On the first night of orientation for members of the Class of 2006, members of my advising group and I listened to the performances of the campus' six a cappella singing groups. As I saw each group perform, I was quite impressed and inwardly pleased. The Orientation Committee had implemented and made part of its permanent programming the inclusion of all of the recognized a cappella groups, one of the recommendations that the Task Force on Race had made in its report issued in 1997. I had been a member of the Task Force Subcommittee on Student Life and was pleasantly surprised that our efforts were becoming institutionalized.
Yet, listening to the six ensembles and then reading the Daily's news analysis of The Princeton Review's ranking of race relations on the Tufts campus reveal to me the ongoing complexities and ironies of discussions and perceptions of race relations and interracial contact on campus. There is far more contact and cooperation between and among individual members of racial groups and between and among student organizations and campus offices than either ThePrinceton Review ranking or the Daily article would suggest.
I have read the Tufts profile in The Princeton Review (which is quite laudatory). Yet, the ranking of respective campuses on a wide variety of issues is contained in an earlier section of the profile compilation. Any student of survey data or polling opinion, however, could point to any number of shortcomings in the presentation of the ranking system. First, a careful reader would take issue with the phrasing of the question about interaction among races as "race interaction" is largely presented as "black/white" interaction only. Secondly, the editors of ThePrinceton Review provide no full explanation of methodology or criteria used to determine ranking. A reader of the list realizes that many of the campuses ranked "poor" in terms of "little race/class interaction" are smaller, private institutions of elite status, schools with 5,000 or fewer undergraduate students. However, many of those institutions ranked "good" in terms of race/class interaction are very large public and private institutions (NYU, Boston University, UCLA, University of Miami, and Florida State, for example). Might there be a correlation between overall campus population and opportunities for interaction between members of different groups? The Princeton Review editors never explore that probability.
The Princeton Review rankings aside, why do so many individuals on this campus who comment upon "poor" race relations focus their opinions upon tables in the dining halls occupied by students or upon the nature of some targeted programming by several of the centers? That many but not all students of African descent or Asian descent sit together in dining halls is a matter of voluntary choice that friends and acquaintances make. Such seating arrangements, contrary to semantic presumptions, are not forms of "self-segregation." Moreover, the ongoing commentary that the existence of such tables is an indication of "poor" relations between students of different races without concurrent commentary about all other seating arrangements among friends and acquaintances (again voluntary choices) unfairly places the onus upon students of color for their "unwillingness" to interact.
There are many more indicators of interactions between students of different races-from casual acquaintances to close friendships - from roommate assignments that go beyond the first year, from involvement in clubs, campus organizations and on the several athletic teams. Consider, for example, the Third Day Gospel Choir. I have personally witnessed the evolution of "Third Day" from a small group of students of African descent to its current composition of one-hundred plus voices-male and female-from all racial, religious and ethnic backgrounds. What unites the members of Third Day is their individual and collective love of singing music from a Black Christian tradition, a reversal of traditional notions of interracial contact in which students of African descent were or are expected to join groups or activities heretofore all-white or predominantly white in membership or origin.
Secondly, consider the relationship between "Essence" and "Shir Appeal." For the past three years, these two singing groups have sponsored several joint concerts yearly in which each performs music from African diasporic and Jewish diasporic traditions. Lastly, even with the acrimony and tension of last year, the fact that several student-led panel presentations on race were held are signs that healthy and passionate discussions (which in and of themselves are forums for interaction) can take place.
To those who view the culture centers as promoting "segregation" on campus, there is a tendency to gloss over the bridge building work done by each of these offices. While each center as part of its mission provides programming, particularly during orientation, which is earmarked for its student constituency, such programming is not the sole undertaking of the individual centers. As someone who has worked closely on programming initiatives with each of the current center directors, I can attest to their ongoing efforts at outreach. At every public gathering, the respective center directors encourage ALL students to visit culture houses and to attend, when possible, public events sponsored by the respective centers.
Thus, for example, students from all races are invited to attend "Asian-American Jeopardy," take a walking tour of Boston's Chinatown, take part in Asian American Month activities, attend Latino Film Festivals, listen to speakers sponsored by ALAS and the Latino Center, celebrate Latino Heritage Month, attend Black History Month programs, attend the Kwanzaa celebration sponsored by the Pan-African Alliance or the African diasporic film festival. For the past several years, the "Remembrance Day Observance" sponsored by the Asian-American Center has involved both faculty and senior administrative staff in academic discussions of the impact of the internment of Japanese Americans, reactions to the interments by other ethnic and racial groups, and current discussions of racial profiling. In addition, the Africana Center and the Hillel Center have presented several programs examining "Black-Jewish Relations" or presenting the musical traditions and religious experiences of indigenous Jews in Uganda.
While opinions of "poor" race relations or "little" contact between students of different races may be noted by those both inside and outside of Tufts, to those involved in programming and to those many Tufts students of all races who avail themselves of the genuine and many opportunities for interaction, the realities speak otherwise and merit a far more positive ranking in terms of race relations.
Gerald Gill is a professor in the History Department.
