In another lengthy meeting last Sunday, the Tufts Community Union Senate passed its budget for the 2027 fiscal year and received several appeals from clubs.
A petition from Tufts Club Sports kicked off the meeting, appealing the Allocations Board’s decision to cut next year’s budget from six van leases to three.
Tufts University Social Collective representatives noted that 32 out of 33 club sports teams travel almost every single weekend, and cutting transportation would lead to clubs paying out of their own pockets for Uber or rental cars.
Senators felt that more club sports funding should come from the athletics department rather than the Treasury. TCU President Dhruv Sampat, a senior, argued that in spite of this, they cannot ignore club sports’ transportation issue.
“Considering that nothing seems to be changing, I do agree that it would not be good to just leave clubs stranded,” Sampat said. “I also would like to clarify that we don’t feel disgruntled for funding club sports, it’s more so we’d like for more funding to go to them.”
TCU Historian Defne Olgun, a junior, argued that they need to withhold funding to make the administration fund the vans.
“This is a critical time to actually apply pressure and make the administration cave, because it’s not like the university is going to let club sports operate on half capacity. … [T]hey will get those vans,” she said.
After much debate, a motion to fund five vans narrowly passed 12–11–1.
The Senate also heard a notable appeal from TUSC, who protested the cutting of both their Winter Formal and a late night Welcome Week event.
The proposed budget already saw the removal of the drag show, President’s Brunch and Senior Bingo. ALBO cut these events to reduce Senior Week ticket prices for next year from a proposed $185 to $153 per person. Tickets this year costed seniors only $150 but bringing back the Winter Formal would potentially raise prices up to $170.
TUSC representatives argued for the value of a formal accessible to all students, as opposed to those run by specific sports clubs or Greek Life.
“For a lot of students who aren’t in a fraternity, aren’t in Greek life or don’t have an athletic formal that they’re able to go to, it is the only formal that many students are able to attend in their time at Tufts,” a representative said.
They also cited that the first week of college is the most likely time for a student to experience sexual assault, arguing that their late night Welcome Week events are vital for harm reduction.
“They are sober, supervised … so by cutting one of our Welcome Week late night events, we’re getting rid of that space on a Friday night. … That’s something we’re personally pretty uncomfortable with,” they said.
After three failed motions — including one to eliminate both events and another to fund only half of Winter Formal — senators voted 21–5–1 to cut the formal and keep the Late Night event.
Other appeals created less friction. The Zamboni’s request to restore funding for bonding events and Media Advocacy Board Lab upkeep ended with senators voting 25–2–0 to allow two bondings but deny the club’s funding request for paint and food.
An appeal from the Amalgamates for a second bookmark to fund a spring tour was denied 17–5–1, keeping precedent with ALBO’s removal of another a capella group, SQ’s, tour bookmark.
The South Asian Political Action Society’s appeal, which sought funding for fashion show lighting, symposium printing and additional bonding events, was denied 19–3–1 as senators opted to stick with ALBO’s $14,782 recommendation.
ALBO divides clubs into different councils based on categories, with each member responsible for one or more councils. They presented a 15% budget cut for each council.
The Senate itself saw a budget cut of 16% from last year and almost 50% from 2024. The Elections Committee saw a reduction of around 40%, though this stemmed mostly from a better deal with the ice cream truck they hire for elections each cycle.
Sampat then discussed stipends for TCU positions, seeing them as a necessary incentive for filling important roles which otherwise might not see much interest.
“People love joining Senate, [which] is much more hands-on and exciting,” Sampat said. “A lot of these other positions are more active during one time of the year, and it takes a lot of outreach to get people signed up to these positions, even though they’re super important.”
Each ECOM member now receives about $250 per semester. The TCU Judiciary Chair’s stipend was cut down from around $1,250 to $750, with other members receiving similar cuts. Members of the Student Government Association at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts’ at Tufts University saw their stipends reduced by half.
Sampat stated that budgets across the board are returning roughly to pre-surplus spending, noting that the Senate itself has taken a disproportionate 40% cut from where they started.
The Senate adjourned shortly after passing their final club budget for fiscal year 2027 at $2,660,088.
