Trustees to hold invite-only forum

In an effort to improve the student body's relationship with the University's governing organization, students will get a chance to discuss their ideas and concerns with three members of the Board of Trustees at a forum next Monday.

The forum was organized by the three representatives to the Board of Trustees from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate _ Matthew Kane, Sarah Sandison, and Raji Iyer _ and is by invitation only .

The forum's audience is designed to be a "representative cross-section of Tufts," Kane said. "Because of the sheer limitations of the room, we had to limit the number of invitations to the event," he said.

The actual selection of students will be left to their respective organizations. Invitations were sent to both formal organizations funded by the Senate and informal student groups, such as the Greek system, sports teams, the Ex College, and the Institute for Global Leadership, thereby ensuring "a wide variety of perspectives," Kane said.

Kane, however, did say that not everyone was going to be able to go. Some segments of the campus, will not have specified representatives attending. "We wanted to make it as democratic and student driven as possible," Kane said. "We had to pick...at some point there was no way to be totally impartial."

Organizers will attempt to avoid the confrontational tone of last February's trustee luncheon with students in Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall. Students' aggressive questioning caused Board Chairman Nathan Gantcher to visit the hospital after the meeting, Trustee Norman Silverman said earlier.

Three trustees will attend the forum: Dana Callow (LA '74), Bernard Harleston, and Irwin Heller (LA '67). Callow, a partner and founder of Boston Millennia Partners, and Harleston, a psychologist and former Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Tufts, are newly-elected trustees. Heller has served on the Board since 1998, and garnered experience with student-trustee relations during his chairmanship of the presidential search committee two years ago.

Students unable to obtain invitations via student groups can compete for a limited number of at-large seats through a lottery. Tables will be set up in the dining halls and the campus center on Tuesday to take students' entries.

A limited number of administrators specializing in student services have also been invited to the forum.

Many students are not familiar with the workings of the Board of Trustees, a problem that the Senate trustee representatives are trying to combat. The trustees focus on matters such as fiduciary responsibility, academic affairs, buildings and grounds, and the hiring and firing of important University personnel.

"I think there really isn't a strong relationship with [the trustees]," sophomore Isabel Alonso said. A student-trustee forum would be helpful "because it allows one to converse about different issues face-to-face," Alonso said.

The Senate trustee representatives will serve as the event's hosts, and they will welcome the crowd and set a number of group rules, designed to let as many people speak as possible.

The trustee representatives will also remind attendees that "the tone of the evening is cordial," said Trustee Secretary Linda Dixon, who assisted in the event's planning.

At Monday's forum, "people are welcome to speak their minds," Kane said, adding that he anticipates a "positive, upbeat, open event."

The forum's format will allow open conversation between students and trustees, and will be followed by a brief reception. Though "problems probably won't get resolved on the spot," Dixon said, the purpose of the gathering is to allow for an exchange of ideas between students and trustees.

There are no plans to make student-trustee forums a permanent addition to campus life. Administrators will evaluate the success of Monday's forum before making any further long-term plans.

The last time students were able to extensively voice their concern to the trustees was during the search for a new president after John DiBiaggio's retirement. As chair of the presidential search committee, Heller held open forums for both students and faculty on the Boston, Medford, and Grafton campuses.

At the November meeting of the Board of Trustees, Kane made a presentation to the Academic Affairs Committee on the relationship between students and trustees and advocated "more and better communication between them," he said.

The decision to hold the forum was made by President Larry Bacow and Provost Jamshed Bharucha over winter break. "The president and trustees are responsive to the student desire to have more interaction with the trustees," Dixon said.

"The topic of communication and dialogue between trustees and students has been on the table all year long," Kane said. "This forum is really a culminating point in that dialogue."

The forum will take place from 7-9 p.m. in Barnum 104 on Monday, Jan. 27.