The new on-campus Black Women's Group isn't the first of its kind at Tufts, but its organizers say that something will separate this group from its predecessors: This time around, the group's meetings and activities will be consistent.
The group's first meeting was held on Thursday, Jan. 18, with 16 people in attendance. Organizer Marguerite Phillips, a graduate student in Urban and Environmental Policy, explained that none of the other black women's groups throughout the years have been reliable.
"This time I plan to be consistent and to always be there," Phillips said.
With its first meeting under its belt, Phillips plans to have weekly meetings every Thursday night. She was asked to take the leading role in the Black Women's Group by the Women's Center, who wanted to re-implement the organization.
Phillips sees several purposes for the Black Women's Group. She hopes the group will offer both emotional and social support to the young black women who choose to attend. She also sees the group as a format in which students can grow individually, as well as think about their role in the Tufts community and society as a whole.
Although Phillips is not currently part of the Tufts' undergraduate community, she has perceived that female African-American undergraduates need some additional support because they may sometimes feel separated from the rest of the campus community.
"They seem [to] need some type of support. I think they feel somewhat isolated from the Tufts community in a way," Phillips said.
The group does not want to address these feelings of isolation by further distancing black students. "This is not an effort to segregate a certain population from the Tufts community," Phillips said.
In fact, Phillips hopes the group will accomplish just the opposite. In discussing their role in the community, the women attending group meetings may feel less segregated from the rest of the Tufts community members.
Sophomore Erica Buckley was in attendance at the new Black Women's Group's first meeting. She said that such a group is needed because she feels that African-American females on campus sometimes need support during exam periods. Hopefully, she said, regularly attending a group with their black female peers will help the women gain that support, as well as provide a format to discuss any pertinent issues.
"Being at Tufts is hard for anybody at times. You just need a place where you can relax and feel safe, and that's what this group is about," Buckley said.
The group will officially meet once a week, every Thursday night. These meetings will be casual, and Buckley said group members will probably spend most of their time having discussions, although they might hold other activities, such as watching movies.
Buckley wanted to join the group in order to "get to know other people and to hang out, have fun, be able to talk openly and honestly."
In the first meeting alone, Buckley said that group members touched on issues such as pop culture and relationships, among other topics.
Although she is the official leader of the group, Phillips said that the group's direction will really depend on the members. "They can use me as a resource to get speakers," Phillips said as an example.
Another idea that popped up during the first meeting was the possibility of creating a book club. Overall, the group hopes to serve as a forum in which black women can feel comfortable in discussing various issues, or just hang out and have a good time.
"Everybody needs a place where they can just talk, vent, meet new people. It's a good place for that to happen," Buckley said.
