Tufts' public editor position returns this year despite lingering questions over the continued funding of the position and proposed changes to the Media Advocacy Board (MAB).
The public editor, a campus ombudsman tasked with bringing an objective perspective to campus publications, will be funded this year even after the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate voted last fall to deny funding to the position.
Jacob Kreimer, a senior, was selected to fill the position of public editor for the coming year. He is awaiting official confirmation from the MAB, the association of campus media publications that appoints the public editor, as the organization gears up for the semester.
Last year, the MAB applied for buffer funding from the TCU Senate in order to cover the public editor's $250-per-semester salary, but the Senate voted to deny the request. While no student activities funds will go to this year's public editor, the Office of Student Affairs this year provided supplementary funding to the MAB, according to Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman.
Although Reitman said that this funding was not expressly designated for the public editor position, the additional funding will make it possible for the public editor to receive a salary.
MAB Chair Shabazz Stuart, a senior who held the position of public editor last semester, told the Daily that the public editor will continue to receive a salary this academic year.
Stuart said that the public editor position would have been filled this year with or without a guaranteed salary. "Jacob was under the impression that he was not going to get paid," Stuart said. "We would have found a public editor anyway, without funding," he added.
"I think [the money] is a bonus to people," Kreimer said. "It's a great incentive to promote good work, but … it's not a necessary component."
The idea of a salary for the public editor came from the desire to communicate its importance, Stuart said. "The public editor [position] is only a year and a half old. It needs some time to develop its own prestige," he said.
"I hope that we can continue to develop the public editor position into a prestigious one that won't be as dependent on funding in the future," he said. With the position's funding in doubt, the applicant pool shrank to "single digits" of prospective candidates, Stuart said.
Reitman expressed support for the public editor's role as an outside voice among campus publications. "To have somebody who is designated as the conscience of not only the media but of other topics, to be a catalyst for conversation and community introspection — that's a great thing," Reitman said.
"I hope the [TCU] Senate puts it back in the budget. I think that's where it belongs," Reitman said. He noted that the elected, comprehensive nature of the Senate makes it a more objective source of funding. "The Senate represents everybody, it's not [just] one constituency," he said.
Kreimer hopes to make changes to the way the public editor communicates with the student body at large. "[I am] intent on getting more community input," he said.
"I want to make it an office rather than an individual," Kreimer said. "A community effort rather than the voice of a lone blogger."
The public editor position persists amid a proposed restructuring of the MAB to increase its reach and effectiveness on campus. Stuart said that the organization, envisioned as an association of campus media publications, has in reality very little influence as a body.
Some of Stuart's proposed changes include revising the organization's constitution and appointing permanent representatives from member publications to serve on the MAB, rather than the heads of those publications.
"The MAB wasn't actually being an advocacy board," Stuart said. "It had descended into being simply a lab people would use and pay the fee, then maybe elect a public editor and that was it."
"I want it to be what it was originally intended to be — a federation that makes the climate better for media groups in general," Stuart said.
Ali Meyer, editor-in-chief of the Primary Source, expressed support for this aim.
"I think it's a great idea. I'm hoping this year we can try and do more integrated public outreach," Meyer, a senior, said. The Primary Source is a member of the MAB.
"[Currently] the practical advantage [of being a member] is being able to use the lab and the resources that the MAB has," Meyer said.
Senior Katie Christiansen, editor-in-chief of the Tufts Observer, agreed.
"It would be fantastic if we could increase the [MAB]'s voice and visibility across campus. Right now it's very quiet, and it does what it needs to do, but … it's a really important and interesting organization and its members all have a ton to contribute," Christiansen said.
"If [MAB members] can bring those things all together for the good of Tufts media as a whole, I think that's fantastic, and I'm excited to try to further that," Christiansen said.
The MAB could meet for the first time this semester as early as next week, Stuart said. Many of the new ideas could be immediately implemented subject to members' approval.
"It's a new year. We're going to do things differently," Stuart said.
