Following the withdrawal of two candidates, the race for Student Body Vice-President has intensified with only three remaining candidates, Chris Galiardo '06, Travis Green '08 and Jeffrey Coleman '08, vying for the position.
The two freshmen candidates are current members of the Student Assembly, but Galiardo has no Assembly experience.
Galiardo, a self-described "outsider," spent three years in Germany working for several magazines and serving as editor-in-chief of one before attending Dartmouth.
Despite his lack of Assembly experience, Galiardo is confident in his ability to succeed as VP. He pointed to his "real-world experience" as giving him ample leadership experience and explained that not being in the SA could be advantageous.
"If there's an outsider then they'll say this isn't just a clique, you can bring a fresh voice," he said.
Galiardo described his campaign as one built on the ideas of "unity and student voice," which include issues ranging from improving the distribution of faculty in departments to concerns of the Greek system.
He explained that the Greek system "has been demonized" and called for the administration to focus on the problem of room parties instead of cracking down on frats, since the largest proportion of students who become seriously intoxicated often "pre-game" in rooms.
Galiardo also cited the need for a stronger, more inclusive student assembly.
"There aren't any females and only one minority running," he said, "we need to reach out [so] the student body is no longer a bunch of wealthy white people trying to determine the course of the college."
Green, a member of The Dartmouth staff, is currently one of three Choates cluster representatives in the Assembly and believes his experience in the Assembly gives him a good background for the position of Vice-President.
Green is currently a member of the alumni relations and communication committees and cites improved alumni relations as one of his major campaign issues. He hopes to strengthen ties between the alumni and the student assembly to help improve the Assembly's influence over administration.
"Alumni are an influential group, when they speak the administration listens," he said.
Green is also proposing the integration of the basement website -- where students can sell their used textbooks -- and the Assembly course review site as a means to increase traffic on both sites while providing students with more affordable textbooks.
Green also suggested the creation of "five or six smaller gyms" around the campus so students can have access to athletic facilities in clusters that are relatively far from Kresge.
A fellow freshman cluster rep, Jeffrey Coleman is focusing mainly on improved relations between Greeks and the Assembly as the core of his campaign.
"[I want to] create a committee on SA devoted to Greek life, or designate liaisons to the three Greek governing bodies," he said.
Coleman is currently serving on the diversity affairs committee and has been working to expand student assembly involvement to underrepresented groups.
"There are a lot of groups that don't know what we do so we, [we want to] draw a larger diverse involvement," he said.
Neither Coleman nor Green said they believe their chances will be negatively affected by the fact they are freshmen.
"I am sure there are some people out there who think I am young and naive and inexperienced, but Jeffrey [Coleman] and I both have the most experience," Green said.
The candidates were mixed in their reactions to the exits of Caldwell and Shrestha. Coleman believed it would improve each candidate's chances however Green felt it had negatively affected the race.
"Aya [Caldwell] was a very strong candidate ... she was going to be a contender so it's disappointing," Green said. "I think it has made the race less interesting to people."
The Elections Planning and Advisory Committee is sponsoring a general debate of all candidates on Sunday night.
