The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate unanimously passed a 'Resolution Calling for Reforms to Undergraduate Advising' in a short session yesterday, calling on university departments like the Office of Academic Advising and Undergraduate Studies to improve the ratio of advisors to students, with particular emphasis on pre-major advisors.
TCU President Wyatt Cadley, Vice President Meredith Goldberg and sophomore senator Darien Headen urged the university to solve this problem by allowing part-time professors, professors on leave and department administrators to become advisors for students with undecided majors.
Goldberg, a senior, said that many administrators had approached the body on their own initiatives to point out that they know the requirements and processes of their departments enough to effectively advise students. Cadley suggested that upperclassmen might also be useful in the effort to advise their peers. The resolution includes language to that effect.
Senate Historian Andrew Nu?±ez, a sophomore, proposed an amendment to encourage the development of increased training standards for pre-major advisors. Prospective advisors are currently only required to attend a one-hour professional development workshop.
The Senate allocated $11,000 to Tufts Democrats and Tufts Republicans for speaker fees for an event featuring journalist and immigration activist Jose Antonio Vargas. The number was reduced from their initial $13,000 request when the Tufts Republicans contributed $2,000 to the event.
The Tufts chapter of Love146, a nonprofit group that fights child sex trafficking, was given a total of $1,090 for its third annual spring benefit concert. The amount was reduced from its request of $1,456 because many of the line items had already been provided for in their new group funding earlier in the semester and other costs were not yet clear.
Tufts Belly Dance was granted $880 to fill a budget gap for belly dancing lessons. The group's existing funding was granted for a smaller number of lessons at a lower cost.
The Tufts chapter of the environmentalist group Students for a Just and Stable Future was allocated $580 for a speaker honorarium. The Muslim Students Association received $400 for its own speaker honorarium.
