Editor’s Note: Gunnar Ivarsson is a former chair of the Daily’s Ethics and Inclusion Committee. Ivarsson was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.
The Tufts Community Union Senate met on Monday to provide project updates, review the resolution process ahead of numerous resolutions being presented to the Senate and to hear funding appeals from student groups, before ending the meeting early because a quorum of 24 senators was no longer present.
TCU President Dhruv Sampat, a senior, spoke about progress and success on several TCU Senate projects, including the recent Tuition Transparency Town Hall.
“I think that [the town hall] went very well, and [the administration] committed to now institutionalizing that, which means, with or without us, that will happen with the administration,” Sampat said.
“I think we’re making amazing progress, and we’re at a very good pace for things that we’re getting out to the student body and projects that we’re getting done,” Sampat said to the Senate. “We’re only halfway through the semester and already we’ve had a great start. Be mindful of yourselves, your energy levels, how much you’re putting into this.”
TCU Parliamentarian Anastasiya Korovska, a junior, then gave an overview of the resolutions process in the Senate ahead of numerous resolutions that will be moving through the Senate in the next few weeks.
The review process begins once full resolutions are presented to the Senate, where the Parliamentarian and club authors host an open session called a Rules Committee for anyone to ask questions or raise concerns about the proposed resolution.
After the Rules Committee session, the Senate debates the resolution at one of its weekly meetings. The finalized resolution, with any potential edits, is read again before moving into a period of debate.
“We’re going to read that finalized resolution to [the Senate], and then the resolution authors speak for five minutes on behalf of the resolution,” Korovska said. “And then after that we have a section where you propose non-substantive amendments.”
Non-substantive amendments are changes to the format or grammatical structure of a resolution, while substantive amendments are changes to the actual text and meaning of a resolution.
“One thing to keep in mind: If a resolution fails to pass a majority vote, it can’t get brought up again in the same [school] year,” Korovska said.
Korovska then read aloud an abstract for a future resolution authored by Education Committee Chair Gunnar Ivarsson, a sophomore, which seeks to establish a way for members of on-campus performance groups to earn credit.
“This resolution calls upon Tufts University to establish a structured pathway for approved student performance groups to offer limited pass/fail academic credit,” an excerpt of the abstract reads. “Many student performers commit multiple hours each week to rehearsals, productions and event works that contribute meaningfully to their education and cultural life … but do not count toward the 120 credits required for graduation.”
JumboCode, Daily Flame and the Jackson Jills sent representatives to appeal Allocations Board requests for their funding.
The full amount of funding that JumboCode was asking for, $2,913, was passed by the Senate.
The full $650 requested by Daily Flame was also passed by the Senate after a proposal to award the organization only $401 did not pass.
The Jackson Jills asked for $12,813.75 to record and produce nine songs. The Senate voted to approve a smaller amount of $4,382 after voting on multiple proposed funding amounts, including $0, all of which did not pass.
After hearing an Allocations Board recommendation for Tufts Black Pre-Health Society’s semester budget, a number of early departures put the Senate below quorum, leaving fewer than the required 24 members present to hold a vote.
The Senate adjourned the meeting early without voting on the Allocations Board recommendations, with Sampat electing to schedule them for next week’s Senate meeting.
