Nine freshmen made a bid last night for one of seven open seats in the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate.
The TCU Senate Candidates' Forum, hosted by the Tufts Elections Commission (ECOM), lasted for about an hour in Hotung Cafe and offered free pizza to those who stopped by to hear the candidates' platforms.
This year's freshman candidates include Sam Berzok, Ethan Finkelstein, Janna Karatas, Amy Kim, Adam Kochman, TarekMakawi, HiraQureshi, Jacob Rasch and Brian Tesser.
The forum kicked off with one-minute opening statements from each candidate. While some took this opportunity to share their personal backgrounds or to state changes they wanted to see on campus, most voiced the desire to faithfully represent their class.
Candidates then fielded four questions from the audience, answering each question in 45 seconds. The candidates were asked to speak about their own qualifications, their ideas for instilling Jumbo pride, their motivations behind applying to Tufts and their favorite and least favorite aspects of the university. Candidates then gave a one-minute closing statements.
TCU President Wyatt Cadley, a senior, expressed enthusiasm for this year's freshman class and its potential representatives.
"It's a really engaging, interesting group, and they have a lot of positive ideas," he said. "If this group of seven people who get elected can put in the drive and effort, they're going to make it so that their class has an even more positive experience than mine."
Each year's freshman class is allocated seven seats on Senate, which acts as a link between the Tufts student body and the administration.
In addition to candidate selections, this year's ballot also includes three referenda regarding senatorial procedures on which all students are able to vote. Polls opened at midnight last night and will remain open until 11:59 p.m. tonight.
Voting instructions can be found by visiting ecom.tufts.edu/vote.
