Two trustee representatives on the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate have traded committees with each other.
Senior Duncan Pickard is now the representative to the Board of Trustees' Administration and Finance Committee. Pickard inherits the seat from senior Adam Weldai, who has taken Pickard's place as the representative to the University Advancement Committee.
The third TCU Senate trustee representative, senior Emily Maretsky, who is a columnist and editor for the Daily, remains in her role as academic affairs representative.
The Senate assigned Weldai and Pickard to their original positions at the beginning of the semester; the two did not choose their assignments. In a meeting with Secretary of the Corporation Linda Dixon, the two quickly discovered that they would be much more suited to each other's positions.
"When trustee representatives are selected by Senate, they tend to have a particular issue that they're especially interested in … It just turns out that the issue Duncan was most interested in didn't fall under the purview of the committee that he was assigned to," Dixon said. "The same was true of Adam."
"It was one of those funny moments where the light bulb just goes on," Weldai said.
Such a switch is not unprecedented. It's happened "once or twice" in the past, Dixon said.
Pickard said that the switch does not change his or Weldai's goals or ideas, but the respective committees are a "better fit" for both of them.
"I'm really excited to talk to a committee that's more relevant to the projects I'm working on," Pickard said.
Pickard said that his main priority as trustee representative is to move forward on renovations and improvements to the campus center. Administration and Finance oversees expenditures for facilities, so any campus center projects would fall under its purview, according to Dixon.
Weldai said his main focus is on improving Tufts' community relations and the university's relationship with the surrounding areas of Medford and Somerville, which made him a good candidate for the University Advancement committee position.
"Adam is very interested in community relations at the grassroots level," Dixon said.
Each trustee representative will have the opportunity to make half-hour presentations to his committee during a series of trustee meetings in February, Dixon said. Both Weldai and Pickard said they are looking forward to making the addresses.
