The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate is once again seeking to fill empty positions after two senior seats were vacated in the last two weeks.
TCU Treasurer Evan Driefuss stepped down Jan. 31 to take a medical leave of absence from school. Senator Amanda Richardson also stepped down recently, vacating her position as education chair.
Richardson ran for president at the end of the last school year but lost to current TCU President Neil DiBiase.
Only two students have expressed interest in taking these seats, so unless another potential candidate comes forth, there will be no need for an election.
"If there are exactly two seniors and no one else ... then they just get [the seats] because it's not contested," said DiBiase.
If another candidate comes forth soon, the election will take place next Tuesday, said Anjali Nirmalan, public relations officer for the TCU Elections Commission (ECOM).
"I think it's the fourth special election of the year," said Nirmalan. "It's been a pretty busy year."
One person came to the general interest meeting that the Senate held Wednesday night about the vacant spots, according to Nirmalan. Also, "one person contacted us before [the meeting], so we have knowledge of two people interested in running, though there could be more," she added.
"We're not going to know whether or not there's going to be an election until the candidates meeting on Friday," said Adam Weldai, chair of ECOM.
"2:30 [p.m. today] would be the deadline for anyone to enter," Nirmalan said. Candidates must turn in their petitions to run by the candidates meeting, she said.
If fewer than two seniors choose to run for the open seats, any open positions will become available to juniors, Weldai said.
If one or both of the seats is shifted to the junior class because no seniors are running, the Senate will re-advertise the seat, have another general interest meeting for juniors and hold another candidates meeting.
Weldai said that dropping Senate seats down a class has happened before. "It's not uncommon to see the seats drop down," DiBiase said.
"Last fall, when we had an open senior seat and no one wanted it ... it dropped down to the juniors," Weldai said. "Technically, there are supposed to be seven [senators] for each class ... I don't think it will negatively affect the senior class in any way" if a seat drops to the junior class, he added.
"It's not unusual to have turnover," DiBiase said. "It's a big time commitment and a lot of people reconsider what they want to invest their time in."
DiBiase said the open seats provide a good opportunity for second-semester seniors to get involved in an extracurricular during their last few months at college, especially if they were previously unable to make the commitment.
Nirmalan added that she did not expect to leave the senior positions vacant. "Because there have been two people who have expressed interest, I'm confident that there will be two filled senior seats," she said.
She said she was confident that if a seat did drop down to the juniors for some reason, a junior would come forward to fill it.
