What is the best thing that the new Student Assembly leaders, Molly Bode '09 and Nafeesa Remtilla '09, can do for the student body in their year in office?
They can make Student Assembly interesting again. During the Andreadis administration, everything was so chaotic that people questioned SA's efficacy, and now in the Green Administration everything runs so smoothly that they find it boring and un-newsworthy. By finding a happy balance and the right combination of goals, campus might lose its general apathy for student government.
--Nathan Bruschi '10
Bode and Remtilla can do a better job publicizing and expanding the services that SA is providing to students. These services are of no use unless the students know that they exist and are able to use them (i.e. course syllabi online, vouchers for rental computers, etc.).
--Dave Glovsky '08
I noticed that a lot of Dartmouth students brushed the election aside, claiming that Student Assembly does not actually do anything. This is not a reflection of the truth but instead a reflection of the disconnect between the student body and Student Assembly. Bode and Remtilla can work on this relationship to assure students that Student Assembly works to accommodate their requests.
--Denise Hotta-Moung '11
The best they can do is to promote real alternatives to frat row and help foster new social spaces. It is ultimately the student body, however, acting as individuals that must decide whether or not to wean itself from the withered teat of fraternity life and embrace those alternatives.
--Samuel Buntz '11
Bode and Remtilla could best help the student body by initiating changes to Dartmouth's organizational mess (see: McKinsey report 2005). To do so they should reform Student Assembly into a model organization with a strictly defined focus and scope, a clear plan of action and an effective means of communicating with other campus organizations as well as the entire student body.
--Gahl Rinat '09
Bode and Remtilla must actively open themselves up to individual students and student-run groups that are unaffiliated with SA. The more people who are brought under the umbrella of SA, the quicker general apathy towards our student government will fade -- and such a process must start from the top.
--Evan Meyerson '08
Coincidentally for Bode and Remtilla, the widely anticipated reform movements on the Committee on Standards and Social Event Management Procedures that have been in the pipeline for months are finally coming to a head and share the promise to meaningfully transform student life. As the popularly elected mouthpieces of the student body, Bode and Remtilla should wield their clout to ensure that the Dean of the College's actual implementation of the changes over the coming year reflects the best interests of their student constituents.
--Daniel Belkin '08
Not even half of Dartmouth students care enough about the Student Assembly to vote. Before the newly elected leaders do anything, they need to convince the student body that the Assembly can actually improve student life in some measurable way. It won't be easy.
--Brian Solomon '11
Food court open till 2 a.m. Better Greek relationships. A sensible keg policy. Stop spending SA money on food for committee meetings. Better monitoring of Programming Board's spending.
--Zachary Gottlieb '10
