I’ll admit I don’t know a lot about Tufts University. When I think of it, I envision historical buildings, kids that are pretty buttoned up, and an administration with an overall approach that puts academics over athletics. Tufts always makes the list of Top 100 universities in the country, and it’s probably never even been on the radar screen for the top party school list. One my most recent discoveries is that it has one of the best International Relations undergraduate programs in the country. That little tidbit is thanks to my nephew who’s a member of this year’s freshman class.
No their mascot isn’t Dumbo, it’s Jumbo! Now that’s catchy, Go Jumbos!
With a little more research I learned that Tufts has made recent list of colleges where students are the happiest. A contributing factor to that might be because it has some of the best college cafeteria food, according to another ranking list.
Many accomplished people have donned the halls of Tufts, its cafeterias and probably even its dorms, including Today Show host Meredith Vieira, Anita Shreve, author of the Pilot’s Wife and a number of other best-selling novels, Bill Richardson, former U.N. Ambassador and current governor of New Mexico, CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Peter R. Dolan, Pierre and Pamela Omidyar, billionaire founders of eBay and musician Tracy Chapman, just to name a few.
For all the accomplished folks it’s churned out and all the lists it’s made, it’s not a school you typically read about in the news. Even as a “New Ivy” it doesn’t get the kind of attention Harvard gets or any of the other Ivy League schools. It’s academically solid, it’s expensive, it’s supposedly open to not just those that consider themselves socially elite, and overall it’s non-controversial and flies under the radar.
But, all that changed last week when the new dormitory sex policy was rolled out which included an added stipulation that prohibits any sex act in a dorm room while one’s roommate is present. The stipulation further states that any sexual activity in the room should not interfere with a roommate’s privacy, study habits or sleep.
Apparently, one of the most commonly cited roommate complaints had to do with the accompanying noise from a roommate gettin’ busy while the other roommate was still present. Supposedly this new language will help make it clear when it’s okay and not okay to have sex in your dorm room. Seems pretty commonsense, right? But, to any of us who’ve attended college and lived in dorms (even if it was years ago), we know just how stupid we can all be, and whether you want to admit it or not, most of us can probably conjure up factual examples of when this policy would have been a good thing to have in place.
It sounds like Tufts students who were affected by late night, early morning or mid-day romps were uncomfortable about bringing up the topic with the roommate. And, policy makers think this change will help facilitate conversation. I’m not so sure about that. Those that couldn’t confront his/her roommate before probably won’t be able to confront him/her now.
But, the added bonus now is that if no resolution is reached between parties, students can have other Tufts authorities intervene. I can imagine the conversation going something like this:
“Hi Janice, I’m the dorm room sex monitor specialist. Janice, we’ve called you here today to talk with you and Cynthia (roommate) about the fact that she’s unable to study when you’re doing that boy from your chemistry class just feet away from her desk. The policy states you simply can’t get busy in the room with Cynthia there, no matter how quiet you think you are. So, can we agree that there will be no sexual activities in the room if your roommate is present?”
Janice responds: “I really don’t get it. My parents pay for me to attend this college and they pay for my housing. If I’m not doing anything illegal I should be able to do whatever I want in my room. Cynthia can just wear ear plugs if it bothers her.”
Sex monitor specialist responds: “I can understand why you feel that way Janice but policy is policy. I would be happy to contact your parents and discuss the process and costs of moving you into a single dorm room, so you can continue fulfilling your sexual appetite. Would you like me to do that?”
I miss college.
