The Committee on Student Life (CSL) will conduct an open meeting today to allow members of the community to weigh in on two proposals that may change the rules governing community representative seats on the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate.
Interested parties will have the opportunity to comment on the proposals, which were originally put forward in April's presidential election as amendments to the TCU constitution. The amendments passed in the student body-wide vote, but they have yet to be adopted, as the CSL never ruled that the suggested changes' language fell in line with university policy. CSL approval is a necessary step in the amendment process.
Today's meeting will take place at 11:30 a.m. in the campus center's large conference room.
Community representatives serve as liaisons between the Senate and various student groups such as the Queer Straight Alliance and the Asian-American Alliance. The first amendment would give the Senate sole responsibility for determining which groups receive representatives. Currently, the entire student body votes on this. The second amendment would move the vote on the renewal of the groups' seats to the Senate, as well.
CSL Faculty Co-Chair Steven Hirsch, an associate professor of classics, told the Daily last month that "questions" existed regarding whether the two amendments "would conflict with the anti-discrimination policy or other policies" of the university.
"There's almost certainly going to be some tinkering to tighten up the language," Hirsch said, adding that this would probably lead to a new student body-wide vote on the measures in the spring.
Meanwhile, the CSL has yet to approve two other proposed amendments. One aims to bring TCU constitutional language up to speed with university non-discrimination policy. The other looks to add a position to the Elections Commission (ECOM). The latter appeared on April's ballot but, like the two community-representative amendments, was tabled by the CSL in the spring after its sponsors failed to seek out and receive CSL-approval of its language.
The ECOM amendment will unlikely draw controversy, Hirsch said in an interview last month. In an e-mail to the Daily earlier this week, he did not indicate whether that amendment or the non-discrimination amendment would be discussed today, solely referring to the community representative amendments.
"Anyone with information about whether [the community representative amendments] might violate university policies or points of view about the positive or negative consequences of making these changes is invited to attend the open meeting," he said. CSL meetings are not generally open to the public.
