Less than a week after Medford residents complained to police about loud music and vulgar lyrics at the Sept. 9 Fall Fest concert, Tufts agreed last Thursday to investigate ways to minimize disruption caused by outdoor concerts.
The University sent letters of apology to 200 Medford residents after nine residents voiced their grievances to administrators during an hour-long meeting organized by Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn. The residents also presented signed petitions and letters from neighbors who could not attend.
Dean of Students Bruce Reitman said "there was a good deal of anger" expressed by local residents, many of whom have young children. Unable to escape the music in their own homes, some people left town for the afternoon.
Medford police told organizers to turn down the volume and to ask the artist, Wu Tang Clan's GZA, to tone down his language, but residents complained that the police did not respond quickly enough.
Reitman said he had expected the criticism. "This level of intrusion into the neighborhood is not a good neighbor policy," he said. "We don't want bad relationships, and we will in fact work with our community to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't happen again."
Today, the administration, the Office of Student Activities, Concert Board, the TUPD, and some Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators will meet to decide how to hold outdoor concerts without upsetting neighbors.
According to Reitman, the University might retire Residential Quad events and instead use the Academic Quad or the President's Lawn. He said that the Residential Quad functions as an unplanned amphitheater, where sound bounces off the Olin Center and carries down the Medford hillside behind campus.
According to Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel, there may not be a perfect location for concerts on Tufts' hilltop campus, just a better one. "The acoustics here are amazing," Rubel said. "People behind Cousens can hear all the words at Spring Fling clearly."
Spring Fling and Fall Fest are the year's only major outdoor concerts. Neighbors said they did not expect Tufts to eliminate outdoor concerts altogether and would be willing to tolerate some disruption.
"I don't think anyone living next to a campus community expects there to be no outside activities," said Paul Cioffi, who lives on Capen St. with his wife and six children. During Fall Fest, the family tried to drown out lyrics with air conditioners and a television, but were unsuccessful.
Rubel said neighbors want to know when to expect noise. In the future, Community Relations may advertise in surrounding towns, posting dates and times for Tufts' outdoor concerts.
But the profanities that upset residents might be the most difficult problem to solve. The University could require performers to sign contracts prohibiting explicit lyrics, although Reitman said this would be less "doable" than other options.
The University will compile suggestions concerning events in a written proposal to the mayor before applying for its next outdoor concert permit in the spring. If future events cause disruptions like Fall Fest, the city could seek injunctions against the University or invoke local noise ordinances. "We don't want to force them into that situation," Rubel said.
Mark Rumley, Medford's solicitor, said he is optimistic that Tufts and the city will come to an agreement. "People that had a grievance or a complaint were heard [at the meeting]," he said. "I have every expectation that Tufts will make an appropriate response to the citizenry."
