Two weeks after University Trustees spoke with students on issues relating to diversity at an open forum, the jury remains out on whether the Dewick luncheon was an appropriate venue for confrontation.
President Larry Bacow, who has said that students should "make up their own minds" about whether the time was used constructively, told the Daily he will hold the open forum again when Trustees visit next February. Most agree the change was conceptually a positive one, but in the wake of this years experiment some administrators and students have questioned its practicality.
Sol Gittleman is one such person. The outgoing provost worries that students actions at Dewick may hurt the University in the long run, and said hes "still hoping that it didn't cost us too much money. "How do you get into the minds of those people who have given millions to the university when you throw it in their face? For those people here in the short term, there might be some long term damage," Gittleman said.
In conversations across campus and letters and Viewpoints in the Daily, the forum has become the centerpiece of a discussion on civility in debate, prompted in part by Bacows open letter to students. That email was sent the day the Trustees arrived on campus, and eerily foreshadowed the following day's events.
Those students in attendance at the forum - many of whom are active in cultural organizations on campus - largely say it was a success. Sophomore senator Ariana Flores serves on the Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs (CECA) committee and is a member of the Culture Coordinating Committee (CCC). She said labeling students who showed up as activists was inaccurate. "Activism connotes it was a protest or demonstration. It wasn't, it was an open forum of students," Flores said. Senator Pritesh Ghandi, who delivered a formal presentation to the Trustees at the luncheon, said that students who were not present made negative assumptions. He said that any time students of color come together, they get labeled "activists," and that many resent this label.
Despite this, the senator called the meeting "amazing." Not all involved in student government agree. Trustee Representative Sean McDermott pointed out that the Trustees don't deal with the issues at hand - their main focus is hiring the President,
approving tenure for faculty, long-term planning and fundraising. Because
of this limited involvement, he thought the Trustees were put in an
awkward position. Still, he acknowledged that after the meeting at Dewick
some of the Trustees showed interest in the problems presented by
students.
Because of that recognition, some students maintain that the meeting at Dewick was the best way for culture groups to get attention for their concerns. They allege the administration had refused to meet with them, and say the public nature of the Dewick forum was valuable to publicize their views.
McDermotts fellow Trustee representative, Tommy Calvert, saw the meeting - and its ramifications - as positive. "The cultural community has come more together," Calvert said. He said that culture groups had already worked together, and will continue to do so.
A notable development in cultural group relations is the re-emergence of the CCC. The committee, comprised of students from the across the University, includes the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate and different cultural groups. At the its first meeting, held on Feb. 13, students discussed what issues CCC should tackle and how to address them.
Issues mentioned included minority faculty and student retention, University reaction to hate crimes, creating an open forum between students and the administration, and the restart of the University Task Force on Race. Members of the CCC plan to write an open letter of explanation to the Trustees.
Bacow said the Trustees has "mixed reactions" to the Luncheon and that while the meeting will be repeated, its placement in a dining hall may not. He stressed the importance of experimenting with variations on the format to find the most effective way for Trustees to interact with students.
Gittleman agreed that the format could be beneficial. "Philosophically, the idea that Bacow had was an interesting idea and would've been a good format, if it hadn't been captured."
