Senate elections proceed largely uncontested

Seats in next year's Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate will be largely uncontested; only members of the class of 2007 are running opposed.

In the election for positions on the TCU Judiciary (TCUJ), eight candidates are running for seven spots. The three candidates for the Committee on Students Life (CSL) positions are running uncontested, as well as Senators in the classes of 2005 and 2006.

"Nothing special about this one," Elections Board (ELBO) member Abby Lillianfeld said.

Similar to the fall semester, the bulk of Senate positions will be held by underclassmen.

Running uncontested for their seats, the three candidates for class of 2005 are Joe Mead, Jennifer Alexis Smith, and Alexei Wagner. The minimal number of seniors in next year's Senate will result in more positions for next year's junior and senior classes.

Seven students in the class of 2006 are running unopposed for seven positions. The seven members of the class of 2006 are Dave Baumwoll, Athena Bogis, Shaun Glassman, Rafi Goldberg, Ed Kalafarski, Jeffrey Katzin, and Jose Vazquez.

In the election for the class of 2007 seats, 13 candidates will vie for 11 positions. Andrew Caplan, Jess Feinberg, Brody Hale, Zach Landau, Evan Lichtenstein, Harish Perkari, and Simon Sassenberg will be hoping for re-election, while Charlie Bonello, Juan Escobar, John Loof, Aaron Miller, Neil Padover, and Adrienne van Nieuwenhuizen will be running for their first senate term.

In the fall 2003 election, 28 freshman vied for nine spots.

Sassenberg expressed discontent with the lack of excitement for the election process. "Senate does things that directly affect the student population, such as printing information on the back of student IDs and the wireless campus center," he said. "So if students take advantage of Senate projects, then why don't they vote?"

As a result, some candidates have worked to encourage the student population to vote. "After we've gotten signatures we visit people in dorms, going door to door," Perkari said.

The incumbent Senators banded together during the Candidates Forum, held last night at Hotung Caf‚. They pointed to their successes this year and their ability to work together. "We got [stuff] done this year," Perkari said. "We have seven incumbent Senators and seven of your votes should be for them."

"The learning curve is high in the Senate," senior Senator Josh Belkin said. "Incumbent Senators won't spend three months next year trying to figure everything out."

The new faces in the class of 2007 race emphasized the need for alternative, unique viewpoints. "I've been looking for ways to distinguish myself," Miller said. When asked how he could help with budgeting, he said "I'm cheap."

"It's unfair that engineers aren't well represented in the Senate," Loof said. "It makes the school very much oriented towards liberal arts. We have a lot of speakers come such as ambassadors, but we haven't spent money on such speakers as Nobel winners in math and science."

The TCU Judiciary candidates are Talisa Anderson, Shaharris Beh, Nicholas Boyd, Danny Pateiro, Melissa Peters, Jake Resnicow, Jordana Starr, and Zeleka Yeraswork.

One subject under hot debate among Judiciary candidates is the issue of the Judiciary being invisible on campus. "I feel like the students don't know what the J is," Resnicow said. "It's important that you know we're the student advocates. We're there for you."

All candidates, in both the Judiciary and the Senate, stated their main intentions for running as wanting to support their school. "It's a chance to prove my commitment to the student body," Yeraswork said.