Tufts to suspend student in fight

Shortly before a scheduled university discipline hearing, the freshman - who identified himself as Daniel Foster in the student newspaper - hashed out an agreement with the 13 Korean Students Association members, according to a statement from the Tufts dean of student affairs, Bruce Reitman.

The agreement acknowledges that Foster, who admitted to being drunk, "accosted" the students in a dorm common area as they were practicing for a dance performance. Foster agreed to a one-semester suspension in the fall, substance abuse counseling, and participation in an antibias program. Reitman is also requiring him to complete an anger management program.

Foster issued a lengthy public apology, published in The Tufts Daily.

It says, in part, "I am genuinely sorry for the pain I have caused not only to the people directly involved in the incident, but for everyone else who was affected by the words I said that night. . . . With input from the people that I hurt so deeply, I am taking actions to address the issues that brought those hateful and derogatory words to my mouth."

But some student groups say the university has not gone far enough in improving the campus climate.

One group, Tufts Active Citizens, proposed that the university create a mandatory curriculum that calls for students to discuss prejudice, and that it found an institute to combat racism, prejudice, sexism and hate.

On Friday, Lawrence Bacow, Tufts president, and other university officials released a statement pledging to improve the campus climate. The university will release its first-ever annual report on campus diversity in the fall, and retool the diversity programming in its freshmen orientation.

"The university will not shirk its responsibility to discipline those who violate our codes of conduct and attack other members of the community," the statement said. "It is clear that we still have work to do."

Every Dartmouth student should have the experience of debating classmates with opposing perspectives, said Kim, a Harvard medical school professor and the first Asian-American president of an Ivy League school. Only with honest, spirited debate and conversation can true understanding occur, he said during the event sponsored by The Harvard Foundation.

"I want every Dartmouth graduate to know their own views and be able to defend it to anyone," Kim said. "And not hide behind name-calling."

While he said students should take advantage of their time in college to interact with and learn from classmates from different backgrounds, minority students should not have to shoulder the burden of constant engagement in such discussions, which are often uncomfortable.

"African-Americans are not on campus to be the condiments in the lives of white students," Kim said. "We are not here as students of color to enhance the lives of the 'real' students."

Woods had planned to teach at West Point, his alma mater, upon completing his master's in public policy, but was discharged in December after coming out to his commanding officers. He is now running for Congress.

"As women claimed full rights of citizenship in the twentieth century, full inclusion in the military became an important badge of their equality," Faust wrote in her letter.

"When Truman integrated the military after World War II, widespread challenges to troop effectiveness were anticipated. Yet each enhancement of opportunity has instead strengthened our armed forces as it concurrently strengthened our nation's commitment to fundamental principles of liberty and justice.

"It is time for the United States to give the same ratification of full citizenship to gays and lesbians," she continued. "Anthony Woods's discharge from the Army is a tragedy for him, but it is a larger tragedy for the nation that is deprived of his remarkable abilities and that fails to live up to its most precious ideals."

Faust has not received a response from the federal authorities.

The club, established in 1931 to "provide a shelter where male members of the faculty could meet for conversation, university business, and find food, drink, and comfortable beds," according to its website, recently began welcoming student members. (Women could not claim full membership until 1968.)

But university dining halls need not worry about the new competition.

The $57 prix fixe dinners at the Faculty Club may be too steep for most students.

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