This year's campaign season for Tufts Community Union (TCU) president has seen a great deal of controversy surrounding the candidates' questionable campaign techniques and practices. Numerous students have criticized junior presidential candidate Sam Wallis' campaign for using spray chalk to advertise, as it resembles spray paint, and some believed that his campaign team had vandalized the campus. Meanwhile, members of junior candidate Lauren Levine's campaign have undergone criticism for using the TCU Treasury's signatory e-lists to promote her campaign, which would constitute a violation of Tufts Elections Commission's (ECOM) policies. Most recently, Wallis has also been engaged in an appeals process to contest ECOM's ruling that his decision to fly back from Israel — where he is studying abroad this semester — for the remainder of his campaign was a violation of spending limits.
Amid so much controversy and confusion surrounding campaign rules and whether or not the candidates have been violating them, much of the discourse and debate about the upcoming elections has focused on the campaigns themselves while ignoring what really matters: the candidates' qualifications, platforms and ability to lead successfully. While it is tempting to examine the surface of these campaigns and pay attention to these controversies, when choosing whom to vote for this Wednesday, students must move past their preconceptions and focus on the candidates themselves.
There is no question that both Levine and Wallis — with their extensive experience on Senate and with the TCU Treasury — are qualified to be the next TCU president. However, the Daily believes that Wallis presents a far stronger platform because he offers not only a clear picture of what his specific goals are, but also has made clear how he can successfully implement them.
While Levine's aims to improve the Tufts community by addressing issues of student happiness and diversity representation represent improvements that would be extremely beneficial to the Tufts community, such widespread, broad goals would be difficult for a student to implement. Many past TCU presidents have set out to accomplish general goals that aimed to change the climate of life on campus, and it has become evident that it is simply unrealistic for a student president to take on such broad reforms, especially when he or she only has one year to potentially implement such changes.
Wallis' campaign presents a much-needed transition from the tendency of past presidents to put far too much emphasis on discussing large, overarching issues and not enough on actually implementing concrete changes to our campus. His track record speaks to his ability to not only propose positive changes, but also to actually ensure that such changes are made. He has successfully led numerous initiatives to improve life on campus, such as increasing the availability of wireless Internet in dorms and creating a Judicial Review Board. With the position of TCU president, he will be able to oversee several ongoing projects — such as working to move course evaluations online — that would improve student life.
Wallis' platform does boast broader goals similar to those in Levine's campaign — such as creating a greater sense of community — but unlike Levine, his means for accomplishing these goals are based in practicality. Wallis' proposed reforms include better allocating resources to which the Senate already has access and reformatting the way that groups go through the TCU budgeting process so that they can more easily collaborate with each other, allowing groups to plan ahead to hold more large-scale events with broader student appeal. Plans that are based on reforming procedures within the Senate, as these are, will ultimately impact student life as a whole.
Some have argued that Wallis' project-oriented ideas could be accomplished by a senator and do not require the position of TCU president. However, Wallis' experience working with administrators, his knowledge of the inner workings of the Senate and his desire to encourage specific plans makes him just the type of executive that the Senate needs to actually achieve its goals and create substantial changes. While Levine's campaign focuses far more on addressing the student body as a whole, Wallis has wisely realized that in order to actually implement positive changes, the Senate must be more effectively utilized. He has shown through his previous achievements that he is capable of pushing the Senate to maximize its resources and power to best help the student body that elected its members.
Wallis represents a refreshing approach to the presidency. We believe that, if elected, he will offer the Tufts community a much-needed balance between improving student life while remaining reasonable and realistic with his goals. We encourage students to vote for Sam Wallis for TCU president on April 28.
