The Tufts Community Union Senate held its next-to-last weekly meeting of the semester in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room last night, which included discussion on projects relating to diversity, food availability on campus and the off-campus housing search.
Council on Diversity representative Darien Headen spoke about his two projects. The first involved planning a Community Forum, which would focus on the incident concerning non-Tufts affiliates who shouted racial slurs at students earlier this month. Headen also hoped to head a Community of Silence project, a week-long event designed to combat the many forms of societal violence, such as cultural appropriation, body objectification and micro- and macro-aggression.
Services Committee Chair Christie Maciejewski talked about her organizations projects-in-development, including the creation of a student bar on campus and continued advertising for tomorrows Turkey Shuttle. She also announced that the kosher deli in the Mayer Campus Center will open on Dec. 2 and that the Commons Deli and Grill will accept meal plans on Friday and Saturday evenings as of next semester.
Sophomores Caroline Higley and Ethan Finkelstein of the Administration and Policy Committee received project approval for a joint initiative named the Off-Campus Housing Improvement, which will assist students in securing housing as upperclassmen. Finkelstein also got project approval for his personal Voter Registration Project, which aims to streamline the process of voter registration for U.S. citizens at Tufts.
Two student members of the Race and Ethnicity Working Group outlined the organizations projects for the semester.
Senate allocated $2,000 to the Tufts Cape Verdean Student Association to sponsor a joint community service trip to Cape Verde with students of University of Massachusetts Amherst over spring break.
The Senate then assessed the Primary Sources request for its 2014 fiscal year budget. Allocations Board proposed granting the Primary Source a reduced fund of $4,909, and the Senate upheld this decision by a vote of 26-1-0.
Senate approved Tufts Liberty in North Korea (LiNK)s fiscal year budget of $164 by a vote of 14-12-1. Senate also voted 19-7-1 to provide $1,801 for 180 Degrees Consulting and voted 25-2-0 to give $1,560 to Cheap Sox, which is traveling to an improv workshop in Los Angeles in January. The Sophomore Class Council, responsible for organizing the winter event which will be held instead of Winter Bash, requested $49,550 for this cause; the Senate upheld this by a unanimous vote.
The Judiciary closed the meeting by announcing the recognition of two new student organizations, Tufts DREAM and Tufts Autism Speaks.
