In its second semester, the Cultural Coordinating Committee (CCC), an alliance of Tufts' culture organizations, is working to define its role and goals on campus. Despite a change in leadership this fall, the group continues to find support among members of the culture groups and has undertaken several efforts to address common cultural issues on campus.
"The CCC is working towards having a collective voice for the different culture groups on campus. It provides a forum for networking and exchange of issues between the groups," said Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate President David Moon, who started the committee last year.
The group's flexible goals are contingent on current cultural issues. Its efforts this semester have focused on three areas: the slew of hate crimes this fall, the nondiscrimination policy following the Tufts Christian Fellowship decision, and faculty retention and curriculum.
"Last year the CCC had a trial run. This year it has made a large push to get off the ground. The membership has increased, and it has become a very effective body," Moon said. "A lot of culture groups have shared concerns about faculty, recruiting students, curriculum, and hate crimes. We either work on these issues collectively or the groups become aware that their concerns are shared."
The CCC recently organized the Blue Ribbon Campaign to promote awareness of on-campus hate crimes; there have been 11 cases of intolerance reported this semester. The incidents sparked debate between students and the administration regarding Tufts nondiscrimination policy, ethnic hate crimes, and campus safety. The CCC participated in this dialogue by meeting with administrators and faculty members. It also tried to educate students by distributing table tents and flyers around campus.
"We thought that more could have been said about the hate crimes from the administration," Senate Culture, Ethnicity, and Community Affairs Committee Co-Chair Mernaysa Rivera said. "The faculty and administration were impressed by our efforts. They've been helpful in hearing the issues and giving it more validity," she said.
The CCC held a hate-crime forum in October to give students the chance to voice their concerns about the safety on campus and to propose possible remedies.
Representatives from the Asian Community at Tufts, the Pan-African Alliance, the Association of Latin American Students, and the Tufts Transgendered Lesbian Gay Bisexual Collective all serve as active members in the CCC.
Last month, the CCC held a retreat at which members discussed past efforts to strengthen the cultural groups and promote safety for students on campus. The committee leaders are planning another retreat for next semester.
"The purpose of the retreats is to bring everyone together and assess the progress made," Yeager said. "It indicates a continuity of the issues."
Yeager noted that the group has effectively coalesced this year. "This year the CCC is a more powerful, more organized, more structured group. It is an umbrella coalition group. Several groups have concerns about the same issue. The CCC provides a stronger voice and supports the groups with different projects," she said.
