I miss Dave Moon, former Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate President. He has left a vacancy in student government, which has yet to be filled. Moon, unlike both Eric Greenberg and Michael Ferenczy, was a leader of student government.
I make no attempt to rationalize the failures of Elections Board (ELBO). We, as a body, were responsible for conducting an election. That didn't happen, as witnessed last Friday. I have no doubt, however, that the election would have taken place had Dave Moon been at the helm.
Dave Moon never gave the ELBO lip service. He always advocated high-turnout elections. Moon helped design advertisements and paid for table tents when ELBO was short on funds. He also covered our mistakes. He suggested ways to pay our poll workers when we had failed to get our contracts in on time. The following election Moon even recruited our poll workers so that we would not make the same mistake. He always supported the process in person, and with his own manpower.
Eric Greenberg only provides the Elections Board with lip service. ELBO is first confronted with his election ideas when they are published in The Daily. He gets points for creativity: electronic voting stations in the Campus Center and an interactive Candidate's Forum. He fails miserably for practicality, though. Greenberg has not personally consulted the Elections Board about any of his ideas this year. ELBO can't reform any element of the elections process without constructive dialogue.
Dave Moon kept me on ELBO when I became interested in other branches of student government. I was tempted to jump ship during a couple of elections. Moon never told me that I couldn't do it. He just made it very clear that it would be something really "shady" to do. That was enough to keep me true to my election responsibilities. Alison Clarke, Vice Chair of Tufts' Judiciary, did not make a distinct effort to keep me - ELBO's most dedicated member - in check when she found herself in the very same position.
Dave Moon also knew how to effect change. He loved publicity. When he had a problem with the new proposed course schedule, he let the entire campus know. There was a method to his madness. He never overstepped his bounds. This tendency was largely reflected by his noted lack of coverage in the Daily. He ran an effective Senate, but he managed to stay out of the newspaper. This is important because once you are a regular in the paper, you become vulnerable to both positive and negative press.
There is no method to the madness of the Judiciary. They have perfected the knee-jerk reaction. This was seen with the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) case. The Judiciary passed an action without a hearing. Essentially they made a snap decision in de-recognizing TCF as a student group. They completely lost their objectivity and disregarded the complexities of the situation.
D?©j? vu. It's the same thing with Michael Ferenczy's and Alison Clarke's Judiciary. They signed a complaint against ELBO in order to have student government save face. Ferenczy chaired a student government meeting where he said: we, the members of student government, want everyone in ELBO to resign. He then said that they have people to replace us. How can student government save face by devouring itself further?
The executive boards of the Senate and the Judiciary broke David Moon's cardinal rule: Stay out of the newspaper. I once wanted to write a viewpoint about apathy towards student government. He insisted that I not write it. He didn't want me to draw attention to student government.
Things are very different this year. I have been hit with a formal complaint to the Committee on Student Life. All of this goes to extend the process of student government being in the paper. That means bad press over a longer period of time. Student government can do that math.
You might ask, well, for the greater good of student government, why not just resign? To these people, I would kindly state that the student government at Tufts has not given me its support this year. There are other means to working this out. Were a member of the Senate or Judiciary executive board to ask the same question, I would say no. I am unwilling to take the fall - and accept the blame - just to protect their image.
I will not resign. I have carried out both my own responsibilities as treasurer and that of the chairman for the better part of an academic year. I am proud of my work ethic and the way which I have handled myself during this past election. This was not reflected in the Judiciary's order to ELBO.
The Judiciary ordered ELBO to be in close contact with Jodie Nealley, advisor to student government. They are preaching to the choir. I became alarmed about the lack of progress of the election on Tuesday. My concern quickly became Jodie Nealley's concern. She and I never stopped receiving assurances about having an online election until it was cancelled.
I am required by my pride and sense of worth ethic, and also by a poorly worded Judiciary statement, to have a paper election this Thursday. I am working with a loaded gun to my head. I have no qualms about carrying out an election under the threat of impeachment. I am compelled to conduct the best election that I can do. I am willing to do this alone. The spirit of Dave Moon may haunt student government this year, but that isn't my fault.
Valentino Caruso, II is a junior majoring in Environmental Studies. Caruso is the chairman of ELBO.
