In elections for open Class of 2016 seats in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate yesterday, freshmen senators Ethan Finkelstein, Janna Karatas, Adam Kochman and Brian Tesser were re-elected, joined by classmates Sam Berzok, Elly Day, Caroline Higley and James Golden. Because one Class of 2015 senator, Gordon Silverman, dropped out of the race, one seat on the body remains open to the Class of 2016.
Freshman voter turnout was 49.04, percent according to Elections Commission (ECOM) Public Relations Chair Paige Newman, a freshman, with 641 votes.
Higley said she looks forward to her year serving on the body.
"I look forward to bringing a fresh perspective and a huge background of many activities and a lot of different groups of people to the Senate this year," Higley said.
Due to low voter turnout overall, a referendum that would enact several procedural changes to the TCU Constitution failed to pass, however. While a majority of voters affirmed the referenda, a large number of abstentions meant they could not go into effect.
"If half the people who abstained had voted for it, it would have passed," TCU Parlimentarian Robert Joseph said.
Joseph, a sophomore, said he plans to resubmit the referenda for the upcoming presidential election, where there will "almost certainly be enough turnout."The presidential election will be held April 23.
The referendum would have made a number of changes to the structure of the body, including allowing the Senate's diversity and community affairs officer to serve on the Senate's executive board, replacing the position of associate treasurer. Another would have prohibited the TCU Judiciary from issuing judicial orders a priori.
One timely change in the referendum - a new policy disallowing presidential candidates from using money beyond their budget given by the Elections Commission to fundraise for their campaigns - will also have to wait for another vote in the presidential election later this month.
- by Melissa Wang
