Despite the recent transformation from a weekly newspaper to a biweekly magazine, editors of The Tufts Observer say they do not plan to ask for a different budget this year or next.
"Our production costs for this year will remain the same under the new format as they did under the old format," Observer Editor-in-Chief Mara Vatz said, adding that there would not be any short-term rearrangements of the budget either. The paper's costs might even be slightly less this year, since it did not produce issues during the initial two-week transition.
The change in structure - but not funding - for the paper re-ignites a longstanding debate over the amount of money the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate budgets for campus publications. The Senate has long battled with The Primary Source over funding for the magazine, which often criticizes student government. The conservative journal has long accused the Senate of not giving it enough money.
Source Editor-in-chief Sam Dangremond says that the Observer receives too much money from the Senate, and with the new format, it is wasting its money on expensive production costs. "Of course they will spend it all, having full color, glossy covers," he said, referring to the Observer's Nov. 9 issue.
The Observer and Source are now both biweekly magazines. The Observer is budgeted for $39,000 per year, $9,000 of which is paid for by advertisements, and $3,000 by subscriptions. The other $27,000 comes from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, in contrast to The Primary Source's $17,000 funding.
Vatz feels that the Observer money is well spent and that its budget is just the right size. The Observer hopes to return to a weekly format in the fall of 2002, and Vatz said the extra costs will be covered by advertising revenue.
The Allocations Board (ALBO) of the TCU Senate, however, could adjust the budgets for either magazine for the next academic year, but not until the first of February, according to Nikhil Abraham, the Senate's assistant treasurer.
ALBO members say they will not change the Observer's funding based on its change in format. "In general, we work on a case by case basis," Senate Treasurer Benjamin Lee said.
He said that the Source and the Observer's budgets should not be compared even though they are both biweekly publications. Individual costs would be more important than the format of the publications.
Dangremond said that the Senate should better regulate the amount of money that goes to the different publications to ensure fairness. "They need to set a uniform production standard," he said. "There is a middle ground that the organizations should be brought to."
The Source's publication costs, according to Dangremond, are much lower because they only use one color on their front cover and use cheaper paper. No allocation revisions will occur until ALBO has their meetings with the student groups on campus.
"Any changes will be reflected in the budget they present," Lee said.
