At this point, most of Tufts has already heard about my TCU Tomorrow Plan. So instead of regurgitating the same points again, I would like to offer a more personal look into why I am running for TCU President.
When I arrived at Tufts for April Open House three years ago, I immediately noticed the abundance of messages written on the ground using sidewalk chalk. Wherever I went, I was being asked to vote for one presidential candidate or another. Although I had never met either candidate, it was immediately clear to me that these individuals were very much intent on taking charge of student government. The main question in my mind was whether their passion stemmed from a simple quest for power, or a genuine desire to improve the community.
Of course, the answer was more complex than that. As far as I can tell, both motives were factors in the race for TCU President, just as they often are in real government. After I successfully ran for the Senate at the beginning of my freshman year, I realized that the leadership was spending far too much time jockeying for power, and not paying enough attention to the legitimate needs of Tufts students. Other younger members of Senate agreed with my assessment, and we spent a lot of time discussing how best to abandon the culture of infighting.
Two main streams of thought developed among this new generation of student government leaders. The first, in which I participated extensively, was the drive to do a better job of listening to our constituents. One of the major complaints about the Senate (which still applies today, although the situation has improved) was that nobody knew what we did, and that we had no idea what students wanted us to do. We came up with several remedies to this problem, including surveys, forums, a revamped Web site, and informative e-mail updates. Not everything we attempted was successful; forums typically ended with many boxes of uneaten pizza. The desire to improve outreach, however, is something that has stayed with me throughout my time on Senate.
The other major stream of thought that emerged during my first two years on Senate was an emphasis on improving social life at Tufts through new events. I participated in this as well, helping to plan the Culture Festival and organizing safety volunteers for the Nighttime Quad Reception. The logic of social programming was twofold: that one of the biggest student concerns at the time was the lack of weekend activities on campus, and that adding new events was a way to address a real problem without a major risk of controversy. After the Historian tried to impeach the Vice President during my freshman year, the last thing anyone wanted was more controversy. We had to rebuild our credibility, and a focus on social programming appeared to be the best way of doing so.
Our plans to revitalize the Senate have been working fairly well. Gone are the days of popular disdain for student government at Tufts, although apathy has replaced that sentiment in many cases. Today's Senate is far more capable of enacting real and lasting change than it has ever been during my time at Tufts, and it is with this ability in mind that I seek the TCU Presidency.
It is time for the Senate to move beyond the comfortable confines of bus shuttles and dances, and enter the realm of large policy initiatives. My TCU Tomorrow Plan outlines three such projects that I believe are vital to the future of the Tufts Community. They include starting an endowed fund for unpaid summer internships, integrating public speaking into the curriculum, and reforming the way we deal with bias incidents on campus.
By no means does the TCU Tomorrow Plan detail every issue that will come up next year, nor does it exclude the continuation of projects that have already become standard for the Senate, such as Fall Ball and improving the housing lottery. What my platform does, however, is provide student government at Tufts with a new unifying vision of how we can best serve our community.
The culture of fighting over power on Senate has indeed been reduced over the last few years. What we need now, however, is to replace it with a new creed that emphasizes our great responsibilities as representatives of the student body. This is my mission as a candidate for TCU President. With your support, we can go far in making the Light on the Hill shine brighter than ever before.
Rafi Goldberg, a junior majoring in political science, served as the 2004-2005 TCU Vice President.
