Tensions mounted between four Student Assembly veterans and an outsider throughout this year's tight five-man race for Student Body President, to be decided in two days of online voting Tuesday and Wednesday. Friction peaked between the candidates -- a homogeneous group of white male juniors who largely agreed on Greek, athletics and campus issues -- in their final debate Sunday.
Escalating hostility between Paul Heintz '06, who attended his first Assembly meeting a couple weeks ago, and his four opponents, who were all involved in the organization since their freshman years, was an underlying theme throughout the debates.
Throughout his campaign, Heintz, whose platform focused on "fresh leadership," condemned the Assembly as irrelevant and out of touch with students' needs.
Juniors Brian Martin and Noah Riner, who along with Heintz emerged as top competitors, ratcheted up their criticisms of Heintz's non-existent Assembly record in the final days of the campaign season.
"It's easy to criticize, it's easy to point a finger at other people and say you haven't done a good job," Riner said in Sunday night's debate.
The candidates did, however, find common ground on several issues. All agreed that alumni are integral in promoting students' interests and that club sports need additional College funding. The five also agreed that they would throw the Assembly's weight behind the Panhellenic Council if it decides to establish a seventh sorority house -- an undertaking currently prohibited by College policy.
Overall, academic affairs were conspicuously absent from most of the debates and campaigns, although Riner listed tackling ballooning class sizes as his number one issue.
The similarities in the candidates' position might have reflected the lack of diversity of the field. For the first time in recent memory, a white male is guaranteed to take over the reigns of the Assembly come Fall term.
Current Assembly President Julia Hildreth '05 said that there have been no white males at the helm of Dartmouth student government in at least five years.
"As someone who always encourages female leadership within the Assembly, I think it's kind of disappointment that there's no female candidate who feels qualified to run, or at least is inclined to run," Hildreth said. "But again, I think Assembly has seen a really diverse string of presidents."
Hildreth, who has not endorsed a candidate, said the Assembly's make-up is "well over 50 percent male" and called the situation "definitely something the Assembly needs to work on."
Riner said he was "very disappointed" that no women entered the race.
"We're a bunch of TWGs [tall white guys]," Riner told the Assembly in its "Meet the Candidates" forum.
Lemberger said he wanted to see more women and minorities appointed to committee chairs in the future.
"I wonder if there's a sense of intimidation," Lemberger said.
Concerns over male-female equality at the College also surfaced in the debates.The April 4 resignation of Sexual Abuse Awareness Program Director Abby Tassel elicited comments from Heintz, Martin and Riner, who all condemned Dartmouth's social atmosphere as uncomfortable for women.
"Every now and then SA needs to get up and yell about something," Riner said of the administrative environment that induced Tassel's resignation.
Martin, who singled himself out as the candidate with a "strong Greek voice," said the potential of the Assembly's diversity affairs committee has not been tapped. Martin fielded criticism from Assembly leaders for opposing gender-neutral housing earlier this year but affirmed his support for the idea throughout the debates.
New campaigning rules on BlitzMail messages and campaign spending, plus the debut of an instant run-off voting system, were implemented this term in an attempt to avoid the controversy and negative campaigning that colored last year's tense election season.
In the 2004 elections, hysteria broke out when a supporter of Hildreth said her BlitzMail account was hacked into and used to send mass messages to the campus, overwhelming EPAC's disciplinary system.
Current Assembly Vice President Todd Golden '06 and Lemberger both distinguished themselves early in the race as the strong silent types, each self-identifying as project-oriented leaders and keeping their statements brief and understated throughout the three debates.
