Members of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate recorded over 80 meeting absences this year, with some senators having missed over half of their sessions. But many senators, including outgoing TCU President Eric Greenberg, do not see absenteeism as an issue, calling it "standard fare".
The absence rate this year, while high, was not staggeringly different from that of other years, according to Greenberg. "You have to realize that a lot of senators have lives outside of Senate," he said.
Nine current senators are resigning from the body.
At a major budget meeting two weeks ago, the Senate was barely able to maintain a quorum - the minimum number of senators needed to conduct business. Former senator Pritesh Gandhi, who resigned earlier in the year, said the poor attendance was a reflection of attitudes as a whole this year.
"I couldn't remember last year when we didn't have a quorum," said Gandhi, who feels the lack of leadership by the executive board allows senators to get away with missing too many meetings. "I tried from day one to [get work done], but I felt the support system just wasn't there."
The poor meeting attendance may be part of a larger trend of student apathy about student government. For the past two springs, elections for new senators have not had to be held because no seats have been contested. Just three students will represent the class of 2004, after six served on the senate this year and seven seats are traditionally given to each class.
Many senators cited longer, less interesting meetings this year as other possible factors in the low turnout. Senate meetings, usually held Sunday evenings, often lasted over three hours this year.
During Larry Harris' presidency two years ago, meetings often lasted five to six hours, which turned off prospective senators, Greenberg said. But last year's shorter meetings "left many people unfulfilled," he said. Although he admitted that the meetings this year were not always interesting, Greenberg said they were in "no way a waste of time."
Other senators, such as presidential candidate Melissa Carson, agree with Greenberg's assessment. "Long meetings are very frustrating for people, but the really short meetings are equally frustrating because people are just going through the motions and that just a waste of time," Carson said.
But others say it was Senate leadership this year, and not the length of meetings, that caused poor attendance. Presidential candidate Alison Clarke said the lack of an agenda for meetings this year made them unproductive. Though Clarke was not a senator this year, she attended every meeting as part of her job as TCU Judiciary vice chair. She says the agenda should also be advertised on campus to attract more students.
While Carson attributes attendance problems to senator's personal issues outside the body, Clarke faults the executive board for not setting an example for others.
Senators "need to feel more of a sense of responsibility towards the student body," she said.
While senators as a whole say they see meetings as important, many are frustrated with the way they are run. Resigning senator Ed Schwehm said that much of the work senators do outside of meetings involves talking with administrators and rarely revisiting anything done in the meeting. Assistant Treasurer Nik Abraham, who is also resigning, agreed with Schwehm's assessment.
"Most people lose sight of the fact that when most of the things we vote on are Allocation Board requests, what you have left is a lobbying group of the administration," Abraham said.
One positive aspect of this year's meetings, many say, is the expansion of the open forum period at the beginning, when any student can speak. The open forum has been used this year to argue University sexual harassment policies and debate Tufts' role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Senator Gautam Kitchlu said that although "all the main work is done in committees," the meetings are still "very important for the community at large to come and talk to the Senate."
