The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate unanimously passed a resolution Sunday night calling on University President Lawrence Bacow to "delay any policy decisions" in relation to the Task Force on Freedom of Expression until students have a satisfactory chance to contribute to the group's recommendations.
The move came after the Senate passed an initial resolution on March 30 endorsing recommendations made to the task force by the Senate's Committee on Community Values, a committee organized this semester with the goal of providing student input to the task force.
During discussions on both resolutions, a number of senators expressed concerns that the administration and the task force have not adequately considered undergraduates' views on freedom of expression at Tufts.
The task force, which is made up of seven faculty administrators from Tufts' three campuses, has met with over 15 Tufts groups, including the TCU Senate and the Group of Six, which is comprised of the Africana Center, the Asian American Center, the International Center, the Latino Center, the LGBT Center and the Women's Center, to collect student and faculty input.
After collecting enough information, the task force will construct a university-wide policy statement on freedom of expression that will be presented to the Board of Trustees.
Last week's resolution, which passed by a vote of 19-3 with no abstentions, asked the task force to consider the recommendations of the Senate Committee on Community Values. It also provided a definition of freedom of expression and encouraged a broader, more proactive approach to preventing harassment, although it did not define
harassment.
"The general consensus [among senators] is that members of the Tufts community should be allowed to say what they want, but the caveat is that there has to be support for people who feel victimized or hurt," freshman Senator Chas
Morrison said.
Sunday's resolution presented the opinion that the task force's potential recommendations "cannot incorporate a satisfactory amount of student input by the end of the 2007-2008 academic year." It passed unanimously with one abstention.
Despite yesterday's Senate resolution that asked the task force to give more time to collecting student input, Task Force Chair Jeswald Salacuse, the Henry J. Braker professor of commercial law of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, hopes the group's job will be done by May.
"We were given no deadline, but we would like to finish this possibly by the end of the semester," Salacuse said. "While we've devoted a reasonable amount of time [to the task force], you have to come to a point when you make a decision."
Salacuse talked to the Senate at last Sunday's meeting, reminding senators that the task force's findings are not the final say.
"[The task force's] job is not to legislate, but to make a recommendation to the President," Salacuse said.
In a working draft of the recommendations that it provided to the Senate at the meeting it attended, the task force explained a necessity for a new policy.
"[F]reedom of expression and inquiry are necessary but not sufficient conditions for learning to take place," the draft said.
"[T]here must also exist on every campus an environment of civility, tolerance, dialogue, and a respect for the orderly functioning of the processes of education."
The working draft also states that although freedom of expression is important, expression must not slander reputations, plagiarize other scholars or obstruct a person's right to speak. The draft also called for mutual respect among students.
If enacted by the Board of Trustees, the proposed policy language regarding freedom of expression at Tufts will apply across all Tufts' campuses. According to Salacuse, each school will enact different disciplinary practice.
"We want to hear from you, so any document we create will represent your ... views," Salacuse told senators.
Yet despite Salacuse's promises to include student input in the task force's considerations, some senators expressed disappointment that there are no student representatives on the task force.
The Senate created the Committee on Community Values after Bacow rejected a November Senate resolution suggesting that student representatives be on the Task Force.
"I was disappointed with [Bacow's] decision because you can't create a policy that affects students without student input," said junior Elton Sykes, who chairs the committee. "While the task force is trying to collect student input by meeting once with the Senate and once with the Group of Six, it's still not enough."
Senator Matt Shapanka, a junior, said Bacow had previously agreed to put at least the TCU President on the Task Force, but later reneged the offer.
"I'm really disappointed that the resolution was never implemented, but that is the president's prerogative," Shapanka said. "The task force's job needs to be done carefully and done well, and there needs to be a broad based representation of students."
Morrison agreed with Sykes and Shapanka's concerns.
"I feel that there should be some student representation on the task force, even if it's only one student," Morrison said. "While we understand the president's concerns that the task force needs to be a manageable size, the whole discussion of freedom of expression and freedom from harassment disproportionately impacts the undergraduate institution."
Yet Salacuse disagreed with Morrison's sentiments about the role of the undergraduate population in this discussion.
"While there are certain special features of the undergraduate education, the issue of freedom of expression is a concern to everyone at Tufts and it applies to each school and campus," Salacuse said.
While Salacuse acknowledged "there is always the possibility that [the task force] won't come to a consensus," he said, "so far it has been working very well."
