I believe that the next president should work on building and restoring the relationships between the student body, Hanover Police and Safety and Security. Hopefully, he or she can facilitate understanding, from all sides, on the issues at hand.Emily Baxter '11
Is Student Assembly better off now than it was a year ago? "Club SA" is still an impotent voice on campus, still led by the egoistic pre-laws and the resume-obsessed. The biggest issue candidates must tackle this year is how the Assembly can tackle issues effectively, efficiently and with greater student input than the status quo. To concern ourselves with any particular issue without fixing the structural problems underlying the Assembly is a waste of everyone's time and energy.Kevin Niparko '12
Making Student Assembly a relevant, articulate and clearly-defined organization would be a great start for the next Student Body President.Spenser Mestel '11
The new Student Body President must work with the administration and town leadership to find a permanent solution to the alcohol-related controversies such as the February sting operations. While the discussion has abated in recent months, the underlying issues are still present and have the potential to both drastically alter Dartmouth's social life and destroy the relationship between the town and college.Brendan Woods '13
The next Student Body President needs to first and foremost actively work to get the general student body more involved in and aware of campus issues. He or she needs to raise the level of awareness of Student Assembly's activities and goals by increasing participation and more effectively communicating with the campus.Jacob Batchelor '12The chief priority of the next president should be to increase participation in Student Assembly. As the mission of our student government is to represent a diverse array of interests, it is necessary that the Assembly be composed of students from a range of backgrounds and perspectives who make a long-term commitment to work collaboratively to improve Dartmouth.Natalie Colaneri '12
I have been at Dartmouth for almost a year now and I still do not know exactly what the Student Assembly does. A good number of my friends do not know who the current Student Body President is, or even our class president. Regardless of what big issues the next president takes on, it would be nice if he or she interacts with the rest of us students more.Ethan Wang '13
The biggest issue the next Student Body President will need to take up is fixing the perception of the Student Assembly as a cliquey, bureaucratic and wasteful quagmire that embarrasses the very concept of undergraduate representation. He or she should do so by working on projects that engage a wide swath of the Dartmouth community, rather than cater to niche social interests.Raza Rasheed '12
If Student Assembly's job truly is to advocate for students, than an important issue it could take up is the difficulty of scheduling meeting and practice sites for performing arts groups. The gravity of this issue pales in comparison to budget cuts and alcohol policy, but its smaller scope might allow the Assembly to promote change that will have a tangible impact on the student body for once. Complaints about lack of practice space, administrators who don't respond to scheduling requests and double booking are all common among members of performance groups. Perhaps if the Assembly lowers its sights to the more mundane, day-to-day aspects of daily student life, it will have more success, and earn more legitimacy that it can call on when faced with critical issues.Emily Johnson '12
