The Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL) are teaming up to offer an active citizenship program for first-year students starting this fall.
The program, which will be housed in Haskell Hall, will be facilitated by Tisch Residential Leaders (TRLs), who will oversee, advise and promote student-organized community projects.
"It's not just community service, but projects that originate from the students or leaders and somehow respond to the community - be it campus, local, state, national or international," said junior and Tisch Residential Scholar Matthew Alander, who is helping to implement the program.
According to Alander, the projects will vary in length and scale, ranging from year- or semester-long projects to short-term day excursions.
If there is enough interest, he said that all of Haskell will be devoted to the program.
Increasing student demand for Tisch College programs inspired the residential option, according to Tisch College Student Programs Manager Mindy Nierenberg.
"As Tufts has become more and more known for this focus, more students are applying to and entering Tufts because of [it]," she said in an e-mail to the Daily. "They expect a range of opportunities to be available. Through the leadership of the Tisch Residential Leaders and the partnership of Tisch and Residential Life, this will happen for the students in Haskell."
The space for this program opened up because more sophomores were drawn to Wren Hall this year, as students were allowed to claim the dormitory's 10-person suites in groups. As a result, Haskell can house a program for freshmen, according to ORLL director Yolanda King.
She said that the partnership between her office and Tisch that was made possible by the changing demographics of Wren will be beneficial for students.
"We are developing a partnership with Tisch College ... to continue to expand our goal of creating more vibrant living and learning communities at Tufts," she said in an e-mail to the Daily.
On an experimental basis, two Tisch Residential Leaders will also live in Tilton on floors where students haven't specified a preference for the program to test the correlation between expressed preference and participation.
If successful in both locations, sponsors hope to see the program spread to all dorms on campus. "Hopefully freshmen will reach out to other freshmen and pass the idea on," Alander said.
First-year students can indicate their interest in the program on the housing application. The service aspect of living on the floor will be "highly encouraged," Alander said, but not mandatory.
All current undergraduates showing a commitment to service work can apply for a TRL position for next year. TRLs will receive no housing stipend, but will be guaranteed a single without the usual $500 fee and all expenses will be paid for program events and retreats.
They will also work alongside of resident assistants (RAs), but will not replace them. "Our hope is not to pigeon-hole the RAs as only administrators, but the TRLs will not be trained in the same capacities as the RAs [to enforce] disciplinary measures," Alander said.
In addition to Nierenberg, Alander and King, Student Programs Specialist Gary Van Deurse, Associate Director of Residential Life and Learning Donna Denoncourt and Coordinator of Residential Programs Lacey Prouty are also helping to sponsor the program.
