Following a lengthy process by which the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate and the student body worked to modify the system that brings community representatives onto the Senate and increased up their responsibilities once chosen, only two candidates came forward for this semester's election cycle.
Last week, the LGBT Center and the Latino Center were the only two groups to participate in the new process, each putting forward only one candidate. Each candidate was approved to represent his or her respective community by a group of student leaders with their respective centers and passed onto the body without an election.
The Africana Center and the Asian American Center are as of now unrepresented on next year's Senate because each center failed to put forward a candidate for their designated seats.
The Senate could fill the seats next fall through a special election should more students express interest in the positions, according to senior Dan Pasternack, the TCU Senate parliamentarian. He expressed disappointment with the situation given the contentious vote and the efforts of the Senate to smooth over its constitution and bylaws in accordance with the passed referenda.
"The interest that is currently shown in the community rep position has taken a 180-degree turn from last year," Pasternack said. "I'm disappointed that no one took up the tradition."
Through a campus-wide referendum last fall, students voted by a one-vote margin to give community reps the ability to vote on financial issues and overhaul the selection process. Under the new rules, responsibility of selecting next year's community representatives shifted from the four student groups who had representatives on the Senate this year — the Asian American Alliance (AAA), the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), the Pan-African Alliance (PAA) and the Queer Straight Alliance — to the four culture centers representing those communities.
Student leaders from the Africana Center, the Asian American Center, the Latino Center and the LGBT Center, as well as other potential groups, now have the ability to select candidates from a pool of applicants. The student body, in the event of a contested vote, then may choose among the final candidates in a campus-wide election.
The Senate this February revised its bylaws to reflect the referendum. Pasternack said the ability to vote on financial matters in the Senate gave a sense of heightened legitimacy to the station.
"With the new bylaws, there's no perception of difference between community reps and class senators. The fact that community reps previously weren't able to vote on financial issues made them feel less important," Pasternack said.
Junior Tomas Garcia, who was last week elected as the president of next year's Senate, attributed the low numbers to a lack of advertisement about the available positions, instead of inherently low interest in participation.
"I don't see how, after so much interest in fighting for these rights, that this semester there could be low interest," Garcia, a junior, said.
Garcia said advertising open community rep seats falls under the Tufts Elections Commission's responsibility.
"These positions weren't properly advertised," he said. "It's disheartening because I know the interest is out there. I've had tons of people come up to me and say that they wanted to run for but didn't know about the opportunities."
Garcia added that the lack of attention to the elections marks a need for the Senate to reach out to the student body to make these positions attractive to students. Garcia, who promised in his election campaign to improve the Senate's student outreach efforts, mentioned the possibility of a weekly newsletter to inform the student body of events and opportunities within the Senate.
"Forums like these could bring the student body together and keep people in touch," he said.
ALAS representative Eddy Santana, a sophomore, pointed to the Senate's lack of transparency as a reason that students did not run for community rep positions.
"There's something wrong with Senate as a whole and how they communicate to the student body," he said. "There was a lack of interest, not just in the community rep realm but in the Senate in its entirety. It's not just that we fought so hard to get these positions and then just didn't care."
Santana said the time commitment involved in serving as a community rep could also deter students.
"You have to be in constant communication with your community and attend four-hour Senate meetings every Sunday. People have so much to do and this could turn them off of Senate," Santana said.
This year's PAA representative, Jared Vallair, a freshman, agreed that the extensive time commitment could discourage students from getting involved with the process. In fact, he said, it was a factor in his decision not to return as a representative next year.
Vallair said that students often view the community rep position as irrelevant.
"It seems like an unwanted task, a burden, something you don't want to waste your time doing. It's actually really beneficial, but that's not well-known within the community," he said.
Vallair said he has faith that incoming freshmen would make good candidates for community rep positions next year because they are unaware of any negative associations with Senate.
Junior Richa Batra, the 2010-11 AAA community representative, said that although students within her community are interested in the position, they were not aware of the opportunity to run in time for the election. Batra said she declined to put her name down for a seat next semester because she wanted to spend her time developing her role in other activities with which she is involved.
"Part of our problem was that we didn't reach the people who were interested," she said. "There are definitely students interested in the position and we expect a good turnout in the fall."
