What defines Dartmouth is its students. Instead of flashy PR or Nobel-winning professors, it's the student community--from DOC trips to Drill class to sports teams to Greek and affinity houses to small classes and interaction with faculty--that makes our Dartmouth experience. My reforms to Student Assembly will help Dartmouth to play into this strength by cutting the red tape that separates students from administrators and from their representatives in SA. I will localize control and increase the number of perspectives that SA represents, putting SA money behind this promise.
Administrators are invested with the College's major decision-making tasks, but they often forget that they are accountable to students in these decisions. Let's remind them of that by issuing key administrators a weekly grade in The D. Let's give students the opportunity to find out what is coming down the pipeline on administrators' agendas by hosting a weekly forum where administrators will answer students' call-in questions, with answers available to all students via podcast. Likewise, SA needs to make its financial transactions and its weekly accomplishments public knowledge.
But the biggest problem with Student Assembly is the limited number of perspectives that it addresses. SA members are far from a representative cross-section of the campus, and we should compensate for that by actively seeking the input of different groups. By meeting twice termly with the leaders of every club, house, team, and organization, Student Assembly members would address more completely the unmet needs of students.
Essential to meeting these needs is changing the way SA allocates funds. Under the current policy, SA will not fund initiatives that originate outside of SA. This makes no sense, because the most effective programs are designed by those most familiar with the students they are trying to serve. SA needs to be less Ebeneazer and more Robin Hood when it comes to allocating its $85,000 budget.
Part of SA's role should be to address the needs of groups that are underrepresented not only in SA, but also on the campus as a whole. Sexual assault and minority representation in the Greek community are topics that the SA President can and should call attention to. While not exhaustive of the list of issues for which SA should advocate, these topics will be addressed to a significant extent by my policies of localized control, regular feedback, and funding allocation.
All of the candidates for President bring some good ideas to the table. But it's important for the President to strike a balance between an understanding of what students want, and the experience to deliver it. As Chair of the Communications Committee, I have been actively seeking feedback from students for terms now, and my platform reflects that. You can read more about my own projects elsewhere, but what is most important is establishing the localized control and resource allocation that advance the initiatives of students outside of SA.
The College doesn't need more initiative from its students; it needs to get out of their way. Let's cut the red tape that prevents students from monitoring administrative resource allocation. Let's make sure that SA reaches out to hear the interests of every group, not just the ones with existing ties to the Assembly. Elect me as your President, and I promise: when SA speaks, you will hear your voice.
