The Tufts Community Union Senate heard its first appeal of the semester from Tufts Mountain Club, heard supplementary funding requests and discussed an upcoming resolution in a meeting on Sunday.
TCU Treasurer Elizabeth Hom introduced the appeal from the Tufts Mountain Club and introduced TMC Treasurer Grace Melcher, TMC President Elizabeth Mitchell and Assistant Director of Campus Life for Outdoor Education Programs Emily Quigley.
Hom outlined the request, explaining that TMC requested $14,000 for an annual lease for two passenger vans to help facilitate its trips to the Loj in New Hampshire. The Allocations Board recommended $0.
Hom also explained the relevant context behind the request, stating that 12 years ago, the TCU Senate purchased three vans for TMC, the Leonard Carmichael Society and Project SHARE. Today, TMC is the only one of the three organizations without a van as its van is no longer operational.
TMC representatives were given five minutes to present their argument. Melcher, a senior, explained the importance of having vans to transport club members to local hiking trips and to their Loj in the White Mountains.
“One of our biggest complaints we’re hearing from our members right now is that … people who don’t have cars and don’t have a friend with a car aren't able to access the Loj, which is not ideal when our mission is to get people outside and to get people outdoors,” Melcher said. “Specifically, people who are having trouble accessing our Loj are underclassmen and… students who historically have had a hard time having access to the outdoors.”
Mitchell, a senior, added that vans will allow the Loj to remain equally accessible to everyone, regardless of whether or not they have access to a car.
“Part of our mission statement is getting anyone on this campus who wants to go up to the Loj to go hiking or go skiing for the first time or anything up there, and that’s a lot of underclassmen and a lot of people who haven’t done it before, and having these vans would be really helpful in that,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said that TMC is strategic about how it funds itself and does notrequest supplementary funding from the Senate very often.
“We also don’t come here, to [the Allocations Board], a lot to request money because we have a pretty sustainable cycle of how we fund everything … [but] we just can’t cover this vehicle,” Mitchell said.
In fact, according to Hom, TMC does not have an active Senate budget, and the organization does not regularly receive funding from the TCU Senate. However, since it is a TCU-recognized organization, TMC is permitted to petition the TCU Senate for supplementary funding.
After hearing TMC’s argument, a question-and-answer session began, followed by a debate among TCU senators. Several TCU members emphasized that granting TMC funding for vans would set a precedent that would inspire other student organizations to request funding for vans.
Class of 2025 Senator and Allocations Board member João Ribeiro said that TMC should go to the administration for funding and not to the TCU Senate.
“It’s a great matter of precedent,” Ribero said. “If you pass this today, any other club, no matter how large it is, we’d have to treat all of them equally, we’d have to provide the same $14,000 as well, which in the long term would just screw up our budget … and so it should be administration providing this and not TCU.”
The Allocations Board recommendation of $0 was moved but then objected and the floor opened for debate.TCU Vice President Tim Leong proposed $7,000 to cover expenses for one van and the recommendation passed with 12 senators voting in favor, 10 opposing and six abstaining.
The Senate then heard supplementary funding requests from several student organizations.
180 Degrees Consulting requested $100 to pay for a LinkedIn headshot photoshoot of its consulting teams. The request passed with 24 senators voting in favor, none opposing and one abstaining.
Tufts Climate Action requested $111 for a table with stickers, candy, markers and buttons at its fall Harvest Festival. The request passed by acclamation.
Tufts Amalgamates requested $77 dollars to pay for hall rental, a videographer and string lights for their homecoming co-show with the Jackson Jills and the Beelzebubs. The request passed by acclamation.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers requested $2,400 to bring 15 students to an annual conference held in Boston. The recommendation passed with 26 senators voting in favor, none opposing and one abstaining.
The Philippine Student Union requested $500 to pay for licensing fees for a movie screening. The request passed by acclamation.
Tufts Society of Latinx Engineers and Scientists (SOLES) requested $550 to send a student to a Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science conference. The request passed by acclamation. SOLES also requested $5,724 to send six students to a conference in Orlando. This request passed with 23 senators voting in favor, none opposed and three abstaining.
TCU Parliamentarian Ibrahim AlMuasher then introduced the first TCU resolution of the semester, which calls on Tufts Undergraduate Admissions to cease consideration of familial connection to the university when selecting applicants.
The resolution was submitted by sophomores Ameya Menta and Christopher Tomo and asked the university to discontinue asking applicants whether they have family members who are alumni, faculty or otherwise connected to the university during the application process.
The resolution is set to be discussed in next week's Senate meeting and will be voted on by the Senate body the following week.
