When the Social and Residential Life Task Force headed by then-Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson requested student input on the Initiatives, many groups jumped at the chance.
Student-generated proposals engaged the Trustee Initiative as an opportunity to improve Dartmouth's social life and provide more residential options for students.
A number of student organizations submitted proposals to the Task Force in response to the Initiative, with many focusing on how their current activities could be improved and play a part in the Trustees' new vision of Dartmouth social life.
Afro-American Society
The Afro-American Society submitted one of the most thorough student proposals included in the Task Force report addressing both residential and social implications.
The proposal focuses on the needs of students of color at the College and also for all community members.
The AAm encourages more support for minority groups at the administrative level, because students are left shouldering the burdens of cultural programming and resource establishment in addition to the rigors of academic life.
"As members of the African Diaspora, we feel that we already suffer from enough situation where we are 'THE minority voice,'" such as in a classroom setting, the report states.
The group also addresses the need for the College to enhance its judicial system to punish acts of ignorance and end the vicious cycle of apologizes from groups that cite they were unaware an action was offensive.
"Instead of improving, race relations are getting worse," the report states, and students cannot continue to be expected to combat prejudice without more College action.
The proposal suggests to amend the "Principle of Community" to make it possible for a student to seek penalization against an offender in matters of discrimination, in a manner that resembles the Committee on Standards, which hears cases sexual harassment and physical assault.
The report also includes the need for a Student Center of the Arts as a replacement for Webster Hall to give more space for student groups to practice and perform.
Presently, one of the two available spaces in the Hopkins Center is used by the Physical Education department, the FLIP program, Ujima dance troupe, Sheba, Fusion, Stepping Out and the Fencing club.
The AAm proposal suggests a need for more social options and student entertainment including shuttles to West Lebanon stores and Sony Theaters, out-door and late-night basketball and easier bowling alley and roller skating access.
In the residential section of the proposal, the group aims to increase continuity in housing to alleviate D-plan dispersion and improving residence halls to make them more personable, to have repairs conducted on a quicker timetable and to make study and dining areas more attractive.
In addition, the report addresses a need for better alcohol, drug abuse and sexual assault education.
The proposal cites the need for the Dartmouth College community to work together as a collective unit to make a safe and nurturing environment for all its students.
The Dartmouth Outing Club
The Dartmouth Outing Club - quoted by the Admissions Office as the largest student organization on campus with over 1,200 undergraduate members - submitted a host of reports.
The DOC proposal from president Lydia Dixon '01 and Pat Leslie '01 states the club's mission "to further, through camaraderie in the out-of-door, the educational objectives of Dartmouth College."
Dixon said the goal of the DOC proposal was to try and get more people involved from the outside and dispel myths about members' exclusivity.
"The perception is that it is an elite group of people that don't really care about what goes on with the rest of campus. That really isn't true," Dixon said.
The group would like have more space for its facilities, not only to provide more space for active members, but to provide a space to attract more people to "feeds" and to co-sponsor activities with other groups.
Active Outing Club members have often been known to live in an off-campus house called "The Rock," but the proposal did not include bringing such a space on campus.
Although Dixon said that she and Leslie discussed the idea of having a residential housing on campus, she said that the idea of DOC affinity-type housing would detract from the groups goals of inclusion.
According to Dixon, the DOC encompasses so many people that one house dominated by "DOC-type people" would increase the exclusivity of the organization and possibly deter other interested students from participating in events.
The Dartmouth Organic Farm found the Trustee Initiative "a great opportunity to integrate living and learning," according to Dan Braden '01.
The group proposed to create a sustainable living center which will create student housing, develop larger meeting areas for social activities and build academic classrooms and laboratories that focus on sustainable living.
The Organic Farm currently houses four people but would like to hold up to 20 residents. Half of the food grown at the farm supplies the Collis Center salad bar, and several academic departments from Environmental Studies to Creative Writing use the farm for research and inspiration.
The Environmental Studies Division submitted its own report reinforcing the call for a sustainable campus.
The proposal encourages Dartmouth to become more environmentally conscious - by renovating existing buildings instead of expanding construction into the woods, conserving energy by improving lighting and heating efficiency and reducing food waste particularly from the Courtyard Cafe and the Collis Center.
They propose the installation of cleaning facilities in those two dining halls for dishes and utensils to reduce the amount of paper and plastic materials discarded in those dining halls.
They further propose to improve the current composting system and extend it to residential areas and also to put public BlitzMail computers in the dorms to make it possible for students to turn off their computers.
Swing Kids
One of the fastest growing interest areas for students has been ballroom and swing dancing. The Swing Kids cite their membership at over 650 members since its establishment last year.
The group proposal focuses on the lack of social space to hold their weekly free dances and proposes the creation of a new facility to accommodate the lack of space as Collis Commonground, Thayer Engineering School's Great Hall and the Hyphen are heavily booked and not always adequate.
The group states the proposal's ability to provide safe, enjoyable and alcohol free entertainment.
According to the report, "swing and ballroom dancing in particular are uniquely suited to enhancing coeducation by providing an enjoyable medium for both sexes to interact comfortably."
DTV
Two students, J.R. Lederer '02 and Oliver Kramer '02, submitted a proposal centering around the Dartmouth Television Network programming.
The proposal requests the creation of studio space for DTV production, a technical production and editing room and an office/viewing center to observe screenings of news shows.
The proposal states that the space would addresses the creation of a coeducational social system and provide interaction among diverse students.
It will also provide students "an alternative to 'the abuse and unsafe use of alcohol,'" the report states.
According to the report, "Television is of particular benefit to all members of the Dartmouth community do [sic] to its accessibility, and the ease students seem to have with obtaining information from it."
