Three candidates will seek nominations this morning to run for the position of TCU Senate president for next year, initiating a race that will culminate in an election April 25.
Sophomores Neil DiBiase and Jake Maccoby, as well as junior Amanda Richardson each intend to seek a nomination at a Senate meeting at 10 p.m. today in Braker 222.
According to sophomore and Elections Commission (ECOM) Chair Adam Weldai, all three of the students will almost certainly get nominated at the meeting. "The nomination process is very easy; there's almost no way that if you want to be nominated you won't get nominated," he said.
After the meeting, there will be a question and answer session with the candidates. Weldai estimated that this will begin at around 10:15 p.m.
This year's candidates bring a wide range of backgrounds and leadership experience to the table.
DiBiase is currently the Senate's Historian and also serves as the Services Committee chair and the Allocations Board chair. He said that his work in Senate, which began when he was a freshman, prompted him to run for president.
"It's not one of those things where from day one I thought I'd be president," he said. "It just happened that this year I took a lot more responsibility in Senate ... I really managed to see how the presidency works; I got to know past presidents and through that I realized that it was something I really wanted to do."
For Maccoby, on the other hand, next semester will be his first on Senate. He feels that, like current TCU President Mitch Robinson, active participation in other activities and organizations have prepared him for the campaign. Robinson was also a relative newcomer to the body before being elected as its president, although he had served as a senator for one semester.
"What Mitch brought and what I would bring are experience and leadership qualities outside of the Senate," he said.
This experience, he said, will come from his involvement as a brother in Sigma Phi Epsilon, his participation in on-campus theater events and the comedy group Major:Undecided, and his work with the Tufts chapter of Students for Barack Obama, of which he will soon become the leader.
Maccoby, who is also a member of the Daily editorial board, said that he was prompted by peer encouragement.
"People said they thought this would be something I should do," he said. "Then once I started actually considering the idea, I thought about some things that I really thought needed to be done and I thought I could bring new ideas to the debate and to the race."
Though both Maccoby and DiBiase would serve as president as juniors if elected, this is not unprecedented.
Chike Aguh (LA '05), who served as president in 2003-4 and David Baumwoll (LA '06), who served as president in 2004-5, were both juniors while in office. Richardson, though, is currently a junior and would serve as a senior if elected. She could not be reached for comment yesterday, but her campaign manager Jen Bailey, a sophomore who was recently elected to the Senate for her junior year, said that Richardson's experiences both with and outside of student government have qualified her for the job.
"She's had a ton of experience in other student organizations," said Bailey, who named Emerging Black Leaders, the Leonard Carmichael Society and the Pan-African Alliance as examples of groups that Richardson is involved with. Richard is also currently the chair of the Senate's Education Committee. "She can offer a really unique perspective," Bailey said.
In terms of campaign platforms, DiBiase aims to "make Senate more responsive to the needs of ... students actively involved in organized student groups and those outside of organizations that regularly interact with the TCU Senate," according to a press release sent to the Daily by junior and current Senate Treasurer Evan Dreifuss, who will manage DiBiase's campaign.
As such, DiBiase wants to extend "programming akin to Fall Ball, Winter Bash, and Senior Pub Nights," according to the release.
For students involved in on-campus activities, he also wants to expand access to the Senate through the creation of a liaison program that would link senators with organizations.
Maccoby cited minor changes which he believes would make a big difference in the lives of Tufts students. The creation of a new communications major and the strengthening of student-alumni connections are some of his goals.
"A lot of things that need to be done are things that are common sense issues and things that really just take perseverance to get done," Maccoby said.
According to Bailey, Richardson's campaign will focus on "moving Tufts forward." Bailey cited improving the Career Service's Web site and making the off-campus housing database more accessible as two of Richardson's goals.
Following today's nominations, the Elections Commission will hold two presidential debates, which are scheduled for the 19th and 23rd of this month, according to Weldai.
