Tufts may soon partition students' off-campus houses into boroughs with common meeting places in an attempt to create a more cohesive living environment for undergraduates living off the Hill.
Senior Harsha Dronamraju, a trustee representative elected last spring, has spent the year planning the formation of six off-campus communities. In each one, a Tufts-owned house would serve as the common area and meeting place for the borough's student residents.
Dronamraju said each of these Tufts-owned buildings would be a "conduit, essentially, between campus and off-campus." Current residence houses such as 12 Dearborn, 10 Winthrop and 92 Curtis would be possible common buildings.
Students who lived in each Tufts-owned house would be expected to assemble a community-building project that would involve all members of the borough.
"We know that living off-campus is inevitable," Dronamraju said. "Why not accept that as part of the Tufts experience?"
Dronamraju suggested that residences on College Avenue, Bromfield Road, Pearson Road and Warner Street could be grouped together, and the Tufts-owned residence of 12 Dearborn could be this borough's central meeting place.
The common building would be a point of contact as well as a hub for social events.
"We want to make sure that living off campus isn't kicking you off campus but is an extension of the campus community," Dronamraju said.
He presented his idea to the University Advancement Committee of the Board of Trustees on Feb. 9. He has also met with Director of Community Relations Barbara Rubel and will meet with an official from the Office of Residential Life next week.
Rubel said she believes the project "has a lot of merit." She said it could help make students who live off-campus into better neighbors at a time when relations have become strained between local residents and Tufts students.
"I've long believed that one of the reasons students do not act like good neighbors off-campus is they sort of feel invisible," Rubel said.
Dronamraju's off-campus communities would help students feel more of a connection to campus and more of a responsibility to behave, she said.
"It may make them feel more like they're still part of Tufts and have somewhat of an obligation to comport themselves in a more appropriate fashion," Rubel added.
Dronamraju said the idea came to him while he was studying abroad last year with the Tufts in London program. He said that while he lived in an apartment with friends, he still felt very involved with the university since it coordinated his housing and programmed activities.
"Even though I was in another country and really for all intents and purposes didn't have a connection to Tufts University, I still felt connected," Dronamraju said.
He wants to recreate that feeling for students living off-campus in Medford or Somerville.
"If I was in another country and still felt connected to the Tufts community, why can't someone who lives one town over on Boston Avenue stay connected?" he said.
Dronamraju suggested some ideas to make students within the boroughs feel camaraderie. He said each borough could hold a September barbecue, as residence halls do. Additionally, sophomores who have signed leases to live in off-campus houses could attend an April event with upperclassmen living in the borough into which they will be moving.
Dronamraju also said that the Tufts common houses could host events to help connect students to their Medford and Somerville neighbors. The buildings would also put town residents in better connect with the university as a whole, "providing a closer option to get in touch with what Tufts is doing," according to Dronamraju.
He also suggested that each building could sell tickets to campus events. "Why not have tickets available for members of the community from that headquarters?" Dronamraju said.
