Voicing vehement opposition to a proposal that would strip Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate culture representatives of their vote, more than a dozen campus organizations attended an overcrowded Senate meeting on Sunday. In a tense atmosphere punctuated by personal attacks, those present also debated the passage of a TCU resolution condemning Israel's incursions into Palestinian territories.
The culture rep resolution will be decided by a campus-wide vote this month, while the latter never came up for a vote. According to Senator Ben Lee, the meeting - the last to be held with outgoing TCU President Eric Greenberg at the helm - remained orderly and civil despite "some personal attacks" between senators. "The presenters who came were very civil and made their cases very eloquently," he said.
The most vociferous opposition to the Culture Lobby proposal came from culture groups with prepared statements denouncing the "clandestine" manner in which senators attempted to strip their representatives of a vote. Under the amendment, more culture reps would exist, but their role would be restricted to siting in and speaking at meetings, without the right to vote. For over an hour, campus organizations voiced their dissatisfaction with the proposal itself and with what they called its misleading presentation. Many said it simply formalized opportunities to attend Senate meetings that all culture group members already have.
Another issue of contention at the meeting was former Senator Pritesh Gandhi's proposed resolution to condemn Israel's actions in the Middle East. The senate meeting saw adamant opposition to the proposal, mainly from campus organizations and individuals who said such a proposal could not represent the views of the entire Tufts campus.
Of the proposed culture rep amendment, Zeleka Weraswork, a member of the Pan African Alliance (PAA), said she is "more disappointed with the fact that students won't know exactly what they are voting on because the wording [of the amendment] is so ambiguous. That's what makes it deceiving."
Vice-Chair of the TCU Judiciary Alison Clarke was happy about the presence of the culture groups at the meeting "because it opened up lines of communication with the student body. I thought it was really beneficial for the Senate to see what groups are opposing the amendment because they hadn't had that perspective before."
The PAA, the Tufts Transgendered Lesbian Gay and Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC), and the Asian Community at Tufts (ACT) spoke most prominently at the meeting. They were critical of the way the amendment "surreptitiously" purports to both increase minority representation on the Senate and take away the vote.
A statement released by the PAA said that the new policy would not allow a stronger minority voice as it proposes to do, but would instead "further jeopardize our equal stance on campus." The statement also asserted that culture representatives are legitimately elected from within their groups, and pointed out that many of next year's at-large Senate seats are uncontested. Many groups argued that each culture representative conveys minority viewpoints to the TCU Senate that would not be considered otherwise, and therefore serves a legitimate purpose.
The second proposal, to condemn Israel's military actions in the Mid East, also attracted stiff opposition. A signed petition with over 300 names and a prepared statement from members of Hillel, Friends of Israel, and the Tufts Democrats, among others, condemned the resolution on the grounds that no such statement could "fall under the jurisdiction of the TCU Senate." They argued further that it would be counterproductive and undermine the relationships between many groups on campus with different opinions.
Before the resolution could even be debated, however, TCU Senate Parliamentarian Andrew Potts ruled that the resolution was infeasible because the charge of the TCU does not include the release of official political statements. Potts went on to argue the purpose of the TCU Senate is to deal with campus affairs and student life rather than attempt to legislate international politics.
"It would be pointless," he said. "If we were trying to constantly solve AIDS, world peace and third world debt, we would not find time to do the business of the students."
Not all senators agreed with Potts' decision, but no one challenged it. "Even though I don't think it's something the Senate should have made a stand on, it's something that could have been discussed," Lee said. He said other senators shared this point of view.
Because the resolution was not sponsored by an official group, many also said it lacked legitimacy.
Nevertheless, Gandhi said that he "does not buy the argument that the TCU Senate should not be involved in political affairs." With such a resolution, Gandhi wanted Tufts to join other institutions like Cornell University and University of Texas, among others, that are "active in domestic and international political affairs."
