Candidates for student body president and vice president presented their platforms to a modest crowd gathered in Tindle Lounge last night, focusing on their visions for a more influential student voice.
Five presidential hopefuls -- Eric Bussey '01, Tara Maller '03, Janos Marton '04, Karim Mohsen '03, and Michael Perry '03 -- as well as vice-presidential candidates Stephanie Bonan '03 and Julia Hildreth '05 came together to speak and answer questions at the Student Assembly's annual Speech Night as the campaign period entered its final week.
The event, held before a crowd that increased gradually to around 30 students by the end of the evening, also featured remarks from candidates for president and vice president of the Classes of 2003 and 2005.
While a desire to increase student input on campus decisions was a common aspect of the platforms presented by all the candidates, the proposed solutions to the perceived problem diverged widely.
Maller, the first of the presidential candidates to speak, called attention to last night's low attendance as a sign that Student Assembly must do a better job of "making students interested" in the Assembly.
"It's important for a president not only to be a strong leader, but also a strong advocate," she said.
Marton said that the Assembly had become a "soft and complacent" organization where an excessive emphasis on committees have "made Student Assembly a joke to many people on campus."
To reinvigorate the Assembly, Marton proposed passing a smaller number of "well-researched resolutions" that would command greater attention from administrators and which would be more visible to students.
Mohsen labeled the Assembly "a bunch of people not accountable to anyone," and argued that the solution to the "disconnect" between Assembly members is to have representatives elected to serve constituencies based around residential halls.
Looking for a solution within the current system, Perry called for "campus-wide conversations on large issues" to better involve students in the decision-making process, while Bussey advocated "a complete restructuring of Student Assembly" by expanding membership to all Dartmouth students, who would participate in referendums on major campus issues.
"I want universal suffrage," he said. "I want to hear every voice, because together we share great power."
Candidates also detailed specific points of their platforms and fielded a number of questions from the audience and the moderator, including how they planned to implement their proposed changes and which of the other candidates they would support were they not in the race.
Citing his extensive experience with the Assembly as one of his greatest advantages, Perry emphasized a specific commitment to improving student services, expanding social spaces on campus and continuing to implement the Undergraduate Teaching Initiative.
Marton received a positive response from the crowd when he accused the College administration of "trying to phase out the Greek system," and assured those present that he would work to defend Greek organizations if elected.
Among the other candidates, Maller emphasized a wide range of issues including student-faculty relations and increasing the Assembly's budget as her priorities. Mohsen stressed the need to clearly define the role of student body president to the campus.
"The vast majority of students are confused as to what the student body president does," he said. "That is tragic and shows that the system is not working."
Bussey said the specific details of his platform will soon be available on his website, but briefly laid out his plan for the workings of a reformed Assembly in response to a question from a member of the audience.
Candidates for vice president also gave brief remarks, with Bonan and Hildreth detailing platforms that agreed on many points.
Bonan said she would work "to have a constant source of student input" in administrative decisions if elected, while Hildreth spoke of the need to "increase student voice" on campus.
Running as the only freshman on either ballot, Hildreth saw her youth as an advantage in the race.
"The vice president is someone who should be around for the future," she said. "I will be here for the next three years to immerse myself fully in Student Assembly and to see everything through."
Bonan, on the other hand, explained that her years at the College had resulted in a "a sense of culminating everything I have worked for" in the Assembly, while she said two recent terms away from campus had provided the added benefit of perspective.
