Due to miscommunication and technological problems, Tufts students will not be able to vote on the Environmental Consciousness Outreach (ECO)'s initiative to transfer a portion of the University's energy to wind power in today's online ballot.
Students would have had the option of voting for or against the wind power initiative in addition to voting for either current TCU Vice President junior Rafi Goldberg or imcumbent TCU Treasurer junior Jeff Katzin.
Current TCU President Dave Baumwoll said he accepted responsibility for the mishap, and said there was a serious miscommunication with regard to how the referendum would be included on the ballot technologically.
"We had some [information technology] problems regarding the time necessary for the referendum to be included with the other items on the ballot," Baumwoll said.
In an e-mail, ECO Chair senior Jennifer Baldwin said, "The [referendum] could not be on the online ballot because ... those who set up the online vote didn't have enough time to set up and test a referendum."
Instead of including the referendum on today's ballot, Baumwoll said that the referendum would be sent out, via a campus-wide e-mail, to be voted on in one week from today.
According to Baldwin, wind power is considered a clean energy source because it is renewable and does not add harmful toxins to the air when burned like fossil fuels like coal or oil. The problem with wind power, however, is that it is expensive to produce.
Using wind power to fuel Tufts would cost more than using fossil fuels, resulting in a $10 tuition increase per Tufts student. Next Wednesday's vote will determine whether Tufts will raise tuition to fund wind power as an alternative energy.
- by Brian McPartland
