TCU candidates discuss platforms at forum event

Tufts Election Commission (ECOM) held the TCU Candidate’s Forum last night in Hotung Café to provide a speaking platform for candidates running for positions on the TCU Judiciary and class of 2019 Senate positions. The forum came ahead of today's TCU elections, where students can vote for Judiciary and Senate positions all day using their Student Information System (SIS) accounts.

ECOM also posted a message on the Senate election Facebook page noting technical difficulties in the first 15 minutes of voting in today's election, which has since been changed.

"If you voted prior to 12:15 please vote again as your vote was not counted prior to 12:15." the statement read. "Tell all your friends and supporters to vote once more."

Fewer than ten students were at the forum, which began with appearances from the eight candidates for the Judiciary. Seasoned TCU veterans and hopeful second-semester first-years took turns answering questions posed by ECOM. The questions focused on issues of corruption and communication. For the most part, the candidates answered similarly, noting a lack of new student interest in joining the Judiciary.

“We havent had a contested election for the Judiciary for over four years now,” current Judiciary Historian Anna Weissman, a junior, said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfkur0jUYT0

After TCU Judiciary candidates' closing statements, 12 candidates for class of 2019 senatorial positions and two candidates for International Community Representative, Celeste Teng and Rayane Haddar, introduced themselves.

Resentment toward the administration was a common theme in candidates’ speeches. All 14 candidates expressed sentiments that the administration needs to be held more accountable for their actions.

“The administration usually isn't open to changing the status quo,” Senate candidate Malachy Donovan, a first-year, said.

Some candidates went further, implying that the administration was not acting with students’ best interests in mind.

[The administration’s] priority is its profit,” first-year Amira Al-Subaey, who is running for a seat on the Senate for the first time, said.

Another major theme expressed at the forum was the need to empower minority student voices within Senate. First-year Emily Sim, a current TCU Senator running for reelection, spoke about how this issue is personal for her.

“Being a woman of color on the Senate is difficult ... Being a woman on the senate is difficult,” she said.

Sim added that women comprise only one third of the TCU Senate, despite making up approximately half of the student body.

The candidates also spoke openly about the struggles to bring in non-Senate affiliated students to engage with student government.

The video embedded in this story was shot and edited by Max Lalanne.