As the chair of the Media Advocacy Board (MAB), sophomore Duncan Pickard presented the administration with a request for $15,000 for new computers in the MAB Laboratory, where Tufts publications like the Observer and the Primary Source have their offices. Through collaborative work between administrators and the MAB publications, the board gathered the money.
Pickard is running for Tufts Community Union (TCU) president on the promise that he will be a unifier who can bring diverse students together with each other and the administration. He says this very quality helped him bring change to the MAB, where he also organized three roundtables for editors of the board's many publications.
Pickard said he explained to administrators that facilities for campus publications were lacking and that financial backing for improvements would make the publications feel more respected by the administration.
"It was a vision that I brought to the table that hadn't been there before," Pickard said.
The TCU senator and parliamentarian now uses the slogan "let's work together" in his presidential campaign. Under that mantra, he has presented ideas about improving campus security, developing a clear policy on freedom of expression and lowering costs on campus - all the while emphasizing the overarching need to unite the diverse fractions of Tufts' undergraduate population. It is all part of his broader goal of strengthening the Tufts community, which Pickard says is the main reason he should be elected.
"I think that my vision for a stronger community is something that kind of oversees all of those issues," Pickard said. "I think that people can really unite around that issue. My vision and my thought process is the strongest."
Pickard is running against fellow Senators Elton Sykes, a junior, and C.J. Mourning, a sophomore, in Wednesday's election.
Pickard's rivals have countered that his approach lacks a practical edge. But Pickard said that his platform is strongest because it is based on a big-picture approach for how to improve Tufts.
"We have a broader vision," he said. "We have specific ways of how to make that happen and we have steps one through 10 on how to achieve those goals."
Under his leadership, the Senate would be more effective because the body would take a more comprehensive approach to lobbying administrators, he said.
"We're going to reason [proposals] out before we go talk to administrators and when they ask us questions about how to do certain things, we're going to have an answer: 'These are the ten things you can do and how they make things better,'" he said.
Pickard continued, "That's the kind of commitment and that's the kind of passion that we need to bring back to student government, and that's the kind of thing that I'm going to do."
He said that many TCU senators have already endorsed him, including all six members of the Services Committee, which Mourning chaired this year. He also noted that as the parliamentarian he is the only candidate in the race who has served on the Senate's executive board, and he is the only candidate to have worked in the treasury.
Pickard was the TCU assistant treasurer and has served as a member of the Allocations Board. He is a Tisch Scholar and a Synaptic Scholar of the Institute for Global Leadership.
Last week, Pickard was nominated for the Office of Student Activities' Lighthouse Award, the university's top student leadership award. The MAB was also nominated for the Roaring Wave Award, which is given to Tufts' top student organization. Any student can nominate candidates for these awards, which will be announced on April 24.
Pickard said the top goals he would work for as president are better campus security, reduced incidental costs for students and the protection of freedom of expression.
The administration's handling of campus security, Pickard said, has been unacceptable. "Quite frankly, I'm quite upset with the way the administration has handled security issues," he said. He proposes that a new Tufts University Police Department safe-ride system be implemented that would be more accommodating to students.
As part of his mission to unite the campus, Pickard said he would take steps to reduce the costs of things like food at the campus center and admission to student performances. As Tufts becomes more diverse and admits more lower-income students, the campus must keep such costs down, he said.
Pickard said that a new policy on freedom of expression must include student input and must not limit free speech.
"We need to make sure that those discussions are being framed in a way that's thoughtful, that's respectful and that's valuable to students here, and unfortunately that's not the way things have happened in the past," Pickard said.
Sykes criticized Pickard for not citing specifics in his plans.
"I have no idea of what that vision is," Sykes said. "It's not explained very clearly. His ideas are not out there.
"[People] know the ideas that I have and where I stand on most of the issues," said Sykes, who has focused his campaign around a promise of improvements in campus safety, social life and housing. "It's not very clear exactly what [Pickard] wants to accomplish."
Mourning said that Pickard's vision is too broad and that this approach is unfeasible.
"Overall he has a lot of great ideas and a great vision for Tufts, but he doesn't seem to have a way to accomplish this vision exactly," Mourning said.
Pickard's supporters, however, are confident in the goal of building a stronger community.
"I think he has a great vision for ... a campus that's united and has a greater sense of community than we've ever had," freshman Senator Chas Morrison said.
Morrison, who supports Pickard, said that Pickard's experience in a variety of leadership roles sets him apart from the other two.
"He just brings a wider variety of experience to the table," Morrison said.
Junior Matt Shapanka, a TCU senator who has not endorsed a candidate, also said that Pickard brings a strong vision to the campaign. Mourning, Shapanka said, would employ a hands-on leadership style similar to that of outgoing TCU President Neil DiBiase, a junior. Pickard, on the other hand, would be a more top-down leader, using broad ideas to promote more specified work in committees.
Another senator, junior Jen Bailey, said that Pickard is the best candidate for president. She described the president's job as that of a lobbyist on behalf of the student body, representing the concerns of students to the administration.
"Framing the presidency in that light, when I look for a president I look for a person that I believe that has the skills, experience, know-how and heart to really do that job, and I see that in Duncan's candidacy," Bailey said.
Bailey, the chair of the Senate's Culture, Ethnicity and Community Affairs Committee and the president of the Emerging Black Leaders student organization, has worked closely with both Sykes and Mourning, whom she describes as friends. But Pickard, she said, is better prepared for the presidency.
"At the end of the day, when I think who has the best skills to motivate the student body and really get results and negotiate things for the body, I think in my heart that Duncan is that person," Bailey said.
Bailey said that, as a leader, Pickard is very good at following through with ideas.
"He's very methodical, and when he has a big idea, you know that that idea has fortified steps to obtain it," Bailey said. "He never sets himself up for failure."
She said that the president must make sure that student concerns are not lost on the administration. "The president of the body needs to be in touch with [student] concerns and needs to have a vision of what they'd like to see and what the body would like to see," Bailey said.
She said one of Pickard's shortcomings was that while he is usually prepared and professional, he can be perceived as pompous when in front of larger crowds. She lauded his personal skills, but said that his preparedness when speaking in front of groups is sometimes misinterpreted.
"He presents himself very professionally and students can disconnect from that sometimes," Bailey said. "When you're talking in front of large groups of students, being overly prepared sometimes gets misinterpreted as being [not genuine, but] he's probably one of the most genuine people I've met at Tufts."
Senior Allison Towle, a member of the TCU Judiciary, said that Pickard had shown his leadership talent when working with the Judiciary as parliamentarian.
"The [Judiciary] is a very small group of people, and it's hard break into that circle, and I think Duncan did it very well and did his job very well," Towle said.
"He knows the rules, he knows people, he knows the administration, and he just has a great idea about what's going on on campus," Towle said.
She also said that Pickard has a good read on student concerns.
"He's good at tuning into what's going on," Towle said. "He's very aware of campus events and needs of people and how to work with people."
