Students elect new representatives in special election

First-year Andrew Tien Vu was elected to serve as Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate’s First Generation Community Senator in the only contested race of Thursday’s special election. Himay Dharani and Elliot Lam, both sophomores, were elected to serve on the Committee on Student Life, and Thaw Htet, a senior, was elected as International Community Senator.

There were 576 votes cast on Thursday, according to Elections Commission Treasurer Woody Nimoityn, a senior. The Office of Institutional Research reports that there are 5,508 full-time undergraduate students at Tufts in fall 2018.

Vu plans to pursue a number of first-generation student-oriented initiatives on Senate, including the creation of a weekly newsletter and time-management assistance workshops.

"This not only can be easily done, but we can also coordinate with other communities to help connect first-generation students with each other," Vu told the Daily in an email. "This will grow us and further solidify [the first generation] community."

Lam plans to revise the regulations and adjudication process of conduct infractions, as part of a greater emphasis on student justice.

“I feel the system we currently have in the jurisdiction of student infractions does not guarantee that students are given fair treatment,” Lam told the Daily in an electronic message. “And even more broadly the system both of student regulation as well as the rules between students and student groups need a lot more transparency.”