Does slamming your finger in a door prevent your whole body from functioning normally, or does it simply cause you to tend to your wound and go on with your day? Most people would give themselves a short time to heal, bandage the wound and move on.
For the sake of an accurate analogy, consider Election Board (ELBO) to be the right hand of student government, and consider student government to be the whole body. With this picture in mind, even the simplest person should understand that ELBO's failure to hold the election scheduled for Friday is not an indication of the breakdown of student government as a whole. A bruised finger does not cause a body to be bedridden.
This weekend all of my waking hours were spent in the Campus Center. Weeks ago, the Senate Executive Board had scheduled a meeting for Friday night. This, by virtue of Friday's events, became a meeting about ELBO and was opened to the chair and vice chair of the Judiciary.
For more than 48 hours, the focus of these eight people was specifically, "What do we need to do to make this election happen?" Our second priority was to answer the following questions: First, "How should we deal with ELBO?" And second, "How do we make the student body see what we see - that this is not a breakdown of student government, nor is it a failure on the part of our respective bodies. Instead, how can we show them that this has brought the branches together?"
The Daily has covered how we dealt with ELBO. They have delivered the news of the complaint filed by the Senate to the Tufts Community Union Judiciary (TCUJ) asking that ELBO's progress be monitored as the election approaches. They have also told you that a complaint was filed with the Committee on Student Life (CSL), signed by the eight people representing the TCUJ and the Senate.
What I feel has not been emphasized enough is that the Senate and the Judiciary were able to come together for several days and make unanimous decisions. Members of the CSL were also on hand at different points to answer questions and discuss procedure. We were able to work effectively on the task at hand, even during Friday's six-hour long meeting.
The ego that people traditionally associate with student government did not enter into our dealings at all. This is evidenced by our free exchange of ideas without the need for formal debate, and by the fact that different people facilitated each meeting without contest.
There was no "student government fumbling" this week, as one article stated. Rather, there was cooperation in, and rebuilding of, student government. Three of the branches of the student government worked closely and productively, and followed the processes laid out in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) constitution for dealing with these situations. Along the way we formed further close ties and closer working relationships that I believe will enhance the ability of the student Government to be an effective voice of the community as a whole.
As for the election, I believe that Valentino Caruso will be able to put it together in time and run it fairly. Still, I am angry with his decision not to ensure that the details of last weeks election were finalized, especially when he became suspicious that Shane Mason, the former head of ELBO, had not taken care of it.
However, he is under the mandate of the TCUJ, and more importantly of his own conscience, to follow through with his job. TCUJ and freshman candidates, don't worry! You will have a fair election and we will find time to have a retreat for the senators in the very near future. There is interest in the open ELBO seats, both from people who want to join and from administrators who wish to train them. This wound took a while to bandage, but it is already starting to heal.
Finally, I want to point out that one more positive thing has the potential to arise from this calamity. Anyone who read this paper today or yesterday knows that the election is on Thursday in the Campus Center; this could lead to one of the highest voter turnouts we have ever had!
Melissa Carson is Vice President of the TCU Senate and majoring in child development and philosophy.
