On paper, the two candidates in today's election look very different.
Junior Amanda Richardson is involved with the Leonard Carmichael Society, Public Health at Tufts (PHAT) and is the former president of the Emerging Black Leaders.
Sophomore Neil DiBiase is the president of Tufts' Model United Nations club, the vice president of Friends of Israel, and a brother at Theta Chi.
Within the Tufts Community Union (TCU), Richardson is the chair of the Senate's Education Committee. DiBiase is the TCU historian, the chair of the Senate's Services Committee, and is the Allocations Board Council XI chair.
But have these different experiences translated into distinct platforms? Heading into the election, both candidates remain confident that they have.
Richardson told the Daily last night that her priorities are expanding academic opportunities, creating more social programming and expanding students' rights.
In the realm of academic opportunities, she would like to see more languages offered. This year, the Senate successfully advocated for the addition of Portuguese classes to the curriculum in the future. Richardson would like to see the Senate continue to push for more languages to be offered.
In terms of social programming, she would like to see an expansion of opportunities. During the presidential debates, she suggested the creation of another event comparable to Fall Ball or Winter Bash as one way to do so.
To expand students' rights, she wants to make members of the community feel that they have the right to safety - both in terms of protection from physical attacks and from attacks against their identities by means of discrimination.
DiBiase told the Daily last night that his three primary goals are to make the Senate more representative of the entire student body, to advocate for the Greek system, and to help build a Tufts identity.
To implement his first goal, he has proposed the creation of a Senate liaison program that would connect senators with members of the community.
To advocate for the Greek system, DiBiase wants to create a joint office space for the presidents of both Greek houses and culture houses to increase cooperation between them. He would also like to see the liaison program incorporate Greek viewpoints, or alternatively to see a Greek culture representative on Senate.
Creating a more comprehensive Tufts identity would involve increasing the amount of social programming on campus and creating an "Innovative Program Fund" with money available for student groups that sponsor events that bring together the student body in a unique way, he said.
While DiBiase and Richardson have given their goals different taglines, both admit that there is some overlap. Richardson, for example, said that she is also interested in creating a Tufts identity and that implementing her platform will do so.
"My platform acknowledges that a Tufts identity can be formulated through academics, it can be formulated through social programming and also through empowering students to be aware of their rights," she said.
DiBiase also said that he is amenable to some of Richardson's goals, such as adding more courses in other languages.
But where there are similarities, there are also differences. While DiBiase may support looking into expanding language options, he said that other goals should be prioritized. "I think the first priority is to understand the student body better," he said. For other wide-scale projects, he said that much of what will be done depends on the feelings of the various committee chairs in whose jurisdiction the projects fall.
Richardson also pointed out a difference between the candidates. During her freshman and sophomore years, Richardson was not on the Senate - DiBiase joined his freshman year - and she said that having not served as an elected official during those two years provided her with valuable insights. "Within Senate we talk a lot about transparency ... but because a lot of people have been in Senate since their freshman year, they don't really know how it feels to be out of the loop," she said.
DiBiase feels that a third difference is that his platform allows for easier follow up on and implementation of his proposals. "I think we agree about the end goal. I don't think we necessarily agree how to get there," he said.
As an example, while he said that Richardson plans to expand social programming by adding more events, he feels more than that needs to be done. He said that his "Innovative Program Fund" is one way to allow for additional improvements.
Richardson countered that her platform also allows for follow through. She said that her ability to establish "a feasible platform" has been evident during her time on Senate and that she continues to push for realistic goals.
While differences do exist between the candidates, current TCU President Mitch Robinson said that he will be happy with whoever is elected.
Still, he said that the candidate that students support should be able to serve a few distinct functions. "One of the main roles of the president is to be a lobbyist for the student body, but I also think in addition to that what the president must be is someone who is self-aware and also understanding of the greater Tufts community," he said.
As such, he said a successful candidate should acknowledge his or her limitations and turn them into something positive by developing helpful relationships with supportive members of the community.
