Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators will choose three new trustee representatives during a meeting on Sunday.
For the rest of the year, those elected will sit as non-voting members on three trustee committees and on Senate.
"Basically, they serve as conduits between [the] Senate, and therefore the student body, and the trustees," Secretary of the Trustees Linda Dixon said.
The application process for students began yesterday, and within the first several hours, junior and Elections Commission Chair Adam Weldai said that he heard from around 28 interested students. During Sunday's meeting, senators will meet the applicants and have the chance to question them.
According to Dixon, trustees think of the representatives as valuable resources. "The trustees regularly ask the students for their opinions on certain issues," she said. "[The representatives] are extremely helpful in offering student viewpoints and student perspectives on different issues when they are discussed."
In their roles working with senators, the three students also will be able to introduce resolutions and participate in debates.
TCU President Neil DiBiase said that the best-qualified representatives are the ones that consistently engage the student body.
"I think [the Senate is] really looking for people that are open-minded and are willing to sit in on Senate meetings and go out around campus and really find out what the mood is so that they can represent all of us," he said.
For this reason, DiBiase continued, students who are most active in on-campus groups have historically been the most electable.
"What we're really looking for is people that can listen and people that have been involved in different areas of campus," DiBiase said.
Students who are elected will each sit on one of three trustee committees: the committee for university advancement, the academic affairs committee and the administration finance committee.
The committee for university advancement is concerned primarily with fundraising and improving alumni and public relations; the administration finance committee manages the university's budget, the endowment, and construction and renovation projects; and the academic affairs committee deals with the university's curricula, faculty issues and student life.
Applicants may specify which committee they would like to serve on, but senators have the final say.
Once they get their committee assignments, some representatives decide to pursue a specific project during their term and produce a final report to submit to the Senate and trustee committees. This usually involves substantial research and planning.
DiBiase noted that it is not necessary for candidates to already have project ideas in mind, as he expects them to come from time spent surveying the student body.
