Senate elects Bier, Coletti and Kleinman as trustee reps

Members of the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate elected seniors Jill Bier, Joe Coletti and Daniel Kleinman as representatives to the Board of Trustees in a meeting on Sunday.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for approving all major decisions associated with the University, including the annual budget. The trustee representatives will attend the three trustee meetings throughout the year, and each will make a final presentation explaining which student and university needs are most important.

The Senate selected the students from a group of seven candidates. Senate Historian Jeff Katzin described the race as "competitive and close."

The candidates limited their focus to several recurrent themes and only presented a few new ideas for future improvement. All stressed the need to improve alumni relations by finding new ways for alumni to stay connected to the University.

Bier suggested that the Experimental College should encourage more local alumni to teach courses rather than recruiting outside professionals.

Coletti plans to focus on enhancing the current peer leader system. Drawing on ideas from the Task Force's final report, Coletti has proposed a student advising system in which peer leaders would be created within each academic department. Students would help their classmates on issues such as making their schedule or eventually preparing a senior thesis. Now, peer leaders work with freshmen for only the first semester, helping them sign up for classes the first time and answering any questions freshmen may have.

Although Kleinman did not articulate any issues upon which he will focus, he hopes to excel as a Trustee Representative by combining his financial knowledge with a desire to represent student needs. "I [will] try to enter this role with an open mind when addressing issues about the common good of all students," he said. "I believe I can represent the TCU well, taking a broader perspective on needed change and the future direction of the university."

All three elected Trustee Representatives stressed how valuable their varied interests will be when representing a diverse student body.

"The best representative is a person who has seen more than one side of Tufts," Bier said. "[She is] the person who has witnessed how it feels to be in a variety of different positions and can respond to all [of them]."

Bier has filled a variety of roles during her time at Tufts, including that of TCU senator, member of Tufts Dance Collective (TDC) and Student Sexual Assault Response Assistant (SSARA) counselor.

Coletti's connections to the University are similarly diverse, ranging from his participation on the men's varsity soccer team to membership in the Zeta Psi fraternity.

As Business Director of the Daily, Dan Kleinman has had experience with financial affairs.

The Senate assigned each representative to one of three committees based on his or her goals and background. Bier will serve on the Development Committee, Coletti will serve on the Academic Affairs Committee, and Kleinman will serve on the Administration and Finance Committee.