II Senate Leaders Blast Elections Scrapping
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THE.~ TUFTS DAILY Where You Read It First Thursday, February 6,1992 Vol XXIV, Number 13 (RACK& ’EM UP, BOYS! II Senate leaders blast elections scrapping Constitution vote stayed until April by FLEUR WEIGERT projects done for the rest of the Contributing Writer year.” Despite the unanimous protest AlthoughtheElectionsBoard, of the Tufts Community Union according to the TCU Constitu- Senateexecutive board, the Elec- tion, had the final vote in post- tions Board recently decided to poning the elections until April, cancel mid-year student govern- the Senate did have the option of ment elections. leaving four va- appealing the decision totheTCU cant Senate seats through the Judiciary. spring semester. When asked about her deci- The vacant Senate seats will sion not to appeal the Election instead be filled during theannual Board’s decision,Leon-Prado said elections in April. A new TCU that she “chose not to appeal the Consf itu t ion. which w a5 expecled decision because by the time the to be voted on during the mid- appeal came through it would year elections. will likely be put have been too late to have the to referendum vote in April. ac- elections anyway.” cording to its authors. Some members of the Elec- The decision not to hold inid- tions Board expressed concern yearelections to fill the twosopho- that mid-year elections would PbtO by Ami RWCVM more and two. senior seats was have given the replacement sena- Seniors turned out in droves to Pub Night Tuesday, where beer and pool were the main attractions. ffOm tors little time to gain ‘any useful ~ after lnelnbers the Senate and the Elections Board knowledge and experience be- Gro studying Tufts’ decrease met last Wednesday todiscuss the fore facing possible replacement pros and cons of holding elec- in the April elections. tions. Despite the concerns of the ‘‘Themeeting was rathercon- Elections Board, Perry said, “I do in African American enrOlh?nt frontationaland ELBO (the Elec- not agree that it wouldn’tbeworth hy CAROLINE SCHAEFER Boston University are the only Cuttino said he does not be- tions Board) did stick to their the few weeks. Daily Editorial Board two schools in the New England lieve that tuition cost is the great- ground,” Senate Parliamentarian “I feel that any degree of par- A University ad hoc cotnmit- region whose African American est reason for the decline of Afri- Tristram Perry said. ticipation is valuable to anyone tee has been formed to study the enrollment has. since 1989,either can Arnericanstudentenrollment. According to Senate Vice wishing to participate in the Sen- declining enrollment of African remained the same or decreased. Although he “is not sure” of all President Constantine Athanas, ate,” Perry continued. “I strongly AmericanstudcntsatTufts.acom- The committee, which met for the reasons for the decline, he the Elections Board “didn’t think disagree with the decision not to munity which now comprisesless the first time late last semester, said that African American Stu- it was worthwhile to have the have the election. I don’t think thari four percent of the under- includes Tufts Provost Sol dents have been extremely SUC- elections at the beginning of the ELBO took all the facts into con- graduate population. Gittleman,Academic Vice Presi- cessful at Tufts, with the ma.ioritY semester. They thought it was a sideration.They didn’t want to be Pan-African Alliance President dent Melvin Bernstein, African of these students staying togradu- waste of money and too time con- bothered with it.” Sharon Joseph said last night American Center Director Anita ate. suming.” Other senators expressed their University President Jean Maya Howard, Assistant to the Presi- Joseph stated in thearticle that Elections Board Chair Brirui opposition to the Elections commissioned the committee. dent Rebecca Flewelling, Tufts the number of African American DiGiovxuii explained that the Board’s decision, citing the comprised of administrators and Community Union Senator Pete students applying to colleges in Board was not bound by the con- Board’s disorgaiization as the students. to study causes and pos- Mutharika. Joseph, and members America has diminished within stitution to have an electioll. main deterrent to having the elec- sible solutions to the decline in of the Pan-African Alliance. the past few years. She &led that “We thought that it would be a tions. Afric‘an American student enroll- there hasbeenarise atnong black fairly fruitless election.” said “I would have liked to have ment. Shesaid thecommittee will Although he could not be students selecting a PrimarilY Digiovanni, adding that the Elec- seen new senators and the vacan- report its findings to Mayer in the reached for comment yesterday African American College, such tions Board felt there was too cies filled.“said Senate Historian near future. and will also give the Dean of Undergraduate Admis- as Clark-Atlanta University, muchpreparation work for only a Seth Low, a freshman. “With more information to the Undergraduate sions David Cuttino told BU’s where they “don’t have to deal few weeks of reward. foresight, it could have had elec- Admissions Office to utilize. Daily Free Press, this week he with the race issue.” “Obviously we have a differ- tions and put someone in for a Joseph said in an article in believes the main reasons for de- ence of opinion [from the TCU couple of weeks.” Monday’s Boston University cline in African American student She cited Tufts’ ‘‘high Price Senate], but they accepted our Constitution vote pushed to Daily Free Press that she believes enrollment are low visibility and tag” and competition with Ivy decision,” said Digiovmni. April that the decline in black enroll- rising costs. League schools as Other rwsons “I feel that it does a disservice Athanas blamed constitution ment stems fromnationwideprob- “Students apply here, as well for the recent decline. to the students,” Scnare President authors Marc Guertin and Carl lems, in addition to economic and as to the most selective institu- Alexa Leon-Prado said. “We Hrycyszyn for the postponement financial aid problems at Tufts. tions in the country,”Cuttino said. The ad hoc cormnittee is ex’ should have heldelections to have on the constitutionalreferendum, w --She noted yesterday that, accord- “What we are seeing... is how to Petted to meet again this month full representatives from each ing to recent studies, Tufts and raise the visibility of Tufts.” to discuss the issue. class and people power to get see ELECTIONS, page 2 A. New housing plan set for Metcalf, World Civ exemptions ‘unlikely’ may be based on volunteer theme by PATRICK HEALY ments, timely advanced place- , The one-semester course will Daily Editnriel Board ment tests, achievctnent tests, and be required of all incoming stu- Upon further information, Academic Vice President Melvin Exemptions froin the new one college credit. dents-beginning next fall, and Bernstein’s proposal concerning new housing arrangements nexl semester World Civilizations re- “There is no test for this.” undergraduatescancomplete that year will be AP a pilot project for students with similar interests held quirement. which will go into cf- Swap said. “Unlesssomeonetook course at any point during their in Metcalf Hall. fect next fall. are “very unlikely“ comparable courses somewhere career at Tufts. The faculty-team- The Pilot Project will house students interested in a particular because of a lack of viable meth- else, there is really no way to be theme-oriented residential hall. Members of a committee studying see WORLD CIV, page 2 ods by which to exempt students, exempted.“ the proposal have saidthe themenext year will likely be volunteerism. according to Dcan of Undergradu- World Civ director Steven housing members of the Leonard Carmichael Society and other ate Studies Willter Swap. Hirschsaid yesterday that he plans volunteer organizations. According to Dean of Under- to discuss the issue with the World - The goals of Bernstein’s proposal are: to increase integration Inside I of graduate StudiesWalter Swap on Civ program board this spring. academic and non-academic life focusing on the residential halls; viewpoints p.3 Tuesday. he and other adminis- Hirsch, a classics professor, said ....................... to encourage the intellectual developmentof students; and to make Someone stands up for the presidnet, trators have discussed possible he has not “given exemptions residential housing more attractive to upperclassmen through ex- just in time foi Off Center to startthrow- exemption methods over the past much thought” but will raise the ing things at him. pansion of the range of residential hall activities. months and come to this conclu- issue before the board in the fu- Dean of Students Bobbie Knable studied the proposal, and sion. But because of the ture. Features ......................... p.7 gatheredacommittee toreview the implicationsand specificsof the requirement’s unique structure, There is no easy solution for possible changes. The committee includes approximately six stu- Looking for a good place to eat, other Swap said he has found no tests or exemptionsfrom the requirement, your usual hall or carry out dents and ten faculty members, and will meet frequently this spr*g. than dining classes currently available to stu- Bernstein‘s proposal is modeled after the residential system at because the World Civ program pizza? Then check out the page. dents that could exempt them from Harvard, where certain dormitories house students with similar originated and was developed at the requirement. Sports p. 10-11 mterests. Tufts. Therefore, national or uni- ........;.............. Students have exemption versity standardized tests are not Women’s track takes second. men’s See tomorrow’s Daily for further facts and details concerning methods availablefor most distri- currently available to be used as volleyball gets in gear, the NBA has its Bernstein’s proposal. bution and foundation require- exemption methods.