Dartmouth's student athletes elected seven new members to the 10-member executive board of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee last week.
The SAAC was created "to provide student athletes with a voice in the Dartmouth College Athletic Department, as well as foster communication regarding issues that impact the student athlete experience," according to Dartmouth's Athletic Department web site.
In order to run for a position on the executive board, a student athlete must nominate oneself or be nominated by a teammate.
The candidates then present statements to a general assembly meeting of Dartmouth's student athletes, who vote to elect the new members.
The new members of the SAAC executive board are Sean Milich '09, Pavel Sotskov '09, Christina Clark '10, Lucretia Witte '10, Catherine Armstrong '10, David Fink '11 and William Greif '11.
Three members of this year's executive board -- Caitlin MacDonald '09, Ted Newhouse '09 and Jeffrey Friedman '10 -- were elected to serve again next year.
This year, 15 athletes were nominated for the 10 executive board spots, including three returning board members.
In past years, executive board members have appointed a president, vice president and treasurer from within the group after the members had been elected.
Last year, however, the board decided not to appoint these positions, but rather to share duties according to which members could take on the most responsibility at a given time.
The executive board, according to MacDonald, greatly influences the issues and events the SAAC handles.
"I really like the flexibility that we have as a group in terms of what we can do," MacDonald said.
MacDonald, a member of Dartmouth's women's soccer team, cited the need to "establish positive relationships between athletics and academics" as one of the most important functions of the committee.
The SAAC also functions as a liaison between the athletic department and student athletes.
"We want student athletes to feel comfortable coming to us with their thoughts and concerns so we can relay them to the administration," Jen Murray '09, a former member of the SAAC executive board and a member of Dartmouth's women's tennis team, said.
According to Murray, the allotment of practice time in Leverone Fieldhouse is a contentious issue that comes up almost every year among athletes.
"We advertise ourselves as an open forum for student athletes with any type of issue, in hopes that in the future athletes will be more willing to come to the committee with concerns or administrative problems," Murray said.
Along with serving as a channel between administrators and athletes, the SAAC has attempted to broaden its impact on campus by reaching out to those athletes.
"We do a lot of social events planning along with administrative work," MacDonald said. "We try to give athletes the chance to interact outside of a sports environment."
Last summer, the SAAC organized an ice cream social, held on the lawn of Davis Varsity House.
The event aimed to give athletes on different varsity teams the chance to get to know each other.
"[The ice cream social] was the biggest event we'd held in a while and one of the most successful," Murray said. "It let students know that the SAAC is here to serve the athletes on this campus."
Both MacDonald and Murray praised the committee's faculty advisor, Meg Hancock, for her work with the SAAC.
Hancock has worked as Dartmouth's student athlete academic advisor for two years.
Hancock "is responsible for coordinating the academic support services for all Big Green student athletes," according to the Athletic Department web site.
"She's done a great job expanding her abilities to athletes in terms of what she has to offer," MacDonald said.
Although the SAAC was created in the summer of 2002, the organization has only recently begun to have an impact on Dartmouth's student athlete community, according to Murray.
"In the past two years, we've brought the organization up to a different level," Murray said.
"We've expanded a lot in the past few years, but it also looks really promising for the next year and for years to come," MacDonald said.
Each year, the SAAC organizes a first-year banquet for freshman athletes in the fall, and an athletic banquet at the end of the Spring term.
The committee will also host a dodgeball tournament for all Big Green athletes on May 25.
The tournament will benefit Athletes United, a summer sports league for underpriveleged children living in the Upper Valley run by Dartmouth athletes.
