When this year's undergraduates paid their student activities fee, they did not know one of the activities they were funding was sex.
As the first expense of this year's bigger cosponsorship budget, the Tufts Community Union Senate agreed Sunday to cosponsor Do it in the Dark by giving the program $50.
Do it in the Dark is the annual campaign to promote efficient energy use on campus. It is run by Environment Consciousness Outreach (ECO). Dorms compete to reduce energy use, and the winning residence receives a free pizza party.
ECO will use the $50 to buy glow-in-the-dark condoms to promote the campaign.
The money came from the cosponsorship fund, an amount of money the Allocations Board (ALBO) sets aside each year to give to groups receiving monetary support from multiple organizations.
"The main point is basically to show Senate support," said junior Harish Perkari, the Senate treasurer.
This year the cosponsorship fund is $2,000, up from $1,500 last year. Last year the fund was divided between 18 groups. The fund amounts to a small fraction of the $1.2 million ALBO allocates from the student activities fee.
To receive money from the cosponsorship fund, a group must apply and make a presentation to ALBO. The presentation must explain why the group needs the money.
ALBO makes a recommendation to the Senate body based on the presentation to the student body. The Senate then decides the final amount allocated.
At Sunday's meeting, senators strongly debated whether to allocate $50 or $100 to ECO.
Senior Cho Ling, one of this year's student representatives to the Board of Trustees, said that since the Do-it-in-the-Dark competition only affects those students living on campus, $100 was too much. The campaign is "something that only affects half the campus," he said.
Michael Eddy, a sophomore senator, said the promotion of safe sex - an important health topic for students - was worth $100.
Another sophomore senator, Radha Patel, said she thought $50 would not buy a significant number of condoms.
One of the ECO leaders found a box of 500 condoms for $95 on a Web site. The group originally budgeted $170 for the condoms, so the extra $50 will let ECO buy two boxes.
"It makes a huge difference," sophomore Emma Shields, the ECO officer who runs the program said. "I think that whatever the Senate can give is great. Giving a dollar is appreciated."
Shields said she was satisfied with $50.
The Leonard Carmichael Society's "Sex Talk" group plans to cosponsor Do-it-in-the-Dark, according to senior co-president Mari Pullen. The Leonard Carmichael Society also applies for money from the cosponsorship fund each year. "We have many programs that each apply independently," Pullen said.
Senior Mara Judd, the president of Hillel, described cosponsorship as a "give-and-take" where different groups cosponsor one another. Hillel has received cosponsorship from Senate in the past.
"Cosponsorship at the university level really says to a group, 'we support you and your mission,'" she said. "It's a symbolic and financial representation of that support."
Cosponsorship fund contributions usually range from $50 to $75, Perkari said. Because of a lack of funds last year, groups that applied late in the year did not receive as much as those that applied earlier. Perkari said this year's bigger budget is designed to prevent a shortage.
