Even as Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators work overtime to determine how to spend the nearly $690,000 in recovered funds, some members of the body have begun moving in the opposite direction by urging fiscal restraint.
Since the administration delivered almost $1 million to the Senate in September, the body has been actively calling on members of the community to suggest projects.
With the economy struggling, many have advocated using the money to help the university balance its financial aid budget, but campus-wide wireless Internet and campus center renovations have also gotten attention.
Still, some senators have taken issue with the desire to spend the money immediately, instead suggesting that the body hold onto the bulk of the recovered funds.
Sophomore Senator Sam Wallis has supported keeping the funds until the financial picture becomes clearer.
"It would be unwise for us just to give some of this money to the university to make up a moving target," he said. "We need more concrete numbers."
At a Nov. 23 Senate meeting, University President Lawrence Bacow said that next year, the financial aid budget would need to be increased by $3 million to $4 million in order to accommodate an increase in demand.
Two days later, TCU President Duncan Pickard published an op-ed in the Daily calling upon students to support a "complete plan" for the funds that would bridge the financial aid gap by channeling money directly into next year's operating budget and by creating an endowed scholarship for which an anonymous donor would match funding.
"I think everyone would agree that keeping a socioeconomically diverse student body and being able to keep our friends here next year has to be one of our top priorities," Pickard told the Daily.
He said this would signal the Senate's support for administrative efforts to provide for all Tufts students, regardless of need, and it could have the added benefit of attracting more donors.
"I think it would be a really powerful statement to say we care about our students next year and we are going to take that into account during this process and follow in line with what the university is doing in cutting their budget and trying to jumpstart some philanthropy outside of the university," Pickard said.
Meanwhile, TCU Treasurer Matt Shapanka has echoed Wallis and called for "fiscal responsibility." He supports waiting to spend the bulk of the recovered funds and rejects the notion that students should bear the burden of filling the financial aid coffers.
"I think that financial aid is not our responsibility, and the university has committed to meeting that need no matter what," he said. "The rest of the country is trying to save money, and I think we should be doing the same."
Shapanka said that since the recovered funds replace money allegedly skimmed from each family's contribution to the Student Activities Fee, they should be spent on all members of the community, not just those who receive aid.
"Most parents and students would be upset if they found out their student activities money was going towards someone else's financial aid," he said.
Senator Greg Meiselbach, a senior, agreed. "I think it is a noble idea, but unfortunately, the money is derived from the Student Activities Fee and thus shouldn't be allocated to financial aid," he said. "It is not the role of student senators to pledge ... activities fees as aid or grants for our peers."
Pickard responded to this by pointing to the symbolic value of a scholarship fund that would honor Tufts' commitment to its students.
"Giving money in the scholarship benefits all students," Pickard said. "It leaves a legacy that honors not only the current students at Tufts but also past students who paid into the recovered funds and had money stolen from them as well."
Wallis cautioned against putting the money into any projects that would run contrary to the university's efforts to tighten spending.
"Everyone is cutting spending -- across the university, across the country," he said. "For us to be spending just because we feel obligated to spend this money -- because we've gone through a three-month process of soliciting opinions -- is unwise."
Both Wallis and Shapanka advocated saving the bulk of the money while setting aside a portion for supplemental funding for the Allocations Board, which distributes money to student groups. They have also considered allowing some of the funds to accrue interest, which could be spent on financial aid.
Senator Toby Bonthrone, a senior, said the plan to save the money is out of line with the Senate's obligation to support the university as much as possible on behalf of students.
"For us to turn around and not do anything in return when we have an opportunity that's equivalent to a lottery win -- that doesn't seem very ethical and that seems to be abrogating responsibility for the future of Tufts to anyone but the students," he said. "I don't think that is any form of leadership or solidarity."
Bonthrone added that the university's immediate goal after providing for students is retaining the staff crucial to the institution's academic caliber.
He suggested that supplementing financial aid would take some strain off the administration's focus on students and help it to keep faculty wages at satisfactory levels.
"If we give money to the university, it will help them with their overall goal to save as much as possible on what makes the university important," Bonthrone said. "We would give the money towards financial aid and give them one less thing to worry about."
Bonthrone said that given the economy's current volatility, waiting for more data before acting would be out of touch with the reality of the situation.
"The last thing you're going to find is clarity at any point in this academic year," he said. "If people want a clear situation where they know what's going to happen with the economy, they're setting a benchmark that is far too high."
Pickard issued a similar call for swift action. "I think that this is an opportunity that we have now, and I hear the concerns that we don't know what the financial situation is going to be like in years to come, but ultimately when we're making this decision we could always wait for more information," Pickard said. "Instead of tying up the Senate and the student body with this conversation, we should make a decision unless there's a compelling reason to keep the money for the future."
The funds in question are left over from the $902,338 that the university gave the Senate in September as repayment for money allegedly embezzled by former Office of Student Activities employees Jodie Nealley and Ray Rodriguez.
