This year's race for TCU President has a vibrancy not witnessed in last year's campaign, due to the myriad differences in the platforms of the two candidates. While both Senators Katzin and Goldberg have shown themselves to be able campaigners, it is Katzin who will be able to best lead his fellow Jumbos for the upcoming academic year.
Katzin, the current TCU Treasurer, has a strong background in student government and leadership. As treasurer he has overseen the distribution of some $1.1 million dollars in student activities fees to various organizations around campus and worked with student leaders around the hill to ensure that their groups have the funds to accomplish their goals. Most students find it difficult to merely balance their own checkbooks; Katzin had the task of making sure that a much bigger set of books was in good hands.
The "JUMBO changes" platform on which Katzin is running is a strong plan for accomplishing real change on campus. All too often it appears that student government on the Hill falls short of its end goals, producing many objectives but few results. The current treasurer realizes that students want goals, and he seems very willing to push for concrete results rather than feel-good resolutions.
Many of Katzin's stated goals are based on current senate initiatives for which he would push hard if he were elected. One idea of critical importance to the student body is reform at the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL), specifically in the form of a tiered lottery system. Such a system would ensure that students do not receive a low number in all three of their lotto years by splitting the lotto into three tiers (high, middle, low) and ensuring that each student can only receive one number from each tier. Thus, if a student received a low number he or she can rest assured that it won't happen again.
Also of interest was Katzin's stated interest in "candidate hunting": that is, trying to increase interest in candidacy for the Senate and other elected positions. Following an election where the only contested seats were in the Senate for the class of 2008, it is clear that more competition is needed for important and influential seats in student government.
Given Katzin's concern over Senate diversity, it is surprising that he explicitly disagrees with the idea of opening up nominations for TCU President to the entire student body. Such a move would be a valuable safeguard against yawn-inducing elections with forgettable candidates and would acknowledge that many, not just senators, play valuable roles leading this campus.
When it comes to town-gown relations, candidate Katzin also drops the ball, stating no clear plan (and perhaps desire) to play a significant role in calming the tempest. Our next president must show willingness to voice student concerns to local leaders; it is essential that he be willing to butt heads with those in power if that's what it takes to make the wishes of nearly five thousand undergraduates known.
Katzin's opponent Rafi Goldberg has some good ideas of his own, most notably his proposal for a $4 million endowed fund to provide stipends for unpaid summer jobs. The program, to be modeled after the current "summer scholars" stipend setup, will ensure that Jumbos can gain valuable career experience without worrying about finances. We hope the winning candidate, be it Goldberg or Katzin, implements this great idea.
In spite of his significant shortcomings, however, Katzin will prove to be the better leader for Tufts. Now it is up to students to show their interest today and vote, so that the next president is assured not only of interest in him but of concern for the workings of student government.
