Let's face it -- the college years are a time of considerable self-absorption. Our thoughts often linger on topics from meal plans to majors, frat parties to French homework, internships to iPods. These years are frequently marked by a period of soul-searching and career hunting.
One group at Tufts, however, has proven that it is essential to look beyond oneself and give back to the community. The Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS), now celebrating its 50th year, has consistently provided crucial opportunities for students across campus to get involved in civic engagement and break free from the college bubble. The group's rich history and efforts to aid local communities have proven to be a pillar of life at Tufts.
Richard Dorsay (A '60), the organization's founding member, never dreamed LCS would take off the way it did. First organized in 1956 by former Tufts professor, Franklin Patterson, the first LCS meeting took place at the professor's home and consisted of an informal discussion among students.
"He asked me to invite a bunch of the students to his home for an open discussion on what was missing at Tufts -- what Tufts needed," Dorsay said. "From that nucleus of people that I brought to his home, we decided that there was no real connection between the campus and the people of the community."
With the goal of bridging the gap between the population at Tufts and the people of the wider surrounding area, Dorsay and a few of his peers set to work. The group began volunteering at Waltham State Mental Hospital, pairing each member with a child at the facility. Every Saturday, they drove to the hospital and took the children out on the town, whether to the local bowling alley or to a Tufts football game. Over 50 years later, Dorsay still remembers the young girl, Carol, with whom he was paired.
Although Dorsay and his fellow students volunteered frequently at the hospital, their group was not recognized as an official organization at Tufts until 1958. The students had no trouble receiving permission to start the club, but they did have some difficulties mobilizing.
"It took us a year to decide we wanted to be an organization and another year to write up a charter," Dorsay said. "You'd think we were writing the Constitution."
The group also struggled to come up with an appropriate name for the organization. Ideas such as "Hand Helping Hand" and "Working with the Community" were bounced around but ultimately abandoned for want of something that sounded more professional. Looking to Harvard's service organization, the Phillips Brooks House Association, as inspiration, the group decided that the club should be named after someone dignified and recognizable. After a written request to former Tufts president Leonard Carmichael, who was then working as the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, the Leonard Carmichael Society was born.
Throughout his time at Tufts, Dorsay remained an active member of the LCS, watched it grow at an unprecedented rate. After graduation, he remained optimistic about the group's success and was determined that its tenets of community service and civic engagement not leave campus with him.
"It was very important to me that the organization continue after I left," he explained. "I know that it went through some tough times, but I'm just thrilled that it's doing what it's doing."
Dorsay has ample reason to be thrilled as the Leonard Carmichael Society is now the largest student-run organization on campus, with over 1,000 volunteers in 40 different service programs. The club offers a wide array of volunteering opportunities ranging from trips to local homeless shelters to raising cancer awareness to tutoring local schoolchildren.
Current co-president and Tufts junior Fred Huang sees the existence of a service organization such as LCS to be crucial to the Tufts campus. "It's the ideal destination for students interested in service," he said. "LCS empowers Tufts students to make their service dreams come true while also giving back to the community."
LCS has come to be one of the most widely recognized and well-respected organizations on campus by students and faculty alike. The organization has a close relationship with the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, as they have similar goals in helping communities near and far.
"LCS and Tisch College are closely tied not only by a mutual commitment to civic engagement and public service, but the belief that Tufts students are essential to creating positive change," Rachel Szyman, program coordinator at Tisch College, said in an e-mail to the Daily.
To this day, Dorsay talks fondly about the organization he founded over 50 years ago in the small room of his professor's house. He acknowledges both the difference the club has made on those it has aided in the community and the impact it has had on his own life. After his time at Tufts, Dorsay went on to help others by becoming a doctor. He credits LCS for his altruistic outlook on life, acknowledging that his time in the group truly changed him.
"My job is to do more than be a doctor and make money. My job [is to partake] in acts of kindness and love in the world," he said. "LCS has influenced me to do good deeds for the rest of my life."
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