Dari Seo ’16 was confirmed as the new Student Assembly vice president last Friday after members of the General Assembly voted in favor of his appointment in a near-unanimous decision, although only 57 percent of the General Assembly, or 42 members, were present.
One Assembly member present abstained from voting.
The Student Assembly constitution outlined the procedure for appointing a vice president in the case of vacancy but was unclear on whether two thirds of all Assembly members must confirm a vice presidential appointment, or simply two thirds of Assembly members present at the time of the vote. For this confirmation vote, however, two thirds of the entire Assembly was not present, but the number of members did constitute a quorum, which the Assembly defines as half its members.
Referring to the constitution’s statement that “a majority of the membership constitutes a quorum for any official Assembly business,” Student Assembly president Frank Cunningham ’16 said executive members of Student Assembly reviewed the constitution and decided to interpret this to mean that they required the approval of two thirds of the quorum to confirm Seo’s appointment as vice president.
“Since we had a quorum present, we could move forward with legislative matters,” Cunningham said.
He said that while the event was meant to begin at 4 p.m. on Friday, he waited to begin until enough Assembly members were present to form a quorum so that the vote would be legitimate.
All Assembly members apply for their positions and must be appointed by Cunningham, who also appointed Seo.
The Assembly is planning on releasing a statement explaining the vote and a statement from Seo in the next few days.
Cunningham said that he took the process seriously because he wanted to make the best decision for the College.
“No president has had to do this, and this has been a experience that I don’t take lightly,” he said.
Cunningham said at the confirmation that Seo was the first person he thought of to replace former vice president-elect Julia Dressel ’17 following her spring resignation.
“He practices what he preaches, and he is an inspiration to me and an inspiration to Dartmouth as well,” Cunningham said.
Cunningham said he does not think that the lack of a debate before the vote about Seo assuming the role is an issue.
He said he emailed out to campus with information about the event, and after Seo spoke at the confirmation the floor was opened for debate, but no one offered opposition at that time.
“Since no one raised a debate, there was no need to have a debate — the time and the space were both there to have a conversation, and no one raised it,” he said.
Seo said that the fact that no one raised concerns, such as the fact that he and Cunningham were in the same fraternity, shows that the campus has faith in their dedication to the College.
“People can see that what [Cunningham] and I have goes beyond Greek letters,” he said.
Seo said he is excited to start working on policies for this year, now that he is officially confirmed.
“It’s been so much talking up until now, and now that we have the Assembly’s support I’m really looking forward to this year,” he said.
Cunningham and Seo plan to release their fall agenda later this week.
Head of health and wellness for Student Assembly Speight Carr ’16 voted to confirm Seo.
Carr said that Seo is the best candidate for the position because he is well-connected and liked on campus and is always willing to tackle problems head on.
“In our narrative this year of trying to make a broader, more inclusive community across campus, I think that [Seo] is the perfect person for the job,” he said.
Echoing Cunningham’s sentiment regarding following the rules for appointment confirmation, Carr said that Student Assembly acted according to the rules of the constitution, because they had a quorum and two thirds of the vote of the present members.
Though no concerns about Seo assuming the role of vice president were raised at his confirmation, Carr said the Assembly discussed the matter previously, and few members expressed dissent.
Carr said that there were no votes against Seo at his confirmation, which speaks to his popularity on campus.
“It is extremely hard to find anything negative about [Seo], he is one of the nicest guys and he works really hard at everything he does,” he said.
