Whatever happens to the recovered funds, blowing them all in one place would be a mistake. And spending them in a way that doesn't maximize their impact on students in perpetuity would be a lost opportunity.
We're approaching the last few meetings of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate this semester, and soon we will choose a plan for distributing the approximately $689,000 returned to the TCU. This is an opportunity we'll (hopefully) only get once, and we should use it to make a lasting impact on Tufts and to leave a legacy for ourselves and our alums. My plan is as follows:
First, we should allocate $300,000 to create an endowed, named scholarship for students who have met extenuating financial circumstances in the previous year. University Advancement has already identified an anonymous donor interested in matching dollar-for-dollar any Senate gift over $250,000 toward an endowment for financial aid.
This scholarship, run through the financial aid office, would provide money for students whose ability to continue at Tufts has been jeopardized after their parents lost jobs, fell ill or experienced other financial hardships. We can see the effects of the economy on students, and some of our friends are finding it more difficult to pay for next year's tuition. But the next time a crisis hits, we won't have the recovered funds. This plan guarantees that the recovered funds will impact Tufts forever. We can return in 50 years and know our actions have helped — and will continue to help — generations of Tufts students.
Second, $200,000 should go to next year's operating budget to help keep current students here. In his recent e-mail to the student body, University President Lawrence Bacow said aid for continuing students is the university's top commitment. That's true, but it's only a philosophical commitment. We need philanthropy to back it up, or else Tufts will not be as generous in its financial aid awards as it has been in other years. What is a more compelling way to jumpstart philanthropy than by making a statement in real dollars that we value our peers and want them to stay? A professor has already donated part of his salary to financial aid, and we should step up, too.
Third, we should use $100,000 to give the campus center a facelift to make the campus more attractive for current students and for our peers coming next year. The campus center is uncomfortable, and we deserve a more functional, practical space in which to work. Fourth, $89,000 should go to student groups through an application for capital expenditures that our budget hasn't been able to handle in the past.
We want these benefits, and they are compelling. But we need to help keep our friends here.
I've heard some friends say this is not our responsibility, that the administration should be covering financial aid. They're trying as hard as they can, but when they need a little help, it is our mutual responsibility to respect the values of our community. That means making sure our university continues to run strong through this crisis. The administration estimates that continuing students will require about $3 million to $4 million more in aid next year than they did this one. Who knows how Tufts will be affected if we don't meet this need? We're all affected by this crisis, and we all need to step up.
I've also heard that this isn't what students had in mind when they paid into this. But the money hasn't been used for seven years, and its absence did not detract from student programming. Members of the community paying the Student Activities Fee — including me — thought this money would go to student groups. Group budgets are secure and plentiful within this year's Student Activities Fee. Giving them extra money would be pointless. It would go unspent, and we would have another $700,000 to debate about and spend next year.
This is a unique opportunity for us to do something extraordinary with this money. No one could have seen this coming, so no one could have had any intention for this money if it pooled into a lump sum like it has now. We should not get caught up in past definitions of the Student Activities Fee that weren't developed to deal with a situation like this.
I don't support just giving this money to financial aid. I support the plan that maximizes its impact on students — that's through encouraging philanthropy that can double or triple the size of the recovered funds and make a tangible impact on student life. This money could have been stolen from any student at any point in our history. Therefore we should find a use for it that respects a timeless community value. Socioeconomic diversity is that value, and this money must go to ensure it.
Please support this plan in the Senate survey on the recovered funds and by sending an e-mail to tcusenate@tufts.edu. Just write, "I support the complete plan for the recovered funds," or send us thoughts of your own.
With this money, we can turn one of the darkest moments in Tufts history into one of the brightest. It's the best plan out there, and the only one that will leave a legacy we can be proud of.
--
Duncan Pickard is a junior majoring in history. He is also the TCU president.
