The representation of marginalized communities in student government has been a lightning rod for controversy, emotion and confusion for years. As a body entrusted with the responsibility of representing and advocating for all students and people at Tufts, the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's support of marginalized groups has often been criticized from many different angles. Although I sincerely believe that this criticism is more reflective of the issue's sensitivity rather than a failure of the student government, the concerns of our constituents do not fall on deaf ears. Currently, four different clubs have community representatives in the Senate who act as liaisons between their clubs and the Senate. Additionally, these representatives have all the same rights as senators, with the exception that they cannot vote on financial matters. After years of frustration and stagnation, it has become painfully obvious that this system does not work and needs to evolve, and this year's TCU Senate is committed to finally addressing the problem.
However, the Senate dually realizes that going about this alone is not an option. In short, we understand that our body is not capable of fully grasping the issues minorities face and we understand that we are limited by our own biases and traditions. Making any real progress on the issue of minority representation is first and foremost predicated on transparency and honest conversation. Thus, the TCU Senate will attempt to include the entire campus in this conversation, by way of a diverse and large task force assigned with producing a definitive proposal on this issue.
Firstly, I need to clarify the purpose of the task force on diverse representation. Before I begin describing the aims, makeup and timeline of the task force, it is imperative to articulate what this task force is not. The TCU Senate and the entire task force are not going to pretend to be capable of solving all racial, religious and diversity problems here at Tufts. Ideally, the Senate would have the power and knowledge to bring about some sort of equality and climate that makes everyone feel comfortable at all times. Yet, as a student government comprised of mere undergraduate students, this expectation — especially at this point in time — is utterly unrealistic. In fact, even if Senate was able to solve all of the problems that aggravate marginalized students, we still would not have a good enough infrastructure to find out what those concerns and desired results are.
The purpose of this task force is to address that infrastructural shortcoming that is unfair to marginalized communities. I want to reiterate that this task force will not speak for all diversity issues on campus; it will merely be a vehicle to forge a stronger connection between marginalized communities and the TCU Senate. When the task force submits its final recommendations in mid−April, hopefully it will shed more light on how to merge the governance of the university with the inclusion of marginalized communities. With that in mind, the task force will be dealing with two central issues.
Firstly, the task force will be assigned with fixing the physical representative model that Senate will use. For instance, the task force may find that community representatives as they exist are fine, or they need to be changed, or we need to create a new officer to handle diversity issues on our executive board. The actual infrastructural positions that represent minority concerns will be the first issue tackled by the group.
Secondly, the group will attempt to flesh out what it means for a student government to support marginalized groups. My experience has shown me that there exists a serious disconnect between minority students on campus and the TCU Senate. In essence, marginalized groups often demand support. The Senate is not particularly sure what that means, and the lack of action causes further distrust and hinders future communication. What it means for a government to support a marginalized community needs to be crystallized. It is important to note that the task force will not be making a laundry list of demands or concerns; rather, it will be engaged in a broader dialogue about what support ought to mean. Is it issue advocacy, more interaction at events or even different types of funding? Hopefully, this conversation will yield a better set of parameters and goals that make actual support more likely and meaningful.
I would also like to establish the composition and timeline of the task force. This task force will be modeled after the successful Alcohol Task Force convened by the Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman. As TCU President, I will be chairing the committee and I will be sending out personal invitations to students, faculty and administrators. The committee will not just be composed of interested minority members, but it will also have a large contingent of majority students. Because the purpose of this group is to clarify the best way to represent minority issues by a TCU Senate tasked with representing all of Tufts, inclusion of all types of peoples and students is critical to getting an accurate reading on what will be best for the entire campus. In the upcoming weeks, invitations will be extended to various students, clubs, faculty members and administrators.
Serving on the task force will be a major time commitment. Starting on March 1, the task force will be meeting weekly in closed sessions to discuss its two mandates. The confidential nature of the meetings is important to ensure that the task force feels comfortable engaging in honest dialogue, and in my experience, more realistic compromises result from this type of atmosphere. However, the members of the task force will be made public, and I do encourage any concerned student to feel free to speak with any and all of them to relay their own opinions.
The task force will be meeting throughout March and early April, and will hopefully have a proposal ready by the second−to−last Senate meeting of the year. This will leave ample time for the community at large to comment on the proposal prior to Senate voting on it, and prior to its probable inclusion on the TCU Presidential ballot in late April.
If you want to be on the task force, if you think your club should be represented on the task force, or if you have any faculty or administrators you would like to see included, please contact me immediately. It is important that this task force is not merely composed of the usual suspects, and its strength will lie in its diverse membership. So please contact me if you want to be involved. This is your chance to make a difference.
Finally, I know that this is a sensitive issue, but please respect our efforts and process. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a compromise that everyone will love, but we can promise that we will try our hardest. The end goal is of course to solve the issues marginalized communities are aggravated by, but the Senate will never be able to do this without the proper internal infrastructure to do so. Like I stated at the beginning, this topic's nature automatically leads to impassioned responses and reactions, but we will do our best to be fair. Thank you for reading and please remember to contact the TCU Senate, or me personally, if you have anything you want to be heard. We are here to help.
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Brandon Rattiner is a senior majoring in political science and philosophy. He is the current president of the Tufts Community Union Senate.
