At the last meeting of their 2005-2006 term, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed a resolution which lays out a plan to spend a percentage of their $150,000 budget surplus on "enhancing campus programming or aiding in campus development."
The resolution, which passed 22 to six, with one abstaining, was sponsored by outgoing Senator Ed Kalafarski, Trustee Representative David Baumwoll and TCU President Jeff Katzin.
Currently, any portion of student budgets that remain unused are rolled into the Senate surplus fund, which is then allocated by the TCU Senate for different student activities and organizations on campus.
The resolution is only a recommendation, and is non-binding. In order for the resolution to be implemented, next term's TCU Treasurer (who will be elected by the Senate after the TCU Presidential election on Apr. 20) would have to put it in the TCU Treasury Procedures Manual. Any changes to the Procedures Manual must then be approved by a majority of the Senate once next year's freshman senators have been elected in September.
The surplus has been used in the past for various projects, including $100,000 to build the campus center patio in 1998 and $10,000 worth of new exercise equipment for the gym in 2004, but appropriate guidelines and situations for the fund's use had been uncertain.
"The budget surplus has been an issue for a long time," Baumwoll said. "[We have] been bringing up the idea all year because it's not effective or efficient to have all this money sitting there when there are things that students need."
The "Resolution Supporting the Partial Allocation of the TCU surplus to the 'Campus Improvement Fund'" stipulates the framework and
procedure for future Senates to spend a percentage of the budget surplus.
According to a TCU Senate press release, the resolution recommends that in years of a budget surplus, the Senate may spend a portion of the fund on projects "that the administration can't or won't pay for itself."
At the same, time, however, the strategy, if adopted, will insulate the Senate against financial trouble like the major deficit it encountered five years ago.
"[This resolution] is good because it creates a safety net for future treasuries and also lets money be spent on other things to improve student life," Katzin said.
In addition, Kalafarski called the Campus Improvement Fund "a good rainy day fund" for emergencies.
Similarly, Baumwoll hopes that the resolution will be used as a "tool to make tangible enormous change."
Under the terms proffered in the resolution, if, in a given year, the TCU surplus exceeds 15 percent of the Student Activities Fee for the upcoming fiscal year, the Senate will be allowed to use up to 10 percent of that money to improve campus programming or campus
development.
Kalafarski expressed the hope that this new, expanded capability will serve as a "kind of bargaining chip" for the Senate when dealing with the administration.
Though this option of spending had not ever been formally stipulated, this type of spending has been exercised in the past to fund projects not financed by the Tufts administration.
Not all agree that this should be the Senate's role, however.
One criticism voiced in the meeting was that funds generated by the student activities fee should not be spent on campus development projects, and should instead be fully funded by the Tufts administration.
"My feeling is that this puts pressure on us to start funding campus development," outgoing senator and sophomore Michael Eddy told the Daily. "All of money in the TCU Treasury is all coming from the student activities fee. It's specifically meant to fund student activities."
While Eddy supported having some extra money each year to guard against financial hardship, he said that the large surplus indicated that students are being charged too much for student activities.
"We're charging students too much. If we're not spending their money efficiently, we shouldn't be spending their money," Eddy said. The activity fee has increased by approximately $11 per year, an annual increase he advocated reducing.
Baumwoll called for the application of a broader definition of "student life." "I pay $237 a year not to have it sit in a fund and not used ... it's there to improve the student experience," he told the Daily.
He stressed that future Senates will not be compelled to spend the designated portion of the budget surplus, but that "the option exists on the table."
Katzin also addressed the concerns of critics by citing the provisions of the resolution which require that "any final decisions reached regarding the money's use shall require a two-thirds vote of the TCU Senate during an open meeting of the TCU Senate."
"[We want to say] the student body wants this, we know it, and over two-thirds [of the Senate] say so," he said.
Junior and TCU Treasurer Harish Perkari abstained from the vote due to his responsibility with Senate funding, but voiced hesitation about the resolution.
"There should be more of a student body opinion," he said, suggesting a referendum or survey that would help gauge student backing for different projects.
He called the new legislation a "baby step," as there are strict limits in the form of "eight conditions" placed in the resolution to ensure cautious spending and fiscal responsibility.
"In the 30 years that the student body has had its own money to spend, nothing like this has ever been put on paper ... it's an experiment," Kalafarski said in the Senate press release. "If it goes well, future Senates can expand the initiative."
- David Cavell and Kat Schmidt contributed reporting to this article.
