The second of the two ballot questions, Referendum 4, makes fewer changes to the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's existing community representative position.
Referendum 4 is the product of last semester's Diversity Task Force, convened by then-TCU President Brandon Rattiner (LA '10). It makes changes to the community representatives' role but does not extend full voting power to them, the largest factor distinguishing it from Referendum 3.
Under the existing system, four constituencies have community representatives in the Senate: the Association of Latin American Students, the Asian Students Union, the Pan-African Alliance and the Queer Straight Alliance.
Under both new proposals, any TCU-recognized group can collect 250 signatures and request to be granted a community representative in a school-wide vote.
Under Referendum 4, the community representatives' own groups, rather than the entire student body, elect them to the Senate.
Like Referendum 3, Referendum 4 calls for the establishment of a diversity and community affairs (DCA) officer position — a full voting member of the Senate who will chair the Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs Committee. But unlike under Referendum 3, the DCA role would be filled by an appointee chosen by the community representatives instead of an elected senator.
The largest difference between the two referenda is their position on granting community representatives voting rights on financial issues. Under the current Senate bylaws, community representatives can vote in the Senate except on matters concerning the disbursement of the Student Activities Fee.
Referendum 3 would extend fiscal voting rights to community representatives, while Referendum 4 would not.
Junior Aaron Bartel, a former senator and TCU treasurer, explained in an e-mail to the Daily that he fears this extension of voting rights would compromise the Senate's impartiality in disbursing the activities fee by injecting community-specific biases into the process.
Senator Yulia Korovikov, a sophomore and chair of the Senate's Administration and Policy (A&P) Committee, expressed strong support for Referendum 4.
"I don't think that being in the majority means that you deserve less of a say in how you spend money on this campus," Korovikov said, noting that many Senate projects affect the quality of student life universally, and not along racial or cultural boundaries.
"I can see why [marginalized communities] would want more of a voice, but I'm worried about giving unequal power to communities when in my mind it should be one student, one vote," she said.
Sophomore Ard Ardalan, who served as a senator last year, expressed his support for Referendum 4, echoing Korovikov's belief that granting full voting rights to community represents granted minorities a disproportionate share influence in the Senate's voting.
Ardalan also expressed his belief that Referendum 4 struck a good balance between ensuring minority representation and maintaining an equitable system.
Korovikov and senior Ian Hainline, also a senator, presented Referendum 4 at a forum in Hotung Café last night.
As the two proposals undergo consideration, some senators expressed reluctance to voice their support for one proposal over another. Hainline stressed the importance of publicizing both proposals as his reason for presenting the referendum, rather than a personal attachment to the proposal.
"There's a lot of confusion on this issue, and a lot of students who I think would be interested to hear both sides," Hainline said. He declined to comment on his own personal preference.
Despite the Senate's key role in crafting Referendum 4, this year's Senate Executive Board is publicly neutral on the matter, TCU President Sam Wallis, a senior, said.
Wallis said this neutrality is due to the increased oversight role the Senate has played in the revote process.
"We've had to do a lot of things ECOM would normally do," Wallis said. "Within the TCU, there is no one person who oversees the system as a whole."
Wallis said that the Senate Executive Board is helping to coordinate among the different branches of the TCU over the course of the election.
"We agreed that Senate [Executive Board] would remain neutral so that both proposals can be presented in a neutral manner."
