Make no mistake about it: Voting rights are under attack at this University. The proposed referenda on the TCU Constitution will corrode our current democratic system and lead to unequal representation on the TCU Senate.
There are two issues at hand here. The first is the constitutional referenda, which contains a number of general revisions to the current TCU Constitution and includes a provision to give culture representatives a vote in in-house elections. The second issue is an amendment to the constitution, which gives culture representatives a full vote on the TCU Senate.
Currently, there are four culture representatives to the TCU Senate who come to meetings but do not have a full vote. They represent the Asian, Hispanic, homosexual, and African-American communities.
These representatives offer a great service to the Tufts community by sharing their group's perspective with the Senate. However, giving them a vote is simply illogical. Each member of the student body has seven representatives who represent their interests based on their class year. To give some students eight or even nine representatives on the Senate, while others have only seven, is unfair and undemocratic.
Some may argue that the election for culture representatives is held in an open meeting in which anyone can vote and anyone can run. This simply is not true. The election for culture representatives takes place at the meeting of the "umbrella group" for each culture. Each group is allowed to determine who can run for the position and who can vote in that election. This is extremely undemocratic. Furthermore, the representatives are only supposed to represent the interests of the culture groups that they come from. According to the TCU Constitution, culture representatives, "shall represent the interests of the community for which they were elected to represent." Thus, proponents of the amendment cannot argue that elections for the culture representatives are open to all, for if they were, the very purpose for the existence of the culture representatives would be negated.
While these two referenda give these culture representatives voting rights, they do not change the manner in which they are elected. Currently, the "election" of these representatives is left to "the student organization recognized by the TCUJ as the umbrella organization of each population." The new constitution does not make it clear who is eligible to run or who is eligible to vote in these elections. Furthermore, it may not always be clear which is the "umbrella organization."
Some people may argue, however, that giving culture representatives a full vote is a problem but giving them a vote during in-house elections isn't a big deal. However, in-house votes have been some of the closest and most contested votes in the Senate over the past three years. Each year, the in-house vote decides who runs for president and ultimately who could be our next president; last year, this in-house vote to select the presidential candidates was particularly close. In-house votes also decide who the treasurer will be, a decision which affects every student group on campus. In-house Senate elections determine the members of the allocations board, which in turn decides how much money each student group gets. In some ways, in-house votes are more important than other votes the Senate makes.
While there are rarely close votes on issues in front of the TCU Senate, there are usually very close votes during in-house elections. Adding four more votes during in-house elections would almost certainly alter the leadership of the Senate. And if this happens because culture representatives voted a certain way, then certain members of the Tufts community would have more influence than others, which is completely unjust and undemocratic.
After retiring from the Supreme Court, Justices Earl Warren and Brennan both said that of all the decisions that they rendered, the most important was Baker vs. Carr. This decision led to the end of unequal representation and established what is often known as the "one man, one vote" principle. They believed, as do I, that in order for a democracy to be legitimate, all people must have the same vote and the same representation within the government. On Wednesday April 25 you will be presented with a constitutional referenda and a constitutional amendment, which will make representation unequal on this campus. I urge you to vote against these two measures and affirm the democratic principles that are the backbone of our system.
Jesse Levey is a junior majoring in political science. He is a trustee representative to the TCU Senate.
