Op-Ed: Jacqueline Chen for TCU President

I have about five weeks left of my Tufts career before I will move on to greener and hopefully significantly flatter pastures, but before I go, I want to express why the Tufts student body should elect Jacqueline Chen as their next Tufts Community Union (TCU) President on April 26.

I will be the first to admit that over the past four years, I have felt far removed from TCU Senate’s impact in shaping my undergraduate experience. I know many of the people on Senate to be conscientious and passionate individuals, but I have remained skeptical of why they chose Senate as a means to advocate for change on campus given the important student organizing work that happens through other mediums. Jacqueline Chen has caused me to reconsider my skepticism and bias toward TCU Senate, and I believe she is the solution to our increasingly fragmented and disillusioned student body.

Jacqueline has exhibited a diligence and determination to improve student life that has paid off in ways we can all enjoy, specifically through her insistence that this university invests in its students. She was able to secure a $10 printing stipend for every student. Though free printing is available at some locations across campus, these stipends are a convenient alternative and remove the financial burden of printing assignments, which certainly adds up. Additionally, Jacqueline helped establish the Swipe it Forward meal bank to combat food insecurity on campus. She is not one to pat herself on the back for her strides in improving student life. Her platform identifies the need to think even further about food insecurity at Tufts as she advocates for the opening of a food pantry for students living off-campus who may also experience food insecurity but are located farther away from the dining halls. Her demonstrated ability to allocate resources to students gives me bright hope for what’s to come.

I’m voting for Jacqueline because I want to elect change, especially for students with marginalized identities. As a woman of color, Jacqueline inherently understands the ways in which improvements to student life that cater to marginalized identities are instrumental in student performance and mental health. According to the Tufts Observer, Tufts is losing at least 11 faculty of color at the end of this academic year, a tragic reminder of the lack of support for scholars of color at our university. Jacqueline is eager to advocate for the hiring of underrepresented identities in higher education at Tufts. Furthermore, she hopes to advance the academic environment for students of all identities through implementing cultural competency training for professors, focusing on confronting implicit biases. No one deserves to feel uncomfortable or unwelcome in the classroom environment as they pursue their education, and Jacqueline wants to take extra steps to make this much less of a likelihood.

A vote for Jacqueline is a vote for academic opportunity. Her platform suggests policies that I wish were implemented during my time as a student. For example, Jacqueline wants to create a policy for re-scheduling exams, which currently does not exist. She recognizes that when a student is faced with three exams in a 24-hour period, that student does not feel positioned for academic success. Additionally, Jacqueline hopes to make changes to the course evaluation process, giving students who dropped or withdrew from a course the opportunity to anonymously provide feedback as to why they chose not to continue the course and provide feedback for departments. I believe these changes will enrich every Tufts student’s opportunities for academic achievement.

Lastly, Jacqueline supports the work of student organizers and leaders beyond Senate. Her willingness to form partnerships with student groups to advance their agendas and grant them visibility in their efforts to improve campus life is an act of humility in recognizing that Senate does not hold a monopoly on creating change at Tufts. Through partnerships with student leaders, Senate can do a better job at supporting other student groups and centralize advocacy efforts. So as my final word to the Tufts student body, I would like to encourage you to elect a bold, brilliant and resilient woman of color with a proven track record of success as your next TCU Senate president. I’m hopeful that Tufts will be a much better place than I am leaving it because of her efforts and dedication to the student body and her insistence that the university allocates resources to its students so that we may all have opportunities to thrive, not just survive.