All elections for next year's Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate seats, except for Class of 2011 positions, went uncontested at the Candidates' Meeting on Thursday.
The members of the Committee for Student Life (CSL) and the TCU Judiciary, and the senators representing the Classes of 2009 and 2010, were all officially elected Thursday without a popular vote. The senators for the Class of 2011 will be elected by their classmates during a vote on Wednesday.
Four senators will represent the Class of 2010, and eight will sit for the Class of 2009. There are 11 candidates running for nine positions for the Class of 2011. [See box below for full lists.]
Each class is allotted seven Senate seats each year before elections. Depending on how many students run for election in each class, the available seats are reapportioned according to seniority. When only four rising juniors petitioned for candidacy, the remaining seats were sent to the rising seniors. But only eight petitioned from the Class of 2009. Therefore, the rising sophomores were given 11 seats.
"Generally a lot of seats drop to the rising sophomores, which is usually a very competitive election," said Anjali Nirmalan, chair of the Elections Commission (ECOM).
While only having four junior senators is "semi-unusual," Nirmalan explained that having eight senators in the rising senior class is also out of the norm.
"Seniors tend to already have a lot of commitments on campus," she said.
TCU President Neil DiBiase explained the increase in senior senators as reflective of both a new mentality among senators regarding involvement in activities on campus and a shift in focus during the past year from issues that typically only affect freshmen and sophomores to those that affect the entire student body.
DiBiase said issues like off-campus housing, community relations and community values may have attracted more upperclassmen to the Senate.
"Those are the issues that transcend all grades," DiBiase said.
He also cited the change in mindset about involvement in the Senate and other activities on campus as making a big difference in the number of seniors who are on board for next year, particularly those that have not been involved until this year.
"You don't have to give up everything to be on Senate anymore. [Candidates] realize they can try it out and still commit themselves to whatever else they're doing," DiBiase said.
He cited these same reasons when asked about the record six senators that gave up their positions during the middle of this year, prompting a slew of special elections.
DiBiase explained that when he was a freshman, "the seniors only did senate," but now that senators are also typically involved in more activities on campus, they're often forced to prioritize, as was the case with those who resigned this year.
"It's a huge time and energy commitment," he said. DiBiase wanted to stress the fact that overall, he didn't feel that the six resignations showed a lack of interest or enthusiasm for the Senate but instead reflect the increase in the number of senators who are involved in more than only the Senate.
"When you really break it down, four resignations were in the first week of school or for medical reasons," DiBiase said. "We really had two resignations that were for personal reasons - they felt they were not committing themselves fully to the Senate ...
"You can't do Senate halfway," he said, explaining that the Senate's strict attendance policies and regulations may have forced some students to give it up over other activities when they felt overcommitted.
Both Nirmalan and DiBiase said that while having only four rising juniors on the Senate may seem problematic, it might stem from the number of juniors who go abroad.
"It actually accurately reflects who's on campus." DiBiase said. "We actually have more representation this year between juniors and seniors than in recent memory."
Because their work seasons are effectively wrapped up for the year, the CSL and the Judiciary can wait until next fall to fill the rest of their vacant seats. The Senate, on the other hand, needs to be determined before this week because the new Senate meets next Sunday to nominate presidential candidates for next year.
The CSL and Judiciary will advertise their open seats in September, and then if more than one candidate runs for any position, student-wide elections will be held.
