TCUJ derecognizes student organizations after long hiatus

In a cleaning-out process that was delayed by at least four years, the Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ) has derecognized 29 student organizations.

Many of the 29 derecognized organizations have been inactive or disbanded for several years, although five submitted budgets last year. These groups -- the Arts Commission, Black Theater Company, Students for a Free Tibet, Swahili Club, and Transformers - were budgeted $3,971. The largest student group in terms of finance, the Leonard Carmichael Society, received over $50,000 from the approximately $1 million in the Senate's activity fund.

Derecognized groups are ineligible to submit receipts to the TCU Senate, effectively freezing their budgets. Groups are also barred from submitting budgets for the 2004 financial year.

The groups must also give up the right to use the Tufts name and the use of University facilities for events. They are also unable to advertise on campus using chalk or flyers, and Tuftslife.com has agreed to post events from derecognized groups on the "campus calendar" section of its website.

The de-recognition process has also offset the sprouting of new student groups, which all demand funding. This year, 12 new groups have been recognized and a total of 133 groups have applied for funds for next year -- an increase of three groups from fiscal year 2003.

In September, former Assistant TCU Treasurer Nick Abraham predicted that the Senate was headed toward a "budget crisis" because "the number of groups being recognized is outpacing the student activity fee ... [and] the potential for more and more clubs is indefinite."

At the time, Dean of Students Bruce Reitman suggested that the Senate consider budget caps to deal with the greater demand for University resources.

But those concerns have been alleviated for now, according to TCU Treasurer Ben Lee, in part because of the shed groups, but also because of the $20,000 boost the Senate budget will receive after next year's increase in the Student Activities Fee, which will increase from $208 to $215 per student. The Senate budget has also recuperated from a $50,000 budgeting error that forced cutbacks in the 2003 budget.

Although student groups are supposed to apply for re-recognition, the process has recently fallen to wayside because "it takes quite a bit of time and effort," according to TCUJ Chairman Adam Biacchi. Last semester was the first time in at least four years that all groups had to apply for re-recognition, Biacchi said.

Student groups applying for re-recognition are required to submit information about their organization's membership, executive board, and current constitution. Groups that were not re-recognized were informed earlier this semester.

The Judiciary has recently been "tougher" on granting recognition in response to concerns about the new organizations outpacing the funding, Biacchi said. "The people on this year's J are more hardcore" about the issue, he said.

Biacchi warned that the TCUJ may derecognize other organizations once it has examined all relevant documents. The Judiciary is also making sure each organization's constitution is up-to-date, and copies will soon be downloadable as Microsoft Word documents.

De-recognized organizations can appeal to the Committee of Student Life (CSL), which has the power to overturn Judiciary decisions, reinstate funding, and re-recognize student groups.

"An appeal would basically have to argue that a group was somehow treated unfairly by the 'J,' or that the group was not given fair due process," explained CSL Chairman Sam Dangremond. He warned that the CSL would not consider a group without "its act together" and that failure to submit forms on time the first time around was not an acceptable ground for appeal.

Queen's Head and Artichoke, a literary magazine that has not printed an issue since the fall of 2001, was recently derecognized, but the group plans to appeal to the CSL.

As a de-recognized group, Queen's Head was forced to re-apply for funding as a new group. The Judiciary rejected the journal's request for re-recognition because it was "too similar" to two other campus literary magazines, Outbreath and Optimus Prime. This contradicts the approval of Outbreath and Optimus Prime in the mid-nineties, when they were deemed sufficiently distinct when from Queen's Head & Artichoke for recognition.

The CSL has also heard from the Transformers, otherwise known as the Transplanted Tuftonians, about a possible appeal, although Dangremond said no official action had been taken. Clubs that do not succeed in the appeal process can apply to the TCUJ for new recognition, though the Judiciary's interpretation of what constitutes a legitimate club varies from year to year.