Correction appended
Former candidates for student body president Boyd Lever '10 and John Nolan '10 both told The Dartmouth this week that they will continue to work with Student Assembly despite their unsuccessful bids for the presidency. Neither candidate had been extensively involved with the Assembly before the start of their campaigns.
Historically, losing candidates' involvement in Student Assembly after the election has paralleled their previous Assembly experience.
Nolan is currently a member of the Assembly's student services committee. Before running for student body president, Nolan had occasionally attended Assembly meetings, but had not been a voting member of the body.
In order to gain voting privileges, students must attend three consecutive or five non-consecutive meetings of the Assembly, in addition to three consecutive or five non-consecutive meetings of an Assembly committee.
"I hope to continue serving the students of this college," Nolan said in his e-mail.
Lever, meanwhile, who like Nolan had attended Assembly meetings before running for president but did not have voting privileges, similarly said he will be involved in the Assembly next year in an e-mail to The Dartmouth.
Lever said in the e-mail that he hopes to work with Assembly spokesperson David Imamura '10 and Student Body President-elect Frances Vernon '10 to establish a policy committee. The goals of this committee, he said, would "align with the tangible ideas I outline in my platform," noting that one issue that might fall under the purview of that committee could be his proposal for a Peer Adjudication Committee to work with the Organizational Adjudication Committee on group judicial cases.
Lever charged during his campaign that the Assembly should be more policy-oriented.
"Next year has the potential to be one of the most substantive in over a decade, and I have full intentions of working closely with [Vernon] to achieve the policy goals promoted during my campaign," Lever said in an e-mail.
The Assembly currently has a policy director, but no policy committee. Imamura said that he will become the policy director in Vernon's administration, and that he similarly hopes to create a more formal policy committee that might include Lever in the upcoming year.
Imamura said the committee will focus on long-term goals that might otherwise be overlooked by the Assembly.
"The objective is to bring in people with all different views of campus," Imamura said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "I think that established himself during the course of the campaign, and I definitely think that his views would be valuable at the table, as would [Nolan's]."
Former vice-presidential candidate Phil Aubart '10, who was not involved with the Assembly prior to his campaign, said he will not become a member of the body because of schedule constraints. Aubart said he would have wanted a leadership role in the Assembly, if he were to have been involved with the body.
Student Body Vice President-elect Cory Cunningham '10 said the idea that General Assembly members cannot have an impact on the Assembly is a "misconception."
"I think that people might be a little discouraged if they don't have that immediate power," Cunningham said, adding that members of the student services committee, which he previously chaired, had many opportunities to implement their own projects.
Unsuccessful candidates' previous participation in the Assembly has historically been correlated with their involvement following their bids for leadership, Cunningham said.
"I'd say it's more unusual for a candidate who loses to join [the Assembly] and become a really active member than it is for them just to fade into the background," he said.
Current Student Body Vice President Nafeesa Remtilla '09 similarly said that unsuccessful candidates who had previously been involved with the Assembly and had projects pending often continued their work with the group. Remtilla cited the example of current Assembly treasurer Miesha Smith '09, who served as treasurer during Fall term 2008 following a failed bid for vice president in the 2008 election.
Lee Cooper '09, a former presidential candidate in the same election, said it was generally rare for unsuccessful candidates to be a part of the Assembly.
"Anecdotally, I haven't seen people who lost the election stay very involved," he said.
Immediately following last year's election, Cooper told The Dartmouth he was unsure whether he would participate in the Assembly in the upcoming year. Cooper had been involved with the Assembly during his freshman year, but had not participated in the group in the terms immediately proceeding his bid for the presidency.
In a recent interview with The Dartmouth, Cooper said that he has not been involved with the Assembly in the last year.
"I've not been involved with [the Assembly], but I've maintained my commitment to [2009] Class Council," Cooper said. "In not getting that leadership role, I took that loss as an opportunity to just strengthen and further develop my goals in other organizations I was involved with on campus."
Tay Stevenson '10, a vice presidential candidate in the 2008 election, who had been involved with the Assembly as a freshman, also chose not to be involved with the Assembly following his unsuccessful campaign.
"When I pretty much railed against the establishment, there wasn't really a place for me within the administration," Stevenson said.
Former Student Body President Travis Green '08 said that, of his four opponents in the 2007 election, only Jaromy Siporen '08 -- who had been extensively involved with the Assembly before making his bid for the presidency -- continued to work for the Assembly after the election.
"I know, for me, I invited all the other candidates to join my administration," Green said, adding later that he considered his opponents when selecting members of his executive board.
"It's a tough relationship to navigate," Green said. "If you can find common ground, there's a productive place to work there."
Vernon will not begin the process of selecting an executive board for several weeks, Imamura said.
The Assembly's executive board is headed by the president and vice president and consists of the co-chairs of each committee, as well as the treasurer, secretary, parliamentarian, spokesperson and executive assistant of the Assembly.
In his campaign platform, Lever had proposed that one of the co-chairs for each committee be elected by a campus-wide vote. Imamura declined to comment on whether Vernon's administration would adopt this structure.
Stevenson criticized past administrations for "purging" the Assembly of members who did not agree with the incoming president and appoint campaign supporters to the executive board. This strategy results in a loss of experienced members, some of whom have connections with College administrators, Stevenson said.
"When you win a position, you're naturally expected to give the freshman who has been out there knocking on doors for you a position," he said.
Cunningham is a member of The Dartmouth Senior Business Staff. Aubart is a staff columnist for The Dartmouth.
The original version of this article incorrectly stated that Nolan plans to join the Assembly's student services committee. In fact, Nolan is already a memer of that committee.
