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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

Senate needs to work on reputation as well as student outreach

This weekend's senatorial "elections" are the latest in a string of incidences surrounding the TCU Senate that reflect the Senate's greatest problem: there is little trust or respect for the TCU Senate amongst the general student population at Tufts. The reputation of the Senate is that it is a group of power-hungry, exclusive, elitists, who are part of a useless bureaucracy. I do not necessarily agree with this view, but, especially since the start of the 2002-03 school year, the Senate has provided much evidence to support this hypothesis.

The latest incident, as summarized in Jordana Timerman's Feb. 12 article "Election violated ELBO by-laws," shows a complete lack of an attempt at "Senate Outreach." Students were not given adequate notice or time to make a decision about running for Senate. The sole candidate was clearly an "insider," as she is in the same social circle as members of the Senate and the TCUJ. Since the open seat was so unexpected, most students had not thought about running for Senate in the middle of the spring semester. Students needed more time if they were to seriously deliberate running for office.

The very idea that only one person wanted to run for an open seat should raise eyebrows for members of the Senate. If the Senate were a respected, representative organization, people would jump at the opportunity to run and serve their school. This problem is not limited to midterm elections, or Senate elections. Excluding freshmen, who always seem to want to get involved on Student Council, I mean Senate, there are never many candidates vying for each Senate seat. The lack of competitiveness in Senate elections decreases Senate accountability and leads to less-qualified candidates being elected.

This fall, an unknown transfer student was elected to a sophomore seat, merely two weeks after his matriculation, seemingly going against the point of a sophomore seat. Overextended, unreliable candidates have been "elected" in the past. This problem is visible in other student government organizations, especially ELBO. Clearly, something is wrong if no one wants to be part of these organizations. It is certainly not that Tufts is lacking students who are willing to work hard for the community.

The resignation of Melissa Carson brings up another issue besides her replacement. Based on the TCU Constitution, Andrew Potts will be fulfilling the duties of President. This does not serve as a problem in and of itself, but the only thing I have heard about Potts all year was the attempt to impeach him. I do not know about the rest of the Tufts community, but I feel a bit uncomfortable that someone whom some senators considered impeaching will now lead the TCU. I am made even more uncomfortable by the fact that it was never publicly stated why exactly senators wanted to impeach him.

In every Daily article I read concerning the Senate, I see the same five or six names repeated. The Senate is a much larger body than these articles suggest. What are the other senators doing besides leading their own small pet projects? It is no wonder most senators get easily re-elected, as no one as any idea what it is they are actually doing.

The TCU Senate does do some very important things for the Tufts community. However, it does not act as a representative body, and makes few attempts to accurately represent the concerns and wishes of the community. There are several reforms that need to occur before the Senate can expect to be a respected, effective body.

1. Any potential conflicts of interests need to be avoided, and, at some point, regulated. I have heard senators who sit on ALBO brag about how their particular clubs receive increased funding. Rumors of impropriety surrounding personal relationships abound. I am not implying that improper conduct has gone on, but anything that can be seen as improper makes the Senate look bad.

2. The Senate needs to work on its Public Relations. Although every presidential candidate talks about this, it never seems to be accomplished on a large scale. The Senate has open forums and such, and then complains that no one attends. Senators must actively encourage students, especially student leaders who dominate this campus OUTSIDE of Student Government, to attend these meetings. People do not attend meetings because they see no point, to talk with a defensive, unresponsive Senate. The Senate needs to make people aware of why they should care.

3. Diverse candidates for Senate must be actively sought. This includes racial and all other sorts of diversity. The Senate is not a pre-law, pre-Politician club. It is not an "Overachievers Anonymous" club. It is the governing body of all clubs at this school, and should accurately reflect the diversity of Tufts' many student organizations.

4. The door to the Senate should always be open... literally and figuratively. Too often I have seen students attempt to get into the Senate's second floor office in the Campus Center for various valid causes, only to feel they are interrupting groups' of Senators personal

conversations. The Senate office should not be a place for personal business, nor is it a private study lounge or computer lab. In a more figurative sense, the Senate needs to be much more open with the student body. The privacy the Senate currently enjoys is ridiculous.

5. Stop being so darn defensive, and listen to students' complaints, even if you do not like or agree with what they are saying. There are reasons why people think poorly of the TCU Senate.

The defense brought up by Senators whenever I speak with them personally is, "Well, anyone can run if they have a problem." Who wants to be part of an organization they do not respect? The Senate should encourage different people from different walks of the University to get involved. Noncompetitive seats will continue to lead to a decreased legitimacy. I hear how the Senate is a wonderful group of people, and there is camaraderie amongst them, yadda yadda yadda... That is all great, but the Senate does not elect the Senate. We do.

Adam Pulver is a sophomore studying Political Science and Community Health.