Increasing membership, obtaining an institutionalized voice and credibility, and the fallout of the Residential and Social Life Initiative will dominate the Student Assembly's agenda this year, according to Assembly President Dean Krishna '01.
Other issues that the Assembly plans to look into include phone rates, cable television and fees and fines.
"Our big issue is that we don't have an institutionalized voice," Krishna said. "The only way we can be effective is if we make our organization more credible and get widespread support from not only the students, but also from the faculty and alumni."
Krishna also said he wants to make the Assembly more representative of the Student body. The Assembly plans to enforce attendance at committee meetings more strictly this term, according to Krishna.
The Assembly also hopes to bring more options to the telephone system at Dartmouth, Krishna said.
"There isn't any major long distance service provider that charges more than 10 cents a minute, yet [with DarTalk] we end up paying more than that," he said. "Opening our long distance service to competition would be good for a lot of people."
During Summer term, the Assembly charged a committee to collect information on the structure of the fine system. The findings are due out later this term, according to Krishna.
The Assembly was involved in several activities this summer, such as the 'MoreCORPS, a series of community service activities that took place over three Saturdays in July and August, and Big Green Bikes, a project that provides bicycles around campus for use by the Dartmouth community.
Summer Student Assembly President Jorge Miranda '01 said the 'MoreCORPS program gave students an opportunity to help the community and the chance to meet each other.
An integral part of the success of 'MoreCORPS was the involvement of the Coed Fraternity Sorority Council, Miranda said.
"Working with the CFSC was a great opportunity," he said. "It will be a great thing to have the Assembly and the CFSC work together in the future, or at least be able to communicate more openly."
The Big Green Bikes program, which was first conceptualized in 1997, was brought to its culmination this term. Twenty bicycles are currently in use.
"We had a lot of new people who were psyched about working on Big Green Bikes," Miranda said. "A lot of the people involved were new, who usually would not have worked with the Assembly."
He added, "The Student Assembly should now concentrate on getting more bikes and make the program more visible."
Condom availability and distribution stirred controversy this summer after the Assembly brought the issue to the forefront during one of its meetings. A previous proposal to make condoms available for free was rejected in 1998.
Some students on campus, both in 1998 and this year, said they were morally opposed to the free distribution of condoms in bathrooms. Krishna said he is unsure as to whether the Assembly will pursue the issue further this term.
This summer, the Assembly also published the Sophomore Summer Housing and Phone Directory, and compiled the Dining Guide and the Mug Shots, both of which will be out later this fall.