Candidates for Student Assembly President and Vice President went head to head yesterday at an election forum during the evening Assembly meeting. The two competitors for the presidency and four possible vice presidents aired their views and answered questions from the students in attendance.
Brett Theisen '05 will challenge incumbent Janos Marton '04 for the position of Assembly president next Wednesday and Thursday. Theisen said that, if elected, he would "work on practical projects to make life better here."
Theisen, himself a member of the football team, highlighted the large number of students involved in varsity athletics at Dartmouth and said he would be a coherent voice for athletes at the College.
Student Body President Marton told the audience that, "Student Assembly would be well-served if [I] could continue on for another year." Marton restated the platform of change upon which he ran last year, noting the Assembly's accomplishments this year.
When asked what issue was most important to him, Marton stressed his desire to reform the College's alcohol policy. "I've been working at it for over a year," Marton said. "I don't think anyone else can do a better job."
Asked a question regarding distribution requirements, Marton said the College already has too many such required classes. He further decried "gut" classes: "There's no reason to take a class like 'Volcanoes,'" Marton said.
Both candidates were also asked what they would suggest as a mascot for Dartmouth. Theisen suggested that any choice "should be a fierce mascot." Marton, in contrast, emphasized that a mascot should be "something from Dartmouth's past."
The candidates for Assembly vice president -- Todd Rabkin Golden '06, Brett Martin '04, Noah Riner '06 and Dave Wolkoff '05 -- also asserted their views at the event. Martin said that, as vice president, he would attempt to make the Assembly more representative of the College campus as a whole. "I don't like how SA has become this esoteric organization," Martin said.
Golden said that, unlike many members of Assembly, "he is interested in looking at things from a holistic perspective."
As vice president, Wolkoff said he will try to keep the Assembly exciting. He pledged to attract more representatives from different student organizations.
Riner told the audience that, if elected, he would lend a more student-oriented voice to Assembly. As vice president, Riner said he would strive to "team up with alumni and focus on relations with alumni because they're the ones with the loudest voice."
"The fact is, money talks," Riner said. "We saw that in the swim team situation; the alumni voice gets heard."
