"Active citizenship." It's a buzzword that can be found in every nook and cranny of public life on campus, from TuftsLife postings to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions' library of brochures. It's not surprising, given the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service is right on campus.
While a concrete definition of "active citizenship" can get lost in the jumble of life on the Hill, speaking up on controversial issues is serious business for a good number of Jumbos. For the most part, however, it exists in a separate realm from their academic classes — something you can participate in once you finish your homework.
For those who register for academic classes that encourage social engagement as part of the curriculum, though, activism is even part of making the grade.
In the fall of 2010, students in the Experimental College class "Environmental Action: Shifting from Saying to Doing," spearheaded the campaign to remove plastic water bottles from Hodgdon Good−to−Go. The ExCollege has offered the class, taught by the Office of Sustainability's Sustainability Program Director Tina Woolston, for three semesters. Each class has focused on a specific campaign to improve sustainability. In the fall of 2009, students in the class started the eventually successful process of getting trays out of circulation at the campus' dining halls. The next fall, the class's students worked to encourage the university to switch the printers in the libraries and Eaton Hall to be default double−sided printers.
Sophomore Daniel Markowitz took the class last fall and found it empowering.
"[It's] based on the premise of doing your own environmental action campaign at Tufts. As a class, you decide something that Tufts is lacking and how you can make a change to improve it," he said.
His classmates chose the plastic water bottles available in Hodgdon as their target. They made headway on raising awareness about the environmental detriments of plastic bottles while class was in session. Once the semester ended, feeling that there was more to be done, members of the class came together under their own initiative to form the group Tufts Against Plastic (TAP) with the aim of ridding Hodgdon of the bottles once and for all.
"Going into the class, I knew that environmental issues were around and I should do something myself but I didn't try to alter my life," Markowitz said. "However, after taking the class, I'm trying to move towards being an environmentalist, and changing my daily routines. The class teaches you a different way of looking at your role in society, and encourages you to take action. It was one of the most life−changing classes I've taken at Tufts."
Members of Woolston's class and TAP worked with another ExCollege class, "Environmental Justice and U.S. Literature," as well as Dining Services, to eliminate both the bottles and plastic bags from Hodgdon this semester.
"It seemed to me that all of them were attracted to the class because they didn't want to just talk about theory, they wanted to actually accomplish together," Woolston said.
Jessica Madding (LA '11) took the class the first semester it was offered, in the fall of 2009. She said it was different from any other class she had taken before.
"It kind of filled a void I felt existed within the environmental classes at Tufts. There's a lot changing now, but there wasn't a class that addressed how to be an environmental activist that combined scientific knowledge and behavior," Madding said.
Madding stayed involved with environmental activism after taking the class. She continued to advocate for the trayless initiative in the dining halls, and in her senior year she helped coordinate the Eco−Reps program through the Office of Sustainability. She currently holds a temporary position of Program Associate at the Office of Sustainability.
"I want to impress upon people how important this class really is," Madding said. "There is no other class like it."
Senior Katherine Sawyer, who is now an intern at the Office of Sustainability, took the class in the spring of 2010.
"The reason the class was so important and made such a difference in my Tufts experience and the experiences of my classmates is [that] it showed we could really make a difference and get something done on campus that we really wanted to see happen," she said.
Environmentalism is not the only area at Tufts where academics and activism meet. Attendees at last semester's April Open House program encountered approximately 40 students congregated on the academic quad, wearing T−shirts saying, "Ask me about white privilege at Tufts" or "Ask me about being a student of color at Tufts." They also gave flyers to prospective students describing their personal experiences relating to race at Tufts. A number of these students were taking Race in America, a foundation course for the American Studies major.
According to the department website, the students in Race in America examine "the meanings of race in modern America, analyze the root causes and consequences of racist ideologies, and discuss current and future activist approaches to the issues raised by racist theories and practices."
Junior Alexandra Lis−Perlis, an American Studies major who took Race in America last spring, participated in the April Open House event.
Lis−Perlis explained that what she learned in Race in America influenced her decision to voice her opinion on the class's topics outside the classroom.
"The knowledge that I gained in classes like Race in America … helped me conceptualize difficult topics like institutional racism and has helped me concretely acknowledge them in my own university," said Lis−Perlis. "I firmly believe that students at Tufts are active about things they know about, and from knowledge comes action."
Hearing in class about issues that Lis−Perlis knew were affecting students on her own campus, she said, prompted her and her classmates to act. "We were learning a tremendous amount, and the seed was planted. For me it had already been growing, but for some students it was growing for the first time, and it was exciting to see white students get excited about the issue of race on campus."
The April protest put the participating Race in America students among the chorus of students calling for an overhaul of the university's approach to incorporating the study of race and ethnicity in its academic structure. Hearing this chorus, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Joanne Berger−Sweeney last month announced the creation of a new, comprehensive academic program incorporating those areas of study.
Sawyer agreed that classroom experiences can often be the final push that gets would−be activists to take the next step into the realm of real−world action.
"I think oftentimes students have a great idea of what they want to see happen, but don't know how to do it, or don't think they have the power to make a big change. I think that this class brought students together and showed we really could make things happen if we worked hard and kept pushing," she said.
