The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate opted earlier this month not to forgive a penalty fine that it accrued for overspending on its budget last year.
The Senate discussed seven student groups that overspent their budgets last semester, including the Senate itself. The Senate decided to forgive all groups in full or in part, except for the Senate, which will have to pay its own penalty.
When student groups overspend their allotted budgets, the Senate may issue financial penalties based on the amount by which groups overspent.
A group may appeal this penalty if it can explain the over−expenditure at the beginning of the academic year, according to TCU Senate Treasurer sophomore Christie Maciejewski, who makes all final decisions regarding budget penalties for student groups.
The body traditionally forgives penalties when the Senate itself can be held responsible for over−expenditures of student groups, according to TCU President Tomas Garcia, a senior.
Maciejewski put seven groups' financial penalties up for discussion by the Senate, including the Vietnamese Students Club (VSC), Tufts Film Series, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Sarabande, Tufts Mock Trial, Midnight Café and the Senate itself.
The Senate forgave ASCE, Sarabande, Mock Trial and Midnight Café in full. Only two groups, VSC and Film Series, drew enough debate for Maciejewski to table the decision on those groups for a later date. Sarabande did not actually go over its budget, but only appeared to do so due to an accounting error that was not the fault of the group.
Maciejewski later made the final decision to forgive Film Series in full, as well as $475 out of the over $600 penalty for the VSC.
The only group that the body decided to penalize in full was the Senate itself.
"We're the same as every single other TCU group, we fund ourselves, and it's our responsibility to be fiscally responsible," Garcia said of the decision.
Although Maciejewski withheld the exact amount by which the Senate overspent, she disclosed that the penalty was close to $2000.
It is common for the Senate to overspend its budget, Garcia noted.
"A lot of programs get added over the course of the year," he said. "They're programs that serve the wide student body, but there's always unforeseen costs to us."
Money to repay the deficit penalties will come out of the Senate and VSC budgets for this year, Garcia added.
If student groups need to exceed their budgets during the semester, they may apply for buffer funding, a Senate−controlled fund providing grants to groups for "unforeseen expenditures," according to Maciejewski.
The Senate can also apply for buffer funding as well as approve the use of buffer funding for its own purposes, Maciejewski noted.
The decision to penalize the Senate will hopefully set an example for other groups to apply for buffer funding instead of going over budget, Garcia explained.
Senators have historically voted to forgive their own penalties as a body, he added.
Debate surrounding VSC's penalty was especially contentious.
The group overspent its budget by over $600. A VSC student representative explained to senators that the group overspent because it loaned money to newly formed student groups for culture shows.
The group was unaware it had exceeded its budget, the student representative said.
Maciejewski tabled the discussion due to the lack of a clear consensus, she said.
The debate is part of a larger Senate conversation about the importance of group co−sponsorship, in which groups fund each other's events, Garcia said.
"Co−sponsorship is kind of a contentious issue on the body," Garcia said.
The Senate encourages groups to co−sponsor each other, but VSC lost track of its budget, he said.
The debate brought VSC under harsher scrutiny than other groups, Diversity and Community Affairs Officer Joe Thibodeau, a sophomore said.
"I think that Senate seemed to almost handle the dialogue with this group differently than with other groups, and that was kind of uncomfortable for me," Thibodeau said. "We need to just be aware of the dialogue we use and how it affects other groups."
The Senate should be careful to treat student groups with respect, Thibodeau noted.
"If groups are going to view us as a successful resource, we need to treat them with respect, show interest in what they're involved in despite our own passions and our own interests, and look at how what they do benefits the interests of the Tufts community," he said.
--
Clarification: This article has been modified from its original version, which did not include information that Sarabande's apparent debt was due to an accounting error.
