The start of Spring term is also a fresh beginning for several new student groups on campus. The College recognized several new organizations at the end of Winter term, and now, with funding from the Council On Student Organization, the club leaders are preparing to increase awareness about everything from malnutrition to grassroots politics to Taiwanese culture.
In response to the 2004 presidential election, several students spearheaded the creation of Dartmouth For Democracy, a self-described non-partisan group designed to train students interested in gaining necessary skills to run grassroots campaigns.
Dartmouth for Democracy claims it will support any candidate on the national, local, or college level who is "socially progressive and fiscally responsible," said co-founder Sarah Ayres '06.
"So that could potentially be Democrats or Republicans. Realistically, it will probably end up being Democrats," Ayres said.
The group's goals center around training students to run a grassroots campaign, which includes skills like recruiting volunteers, knocking on doors and determining how many constituents to contact. Co-founder Ben Krauss '06 claimed that these goals are more likely to attract liberal students.
"It's not a partisan group but obviously its tenets would tend to attract many more Democrats -- not that we wouldn't be thrilled to have people from any party join," Krauss said.
Ayres and Krauss feel such a group is necessary because many people on campus are only politically active every four years during presidential elections.
Ayres sees a need for a longstanding infrastructure and hopes to find activists who will work throughout their time at Dartmouth rather than only during election years.
Dartmouth for Democracy plans to particularly target '08s as potential new members.
"We're going to reach out especially to '08s because we want this to be a longstanding organization, and the best way to do this is to get students involved when they're young," Ayres said.
The groups also plan to recruit students who were involved in the fall presidential campaign and students who are heavily involved in community service through the Tucker Foundation.
Dartmouth for Democracy is a local chapter of Howard Dean's Democracy for America, an organization he started following his unsuccessful presidential primary campaign. Dartmouth College is among the first institutions in the country, and is the first school in the Ivy League to start a chapter.
Another group taking off this term is Dartmouth Ends Hunger, an organization founded by Taylor Thompson '08. The organization aims to educate the Dartmouth community on food security while raising money for a Nicaraguan community that currently suffers from malnutrition.
Pending official recognition by the Tucker Foundation, Dartmouth Ends Hunger will begin planning two-week stretches during which participants will eat only rice and beans as part of a symbolic starvation.
Participants are strongly encouraged and requested to donate money raised however they see fit, possibly through sponsors or working for Dartmouth Dining Services.
So far, 120 students have expressed an interest in participating. The group projects that if it can convince 60 of those students to participate for every meal for the entire two-week period, they will raise $10,000.
Professors, local professionals, alumni and graduate students will attend the lunches as guests in order to discuss current malnutrition issues. Each participant will receive a booklet compiled of articles relating to Dartmouth Ends Hunger's focus.
The new organization experienced a setback at the end of last term when DDS objected to Dartmouth Ends Hunger's original request for students to decrease their Declining Balance Account in order to donate the saved money. DDS felt that this method of raising money would be antithetical to the aims of Dartmouth Ends Hunger, Thompson said, because DDS needs the revenue to pay the salaries and benefits of its workers.
Thompson revised his group's proposal and hopes to be underway within the next few weeks, although the first two-week program will not occur until Fall 2005 due to the setback. Smaller, informal rice-and-bean sessions will hopefully take place this term and during Summer term.
"We are going to do something [this term] but it will be much more low-key," Thompson said.
The two-week event will raise $10,000 each time it is held, Thompson projected. His supporters hope to hold their event once a term, depending on its initial success, Thompson said.
"It will be interesting to see what the commitment is and what the interest is," he said.
A third organization, the Dartmouth Taiwanese Association is also getting underway. It existed several years ago but fell by the wayside when there were conflicts between the Taiwanese group and the Dartmouth Chinese Culture Society.
"We thought we should give people more options," co-president Jennifer Yu '08 said.
The club's first big event will be a Taiwanese Awareness Week held between April 10 and April 16. The week will include six speakers, two movie nights and a presentation on pop culture in Taiwan.
"We're really proud of being Taiwanese," co-president Irene Shyu '08 said. "We hope we can correct misconceptions and spread general knowledge about Taiwan."
