When Salman Rushdie comes to Tufts next Tuesday, the number of students who will be able to see him is far less than the number of students who should have such an opportunity.
As an internationally renowned novelist and activist his views and opinions should be disseminated as widely as possible. It runs parallel to much of the work Rushdie has done for the advancement of literature and promotion of literary fellowship.
Space has always been a constraint for Tufts, from housing pressures to limited availability of classrooms during peak blocks. Room reservation for speakers is no exception.
Tufts has 4,843 undergraduates. Many of them are bright, worldly students who would be interested in hearing a noted author and thinker such as Rushdie.
The University made only 400 student tickets available for the event. Demand quickly swamped supply. Tickets were exhausted within 30 minutes of being on sale, leaving more than 90% of Tufts undergraduates in the cold.
The number of students who were turned away or frustrated by an impossible hope of receiving tickets is impossible to determine. But if we realize that a ticket was allocated every four and a half seconds after the gates opened, there is clearly a significant interest.
Few events on the hill can draw this many students - Tufts must be accommodating on these occasions. Events leading up the Rushdie event show the University has been lagging in this regard.
Rapid distribution of tickets occurred after only brief notice. Only 17 hours passed between the ticket sale announcement from Dean Glaser and the beginning of distribution at 10:30 a.m. the next morning.
Tufts students may be addicted to e-mail, but this leaves little time for coordinating and planning between students.
Students with 10:30 a.m. classes are equal to those with no class before 1:30 p.m. on a Friday.
Amidst the numerous errors in planning related to the Rushdie event, there emerges one question: why can't more people listen to Rushdie speak?
Tufts is able to accommodate a significant number of students each year for the Fares lecture. There were 2,600 student tickets available for the Hillary Clinton speech last fall, more than half the Medford student population.
While regulations and red tape with the town of Medford mean a change of venue might not be possible, the University should figure out a way for large crowds to see significant speakers on campus.
The only reasonable possibility to accomplish this goal is a simulcast. Dean Glaser should organize a second seating room. Given the predictably high demand for Rushdie why was this not pre-arranged?
Lecture Series President Ethan Stillman said this would be easy to coordinate. For the Spike Lee program, there were no additional fees or legal issues involved in establishing a closed circuit broadcast in Jackson Gym.
The cost of bringing Rushdie to additional students is the setup fees for the simulcast. This is a negligible cost compared to the price of a speaker.
It is their obligation both to the students and speakers to ensure all who want to hear Rushdie are able.
