Senior Rafi Goldberg wants to make sure students can afford an unpaid summer internship.
At the Tufts Community Union Senate meeting on Sunday, Sept. 25, senator Goldberg announced a proposal to pay a stipend to 50 students who have an unpaid internship.
The plan would pay students for housing, food and other costs of living during the internship out of an endowment fund.
The money for the fund would be provided from funds raised during the University's next capital campaign, which has a fundraising target of $1 billion.
Part of the campaign's income will go toward making the University's admissions process need blind. The rest of the money will be divided among the schools.
"They wanted ideas," Goldberg said. "I gave them an idea."
Goldberg has been working on the proposal since the spring. He ran for Tufts Community Union president on a platform that included the internship stipend.
While the capital campaign is being prepared, Goldberg said, what remains to be done for the internship stipend is "a matter of finding the right donor."
He described the internship stipend as "a great thing that could help more Tufts students be prepared for the real world."
The proposal was well received by the senators. "I think most people were in favor of it because it's something that will help students," President Jeff Katzin said.
Katzin said the University's financial situation could make implementing the proposal difficult.
Dave Baumwoll, last year's president, said he tried to create an internship stipend last year. "The idea was one of the major objectives I wanted to accomplish," he said.
