I would like to take this opportunity to formally announce my exit from the campaign for TCU President.
I joined this campaign to talk about issues that are important to me and to help find innovative solutions for problems on campus. Everywhere I and the other candidates spoke, we had interesting and engaging discussions about truly pressing matters.
As I have said far too many times to far too many people in the last few days, politics, in my view, is getting up on a soapbox and telling other people what you think. Running for higher office is just about finding a bigger soapbox. The higher your platform, the more people you can reach, the more ideas you can discuss, and the more excitement you can generate. I have been fortunate in the last few days to speak to a great many people about a great many innovative ideas, and I have found them receptive to my message.
Milton Berle once described politics as one man getting up and saying nothing while two others disagree with him for three hours. In this campaign, that did not occur. The three of us agreed far more often than we disagreed, and even when we differed, we did so agreeably.
I feel confident that my entry into this race did focus the conversation and restructure the debate to address the things that I (and most students at Tufts) most care about. For that reason, I have decided that the best course of action is to remove myself from the campaign and to give the student body a chance to focus on two eminently qualified contenders - Amanda Richardson and Neil DiBiase.
I see the most pressing issue on this campus as the lack of a cohesive and inclusive community. Partly this is because groups like student workers and undergraduates living off-campus are not seen as legitimate organizations that should have a voice in the senate; student-led organizations are seen as separate, compartmentalized entities, and it is sometimes difficult to find the overlaps and the broader communities that are not directly represented in the Senate. This is also because the Senate does not always have all the information that it needs to accurately represent an organization that does exist.
Not only is DiBiase's Senate Liaison program long overdue, but the Senate must also make the effort to include members of outside groups in meetings that directly concern them. Without this kind of input, it is impossible to precisely meet the needs of this campus.
I want to thank the TCU Senate and the student body for giving me the opportunity to speak to them and to articulate my vision for this university. Additionally, I want to thank all of the groups on campus and the people who talked to me about what they felt needed to be done to make our university greater, our experience fuller, and our community stronger. While I may have ended my run for the TCU presidency, I promise that I will work as hard as I know how to tackle the problems facing this university from my place in the TCU Senate.
This is an important election. The TCU President sets out not only policies, but an overarching vision for the future of Tufts. I can say with complete confidence that both candidates will be valuable advocates for your needs - for our needs - and for the needs of this university.
Jake Maccoby is a sophomore and TCU Senator-elect majoring in political science. He is also a Daily staff member.
