Senators discussed undergraduate access to the Ginn Library at The Fletcher School, reviews of tenured faculty members and funding requests, among other items, at the Tufts Community Union Senate’s meeting on Sunday.
TCU President Dhruv Sampat provided an update on the recent ban of undergraduate students from the reading room at the Ginn Library, saying that the school has indicated a willingness to partially open the space.
“There is discussion of re-evaluating what the ban on undergrads in that room looks like. [The Fletcher School] did share with me, though, that they are making several other compromises so the library won’t be shut to undergrads during finals period at all anymore,” Sampat said.
He added that graduate students at Fletcher may need access to the books in the reading room more than undergraduates, leading to the ban. He said he was still advocating for greater access for undergraduates.
“We’re still trying to get them to realize that it’s the only space where undergrads feel like they’re at a top-tier university and it feels nice to study in,” Sampat said, prompting laughter.
Sampat also spoke about issues regarding study room reservations in Tisch Library.
“Tisch has been facing a lot of issues with students just booking out the rooms much in advance and then not showing up,” he said.
Senators shared several solutions to the issue with study rooms, including penalties for missed reservations, a published reservations list, implementing systems to check-in like tagging devices and limiting the number of reservations a student can have at one time.
The Senate is also working to expand the Tisch Library’s collection for students. Senator Eraste Talla, a junior, proposed a textbook drive to increase the collection.
“We are thinking about ways to collect books every semester and just build our libraries, because we’re thinking about other places where we can draw books [from],” Talla said.
Senators also discussed the fourth-year review process for tenure-track faculty members, which requires an examination of their past course evaluations. Past course reviews are made available to senators for a three-hour window. The culmination of this process is a review letter on the designated faculty member. Only sophomores, juniors and seniors are eligible to write tenure-track faculty reviews.
Additionally the Office of Residential Life and Learning is coordinating with the Senate to update imagery of sophomore dorms. Senator Ruby Appleton, a sophomore, said she was in the process of creating video walkthroughs of the dorms.
“[I’m] making walkthrough videos of sophomore dorms, specifically, just to show how the dorm hall looks, show how the common room looks and show how one specific dorm looks,” Appleton said. “We’re gonna do freshman dorms later, but they asked us to focus on sophomore dorms.”
The Senate heard a budget cut appeal from the Taiwanese Association of Students at Tufts and voted on funding requests from the Latin American Committee, JumboCode and Tufts Consulting Collective.
TAST redeemed a funding bookmark for food for their annual night market. According to representatives from TAST, a past night market was attended by approximately 450 people.
“Our main event for this semester is the night market. … We have food, we have games and performances that are related to Taiwanese culture so that we can help share and celebrate and also educate the Tufts community about Taiwanese culture,” TAST co-treasurer Brian Liau said.
Various Senators proposed budget cuts and fundraising opportunities to pay for the night market, including requiring students to purchase tickets.
“For somebody as a freshman who’s never been here, it’s going to be much harder for you to want to pay $5 to go to an event that you’re not sure what you’re going to get from it, which is why we didn't believe that ticketing would be a good option,” Liau said.
The Senate passed $4,795 in funding for TAST’s night market 29-0-2.
The Senate voted to pass the Allocations Board’s funding recommendation for the Latin American Committee and Jumbocode. The Senate also passed a funding request for Tufts Consulting Collective.
