In the seven months since Student Body President Eric Tanner '11 took office, Tanner and Student Assembly members have worked to organize a new issue-based committee system and have moved away from programming events fulfilling two of Tanner's campaign platforms. The committees have yet to release any of the recommendations to administrators, however, though that has been their primary project thus far.
Tanner established the new committee system to move away from redundant and programming-focused committees, he said. The seven committees consist of Assembly members, administrators and students that have been involved in working on the specific issues in the past, Tanner said.
The committees took longer to create than initially anticipated because Tanner had difficulty recruiting knowledgeable students who were willing to dedicate their time to the Assembly, he said.
"It was really hard to convince people who were necessary to the conversations that needed to be had that they should give up more of their time to a certain cause," Tanner said.
The committees are currently researching major issues and drafting "detailed reports" to give to administrators at the end of Fall term and the beginning of Winter term, he said.
"There have been some pretty innovative ideas that wouldn't work if they didn't come from students," Tanner added.
The Alcohol Harm Reduction Committee is sponsoring a contest for students to design a poster highlighting the risks of mixing energy drinks and alcohol, co-chairs Max Yoeli '12 and Cyrus Akrami '11 said. The committee has also been researching how other colleges deal with binge drinking and heard a presentation about a sober monitoring program at Haverford College that could be used as a model for a Dartmouth program.
The Sustainability Committee has been working to "make recycling sexy," co-chair Sarah Jewett '12 said at the General Assembly meeting last week. The committee is also developing a "green checklist" for Assembly-sponsored events, co-chair J Mentrek '13 said at last week's meeting.
The Programming and Services Committee hopes to submit a new river dock design to the College by the end of November, according to co-chairs Aaron Limonthas '12 and Caroline Ward '11. A new policy over the summer stated that students could no longer swim in the river because of safety concerns, inspiring major student backlash. The Assembly hopes that the new design will alleviate safety concerns and that the College will reverse the policy, Limonthas said.
Although the committees' recommendations have not been given to administrators yet, Tanner emphasized that this term has focused on recruiting committee members and helping the new issue-based committees determine the best ways to address campus issues.
The Assembly also created the Committee on First-Year Policy and Initiatives for freshman cluster representatives to help them become acquainted with administrators and the Assembly's legislative processes.
There are 18 freshman cluster representatives enrolled in the program, according to co-chair James Lee '13.
"[Tanner] wanted to focus on membership, and especially freshman retention because it's something we didn't do very well last year," Lee said.
The cluster representatives have met with Associate Dean of the College for Campus Life April Thompson, Associate Dean of the College for Student Support Services Inge-Lise Ameer and Director of Dartmouth Dining Services David Newlove, according to Lee.
Tanner said he hopes the Assembly will be able to make more tangible changes during the winter.
"I hope to finalize a lot of our recommendations to administrators and I hope to present those to the administration and I hope to work towards starting to implement them," Tanner said.
Lee is a member of The Dartmouth Business Staff.
