Thinking about applying to TASS? DON’T DO IT
You may be a sophomore or junior looking to apply to the world’s most prestigious humanities summer program - and I understand; that was me a year ago.
For the TASS 2026 cohort, we were able to spend 2 weeks together but what was happening behind the scenes was a complete shock to us. The Camp Director was supposed to guide and run all programmatic activities. But within a few days, he went MIA and would only briefly show up to the site once in a blue moon.
The Residential Advisors (RAs) and Assistant Camp Director (ACD) had no choice but to work overtime with their minimal compensation and do the Camp Director’s job running the activities. Obviously, they were overworked and so they started to put their foot down to the TASS Administration/Board and fight for labor equity (after a series of emails and calls unanswered). This is when the administration, including the Executive Director, decided they didn’t want to poke a tiny hole in their $75 Million budget and chose to shut down the camp midway instead. Additionally, the academic professors/“factota” were not given proper support either.
I understand that many high achieving high schoolers would want to participate in such a prestigious program - but this is what happened to our cohort, and if you really are at that high level, you could see the hypocrisy in how TASS preached justice and anti-oppression, yet practiced the complete opposite with their residential staff.
Please do not support or encourage these oppressive, bigoted, and racist (because majority of admin are white and condescending) authoritarian individuals with power that they abuse.
Remember that if you truly stand for social justice and equity for the rest of the world, TASS IS THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE.
Fuck Tass admin and board for ruining the experiences for 36 of the brightest humanities students in the world, and for inflicting the very oppression they claim to stand against.