The Tufts Democrats will be distributing and promoting the first issue of their partisan magazine, The Forum, in the Mayer Campus Center today.
"It's a partisan magazine as opposed to an ideological magazine," senior and Dems President Kayt Norris said.
"We want it to [cover] the range of Democratic thought [and] to be a voice for both conservative and progressive Democrats alike," she added.
The first issue, which is comprised of 20 black-and-white pages, focuses on issues including the future of the Democratic Party, energy independence, the health care system and primary elections, according to the publication's editor-in-chief, freshman Scott Dodds.
He said that the issue also includes a few humor pieces, such as a step-by-step guide on how to dodge a draft.
Although some articles in the first issue were written by editors, most were submitted by students.
Around twice as many articles were submitted as could be included in the print version.
The articles that made it into the magazine, as well as those that were left out, will all be posted on the Dems' Web site, according to Norris.
She said that submissions came both from students who were very involved in the Dems as well as some who had little to no involvement.Some submissions even came from off-campus writers.
This issue, for example, will feature one article from a Boston University student.
In the future, around half of the magazine will be set aside for articles from students at other universities, and as a result of a contract between the Tufts Dems and the College Democrats of Massachusetts (CDM), it will be distributed throughout the state.
The Tufts Democrats will be in charge of editing and designing the magazine, as well as sending it to the printer, but the CDM will pay the additional costs of state-wide circulation.
Each president of a Democratic chapter at a Massachusetts university will receive a copy of the first issue, but distribution will be more extensive for subsequent ones.
Although today's issue will be the only one of the year, the Dems plan on putting out four next year.
