The three candidates for Tufts Community Union (TCU) president faced off last night in the Sophia Gordon Multipurpose Room, in the first of two debates, discussing topics that included the nominees' experience, the recent alleged bias incident and the TCU Senate handling of the recovered funds.
The difference in the candidates' potential governing styles became apparent early on, when the forum's moderators asked what each candidate would prioritize in his or her first monthly meeting with University President Lawrence Bacow.
Senators Samia Zahran, Brandon Rattiner and Chas Morrison all said they would focus on representing students' pressing concerns. But Morrison jumped on Zahran's response that she would ask Bacow what projects were feasible.
"Sometimes, you do have to push the administration a little bit," Morrison, a sophomore, said, pointing toward progress he has made toward improving residential life.
Morrison and Rattiner attacked what they called Zahran's dearth of relevant experience. Zahran, a sophomore, served as a community representative on the Senate freshman year and did not serve on the body last year.
Zahran pointed out, though, that the break she took from student government this past year gave her a unique perspective on the Senate's workings.
"This past year I have not been on Senate, and that is because I have decided that I wanted to go out and meet people," she said, noting her experience in a number of student groups, including the Muslim Student Association and the Pan-African Alliance. "I wanted to know what it was like to be on the other side of things."
But when the moderators prompted the candidates to point out their opponents' greatest flaws, Rattiner, a junior, criticized Zahran's approach.
"I don't really understand the logic of how not being on the Senate prepares you to lead it," he said.
The Senate's spending of the recovered funds later became a center of discussion, with the candidates specifically focusing on the Senate's decision this month to allocate $230,000 in funds to construct a small cabin next to the preexisting Tufts Loj in New Hampshire.
Morrison, who did not vote for the allocation, said that Rattiner's as a Tufts Mountain Club (TMC) member was a potential conflict of interest for the junior. TMC administers the Loj.
"I have a really good reason for not abstaining," responded Rattiner, who is not actually a TMC member but is still involved with the group. "That's because I think the Loj affects the entire community. ... I thought the Loj was a great opportunity."
Rattiner went on to describe his fiscal philosophy, detailing his votes in favor of giving recovered funding to WMFO and TUTV, a loan to cover updates to The Rez and $20,000 in creative grant programming. "I don't think it's smart to have money sitting in a bank account waiting for a magic idea to float around that's going to unite the entire student body," he said.
The debate over who has benefited from the recovered funds underscored fundamental divisions between the candidates' views of the Tufts community.
"Tufts is a school that features great sports teams, great sports leaders," Morrison said. "We're a school that is hailed for campus activism. We're a school that sends students to India to build orphanages over the summer.
"I would argue that our greatest weakness is that the same sense of campus activism and enthusiasm manifests itself in different groups feeling isolated from other groups," he added. "There's a severe disconnect between different organizations and the university as a whole. There's no sense of history binding Tufts together."
But Rattiner criticized Morrison's plans of bringing back certain traditions like a juniors-versus-seniors tug-of-war game at the annual homecoming football game.
"I think the biggest problem on this campus by far is the disconnect of upperclassmen," Rattiner said, explaining what he saw as the root of disunity in the Tufts community. "Freshmen get over-involved, sophomores run everything, juniors get burned-out and go abroad, and by the time they come back as a senior, they don't know what the hell is going on and just want to graduate."
The candidates later addressed the role they thought the Senate and administration should play in response to events like the recent alleged bias incident against a group of Korean students.
Zahran supported the strategy of having rallies and suggested that there should be more tangible support systems for victimized communities.
"I have experienced racism," Zahran, whose mother is black and whose father is Arab. "Situations like the [Korean Students Association (KSA) incident] happen because people are simply ignorant. ... I don't think its fair to say the KSA was overreacting."
Morrison echoed Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman's response to the Primary Source scandal, saying that students should fight bad speech with more speech.
Rattiner took a different line, pointing out that the Senate was largely reactive, and that perennial rallies had little effect on the occurrence of bias incidents on campus.
The second and final presidential debate will take on Thursday, at 9 p.m., in Barnum 104.
