Like all other Tuftonians, we are very aware of current campus issues: racist graffiti, diversity (or lack thereof), sexual harassment, assault and battery, Asian American Curriculum Transformation, Jumbo II vandalism, and the clubbing of baby seals. However, these all pale in comparison to the real issue here. Let's face it folks, we need to stop beating around the proverbial bush. What bush, you may ask? The bush that is at the root of all of these other campus problems.
That's right, we're talking about your safety - the safety of every person, every living thing that sets foot on this campus. Even those who merely peruse the Tufts website are at risk of falling prey to this menacing evil. We're talking about the unsafe Dowling Hall elevators. How can we expect to solve hate crimes, build a new dorm, crack down on racism, or name a psychology building, if we cannot even maintain safe elevators on campus? We know we speak for the entire Tufts community when we say, we cannot expect anything to get done while our basic right to safety is threatened.
What's wrong with the Dowling elevators, you may wonder? Well, we say to you, what's right with them? Ask any observant elevator passenger and they will readily admit that the elevators display a safety certificate that expired in June 2001! Furthermore, the certificate was supposed to be renewed 90 days prior to its expiration - for all you non-math majors out there, that's 3 months...we're talking March 2001! In case you haven't noticed, it's March 2002- one year later, and still no new safety certificate!
How can you claim to be concerned with liberty and justice when you remain silent about what really matters: unsafe elevators! How can we get anywhere in our fight for freedom if the elevator is breaking? Again, we cannot.
You may be wondering how two concerned students found themselves embroiled in such a battle for civil rights. Well, it all began back in September. At that point, the certificate was in its youth of expiration, a mere six months overdue. Recognizing this immediate threat to the Tufts community, we took action. We submitted a complaint to the Dowling Hall Suggestion Box. This little known bastion of truth and justice served us well for the time being. However, we were fraught with sorrow when our cries for safety went unanswered.
Always continuing in our pursuit for justice, we would not let this minor detail hold us back. Yes folks, we took it to the student services desk. You may think those people are just there to stamp your add/drop forms. But no, they represent the people behind the scenes who are responsible for your life.
Like puppets on strings, they are mere toys in the hands of your "trusty" deans and administrators. One thing they are certainly not, however, is concerned with your safety. After feigning sympathy by recounting numerous tales of elevator malfunction and woe, they pointed us to the Tufts University Police Department. They merely dismissed us in our quest for justice, while flagrantly disregarding the safety of all Jumbos worldwide. Because, once a Jumbo, always a Jumbo.
We believe it was Adam Carlis who said on this page, "Justice delayed is justice denied." Oh wait, did we say Adam Carlis...We meant the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Well justice has waited long enough. It's time to take action and it is going down. Not just the metaphorical "down." It is really going down this time. Just like those elevators.
We have anticipated our dissenters who may just tell us to take the stairs or walk down the hill to avoid the unsafe elevators. Well we ask them: Would you have told Rosa Parks to get off that bus and walk to work? We didn't think so.
In the spirit of the other Tufts social action movements, we too must have a catchy acronym. We considered TSAD (Tufts Students Against Dowling-elevators) and SLAM (Safe Lift Association of Massachusetts), but these seemed too clich?©. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you SEAT (Safe Elevators At Tufts). Bold, yes. Simple, hardly. This issue is complex and not to be underestimated. Justice will prevail.
This cause has already begun to garner international attention. Why did the chaplaincy really arrange to have Desmond Tutu come to campus? To speak on truth and reconciliation...and unsafe elevators. Why does everyone want tickets to hear Bill Clinton speak at Gantcher? To hear details about Monica Lewinsky and elevator safety. What will Pierre Omidyar speak about at graduation, you may be wondering. He will speak of his Tufts experience, eBay, active citizenship, and of course the Dowling elevators.
We're not asking for much. We're only asking for our safety to be returned. We had it last March, we want it this March. If our calls for liberty, justice, and safety still fall on deaf ears, we are committed to seeing this through. There will be banners on the quad - 5000 have spoken, where's our safety certificate? There will be candlelight vigils on the library roof - Take Back the Elevators.
There will be chalkings - Dowling Elevators are unsafe. There will be cannon painting - only safe nonviolent blocking techniques will be used. There will be a cappella benefit concerts at Hillel - all proceeds going to the families of victims of unsafe elevators. There will be forums in Hotung - TFA (Tufts Feminine Alliance) vs. Dowling elevators. There will be elevator culture reps - and they will vote for a safer Tufts University. There will even be 6 am jogs with President Bacow.
To be sure, this is not a problem that will go away by itself. We must take action, and it must be now. To quote Essence, Tufts' only a cappella group o' soul, "The only thing we did wrong, was stay in the wilderness a day too long...The only thing we did right, was the day we began to fight. Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on. Hold on." So we implore the Tufts community to hold on and keep its eyes on this prize. Justice will prevail; the sweet smell of victory is in the air.
Rachel Hoff is a sophomore majoring in political science with a minor in Philosophy. Emily Rhodes is a sophomore majoring in psychology with a minor in urban studies.
