Potts likely to keep VP job

The tensions that erupted at last Sunday's Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate meeting have abated, and it appears that Andrew Potts will retain his position of vice president for the immediate future. The reasons for the closure of debate, though somewhat tied to opinions of Potts' competency, are more closely related to structural limitations and logistics.

The senators who wanted Potts to give up the vice presidency have not all changed their minds, but they see no constitutional way to remove him. In the vote last week on whether to hear the motion to remove Potts, the Senate essentially concluded that it does not have the power to deal with removal of its members from internal positions _ but the TCU Constitution does not delegate this job to any other body.

"There's not really an option as to what can be done," according to Senate Historian Alison Clarke, who made the motion to remove Potts. The TCU Judiciary (TCUJ) is the designated body to hold a hearing after a senator has been impeached, but the constitution says that such procedure should be used to remove someone entirely from the Senate _ not from a position within the Senate.

Because the Senate only has one meeting left this semester, and few senators think that bylaws to handle this situation will be passed any time soon, the constitutional reform that is currently underway could tackle the issue. Any referenda to come out of it, however, are not likely to be voted on before the presidential election in April.

But even if the senators who want to remove Potts had the necessary time and procedures, there is no way to gauge the Senate's general opinion on the matter. Only 13 out of 33 senators signed the letter to Potts asking him to resign from the vice presidency _ the other 20 senators either disagreed with the motion or simply never saw the letter.

Strategic outreach by Potts after Sunday's meeting caused some senators to change their opinion of him. Junior senator Randy Newsom, for example, was one of the 13 who sent Potts the letter asking for his resignation, but he no longer supports removing Potts after meeting with him on Monday.

"I didn't like the fact that [Potts] didn't go to the constitution meeting, but that is his choice," Newsom said. "I'll admit, I made a mistake in signing the letter."

Other senators say they want to close the debate on this issue because it is a waste of time.

"Risking the progress of Senate projects and cohesiveness on the removal of someone who may not have done the best job is a risky tactic," Parliamentarian Adam Koeppel said. "It seems to go against the whole goal of the Senate, which is to make life better."

While many senators do not anticipate long-term tension to stem from last Sunday's conflict, the effort to remove Potts resulted from friction that has been building for many months. Sources say that Potts had a narrow margin of victory over Senator Joshua Belkin in the vice presidential election, and Clarke is among several senators who have speculated that not all those who voted for Potts actually supported his platform.

Though the ballots for internal Senate elections are secret, many senators expressed opposition to Belkin because of his support for Amendment III, which would have created a large culture lobby to replace the existing culture representative system. Potts and then-sophomore Jill Bier originally authored the amendment with Belkin, but Potts pulled his support before it was voted on.

A vote for Potts "seemed more like a vote not for Josh, because Josh was behind the ballot," Clarke said.

The election's circumstances caused many senators to question Potts from the minute he took office, Clarke said, and they have become more and more frustrated over the course of the semester.

Others might be questioning Potts because of his approach to the role of vice president, which has differed from that of his predecessors. Historically, TCU Senate vice presidents have tried to attend as many meetings as possible and put their name on many initiatives to build support for a future run at the presidency _ as Eric Greenberg (LA '01) successfully did two years ago. But the fact that Potts will graduate this May has meant that he has not felt a need to involve himself in every Senate project this year _ a leadership philosophy that Clarke says is dangerous.

Though Potts supported Melissa Carson in the presidential election and Belkin was behind Clarke, senators say that the movement against Potts is not a product of friction between the two camps this semester.

"There isn't really any great amount of tension in the Senate right now," Potts said. "I don't want to place this on only [Clarke], because there are other people who have come up to me with concerns."

Regardless of the source of tension in the Senate, everyone seems to agree that things have quieted down. Though Clarke and Treasurer Benjamin Lee have expressed a loss of faith in the Senate, the six others who voted with them to debate the motion to remove Potts are optimistic that the issues can be worked out.

"I am confident that things will change for the better now that the problem has been brought to his attention," freshman Senator Cho Ling said. "Having talked to Andrew after the meeting, I have faith he will improve in his role."

"I definitely feel that Senate will recognize these concerns, and we are in the process of organizing a solution that will constructively address them," Asian American Culture Representative Kelly Condit said.

A possible solution is an open discussion of Potts' performance, which he is holding this Friday. "I'm going to just do the job of VP and be the best VP I can be. If I'm doing a good job, I have nothing to worry about," Potts said.