On Sunday, the newly elected Class of 2029 senators and disability senator attended their first Tufts Community Union Senate meeting. TCU reviewed proposed changes to the bylaws and elected new first-year members to the Allocations Board.
First-year Luke Wakeman was one of the senators elected to the Allocations Board.
“I’m really excited,” Wakeman said. “I’m really passionate about it, and I’m excited to get to work with the rest of the Senate on getting some of the funds allocated to the clubs.”
Senator Elle Chassin was the other first-year elected to the Allocations Board. In a private vote of the board, Chassin was also elected assistant treasurer.
“I’m super honored that I got elected to [the Allocations Board] and to the position. I really wanted to be on the Treasury in the first place,” Chassin said. “I’m super excited to see how it goes and to really weigh in on all of the important decisions that we make in the Treasury.”
In addition to electing senators to the Allocations Board, TCU Parliamentarian and junior Amelia Farrar went over proposed changes to the bylaws. Some of these include how community senators are elected, with students running for a community senator seat no longer required to collect at least 50 signatures and submit a completed application to the “President of a TCU recognized student organization or the Director of each DSDI Center.”
The process is now more in line with that of general class senators, with elections held through the TCU Elections Commission.
Other changes included adding a new attendance policy and updating the bylaws to be consistent with the recently revised Treasury Procedures Manual.
Farrar reflected on the discussion and implementation of the changes.
“A big part for me as parliamentarian is making sure that these are bylaws that everyone feels good about and feels confident about. So, I think it’s important that people share their opinions and speak their minds, and if that means that they’re dissenting against me, that’s something I really welcome,” Farrar said. “This is living and breathing, and we really want to make sure that these are representative of what the entire body wants.”
The Senate then moved into a closed session to discuss sensitive bylaw changes that have not been made available to the wider student body.
The Senate also considered funding requests proposed by the Allocations Board from nine student groups: WMFO, Alt Protein Project, African American Foundations and Roots Organization, Badminton Club, Hong Kong Student Association, Jumbos for Nonprofits, Middle East Research Group, Society of Latinx Engineers & Scientists and Society of Women Engineers. None of the groups sent representatives.
Seven of the supplementary funding requests were passed by the Senate, while those of WMFO and Alt Protein Project were deferred.
