The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's 2004-2005 term has come to a close, and elections for next year's senate took place on Wednesday. What do students actually think about the student body that helps to shape their
community?
Some students have positive opinions of the TCU Senate. "I really respect the people who are involved in the Senate," sophomore Nicole Schechter said.
"The Senate is effective, because they organize a lot of events that bring out campus diversity, like CultureFest," senior Nana Amoah said.
Most students interviewed said that the senate gets little attention from the student body. "It's a thankless job, because no one really knows about who's running, who's elected, or what they accomplish," sophomore Erica Baker said.
"People have different interests, and for the most part students don't see the TCU [Senate] coming out with results," Schechter said, adding that "students just don't notice."
At the close of this year's term, Senate members' accomplishments included the continuation of the Boston Bus Shuttle and passing a resolution advocating that Phase III of the Mayer Campus Center's construction be completed. These undertakings do not necessarily astonish the student body, though.
"It's hard to get things done, like with any political body, but it doesn't sound too impressive to say that they came up with the Boston Shuttle," sophomore Natalie Kornbluth said.
Voting by the student body makes a significant impact on who is on the Senate, and what the senate does. In last year's presidential election, though, only 40 percent of the student body voted.
"I've only voted once, mostly because elections passed and I didn't notice," Baker said.
"I've voted almost every time there was an election because I had friends running, but I only voted because they reminded me," Kornbluth said.
TCU Senate Treasurer Jeff Katzin, a junior, said that several factors influence voter turnout. "When there's a heated issue, people are more likely to vote," he said. "There's a difference in voting between class elections and the presidential election, too - usually there's a higher turnout for the president."
Senate meetings are open to the student body and are televised on TUTV, but many students are not aware of that fact. Several suggested that the Senate could improve through making students more aware of ways to involve themselves in the senate's actions.
"If people knew more about how to get involved, they would probably care more," Kornbluth said.
"In general, some students are very engaged, some students we're able to hit, and others we miss," said Katzin, about Senate involvement. "There's always a conversation about how to get the word out, and it's not always attributable to how the year's gone. A lot of the time it depends on how much we've been able to get in the Daily."
