Acting on the results of a campus-wide email survey, Student Assembly will contribute money --which it hopes the College will match -- to funding improvements in dormitory public spaces and creating an off-campus social option, possibly in the spot formerly occupied by Patrick Henry's bar on Main Street.
The plan is part of an overall strategy -- dubbed the "Social Empowerment Initiative" by the Assembly -- to give students an increased voice in how their money is spent, Student Life Committee Chair Amit Anand '03 said.
Because relatively few students supported funding long-term improvements to Greek houses, the Assembly will not donate money for this purpose. But based on students' write-in responses, the Assembly will look into providing money for Greek programming events, Anand said.
Sixty-five percent of respondents said student activities money should go toward funding improvements in dorm public spaces, while only 37 percent supported funding improvements in Greek houses and 29 percent backed improvements to Fuel.
"That really caught our attention," Anand said. "We clearly have a mandate to do something about dorm public spaces."
In addition, nearly two-thirds of survey respondents said that the Assembly should "oversee an off-campus social option."
The Assembly has long been considering possibilities for such spaces, Student Body President Janos Marton '04 said, but the survey results and a recent go-ahead from Dean of the College James Larimore mean that the project is likely to progress.
"The dean let us know that money is very tight right now and that it's going to take a lot of work on our part," Marton said, "but he didn't say no."
Given Hanover's high real estate prices, purchasing and renovating Patrick Henry's would require significant financial help from the College, Marton said. Likewise, because dorms are under the jurisdiction of the Office of Residential Life, the Assembly will ask ORL to contribute money to improving dorm public spaces.
Despite asking for financial contributions from the College, the Assembly will play a pivotal role as liaison between the student body and the administration in implementing the plan, Anand said.
"This is significant because the Assembly is finally looking at what people told us and acting directly on that," Anand said.
Marton told the Assembly that in a recent meeting with top Assembly executives, Larimore stressed that students have no reason to fear increased room searches by Safety and Security, despite last week's New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling that Safety and Security are not acting as agents of the state by turning drugs confiscated from students rooms over to the Hanover Police.
But Marton's announcement did little to reassure the Assembly that students' privacy is protected. Several members wondered whether Safety and Security or maintenance staff enter student rooms during interim periods between terms.
Also provoking extended discussion among the Assembly was a suggestion by Ralph Davies '04 that the Assembly try to garner student support for athletic teams and get usage fees for the golf course, the tennis courts and the Skiway reduced.
Committee members noted that they are currently working on getting golf and tennis fees reduced, but that a nominal fee is necessary for official budget reasons. But Davies' suggestion that it is the Assembly's responsibility to boost support for athletic teams generated opposition from several Assembly members.
