Senate bylaw restricts fundraising

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate recently passed a bylaw that will affect how student organizations -- particularly the Leonard Carmichael Society (LCS) -- are allowed to raise money for charity.

"Any organization which does not budget income for an event may not sell tickets or charge money in exchange for admission to the event," the new bylaw reads.

Approved by the Senate on Feb. 2, the bylaw is meant to be a "clarification of what really has been a rule all along but which has never had the backing of a rule to be enforced," Senate Treasurer Ben Lee said.

The most affected student group is expected to be LCS, whose members voiced their concern at the Senate's open forum on the issue Sunday. The organization's biggest issue was how the bylaw will affect the annual LCS Semiformal, held each year in the fall semester.

LCS has not traditionally budgeted any income for this event, giving all ticket proceeds to charity. Since most students attending the dance are doing so primarily to benefit charity, they do not mind that the money does not go toward reimbursing LCS's expenses, LCS members said.

Donating ticket sales to charity will not be possible under the new bylaw. Such practices are essentially "double-charging," Senators said. Every student is required to pay an annual student activities fee of $206, increasing to $215 next year.

Since the funds from the student activities fee are used to fund all student groups, charging students for tickets whose proceeds will go to charity is "essentially requiring them to pay for an event that they already paid for," Lee said. "While I doubt that most Tufts students have a problem paying extra so that a charity can benefit, it does not seem fair to just to force a student to pay extra to go to an event, simply so that money can be given to charity," he said.

According to the LCS members at the meeting, the new bylaw will diminish LCS's ability to give charitable donations to programs in the surrounding community. Without the funding that donations from LCS events provide, some of the programs that students volunteer with would be shut down, LCS President Lisa Fishlin said. "Tufts students are going to see a significant decrease in volunteer opportunities," she said.

In response, several senators urged groups to suggest that donations be made at their events rather than charging for tickets. "No group is allowed to budget money to charity," Lee said. Just as much money could be raised through suggested donations as through required ticket sales, he said.

Director of the Office of Community Relations and LCS advisor Barbara Rubel attended the meeting on behalf of LCS. The senators "are squelching a charitable intention," Rubel said.

Some senators brought up the fact that LCS's constitution says that its mission is to provide opportunities for Tufts students to do charitable work -- not necessarily to give away money. LCS's focus should be on "labor opportunities, not money," Senator Cho Ling said. "Unfortunately, we have to think of our students and their activitities fee, not the Medford/Somerville community."

Since Tufts does not pay taxes, LCS members argued, the community expects this contribution from its students.

Other groups besides LCS -- including Hillel -- could be affected, Rubel said "Philosophically, [the Senate] is saying that volunteering is not important," she said.

Lee told the LCS representatives that they were welcome to submit a plea to the Allocations Board (ALBO) to either overturn or seek an exemption from the bylaw. If the bylaw were overturned, though, "the budget for TCU activities could potentially be $400,000 less. When groups budget income for an event, it cuts down on the costs that must be taken from the student activities fee allowing for more programs to happen on campus," Lee said.

By attending the meeting, LCS hoped to promote dialogue on the issue, Former LCS President Kate Elder said.

The Senate meeting resulted in the passage of a motion made by Senator Jos?© Vazquez, which resolved to call a meeting of group signatories to consider how charitable funds can be raised in light of the new bylaw.