Dozens of representatives from seven of eight Ivy League institutions traveled to Brown University this past weekend for the fall conference of the Ivy Council.
The Council -- which meets twice per year -- brings together delegates from Ivy League student governments to exchange ideas and to discuss solutions to problems shared by all schools.
"We face many common challenges and we take common approaches," said Ivy Council President and Brown University senior Michael Brown.
"The idea behind Ivy Council is to bring student leaders from the Ivy League together to form a broad and intellectual approach to student issues."
Aaron Short, head delegate from the University of Pennsylvania, emphasized a personal side to the conference. "It's to increase communication among Ivy League student governments, and also to build a network of friendships that we wouldn't have the opportunity to make otherwise."
Ivy Council "allows us to act as one group of students rather than as seven different campuses," said Stephanie Long '04, vice president of External Affairs for the Council.
Dartmouth's 15-person delegation -- the largest such group at the conference -- was led by Beau Roysden '04.
This year's conference focused on two primary subjects common to all schools: responding to the events of Sept. 11 and exploring financial aid programs at each of the universities.
At past conferences, a wide variety of subjects were addressed during the busy three-day schedule, with the result that few topics received in-depth attention.
Under the leadership of Joshua Marcuse '04, chair of the Ivy Council and chief organizer of the conference, the format was revised to narrow the focus to two major themes that received extensive coverage.
"In the past we had a long series of breakout sessions on unrelated topics," Marcuse said.
"This year we moved to two themes with a presentation for each ... [the] new model was proven superior and will be used in the future," he said.
Cornell's delegation was selected in advance of the conference to present how their university and student government had responded to varying student needs in the wake of Sept. 11.
"This was the first time a school presented a topic where they felt they had some unique contribution to make or perspective to share," Marcuse said of Cornell's presentation.
In several "breakout" sessions that followed, students attended one of three separate talks to follow up on the presentation and bring other campus perspectives to the discussion.
The Brown delegation spoke on the financial aid program at Brown University, and the ensuing discussion helped identify which features of aid packages have the most benefit to students.
Other events included a talk with Brown President Ruth Simmons, officer workshops and a presentation from University of Pennsylvania junior Bryan Hirsch, who discussed the importance of student leadership and activism in effecting social and political change.
Noticeably absent from any of the planned activities were representatives from Harvard University, who skipped the conference.
"Last spring the Harvard Undergraduate Council voted to undo their permanent affiliation to the Ivy Council, due in part to financial constraints and some differences of opinion on how the Council should be run," Marcuse explained.
He said that although Harvard has ceased to be a permanent member, delegates can still choose to attend future conferences. "They may come in the spring ... it's their choice, and there is no structure in place to prevent them from coming."
Princeton's delegation left the conference a day early because of scheduling problems resulting from the resignation of their head delegate two days before the conference's start.
Despite these problems, Marcuse said he felt that participants at the conference had put in a tremendous amount of effort.
"The other schools really picked up the slack," he said, commenting on the high number of students sent by Dartmouth and the University of Pennsylvania, in addition to monetary support given to the conference by several of the universities.
Marcuse agreed. "I think we made a huge stride forward toward making the conferences more substantive, more focused and more effective. There is always room for progress, but I would say this was a tremendous success."
With regards to any changes to the operation of Dartmouth's own Student Assembly resulting from the conference proceedings, Marcuse said he felt it was "a bit too soon to tell."
He did say that an examination of the Assembly's current resolution format -- dissimilar to that at many schools -- would take place, as would a review of Student Assembly's focus on financial aid.
The next Ivy Council conference will be held at Cornell during Spring term, in accordance with the Council's rotating hosting schedule. The Council last convened at Dartmouth in 1998, and will return to the College next fall.
