With student elections approaching in mid-April, five students have announced their candidacy for Student Assembly president, while four students have stated that they will run for vice president of the Assembly.
Presidential candidates include Sarah Cho '97, Jon Heavey '97, Unai Montes-Irueste '98, Scott Rowekamp '97 and Steve Salemi '97.
Vice presidential candidates include Joan Ai '98, Bill Kartalopoulos '97, Mario Martinus '98, and Chris Swift, '98.
Petitions for Student Assembly president, vice president and members at-large, senior, junior and sophomore class president and vice president, Green Key honor society and the Committee on Standards were due Friday afternoon.
Associate Director of Student Activities Linda Kennedy told The Dartmouth Friday that she could not provide a complete list of candidates for all positions until today.
In a press release announcing her presidential candidacy, Cho, who is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and president of the Dartmouth Asian Organization, said her campaign is about "bridging the gap" between the Greek and minority groups on campus.
Cho is running with Swift, a brother of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and chair of the ad-hoc Assembly Committee on Advising. Cho has not served on the Assembly.Heavey, who is running for president, and is not a voting member but participates in the Assembly, said, "The polarizing extremes on campus need to see each other as real people, instead of just 'frat boys' or 'chinks.'"
Heavy said one plan he would like to implement is to have a campus-wide dinner for students to "meet some new faces." He first proposed this idea at the town meeting to discuss recent incidents of racial epithets on Feb. 1.
Montes-Irueste, a member of both the Assembly and La Alianza Latina, said he plans to urge students to "take ownership" of the College in his presidential campaign.
Montes-Irueste said he feels he has a "vested" interest in the Assembly and wants to remain active.
He said he wants "to make things happen at Dartmouth," including creating 24-hour study facilities, academic affinity spaces and a more diverse curriculum.
Rowekamp, a member of the Student Assembly, the Conservative Union at Dartmouth and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, said he is "very student services oriented."
He said he is running for Assembly president "because of what Jim Rich '96 has done this year in turning the Assembly into less of a political organization" and making it more focused on student services.
Salemi, a brother at Alpha Delta fraternity who is running for president, said he got involved with the Assembly his first year at Dartmouth but then "became very disenchanted at the constant infighting."
He said he shied away after that year, but "it seems like things have changed" and he would like to get involved again.
Salemi said, "We have to do something about the divisiveness of the campus."
Treasurer of DAO and Assembly member, Ai, who is a vice presidential candidate, said the Assembly has "received a lot of credibility" in the last year and she does not "want to see it go to waste."
She said she thinks the Assembly needs "capable leaders with experience" because it is "too risky" to bring in new leaders who "come in blind and take over."
Kartalopoulos, an Assembly member and senior editor for the Dartmouth Review, an off-campus conservative weekly, said he is running for Assembly vice president because he has "spent three years learning how SA works" and he has "never been afraid to attack difficult issues."
He said the Assembly has reorganized this year and "got things back on track," but it has avoided controversy.
"Racial and other incidents are really just effects of the fact that we have been pushing issues like this to the side," Kartalopoulos said.
Martinus, co-chair of the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance and Sigma Nu fraternity brother, said he is running for vice president because he feels "the need and desire to branch out and reach the entire school."
He said he is committed to issues of all types of diversity and would like to improve relations on campus.
Swift, who is running for vice president on a ticket with Cho, is not an Assembly member.
In his press release, Swift said a leader needs "commitment and a vision ... to create a dialog" on campus.
"This campaign is about how we approach issues that are important to all of us. It's about working together to realize common goals and find real solutions," Swift said in his press release.
