Incoming 2026-27 Tufts Community Union President Brendan French, a rising senior, sat down with the Daily to talk about his priorities for his term, what motivated him to run for president and what he is most looking forward to.
“My top priorities are definitely club focused,” French said. “My hope is to start talking with President [Sunil] Kumar and the deans to see … if there are more players within the university who can help with [club fundraising], whether it’s the president’s office or Student Giving or University Advancement.”
French wants to utilize people within the university who have experience reaching out to alumni donors.
“It’s really trying to put that idea out to the donors, telling them our situation,” he said. “A lot of them were in clubs at some point, and so, if we’re able to explain the decrease or reduction in funding that we have, [we hope] that they would want to start chipping in and start helping out the clubs.”
In addition to finding other sources of club funding, French is hoping to establish a more direct pipeline with the Office of the President to help secure funding for clubs who may be turning towards the office.
“I’m curious if a more established pipeline can be created for clubs, because I know President Kumar is very happy [with], engaged and interested in clubs and their activities,” French said.
A second priority for French is improving outdoor spaces on campus, which would include putting more trash cans outside.
French also wants to explore options for moving TCU Treasury forms online to make it easier for students to submit them.
“Hopefully next year is when something can be done about the annoyance of doing paper forms and students having to come into the office to drop off forms, check back in on forms or to correct forms,” French said. “What we’re going to be doing, hopefully for the next few years … is putting more of the Treasury forms onto [an online platform].”
French also spoke about how his experience as treasurer informed his decision to run for president.
“From the Treasury aspect, I think I have a pretty decent understanding … [of] what most of the clubs do on campus, what their mission statement [is] and what activities they do,” he said. “That just gives [me] great insight into the interests of the student body and what all students are interested in on campus, where there may be a lack of support.”
He expressed what he saw as limitations within the role of treasurer that he believed could be addressed by being president.
“While being treasurer, I did realize the limitations, just because a lot of the role requires more face time with students, and there isn’t necessarily as much room or time for you to try and set up those meetings with administration to talk about clubs,” French said.
He also said that he missed being involved with other Senate projects outside of the Treasury.
“In general, this year, I did miss a little bit of doing projects outside of the Treasury,” French said. “I’m hoping next year, as president, that I can tap back into that, because that is an aspect that I liked about Senate, and part of why I joined Senate originally.”
French mentioned looking forward to strengthening communication between the Senate and different university departments next year.
“Next year, we’re hoping to set up some more regular and recurring meetings with different departments; for example, dining as well as facilities,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of headway to make there, and a lot of benefit that can come from us being able to communicate to the admin, and then admin being able to communicate to us on a more regular basis.”
French anticipates club funding being one of the biggest challenges next year.
“The biggest challenge is for clubs [to set up] some kind of support system so that [they are] not just relying on the student activities fee for their budget,” French said. “For a big change to happen it takes a while. … I’m just unsure how long [new funding initiatives] would take, and whether that could get on the ground within a year or not.”
In preparation for next year’s club funding, French is hoping to begin talking to the school about fundraising strategies this summer.
“I knew that I really did care about clubs and the future of them at the university, and that, no matter what role I was in, I would still want to try and focus on that,” French said.
