State of Senate address recaps 'successful year'

The current Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate closed the year with its last meeting of the semester Sunday night.

Following intense discussion over a proposed "Academic Bill of Rights," the mood lightened as senators relaxed and listened to their peers' summaries of their work during the past year.

TCU Senate elections will be this Thursday, and the new Senate will meet for the first time this Sunday.

TCU President Chike Aguh gave the annual State of the Senate Address, commenting on the unusual composition of this year's Senate body. "Of the six people serving on the Senate executive board, none had ever served before," Aguh said.

Yet Aguh applauded the Senate for its accomplishments in spite of some of its members' inexperience.

Aguh compared the achievements of this year's Senate to those of the past. "We have started and done things that have never been done before," he said. "The biggest triumph of this body is that it's about projects and not about ego. Hopefully we can bring that into the future."

TCU Treasurer Josh Belkin gave a State of the Treasury report. He subsequently received a standing ovation for his year's work, which included budgeting for over 134 student organizations with TCU Associate Treasurer Cho Ling.

Belkin said, "The state of the Treasury is stronger than ever." He pointed to higher interest rates in the off-campus bank account holding TCU money. "We've also figured how to do more with our dollar, because an additional dollar is not always an option," he said.

Each committee within the Senate also reported on its accomplishments during the academic year.

The Administration and Budgeting Committee (A&B) discussed its work to change class registration procedures. During the first three weeks of next the upcoming fall semester, students will be able to change their classes online. The new procedure departs from the current process of using paper Add/Drop forms.

Other ongoing A&B projects include the implementation of a universal FOB system, new student identification cards, a crosswalk near Carpenter House, an additional non-Fleet ATM machine in the Campus Center and more on-campus parking.

Services Committee chair John Valentine also gave a long list of the committee's completed and ongoing projects. "Week in, week out, we got a lot of things done," he said.

Some completed projects during the past year have included the Boston Bus, Turkey Shuttle, finding a solution to Espresso's overcharging on the Merchants on Points (MOPS) program, fixing on-campus handicap buttons, and adding two new restaurants to the MOPS program.

The Senate is still working on a plan to add an e-mail station t0o Brown and Brew and the creation of a new Tufts.edu website, which should be completed over the summer break.

Senator Rafi Goldberg agreed with Aguh on the Senate's success this year. "We enabled members of the student community to use student government to their advantage," he said.

With a few weeks still remaining in the spring semester, senators were dissuaded from abandoning their projects. "I encourage everyone to tie up loose ends," Aguh said. "That's how it usually works and how I expect it."