The Tufts Community Union Senate ended its final meeting of the semester last night with votes on eight resolutions in asession that lasted into the early hours of the morning.
Senators interrupted the session to draft a statement in reaction to the discovery of a swastika and white supremacist messages painted on structures on Bello Field Sunday. The statement declared that the body regards these and all other instances of hate and subordination as unacceptable and called for an internal, critical reflection of the history behind such instances.
Senators also passed a resolution calling for faculty and adminstrators involved with the working group developing the Critical Studies in Disparities and Diasporas umbrella program involve student members as active and equal collaborators. Senior senator Jameelah Morris and Senate Diversity and Community Affairs Officer Logan Cotton, also a senior, submitted the resolution, which called for student representatives to be re-integrated into the group.
Another resolution urges the administration to incorporate research resource aggregator Project Lever, which consolidates research opportunities, funding sources, previous theses and other materials for students interested in beginning research projects, into the universitys systems.
Senators quickly passed a resolution encouraging Dining Services to use eggs produced on cage-free farms. They estimated that the change would cost about $6 more per student each year, but that Dining Services would likely incorporate it into their normal budget, causing no additional cost to students.
A resolution to create a designated space for entrepreneurial projects in Curtis Hall was quickly passed. Trustee Representative Eric Peckham, who submitted the resolution, cited a survey showing that 20 to 25 percent of seniors plan to start a company upon graduating.
Senators also quickly approved a resolution calling for the addition of a late-night shuttle to bring students back from downtown Boston on weekends until 3 a.m.
The Senate passed a resolution encouraging the Office of Residential Life and Learning to publish housing lottery results on an annual basis, allowing students to make educated decisions about where they might be able to live and whether they could count on on-campus housing with their lottery numbers.
The meeting opened with a 45-minute address from University Provost David Harris, who took questions from senators about progress on the provosts Strategic Plan, which will be released November. Harris disussed with the body the possibility of using massive online open courses as a possible way to expand technology into the educational sphere.
The student group Tufts American Institute of Chemical Engineers was allocated $20,000 for equipment and other uses.
