Editorial: President Monaco, open your door

Dear University President Anthony Monaco, 

Each semester you open your door to the Tufts community for office hours. You’ve written that “Office Hours serve as an opportunity for members of the Tufts community to participate in an informal open discussion.” 

Unfortunately, your door is only open for one hour per campus per semester. Just this past spring, you announced an office hour for the Medford/Somerville campusscheduled for between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on March 29 — a Friday.Many people could not attend due to scheduling conflicts.

One hour simply isn’t enough. At this university we have ongoing issues with student accommodations, accessibility, labor, mental health,transparencyand much more. Access to Tufts' top administrator is essential for promoting open and honest conversations on campus and maintaining a level of transparency conducive to community growth.

It is impossible for you to get involved with every student project, solve every problem or address every issue. You just wouldn’t have the time. Leadership, however, is about more than solutions; it’s about listening. Allowing greater unstructured access to you will strengthen the tatteredrelationship between students and administrators, help foster a sense of unity and empower students with the knowledge that their voices are, in fact, heard. 

You have the power to hear those voices, President Monaco. You have the power to start off this year on a foundation of transparency and trust. This year, President Monaco, we urge you to open your door to the Tufts community and truly listen. Open your door once a week or once a month, but certainly more than once per semester.

You govern a large university full of undergraduates and graduates who all share in the desire to be heard. A true solution to transparency in the Tufts administration involves engagement with the student body on many levels, but holding more than one office hour per semester per campus is a necessary step toward an improved campus dialogue. 

President Monaco: Help us build a stronger university through open doors, open dialogue and open arms.