It seems like the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate only ever catches people's attention when money's at stake. Hands up who can remember a TCU Senate resolution! Thought so. I voted for the all-controversial Trips Cabin expansion, but I did so based on a slightly different perspective than that of the other senators. I have never bought the idea that the recovered funds belong to "us," the current student body. The vast majority of it was embezzled from alumni, who had the reasonable expectation that the money would be spent during their tenure at Tufts.
I spent the fall semester torn between the nagging belief that the money didn't belong to us and the surety that senators would never return what was now their "precious." My compromise logic involved the good the money could do beyond simple entertainment, which is why I advocated for financial aid. A refund program would have been voluntary. I am certain that many alumni would have chosen to refrain from requesting a refund in the interests of students in need. But they deserved to choose. My greatest regret is not making this position clearer — both to myself and to other senators — prior to the Dec. 7 vote.
Although it went unreported, my final recovered funds proposal last December included a clause to look into refunding up to $300,000 to the alumni whose student activities fees were embezzled. The Senate deemed this unworthy of consideration — even separately from my rather extreme financial aid proposal. The response of one executive board member when I broached refunds was, "Why don't we just send a stick of gum to all the alumni?" Hand-in-hand with its paternalistic desire to make a decision on its own — hence why referendum proposals were shot down — the Senate was unwilling to consider means of providing redress to wronged alumni.
The Trips Cabin was — and I believe, would have continued to be — the only proposal which offered tangible, permanent benefits for alumni, particularly those who were embezzled. The expanded Loj will be available to all, whether they choose to make use of it or not. Although it may appear to only cater to a certain element of the community, the Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) — which I have no affiliation with — seems a very inclusive organization to me. It isn't their fault if others fail to take advantage of their facility. I expect them to be extremely forthcoming in reaching out to students, groups and alumni who have not previously used the Loj; maybe they'll even offer a deal to those alumni who attended during the years that Jodi Neally (allegedly) embezzled the money, since this expansion is entirely thanks to their fees.
This solution isn't perfect. The sort of "outdoors" culture espoused by the TMC does not speak to every Jumbo, or perhaps even a majority. I won't beat around the bush with political correctness; we've spent $230,000 on stuff white people like (whereby white stands more for a certain subculture — I'm talking to you, North Face fleece wearers — than necessarily skin color). But considering Tufts' fractured community, the TMC's propsal seemed like one of the least bad options as inclusive student organizations go. It's down to all of us, alumni and students, to make use of Tufts' own holiday resort of sorts.
The Trips Cabin is permanent, both as a student venue and as a lifetime benefit for Jumbos. On-campus events, an expanded coffee stand — to me, none of these options appeared to offer feasible benefits to embezzled alumni. Only a limited amount of proposals were viable within the framework of the Senate's desires. A considerable majority of senators have made it very clear to me that they are most comfortable with the Senate as a glorified party planning committee and any major expenditure had to reflect this prioritization of luxury and entertainment. Although I would have preferred something more goody-two-shoes, I didn't expect any such proposal to pass a vote. The TMC proposal could, and did, offer at least some long-term benefits for alumni as well as the remaining students whose money might have been stolen.
Whether the Senate's desires reflect the priorities of the broader community remains to be seen, especially in light of the fact that, once again, there weren't enough candidates for next year's Senate to warrant an election for juniors and seniors. Who knows how representative senators are? Hell, I was a senator, and I'm about as representative of your average undergraduate as a rabbit wearing Uggs and a baseball cap. The indignation with which some senators have responded to post-decision criticism certainly paints us in an arrogant light. Yet the student body reaction to the decision so far indicates to me that the broader Tufts community sees no problem with committing over a quarter-million dollars to more coffee in a glitzier campus center and more beds for a mountain retreat at a time when the university has fired staff, cut sponsorship, ended need-blind admissions and raised tuition for middle-class families that are financially overcommitted. The question seems not whether we should pay for luxuries, but what luxuries we should pay for. That's the Tufts Bubble.
With refunds looking less likely than ever, my hope as an outgoing senator is that the loan repayments from the tarting up of The Rez will be allocated to some sort of "goalkeeper fund," which provides money to enable students to engage in life-altering activities, such as national tournaments, research and service trips, when all other funding sources have been exhausted. With Tufts funding opportunities slashed and even students from affluent families lacking cash for anything but the bare minimum, this fund will be sorely needed in the next few years and would actually change lives rather than just provide bands and beer. Since this is in the hands of the TCU Senate though, I'm not holding my breath.
How we got ourselves into a position where the Trips Cabin seemed like the only viable option is something I'll leave for another debate. But I doubt we'll have that particular discussion, since we would dredge up much of what's flawed in both the TCU Senate and us, the Tufts community at large. I don't believe Tufts has either the desire or the stomach for that.
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Toby Bonthrone is a senior majoring in International Relations. He is a former TCU senator.
