This is the second article in a two-part series profiling Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman. The first installment, which was printed in yesterday's paper, looked at Reitman's early career. Today's article will examine the issues and challenges he has faced on the Hill.
From being an RA as an undergrad at Tufts to nearly embarking on a career in aerial photography, Bruce Reitman has experience with a variety of challenging situations. Today, Reitman has his hands full meeting the demands of a diverse student body. As dean of student affairs, he balances different values in the community, solves disagreements between student groups, and works with students to address controversial policy on issues like free speech and alcohol consumption.
His commitment to this role stems directly from his philosophy on education. "The university has the obligation to balance the value of learning from one another when our differences are at their greatest and yet having that dialogue occur with enough civility that people don't feel unsafe -- it's a tall order," Reitman said. "What's the most important thing about an educator? It's that."
Tufts students have looked to Reitman for arbitration and leadership on several contentious issues during his tenure as dean. Reitman helped to resolve the fallout from The Primary Source's Christmas carol controversy in December 2006. Additionally, cases of tensions between students living off campus and the university's residential neighbors frequently land on Reitman's desk.
Reitman recalled a 2004 example when a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) political activist group on campus alleged that the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) may have violated Tufts' nondiscrimination policy after holding a blood drive on campus, claiming that the American Red Cross' blood drives discriminated against homosexual and bisexual men.
Reitman explained that he tried to approach the issue by understanding the context of both sides' arguments, rather than simply the details of the specific incident.
"What was that clash about?" Reitman said. "It was about principle -- not over whether the blood drive, which obviously helps many people, is a good thing ... Many thought that the policies of the Red Cross are discriminatory against the LGBT community."
Through mediation, Reitman said that the administration hoped to transform the challenge into a learning opportunity that would address the needs of both affected communities.
In the end, Reitman and the administration helped the groups find common ground. The LCS blood drive continues to run on campus, but the advertising for the event now states that the blood donation policies of the Red Cross are controversial.
Reitman explained that the incident represented a clash between parties with deeply held and justifiable beliefs. "When important tenets of the community, like freedom of speech and freedom from incivility, clash, how do you resolve that?" Reitman said.
During his tenure, Reitman says, he has learned that no dispute ever has a clear right and wrong. "I hear a lot of stories, but what I've learned over the years is to never take anything at face value; every story has two or more sides," Reitman said.
"A number of times, I have been convinced of someone's rightness when they come in and tell me of a story ... Then, I talk to the other party or organization or individual, and I say, 'I can't believe this, it's so contradictory!'" Reitman said. "There's always another side, and frequently, when you hear both, you have no idea what happened."
He articulated a second lesson from his experiences which informs his approach towards formulating school policies.
"Any policy worth having should be a policy about which we can discuss why it is necessary or useful," he said in a follow-up e-mail to the Daily. "I don't think that in a community like ours it is sufficient to explain that a policy exists just because 'it has always been that way.'"
One example of this belief is evident in Reitman's approach to the university's alcohol policy.
Reitman explained that the policy is often scrutinized by the community and has shifted back and forth over the years. "There's always a balance to talk about; never will I say, 'That's just what the policy is,'" Reitman said.
While the Tufts community often debates the issue, Reitman explained that the university cannot ignore the law but does not want students to hesitate to call for needed medical help when policies are severe.
The alcohol issue on campus will be raised again next month in a Town Hall meeting sponsored by the TCU Senate, the administration and Health Service, to discuss pre-gaming -- drinking prior to a party, a practice that often encourages binge drinking -- on campus.
Reitman questioned whether the presence of alcohol at on-campus events, like Fall Ball and Spring Fling, encouraged risky drinking before them.
"Would the absence of alcohol service at an event reduce the possible feeling of divide between those of legal drinking age and those not of age and would this change whether the younger students thought others were going to have a better time at the event because they could drink?" Reitman asked. "In turn, would this diminish any of the inclination to 'pregame' -- which is the cause of most medical assists?"
As diverse as they may be, Reitman stressed that in the majority of disputes he solves and policies he helps create, the issue is not a matter of winning or losing but of understanding both sides or finding out how to proceed after the conflict.
A background in mediation, he said, is a wonderful thing to have in his tool kit. "There are many applications for mediation on campus, from [residential advisors] helping resolve roommate disputes, to disagreements among campus constituencies -- even providing a way to address ... [plagiarism] allegations," Reitman said. "If I were writing the job requirements for the dean of student affairs, I would put a mediation background in there."
Still, Reitman said that after eight years on the job, these daily challenges are what keep him looking forward to coming to work every day. "The best part is that every day is different, almost every day is interesting, and typically every day or week brings some significant new challenge to resolve ... because there will always be something new that students bring forward," he said.
"And Tufts really is unique," he continued. "I've worked and taught at different colleges, and coming back to Tufts was not only like coming home, but coming back to a place where you can treat students like colleagues because they're very special and never will let us get nonchalant, and that's a great thing."
