For all the nonsense that occurs in the Student Assembly throughout the term there is some value in the campaign process itself. Important issues are brought up and discussed.
This fact bestows a certain amount of power upon the people who decide to run for Student Assembly president. Each candidate has the opportunity to raise issues that would not otherwise come to light. In this election that power is retained by three men.
We need to ask ourselves: Why are no women running? One possible answer is rather simple. Perhaps women are smarter than men and are quick to realize that after the excitement of the election, the actual job stinks.
Yet it seems unlikely that women would be more clued into this fact than men. Theoretically there should be a pool of both men and women who are willing to do the day in, day out work of the Assembly in exchange for an elevated voice on campus issues.
Women are obviously willing to serve on the Assembly itself, so why aren't they willing to take on the leadership of that body? The answer depends on whether we consider the question in the context of the Assembly or in the larger context of the College.
In the context of the Assembly the answer is rather obvious. Both Danielle Moore '95 and Rukmini Sichitiu '95 experienced particularly tumultuous terms of office. Women at the College have good reason to avoid subjecting themselves to a similar experience.
But this can be only part of the answer. It could hardly explain why the races for both president and vice-president are entirely devoid of women.
Ultimately the answer is a combination of the recent history of the Assembly and the general status of women at Dartmouth.
For some reason men are much more likely than women to use some of the most public vehicles for voicing opinions. This page itself is a good example. How many more men than women consistently write editorials for The Dartmouth?
On this campus women are likely to be vocal on a smaller scale. The Spare Rib is composed almost entirely of women. Yet as a forum for opinion it focuses on a specific community. While it can bring the attention of its readers to various issues, that readership is composed mostly of people who are already sympathetic to the cause.
The sorority system is frequently cited as an opportunity for women to take leadership positions. It is true that within that system women are active and vocal leaders. Yet this is yet another case where the community being led is a limited one. While leaders in the sorority system have both responsibility and power, the scope of influence is fundamentally limited to other women.
All this seems to present a case for why women would have a strong motivation to run for Student Assembly president. The race itself is an opportunity to have a campus-wide voice, to reach those sympathetic and unsympathetic, men and women alike.
And yet this year, no woman chose to take that opportunity. When one speaks to the entire Dartmouth community, one also must hear the criticisms of that community. There is a large risk that that criticism will be both harsh and widespread. I haven't come to understand why, but this year no woman is taking that risk.
