Bacow ratings up from previous poll

Student approval of President Larry Bacow has risen overall since last fall, though a large percentage of students seem to be indifferent to his role at the University, according to a recent Daily poll.

In a survey conducted last Wednesday during the open block, The Tufts Daily polled 375 randomly selected undergraduate students. Polling stations were located at the Mayer Campus Center, the Carmichael and Dewick-MacPhie dining halls, Tisch Library and in Miller and Lewis dorms.

Survey respondents were asked to rate a number of national and campus issues on a scale of one to five. The numbers corresponded respectively to a response of "strongly disagree," "somewhat disagree," "neither disagree nor agree," "somewhat agree" and "strongly agree." The survey has a margin of error of 4.4%.

One question asked students to rate Bacow's job performance at Tufts. Thirty-eight percent said they approved of his job performance, 17 percent of those who approved said they did so strongly. Eighteen percent said they did not approve, six percent of whom strongly disapproved.

Nevertheless, 45 percent said they neither approved nor disapproved of Bacow's performance and some students can see why this number was so high.

"I believe that most students have no idea what President Bacow does or what initiatives he supports. Most students have no connection to him whatsoever," senior Matt Gasbarro said. "Bacow is a great president in terms of business and administration and I know he cares deeply for his students, but he comes across as impersonal."

Last October's survey revealed that thirty-three percent of students approved of Bacow's job performance. The number of students strongly disapproving of his performance as University president has remained exactly the same.

Two questions referred to student involvement at the University. One asked students to evaluate to what extent they take advantage of the academic opportunities outside of class offered at Tufts. Twenty-one percent said they did not while 61 percent said they did.

The other question asked students how involved they are in campus extracurricular activities. Sixty-six percent of polled students feel that they are involved in such activities, 30 percent of whom feel they are strongly involved. Upperclassmen comprised the largest percentage of self-assessed students who are highly involved in extracurricular activities. Only 17 percent responded that they are not involved in non-academic activities.

When asked to consider the statement "I am more politically active than last year," respondents' answers were strewn across the board. Eleven percent "strongly agreed" with the statement in regards to themselves while 12 percent "strongly disagreed". Thirty-seven percent were indifferent.

Additionally, the poll asked surveyed students to select one of four choices as to who they would vote for if the Presidential elections were held that day -- "President Bush", "the Democratic candidate", "other" or an option designated "not sure".

Sixty-seven percent said they would vote for the Democratic candidate while only ten percent claimed they would vote for the incumbent. In every single undergraduate class, there were more males than females who said they would vote for Bush and more females than males who said they would vote for the Democratic candidate. Twenty-two percent of those polled chose "other" or "not sure".

Many students found these results to be predictable.

"Not surprising," junior Rory Giffen said. "We are college students in the Boston area [studying] at a liberal college -- who would have thought?"