About this Program

Discourse provides an inclusive platform for reasoned discussion and prescriptive analysis of issues of both international and domestic concern, while also including poetry, fiction, art and photography to illuminate the human condition. Its emphasis is on exploring a diversity of thought and perspectives from students, scholars, and practitioners. The purpose of Discourse is to provide an open forum for discussion of contemporary dilemmas, not as a vehicle with any specific political or intellectual agenda.

Discourse meets the demand of Tufts students who for years approached the Institute for support in creating a non-partisan, interdisciplinary student publication. The community of the Institute’s Synaptic Scholars program, designed to enable students to realize their potential and to enrich the University's intellectual life, has proven to be an ideal incubating aegis for DISCOURSE. While much of the content of the first issue has its origins in Synaptic research and Institute programming, Discourse is designed to be an independent forum, understood as a “public good” of the University, and controlled by an independent student editorial board.