The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate this spring will launch a campus−wide dialogue on the future of diversity representation in the Senate, continuing an ongoing discussion about the role of community representatives in the body.
The Culture, Ethnicity, and Community Affairs Committee (CECA) met Friday with the directors of the six culture centers to seek feedback on proposed changes to the Senate's community representative position.
Community representatives are internally elected members of TCU−recognized student groups who are meant to provide a voice on the Senate for their respective constituencies. Currently, four student organizations have representatives on the Senate: the Asian−American Alliance, Queer Straight Alliance, Pan−African Alliance and the Association of Latin American Students.
CECA's favored proposal would tie the position to the individual culture centers, while another would eliminate the position altogether.
TCU Vice President Antonella Scarano said that the meeting was intended to shape the scope of future conversations about the subject.
"The proposals were just a conversation starter," Scarano, a senior, said. "We just wanted to make sure that we had all sides fleshed out so we can have an organized discussion about it going forward."
CECA Chair Nedghie Adrien, a junior, said the directors' feedback helped re−direct the committee's focus.
"I would say the discussion is going to go more toward what the change should accomplish, rather than what the change should be," Adrien said.
The center directors also emphasized to CECA the need to incorporate the larger student body in the discussion.
"Whatever we do is going to impact [the students] directly and impact the larger Tufts community," Adrien said. "We need to make this everyone's issue."
According to TCU President Brandon Rattiner, a senior, the Senate will bring the issue before the student body in the spring in the hopes of putting a proposal to a campus−wide vote in April.
Rattiner said the Senate plans to put together a task force composed of administrators and students, similar to the alcohol task force, to study the issue.
Senators, CECA members and culture center directors stressed that proposals have not yet been finalized and that the final outcome was very much undetermined.
"It's not an easy answer," Latino Center Director Rubén Salinas−Stern said. "It takes a lot of talking, and hopefully these kinds of discussions can continue."
Rattiner said the discussion was not just about community representatives, but the broader issue of minority representation on Senate as a whole.
"The community rep is just a focal point," he said. "It's a conversation on representation and fair governance. If the solution includes a community rep, fine. If it doesn't include a community rep, that's fine too."
Rattiner said the conversation must find a better system for representing the interests of minority groups in Senate and stressed that the question at hand concerned the bridge between diversity and governance.
"It's really important not to confuse this conversation with diversity on campus," he said. "Senate has an interest in representing the needs of every single minority that's at this school, but we can't do that without the proper infrastructure."
Some see tying the community representative position to the culture centers as a way to connect them more directly to the groups they represent.
"As a director, I do get to see more people who are part of the communities," he said. "I'm aware of more issues than a student might be," Salinas−Stern said. "So I think I would give a perspective that's a bit broader."
Asian Student Union Representative Rob Siy noted, however, that tying community representatives to culture centers would still leave minority groups without a center, such as Muslim students, unrepresented in the Senate.
Adrien said that the eventual solution should allow minority groups to share their experiences with Senate, which is mostly comprised of students from majority groups.
Siy, a senior, feels that relying solely on TCU−recognized student groups to represent the needs of minorities is insufficient.
"It's practically equating entire minority communities with student−formed groups," he said.
Adrien raised one of the issues that initially prompted the current reevaluation of the community representative position, saying that the community representatives' jobs are made difficult by the lack of a clearly defined role.
"If you don't know what your role should be, you're kind of stuck in limbo," she said.
This ambiguity is partly the result of the lack of full voting rights for community representatives. Under the TCU constitution, community representatives may now vote on all matters "that do not pertain to the disbursement of the Student Activities Fee."
"If you don't have full capabilities, you don't feel like a full senator," ALAS Representative Lisnerva Nuez, a sophomore, said.
Junior Nadia Nibbs, who attended the meeting, said the consensus was that the issue needed a lot more consideration.
"It's a discussion that needs to continue, certainly," she said. "By the end of the meeting, I felt as though it was unanimous; everybody felt they needed to do some reevaluations, rethinking."
Adrien noted that CECA remains open to new ideas and proposals.
Junior Chartise Clark, who also attended the meeting, was encouraged by the knowledge that the discussion will be brought to the whole campus.
"I definitely believe that Senate and CECA will see a strong attendance from students of color, especially in meetings where community reps will be discussed," she said.
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This article originally incorrectly stated that Rob Siy was the Asian American Alliance Representative. His title was corrected on 2/17/10.
