Last month's referendum, which would add three amendments to the Tufts Community Union (TCU) constitution, has been put on hold after the Committee on Student Life (CSL) postponed approving the referendum's language until the fall semester.
The TCU Elections Commission (ECOM) announced the passage of the referendum, which contains two amendments dealing with community representative seats on the TCU Senate and one amendment adding a historian position to ECOM, in late April.
But the CSL notified TCU President Duncan Pickard on May 2 that the referendum could not actually pass, as ECOM never had the committee approve the amendments' language.
"We unanimously decided to table the discussion and not make a decision at this time," CSL Faculty Chair Colin Orians told Pickard in an e-mail. He cited concerns that the proposed changes "might violate non-discrimination policy" and said that a change to the amendments' wording would be necessary. As part of its duties, the CSL reviews changes to the student government's procedures and documents.
Orians, an associate professor of biology, said that the CSL proposed conducting an "open hearing" in the fall on issues relating to the two amendments on Senate community representatives. After these meetings, Orians said, the CSL would rule on the matter.
Student groups can petition to be represented on the Senate by community representatives, who participate in Senate meetings and vote on most Senate decisions.
The amendments' language "should clearly indicate that a quorum of senators must be present and that 2/3 of attending senators must approve," Orians wrote.
The first amendment proposes moving the vote on whether a student group can receive a community representative from the student body to the Senate. The second amendment would internalize how community representatives are re-approved -- making this, too, the duty of only the Senate. Under current rules, the entire student body votes on this.
"I don't think we'll have to go through another vote or anything like that," Pickard, a sophomore, said of the new roadblocks to the amendments' passage. "It's really not that big of a deal, but it's just going to be ... drawn out."
An announcement of the results of the April 23 vote was delayed until April 27 after an appeal against ECOM by freshman Christopher Snyder, who claimed that ECOM violated its own bylaws in administering the vote. Snyder, who is also a copy editor for the Daily, made the case that the commission had neglected to sufficiently advertise the proposed amendments and that the option to abstain from voting should have been displayed more prominently on the ballot.
The TCU Judiciary ruled in favor of ECOM two days later, striking down the appeal in a 5-2 vote. It called ECOM's negligence "harmless error" and ordered the commission to change its practices in the future to address Snyder's concerns. ECOM then released the results of the referendum, which had been withheld pending the appeal.
In its decision, the Judiciary noted that "the overwhelming vote in favor of the ... referendum question" showed that, had the complaints been addressed before Wednesday's election, the outcome of the vote would not have been affected.
On May 1, Snyder appealed the Judiciary's ruling to the CSL. He told the Daily that he disagreed with the Judiciary's decision to uphold the results of the April 23 vote on the referendum, although he said he agreed with the stipulations the Judiciary made to ECOM.
According to Snyder, the referendum's passage will depend on the outcome of this appeal, which will only occur if the CSL approves the language of the proposed amendments.
Four steps must take place in order for a referendum to pass, according to Pickard. These include three parties submitting the referendum after collecting 250 signatures in its support, the TCU Judiciary ruling on whether the wording is fair, the CSL deciding whether the language is in line with university policy and ECOM conducting a student body-wide vote on the proposals. Voting generally occurs last.
Every step except for from the CSL's was completed by the end of April, said Pickard, who submitted the referendum with two other students.
ECOM Chair Anjali Nirmalan, a junior, said that ECOM served its stated role in the process.
"When the Judiciary charges the Elections Commission to conduct a referendum, we assume it's because all of the necessary ... parts of the process have happened," she said. "We're at the end of the process."
Pickard said, "In my interpretation of the constitution, it doesn't matter when the four get fulfilled, it just matters that they get fulfilled." He added that some people might disagree with that interpretation. Pickard served as the Senate parliamentarian this year.
In his e-mail to Pickard, Orians said the CSL "want[ed] to remind the Senate that [the] CSL must rule before [the referendum] is voted upon by the student body."
