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Did you know that there is a global network
of universities committed to support justice?

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The Talloires Network has members in 77 countries
across the world, from South Africa to Mexico,

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from Malaysia to Ghana and beyond.

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Through the Network, universities are rethinking
their social responsibilities.

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This spring, graduate students at the Community
Engagement class at Tufts immersed themselves

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in the work of the Network, creating connections
by interviewing practitioners on the ground

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and learning about innovative projects taking
place at the Universidad Veracruzana and the

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University of Ghana.

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By building houses in rural areas, providing
community-centered healthcare, connecting

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engineering and computer science communities
to tackle the obesity epidemic, these partner

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institutions are fighting the idea of the
"ivory tower."

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In our interviews and in class, we discussed
the prevalent vision of academia as an ivory

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tower that looks down upon the world.

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Professor Kirsten Broadfoot defines the ivory
tower as "reason, rationality and rigid structures

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[that] colonizes the world of lived experience…functions
like an exclusive club whose membership is

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tightly controlled by what might be called
a 'dominant frame.”

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Academia, in this ivory tower, prioritizes
a western perspective to the exclusion of

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others.

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This exclusion has real implications.

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For students of color, students like me who
come from working class, immigrant, and other

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minority backgrounds, academia can be a very
isolating place.

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Finding community in this class and in the
broader network has been transformational

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for me because I have witnessed how communities
can and do find solutions to their most pressing

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challenges from within.

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Becoming part of the Talloires Network has
made me feel like my experience is valid.

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To learn more about the Talloires Network,
we conducted interviews with members at partner

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universities.

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I was able to interview Jorge Abulto at Universidad
Veracruzana in Mexico.

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He explained their framework of Vinculación,
or this idea that there are deep links that

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connect the university with the community
in a way that allows them to work together

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to create a more equitable society.

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Ibelieve that through frameworks like this,
change is possible.

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In this class, we prioritized the knowledge
that comes from our stories and our lived

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experience.

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Community-based institutions like food markets
are places where there is also a rich exchange

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of stories and ideas.

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I experienced this type of learning on a recent
trip to the University of Ghana.

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I met with Godfrey Mills and his engineering
students about their efforts to address health

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issues like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

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Universities benefit from community knowledge
when they make it a core part of their social

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responsibility, and see themselves as partners
with local communities in solving local problems.

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The network links universities around the
world who play this important role.

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We invite you to be the link!

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Join in building and strengthening this global
movement of engaged universities by donating

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to the Network today.