This year’s fall semester elections for the Tufts Community Union Senate ended at noon on Friday. With seven Class of 2030 senator positions up for grabs and 20 candidates, the new senators for the Class of 2030 are as follows:
- Will Ayers
- Grey Collins
- Catalina McGraw
- Rosie Ounsworth
- Joey Vernet
- Joann Yamoah
- Noel Yi
Other seats were also up for election, and the winners are as follows:
- Latinx Community Senator Daniela Delgado
- Indigenous People’s Community Senator Elizabeth Babriecki
- Religious and Philosophical Student Organizations Senator Laquasha Belle
- Belonging, Learning, Opportunity, and Mentoring Center Senator Elisa Niyomwungeri
- Women’s Community Senator Ngoné Gningue
Senior Seray Ajei, who currently serves as the Senate trustee representative for student affairs, will also serve as a Class of 2027 senator. Trustee representatives are typically non-voting members of the Senate who represent the Senate and entire student body at meetings of the Tufts University Board of Trustees.
This election cycle was a notable one, Elections Commission Chair Theo Jacobsen said.
“I would say the thing that stands out to me is their campaign promises,” Jacobsen said. “I’ve seen some really interesting ideas from specifically this crop of candidates that I would love to see implemented as a voter myself and as a supporter of the Senate.”
Campaign platforms among these candidates were varied, from improved mental health offerings to broader civic engagement and new sustainable straw alternatives in Kindlevan Café. Improved transparency was a theme among a number of the campaigns.
“We need to be a voice for the student body, and to do that, we need more two-way communication,” Collins said. “I want to do monthly town halls … so members of the student body can come, give their thoughts, ask us questions and then propose their own policies.”
Ounsworth had a similar perspective. “I want a more transparent online platform … for students to be able to see exactly what Senate is doing, and also to have the ability to submit requests or ask questions and get one-on-one feedback and conversations with actual senators.”
ECOM planned an event to orient candidates and connect them with the student body, which operated as a meet-and-greet. After their candidate meeting and official campaign start date, they also provided $20 per candidate to run whatever events they chose. These ranged from cookie meet-and-greets to a sit-down henna and chat station in Carmichael Hall.
“It’s been a lot of content creation, like Instagram Reels,” McGraw said. “Not everyone’s going to see a poster, but everyone has Instagram.”
New senators have a busy schedule ahead of them. A celebration was held with the chairs of each of the Senate committees and the executive board the night elections were called, before the entire Senate convened Saturday morning for their annual retreat. This involved photoshoots and an afternoon training session. Their first meeting was held on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Eaton Hall.
The weekend was designed to introduce new senators to one another and ensure that no one is lost or confused in their first weeks as part of the body.
“I remember my first Senate meeting. It wasn’t the same weekend as retreat,” Senate President Brendan French said. “I was a little bit overwhelmed because you’re meeting 30-something people for the first time … and then going through all the usual Senate procedural items that we have on our agenda.”
This year’s new senators will have a more efficient introduction to the various procedures and structures that underpin the organization. They’ll go over the governing bodies within TCU, the structure of the university administration, task forces and committees and media training, among other TCU procedures.
“We don’t expect them to remember everything, but we at least want to show it to them before they come to their first Senate meeting,” French said. “A good bit of being a good senator is sitting through those meetings and going through those experiences.”
Collins had one last message for the student body: “I really want to focus on advocating for you and opening up more communication, so that we can actually be your eyes and ears in the TCU,” he said. “We can actually act on your behalf.”
