The inclusion of multiple Tufts Community Union (TCU) senators among the signatories of an advertisement in the Monday, March 5 issue of The Tufts Daily has stirred controversy among some students.
The advertisement, which was sponsored by the Tufts America Israel Alliance and Friends of Israel (FOI), read "As a student leader at Tufts I support the U.S.-Israel Relationship" and listed a number of student leaders across campus who signed the advertisement alongside their specific leadership positions.
The advertisement included a disclaimer at the bottom of the page that stated: "The views expressed are my own and do not represent the positions of my stated leadership role or organization."
"The reason why we chose the phrasing that we did … was because we wanted it to be completely uncontroversial," Aaron Tartakovsky, a senior who helped organize the advertisement, said. "It is in no way a knock on any other groups, whether student groups or any other populations."
Cory Faragon, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), was among those disturbed by the use of senators' names in the advertisement.
"My problem with the ad and the problem that a lot of other people had was that by coming out in support of this … misleading statement, the senators and people affiliated with Senate at Tufts were in fact breaking one of their bylaws which said that they cannot endorse political statements unless it's been voted on by the Senate," Faragon, a senior, said.
The Senate bylaw in question is Bylaw 2, Section 9, which states that "no individual may use the Senate's name or logo in advocating on behalf of projects, ideas or initiatives without a supporting piece of legislation unless it is clearly stated that Senate has come to an agreement upon the issue" and that "disciplinary actions shall be filed against any member in violation of this provision."
"They shouldn't have done this," Faragon said. "It was against their bylaws. There should be disciplinary consequences."
TCU Senate Parliamentarian John Peter Kaytrosh said that he inclusion of the senators' positions is not meant to voice the position of the entire Senate.
"An individual supporting a position — one that Senate has at this point stayed silent on, or an issue where they're in direct opposition to the position Senate has taken — as long as they're acting as an individual, which it's very clear that these individuals were, that presents no issue with our bylaws," Kaytrosh, a senior, said.
Kaytrosh said that the disclaimer shows that the advertisement is not in violation of the bylaws.
"In broad strokes, it is true that before anybody can use Senate's name or advocate especially on behalf of the Senate as a body, there has to be some sort of approval given to that project," he said. "I think I speak for [TCU President] Tomas [Garcia], we as a body are very committed to upholding that rule. It's something we're serious about."
Jimmy Zuniga, who is not a member of either SJP or FOI, was also among the students who were disturbed by the advertisement.
"While other organizations on campus don't have really strict constitutions and are free to do this — free to write their name and their organization and not have their entire student group vote — Senate does have very strict bylaws, and they are usually pretty obsessed with following those rules, so it was shocking to me that they would abuse their power and abuse their title to try and sway the opinion of students on campus," Zuniga, a senior, said.
Zuniga said that he found the disclaimer insufficient.
"If they really didn't want to add the social capital of their title, they shouldn't have attached the Senate name," he said.
A number of students have expressed concern regarding the signatures of non-senate members, as well.
Faragon said the ad falsely implied that the groups mentioned in it endorsed the United States' relationship with Israel.
"By using various members of the Tufts community who they've deemed to be student leaders, describing what those leadership positions are in the groups, and saying it's not actually about that — it just seems incredibly disingenuous," Faragon said.
However, Freshman Senator Dan Katter said that the signatures did not represent official Senate positions and that the disclaimer at the bottom of the advertisement makes this clear.
"I would not have put my name on it if I thought it was against the Senate bylaws," Katter said. "It said that the senators who signed it were senators under the name, but I think the disclaimer at the bottom should be enough to inform anyone who reads it that it's not an official Senate position."
Sophomore Senator Arielle Evans also said that the disclaimer shows that the signatures only represent the views of the individuals.
"When I signed this statement, there was very clearly a disclaimer on the bottom saying the view represent only mine, not the views of the Senate," she said. "I don't think I compromised my integrity as a Senator ... Having there that I'm a TCU Senator doesn't mean that Senate's endorsing it, it just is showing my position as a campus leader."
Evans noted the significant increase in response to the advertisement despite the fact that a similar advertisement was released last year.
"On campus especially, there have been a lot of Daily articles about the issues, so people who weren't necessarily involved before are starting to educate themselves on the issues and becoming more involved and looking for ways to be involved," Evans said.
