A group of students working toward improving residential life is one step closer to achieving its goals.
Tufts Students for the Improvement of Residential Life and Community, a committee that has over 300 members in its Facebook.com group, met with Executive Administrative Dean of Arts and Sciences Leah McIntosh on April 14.
Committee head Shabazz Stuart, a freshman, said the group is more of a movement than a traditional organization. Students formed it in January as "a way to take people's frustration and channel it in a productive way," he said.
In response to a report written by the committee in February concerning the state of Tufts' residential life and campus community, McIntosh invited core members of the group to meet with her, according to freshman Chas Morrison, a member of the committee.
"[The administration is] thrilled to get student input," said Morrison, a Tufts Community Union senator.
Stuart said that the meeting with the dean was very successful, although he refused to comment on the details of their discussion. "She was very receptive to our ideas," he said.
McIntosh told the Daily that she was "absolutely very interested in [the committee's] suggestions" and said that she will continue to talk to the group and any other groups that have suggestions. She was also particularly interested in hearing from the Senate on the matter. The Senate passed a resolution on March 30 endorsing the committee's recommendations.
The organization's focuses span from improving residential facilities, particularly dormitory common rooms, to increasing the sense of community on campus.
"Most of Tufts' residential facilities offer an impersonal atmosphere that resembles cheap hotels," Stuart said. He cited the source of the problem as mistaken priorities on the administration's part.
"The common rooms are only the symptom of a larger issue at Tufts about how the school focuses on residential life," he said.
Several weeks ago, the committee uncovered a report written five years ago by Tufts' Task Force on the Undergraduate Experience. The task force was organized when President Lawrence Bacow came into office and suggested the need to identify "what we're good at and where we need to improve," according to Morrison.
The task force's report addresses various aspects of university life, offering suggestions for a need-blind undergraduate admissions program and for improving the campus' sense of community by increasing the number of social events on campus.
The report also recommended developing a four-college residential system. Each college, according to the report, would be equipped with its own residential facilities, advisors and faculty members.
The report's residence-related recommendations were never taken to heart, according to Stuart. "It was announced as dead on arrival and described as the 'Harry Potter system,'" he said.
Despite the report's failures, uncovering its recommendations has boosted the student group's efforts.
Sam Wallis, a member of the committee and a freshman senator, said the five-year-old report was remarkable because it closely mirrored most of the issues Stuart had brought up in his report, written in February.
A major difference between the two reports was the extent of the recommendations put out by the task force, Morrison said.
"Quite frankly, the original report goes above and beyond what we suggest," he said. "The new report is more micro-level; the original focuses more on the big picture."
Wallis added that the old report has acted as a framework for much of the Senate's work in the past years.
Improving the sense of community on campus has been an initiative for the Senate, Wallis said. "Students feel disjointed and disconnected from one another," he said.
Stuart said that the committee and the Senate have been working together closely.
Both Stuart and Wallis agreed that the administration was receptive to their report and ideas. "Administrators are very willing to listen when something is put down in writing," Stuart said.
McIntosh, however, did not acknowledge any plans to act on the committee's proposals. "It's a little too early," she said.
Stuart insisted that improved residential life is a cornerstone of a successful Tufts community, adding that it is integral to creating an active alumni body. "Students should have reasons to come back after graduating," he said.
"Tufts should take as much pride in its residential life program as it takes in [its international relations program]," Stuart said. "It should be something worthy of the Tufts name."
