A year of controversy and botched elections challenge Senate

In a year marked by presidential resignations, unprecedented election complications, and low voter turnout, the 2002-2003 year has not been an easy one for the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate.

Declining outside interest in the Senate further complicated its already difficult struggle to improve its relationship with the student body. As the year comes to an end, the Senate is still trying to answer the fundamental question of its role in representing the interests of the student body.

However, graduating Senator Ted Schwartzberg sees the lack of direct student involvement as a sign that the Senate is doing its job. "The fact that few students vote and even fewer attend our open meetings must mean they think we're doing something right."

Many other senators feel that the student body's meager participation in Senate proceedings is indicative of a somewhat fragile relationship with the students. As a result, improving Senate outreach has been one of the major initiatives of this year. "Senate and student government in general has been a very insular group," said Chike Aguh, the recently-elected TCU president. "Student government must become more open for it to fulfill its mandate of representing students."

This year, the Senate made initial progress toward this goal under former TCU president Melissa Carson. Inspired by the Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs (CECA) Committee's new bylaw requiring its members to attend a culture-related organization's meetings, Carson extended this outreach policy to the entire Senate by asking each senator to voluntarily attend meetings of student organizations.

Many felt that to maximize outreach, Carson's proposal needed to be made more official. "I think the single reason [past outreach efforts] have not worked is because there has never been accountability attached to them," Aguh said.

To overcome this problem, Aguh and freshman Senator Dave Baumwoll coauthored the Outreach Responsibilities bylaw, which officially assigns each senator to one or more student organizations. "When people run for Senate, they'll know that these are their responsibilities," he added. "Hopefully, we'll get the right types of people to make changes."

Additionally, an amendment to the new TCU constitution approved last month has expanded the culture representative system. Any TCU-recognized student organization can apply for a representative spot by presenting a petition. The request would then be put to a student vote at the next scheduled presidential election.

Although they admit that the relationship between the Senate and the student body needs work, returning and graduating senators are encouraged by these recent outreach efforts.

"The student apathy that exists right now is partly something that we have inherited from student governments of the past," Aguh said. "The present Senate and its counterparts are responsible for trying to undo some of that damage and make every effort to create the faith that students need to have in their representative bodies."

Many believe that the outlook for next year is quite good. Although freshman Senator Rafi Goldberg admits that participation among upperclassmen remains quite low, he thinks that the increased participation and involvement of this year's freshman class might be the start of a new trend.

For the first time in years, the spring Senate elections were contested, with 14 freshmen senators running for 12 seats. Over 35 percent of freshmen voted in that election, a higher percentage turnout than at this year's presidential elections.

"The gains that we saw this year are indicative of increased student concern with improving the Tufts community through student government," Goldberg said. "Next year, when the outreach bylaw and other programs are fully implemented, I expect that student participation will grow even more dramatically."

The Senate has also been busy dealing with internal matters this year. In the fall semester, Senate Historian Allison Clarke motioned to impeach then-Vice President Andrew Potts. Although the motion did not pass, 13 senators had already sent Potts a letter asking for his resignation.

In February, TCU President Melissa Carson resigned from her position to recover from surgery. Controversy over how to replace her was resolved with a closed-door decision to not hold new elections and that Potts would fulfill the president's duties but not hold the official title.

Presidential elections forced the Senate and the Elections Board to fill in holes in their regulations after junior Senator Randy Newsom's rescinded his nomination, an unprecedented move. The Senate then nominated Chike Aguh in Newsom's place - despite the questionable constitutionality of the procedure.

The TCU Judiciary ruled that the nominations would have to be cancelled and that a third nominations meeting would have to be called. Aguh won against his opponent, sophomore Senator Joe Mead, in a rescheduled election with significantly lower voter turnout than last year.