Following a BlitzMail application process early this term, 25 students were appointed by the Student Assembly to committees designed by Dean of the College James Larimore to implement the Trustees' recent Initiative decision.
There are six committees in all and include adjudication, hazing, programming/social alternatives, College Committee on Alcohol & Other Drugs, Initiative-related social and dining facilities and Initiative-related athletic and recreational facilities -- they will meet throughout the summer and, in some cases, into Fall and Winter terms.
According to Senior Associate Dean of the College Dan Nelson, the Trustees have made a set of decisions and the six committees are charged with determining how best the decisions can be implemented at the College.
"The job of the committee isn't to make recommendations about whether we should have a different hazing policy, but about how that policy should be different," he said, using the hazing committee that he chairs as an example.
Assembly President Jorge Miranda '01 said the committees will be very important in determining the path the College takes as a result of the Initiative decision this past Spring term.
"The committees will take a look at what was generally decided by the Trustees and look at the specifics," he said. "It's in the details that these things will come alive."
Nelson said it is important that students will be working on the committees this summer because they will represent one of the "different constituencies within the institution."
"I think it's really important and consistent with the way Dartmouth approaches issues that affect the whole community," he said of the involvement of students -- especially from the Class of 2002 -- this term.
Miranda echoed Nelson's mindset that student involvement is important, adding that it was especially crucial that the students serving on the various committees had been chosen in an open way.
He explained that the Blitz application, which was sent to all students on campus earlier this term, asked two questions: what experiences students had that they thought would help them if chosen for the committee, and also why students wanted to be on the committee.
He noted that, in the past, the Assembly has had problems with student-representatives to committees showing up to meetings.
"If students aren't showing up, it reflects badly," he said, explaining that this summer the Assembly will replace students who do not fill their responsibilities.
Robert Binswanger, the chair of the College Committee on Alcohol and other Drugs -- a permanent College committee, said, his committee had been expanded to include more student input.
He said the Committee is meeting this summer because there are important issues to discuss, and also that sophomores can be involved while they are on campus this term.
In a message sent via Blitz, Assembly President Jorge Miranda '01 explained that the Assembly chose representatives to the committee in conjunction with the College.
"Making sure students were involved in the implementation process of the SLI was one of the things I talked about in my campaign for President, so I felt that it was important enough that I should be directly involved," Miranda said in his message.
Some of the committees are expected to release reports and updates by the end of Summer term, though reaching decisions may take longer for other committees.
