The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate at its final meeting of the semester Sunday night passed six resolutions, approved two buffer fund requests and voted on its nine council budgets for next year.
The body passed "A Resolution Supporting Financial Assistance for Student Parking Passes" (15-;7-;1), which supports the creation of a financial aid program or fee waiver system for student parking passes, which this year cost $550. The resolution was submitted by Gavin Matthews, a junior.
The body passed "A Resolution Regarding Baha'i Students in Iran" (18-;1-;4). The resolution was submitted by sophomores Alexander Kolodner, Navid Shahidinejad and Fiona Weeks and requests that Tufts recognize applications for admission from students at the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education in Iran.
The body unanimously passed "A Resolution Calling for the Creation of the Tufts Innovation and Ideas Mentorship Program ('The Incubator')" (23-;0-;0) submitted by Trustee Representative Joshua Kapelman, a senior, and Junior Senator Meredith Goldberg. It advocates for the creation of a university-;wide entrepreneurship program ("The Incubator") that will give Tufts students the resources to develop entrepreneurial ideas.
The body unanimously passed "A Resolution Calling for an Entrepreneurial Initiative and Environment for Undergraduates at Tufts University ('The Initiative')" (23-;0-;0) that was submitted by Kapelman and junior Albert Nichols. The resolution supports the creation of a unified entrepreneurial leadership program specifically for Tufts undergraduate students.
The body unanimously passed "A Resolution Supporting Freedom of Expression" (23-;0-;0) that was submitted by TCU President Tomas Garcia, a senior, and Senior Senator Jonathan Danzig. It urges Tufts administration and leadership to "respect and protect freedom of speech and freedom of expression at Tufts University, now and forever."
The body passed "A Resolution Regarding Freedom of Expression in Greek Life" (23-;1-;0), which was submitted by Junior Senator Ard Ardalan and Senior Senator Ben Richards and demands that the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life end the policy that this year required all Greek chapters to submit Spring Fling t-;shirt designs for prior administrative approval. The higher total vote count was due to Latino Community Representative Zoe Munoz's arrival after the first five votes.
The Senate allocated $323 to the Tufts Traveler for printing costs of a fourth issue and $295 to the Sharewood Project for clinic supplies, both from the Buffer Fund. The body did not grant the clinic's request for funding for gas or a banner.
The body passed next year's budgets. The TCU President stipend was raised from $1,500 to $2,000 and will go into effect for the next TCU President. The stipend for TCU Treasurer also increased and a stipend for TCU Associate Treasurer was added. Programming Board funding increased by 10 percent because of increased Spring Fling funding. The buffer fund will start at $50,000. Council 1 (Culture groups): $110,690.10. Council 2 (Programming groups): $735,632 Council 3 (Publications and media groups):
$127,121.80 Council 4 (Religious groups): $84,093.50 Council 5 (Performance groups): $102,052.97 Council 6 (Community service and miscellaneous groups): $123,404.82 Council 7 (Pre-;professional groups):
$33,965.49 Council 8 (Political groups): $25,920.19 Council 9 (TCU government): $171,768.39
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