Dear Editor,
On Tuesday, Feb. 14 you ran a front-page, above-the-fold story, "TCU Senate Survey Response Rate Down," with two pictures concerning student's responses to the TCU Senate Survey or rather the lack thereof. Most readers probably came away with the impression that as students get older they care less and less about what the Senate does, which probably has some truth to it. However, just the day before you ran a front-page, below-the-fold blurb, "TCU Senate Update," covering what transpired during Sunday's Senate meeting. In that meeting, the TCU Senate awarded nearly $40,000 to the Tufts Culinary Society so they could bring in a celebrity chef.
The Tufts Daily effectively has a monopoly on how students hear about the day-to-day news of the university and how it will affect the lives of students on campus. Since you are a major component of the fourth estate here at Tufts, I feel that the Daily has a responsibility to provide more coverage on what the Senate is actually doing. (Like many of my colleagues on Senate, I voted in favor of this allocation, but few will ever know why.) If the Daily were to provide more coverage on what the Senate is actually doing rather than why people don't care about it, then I would argue people would start to care and properly react to the actions of their representatives. You then probably wouldn't have to run as many "Off the Hill" op-eds, and there may actually be elections to get on Senate.
Furthermore, on the 14th, you also used your editorial page to address New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's stance on gay marriage. While gay marriage is an important issue and I am not trying to belittle it in any way, I think the Daily has a responsibility to provide opinions on news that directly affects students and not the political happenings of New Jersey. (I would also add that spending 40 grand for a chef is more controversial than gay marriage at Tufts.)
In short, we the Senate and the collective student body need a fairer and balanced approach covering the Senate's actions to better understand what we are doing and why, while you should need us so you can run stories and editorials that directly affect the lives of students on campus.
Sincerely,
Ben Richards
TCU Senator, Class of 2012
