The Student Assembly recently passed two resolutions calling for the College's administrators and Board of Trustees to give students more input in decision-making. The Assembly has challenged the College to match its $8,500 contribution toward updating the Kresge weight room and demanded that students be given the right to vote in the election of Trustees. The College should answer both challenges.
The Kresge weight room is an embarassing facility. It is too small to accomodate the number of students who use it during peak hours, and the outdated machines would better serve a museum of fitness history than a Division I college. The deplorable conditions discourage prospective athletes from attending Dartmouth and limit students' ability to exercise during the cold winter months. Construction of a new and larger fitness center is imperative, but such a center will take years to complete. Until it becomes a reality, the College must invest in modernizing Kresge before it deteriorates any further.
The Athletic Department's budget is only large enough to service the weightroom's current machines. The Dean of the College should find money to buy new machines or the Athletic Department's budget should be expanded. If this is not accomplished, some organization like the Assembly should be given the funds to represent students needs.
In a separate resolution, the Assembly has asked that students be given the same voting rights as alumni in the election of Trustees. The Trustees should respond to this request by giving suffrage to the senior class.
Seniors are the only students who know enough about the College and the role of the Trustees to make informed decisions. Because seniors would vote in winter for Trustees who take office after graduation, the class would never be affected by Trustee decisions as students. Therefore, seniors would be more likely to attend to the College's long-term health than the short-term passions that often dominate campus politics.
