Seven freshmen were elected Wednesday, Sept. 14 to become Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators.
Pooja Chokshi, Neil DiBiase, Justin Feldman, Aliza Lailari, Andrew Lee, London Moore, and Padden Murphy were chosen from 22 candidates in an online election. Freshman Daniel Halper defeated fellow freshman Allison Sorkin for the only open TCU Judiciary seat.
Freshman Vanessa White ran uncontested for the Committee on Student Life.
According to the Elections Board, which ran Wednesday's elections, Lee received eight percent of the votes, Lailari and Murphy each received seven percent, and Chokshi, DiBiase, Feldman, and Moore received six percent.
A total of 1,217 students voted in all races. Total voters for each race were not available, and Election Board bylaws forbid releasing individual candidate vote totals.
The Senate candidates spoke at a forum Tuesday, Sept. 13 in Hotung Caf?©® They were each asked three questions by current senators.
They were given 30 seconds to explain their platform, another 30 seconds to say what they would discuss with President Lawrence Bacow over dinner, and a final 30 seconds to propose ways to generate student feedback and opinions.
Lailari, Lee, and Murphy campaigned as a group with Kris Coomb, who was not elected. The group, which called itself 4PlayforSenate, had a platform that included ensuring a steady supply of soap in dormitory bathroom.
Murphy said Dining Dollars, Points Plus, and Vending Points should be combined and students should be able to add money online. "There's no reason why you should have to manually put money on ID cards," he said.
The three senators pushed for the beautification of the Medford campus. "It's an oxymoron having Jumbo be so little, when the actual elephant was a lot bigger," Murphy said.
Their platform also suggested increased University presence in Davis Square. The three winning 4PlayforSenate candidates were the top three vote-getters in the election.
Other winning candidates focused on campus student relations. "I want to be a linking mechanism between our class and the rest of the school," Moore said.
DiBiase said there should be more communication between the Senate and the student body. "We need to improve transparency," he said. "Students need to know, what does TCU mean?"
Chokski's suggestion to improve student life was to install an air hockey table in her dorm's common room
Feldman simply listed his personal attributes. "I'm really passionate and dedicated," he said. "I'm a pretty approachable guy."
