Student Assembly President Josh Green '00 has joined the ranks of the Grateful Dead, the cast of South Park and Calvin and Hobbes.
At the most wired university in the country -- according to Yahoo Internet Life magazine -- you know you're important when a variation of BlitzMail has been dedicated to you.
JoshGreenMail is the work of Dave Parker '00 and Abe White '00, who collaborated to create it the night before Green was elected president of the Student Assembly.
But the 20-year-old economics major has more than e-mail on his mind.
He said this year he will try to achieve his biggest goal of having "as many people as possible say, 'I had the chance to speak my mind, and the Student Assembly actually made a difference.'"
A change of pace
Green said he will have a chance to meet members of the Class of 2002 when the Assembly coordinates Campus of Leadership Workshops, discussions of leadership in "diverse setting," and during its Conversations, "discussions of socially relevant issues."
"I think the '02s will be interested in how to make a difference at Dartmouth," he said.
Green said, this year, he hopes to address a lack of social programming space on campus, and he would like to cooperate with the new administration on improving parking, changing DarTalk and returning to Kiewit's policy of distributing printed papers on a continuous basis.
One of Green's other goals is increasing social integration among different segments of student body.
"Issues of race affect this campus, and I think those are issues that the Student Assembly shouldn't be afraid to deal with," he said. "Socially, I think I'd like to see more interaction between, for instance, the Greek system and affinity organizations."
Green said he decided to get involved with student government at the College as a change of pace from his high school years of constant studying.
"I wanted to do something a little different, and I wanted to have some say in what was happening around me," he said.
He said one of the special things about the College is its ability to give freshmen a "chance to start over."
"I think Dartmouth is a place where you can be anyone you want to be and do anything you want to do," Green said.
He has worked on several committees during his tenure with the Assembly.
As chair of the communications committee last Winter term, he said he worked to improve the Assembly's publicity and created the newsletter Tick Talk, which took its name from a quotation by
former Assembly president Jon Heavey '97.
Green said he was amused to have become known as the "Visions psychopath" when he co-chaired the Visions committee, a branch of the Assembly designed to compile student opinion about the future of the College.
He said he enjoys working on the Assembly because he likes interacting with so many students on campus, and he feels gratified when he sees that the group's work affects people's lives.
"I think I work hardest when I feel like I'm doing something significant, and I think I really enjoy the mental process of trying to solve problems," Green said.
Contagious and hard-working
"He's a very contagious, enthusiastic leader who clearly brings his all into everything he does, and I think people respect him and follow him for that," said Parker, who is an Assembly representative for the Class of 2000 and was formerly chair of the Assembly's communications committee.
But Green said his dedication to the Assembly does have some negatives effects on him. It has forced him cut down on the number of times he plays catch on the Green, and he said he must face "cynical" government professors who tell him he is wasting his time.
Green said one of his favorite activities outside of the Assembly is his job as an Undergraduate Advisor.
Kevin Smith '01, one of Green's advisees, described him as fun-loving, energetic, caring and self-motivated.
"He's been really generous with his time with the UGA group," Smith said. "He has also helped me with some of my own personal issues, so he's been a very supportive UGA."
Some of Green's understanding stems from personal experience.
As a freshman, he worked "all night on the snow sculpture only to hear it fell about 15 minutes after [he] left."
Like many freshmen, Green said he "stayed up until 3 a.m. almost every morning playing Snood," a video game. Green said his addiction has faded and he is now suffering from "Snood burnout."
During his free time, Green enjoys a taste of popular culture.
"I'm a little obsessive about movies," he said while recalling how he saw "Braveheart" nine times in the theaters.
He said he once camped out at five in the morning to be a member of the audience of the David Letterman show. But it was well worth it, since he sat in the front row and even made it on to the television screen.
Green called his musical taste a bit "divergent" from the norm.
"I would say the one thing I get abused about most of all is that I still own a Milli Vanilli CD," he said.
