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 welcomed newly elected senators and discussed an effort to include voting information in syllabi, among other issues, in its Sunday meeting.
Indigenous Senator Tziavi Melendez, a junior, LGBTQ Senator Glen Marques, a first-year, and Class of 2027 senators Mikey Glueck and Seray Ajei were elected in a special election this month that saw a turnout of 448 students. Maya Jordan, a junior, was elected to the TCU Judiciary, while Raymond Dong, a first-year, was voted onto the Committee on Student Life.
TCU Parliamentarian Anastasiya Korovska, a junior, read aloud an abstract for a resolution introduced by JumboVote, a nonprofit organization on campus that advocates for voting, which called on professors to include voter registration and additional voting information in all course syllabi.
“JumboVote, Tufts’ nonpartisan voter advocacy organization, calls upon the TCU Senate to adopt a resolution mandating that professors include voting information and resources in their syllabi/Canvas pages,” the resolution reads. The resolution also recognizes the importance of ensuring students are civically engaged, which it says is a “core value of the Tufts community.”
Senator Hailey Renick, a first-year, also shared updates on her Tufts Dining survey initiative that seeks student feedback on meals and recipes. The survey received over 1,300 responses and the Senate is now going through the data, she said.
“We’re going to compile [the survey results] and present everything to Dining,” Renick said. “The purpose of the survey was more meal-specific and recipe-specific — the frequency of what’s being served and how it’s served.”
TCU President Dhruv Sampat, a senior, told senators that he discussed Pass/Fail and drop deadlines with Tufts administrators in several meetings and added that the university is deliberating over pushing the deadlines back.
“We did bring up the drop and Pass/Fail deadlines. As you know, the drop deadline this year is Feb. 18, which, considering that we missed a Monday, is pretty hard for classes that are on Mondays and especially those that … take place once a week,” he said.
Sampat also shared that he will be attending a meeting between executive deans in the next few weeks to discuss a recently implemented project on introducing open syllabi.
“The open syllabi project is something that officially has been instituted, which means that there is the infrastructure for faculty members and professors to upload the syllabi or their syllabus from each class for everyone to see while they’re choosing what classes to take,” he said.
However, Sampat added that only six faculty members across Tufts have implemented the program and uploaded their syllabi.
Class of 2028 Senator Gunnar Ivarsson, chair of the Education Committee, discussed a resolution he is working on with Korovska and Class of 2028 Senator Ruby Appleton to help members of performance groups on campus receive course credit.
“We’re just trying to create a framework for performance groups on campus to be eligible for credit,” Ivarsson said. “Whether that’s going down the graded path, whether that’s going down the Pass/Fail path, what amount of credits it would look like, what’s the requirements you need to be eligible to have credit for it? These are all conversations that we’re having.”
TCU Treasurer Brendan French, a junior, outlined the budgeting timeline for clubs this semester, sharing that club budgets will be due to the Treasury on Feb. 25. Throughout the rest of the semester, clubs will also be expected to meet with a member of the Allocations Board to discuss their budgets.
The breakdance group TURBO appealed the Allocations Board recommendation for funding. The Allocations Board recommended against giving them funding, but the Senate ultimately voted to provide $2,975 on Sunday for the annual competition they host.
The Senate also voted to approve $13,169 for Tufts Club Cheerleading and the Allocations Board recommendations for both Tufts Asian Student Coalition and Zema Dance Troupe.
