The Board of Trustees will today kick off three days of closed meetings on Tufts' Medford/Somerville campus, setting aside much of tomorrow to hear the proposals of two student representatives to the body.
The board's Buildings and Ground Committee is scheduled to meet this morning, followed by a meeting of the Council of the Boards of Overseers and an orientation for new trustees.
The three student representatives to the board will participate in meetings tomorrow afternoon. Two of them will present on projects to enhance campus life through dorm common room improvements and a shared, fully equipped kitchen space.
The board, according to an internal document provided to the Daily, will tomorrow hold a plenary session on how the university responds to student alcohol abuse. Health Service professionals, Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman and undergraduate student leaders will attend.
The board will then participate in an annual lunch with students, this year focused on the impact of the university's $1.2 billion Beyond Boundaries capital campaign on active citizenship at Tufts. Marking 10 years after the establishment of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, the session will connect trustees with students impacted by the capital campaign.
Trustees will then break into smaller committee meetings among themselves, including those of the Academic Affairs Committee, the Administration and Finance Committee and the Committee for University Advancement.
During tomorrow afternoon's meetings, two student-trustee representatives from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate will present proposals they have been crafting for the board.
Trustee Representative Josh Friedmann, a senior, hopes to convince the board to invest in the common rooms of university dorms by funding more comfortable furniture, better lighting and new paint and carpeting.
The university already periodically renovates common rooms, but Friedmann wants administrators to prioritize such plans.
"All students [at some point] are required to live in dorms, with very few exceptions, and this is one project that would benefit everybody," said Friedmann, who will attend the Committee for University Advancement's meeting.
Senior Alix Boulud, another trustee representative, is hoping to gain support from trustees for a fully equipped kitchen facility on campus. Though dorms currently have kitchens, Boulud said they lack the necessary accessories that students need to cook.
"It's unrealistic to ask students to keep a [set of kitchen equipment] in their dorm rooms," Boulud said. Boulud is co-founder and president of the Tufts Culinary Society.
Boulud was inspired to spearhead the project by the popularity of various food movements. She said she has the backing of a number of university staff members, from Patti Klos, the director of dining and business services, to Assistant Director of Athletics Branwen Smith-King, who runs the Fitness and Individual Development at Tufts (F.I.T.) pre-orientation program.
In addition to remaining open to members of the Tufts community at certain times, a large kitchen could also host cooking classes, Boulud said.
"You have to eat three meals a day for the rest of your life," she said. "You might as well learn how to make them."
She will present her idea to the trustees' Administration and Finance Committee.
Senior Chas Morrison, who on Jan. 30 was elected as the third trustee representative by the TCU Senate Executive Board, will not present a project due to having served in the position for so short a time.
