Although the Student Assembly recently heated up over the newly proposed changes for Dartmouth Dining Services, the Assembly has generally been complacent this term.
The Feb. 7 meeting saw such a low attendance that Assembly Secretary Leslie Shribman '08 was forced to send out a plea via BlitzMail 24 minutes into the night's meeting imploring more members to come so the Assembly could meet its quorum and vote on resolutions.
Even when all of the members were present, the voting process was more of a formality than anything else. Of the 11 resolutions, one proposal and three statements proposed, 11 were passed without opposition or abstention.
The lack of debate, some members hypothesized, might be due to the large freshman presence on the Assembly.
"Freshmen aren't always willing to speak out against the decisions of upperclassmen," Lee Cooper '09 said. "The freshmen, and all Assembly members for that matter, need to step up and realize that fighting against legislation isn't a personal attack but rather a necessary step in effectively impacting the student body."
Three-year member David Zubricki '07 agreed, noting that he faced difficulties in energizing many of the freshmen on the Student Life committee, which he chairs.
"I think it's a very interesting dynamic," he said. "It's always a lot of freshmen, but this year there aren't as many upperclassmen."
Cooper also suggested that the Assembly has lost sight of some of its duties.
"It is possible that members of the Assembly are failing to look at the bigger picture of what the Assembly's goals and responsibilities are," he said. "The last two meetings -- both regarding DDS changes -- have been by far the best, due to the never-ending debates over what is best for the student body. I think that these weeks of debate over a hot campus issue might create the necessary spark to set the tone for meetings to come."The statement criticizing the widely-debated proposed DDS changes and the resolution to create a Club Sports Commission have been the most important issues for the Assembly this term.
"We've made big progress," Student Assembly President Noah Riner '06 said of the DDS discussion. "The administrators understand that this is not just an Assembly issue. After the forum we held last week, they've begun to see that all of the campus is concerned. They are going to have to react."
Funding for club sports has also become a hot issue on campus this term, and the Assembly responded with a resolution to create a Club Sports Commission. The resolution called for the creation of a student delegation to examine the club sports program's organization, policies and finances and then publish a report to the student body on the current state of club sports at the College.
Looking forward to the elections taking place next term, the Assembly confirmed Paul Heintz '06 as chair of the Elections Planning and Advisory Committee chair and Adam Shpeen '07 as the committee's Assembly delegate Tuesday night. Next term's agenda will also include the announcement of the installation of new GreenPrint terminals around campus.
