Delegates from all eight Ivy League schools elected Dartmouth's Scott Jacobs '99 president of the Ivy Council during a meeting at Cornell University earlier this month.
Jacobs said the council's "potential in the past has not been realized," and he plans to use his one-year tenure to "engage all [council] members" in the body by forming committees that will be active all year.
Jacobs said committees already being created include the finance and fundraising committee, the event planning committee, the communication committee and the committee on women's resources.
Jacobs said he also has plans to organize a leadership retreat for Ivy League students interested in discussing leadership in their communities.
Jacobs said he will create a college counseling program for underprivileged high school students in order to make the students aware of post-secondary educational opportunities.
He said Ivy League undergraduates would be suited to the task of advising these students because of their experience with the process and because of their contact with professional College Counselors.
"I really didn't want the position unless the [Ivy Council] was willing to work toward these goals," Jacobs said.
Dave Gacioch '00, elected the Council's vice president for external affairs, said he intends to make sure "all the efforts under Scott's leadership are well publicized for him."
He said he also wants to encourage "participation by all League schools" and will encourage the Council to continue to "keep a close eye on national educational problems and national educational issues."
The Ivy League Council, a body intended to "promote collaboration and community" and to "serve as a unified voice of student government and other issues" includes four delegates from each Ivy League school, Gacioch said.
Jacobs and Gacioch's elections were made possible by a recent constitutional change that allows two executives on the Council from each school, he said.
Prior to the change, a maximum of one executive could be selected from each Ivy League institution.
Gacioch and Jacobs will not be the first Dartmouth students to serve as Ivy Council executives. The council's past presidents include Meredith Epstein '97, and Student Assembly presidential candidate Josh Green '00 once served as Council secretary.
