"I just didn't go," junior Ivan Nurminsky said.
Nurminsky was removed from his position on the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate last week because he missed too many meetings.
A senator is automatically removed after four unexcused absences, according to the Senate bylaws. An entire Sunday evening Senate meeting counts as one absence, and missing part of a meeting or a committee meeting counts as half an absence.
Nurminsky had a total of 4.5 absences. "I don't know how the rest of them do it, but it's kind of hard to keep coming every Sunday night," he said.
The TCU Historian is required to inform a senator at three absences. Historian Ed Kalafarski, a senior, spoke to Nurminsky early in the semester about his attendance, but at the time Nurminsky provided an excuse for one of his three absences.
When senators returned from Thanksgiving Break, Nurminsky was up to 2.5 absences. He quickly missed a committee meeting and the Nov. 27 Senate meeting, bringing his total to four.
By the time TCU Vice President senior John Valentine e-mailed Nurminsky last Tuesday, Nov. 29, Nurminsky had missed two full Senate meetings, two partial Senate meetings and three committee meetings.
Valentine said he had trouble getting in touch with Nurminsky and only reached him by phone Sunday. "He apologized and kind of put it on himself," Valentine said.
Nurminsky provided the first test of changes made to the bylaws at the Senate retreat early this semester. In past years, Valentine said, if a senator missed three meetings, another senator could propose impeachment.
"This takes all the 'do we do, do we do not' out of the game," Valentine said. "It's more concrete."
The Senate did not have to approve Nurminsky's removal.
"If you're not coming to meetings, it's assumed you've resigned from the body," Kalafarski said. "His decisions constituted his resignation. There was no decision made on the part of anyone on the Senate."
Nurminsky was elected to the Senate last April and began serving this semester.
He served on the Senate's education committee and on the Allocations Board. He said the Allocations Board - which works with student organization budgets and recommends to the full Senate how the student activities fee should be divided - was the only part of the Senate he would miss.
As for his education committee meetings, Nurminsky said, "I just didn't think it was worthwhile."
There will not be an election to replace Nurminsky's Senate seat until next semester.
New members of the Elections Board - the group that oversees Senate elections - assume office every semester. Valentine said the Senate will try to have elections for next semester's Elections Board before Winter Break ends so Nurminsky's replacement can be elected immediately after students return to campus.
"We're going to go as fast as possible, but the new senator may miss as much as two meetings of the next semester," Valentine said.
Sophomore Senator Alexandra Pryor was elected at Sunday's meeting to fill Nurminsky's Allocations Board seat. There is only one Senate meeting left this semester, but Pryor will be on Allocations Board next semester as well.
Asked for Nurminsky's phone number Monday, Kalafarski said he had already deleted it.
