Candidates in this term's races for Student Body President and Vice President will now have their campaign expenses subsidized by Student Assembly, which passed a resolution last night allocating $900 to partially fund the costs of students' election bids.
The move to fund this year's student candidates -- who have a spending limit of $125 for all campaign expenses under current regulations -- will compensate students for all expenses towards that total beyond an initial $35.
The $35 figure was chosen to accordance with the spending caps for other Assembly positions, according to the resolution's sponsor, Kendra Quincy Kemp '02, which are uniformly set at $35.
Kemp told the Assembly that "not all students can afford the $125" required to run a successful campaign, and said the resolution aimed to prevent monetary considerations from deterring potential candidates.
Student Body President Molly Stutzman '02 agreed. "These elections should be open to all students and Assembly members without taking financial considerations into account," she said, noting that similar resolutions had been passed in recent years to address the same concerns.
Assembly members also unanimously approved a resolution supporting the creation of an academic teaching and learning center as part of the continuing implementation of the wide-ranging Undergraduate Teaching Initiative.
Assembly Chair of Academic Affairs Aly Rahim '02 explained that a teaching and learning center would help "sustain our tradition of excellent undergraduate teaching," and hoped that the passage of the resolution would show College administrators the Assembly's commitment to the center.
Before such a center is approved, the proposal must pass several administrative hurdles. Similar ideas have been voted down in the past by the faculty, though Rahim stressed that administrative support is strong this time around.
"In all probability it looks like it's going to happen," he said. "To me, it really sounds like the College is dedicated to the idea."
