Is there much truth to this article??

Colleges and Universities A-Z Tufts University
1

<p>This article recently appeared in the Tufts Daily about how the Tufts campus isn't unified. Is there any truth to it?</p>

<p>"Published October 11, 2005
Tufts culture: all too illusory
by Joseph Alexiou</p>

<p>Culture at Tufts is a diverse quilt of somewhat separate communities who often come together as a result of some kind of consumption, be it of food, alcohol, or other. I want to stress separate, because the one thing that unifies all students here, in my opinion, does not at all. What is the culture of Tufts? What binds us to this school, aside from the fact that we all go here?</p>

<p>If you look at the black and white photographs in Tisch of life during a more innocent time (that is, a time when everyone wore hats and women went to Jackson), Tufts spirit seemed to reign far and wide; how else can you have a sophomore/freshman tug-of-war match without school spirit? Despite what our athletic Tuftonians may feel, I believe that being an undergraduate at Tufts does not carry any feeling of belonging at all. People are not more likely to be open to speaking with you just because you go to the same school. There is no sense of camaraderie, in my humble opinion, and I'm trying to extract just why this is.</p>

<p>So what is it that Tufts students do have in common, besides shared facilities, professors, and weird roommate stories? About a month ago, I went to Senior Reception, where in theory the senior class hangs out for the first time of the last school year. And naturally, everyone goes because of the great social aspect and has a lovely time. Wrong! Everyone goes because they offered free alcohol. </p>

<p>I'm sorry Tufts, but it's true. Free stuff is the sure-fire formula to attract college students. We crawl like flies over nasty couches that normal people throw away. Not that I'm actively trying to be a cynic here, but I would bet good money that without the free alcohol, the turnout would have been terrible. But guess what - I had a great time at that senior event. I hadn't seen many of these faces in a year, having been abroad, and it was so refreshing and such a great way to reintroduce oneself to the community. </p>

<p>It was such a widespread feeling that a junior I know snuck in at the end just to get a taste of that feeling. Okay, no, he wanted a taste of free wine, and he missed it. Shame on him for trying to steal my hard-earned senior alcohol, and also for trying to feel like a part of the Tufts community. </p>

<p>One of the other few times I remember feeling this cross-campus cohesion is during Spring Fling of my sophomore year. It didn't matter the band - a Scandanvian Tuba Consortium could have headlined. But every single person there was genuinely having a good time and interacting within the groups that normally divide. Is there anything else like this? </p>

<p>We had Jay's Deli. After all, what's more real than an old-fashioned greasy spoon with a good hangover breakfast deal, run by your local eccentric with a heart of gold? What a sad thing to see go that was distinctly Tufts; many voiced the claim that Jay's was theirs, that they had gone there and felt like a part of Jay's somehow belonged to them.</p>

<p>Jay's is not all we've had - the cannon is our legal graffiti. There is most likely more, but it proves very little. We have no interest outside of our microcosms, and what's worse, we think it's totally normal. Unacceptable! Who shall we blame, since we're obviously blame-free? The administration! Now, in all fairness, not everything that goes wrong emanates from the often disorganized, money-wasting, and comically mishap-ridden mass who keeps our university running. But quite a few things do, and one of the biggest is one of my best memories: Spring Fling. </p>

<p>How the hell can idiot lightning strike twice? I'm a senior and have gone to one Spring Fling. How can Busta Rhymes make over 100 grand in total from Tufts in exchange for zero concerts? Where does my student activity fee go? And for the love of God - since human beings did invent shelter about 10,000 years ago - isn't it possible that we could plan ahead for rain? We live in bloody New England! Even if the audience is wet, the performers could easily be kept dry, at low cost. </p>

<p>To be honest, I wanted to write a whole article about this madness, but who would read it? The point of my bringing up this embittered anecdote is that we don't have nearly enough of these kind of events, and the ones that do are often canceled with too little thought. (How many lectures are canceled, sold out, or reject students due to poor planning?) </p>

<p>This, my friends, is wholly unacceptable, and the Concert Board, the Senate, and the Tufts Administration (the Big Brother and true arbiter of all Tufts decisions) had better get their asses in gear for this year. That is to say, my fellow classmates, we will not lose another Spring Fling, one of the only true Pan-Tuftonian traditions (does anyone know or care about Tuftonia's Day?), to shoddy planning and apathy. Because events like that are the very essence of what makes people happy to go to Tufts and sad to leave it when it's all over.</p>

<p>Joseph Alexiou is a senior majoring in history."</p>

2

<p>I know no one's responded because no one feels like readingthe whole article... but to sum it up, the author basically says that the Tufts campus has little to no unity and that the the community-oriented atmosphere is minimal. Can anyone add their thoughts?</p>

3

<p>Well let's put it this way: Tufts is constantly trying to improve itself. We're by no means perfect and we have our problems. This article explores one point of view as to what's going on campus - he's addressing our lack of patriotism which in some aspects is true. We don't go to homecoming and do a ra ra chant. He's also talking about two years of messed up Spring Flings from administrative snafus and the fundamental drive behind college students (free stuff). I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing as it's a satirical look at our praise thirsty campus. Constant validation for tuition payments is a very real feeling as many students want to have their 40k tangible. Nothing wrong with that :)</p>

4

<p>I always felt very differently than the author - absolutely loved Tufts. That all said, there are some people who didn't like it and always wanted "more" - whatever that was - more school spirit, more alcohol, more parties, hotter dates, or whatever. IMO, people went to the Senior Reception to see all of their friends, not because of the alcohol. Sure, free food is always a bonus... but really, who on earth has a reception and doesn't feed anyone? If Tufts hosted the reception without food, you can bet there would be plently of complaining. So why the whining about this?</p>

<p>Spring Fling ('03 and apparently another) is, IMO, worthy of some bad words. Usually, it's a great event, but the cancellation without rain plans is a little much to take, esp. considering the cost of it. </p>

<p>Just me, but I felt incredibly lucky to go to Tufts. We had amazing, amazing people come to campus to speak - Hawking, Clinton, Colin Powell, Al Gore, H.W. Bush, Albright as a graduation speaker - and all that some Tufts students do is whine about how it's "politically unbalanced." To me, it's a fantastic opportunity that most people will never have; but hell, Tufts students sometimes like to whine. </p>

<p>Now... for a bit of a rant... no matter how much I loved Tufts, I still think they completely missed the boat on a lot of things. My law school has amazing school spirit and alumni networks. Like Tufts, most of the students who go to the undergrad are wealthy. But my law school just "gets it" in a way that Tufts doesn't: </p>

<p>The administration runs smoothly. Tufts administration is horrible. (To give an example: I signed up for Harvard and Tufts summer courses on the same day. Harvard allowed me to sign up online. The next day, I had a bill in the mail. Two days later, with my tuition paid, I was enrolled in their summer course. Tufts made me print out a form and give it to someone on campus. I put my credit card # on it so they could charge me the enrollment fee - some $45. Instead of charging that to me, Tufts sent a bill - to my parents! - who didn't pay because summer school was on me. So the bill meandered its way to my apt. on campus. I paid the $45 fee, mailed that in, and a few weeks later was allowed to register for courses. After that, they had to send another tuition bill home - not to me, as per request - which then had to go back to me in Medford. Upshot was that it took six weeks to get everything organized. Six weeks to do what H did in three days flat.) </p>

<p>My law school doesn't charge for anything outside of tuition, fees, etc - the bill you get at the start of the year is all-inclusive (even for social events!). Tufts sent a huge bill - then nickle-and-dimed us to death. Geez, Tufts, if you include an extra $200 in the tuition, no one will notice, but we won't sit around wondering why $40,000 doesn't cover telephone (yes, Jumbos, I went there during the days in which we had to pay for our landlines separately - to the tune of $300 annually). Then you have to pay $7 or whatever for a cappella, dance, or whatever. Ugh.</p>

<p>The bookstore is another big issue for me (these days). Considering how many alums become professionals, you would think that the bookstore would cater to that crowd (as well as the students). Ties appropriate for business, cufflinks, belts, necklaces, etc. would be fantastic - but almost impossible to find. My good Southern school has that down to a science. </p>

<p>Anyway... enough from me. I loved my time at Tufts... and found that even those who did not appreciate it at the time really appreciate it after leaving. My two cents.</p>

5

<p>hahahahahahha.....wow....I didn't even finish reading it, it was so ridiculous.</p>

<p>Listen, I don't get that sense at all. Maybe it's because I'm told I'm a very open and friendly person, but nearly everyone else here is. I'm constantly meeting new people and making close friends. Whether it's from picking up a new activity, or walking to another hallway in my dorm to get acquatined with who lives here. Mostly, though, the people you'll meet throughout the year are like, friends of friends. Like, some friend you have from econ is sitting in Dewick with someone, and you sit down with them and meet their friend from their dorm. And you end up really hitting it off, you come home to find that they've immediately friended you on facebook, and the rest is history.</p>

<p>I feel that the campus is really unified, maybe not in a "I'm going to support Tufts football in the rain" kind of way, but just because everyone's really friendly and helpful and open to new friendships. People are always inviting me to go to lunch or dinner, into Boston, giving me advice about which classes to take - I'll walk around the dorm and see about ten kids that are taking Physics sprawled out in one of the lounges, helping each other with some problem set or other. I DO feel a tie to my fellow students, because like I've said before, we all have something in common: we all wanted Tufts! So I take comfort in the fact that these kids are like me, but also not like me, and therefore interesting. I hope that makes sense. And I hope you dont' take that article too seriously. There are some people who will prefer, as instinct, to band together with people of their own ethnic background, or hometown. But I have four white friends that are part of the Korean Students Association, and no one in the KSA gave them weird looks or told them they couldn't be a part of it, you know?</p>