Senior Ian Hainline resigned late Sunday night from the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate, leaving an open Senate seat to be filled in a future special election in December.
Hainline announced his decision in an email to TCU President Sam Wallis, a senior, following the Senate's weekly Sunday night meeting. His resignation necessitates another special campus−wide election to determine his replacement, which will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 2, according to Elections Commission (ECOM) Chair Katherine McManus, a sophomore.
Hainline said in an interview with the Daily that his decision was motivated by what he perceived to be a problem with the nature of the Senate's discourse on social issues.
"I did it mostly to raise awareness of an issue that I felt hadn't really been raised before the body," Hainline said. "It's a sad thing, but it's one of those things where the best way to raise awareness is to resign."
"As a Senate and as a student body, we're increasingly developing a tendency to see people only for what we see them as, as opposed to who they actually are," Hainline said. "Then when we start to do things like how to best represent the various kinds of minority communities on campus, that [tendency] can have profound negative effects."
Wallis reacted to Hainline's decision with regret.
"I'm really sorry to see Ian go," he said. "I thought whenever he spoke, the body listened and he always added a lot to whatever we were doing. The decisions we make this year are going to be lacking without his voice and his perspective."
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