Tossing aside the formal list of speakers that usually governs Student Assembly meetings, students exchanged ideas about the future of the Assembly in an open-style meeting with newly-elected Student Body President Eric Tanner '11 on Monday in Tindle Lounge. Topics included accountability, student participation and plans for the soon-to-be revamped administrative structure.
The "ad-hoc," or issue-based, committees outlined in Tanner's campaign platform will focus the Assembly on policy issues rather than services and programming, Tanner said.
The Student Services, Academic Affairs and Diversity and Community Affairs Committees will remain unchanged until Fall, according to Tanner.
Tanner added, however, that committees should focus on both short-term and long-term policy to provide a better indicator of progress.
Assembly spokesperson Will Hix '12 introduced an informal proposal during the meeting to implement the new structure outlined by Tanner, including the ad-hoc committees. The proposed plan would formalize some of the Assembly's internal committee processes and provide more accountability among members, Hix said.
Many of the jobs in the Assembly are filled "haphazardly," Hix said, adding that his proposal gives "clearly-defined roles" for individuals assigned to positions.
"It's a big step in promoting accountability," he said.
Under the proposed administrative structure, the current number of executive board positions would be cut down from 14 to nine.
While the plan would eliminate the spokesperson and parliamentarian positions from General Assembly, the plan maintains the positions of treasurer, speaker and secretary.
New positions would include a policy director, membership director, programs director and appointments director, all selected by the student body president and vice president and confirmed by the General Assembly.
The proposal also details the method of selecting the topics of the new ad-hoc committees, which will address specific issues such as sustainability, sexual assault and alternative social spaces. Under the plan, a policy director would select five main issues for which ad-hoc committees would be formed at the beginning of Fall term.
Members of the appointments board would then seek "experts" from campus who would form half of the committee's membership. These "experts" would be chosen based on their relevant experience and qualifications.
A policy director would select one expert committee co-chair who would in turn be confirmed by the General Assembly, according to the proposal.
Assembly members would elect the co-chair, who will represent the Assembly on each ad-hoc committee, according to the proposal Hix presented.
General Assembly members fill the other half of the ad-hoc committee. They will be chosen for committee service by a membership board comprised of elected representatives of the General Assembly.
In the past, both chairs have been appointed by the student body president and vice president. A recent constitutional amendment called for one to be appointed and the other elected by the Assembly.
The plan would "outsource" events like the "Mr. and Mrs. Big Green" spirit competition to groups like Programming Board, according to Hix.
Several committee members voiced concerns that the overhaul was too drastic, and called for a simplified version of the plan.
Tanner said that the problem with overhauling the system was the difficulty of implementing new committees without impeding the work of previously-existing ones.
The proposed plan would restructure the Membership and Internal Affairs committee, which Tanner said is "overstretched in the way that it does membership."
Other topics discussed at the Assembly meeting included increasing interest and participation in Assembly services and events.
Members discussed a "proactive" approach where Assembly members go to different organizations and highlight existing and potential services that the Assembly can provide.
A proposed common funding application, the result of a non-binding resolution passed by the Undergraduate Finance Committee in support of changing the process of acquiring event funding, may be enacted by the end of May, Hix told The Dartmouth following the Assembly meeting.
The streamlined application would increase efficiency and accountability by allowing student groups to fill out one application to receive funding for events, according to Hix.
If the application is made available online, it will allow viewers to access the funding application through Blackboard, Hix said. This move will both increase transparency and "help the decision-making process at [the UFC] to make budget allocations," he said.
