A Tufts Daily poll that was administered to approximately 155 students last month offered some insights into students' sentiments about campus life.
Not everybody surveyed answered all the questions, and each percentage comes from those who did respond.
Students, particularly seniors, are fans of University President Lawrence Bacow: 26.97 percent of students rate his performance in office as "excellent," while 53.29 percent rank it as "good."
The other responses were 17.24 percent "fair" and 2.63 percent and .66 percent "poor" and "very poor," respectively.
Most students (54.48 percent) said that the social life on campus had not improved from the fall semester, but that it had not gotten worse either. Some thought the scene had perked up: 20 percent said it was better, while a few (4.83 percent) thought it was much better. Others thought the quality had taken a dive: 17.24 percent said it was worse and 3.45 percent said it was much worse.
Students are, however, largely hopeful about the new pub in Hotung: 59.73 percent of them thought it will make social life on campus "better" or "much better."
Some are not as optimistic: 40.27 said the pub will not affect the social scene. Still, nobody thought it will make things worse.
Outgoing Tufts Community Union (TCU) President Mitch Robinson said his interactions with students have confirmed that, for the most part, they are enthusiastic about the pub. "It's an opportunity for social life," he said.
Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman said he hopes that the new round of construction in Hotung that will take place this summer (see above article) will add even more to the social scene and make the caf?© "a vibrant and exciting place."
As clashes about The Primary Source's controversial satires continued over the course of the year, the Daily turned the spotlight on diversity-related concerns.
A majority of students said that Tufts is more racially diverse than their high schools: 39.47 percent, a plurality, said it is "much more" diverse and 24.34 percent said it is "more diverse." Other responses are: 17.76 percent said it is about the same, and a combined total of 18.42 percent said it is less diverse (8.55 "somewhat less diverse" and 9.87 "much less diverse").
Students also had the opportunity to share their feelings about The Primary Source's controversial Christmas carol. A total of 51.7 percent of students said they had a "strongly negative" reaction to it, while 17.69 percent of them registered a "negative" reaction. Some reacted neutrally (13.61 percent) or had not read or did not recall the carol (15.64 percent). Only two students listed a "strongly positive" or "positive" response (one of each) to the carol.
Overall, students thought Tufts did a satisfactory job responding to the carol: 42.48 percent said the response was "adequate." Others thought the administration did a "good" (27.45 percent) or "very good" (4.58 percent) job of responding. Others were not satisfied: 22.22 percent thought the administration handled the situation "poorly," and 3.27 percent "very poorly."
Reitman said that he is not surprised by these numbers because, given the controversial nature of the carol, it is impossible to please everybody.
While he called the administration's response, which he believes mixes condemnation with the protection of free speech, "a measured one," he admitted that some members of the community were in favor of upholding one of these ingredients to the neglect of the other.
Asked if they support student government or administration oversight of campus publications, students were divided. Some are against oversight: 23.65 "oppose" and 14.86 "strongly oppose" it. Some are not sure: 31.08 percent are "neutral" or "don't know." Other are in favor of oversight: 24.32 percent "support" it and 6.08 percent "strongly support" it.
"I'm not surprised people don't know," Robinson said of the high number of neutral responses. "I think people are just so tired with the conversation in general."
Overall, Robinson said he was happy with the results of the poll. "We have a lot of improvements to be made, but there were not a lot of responses that were extreme," he said.
Rob Silverblatt contributed reporting to this article.
