THUMBNAIL: News Analysis
Last semester, University President Larry Bacow unveiled a massive administrative restructuring that he promised would save money, reduce bureaucracy and streamline the "top-heavy" administration at Tufts. Among the most significant changes was the elimination of the office of the vice president of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering - left vacant last summer when then-Vice President Mel Bernstein left Tufts to accept a post at Brandeis.
But with Bernstein gone and his post abolished, many students are concerned that efforts to improve diversity at Tufts, once championed by the vice president's office, will lose momentum.
The responsibility of promoting diversity lies now in the hands of Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Ernst and Dean of Engineering Ioannis Miaoulis - the two offices that have expanded to fill the vice presidential void. According to administrators, the task is in good hands.
"It's all still there," Provost Sol Gittleman said of the funding and programs established for diversity issues. The Office of Diversity Education and Development remains at full staff. The Office of Equal Opportunity, along with the President's office, deals with diversity-related issues as well. But some students aren't so sure that Bernstein's efforts are being adequately continued.
Pan-African Alliance President sophomore Abdul Farah will meet with Margery Davies, Director of Diversity Education and Development for Arts and Sciences, later this week. Among his concerns: student-faculty diversity and the "atmosphere that The Primary Source creates."
"A lot of people are very upset in this community," he said, adding that his goals for the meeting were "to discuss diversity issues and ways to make this campus more tolerant of different people from different backgrounds." According to Farah, a lack of diversity of curriculum is also a problem at Tufts.
"This problem is not unique to the black community," he said. "We are willing to work with other groups... we have the same goals: racial, ethnic, income, regional, and ideological diversity."
The topic of diversity has long been an issue at Tufts, and many students have complained about a lack of diversity in the student body, the faculty, and the curriculum. Specifically, students this year have pressed for more inclusion of Asian-American Studies in the curriculum.
Four years ago, Bernstein emerged from Ballou to face a crowd of students dissatisfied with Tufts' commitment to diversity. Tensions had come to a head after Todd McFadden, then-director of the African American Center, left Tufts in frustration. Over the following months and years, Bernstein held numerous community forums on diversity issues, and pledged a $200,000 "Diversity Fund" to address student concerns.
Since its inception, the money in the fund has largely gone towards meeting specific needs of the six on-campus culture houses and for bringing speakers to campus. The program has also been involved in making culture administrators full-time employees.
Debate at the forums focused on minority admissions, methods for increasing minority enrollment at Tufts, alumni gift giving, the sentiments of minority students at Tufts, and faculty hiring and retention.
The commitment to the fund remains "as strong as ever," according to Davies. "I don't think there has been any change at all in terms of commitment for admitting a diverse student body and in hiring a diverse faculty," she said. "I have seen the same commitment by Deans Ernst and Miaoulis."
In December of 1996, a Task Force on Race was formed by the Vice President's office to discuss race relations in response to campus demands. The committee also made several recommendations on the recruitment of minority faculty. At that time, Bernstein commented in a Daily interview, "We are committed to change."
Bernstein was involved more recently during April Open House last year, when Tufts' Transgendered, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Collective's chalkings were removed from various locations on campus. Bernstein responded with a Letter to the Editor in the Daily that acknowledged the action as "not in keeping with the spirit of free speech on campus, a long-standing institutional policy."
