TCU Senate announces Late Night Dining program expansion, gives updates

The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate met last night to vote on two project approvals, a resolution and a bylaw change, as well as to discuss supplementary funding requests from several student groups.

TCU President Brian Tesser opened the meeting by announcing an update to current Late Night Dining options. Starting Feb. 26, Late Night Dining will be available in the Carmichael Dining Center, in addition to the current Late Night Dining program in The Commons Marketplace. Tesser, a senior, said that this is a trial program for the rest of the semester. Unlike the checkout system used at The Commons Marketplace, Carmichael Dining Center will require a single meal swipe upon entering, similar to the system during normal dining hours, he said. For students without a meal plan, JumboCash may be used during Late Night hours, which fall between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Tesser proceeded to discuss progress with his four-part housing revision project. This past week, a trial-version of the planned sophomore roommate survey was sent out to first-year senators. Other aspects of the project are a revised first-year survey, more support for finding off-campus residence and further examination of all first-year and mixed housing.

He also spoke about a project TCU Senators are working on to bring a pub onto campus, of which there is substantial administrative support at this time.

TCU Treasurer Shai Slotky then took the floor to discuss student group funding requests from Enigma, Jumbo Jugglers, the International Club, the Consent Culture Network and GlobeMed. Each of the Allocations Board recommendations for each of the funding requests was passed by the voting body.

TCU Vice President Gauri Seth then asked the body for project updates. Some of these updates included the introduction of a Spring Break shuttle to South Station and Logan International Airport, the revival of the Senate bulletin board in the Dewick-MacPhie Dining Center and the creation of a Tufts "Month in Review," similar to Google’s "Year in Search," which involves a short video on current Tufts events for alumni and parents.

The Trustee representatives announced that there has been approval for funds for ongoing construction projects. According to the representatives, the new Science & Engineering Complex should be completed by fall 2017, and new potential projects may include roof renovation in some residence halls and the construction of a new dorm or the potential expansion of an existing one.

The Sustainability Council representative announced a potential Symposium for Sustainability at Tufts, similar to one that took place at Yale, in order to get ideas from the whole student body. In addition, there was discussion of an internal carbon tax for excess emissions from all campus departments and buildings.

The body then went on to approve two other projects. The first was for the revival of the Cognitive Brain Science (CBS) and Linguistics minors, approved by a vote of 27-0-0. The classes that go along with these minors will no longer be offered if the minors are not reestablished.

The second project discussed was a database where alumni can register to become mentors for undergraduates in an effort to increase alumni giving and involvement. The database would be open to students of all classes and would be a sort of revamp of the existing Tufts Career Advisory Network. This project was also approved unanimously.

Senate then passed a second resolution pertaining to Indigenous Peoples Day. This additional resolution was drafted because some students felt that the original resolution was lacking in the connection between the history of Columbus Day and the significance of current discrimination of certain indigenous groups. The new resolution conveys a greater understanding of the significance of the change from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, which the authors see as a huge lobbying tool for their cause. After general revisions and two question-and-answer periods, the resolution passed in a vote of 23-0-1.

This resolution is officially on the faculty agenda and will be voted upon on Feb. 24. Both the original and the new resolution will be presented; they work in conjunction and the new one is like an addendum.

Following this, Senate voted on a bylaw change drafted by sophomore Benya Kraus that aimed to task the Outreach Committee to distribute video updates and potentially other multimedia updates to the student body and to the greater Tufts community, building on the existing "Two-Minute Thursday" videos. After a single amendment, the resolution passed in a vote of 27-0-0.

Finally, the TCU Judiciary announced that they had recognized Tufts Animal Welfare, completed internal elections and derecognized Students for Sensible Drug Policy for not sticking to its goals or performing as well as it should have.