Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism. Support independent student journalism.
The Dartmouth
July 14, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Budget has been main priority for Vernon '10

Student Body President-elect Frances Vernon '10 and Student Body Vice President-elect Cory Cunningham '10 have focused on preparing the Student Assembly budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year during the first two weeks of their transition period, the pair said in interviews with The Dartmouth. They plan to submit the Assembly's budget proposal to the Undergraduate Finance Committee on Monday.

Vernon and Cunningham are in the last week of the formal three-week transition period established by the April 7 amendment to the Assembly's constitution. The amendment is intended to facilitate collaboration between the outgoing and incoming administrations during and after the transition period. Vernon previously told The Dartmouth that she and current Student Body President Molly Bode '09 will co-chair Assembly meetings for the remainder of Spring term.

"I think what it hasn't been is normal," Vernon said about this year's transition. "We have an extremely smooth transition happening right now, and we all are working together really well."

Vernon said that, as of late Sunday evening, the Assembly was not requesting an increase in funds over last year, although the proposal was still subject to change. The proposal allocates funding for more alternative social space parties than it did last year, among other changes, Vernon said.

"We'll be requesting slightly higher than what we received this year, but no higher than what we requested before," Bode said.

The Assembly received $85,000 from the UFC for the 2008-2009 year.

The Assembly will likely use its budget to "fill some of the gaps" for other organizations that experience budgetary deficits resulting from discretionary fund cuts, Cunningham said.

"I can't say what those might be yet because we'll really see come July 1," Cunningham said. "But that's my goal, to hopefully be able to use some of our budget application for next year to provide what we would deem to be critical student things that might be cut otherwise."

Meeting with College administrators has provided valuable insight into how the College has managed budget cuts and how the Assembly can be accountable for its budget, Vernon said.

"We went to different college administrators like [Associate Dean of the College] Gordon Taylor," Vernon said, "who has informed us about how the College has handled this situation and what is the best way the College has approached sort of a similar situation to the one that the student budget is in right now, and what his suggestions are as far as being conservative over the next year."

Vernon said she plans to clarify the budget situation for students by asking the Student Budget Advisory Committee for a "list of what's actually being affected and how it's affecting students." That list should be available by the end of Spring term, Vernon said.

"You have to remember as a student organization that you have to look at this as a bigger picture of all the cuts being made," Vernon said. "I think in order to do that, the best possible way to be transparent about it is to come up with the most comprehensive and centralized list possible that the administration is willing to release -- that is not confidential information -- to the student body."

Vernon and Cunningham will meet with Hanover Police, Hanover officials and community members this week to discuss how the town's policies affect Dartmouth's alcohol policy and alcohol education, Vernon said.

Vernon said the transition process reminded her that she is a relative outsider to the Assembly, despite already being an "insider with a lot of the [College's] administration."

"It's helping me take a step back and really look at some of the initiatives that we've done over the past years and say, 'Are we answering to the demand of the student body? Should we still continue doing this? Where is our energy best placed?'" she said.

Vernon said she was optimistic that collaboration with the outgoing administration would lead to a successful future for the Assembly.

"Molly and [Student Body Vice President Nafeesa Remtilla '09] might be surprised that Cory and I are asking different questions [about Assembly procedures] than what have been asked in the past," Vernon said. "But I think whether it may be surprising, it's necessary in order to build a stronger [Assembly] over the next year."

Cunningham is a senior member of The Dartmouth Business Staff.