The Tufts Community Union Senate discussed an upcoming tuition transparency event with senior university leadership, as well as projects, initiatives and funding requests in its Sunday meeting.
TCU President Dhruv Sampat, a senior, announced that the tuition transparency event will take place on Feb. 10 and will feature senior university leadership walking students through how tuition money is distributed across Tufts’ schools and programs.
He said the goal is to make the breakdown of tuition spending “more understandable” and to establish the event as a recurring initiative rather than a one-time Senate project.
“Hopefully, we get this institutionalized and the school carries this forward every single year so that it’s not [just] a Senate initiative and that we can keep up this transparency so students know what they’re paying for every semester,” Sampat said.
Sophomore Shefali Bakre, chair of the Services Committee, shared details about the on-campus farmers market held on Oct. 24 in collaboration with Tufts University Social Collective and Sustainable CORE Fellows.
“The farmer market’s main purpose was to provide community at Tufts and to give students access to local grown produce … TUSC brought student art vendors and also provided ice cream,” Bakre said. “Overall, the event went very well, a lot of parents were able to engage in the Tufts community.”
Sophomore Spencer Kluger, chair of the Administration & Policy Committee, announced that he is drafting a survey to be sent out to the student body later this semester.
“The Administration and Policy Committee is soon sending out a comprehensive mid-semester survey to all undergrads to learn more about what is working for them, what is not, and how we can better support Tufts students as Senate,” Kluger wrote in a statement to the Daily. “The survey will span several categories of student life, including dining, residential life, academics, facilities, and fun/culture, all in an effort to better advocate for student needs.”
Kluger also shared an update on making sports equipment available for students to rent through Tisch Library and the athletic facilities.
“We’re looking into getting sports equipment in Tisch,” Kluger wrote. “We had a meeting this week … and they seem really receptive to the idea, which is really exciting — and also in the athletics facilities as well.”
The Committee on Community & Diversity is planning a Career Center Focus Week event to connect students with the Career Center, according to sophomore Jesse Kitumba, the TCU assistant diversity officer and a CCDI member.
“Each community will be taking a date and connecting the Career Center and bringing them closer to the students. … They’ll be doing different things, like resume workshops,” Kitumba said.
The event will also include information about majors, internships and Handshake, a website that connects students with job opportunities.
CCDI is also planning an event to connect with campus identity centers. Committee Chair Iman Boulouah, a senior, said the event is “specifically for us to get to know the directors and the interns” of the identity centers and to “close that gap that we have right now.”
The Senate also heard funding requests from student organizations as well as appeals of recommendations made by the Allocations Board.
The Student Government Association at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, whose funding had previously been tabled by the Treasury, requested funding from the Senate following discussions about their budgeting process last year.
“There was a little bit of disagreement on the terms of the budgeting cycle, where [the Treasurer at the time was] moving money around without telling me,” Sampat said. “Because of that, we paused their budgeting process so that we could lay down the terms of what the budget process should look like.”
Other student organizations, including the African Students Organization, Tufts Enchanted and Tufts NeuroNetwork, appealed Allocations Board decisions.
The Senate voted to grant ASO the full $1,717 they requested, overriding the Allocations Board recommendation of $1,217. An initial vote to grant $1,500 in funding failed before the successful vote.
Tufts Enchanted, which requested $5,760, sought to overturn the Allocations Board’s recommendation to grant them no additional money, but the Board’s decision was upheld. NeuroNetwork initially requested $5,453 in funding, but the Allocations Board recommended $2,362, which was ultimately approved by the Senate.
Other student organizations that presented funding requests included Alt-J, Athletes of Color, Tufts Investment Club, Maternal Advocacy and Research for Community Health, Women’s Club Soccer, Men’s Club Soccer and Club Running.
All funding recommendations were passed by the Senate except for Alt-J and Tufts Investment Club. The Senate approved $1,050 for Alt-J rather than the recommended $1,080 and $2,881 for Tufts Investment Club instead of the recommended $2,981.
The meeting concluded with a closed session for a meeting between Sampat and University President Sunil Kumar.
