The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate last Sunday allocated an additional $65,000 for Spring Fling, more than double the $25,000 that Programming Board requested. The additional funding will bring the total Spring Fling budget up to $150,000, a move that could mean bigger acts at the annual May event.
In previous years, the Allocations Board has provided Programming Board $110,000 for Spring Fling — $25,000 in buffer funds in addition to the $85,000 reserved annually for the event.
This year, the $150,000 sum will cover the opener and a main act, according to TCU Treasurer Christie Maciejewski, a sophomore.
"We decided it was an excellent opportunity to really pump up Spring Fling this year and make it one of the best events on campus, because it is one of those events that almost everyone attends," TCU President Tomas Garcia said. "We thought it was one of the best ways that almost every single member of campus could benefit from the surplus money."
The Senate opted to grant Programming Board more money this year in order to attract bigger−name musical artists to the Hill, according to Garcia, a senior.
"Every single year we hear a lot of complaints from our student body that the talent at the shows wasn't up to par with what's going on at other universities," Garcia said.
Headlining acts in recent years included The Roots, OK Go and Ludacris.
Programming Board President Leo Greenberg cited rapper NickiMinaj as an example of an artist now in Concert Board's price bracket for the event.
"The reason we requested this much is because the student body asked for bigger names, bigger artists for Spring Fling," Greenberg said.
The Senate was able to allocate more funds this year for the event as a result of the large surplus the body has accrued over the past few years, according to Maciejewski. It made $200,000 available in events grants to any interested student group this semester.
The Senate distributed an additional approximately $95,000 to other student organizations for funds for upcoming events, according to Maciejewski. The body allocated upwards of $15,000 toward Tuftonia's Day, WinterFest and the newly created Jumbo Stampede, events that Greenberg expects to help bolster school spirit.
"We're very pleased with the outcome of the allocations and we're very excited to be able to hold bigger and better events this year," he said.
There is still approximately $40,000 available to allocate for a second round of event grants in the spring.
"I think the allocations were a great success, so I would encourage all student groups on campus to apply for that money," Greenberg said.
Maciejewski also recently uncovered an accounting error in the Senate's budget on Excel which had gotten through many rounds of reviewers last year, including last year's Senior Class Council, Programming Board co−chairs, Allocations Board and the entire Senate before she discovered it this year. The error was $24,000 that should have been allocated to the Programming Board's budget but wasn't, so the Senate took the money out of its surplus account to return to Programming Board.
"Now that it's been fixed, everything's back where it should be," Greenberg said.
