Leaders from various organizations on campus met with University President Lawrence Bacow and Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman yesterday for the First Annual Presidential Conversation.
Housing, diversity and community relations were all on the agenda for the event, which was sponsored by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate and the Dean of Students Office.
Reitman asked the students for feedback about the new housing lottery system, in which senior lottery numbers are the reciprocals of sophomore numbers. Junior year numbers are randomly assigned.
One student pointed out a potential flaw in the system based on personal experience. With a "mediocre" lottery number sophomore year, she will receive a mediocre number her senior year as well.
Reitman conceded that the system isn't perfect. "It should be reviewed," he said. "I commit to that."
Bacow took the opportunity to get student feedback on whether the long-term construction of additional dorms, coupled with a requirement that students live on campus for the entirety of their college careers, would make Tufts a "better place." Responses were mixed.
One student argued that it would be a good idea. "On-campus living is an essential part of college," he said. "Living in a dorm of any kind is a unique experience."
Others felt that living off campus can be valuable because it can prepare students for a time when they will need to be more independent.
Another student offered a compromise, suggesting that administrators should look into grouping the off-campus students together into one area.
Apart from housing, general prices and fees on campus also provided fodder for discussion.
One student said she felt that despite the tuition she pays to attend Tufts, the university is "penny pinching." She referenced the cost of parking and the charge for getting a new ID and getting back into a locked room as examples.
Bacow, although unaware that there is a charge for replacing an ID and unlocking a door, looked at the complaint from an economic standpoint. "If we don't charge for room and new ID services, they get overused," he said.
As for parking costs, he argued that "parking is a truly scarce resource on this campus." Also, it is more environmentally friendly for students to use public transportation instead of having their own cars at Tufts. In this vein, "We're trying to discourage people from bringing cars," he said.
The conversation then turned to the topic of diversity on campus. "The diversity issue at Tufts is overplayed," one student said. "We're not a racist campus."
He identified "self segregation" as the biggest problem regarding diversity on the Hill.
Although many others echoed this sentiment, Bacow said that he thinks "the term self-segregation is a red herring." For classes, labs, athletic teams, musical groups and a variety of other student organizations, "students of all different backgrounds come together," he said.
According to Bacow, "college is a time when people discover who they are." He said that part of this discovery may include "gravitating towards people like you."
One student drew a distinction between sitting next to a person in class and actually knowing that person. Tufts needs to "say it's not enough to sit next to them, you have to know them," she said.
Another student felt that the "active citizenship mantra" of Tufts needs to be "tied in with what we do here on campus." Although he acknowledged that Tufts hosts many different forums to discuss issues such as diversity, he said that "the same people come every time."
The challenge, then, is to find a way to reach the entire school. One possible solution, he said, is to include mandatory diversity-related events or programs for incoming freshman during orientation.
The concept of a mandatory event was not without problems, however. Bacow said that administration-mandated conversations have "far less power" than those initiated by students.
One student pointed out the "two-week window" at the beginning of freshman year when it's considered "okay" to go up to anyone and start a conversation. He recommended that Tufts try to "recreate those situations" in a less contrived manner than a discussion about diversity.
According to TCU President Mitch Robinson, who played a key role in organizing the event, the conversation was a success. While having a viable discussion required limiting attendance to leaders of groups, he said that it was at least a good start.
"We are fortunate enough to have a dean of students and president who are interested in [talking] with the students," he said. "If anything, President Bacow and Dean Reitman left with a sense of the needs of at least part of the student body, if not the entire student body."
