The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate says students are not aware enough of its impact on campus life.
As part of a multi-pronged rebranding campaign launched this semester, senators are hoping to incorporate the word "Senate" into the title of major university events that the body sponsors exclusively, such as Fall Ball and the Nighttime Quad Reception — better known as Naked Quad Run.
The Senate's Student Outreach Committee, which is spearheading the rebranding effort, is also working to design a new logo and to better inform freshmen of its role on campus.
"They're superficial changes to reflect what's actually going on," said Senator Xavier Malina, a senior and member of the Student Outreach Committee.
Malina said students need to become more involved in the student government's discussions, citing the Senate's decision to spend $230,000 last year on construction of the Tufts Mountain Club's Trips Cabin, a move that drew criticism from many students after the fact.
"The fundamental thing is we want people to feel like they are part of the decision-making process," Malina said. "We want the connection between the Senate and the student body to get stronger."
The new initiative is in its planning stages this semester, and none of the strategies put forth so far have been finalized. The outreach committee hopes to have a series of goals fleshed out in time to begin the rebranding campaign next semester.
The idea for the campaign arose after senators agreed that students were largely unaware of the body's role and influence at Tufts.
Each year, Tufts students pay a $278 activities fee that accounts for the TCU's more than $1 million budget. The Senate allocates this money to student groups that solicit funding.
"Every student pays a student activities fee that really goes back to the community, but a lot of Tufts students don't feel connected to the community," said Student Outreach Committee Chair Edward Chao, a junior.
"Nobody knows what the Senate does and nobody knows where their money ends up," Malina said. "Seniors and juniors often walk onto the body [after uncontested elections] because people don't realize what it does anymore. Senate might vote on things students don't want."
Chao said that no signature emblem exists for the Senate that Jumbos can see and immediately associate with their student government.
"As far as overall brand is concerned, we don't even have an official seal for the TCU and that's a problem because, while we're a part of Tufts University, we're not supposed to use their seal, so to speak," Chao said. "Right now, we are inappropriately using the athletic seal and the university seal."
The TCU will be taking logo submissions from the entire student body. One idea within the committee is to require clubs that have received a certain amount of TCU funding to put the logo on advertisements so that students know more about the impact of the TCU funds.
"Students don't really know that we exist. If students don't know that we exist, they won't go to the Senate for help," Chao said. "It's a cyclical problem."
The Student Outreach Committee plans to introduce freshmen to the Senate during orientation, a move it believes will encourage more freshmen to contend for a Senate spot.
"We want to do rebranding from the beginning to the end," Malina said.
Senator Wyatt Cadley, a freshman, agreed on the need for more outreach to first-years.
"The big benefit of talking to freshmen right off the bat is you can educate freshmen [as] to what exactly the Senate does and, more importantly, where some of their tuition money is going," he said.
Cadley said he knew that he would run for a Senate position even before enrolling at Tufts. He said that the Senate is visible to freshmen who make a considerable effort to participate in the body, but it slips under the radar for others who do not seek it out.
