ATM surcharges, class registration procedures receive feedback in campus survey

The TCU Senate released the results from its second round of survey questions last Monday.

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) survey followed up on responses from the fall survey and sought feedback on changes already made from information the survey.

"By and large, the responses we received were in line with expectations. If anything, I'd say I was impressed by the level of support for some of our anticipated responses," sophomore Senator and project co-chair Rafi Goldberg said.

According to Goldberg, a top priority for the Senate will be to keep the shuttle to Boston going, as 90.4 percent of students said they would utilize it.

The shuttle was proposed after the first semester's survey revealed frustration with the weekend social scene on campus.

The original testing period of the shuttle was set to run through February, but the decision has since been made to extend service for the rest of the school year.

The possibility of a new stop on the shuttle route at Government Center is also being considered. The largest number of respondents, 36.4 percent, named it as the most desired additional stop.

Another issue which was brought up by the survey was ATM surcharges. Currently, Fleet (recently merged with Bank of America) and Citizens Bank ATMs are accessible within campus.

But, "over a third [37.4 percent] of respondents say their primary checking account isn't through Fleet or Bank of America -- so that's a large chunk of students who have to pay to use the ATMs in the campus center," Goldberg said.

Sophomore Senator Athena Bogis is leading an attempt to eliminate surcharges at the Fleet and Bank of America ATMs.

Goldberg cited this as a "good example of a project that is being implemented as a result of the survey."

Goldberg hopes the data from the survey obtained will be able to persuade the bank to change its policies.

Respondents to the survey were also asked about the current class registration system at Tufts. Just over 30 percent of students felt that the add-drop system enhances the ability to try new classes, while an almost equal percentage of 29.1 percent felt it hindered that ability.

Students were asked about a proposed "shopping period" for classes where students could sit in on classes before registering, found at Yale and Harvard.

55.9 percent of students said that they would favor this system over the current system of registration.

A new initiative the senate has suggested and found support for through the survey is JumboShots -- a way to profile student life throughout campus. JumboShots would feature photos of student life in the campus center, dining halls, and on a website. Both current and historical pictures would be included, and the website could archive student submitted photos as well.

Survey co-chairs Dave Baumwoll and Goldberg as well as Senator Chloe Snider are researching this project based on favorable student responses. Seventy two percent of students surveyed said they would like to view the photos on campus, and 66 percent said they would like to use a website to view the photos.

The survey received 1,265 responses, which represents approximately 25 percent of the student body. "This represents an immense sample size that is likely to be accurate." Goldberg said.

According to Goldberg, nearly equal numbers of freshman and sophomores responded (380, 390 respectively), while numbers for juniors and seniors were slightly lower (210, 284 respectively.)

The last Senate survey for the year will arrive in students' e-mail inboxes during the next few weeks. The Senate is currently collecting question proposals from senators. Plans for the third survey will come from results from the previous two surveys, as well as more general assessments of the past year's projects, Goldberg said.

In the interim, Goldberg said another survey will be released at the request of the [TCU] Treasury, which will focus on evaluating treasury procedures and the budgeting process for student group signatories.