Tufts Community Union Senate debated and approved JumboCast’s request for supplementary funding to cover new cameras on Feb. 20. They also introduced abstract proposals calling on the university to create a Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) space on campus and divulge all course costs on SIS enrollment pages.
This meeting marked the first time the senate is allowing club sports teams to request additional supplementary funding. By the end of the meeting, they had approved 19 requests, including those from Club Skiing, Club Volleyball and Club Tennis.
Members of JumboCast, the student organization responsible for broadcasting and commentating varsity sports games, had previously received funding to replace two failing video cameras. This time, however, they requested funding to add a new, professional-grade 4K camcorder to their fleet of equipment.
“Our capacity to create elite video content for the entire Tufts student body on behalf of athletics has grown closer to our mission of providing the highest quality media coverage not only of Tufts athletics but anything on Tufts campus digitally,” JumboCast member Sam Brill said. “So we’re asking for these cameras to replace our older cameras to upgrade our other setups, which are going to be needed for the increase in volume that comes with spring sports.”
According to Brill, JumboCast covers six varsity sports in the spring season with games that often coincide with each other and compete for broadcasting.
“Having the additional camera capacity makes us less susceptible to making the decision of who gets the elite quality game footage, which is not a decision that we want to have to make,” Brill said.
Dissenting senators argued against the supplementary funding, claiming that it was capital expenditure that should be covered by the Tufts Athletics Department and not the TCU Senate.
“It’s not a critical replacement, they have two other setups in addition to the brand new setup that, while a slightly lower quality, are still fully functional,” Senator Max Morningstar, a senior, said.
After debating for over 50 minutes, the TCU Senate passed JumboCast’s request with 19 senators in favor, 11 opposed and three abstaining.
The Tufts University Social Collective retroactively requested funding for the Winter Ball held on Feb. 11. It was the first Winter Ball in four years due to the pandemic. The request passed unanimously.
The Tufts DREAM Membership Program requested funding for an event for their Tufts mentors and Medford student mentees. While some senators argued against it for the fact that funding would go to non-undergraduate individuals, the request passed with 23 senators in favor, eight opposed and two abstaining.
Tufts Friends of Israel requested funding for their Feb. 21 event hosting speakers from both Palestine and Israel. The request passed by acclamation.
ENVY, a Tufts step dance team, requested funding for transportation to Philadelphia for their first off-campus competition in three years. The request passed by acclamation.
Tufts Buddhist Mindfulness Sangha requested funding for a spring retreat to Providence, R.I. The request passed with all 33 senators in favor.
The Philippine Student Union requested funding for their book club’s final event. The request passed unanimously.
The Tufts Quidditch team requested funding for their trip to this year’s nationals. The request passed unanimously.
The Tufts Student Garden organization requested funding for supplies for an upcoming fundraising event. The request passed by acclamation.
TheProtestant Students Association requested funding to bring in guest preachers. The request passed by acclamation.
The Tufts Singapore Indonesia Malaysia Students Association requested funding for their annual ski retreat. The request passed with 29 senators in favor, two opposed and two abstaining.
The Tufts Anime Brigade requested funding for their upcoming “maid cafe” event to be held in Hotung Café. The request passed by acclamation.
The Tufts Asian Student Coalition requested funding for their spring trip to the Association of Asian American Studies conference to be held in Long Beach, Calif. The request passed unanimously.
The Tufts Pre-Medical Society requested funding for their student support events during midterm season. The request passed by acclamation.
TEDxTufts requested additional funding for attendee merchandise for their upcoming TEDx event. They had hoped that branded water bottles and tote bags would serve as advertisement and community outreach, but many senators argued that multiple products were redundant, and so proposed slashed funding. After debate, the slashed request narrowly passed with 16 senators in favor, 13 against and two abstaining.
