The decision students make in tomorrow's elections will speak volumes on what they value most in their years here and what they believe a better community should be.
Much of the rhetoric we have heard from this year's candidates expounds on the virtue of student services. But that is the easiest part of a leader's job. All candidates can work towards creating greater services if the Assembly-at-large is willing to help.
But from a leader, students should want more.
Most of us did not choose Dartmouth because we wanted public computers all over campus. We wanted a first-rate education and an environment in which we could all flourish and leave better than when we entered.
Only one presidential and one vice-presidential candidate had the insight and the courage to address that vision and set goals with the firm commitment to improving ourselves as individuals and as a community.
Those candidates are Danielle Moore '95 and Rukmini Sichitiu '95.
Moore can seem intimidating, a little political for the timid to swallow. But instead of looking at those characteristics as weaknesses, students should see them as her strengths. She represents a broad cross-section of the community as a minority woman and Area Coordinator, with previous experience as an Undergraduate Advisor and vice-president of a large sorority. As Choates AC, she is responsible for social programming within an entire cluster; she is willing to cater to students' social and personal wishes.
Moore has a valuable combination of professionalism, experience and approachability. She is well-respected by administrators. She has served on numerous committees, including the Sexual Assault Task Force, the SA Academic Committee and the Task Force on the Status of Women at Dartmouth. She will carry the students' voice into meetings with administrators and Trustees; she will be heard and taken seriously. This is something the other candidates cannot do.
Moore is also dedicated to making the whole community better. Her work with the Native American community and with the Women's Resource Center is work that improves the openness of the campus and increases our appreciation and awareness for each other's differences. The Dartmouth community would be a better place if everyone could feel better understood and appreciated. Her experience can improve all our lives and not just those of the minority.
Moore does not have a personal political agenda. She depledged her sorority for personal reasons, but she firmly believes Greek reform should take place internally. Her Assembly will only be there to assist the Greeks if they want help. She has said this many times in her campaign.
We stand to benefit equally from Sichitiu as vice-president. She is experienced, articulate, poised and intelligent. She is centered and focused. Through her work on the Assembly, she understands the workings of both the SA and the administration. She has served on many administrative committees, including the Freshmen Dean search committee that brought Dean Peter Goldsmith from Princeton University to Dartmouth last year.
The rest of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates cannot offer students the same benefits.
Jim Brennan '96 and Caleb Scott '97 are inexperienced and lack knowledge of how the Assembly and administration work.
Jeremy Katz '95 will never have key administrators' ears; the doors of Parkhurst Hall will close on him. His affiliation with The Dartmouth Review is not about the First Amendment - it is about his morals. For most administrators and community members, The Review does not embody the principles they believe in.
Kenji Sugahara '95 and Alex Morgan '95 both said they want to take the politics out of the Assembly. But both signed their names to the motion to impeach Assembly President Nicole Artzer '94 last term. They were both part of the problem that made the Assembly stagnant last year and should not be given another chance to make it so next year.
No leader can realistically eradicate the ills of society in a year, but those who try can make the world better. If not by succeeding, then at least by inspiring the rest of us, and by giving us hope for a better Dartmouth.
