Student Assembly confirmed the members of its Fall term executive board in one of its first meetings under the new leadership on Tuesday night. The board includes eight committee chairs and three Assembly representatives to other organizations.
Assembly leaders made the appointments after reviewing the applicants' enthusiasm, ideas, experience and their "ability to get outside the standard SA box," according to Student Body Vice President Nafeesa Remtilla '09.
"We looked for balanced people who complemented each other's styles," Student Body President Molly Bode '09 said. "Some people are better organizers, others are better at motivating. We wanted pairs with complementary strengths -- that is why we asked for their weaknesses on the application."
Ayla Glass '09, the newly elected diversity and community affairs chair, said she plans to focus on jump-starting discussion of a year-old minority faculty retention initiative that she said has been abandoned. Through the initiative, the Assembly hopes to research the cause of a "low minority faculty retention trend" at the College and propose solutions, according to its web site.
Glass said she also wanted to help campus organizations interact with each other.
"I want to facilitate more dialogue for groups on campus so they aren't just speaking but creating relationships," Glass said.
Raymond Rodriguez '09 was also named chair of the Diversity and Community Affairs Committee with Glass.
Karen Doster '11, who was elected chair of the academic affairs committee for the second term, said she believes it is important to have leaders who are familiar with Assembly procedures.
"I hope to continue my work from this year and bring a lot of institutional knowledge," Doster said. "I want to increase projects with professors because events with students and faculty together are the most successful."
Doster also added that she plans to increase student participation in submitting reviews to the Assembly course guide.
David Nachman '09 will also chair the academic affairs committee.
Sam McElhinney '11 was named Alumni Affairs head, James Cart '10 was named Ivy Council head delegate, Ruslan Tovbulatov '09 and Jennifer Argote '10 were named Student Life Committee chairs and Neil Kandler '09 and Cory Cunningham '10 will head the Student Services Committee. David Imamura '10 will be the Assembly spokesperson.
Cunningham and Argote are members of The Dartmouth Staff.
The general assembly also voted four students to serve on the Membership and Internal Affairs Committee. The committee, traditionally influential in the Assembly, is responsible for choosing students to serve jointly with faculty and administrators on the standing decision-making committees of the College.
"We're basically going to be involved in picking and choosing who goes to what committees and appointment of membership," Stephanie Lee '11, a newly selected member of the committee, said. "We are also getting involved in increasing membership, which is hard because we have a bad reputation with some people."
Lee said she is looking forward to working more closely with Remtilla, who chairs MIAC.
"I'm looking forward to cooperating with the other committee members and to becoming a resource for other people, hopefully making their lives easier than mine was this year," Lee said. "I will obviously also be learning a lot more about the administration and campus organizations."
The Assembly also passed two pieces of legislation at the meeting, including a proposal to fund a Profiles in Excellence Award to honor superior teaching. The second act funded the 2008 Student-Faculty Brunch. The Assembly approved $500 for the award and $750 for the brunch.
