With 34 members, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is the largest branch of the student government. The Senate has three main jobs: to allocate the Student Activity Fee, to act as a representative for the students to the administration and to lobby for projects on behalf of the undergraduate community.
President (Tomas Garcia, senior)
The primary job of the president of the Tufts Community Union is to represent the interests of the student body to the administration. Often, the TCU president is the only student in a room full of administrators. The president also presides over all of the meetings of the Senate, and is responsible for carrying out the TCU Constitution and for setting an agenda for the Senate.Vice President (Wyatt Cadley, junior)
The role of the vice president is to oversee all of the Senate initiatives, which are the projects of the various Senate committees. The vice president convenes a standing committee of all of the chairs of the committees, which oversees the implementation of all projects, and facilitates collaboration between the committees. The vice president also appoints senators to committees.Treasurer (Christie Maciejewski, sophomore)
The treasurer is chiefly responsible for financial matters regarding the allocation of the Student Activity Fee to TCU?recognized groups. The Treasurer is also the chair of the Allocations Board (ALBO).Associate Treasurers (Ard Ardalan, junior, Matthew Roy, freshman)
The role of the Associate Treasurer is to assist the Treasurer in fulfilling his or her duties. Parliamentarian (John Peter Kaytrosh, senior)
The role of the Parliamentarian is to act as an authority within the Senate on its constitution and bylaws - the procedures governing Senate. The Parliamentarian is also the Senate's representation to the TCU Judiciary, and acts as an adviser to students who wish to draft resolutions.Historian (Joe Donenfeld, sophomore)
In addition to being the chair of the Student Outreach Committee, the historian serves as a link between the student media and the Senate. The historian also documents and publishes all of the public actions of the Senate.Diversity and Community Affairs (DCA) Officer (Joseph Thibodeau, sophomore)
The DCA Officer is a brand new position that was created this year. The responsibility of the DCA Officer is to represent the student body to the Senate on issues regarding diversity and community affairs.
The Treasury: Every member of the undergraduate community pays $296 for the Student Activity Fee. The job of the Treasury is to allocate the approximately $1.4 million dollars in the annual Student Activity Fee budget to the over 150 TCU?funded groups on campus. The nine?member ALBO is an important committee of the Senate, headed by the Treasurer, which makes recommendations to the Senate regarding the funding for student groups. Budgeting for student groups occurs in the spring, and during this time ALBO meets regularly with members from all TCU?funded student groups to determine a suitable budget.Resolutions: A resolution is a piece of legislation that is discussed and voted on by the Senate. A resolution expresses the will of the Senate, states support for a project or calls for a change. Anybody can submit a resolution by contacting the Parliamentarian. Recent resolutions include the approval for the creation of an Africana Studies major, a call for increased web security and a revamped sexual assault policy.Constitution and Bylaws: The TCU constitution outlines the structure of the TCU government. It sets up the institutions within the TCU, including the Senate, Judiciary and ECOM. In contrast, the bylaws, which are voted on every year by members of the Senate, establish the specific procedures by which the Senate functions. For example, the constitution mandates that the executive board must have specific positions, while the bylaws outline how many office hours the members of the Executive Board must have every week.They also submit a report on the results of each conference. BILC conferences are meetings of Executive Board members of student governments in schools in the Boston area.
The Tufts Community Union Judiciary has two main responsibilities. First, the Judiciary handles student clubs. In the fall, students present new or existing club ideas to the members of the Judiciary, and the body decides whether to officially recognize them as a group. In the spring the Judiciary does re?recognition to ensure that the clubs are still active. The second responsibility of the Judiciary is to adjudicate disputes within the student government.
The Elections Commission (ECOM) is responsible for overseeing all elections within the TCU, including the election of members to the Senate, and internal elections. They promote elections, make sure that candidates are following the agreed?upon rules, and ensure all of the candidates have the means to run a successful campaign.
