No policy changes planned in response to fire

With many trying to find someone or something to blame for the death of junior Wendy Carman, it is becoming apparent that there are no easy solutions to the problem off-campus housing. Administrators said this week that Tufts will not be changing its housing policies after the fire which claimed junior Wendy Carman's life.

The state of housing in the area around Tufts has been poor for years, but the Medford Building Authority says that there is not much it can do to improve conditions.

The loft where Carman lived did not meet building regulations for a habitable space, according to Medford Building Commissioner Paul Mochi. The only way out was via a stairway, which Mochi said does not meet the building code, which requires a structure to have at least two egresses.

"The off-campus housing situation is tough," Mochi said. "The only time we can go in is when [residents] call." Neighborhood inspections are impossible.

Students who live in rundown, and sometimes even dangerous housing situations do not call authorities for help because they are not aware of their rights, senior Emily Bernstein said. In the house where Bernstein lived last year, the water heater leaked, there were electrical fires and water seeped from floor to floor.

"Maybe we should be better educated, but we're not home buyers," Berstein said. "You just don't know what to look for." Bernstein said the University should take a more proactive role in teaching students what they need to know to live off-campus.

Amie Prudhomme, a spokesman for the Hillsides-Tufts Area Neighborhood Association agreed. "Tufts says it's not the surrogate parents, [but the University] does have to take some responsibilities," Prudhomme said. He feels that Tufts should not enroll more students than it can house.

There are many others clamoring for Tufts to take a more active role in helping students with their off-campus living arrangements, but Dean of Students Reitman does not know what more the University can do. "We can offer advice, we can provide checklists, we can be helpful," Reitman said. "Ultimately, it's always going to come down to your own continued vigilance to ensure your safety."

The Office of Off-Campus Housing, which helps students find non-university accommodation, has an unstable history. The office was dismantled in the late 1990s, and a coordinator was hired to reinstate it in the spring of 2000. The coordinator left last year, and the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) did not initially see a need to hire someone new for the position. But ResLife Director Yolanda King, who assumed her post at the beginning of this year, said she hopes to fill the position by the end of February.

ResLife plans to hold information sessions for students this semester to help inform them of off-campus safety issues. It already provides checklists on its website for students seeking off-campus housing.

ResLife has been planning the changes since the beginning of last year, and the office has not made any decisions in response to Carman's death.

"We already had an action plan outlined before the unfortunate incident," King said. "There are no immediate changes that are going to take place," other than those already outlined. King did say that she was open to suggestions, and that ResLife is prepared and willing to provide students with more assistance and guidance.

The University is facing attacks from the Boston Globe and neighborhood groups for its student housing policy. Globe columnist Eileen McNamara wrote in yesterday's edition that Tufts' housing policy supported greedy and careless landlords by forcing some students to live off-campus.

From Prudhomme's experience in Medford, students do not take responsibility for their houses, from garbage collection to parking regulations to fire safety. He said that Tufts should not accept more students than it is able to house on campus, especially after a death to a member of the student body.

But such thinking is not realistic in the short term, according to Reitman. "I think they're going to feel the University should provide students all the housing... [but] there are no universities in the city that don't have neighborhoods provide some of the housing," he said.

Neither Reitman nor King believes that there will be a significant change in the number of students seeking on-campus housing, despite Carman's death. Reitman said that next year will be much like last year, with more seniors wanting to live on campus, forcing juniors to either go abroad or live off campus.

But most of the current sophomores interviewed for this article did not have many safety concerns about off-campus living.

"I feel as though it was an unfortunate accident, but I don't think that it changes much for me," sophomore Laura Frye said. The fire "will definitely raise awareness among landlords and I'm sure houses that are unsafe will be remedied as a result."

Mochi said that the type of residence that Carman was in is by no means typical of the area. "The particular case was fortunately unique... I can't remember a situation similar to what happened to this poor girl," Mochi said.

But some students believe their personal feelings or the state of off-campus housing in the end do not matter. "It is not like I have many other options," sophomore Caitlin White said. "Where would I live if I didn't live off-campus next year? I'm forced to be comfortable living in an off-campus apartment."