Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator C.J. Mourning says she has what it takes to bridge the gap between students and administrators.
"Students are not enjoying themselves because they're always fighting, and that's not how it should be. We have a great administration, and it needs to do a better job of working with the student body and engaging in conversations that we're too afraid to have," the sophomore said in her closing remarks during a meeting with the Tufts Democrats last Tuesday night.
"One of the biggest problems I see is that people don't feel ownership of their experience at Tufts," she said. "People are constantly fighting to get things changed, constantly fighting for residential life to be improved, fighting for wireless [Internet access], fighting to be heard by the administration."
Mourning said that one of her main goals would be to increase contact between senators and members of the student body.
"I want to make sure that the Senate is going out into the community and getting students' opinions," she said. "We only have two surveys a year, in the fall and spring semester. These are great, but they [only poll] ideas that senators are thinking of. We need to actually go out into campus and see what people want."
She stressed that students have the right to watch the Senate at work. "I want to increase transparency in terms of students being able to see how things are done," she said.
Mourning cited her successes as this year's Services Committee chair as evidence of her experience and dedication to the university and its students. "I've worked relentlessly in all areas of the Senate, and I know it very well," she said.
This school year, Mourning teamed up with Dining Services Director Patti Klos to extend the nighttime hours of Carmichael Dining Hall and the Commons, answering the complaints of students who felt they did not have enough late-night dining options on campus.
Mourning also worked with Klos to combine Points Plus and Dining Dollars, charge accounts that students can access with their identification cards, into JumboCash. The unified system will be implemented next semester.
Mourning has received criticism from the other presidential candidates for the change, which makes it so that students determine exactly how much JumboCash they put on their card. This is a reversal of the previous system, in which students chose from meal plans with predetermined amounts of Dining Dollars.
Detractors say the change will make it difficult for some students on financial aid to get JumboCash on their meal plans.
"One of the great things about being Services Chair is that I've gotten really close with the administration," Mourning said. "I know and am friendly with all of the administrators. I have a really great relationship with Dean [of Student Affairs Bruce] Reitman, and I'm also very close with Dean [of Undergraduate Education James] Glaser and Dean [of Admissions Lee] Coffin."
Mourning said that these relationships would help her to lead the student body as president. "I know I have the administration's respect and that they value my opinions. That is very key in being able to get things done as president."
One of Mourning's rivals for the nomination, Senator Duncan Pickard, said that Mourning's strengths lay in her ability to see Senate projects through to completion.
"One of the reasons she's such an asset is that she ... will just throw herself into whatever she's working on, and that's really an awesome and rare characteristic," said Pickard, a sophomore. But he said that Mourning lacks a broader vision. A president, he said, must be able to look beyond individual agenda items and move the Senate body forward cohesively.
"I think that the president should be more of a visionary leader, and shouldn't take on projects by him or herself. That's what I really bring to the table ... C.J. is a really good leader of projects, and she really gets engaged," he said. "But if for reasons beyond her control those projects fail, what will we do as a senate? There will be setbacks and you won't always be able to complete projects. We need a leader that is proving themselves as a visionary leader and not just a project-based leader."
Senior and outgoing TCU Historian Alex Pryor, a campaign advisor to Mourning, said that the candidate's pragmatic perspective and hardworking approach makes Mourning the best choice for the Senate presidency.
"I think everybody who is attracted to the student government has all sorts of big ideas," Pryor said. "It's easy to be idealistic because there's a lot we want to get done. [Mourning] is really good at keeping in perspective what we actually can do, and not getting lost with lofty ideas."
Pryor added that Mourning has consistently proven that she can be effective in getting projects completed throughout her two-year tenure on the Senate, citing her work with Dining Services.
"C.J. was instrumental in getting Hotung [Café renovated], and administrators love her," Pryor said. "She worked really closely with Patti Klos, director of Dining Services, to make sure that the opening of Hotung not only happened, but happened the way students wanted it to."
Klos echoed Pryor's statements, explaining that Mourning worked hard to voice the interests and desires of the student body when discussing Hotung's renovations with administrators.
"She attended all the meetings regarding the improvements to the Hotung lounge, and organized the successful grand opening of Hotung in January. She is dependable and really wants to make a positive difference in the lives of students on campus," Klos said in an e-mail to the Daily.
Klos added that Mourning was instrumental in adding Boloco to the list of neighborhood restaurants that accept Dining Dollars. "She was an organizer of the event that brought vendors to campus in September that ultimately led to Boloco being selected," Klos said in the e-mail.
But Pryor suggested that the candidate might be hurt by the fact that she does not always show political finesse.
"She's not a very political person, and when you're running for office it helps to be political," she said. "I don't think this is necessarily a flaw, but I think people could mistake it as that. Even though she doesn't play the political game or give off the image of the perfect candidate, she'd be the perfect president."
Adam Weldai, Pickard's campaign manager, said that Pickard's leadership style trumps Mourning's.
"C.J. is a very impressive senator," he said. "She works diligently and she accomplishes as best as she can the projects that she tackles. But you can't really campaign on the idea that you've finished a lot of projects, because that's the role of Services Chair. Duncan is campaigning on the idea that ... projects need to come together and mean something for the university."
Mourning countered by saying her mission is "to enhance the Tufts experience for students."
"I think that working through projects is the only way to have your visions realized," she said.
