![[Your Idea Here]](/assets/thumbs/your-idea-here-92f1c7a8d6af2d65920e0d786ed7d87c.png)
Like many of you, Wyatt loves this university. Wyatt believes that we can take tangible steps to create an environment where it is easier for the community to come together and celebrate it status as One Tufts.
President Monaco spontaneously cancels classes one day in the fall, and we celebrate Tufts by relaxing and having fun activities all over campus.
Games at night would lead to more tailgating, increased attendance at our games, and a more unified campus.
As undergraduates, we should have greater access to a Jumbo network that includes graduate students and alumni. This can be done through the extention of the Summer Scholars program to include graduate students, and the hosting of a formal Alumni Day on the Hill.
We are all at Tufts to get a quality education. Yet, many students constantly find themselves in a position where they are unable to capitalize on Tufts' incredible academic potential.
It looks like Tufts is finally committed to establishing an academic program (C2D) where students can pursue their academic passions in a formal classroom setting. Now, we need to identify the current holes in our curriculum by directly reaching out to students.
Students should be entitled to the following:
Students should be able to use American Sign Language to satisfy Part 1 of the Tufts foreign language requirement. Additionally, faculty members of the current Tufts' Women's Studies Program should be responsive to student feedback and change the program's name to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
Students should have the power to select their own thesis advisors, regardless of whether or not they are on the tenure track. Additionally, students should be allowed to work on senior theses in groups. Finally, Tufts' Office of Undergraduate Education should organize a Senior Thesis Symposium where students can practice presenting their theses to their peers prior to their formal thesis presentation.
I'm recommending that we initiate reforms to allow for great fairness in course registration times. Furthermore, we need to re-evaluate how we pair freshmen with their pre-major advisors.
Last year Tufts hired a new Director of Planning and conducted an external land audit to identify where we have space to build. My experiences working on the faculty's Campus Planning and Development Committee and the Budget and Priorities Committee lead me to believe that Tufts should focus on the following initiatives moving forward.
We as students need to turn our current Campus Center into the hub of campus activity. We should invest in extra pool tables, arcade games, and explore the possibility of contracting out space in the campus center to an outside vendor.
If elected, Wyatt will also continue the work of current senators in advocating for a student kitchen in Curtis Hall and a study lounge in Anderson Hall. Wyatt will also seek to ensure that handicap accessibility remains a priority for our University moving forward.
While many students do not know what the TCU Government does or how it impacts their day-to-day lives, others interact with the Treasury regularly and have made many suggestions that could improve the way we do business. If elected, Wyatt will serve as a voice for both types of students and actively try to create an environment where anyone can bring about change via the TCU Government.
Students may not care about student government, but more often than not they care about the issues senators address. Senate needs a leader who is willing to be an active listener and will encourage greater feedback; Wyattt intends to be that leader. As President, Wyatt promises to hold weekly forums at different Hall Snacks, Group of 6 Centers, and Greek Houses.
Wyatt suggests that the TCU Treasury set up a new account with funds earmarked entirely for groups who plan collaborative events together. Furthermore, Senate should organize a database or public calendar where group leaders can publically update when they are scheduling their groups' events.
Wyatt has constantly and successfully fought inadequate and draconian policies throughout my time at Tufts. While many of our University's policies are much better now than they were my freshman year, there is always more work to be done.
Imagine if Tufts had an open door policy or a culture where you wouldn't get put on probation for drinking a beer in the common room. Wyatt loves being an RA, but there is no denying that we can take steps that could make my job easier, protect residents, and create a safer drinking culture.
We should not have a marijuana policy that punishes students with probation. Instead, as an alternative punishment, students who are caught smoking marijuana should have to pay a small monetary fine. This alternative, which is endorsed by Tufts' Chapter of Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, will help protect our peers' academic records.
Tufts has been without a Director for the Office of Institutional Diversity for almost two years. While it remains to be seen if this position will be reinstated or eliminated in place of a new role, Tufts should have a high-ranking administrator committed to ensuring that our University remains a place where diversity is valued.
We aren't just part of the Tufts community: we are also part of the Medford and Somerville communities. We need a President who will embrace our neighbors while simultaneously taking actions to improve the safety of Tufts students both on and off campus.
Wyatt would like to see our Office of Government and Community Relations organize a few start-of-the-year barbecues for upperclassmen students and their local neighbors.
The recent fine increases for violating local noise ordinances represent just one circumstance where students could have benefited from increased communication with our local governments.
One of the problems of having a campaign built around ideas is that sometimes those ideas don't neatly fit into specific categories. Rather than trying to come up with more cute names, this section seeks to tell you the facts and nothing but the facts.
We need a President who will simultaneously be a strong advocate for tuition control, as well as for ensuring that financial aid remains a top priority of the University.
Tufts needs a centralized van fleet service for student groups. We can realize significant savings via economies of scale. Furthermore, this centralized service would minimize the amount of time that vans remain out of service. This will ensure that more student groups can make it to the Loj or community service activities.
Housing averages for the general lottery from the past three years should be published online; and Tufts should expand open (gender-neutral) housing to more dorms including Hillside Apartments and South Hall.
At the macro level, we need to ensure that President Monaco and the new Presidential Council keep issues of sustainability at the forefront.
The Senate should increase the amount of aid it gives to club sports. As President Wyatt will oversee the increase of this aid so that groups can better pay for travel, trainers, and coach stipends. Furthermore, the Athletics Department needs to increase transparency when it comes to students booking field space.
This Election is about ideas and solutions. This platform was put together with input from dozens of students and was the accumulation of three years' worth of active listening. However, there will always be newer, better, and more innovative ideas out there. That is why Wyatt encourages you to email me your thoughts at wyatt.cadley@tufts.edu. Whether you have specific feedback or a new idea, want clarification on something Wyatt presented, or just want to chat, I'm always willing to listen and talk about Tufts.
But no matter what you do, please THINK BIG.
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