As a candidate for Tufts Community Union (TCU) president, junior Christie Maciejewski brands herself as a strong administrator with a long history of using her position on the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate to generate immediate, tangible improvements to student life.
Maciejewski said she runs her campaign on the premise that students want their leaders big ideas to be paired with smaller goals that can be achieved in the short term. In a debate Thursday and throughout the campaign she has repeatedly referred back to a list of concrete achievements accomplished during her three years as a TCU senator, including the establishment of a shuttle to the Stop & Shop supermarket, increasing the Spring Fling budget last year, using Carmichael Dining Hall as a study room during finals period and lowering the steadily-rising Student Activities Fee for the first time in many years.
I think the student body deserves to get what theyre asking for, Maciejewski said. Some of the things that theyre asking for are reasonable, rational and easy to do, and if we just had someone in charge who could do those things, the student body would benefit. Im running so that the students actually care about Senate because Senate helps their lives.
Maciejewski has been involved with the body since the fall of her freshman year as TCU Associate Treasurer. She was elected Treasurer in Fall 2011, and now serves as chair of the Services Committee, which works with various campus institutions to improve quality of life for students.
As Services Chair, Maciejewski has worked with administrators and other student groups on projects such as the late-night Boston shuttle, the expansion of Jumbocash to outside institutions and the addition of condoms in dorm room vending machines. She points to projects like these as elements that separate her from her opponents.
These sound like tiny projects, but I want to make sure Senates really doing things to make a difference, Maciejewski said. I think people get caught up in big things that theyre not necessarily able to change. You cant ignore the big, but while youre working on the big, set up a meeting with something small. The goal is to have students say, Thank you for helping me... I dont think my opponents have gotten things done in quite the same way.
She hopes that, if elected, her presidency will herald greater satisfaction for both students and senators. She said a large part of the Senates inertia comes from senators reluctance to contribute to a body that is often contentious and rife with internal disputes.
I think, right now, with [current TCU President Wyatt Cadleys] administration, senators arent happy with Senate, she said. While I want to run for the student body, I think that for us to please the student body, senators have to be happy enough and comfortable enough to actually work instead of going home from meetings and saying I hate Senate, Im sick of it.
Maciejewski said she wants to continue this trend of incremental increases in the quality of student life by championing causes like fiscal responsibility, increased availability of gathering spaces on campus and increased transparency within the Senate and the Senates Executive Board.
I think students want a better life on campus, Maciejewski said. They want the Joey to run. They want food late at night. They want Curtis Hall to be a functional space that students can use. Tuition is too high and we need to come up with ways to get what we want, but make sure its efficient.
Maciejewskis campaign faces a unique challenge in this race in that she is a female candidate. The TCU has not had a female president for 11 years, when two women ran against each other. According to Maciejewski, no female candidate has beaten a male candidate for the presidency since 1991. Nonetheless, she does not want to be labeled as simply the woman candidate.
I am not running because Im a woman, Maciejewski said. Im running because I think Im more qualified than these men. Some of my opponents have wanted this since freshman year. Ive worked to deserve it.
According to her campaign manager, Samantha Nurick, the Maciejewski campaign has been focusing its efforts on making one-to-one connections with potential voters, using conversations with individuals to sway voters to the Maciejewski ticket. Nurick, a senior, endorsed this individual strategy after working as a field organizer for President Barack Obamas re-election campaign. Nurick said that she decided to join the Maciejewski campaign partially because of the senators student government accomplishments and understanding of the workings of Senate.
She knows endless things about Senate: all the rules, all the justifications, Nurick said. A lot of the candidates talk in broad generalities about the things that they wanted to get done, and Christie said, These are the things that I want to get done, this is how Im going to do it. I know the way that Senate works, I know the way that money works.
Maciejewski believes she works well with the administration and sees the administration as a necessary tool for improving student life and push student initiatives.
I think Ill be painted as a person who pals around with the administration, Maciejewski said. I think what needs to be said is, I can speak the administrative language. I can listen to them and tell them why the students opinion can match theirs. You dont just walk in and say, I want pigs to start flying, you say, This is how Im going to do this tangible thing.
Nurick also believes Maciejewskis strong relationships with administrators will help her achieve her campaign promises.
Obviously, you need to have a broad base among students to understand where theyre coming from, but she also has really good relationships with the administration. Theyre people who will work with her and support her to get things done for the students, she said.
