After Tufts’ Graduate School of Arts and Sciences paused its Master of Public Policy earlier this year, local community members have mobilized in support of the Neighborhood Fellows Program, which annually selects up to five urban leaders to participate in the masters program. The leaders come from underrepresented groups and have experience working in urban communities within the Boston area.
According to Bárbara Brizuela, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Julian Agyeman, professor of urban and environmental policy and planning and chair of the Master in Public Policy Revisioning Committee, the Neighborhood Fellows Program remains still active despite the pause on the Masters in Public Policy program.
“It’s important to clarify that the program has not been paused and is still active,” Brizuela and Agyeman wrote. “The current students who are part of the program are important and highly valued members of our community, and significant funding continues to be available to them. In addition, as new students continue to be admitted, they will continue to be eligible for the Neighborhood Fellowships.” They noted that the currently paused Masters in Public Policy program “might be revised to better meet the specific needs of the students that the program serves.”
However, since the Neighborhood Fellows Program and the Masters in Public Policy program are linked, local community members fear that the pause of the Masters in Public Policy program puts the Neighborhood Fellows Program program at risk. During an Oct. 1 Medford City Council meeting, community members took to the floor to express support for the program.
“As we stand now, the Masters in Public Policy, of which the Neighborhood Fellows Program is a cohort, has been paused, and it’s hard to not see the connection between the two,” Research Assistant for the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning Joe De Larauze said during the meeting.
Larauze explained the efforts and support for the program within the community, saying that the community “quickly formed a Jumbos for Neighborhood Fellows group to lead various efforts to advocate for the program, which included a petition campaign, which gathered over 400 signatures, [and] a letter writing campaign that saw over 50 letters and emails written to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dean and Provost.”
Chellamal Keshavan, a neighborhood fellow and Medford resident, also shared her experience with the program during the city council meeting.
“The neighborhood fellowship recognizes the potential partnership with the city and also recognizes expertise that local leadership can offer. I am very proud of [the Department of Urban and Economic Policy]. I think we’re fervent advocates in spaces of racial and economic justice,” she said.
Keshavan emphasized that the fellowship made attaining a master’s degree in her stage of life a reality and that the absence of such support would have made it much more difficult economically.
The fellows chosen for the Neighborhood Fellows Program are mid-career and possess extensive experience within their respective and related professions. The fellowship also provides fee waivers which help cover the financial needs for attaining a master’s degree within the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy.
Medford City Councilor Emily Lazzaro echoed the value of the two programs in an interview with the Daily, saying that the programs “gives access to people, diverse students and increases diversity of the university. And it’s mutually beneficial.”
As a non-profit institution, Tufts does not pay standard taxes as other areas in Medford or Somerville. Many in the community, including Lazzaro, see the academic and community benefits of Tufts as a tradeoff for the exemption of standard taxes.
“There are smaller payments that Tufts makes in lieu of taxes, and in addition to the smaller payments, we hope that there can be an ongoing conversation about what the non-monetary exchanges of information and mutual benefits are that we as a city and they, as an institution, can have with each other, Lazarro explained.
“I think the hope of the students is that it will continue to be a mid-career program,” she said, saying that, amidst the Supreme Court case regarding affirmative action, “a decision to cut a program that was inherently diverse seems counterintuitive.”
