Every Tufts student has heard of the oft-referenced student activities fee. To many, this term represents yet another addendum to the already-gargantuan Tufts tuition payment.
But to students, the student activities fee is the lifeblood of whatever fun we can have on campus. The fee funds our long list of student organizations and makes various events such as Spring Fling possible.
Every year, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate allocates this money based on need, dividing it among student groups with the knowledge that it will not all be used. At year's end, whatever money student groups have left over reverts back to the TCU, becoming the body's surplus.
From that point on, the details are a bit murky - or at least they had been until recently. Apr. 2's TCU Senate meeting has taken a dramatic step forward in clearing the air about the surplus and what its role truly is.
In a resolution spearheaded by Trustee Representative David Baumwoll, Senator Ed Kalafarski and TCU President Jeff Katzin, the Senate suggested that future Senates will have the power to allocate a small portion of the TCU surplus to a "Campus Improvement Fund."
Although the framework for implementation will need to be hammered out in the years to come, the gist of the resolution is straightforward and sensible.
It's about time. As Baumwoll, Kalafarski and Katzin have indicated in today's News article on the subject, the surplus does not do much good sitting around. Of course it is wise to have additional funds for a "rainy day" when the TCU Senate overspends and gets into debt. But temperance be damned; we can have our cake and eat it too.
A recent estimate pegged the surplus at about $150,000. Just imagine what could be done with 10 percent of that. In past years, the surplus was used to build the patio outside of the Campus Center and to add exercise equipment to the gymnasium - both much-needed measures that the administration would not fund.
While the restrictions in the new Senate resolution would likely prohibit the massive spending that allowed for the patio, smaller projects would surely be feasible.
Kalafarski said that, at the very least, small improvements could be made to quality of life on campus by adding e-mail stations or replacing the various pool and ping-pong tables that are in disrepair.
Any number of ideas could be implemented depending on the size of the surplus; the important thing is that there needs to be a certain level of transparency in the TCU Senate's spending decisions.
Some of this transparency is already built into the recent resolution: All decisions regarding the surplus's use will be put to a two-thirds vote in the TCU Senate during an open meeting.
But more can be done. For one, the Senate should publish the size of the surplus at year's end to give the student body a sense of how much money is available. This, in turn, would allow students to gauge what sorts of improvements would be feasible and suggest ideas to senators.
In addition, any proposals for surplus allocation within the TCU Senate should be put to a non-binding student referendum, to further determine student support for or against certain measures.
Seniors Baumwoll, Kalafarski and Katzin will not be able to see their brainchild through to fruition. But the legacy of their resolution should last for years to come as long as the campus at large is kept in the loop.
