In a reversal, former Tufts Com-munity Union (TCU) presidential candidate Elton Sykes resigned from the Senate last month. He is one of three seniors to resign from the body over the summer, and now the Senate is scrambling to replace them.
"At the beginning I thought that if I didn't win [the presidency] then I would stay on, but I changed my mind," Sykes said.
Sykes, Daniel Hartman and Jacob Maccoby stepped down, leaving three vacancies that will be offered first to seniors. If not enough step up to fill the seats, the still empty ones will be offered to juniors. Elections will be held only if more than three candidates enter the race.
TCU Treasurer Matt Shapanka sent an e-mail to 65 friends in hopes of inciting interest and ensuring that the Class of 2009 is well represented in the Senate. "The e-mail was something personal I did; I'd never done it before," Shapanka said.
But when the Senate invited seniors to attend last night's general interest meeting intended primarily for freshmen considering running for Senate this month, none came.
Seniors looking to be candidates in the Sept. 10 elections must submit their applications by today at 10 p.m.
Hartman and Maccoby said other commitments prevented them from serving this year.
Hartman got an internship at the White House and will be taking a leave of absence this semester. Maccoby, who is also an editorialist for the Daily, decided not to return to the Senate after being elected president of the Inter-Greek Council (IGC). He said this post requires a significant amount of time and attention.
Hartman would have been a first-term senator, and Maccoby would be returning for his second year.
Sykes, who had served on the body since his sophomore year, said he wants to focus on his future.
"I am going to be a senior this year, so I wanted to get ready for the next step of my life," he said.
Maccoby said that renouncing his position in the Senate will not mean a total break from the organization because he anticipates working closely with the body as IGC president.
"I think a lot of what we're doing in IGC this year is about having closer relations with the TCU Senate," Maccoby said.
Sykes' decision to step down follows his unsuccessful bid for the TCU presidency during which he promised to concentrate on campus safety, social programming and residential life. Sykes came in last place behind junior Senators C.J. Mourning and Duncan Pickard, the victor.
After vacillating on whether to continue serving in the Senate, Sykes notified Pickard shortly before the end of the summer that he would not return.
An advocate for diversity awareness during his time on Senate, Sykes said the group's focus on that subject would not waver without him.
"I think that [it] will still be of interest because that's something Duncan says he wants to pursue and discuss," Sykes said.
TCU Historian Antonella Scarano, a senior, said that high turnover occurs perennially with rising seniors, as the demands imposed by their imminent graduation do not allow them to commit as much time to the Senate as their underclassmen counterparts.
"I would love it if upperclassmen got more involved, but I think seniors tend to have other priorities," she said.
