The Student Assembly presidential candidates exchanged eye rolls, congratulatory whispers and heated retorts during the Student Assembly's annual candidate debate, held in a crowded Carson L02 on Tuesday. Presidential candidates Boyd Lever '10, John Nolan '10 and Frances Vernon '10 and vice presidential candidates Phil Aubart '10 and Cory Cunningham '10 discussed the need for improved communication between Student Assembly and the student body and changes in the College's alcohol policy.
Cunningham is a senior member of The Dartmouth Business Staff, and Aubart is a staff columnist for The Dartmouth.
The candidates responded to questions submitted by audience members, as well as to questions prepared by the General Assembly and the event's moderators, Karen Doster '11 and Adam Halpern-Leistner '10, the current and former chairs of the Assembly's Academic Affairs committee, respectively. Candidates had one minute to respond to each question and 30 seconds to rebut other candidates' responses.
Many of the questions centered on defining and improving the Assembly's role on campus.
"The first thing I want to focus on would be transparency and interest," Lever said. "Most people, when you ask them about Student Assembly now, there's very little transparency, so they can't tell you what we do. It's not that work isn't done here, it's that people just don't understand how the process goes through or what is completed."
Lever and Vernon said they will work to make Assembly business more accessible to students, and Nolan said his administration would use "five or six" Assembly liaisons to converse directly with campus groups.
"My idea is to have them branch out to student groups," Nolan said of the liaisons. "We could find out what people want advocated for within their own groups and on a campus level. We could then find out if Student Assembly could actually advocate for what the students wanted or if we could direct them along the path to different administrators."
Vernon also said there must be increased dialogue between the Assembly and the student body.
"We need to make sure we're building that communication," Vernon said. "That's exactly why the first executive meeting of every month will always be open to anyone, any campus leaders."
Lever, who proposed requiring elections for more Assembly positions and eliminating the current three-attendance requirement for becoming a voting member of General Assembly, later said the discussion was too focused on transparency.
"Transparency only goes so far," he said. "You can see through a fish tank, but there's really not much going on in there. However, if you actually have tangible and practical coordination between organizations on campus, I assure you, people will be more interested."
The candidates also discussed the need for education and improvement surrounding the College's current Good Samaritan policy. Vernon said she would work to break barriers surrounding health services and care for intoxicated students, and proposed the creation of an Inter-Greek Judicial System composed of Greek organization representatives. Vernon said this system would be more effective in managing violations of alcohol policy.
"One of the big things is looking at the change from [Social Event Management Policy] to [Alcohol Management Program] policy and encouraging AMP to be implemented this fall." Vernon said. "We need to work together with an Inter-Greek Judicial System so that students are able to work with the alcohol policy and see how we can improve alcohol distribution."
Vernon's proposal to establish an Inter-Greek Judicial System oversteps the Assembly's boundaries, Nolan said, as such a board should fall under the purview of the Greek Leadership Council. Nolan emphasized the College Democrats' recent proposal for a college ambulance service that could facilitate the College's Good Samaritan policy without the interference of Hanover Police.
"Dean [of the College Tom] Crady says there's not enough interest," Nolan said, eliciting laughter when he added, "What I say to that is, 'If you build it, they will come.'"
Nolan did not discuss the service's cost. The vehicle alone would cost around $60,000, James Cart '10, who was Assembly president this summer, said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth after the debate.
The vice presidential candidates stressed the importance of examining the current policy before making large-scale changes.
"One of the most critical things we need to do is clarify what exactly the Good Sam policy is for students," Cunningham said. "You can't begin to address what changes need to be made until students are educated about it."
Aubart said he "completely" agreed with Cunningham, and also criticized problems with the current policy's financial requirements.
"The fine you pay to get taken to Dick's House is unfortunately large," Aubart said. "I believe it is another one of Dartmouth's classist policies that needs to be changed."
The original version of this article incorrectly stated that candidate John Nolan '10 had argued that the Greek Leadership Council rendered the institution of a Greek Judicial Board unnecessary. In fact, Nolan said that such a board, if it were to be created, should be run by the GLC.
