The Student Assembly will concentrate on reducing class sizes, soliciting student concerns and assisting campus groups this year, Student Body President Noah Riner '06 said Wednesday in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Riner, whose controversial address at Tuesday's Convocation exercises included repeated references to Jesus, said the speech had nothing to do with his agenda for the Student Assembly but was intended to get students thinking and talking about character.
"I realize that I have a very specific perspective on the issue of character," Riner said. "And by adding my perspective, I hope that it'll give other people the opportunity to examine their own perspectives and to add those to the Dartmouth dialogue."
Academic affairs will be a prominent feature of the Assembly's agenda. Riner said the Assembly plans to pressure administrators to hire more professors in departments with the largest class sizes and lowest faculty-to-major ratios.
"For some individual departments, it's really bad," Riner said, citing the College's popular economics and government departments.
According to Riner, Dean of the Faculty Carol Folt has expressed interest to him about working with the Assembly to address student concerns regarding oversubscribed classes in crowded majors.
The Assembly also plans to find more funding for students' unpaid internships and seek additional credit for courses with lab periods, which currently receive the same credit as other courses.
Riner was also optimistic about the Assembly's diversity affairs committee, which will collaborate, he said, with the leaders of the College's minority Greek organizations to draw more attention to their activities.
Riner cited the Assembly's plans to assist those working out of the Tucker Foundation on hurricane relief as an example of cooperation between the Assembly and student groups.
"I believe people work hardest when they're personally motivated," Riner said. "I [don't] believe in handing down projects to people."
That type of cooperation will mark a contrast between this year's student government and last year's, which Riner criticized as hung up on internal politics and out of touch with the rest of the campus.
"SA [has been] seen as an organization that only works on its own projects and its own goals, whereas this year there's going to be a lot of outreach and there's going to be a lot of tag-teaming," he said.
Outreach will also include "getting the word on the street," Riner said, describing a tentative plan to set up tables in Novack Caf where Assembly members will be available to listen to student concerns and talk to students about Assembly projects four nights each week.
While Riner focuses on communication between the Assembly and the rest of the campus, Student Body Vice President Jeffrey Coleman '08 will work on recruiting interested students to serve on advisory committees with administrators and faculty.
"College committees have a lot of say in the direction of the College," Coleman said, adding that they allow students to influence issues like the distribution of student activity fees and the administration of food services and off-campus programs.
