The other night I spoke at an unofficial campus housing information session for first-years. I represented the Crafts House, and spoke about our mission, what cooperative living entails and the application process. Unfortunately, the information session was extremely disheartening, specifically because it showed what few alternative housing options Tufts has and what little interest the student body has in the current options.
At the same time, Greek life at Tufts is growing in popularity. Friends of mine remarked that they recently had a record number of students rushing their fraternity. The Tufts Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life reports that about 24 percent of the student body is affiliated with Greek organizations, with the number rising every year.
The lack of interest in alternative housing and the rise in Greek life is not a coincidence; it reflects a discrepancy between the meager array of non-Greek communities, and the strong desire in undergraduates to find a sense of community and belonging. Tufts University should make a concerted effort to significantly expand its small group housing options, and drastically improve the existing ones.
Before living in the Crafts House, I considered transferring to another university, or taking time off. Living in this house has provided me with a wonderful community of people I genuinely like, and exposed me to new ideas and experiences, which, in my opinion, is a significant part of the undergraduate experience. Not everyone however, is suited for cooperative living. Unfortunately, the other options are limited; Arts House is a great space, but the Green House and Rainbow House are really just suites in existing dormitories. The various language houses are also an option, though their lingual focus makes them prohibitive to most students. Besides these few houses, there are few other options.
I propose that Tufts convert some of its small wood frame houses, like 11 Sunset Street and 10 Winthrop Street, into special interest housing. These houses would make wonderful spaces for communities like the Green House to establish themselves. I also propose for Residential Life to change its turnover policy for special interest housing. Officials from Residential Life have told members of the Crafts House that no more than two house members can live in the house for consecutive years. This policy ruins any sense of institutional memory and community within houses like mine.
Additionally, as Tufts continues to rise in rankings and receive record numbers of applicants, it must also curtail the expansion of Greek organizations. Recent scandals involving fraternities at Brown, Wesleyan and Dartmouth should serve as prohibitive advice to Tufts, whose fraternities have yet to be implicated in any serious wrongdoing.
I chose to attend Tufts, along with many others, in part because of its relatively small Greek system, and I would hate to see that change. Fostering the development of more small group houses and communities would be a safe and productive development for Tufts in the long run, providing an invaluable addition to its student culture.
Miller Schulman is a sophomore majoring in History. He can be reached at miller.schulman@tufts.edu
