Letter from the Editors

Last semester, the Daily debuted its support fund, offering two first-years with demonstrated needs a stipend for their contributions to the Daily. As we strive to provide more comprehensive and accurate coverage of the Tufts community, we recognize that this is only possible with a staff that fully represents the diverse perspectives and experiences on campus. We also recognize that not all students have the resources or time to devote significant hours to a volunteer position with the Daily. Thus, we are happy to reintroduce our support fund again for the spring semester, this time opening it up to any Tufts students with a passion for journalism who want to contribute to the Daily but are unable to because of financial restrictions.

This semester, we have three awards available to anyone contributing to the Daily in any section (or multiple sections), including written content sections, photography, videography, graphics, social media, layout and copy editing. Students of all backgrounds, including those who have no experience in journalism, are encouraged to apply.

Two awards of $250 will be offered to students who are just starting to work for the Daily in positions such as contributing writers, layout editors, copy editors, contributing photographers, contributing videographers or graphic designers. We hope these awards will serve as jumping-off points for these students' involvements in the Daily.

A third award of $500 will be given to a student who regularly devotes a significant number of hours per week to the paper. Possible recipients of this award include, but are not limited to, editors and assistant editors for any section, editorialists, staff photographers and staff videographers. Students who work for multiple sections are also encouraged to apply for this award.

Additionally, working on the Daily now qualifies as an on-campus job for students who receive work-study. As of this semester, those on the Daily's masthead can use the hours they work for the Daily as work-study hours. Because of this, students on masthead who qualify for work-study will not be considered for the support fund stipend.

We would like to stress that this award is open to anyone interested in contributing to any section, not exclusively to written content sections. We are actively seeking new students to join our burgeoning video, graphics and social media sections.

This initiative is part of a larger effort of the Daily's to become a more inclusive and intentional student organization. A diverse newsroom is not only critical to our ability to accurately and respectfully represent the Tufts community, but it is also important to us personally.

Today more than ever, there is a need for high-quality, tireless journalism. Though this is only a small first step and only one of our ongoing efforts to be a more inclusive paper, we hope this support fund will help lower the barriers faced by many students who care about informing their peers and the broader Tufts community. We welcome any questions about this initiative.

Applications for the Tufts Daily Support Fund can be found at tinyurl.com/dailyscholarship. Applications are due at noon on Saturday, March 4.