In the last year on the Student Assembly, I have argued about communist feminists, gay administrators and sexism in the meal plan.
I have seen the president resign, members get up and walk out during session to force its premature end and have even had a midnight meeting in a smoke-filled room with leaders from all factions to negotiate the fate of the organization.
I've got to admit intrigue and argument make for an amusing SA. But as a member, I couldn't say much to students when they asked me what we have actually done for them. We can't say we put out a good course guide. We can't say we've tried to make their classes smaller. We also can't say we stood up for the common interest on the new meal plan -- we didn't even come to a stand on it. We can't say we've had a great impact on their daily lives.
Let me assure you I had second thoughts about opening this with the problems of an Assembly that I am currently serving on. But it's important to be frank about it. I would be deluded if I didn't think it hadn't collectively gone astray somewhere.
This year's SA leadership guided the Assembly on a very political and ideological course. What is needed is a new direction: instead of fighting injustices and promoting egalitarianism, the Student Assembly should spend most of its time and effort simply trying to raise and maintain the quality of life of Dartmouth students.
Regardless of political or sexual orientation, or racial or ethnic makeup, there are certain issues that tie all students together. Students deserve to know how DDS spends their money, or what their tuition pays for. They should have a good course guide -- so many other schools do. I will provide for these things. If students don't like a major policy change the College is about to make, they deserve to have an organization that will discern this and act on their behalf.
But most importantly, the Student Assembly must listen to students, and not just sit around and make decisions for them. The SA is no wiser than any other collection of 30-odd students. What it has going for it is that its members have chosen to take on the responsibility of acting as agents of the student body. Of defining and refining arguments. Of knocking on the administration's door and harassing them until they listen to what students want. Of knocking on student's doors and finding out what those wants are.
Of course the SA should take a stand when a group of students is meted a harm or injustice -- any group claiming to represent the whole of the Dartmouth community should. It's just that a non-homogenous SA that tries to make moral issues its daily business will get bogged down in factionalism and infighting, as recent history has shown. We must realize the SA's limits.
The SA needs a leader and a thinker, and I have made a Dartmouth career of being both. I have been on this op-ed page over 50 times before discussing the issues that affect us all, and have spent a year as the SA Communications Committee Chair putting them into practice. I have talked with Police Chief Giaconne on his department's underage drinking policy, and met with Dean Pelton on several occasions to discuss whatever happens to be irking students at the moment.
As a freshman, I met with the trustees, and asked some pretty uncomfortable questions to President Freedman's face, like "Why do so many alumni not like you?"
The SA president should be someone with experience who has been there and knows what to do and what not to do; someone who has spent almost three years working with the administration and who knows the people and the ropes, as I do.
My platform is simply a collection of worthwhile projects and goals that will benefit every student, bound by a philosophy of service. Solving the problems caused by the D-Plan, ending the annual housing crunch and founding a crisis hotline are some of them. If you blitz me, I will gladly send a detailed version of my entire platform to you.
The rest of the SA's agenda must be set by every SA member approaching other students and finding out from them what matters. We all have plenty to say about day-to-day issues, but we are not used to having a group to say it to.
The Assembly should be led by a person who knows how to take the concerns of students and the energy of the SA and turn it all in the right direction. That is what I want to do, what I have been preparing to do and what I am capable of doing.
