While five male juniors are fighting tooth-and-nail to decide the direction of Student Assembly, the current body met Tuesday night to discuss the resignation of the Sexual Abuse Awareness Program coordinator Abby Tassel.
The Assembly held a question and answer session with Tassel, and determined ways in which they can provide support for the search for her successor.
Tassel, accompanied by Liz Allen '06 and Robin Rathmann-Noonan '05, discussed strategic approaches to finding a replacement for the coordinator position with members of the Student Assembly. One approach on which all three women agreed was that student input was essential to determining which candidates would work well with both students and administrators.
"I think it would be useful for at least a couple students to be on the committee [to find a new coordinator]," Tassel said.
In addition, Allen and Rathmann-Noonan stressed the need for administrators to be more aware of the issues with which Tassel and her office work. They stressed the need to establish proper channels of communication between Tassel's replacement and administrators.
Previous to the discussion with Tassel, the Assembly passed a resolution that supports and allocates up to $2,000, or two-fifths of its remaining treasury, in funding for a Student-Faculty Brunch on May 22. The total cost of the brunch will be approximately $4,800, and the Assembly requested the Dean of the Faculty's office to provide the remaining amount.
Russell Lane '06 reported that the Dean of the Faculty accepted the Assembly's proposals to make course syllabi and textbook listings available online, and the long-standing project should be undertaken soon.
Absent from discussion was the e-mail message that has been circulating around campus advocating the abolition of the Assembly and its replacement with a system of student governance in the New England town meeting format.
A number of students have reported receiving an e-mail message from a G-Mail account with the subject line "Abolish SA?" The e-mail, sent from a group called the Committee for the Abolition of Student Assembly, requests recipients to reply to the account with a vote as to whether they feel Student Assembly should be abolished and replaced with town meetings.
Art Baron '07, a member of the Committee, told The Dartmouth he wanted to wait until the Committee's website is running before releasing a statement
"With the SA elections happening at this very moment, the question of whether or not SA is a useful or necessary institution seems more relevant and important than ever," the e-mail said. "Does an intelligent campus of roughly 4,200 students really need representatives, or can we represent ourselves?"
The e-mail states that the Student Assembly is "marred with internal disputes and absorbed with personal and organizational interests." Should enough students reply in support of the proposal, the group promised to work on finding ways in which the proposal could be implemented.
Kirsten Murray '07 announced that a meeting has been scheduled with Martin Redman, dean of residential life, concerning a new proposal for student publication drop folders in campus residential facilities.
"What we're trying to do is create a folder attached to the door where students can designate what publications they want to receive," Murray said.
Assembly Presidential candidate Todd Golden '06 met with Redman to discuss the possibility of providing earplugs to students who have been inconvenienced by noise from the recent construction on campus. Golden said Redman is concerned about fire safety risks related to students wearing earplugs in dorms.
Golden's comments elicited quiet laughter from several members in the audience.
