective student organizations.
About 30 to 40 groups begin the recognition process every fall, but many drop out of the process due to the work involved, according to TCUJ Chair Lindsay Helfman, a junior.
"Even though the process isn't difficult, it does require some effort. So that tends to weed out some groups," said Helfman.
TCUJ decisions about whether to recognize prospective student organizations are completely divorced from funding considerations, Helfman said. The Judiciary's recognition does not guarantee funding from the Senate, a fact laid out in the Office for Campus Life guide.
Kanani said Discourse fits the bill when it comes to impacting the broader student body — and not just students involved with the IGL.
"It wasn't that we became recognized just to get funding," Kanani said.
Helfman said the TCUJ realized this when deciding on whether to approve Discourse. "They weren't recognized solely because they needed funding. They were recognized for other reasons. They presented themselves as a beneficial group to the campus, and they've been around for awhile," Helfman said.
Helfman also said other groups have turned to official recognition in an attempt to secure funds in the past. "It's not the first time a group has come to us because their funding has been cut elsewhere," she said.
