The Tufts Elections Commission (ECOM) determined the results of the elections for the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, Committee on Student Life (CSL) and Judiciary on Friday, just as candidates for TCU president commenced their respective campaigns.
Despite facinga number of technical challenges through the online and app-based voting platform Voatz, voting closed at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday without an extension of the voting period.
Ten candidates contested seven available seats in the Class of 2023 senate election.Avani Kabra, Ibrahim AlMuasher, Caroline Ross, Valerie Infante, Jalen Little, Max K. Morningstar and Sarah Tata all won re-election campaigns.
AlMuasher, a first-year, ran his campaign from his home in Jordan and expressed the challenges of being in a different time zone.
“Running a campaign from the other side of the world is definitely a weird feeling because I really appreciate face-to-face contact with people and because time zones make it difficult for me to be present and active on social media when everyone [else] is,” AlMuasher wrote in an electronic message to the Daily.
AlMuasher hopes to continue his work on Senate by advocating for a greener campus and bringing attention to previous education-related resolutions he worked to pass this year.
“I’m going to continue my work in advocating for renewable energy power purchase agreements to lower Tufts’ carbon footprint as well as sustainability in all possible functions of the university,” AlMuasher said. “I will make sure that the resolutions passed at the end of last year on syllabi and the world [civilization] requirement are given the attention they deserve.”
Seven candidates filled seven seats uncontested in the Class of 2022 senate election. Andrew Tien Vu, Rabiya Ismail, Deepen Goradia, Timothy Leong and Iyra Chandra all won re-election campaigns, while Isabella McKinney and Rune T. Kirby filled the remaining two seats.
Thirteen candidates contested seven seats in the Class of 2021 senate election. Taylor Lewis, Grant Gebetsberger, Annika Witt, Sarah Wiener and Sharif Hamidi all won re-election campaigns, while Eve Amanuel Abraha and Mathew Peña filled the remaining two seats.
Nine candidates contested seven Community Senator seats in the TCU Community Senator Elections. Asian American Community Senator Elizabeth Hom, First Generation College Student Community Senator José Martínez, Latinx Community Senator Carolina Olea Lezama, LGBTQ+ Community Senator Kathleen Lanzilla and Women’s Community Senator Surya Adeleye all won re-election campaigns. The only contested seats were the Africana Community Senator seat and the SMFA Community Senator seat.
Sophomore Amma Agyei won the Africana Community Senator seat, which was also contested by junior Hezekiah Branch.The SMFA Community Senator seat was contested by sophomore Denzel Oduro and junior Martina Tan, and was won by Oduro.
Eight candidates contested five seats on the CSL. Jojo Kuo, Elliot Lam and Himay Dharani all won re-election campaigns, while Sofia Friedman and Abibatu Giwa-Osagie filled the remaining two seats.
Seven candidates filled the seven uncontested seats in the Judiciary.John Youssef, Holden Dahlerbruch, Zachary Ferretti, Camille Calabrese, Andres Borjas and Jonah Zwillinger all won re-election campaigns, while Max Price filled the remaining seat.
According to ECOM Chair Matt Zachem, voter turnout this year was higher than in last spring's general election. With 1,192 unique voters, this election featured a campus-wide voter turnout of roughly 20.62%, compared to last year’s 14.33%.
Gebetsberger, Wiener begin campaigns for TCU President
Directly following the TCU general elections, two current senators announced their bids to run for TCU president on Friday.
Junior Grant Gebetsbergerintends to focus on including the voices of students in more parts of the administrative decision-making process.
“In order to create a better future for the Tufts community, it is more important than ever that students work together to push the administration to prioritize the immediate challenges facing students and incorporate student input at every step of the decision-making process,” Gebetsberger wrote in a statement on his campaignwebsite.
On her campaignwebsite,junior Sarah Wiener cited her organizational skills, connectedness with a variety of Tufts communities and optimism as qualities that would make her a qualified candidate for the position of TCU president.
“I am running for TCU president because I believe Senate is an underutilized bridge between student activism and the Board of Trustees who have the power to effect the change students want to see at Tufts,” Wiener wrote in an electronic message to the Daily. “I think increased communication, transparency, and accountability are the keys for better addressing challenges we are facing now, and in the future.”
Voting for the TCU president will begin on Thursday, April 23 and end on Friday, April 24 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
