Task Force releases final report

After nearly two years of intensive study of college life at Tufts, the Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience was scheduled to release its final report last week.

The report contains several proposals that would dramatically change the University if they are approved by donors, administrators, and faculty. Members of the Task Force expect some of the first proposals to be solidified by the end of next year; others will take longer to surface as the report addresses the direction Tufts could take over the next decade.

The Task Force was formed by President Larry Bacow soon after assuming his position in 2001 and charged with evaluating undergraduate life at Tufts. Comprised of administrators, faculty, and students and supported by a Student Advisory Committee (SAC), the Task Force held several meetings, interviews, and forums as it formulated its proposals.

Tufts' curriculum was one area the Task Force deemed in need of attention. The unreleased report recommends that Tufts "emphasize communication skills over all four years" by including a four-year writing requirement and additional public speaking instruction.

The Task Force report also proposes restructuring "the curricular requirements to reflect Tufts' educational goals," though any change to the curriculum is subject to faculty approval.

"It's really up to the faculty to make these changes," Task Force chair Gilbert Metcalf said, but added that "there is a widespread view that these recommendations should be taken seriously."

The institution of a college system will likely be the most difficult to implement of the Task Force's proposals. It calls for the division of the Medford campus into four districts, complete with separate advising and programming - and would require substantial funding.

"Clearly it's going to be very expensive," Metcalf said. "Bold ideas can be expensive."

Bacow expects that the University will need to increase fundraising to pay for the Task Force's proposals. "I'm not surprised that it will require resources," he said. The Task Force, Bacow said, was told to make proposals in anticipation of the next capital campaign.

"This would be a bold idea that we hope would captivate the imagination of donors," Metcalf said.

Another expensive proposal is a need-blind admissions policy. Bacow said he "immediately embraced" the idea of a need-blind policy and that the administration and alumni support the goal as well. "It's a commitment," Bacow said.

According to Metcalf, the University "will need serious help" to implement need-blind admissions but the idea was so compelling "that we hope that donors step up for it."

The University, however, has yet to set a timetable for the next capital campaign. "It is a function of developing a clear picture of our priorities," Bacow said. "We also need an economic climate that is conducive to a capital campaign."

But not all of the proposals, such as improving undergraduate-alumni relations, will require major funding. Through building a comprehensive database of Tufts alumni, the Alumni Association can help Career Services link graduating students who are looking for jobs and alumni who are already in the field. Career Services, Metcalf said, should be "a bridge between students and alumni."

In addition, Career Services should create an advisory board comprised of students, faculty, and alumni, Metcalf said. This board would serve as "a sounding board and a source of ideas," he said.

A proposed summer reading program would also link alumni and undergraduates. The summer before their freshman year, students would receive a book to read from the Alumni Association with a message reading something akin to "Your intellectual odyssey begins now," according to Metcalf. Whether the book would be required reading for a freshman course is "a detail that the faculty would have to work out," he said.

Although many of the Task Force's proposals will not be carried out for some time, some of the recommendations have already been implemented. Provost Jamshed Bharucha's Summer Scholars program, which provides undergraduates the opportunity to do research with professors during the summer, is an outgrowth of certain Task Force recommendations.

"We're thrilled to see that the administration is already picking up on one of our recommendations," Metcalf said.

The decision to include a resident faculty member and a number of common spaces in the proposed Gordon dormitory was influenced by Task Force discussions. The creation of Tufts High Table, a monthly faculty dinner seminar led by University Professor Daniel Dennett, also came out of a Task Force suggestion.

Students who participated in the Task Force felt that the University is already seeing the benefits of their work and that more would come.

"The Task Force was truly a unique opportunity for Tufts to reassess the whole undergraduate experience and make large-scale changes, which is something that universities rarely do," said junior Charline Han, a member of the Task Force and one of three co-chairs of the SAC.

The SAC attempted to incorporate the ideas of all types of Tufts students. "I felt that as an engineer I'd have something to offer being how engineering students are a minority in comparison to liberal arts students," senior SAC member Danny Pierre said.

But most of the students involved in the Task Force will not be at Tufts to witness the implementation of their proposals as they are either graduating or rising seniors.

"Regardless of whether I see them or not, I am proud of our accomplishments and if nothing else, the experience of being on the Task Force alone has enhanced my opinion of Tufts and its faculty members and students," said junior James-Christian Blockwood, a Task Force member and SAC Co-Chair.