In the past three years, we have felt a growing culture of siloed experience, interactions, and community on campus, and I believe a huge part of that has to do with the way physical space is distributed and administered. You can learn a lot about a community’s level of equity and cohesion by looking at its physical layout and design. The Group of Six centers, created with the purpose of offering community to marginalized students, are randomly peppered across campus from one another in all too often under-maintained and ill-equipped physical buildings. Residential halls are still designed to prevent student protests rather than foster community. Due to the rising housing market, low-income students who want/need to live off campus are pushed farther away. There are few large common spaces to socialize on campus, the Campus Center is under-utilized, and as tensions this year have shown us, there exists a power imbalance among social life at Tufts – power fundamentally associated to one’s access to space.

 

This campus desperately needs to invest in building a creative co-responsible social ecosystem. It requires us to be innovative in how we can create stronger communities within existing places, achieve greater social equality in our distribution of space access, and build new places that are open, shared, and fun.

 

As a member of the Student Life Review Committee, I’ve spent a lot of time envisioning what social life can look like on this campus. We are currently at a time where the administration and university stakeholders see the demand for change to the status quo, and I am committed to using my presidency to continue the discussion and kickstart the change-making process through the following projects:

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PROJECT 1: Create a new system of fluid, student-led themed housing on campus.

 

I believe people come together when they have opportunities to build, create, and give to one another. Wesleyan University has utilized student creativity by establishing a themed housing system created based on common interests (ie. A house just for people who love to cook and eat!)  Proposals for themed housing would be submitted by students through an application to the Dean of Student Affairs on a yearly or bi-yearly basis. They would be able to house people, as well as organize events and parties in their houses for the rest of the Tufts campus, creating a more vibrant and diverse social life.

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PROJECT 2: Get a speak-easy in the Campus Center.

 

Senates have tried for years to get an on-campus pub. There is more administrative support for this now than ever – all we need is a committed and determined senate leadership to get this done. I envision a speak-easy pub for those 21+ to be built in the basement of the Campus Center, where the bookstore currently is. We’ve got the legal framework, the physical space, the demand – now let’s get it done.

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PROJECT 3: Make the Campus Center great again.

 

Let’s make the Campus Center actually a central point of gathering for students. This means maintaining a livable heat temperature by the Commons, getting rid of those annoying sun glares downstairs, increasing electrical outlets around the tables, bringing back a smoothie bar, and making the couches area a place students actually want to hang out in.

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PROJECT 4: Curb the costs of and expand student organizations’ access to campus spaces.

 

It currently costs $24 for a gallon of orange juice through Tufts Catering. Facility costs to gain access to and operation of spaces like 51 Winthrop and dance studio spaces are increasing. All this money is coming from the student activities fee, which is a part of our tuition dollars. As someone who has served on the Allocations Board in the TCU Treasury for 3 years, I know about the strain these costs are putting onto student organizations. Let’s get Tufts Catering to offer reduced price food options that meet student org needs (ie. grilled cheese and chicken nuggies instead of mandatory lasagna and roasted eggplant), and demand that the university either freeze facility cost increases, or absorb them as costs separate from our tuition.

 

PROJECT 5: Invest in better infrastructure, access, and capacity for places dedicated to serving as community for marginalized students.

 

This means re-vitalizing the Asian American Center to allow for safe housing units, while also allowing expanded ID card entry so that the space can be used as a more accessible place for community building. This also means creating a Rainbow House and First Gen center, which I hope to do by supporting the work already being done by the first gen and LGBTQ communities.

 

PROJECT 6: Ensure a more robust and supportive off-campus living experience.

 

With the hiring of an Off Campus Housing Director in the works, there is great opportunity to work with the Residential Office to ensure that students who are signing leases for the first time are aware of their rights, as well as best practices for finding good, safe, and affordable houses. We also need to work with the Somerville and Medford communities to fight against the unsustainable rise in the housing market.

 

PROJECT 7: Invest in shared space.

 

If we want to foster a more collaborative and caring student community, we need to make sure our physical space and design reflects these values. Let’s make classrooms better equipped to be multipurpose spaces, transforming them from academic settings to club gatherings to concert venues. Let’s make open space more communal by installing electrical outlets across our lawn space, putting up more benches and tables, and making community gatherings on these spaces a thing to be expected. And while we’re at it, let’s expand ID card access to common rooms in dorm spaces so that the uphill downhill divide can come to an end.