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Why? Because Stuart is also co-president of Tufts Roundtable (the parent organization of The Quad). Tufts Roundtable is a campus media outlet. And the public editor critiques campus media outlets. For some reason, the Daily has concerns that Stuart could be biased.
Granted, finding truly unbiased individuals is more difficult than convincing people to stop alleging bias right and left. After Jeremy White (LA '09) was selected as the first public editor, some took to the Daily's anonymous comment boards to criticize the decision, since White was a Daily news editor until he became public editor.
If anything, the public editor should have an extensive campus media background so that critiques can be better informed. And past affiliations don't automatically mean bias. (I spent four enjoyable semesters as a copy editor for the Daily, but that hasn't stopped me from critiquing it here on The Quad.)
But for Stuart to be the public editor for Tufts campus media is like if Arthur Sulzberger (A '74) became the ombudsman for both The Washington Post and The New York Times. I don't doubt that Stuart will strive to be impartial, but he is the public face of Tufts Roundtable's website, with the goal of increasing readership and the number of writers. This creates quite a conflict of interest if he wants to argue that there are too many campus print publications (a criticism that former public editor Duncan Pickard '10 made), or if he writes to analyze a Roundtable post or organization (such as The Quad).
Stuart will serve as public editor until the end of the semester, and his writings will find a home online and in other publications, according to his op-ed. It remains to be seen which publications would take his pieces, since the Daily refused and The Primary Source has called on Stuart to resign either as public editor or as Roundtable co-president.
At the end of the day, I'm reminded of this: Media Advocacy Board (MAB) chair Scott Silverman '10 had told The Quad that there were two applications for the position this semester. Perhaps the other applicant is no longer interested in the role -- else what does it say about the other applicant when MAB chooses a notable conflict of interest instead?
Update 3/10/10 2:22am: An official announcement regarding alcohol policy for Spring Fling is due this week, said Senate Vice President Antonella Scarano '10 at Sunday's TCU Senate meeting. Just speculating -- it's possible that Concert Board may be aiming to announce performers in conjunction with this announcement. Or that Concert Board may try to wait until the dust settles from whatever alcohol policy changes may be announced.
Update 3/10/10 2:11am: The phrase "private location" was used by performers as a placeholder for several other university names that are currently listed as part of the Campus Consciousness Tour.
Update 3/10/10 1:56am: It looks like Drake is part of Reverb's Campus Consciousness Tour, and as of now, there is no performance listed on May 1 on the tour's website.
Update 3/10/10 1:52am: Concert Board co-chair Nicole Goodwin '12 tells The Quad that Concert Board will not confirm or deny any Spring Fling rumors "until contracts are finalized," and that once that's done, it will "release names ASAP."
Original post:
A website is reporting that several performers have announced a tour date on May 1 in Medford, Mass.
The community rep discussion just took a turn for the interesting. Tonight's Senate meeting went down two paths regarding race and ethnicity -- one which makes things more confusing, and one which may indicate the importance of Senate liaisons with minority groups on campus.
First, the confusing part. In Senate discussion of a social justice workshop sponsored by the Office for Campus Life last week, observer Matthew Kincaid '11 said that including minority representation on Senate is important because "everything has to do with race. Even issues such as [whether to raise the ResLife housing commitment charge], issues that seem colorblind, have to do with race."
That's right -- just when you thought it was enough to address the perils of discrimination, now you have to address the perils of colorblindness. Senate Historian Tomas Valdes '11 asked Kincaid to elaborate on why the housing commitment charge debate was racial, and Kincaid did not provide specifics, instead stating that Senate must look like the student body in order to represent it. (By my calculations, using Tufts data and making guesses from Senate's members page, senators resemble the student body to within a few percentage points -- quite close when you take into account how hard it is to reflect the demographics of 5,000 people in a group of 28 senators.)
Another observer (whose name I did not catch -- generally, I only identify those observing Senate meetings if they're known to me or if they state their full names in the vicinity of saying their statements) elaborated that "socioeconomic and racial lines can be fairly similar," and that decisions "can affect some communities more than others."
This partially addressed why a housing commitment charge debate could be looked at as racial -- but it fails to take into account that Senate, at the insistence of Sen. Xavier Malina '10 and others, passed a resolution saying that Senate only endorses increasing the charge if it didn't affect financial aid students or Greek life, taking care of any socioeconomic argument. This also presents a question that I posed tonight via e-mail to Institutional Research -- what is the correlation between race and socioeconomic status among Tufts undergraduates? (I'll let you know when I receive a reply.)
Second, the redeeming moment of the night. Out of nowhere came a question from Pan-African Alliance community rep Marie J. Murphy '12: "Does Spring Fling have metal detectors?"
The answer is no, but the resulting discussion led to several observers claiming that in terms of campus events where non-Tufts college students are allowed to attend, it is more likely that events attracting a primarily non-white crowd will require metal detectors than events attracting a primarily white crowd.
The events referred to are parties and similar events that take place at Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall and Hotung Café.
One observer, who identified herself as the Caribbean Club's vice president and an Event Staff worker, said that her observing a variety of events in both capacities has led her to the conclusion that there is a double standard in which events are required to have metal detectors.
A Caribbean Club event made news in October 2008 when a TUPD officer used pepper spray to disperse a crowd at the event.
Senate Vice President Antonella Scarano '10 said she plans to look into this and another concern brought up by observers, the differences in campus access and advising afforded to Greek chapters based at Tufts versus cultural Greek chapters that span multiple universities.
Assuming that both issues are what they're said to be, these are issues that were not brought up in the normal course of the 28 senators sharing campus concerns. That should be taken into account as the community representative task force considers how to best liaison between senators and minority groups on campus.
Update 3/8/10 12:11am: I forgot to include Tufts' stated policy on when metal detectors are required for campus events (from Roadmap, linked to here):
METAL DETECTOR POLICY
Tufts requires the use of metal detecting equipment at the entrance to certain campus functions. This requirement will generally apply to all types of events hosted by any campus organization or department where: - advertising and admission is open to non-Tufts attendees**, and, - the event is not primarily a performance with a seated audience, or, - the nature of the event requires special security arrangements
** Note: For events to be considered open to the Tufts community only (and thus generally not require metal detecting equipment), the number of outside invited guests may not exceed 25.
In many cases, the costs associated with the use of metal detecting equipment will be borne by the university. Other costs related to the hosting of the event will remain the responsibility of the hosting organization. Final determination of whether metal detecting equipment will be needed for a particular event will be the responsibility of the Department of Public and Environmental Safety. The process by which events must be approved and determination of funding will be through the event registration process described on the website of the Office for Campus Life.
Please note that all events must be hosted by a recognized Tufts organization or department, although they may be co-sponsored with an outside organization. All guests at open social events must show a current I.D. from a college or university.
The TCU Senate will consider the following matters tonight:
Course evaluations are going online in the near future, meaning you will be able to see numerical ratings for instructors and courses. But should instructors and departments be able to opt out from having their ratings available to view? Senators Nunu Luo '12 and Alice Pang '13 and trustee representative Emily Maretsky '10 say no, and have drafted a resolution to that end.
The fall semester can get pretty cramped when it starts after Labor Day each year. I have drafted a resolution asking the faculty to start before Labor Day in years when they're considering axing Veterans' Day as a day off, when finals will run way late in December, or when the number of weekdays in Reading Period is shortened. This is a potential implementation of Senate's vote last semester to oppose having classes on Veterans' Day. An amendment to my resolution will suggest swapping Columbus Day for Veterans' Day as a less-preferred, but viable, alternative.
Additionally, on the agenda (as of Thursday) are updates on the community representatives task force and campus center renovations, and the introduction of a resolution recommending changes to the university's sexual assault policy, which has been under revision this past year.
The Quad livetweets Senate meetings each Sunday so you get the latest news. But what if you just want to read a summary of the meeting? For that, The Quad introduces TCU Senate Shorts, which is meant to provide a brief overview of each week's meeting.
This feature isn't necessarily intended to stay on The Quad, though -- I plan to pitch it to the Daily to run on the news page as a gray box (like the police blotter). So I want your feedback. Did I encompass the most important parts of the meeting? Does this format work well, or is there a better format? Is this useful? Let me know by
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or by commenting at the bottom of this page.
Without further ado:
TCU SENATE SHORTS | Highlights from Sunday's meeting
PROVOST BHARUCHA VISITS
Provost Jamshed Bharucha spoke with Senate for about an hour Sunday. He highlighted diversity initiatives out of his office, such as hiring more minority professors. He also provided an update on the search for a new dean of Arts & Sciences to replace Dean Robert Sternberg, who is resigning in June. Bharucha expects that the search committee, which consists of students, faculty and administrators, will choose a candidate by the end of this academic year. Finally, in response to a question about availability of syllabi, he said, “I think putting syllabi online makes a lot of sense.”
LEADERSHIP DINNER REVIEW
Members of Senate reviewed last Thursday's dinner which brought together the TCU-recognized student groups on campus. Topics that groups discussed during the dinner included clearing up misconceptions about other groups and about Senate, and learning about what other student groups do. Trustee rep Emily Maretsky noted that dance groups complained about the lack of space on campus, while senior Senator Cory Siskind said that the discussion between media groups was “good to facilitate mergers between publications.” TCU President Brandon Rattiner, who spearheaded the dinner along with freshman Senator Faith Blake, said he hoped that future Senates would continue and improve on the dinner.
IN OTHER NEWS
Members of Senate brainstormed ways to reduce pre-gaming before Spring Fling, which appears to be crucial in the longevity of Spring Fling as a campus tradition … Senate's Administration & Policy Committee plans to look into the impact of ResLife moving Healthy Living from Carmichael Hall to Lewis Hall … Senate's Culture, Ethnicity, and Community Affairs Committee plans to hold Culture Week on April 11-17 … Senate's Education Committee hosts Professor George Norman at this week's After Hours, 5:30-6:30 p.m. in Brown & Brew … Rattiner announced that Senators Alice Pang, Nedghie Adrien, Yulia Korovikov and Jon Danzig, and community representative Rob Siy, are part of his task force on minority representation, which first met on March 1.
[In case you're curious where I got this formatting idea from, The Hartford Courant's sports page does the sentences-separated-by-ellipses thing for hodgepodge-type items.]
RESOLUTIONS AND BUFFER FUNDING
Resolutions: None. [But if there were, it would look like: “A Resolution Supporting Blah Blah” (passed 25-0); “A Resolution Supporting Bla Bla” (failed 7-17).]
Buffer funding approved: Hip-Hop for Social Change $300; Tufts Red Watch Band $0; Sarabande $149.95; Torn Ticket II $1,502.54. Amount left in buffer fund: $0.
[If a funding amount was approved by a recorded vote, that would be indicated too. For instance, "EPIIC Symposium $7,500 (12-11 vote)."]
UPCOMING RESOLUTIONS
Junior Christopher Snyder introduced a resolution that suggested Tufts start its academic calendar before Labor Day on certain years to alleviate scheduling difficulties like the one that prompted the faculty to hold classes on Veterans' Day. Senate plans to debate it this coming Sunday. [Yes, I know I referred to myself in 3rd person. I phrased this as a sample Daily box, not as a Quad writing.]
[And if other resolutions were introduced, each one would get a short paragraph explaining it. Unless there were a bajillion, in which case maybe just titles would be given. Regardless of the number of resolutions, full text of all resolutions, both passed and considered, would hopefully be posted to the Daily's blog by Tuesday each week.]
Then, at the bottom, it might have something like "For full text of all Senate resolutions, and for more campus news, visit the Daily's blog at http://blogs.tuftsdaily.com/thehill." Even if that blog's comments section is a spambot magnet.
And it would end with -- by __Daily reporter's name__ right-aligned, and with those two dashes becoming a nice long dash.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Criticisms? Let The Quad know what you think about this idea by commenting on this post!
