Game On

Melanie Spencer, president of GAME.

Melanie Spencer participated in a number of student groups as a Tufts undergraduate. When she returned to Tufts as a graduate student, she thought the time was right to help start one of her own.

"During my first year back, I got to know a fellow graduate student, Elizabeth Adams," says Spencer, an urban and environmental policy and planning graduate student. "We soon realized that we were both interested in creating a multicultural organization for graduate students at Tufts."

This chance meeting led to the creation of the Graduate Alliance for Multicultural Empowerment (GAME), a graduate student organization which aims to support and promote multicultural awareness and an understanding and appreciation of cultural differences throughout the Tufts community. Launched in the fall of 2005, GAME is open to all graduate students at Tufts and is supported by the Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), the School of Engineering, and the Graduate Student Council (GSC).

Graduate students currently involved with the organization come from GSAS and the School of Engineering, as well as from the university's Fletcher School, School of Medicine, School of Dental Medicine, and the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

Spencer believes that the participation of graduate students from other Tufts schools is one of the organization's biggest strengths.

"As graduate students, we're kind of isolated from each other," says Spencer, the current president of GAME. "But by reaching out to these other campuses, I felt we could bring our different disciplines together and really learn from each other."

Some of this shared learning occurred during a series of events GAME held last year. Along with a social, the organization hosted a holiday celebration and an end-of-year gathering. In the future, GAME plans to offer, among other events, a spoken word night and a graduate information session aimed at Tufts undergraduates.

As Spencer explains, initiatives like these will help GAME meet one of its key objectives—to make an impact on the Tufts community.

"We would like to work with students of color at the undergraduate level and share our experiences as both working professionals and graduate students," says Spencer. "We could also help recruit Tufts undergraduates and undergraduates from other universities and colleges on behalf of the different graduate programs at Tufts."

"GAME is vital because, as graduate students, many of us have already learned how to identify issues and take action," says Maya Freelon, a studio art graduate student. "Now, our energy can be focused on expansion and we can also help mobilize Tufts undergraduates."

Looking ahead, the organization hopes its efforts will build lasting relationships which will continue long after its members have completed their graduate studies.

"All of us involved with GAME believe its part of our legacy as graduate students," says Spencer. "Our dream is to see a full-fledged organization with prominence on the Tufts campus not only among graduate students, but also with the faculty and administration. We also want to establish a network of active GAME alumni who, even after they leave Tufts, will still be involved with the organization."

Tufts President Lawrence S. Bacow notes, "GAME brings together students across disciplines, across differences. We have so much to learn from each other. It is terrific to see our students taking the initiative to create opportunities for exchange that strengthen the sense of community at Tufts."

Article written by Robert Bochnak, G07

Photos by Alonso Nichols

This article originally appeared in the spring 2007 edition of Alma Matters, the magazine for Tufts Arts, Sciences, and Engineering graduate alumni.