Senator resigns amid confusion

Sophomore Senator Jonathan Gold became the third senator in a week to resign last night when a public announcement of his departure from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate was read at the group's meeting. According to sources within the Senate, however, Gold's actual resignation came a week ago and its announcement was delayed by the Senate to avoid publicity.

Gold said that he informed TCU President Melissa Carson before last Sunday's Senate meeting that he wanted to step down but could not attend the Senate meeting to announce it.

"She said that she would mention that I was resigning," he said

At the meeting, however, Carson announced the resignation of two other senators _ but not Gold. Gold's resignation was announced later, during Good and Welfare, the last part of the Senate meeting, which is closed to public.

Carson said that she did not announce the resignation publicly because she did not think it was official _ despite the fact that Gold said she had received his official letter of resignation. Carson said she made the announcement in Good and Welfare to respect Gold's privacy, but others have speculated that she did so to keep an article from appearing in the Daily.

Gold "didn't want an article to be written about him," Elections Board (ELBO) chair Joe Coletti said.

While there is no set procedure for announcing Senate resignations, senators were reluctant to release any information when questioned last Monday night. Responses ranged from denying that a third person resigned, to saying that a third was thinking about resigning, to confirming an actual resignation.

Even ELBO, after announcing the opening of a third Senate seat on Wednesday, would not release the name of the senator who resigned.

Carson explained the variety of responses by saying that senators were unsure of what to say about something that took place during a private time at the Senate. Discussing comments made during Good and Welfare with people outside the Senate is an impeachable offense.

Carson said that Gold asked her to keep the announcement private, but Gold later said that he asked Carson to keep his letter of resignation, not the announcement of his resignation, private.

"In my mind, I expected that my resignation would be announced not only to the other members of the Senate, but also to the Daily," he said. "It was never, ever, my intention to hide my resignation from anyone. I can't even think of a reason why I would want that."

Sources say Carson sent out an e-mail to senators telling them not to talk to the press about the issue. Carson said she e-mailed senators who did not want to talk to the press, telling them to direct questions about the issue to her. The Daily could not obtain a copy of the e-mail.

The incident raises questions about whether the Senate _ a democratic institution _ is hiding information from students that should be public. But senators defend the existence of Good and Welfare, saying that the time is needed for internal housekeeping and stress relief.

"It's a chance for senators to talk about issues that are bothering them, maybe a project they're working on," Assistant Treasurer Rachel Marx said. "It's nothing that the press would be interested in. We talk about if any problems that arose at the meeting."

Publicly announcing resignations "would seem like a pretty fair thing to do _ be responsible for your actions," TCU Judiciary Chair Adam Biacchi said. "If you wanted to know at any given time who is a senator, you should be able to know. It should be publicly posted."

The lack of student knowledge of their senators' identity and initiatives is an issue that TCU presidential candidates often say they want to work on.