The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate on May 2 held in-house elections for the body's Executive Board, Allocations Board (ALBO) and committee chairs for the 2010-2011 academic year.
The Executive Board consists of six members and is led by recently elected TCU President Sam Wallis, a rising senior. Rising senior Tomas Valdes will serve as vice president, rising junior Kate de Klerk as treasurer, rising junior Tomas Garcia as historian, rising senior Dan Pasternack as parliamentarian and rising junior Matt Schuman as associate treasurer.
The newly elected Executive Board is already mobilizing for the upcoming academic year, according to Valdes, who is returning to the Executive Board after serving during the past year as historian.
"I have already seen that motivation is high with the people that were elected, especially with people elected [to] the Executive Board," Valdes said.
Valdes added that, in line with Wallis' presidential election campaign, he wants to better serve the needs of the student body.
"The thing I'm looking forward to the most is guiding the Senate towards projects with a lot of feedback from the student body," Valdes said. "I want to make sure people are passionate about what they work on."
The election also determined the new committee chairs. Rising sophomore Yulia Korovikov will chair the Administration and Policy Committee, rising sophomore Meredith Goldberg will serve as Services Committee chair, rising sophomore Tabias Wilson will chair the Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs (CECA) Committee, rising junior Chartise Clark will chair the Education Committee, and Garcia will serve as chair of the Student Outreach Committee.
Elections were also held for the six open spots on ALBO, the board responsible for distributing the Student Activities Fee and for budgeting for TCU groups. The newly elected board members are Pasternack, Schuman, Korovikov, rising senior Nadia Nibbs, and rising sophomores Logan Cotton and Wyatt Cadley. As president, Wallis automatically sits on ALBO, while de Klerk, as treasurer, will oversee the board.
There are two remaining ALBO seats reserved for senators from the incoming freshman class.
De Klerk anticipates that the upcoming year will be a good one for the treasury.
"We haven't really inherited too many problems and there is potential to do a lot of things that will help the students," she said.
De Klerk added that her experience serving as associate treasurer this year has made her aware of aspects of the treasury system that need improvement.
"As associate treasurer under [former Treasurer Aaron Bartel, a rising junior], I was able to see the flaws under our system, and I have a lot of ideas about how to streamline paperwork and other treasury procedures," de Klerk said. "I think it's going to be good."
Each member of ALBO also chairs a council that oversees student groups of similar interests. Wallis chairs Council IX, which deals with TCU government. De Klerk said that she would choose the remaining councils' chairs over the summer.
