Fifteen freshmen vying for seven Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate seats up for grabs in tomorrow's election and five candidates seeking the lone TCU Judiciary position squared off last night at a forum in Hotung Café.
At the event, each candidate delivered a prepared pitch and fielded questions about his or her goals as a potential TCU officer.
The Senate spots originally attracted 18 candidates. Two of them, Lane Florsheim and Suyu Zhang, withdrew their bids before the forum, and another, Spencer Rubin, did not attend due to prior commitments. Though nominees who do not attend the forum are generally disqualified from election, Rubin notified the Elections Commission (ECOM) of his absence prior to the event and will still be on the ballot. Markus Willhite, a freshman, withdrew his candidacy for the Judiciary.
TCU Senator Nunu Luo, a sophomore who attended the event, praised the candidates' platforms, adding that some had taken the initiative to approach current senators and discuss ideas with them.
Sophomore Danielle Cotter, the TCU parliamentarian, was impressed with the field of candidates. "They have so many ideas, and they seem to have done their research," she said. "It seems like this coming year is going to be really great."
The five candidates contending for one open seat on the TCU Judiciary are freshmen Greg Bodwin, Noa Natalie Naftali, Ethan Sturm and Demi Marks and junior Ibrahim Khwaja
The complete list of first-year Senate candidates is as follows: Alice Pang, Faith Blake, Emily Sillari, Yulia Korovikov, Ilana Linder, Ard Ardalan, Jeffrey Nii, Meredith Goldberg, Mayan Lendner, Shawyoun Shaidani, Wyatt Cadley, Michael Cooney, Sacha Suh, Jeremy Zelinger, Emil Cliggott-Perlt and Spencer Rubin.
Sophomores Manuel Guzman and William Carpenter will fill two of the three open spots on the Committee on Student Life (CSL) without contest, as they are the only people to have thrown their hats into the ring for the positions.
Voting for the freshman Senate candidates opens at midnight, and continues for all 24 hours tomorrow.
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This article was edited from its printed version to reflect that Spencer Rubin was not in fact disqualified from the election and remains a candidate for the TCU Senate.
