Starting this semester, student groups have been allowed to advertise off the hill for their on-campus events. The change came after members of the student advisory group to the University College of Citizenship and Public Service (UCCPS) lobbied administrators to expand the advertising base for campus events.
Cindy Chang, a former Omidyar scholar, confronted the limitation last semester when she wanted to advertise an organization event off campus. She contacted Jodie Nealley, director of student activities, who explained the restrictions.
The rules made some sense, Chang said, since inviting people outside of the Tufts community made organizations liable for their actions.
"I can understand that since you're inviting or at least expecting a huge group, you take a lot of responsibility," she said.
Still, some student groups were frustrated that advertising rules prohibited them from reaching out to the surrounding public. Though certain events, such as the Leonard Carmichael Society's annual Kid's Day - which has brought children to campus for the past 38 years - do include the local communities, many other campus events could be beneficial to the public, Chang said.
"This rule doesn't allow outreach," she said, citing an event she would have liked to see made public. "There was a community health forum and we couldn't make it available to a larger audience."
Chang and Brad Crotty worked with Nealley and Dean of Students Bruce Reitman to allow off-campus advertising starting this past summer. And while the result was new regulations permitting student groups to advertise outside of Tufts, the administrators took precautions to ensure that organizations could not misuse the opportunity. All ads must be approved by the Office of Student Activities, and events must be educational or helpful to the outside community to be advertised off campus. Advertising for fraternity parties, for example, is not permissible.
Barbara Rubel, the University's director of community relations, also participated in the initiative, and said that advertising for campus events in the surrounding communities is great for outreach, but could lead to problems.
"You invite lots of people, and if more people show up than you expected, it can be a problem," she said. "The room you hired may not be big enough, or you may not have enough food, seats, etc."
Problems of another kind stemmed from this semester's Fall Fest concert, when curse-laden lyrics from rapper GZA spurred protest from local residents who could hear the residential quad-based music from their houses. Chang said the incident was indicative of the need to be concerned about offending local residents as a result of campus events.
"You have to make sure that [the event] doesn't offend anyone," Chang said. "Otherwise, it would be a bad reputation for the organization."
Rubel, who was not aware of any organization that had advertised off campus this semester, said that groups must carefully consider what they stand to gain by advertising an event to the larger public.
