Student Assembly passed legislation during Tuesday's General Assembly meeting to allocate up to $9,000 for a "TEDx" event, which would bring experts from diverse fields to a conference at Dartmouth. The Assembly executive committee also introduced a revision to the Student Assembly constitution that would, among other changes, prevent seniors from voting in student government elections and move the transition between Student Body presidents from the end of Spring term to the middle of the term.
Technology, Entertainment, Design the national organization that heads TEDx was founded as a small non-profit organization that holds annual conferences where experts in technology, entertainment or design are invited to share their ideas to the general public in 18 minutes. The organization is now internationally recognized and has held TED conferences around the world. TEDx events are designed as smaller-scale versions of the large TED conferences that can be held at schools, businesses or libraries, according to the TEDx web site.
Branko Cerny '13, author of the legislation, has worked toward organizing a TEDx event at Dartmouth since October and is now looking to the Assembly for sponsorship, he said.
"I came to [the Assembly] because I'm a member and I think this event is a great way to inspire and motivate the students' academic ambitions and emphasize that we are an academic institution with an amazing potential," Cerny said. "I also think joining the TEDx network will be beneficial for faculty because it can open doors for them."
Cerny is a member of The Dartmouth Business Staff.
TED's 18-minute presentation format is popular because it allows academic lectures to be and entertaining and easy to digest, while maintaining their inspirational qualities, Cerny said. A number of Dartmouth's peer institutions, including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have already held TEDx conferences, he said.
"TED's main goal is to talk about ideas worth spreading," Cerny said. "Having a TEDx at Dartmouth would give students the opportunity to learn about those ideas and get inspiration from the outstanding faculty we have here at the College."
The TEDx event is currently scheduled for April 17 at Moore Theater. Organizers plan to host 10 live speakers at the event, including six to seven Dartmouth faculty and three to four guest speakers, according to Cerny.
The event would separate eight hours of presentations into three separate blocks, interspersed with artistic performances from two Dartmouth student groups and one guest performance group. Cerny said the conference would be a "great" opportunity for students to share their experiences, and is also considering inviting a small number of Dartmouth students to speak, he said.
A few members of the Assembly expressed concern over the expense of such an event, noting that the costs would be roughly one-fourth of the Assembly's remaining budget. The total budget for the event is estimated at $12,826.
"I've been in [the Assembly] for a long time and I'm just concerned with how large the scope of the project is," Assembly member Angelo Carino '11 said.
Cerny acknowledged that the scale of the event is unprecedented, but said that it would ultimately be beneficial for the student body and faculty.
"This is a great idea and we need to approach this from a go big or go home' mentality," Student Body President Frances Vernon '10 said, in response to concerns about the expense of holding the event in Moore Theater.
Now that the legislation has passed, Cerny is seeking other organizations that are willing to help sponsor the event.
"In a budget cut situation, not many organizations are willing to put in a significant amount of money," Cerny said. "Now that I have a baseline budget, I'll be able to show organizations that the project will actually happen and give them confidence that their money won't be wasted."
The Assembly also set plans to vote on proposed changes to its constitution later this month, Assembly spokesman Will Hix '12 said. Under the revised constitution, seniors would no longer be allowed to vote for the student body president and vice president.
The revised constitution would also require the outgoing executive committee to give an informational presentation to the incoming student body president and vice president, and would make the transition period between Assembly presidents begin earlier in the spring. This would allow the new president and vice president to enact policy changes before the end of Spring term and implement new programs for the following year, Hix said.
