TCU Senate Update (Feb 22nd)

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate spent much of its Sunday meeting debating funding appeals from two campus groups and sorting through additional fund requests from other groups.

TCU Senate President Robert Joseph opened the meeting, which began at 12:00 p.m., with Tufts' Sexual Misconduct Resource Specialist Nandi Bynoe. Bynoe, representing the Office of Equal Opportunity, explained her role to the Senate and emphasized the importance of student confidentiality on campus in dealing with sensitive issues, including sexual misconduct and assault.

The Senate then opened the floor for funding appeals from Another Option and Tufts Quidditch.

Another Option, a group dedicated to providing alternatives to alcohol-serving parties on campus, first requested funding for a Tufts Film Series event and a Winter Ball alternative that took place two weeks prior to the meeting. The Senate, however, refused the request, citing that they do not permit retroactive funding. In its defense, Another Option argued that the cancellation of school due to snow days called for an exception, as the snow days were not their fault.

Another Option further requested funding for its future Spring Fling alternatives and food for its weekly events. The group believed that food is an integral part of its events for student turnout. Members of Senate, however, expressed concern over the group’s use of food as an incentive, and argued that the Senate does not permit the funding of food incentives for student groups.

After much discussion, the Senate voted 11-7-0 to approve $1,478 out of the $4,183.50 that the group had originally requested.

Next, the Tufts Quidditch team appealed for a total of $6,407.20, arguing that six of its members, due to financial limitations, were unable to cover all of the expenses.

After debate, the Senate decided that the team was capable of fundraising some of the requested amount, and in a 10-7-1 vote, approved $2,142 of the $6407.20 that the team had first requested.

After these two appeals, the Senate approved funding requests of $300 for the Hong Kong Students Association, $700 for the Muslim Student's Association, $3,431 for the Persian Association, $743 for Friends of Israel, $451 for the Latin American Committee, $4000 for the South Asian Literary and Art Magazine (SALAAM) and $6,200 for Students for Justice in Palestine. Most of the amounts were approved by acclimation or majority vote. Tufts Synthetic Biology, however, was denied its requested $450.

Finishing the Treasury's agenda, TCU Treasurer Adam Kochman proposed to move $25,000 from the surplus account into the supplementary fund, in which only $11,000 remained. He explained that if money runs out from the supplementary fund, the Allocations Board would no longer accept any supplementary funding requests from student groups.

In a quick 17-1-0 vote, the Senate approved Kochman’s proposal to replenish the supplementary fund to $36,000.

Next, during the committee reports, Benya Kraus, a first-year senator, urged all senators to send liaison emails and contact the signatories of their designated student groups. The push comes from the Senate’s student outreach initiative, which desires to improve contact and relations for group signatories who may have questions regarding various governmental policies and procedures.

Last, the Judiciary took the floor and provided its updates regarding the opening of the bylaws that aimed to strengthen relations between Senate and the Judiciary.

The meeting concluded with a reminder for all of Senate about next week's NESCAC Conference on Feb. 28, in which student governments from three to four schools will visit Tufts.