Over the past few weeks, Jumbos have made their concerns about on campus social life loud and clear through the Daily, through Facebook.com, and through general ranting and raving. Last night, the Tufts community had an opportunity to talk about campus social life with Bruce Reitman, Dean of Student Affairs, and Mitch Robinson, TCU president.
Before the community discussion took place, the Daily covered the possibility of Hotung serving alcohol again as one potential boost to social life. Many students had positive reactions to the idea.
"If we had Hotung as a pub, it might provide an atmosphere more like Europe, where the approach to drinking is much more relaxed. It might encourage social drinking instead of binge drinking," said senior Christine Gary, who just returned from a year abroad in London.
One student wasn't sure if it would be worth the effort of changing Hotung: "I hope it would make a difference, but I don't think a lot of students would like to hang out at a school pub," sophomore Ricardo Schidlow said.
Many students pointed out another significant problem: The drinking age is still 21, and most students are not old enough to pub it up. "I guess Hotung might help social life, but what about those who are under 21?" junior Trent Worrell said. "It wouldn't even cater to half of the student body. I think it would be more grad students than anything else."
Senior Michelle-Elissa Glaser felt the same way: "Most of Tufts' population is underage, so Hotung would only be part of a solution, not the whole solution," she said.
Gary, however, thinks that allowing on-campus drinking for legal students will be beneficial for everyone. "Any time you can make a taboo subject more comfortable, it's a good thing. NQR used to be a problem, but Tufts decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and now they hand out t-shirts and donuts, and it's better than ever," she said.
Schidlow, who is from Mexico, explained that one root of the problem is the U.S. drinking age itself. "Social life [in Mexico] is a million times richer, because everyone is of drinking age," he said. "You don't worry constantly about the cops coming and breaking a party up, because the cops never come."
So how much will a community discussion actually help? Some students said its effectiveness could be questionable, but that there is nothing to lose.
"Maybe the town meeting won't help a lot, but it definitely can't hurt," Schidlow said.
Worrell believes any innovation would be welcome: "I think we should be thinking of new ways to bring people together, but I don't know what exactly we could do," he said. "I think once everyone starts talking, we'll come up with ideas."
Glaser explained that Tufts' good name may depend on how the university addresses social life for students. "We're all adults; we should be responsible enough to offer safe options to each other. But we're all immature, and I think the university does need to help us find alternative social lives. We don't want to have these horrible things happen and sabotage our reputation as a school," she said.
Even though students doubt any university solutions could replace off-campus parties, they say that alternatives are always a good idea - even if they don't know what those alternatives would be.
"For students, the most obvious thing they want is parties, but for those, they go off campus. I think most students don't know what they want for on-campus social life - they just want something that works," Worrell said.
