One of the 10 rising seniors competing for the nine available Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate seats allocated to seniors yesterday dropped out of the race, leaving the Senior Senate race uncontested.
In the wake of this development, juniors Sam Wallis and Lauren Levine announced their intention to seek nominations to run for TCU President.
The student government candidates' meeting took place Thursday night. The Junior Senate was elected uncontested with five rising juniors — Tomas Garcia, John Peter Gabriel Kaytrosh, Kate de Klerk, Timothy Lesinski and Matthew Schuman — submitting their candidacies for seven available seats. All information about the elections and candidates comes from Tufts Election Commission (ECOM) Chair Sharon Chen, a sophomore, and the ECOM Web site.
The two remaining Junior Senate seats were reallocated to the rising senior class, which originally saw 10 individuals competing for nine spots. Junior Matthew Kincaid, however, yesterday withdrew from the race, meaning that the remaining candidates were all elected unopposed to the Senior Senate.
Potential TCU president candidates are not allowed to officially launch their campaigns before being elected onto the Senate. This recent development opened the way for Levine and Wallis to confirm their intentions to run for president. The two must now be officially nominated as presidential candidates by the newly elected Senate.
Neither Levine nor Wallis served on the Senate this semester.
Explaining her decision to seek a nomination as a presidential candidate, Levine cited her previous experience on Senate and her desire to increase the body's student outreach.
"After serving on Senate in various leadership roles, I truly feel committed to making Tufts the best place it can be," she said. "I really think it's time that Senate begins to listen and seek input from every single student on campus."
Levine has in the past served on the Senate for two years and was associate treasurer her sophomore year. She was not on the body this year because she was studying abroad in the fall.
Wallis likewise emphasized his goal of a Senate centered on the people it serves — the student body — and expressed his desire to be a unifying force.
"I've been a member of the Senate for three years and I really think we can do a better job of making it about students," Wallis said on the phone from Israel, where he is currently studying abroad. "This needs someone who can bring us together, and I can really do that and bring different groups together. That's what it's all about, being a union … and that's what I plan to do."
Wallis was a Senator for two-and-a-half years before resigning at the end of last semester to study abroad this spring. He last semester served as the Senate's Services Committee co-chair.
Levine explained that she will be running on a general platform of enhancing communication and community.
"I think that communication between the student body, the Senate and the administration could be greatly improved and could really bring a better sense of satisfaction to everyone in the TCU," she said. "There are many aspects of Tufts life in which we leave out parts of the Tufts community, and I think overall every student at Tufts feels like there could be a better sense of community on campus."
Wallis' campaign is based on five key pillars, one of which, like Levine's platform, stresses community.
"The five are the following: making Tufts easier to navigate by taking what we have and making it even better, second is reducing costs on campus, third is centralizing community and really bringing different groups together … fourth is connecting with alumni and fifth improving education quality," Wallis said.
He added that in line with his main goal of making the Senate focused on students, this platform was derived out of conversations with different groups on campus.
"These ideas are from students, not from Senate … the single most important thing is I want to make [the campaign] about the student body, because it's all about us," Wallis said. "I've been fleshing [the platform] out … based on projects I've seen in the past. A lot of the ideas have come forth in conversations with people … [in] this campaign the ideas are all sort of grassroots driven."
Both Levine and Wallis face challenges of their own in the upcoming campaign. Levine has not been on Senate this year, although she feels that this has better empowered her to lead.
"I've been serving as a walk-on member of Senate, participating but not being an active member," Levine said. "I actually think it will give [the campaign] an advantage … it's given me a much better view of how Senate operates and how it can improve its outreach to the full student body."
Wallis will have to run his campaign while abroad, a challenge which he welcomes readily.
"I think it's actually going to provide a great opportunity because it's never been done," Wallis said. "We can do things differently; that's what the campaign is about, that's what I want to do as president. If we're able to communicate with the students when I'm not there … I can only imagine what we can do when I am there."
The elections scheduled for Wednesday will thus involve only the rising sophomores, with 11 vying for seven seats. A candidates' forum will take place at 9:30 p.m. tonight in Hotung Café.
The nine rising seniors elected to the Senate are Chartise Clark, Ian Hainline, Ryan Heman, Levine, Nadia Nibbs, Dan Pasternack, Carolina Ramirez, Tomas Valdes and Wallis.
Seven seats on the TCU Judiciary were on Thursday filled uncontested, as were Programming Board seats for the Classes of 2011, 2012 and 2013.
