Eight students representing four different Dartmouth classes will compete for the positions of Student Body President and Vice President over the next two weeks, while dozens of other candidates will vie for spots on the Green Key Society, Committee on Standards and other organizations.
Five students -- Michael Perry '03, Janos Marton '04, Karim Mohsen '03, Tara Maller '03 and Eric Bussey '01 -- will run for the student body presidency, while Stephanie Bonan '03, Julia Hildreth '05 and Alana McLaughlin '04 will contend the vice-presidency.
Molly Stutzman '02, the current Student Body President and Chair of the Elections Planning and Advisory Committee, said she was "very excited" by the number of students running for the two major positions.
Most of the candidates have been involved in Student Assembly in the past, but nonetheless differ widely in their range of personal experiences and ideas for the Assembly.
Perry, who like Stutzman served as the Assembly's summer president, said he hopes to have the Assembly "try to engage the bigger issues on campus" by increasing student control over both the decision-making process and campus social areas.
"It's painfully obvious to me that the school needs to create new social spaces," he said. "If you elect me, I will push for that space."
Also part of Perry's plans for the Assembly are an increased role for the Diversity Affairs Committee and a series of events bringing together students and administrators to discuss campus issues.
Marton, an Assembly member since his freshman year, said he planned to have the Assembly focus "more on single issues" relevant to students rather than addressing a large number of concerns in limited fashion.
"I would at most pass three to five resolutions per term because I know they would be taken seriously," said Marton, who mentioned environmental issues, the work-study wage and defending the Greek system.
Mohsen said he plans to revise the selection of Assembly members by having candidates chosen by dormitory rather than by residential cluster.
"There are a lot of people in Student Assembly who were also student government people in high school," Mohsen said, hoping that the new system would invite the participation of newcomers.
He also mentioned the need to bring together people on a campus he called "very segregated" by organizing cross-group events "to encourage people to step outside their comfort zones."
Maller, who has served on the Assembly's student faculty-relations and academic-affairs committees, said she sees the role of Student Body President as "an advocate for students" rather than simply the head of student government.
"I want to get Dartmouth to the place students want to be," she said, adding that her long-term involvement with the Assembly has helped her gain ideas from "a wide cross-section of the college population."
While emphasizing the importance of specific service issues such as implementing the College's new Green Print system and making the gym more accessible, Maller also stressed the need to reform Dartmouth's academic advising system, which she called "in dire need of improvement."
A completely different take on the role of Student Assembly was offered by Eric Bussey '01, who will be running alongside vice-presidential candidate Alana McLaughlin '04.
"I believe Student Assembly's destiny is to return power to the students," he said. To achieve this, Bussey proposed extending Assembly membership to "every student member of the Dartmouth community" to form a bloc that would vote electronically on important campus issues.
"A vote of 4,000 undergrads is far more powerful than a representational vote of 50 Student Assembly members," he said.
Despite his lack of prior experience with the Assembly and '01 class status -- Bussey is a French major who plans to graduate next year -- he said his extended time at the College has given him the insight and love for Dartmouth that he considers a necessary part of the job.
"My drive is my faith in Dartmouth ... throughout my years here what has been and what will be most important to me is the people I've met."
Bussey's running mate, McLaughlin, echoed similar concerns.
"I feel Student Assembly has some kind of stigma attached to it," she said. Most people who participate in student government "have always done this sort of thing," McLaughlin said, stressing the importance of making the Assembly "something the whole campus can be involved in."
Hildreth, the only freshman running for either of the positions, said her youth brings "a new perspective" to the Assembly. Despite having only two full terms of experience under her belt, Hildreth has already served on the Communications Committee and was Assembly secretary during Winter term, in addition to recently becoming treasurer for Ivy Council.
She mentioned issues of diversity and academic advising as primary concerns, while speaking of the need for Student Assembly to become "more accountable to students" if it is to be effective in the future.
Bonan said she wants to see the Assembly make "students feel empowered to make changes themselves" by streamlining the application process for obtaining sponsorship funding and by improving relations between students and the administration.
Although she has served on the Assembly since her freshman year, Bonan said it was her recent absence from campus during a foreign study program that has given her a fresh point of view.
"I've had time away from campus to think about a lot of issues, and I've gained some perspective from that," she said.
Stutzman said she was "a little bit concerned" that some of the applicant pools for other positions had declined somewhat from last year.
Several of the positions -- among them '05 Class President and '04 and '03 Assembly representatives, -- have only attracted one student candidate each, though interest in the Green Key Society and other groups remains strong.
The formal start to the campaign period will be this Friday, April 19, with online elections to follow on May 1 and 2.
