Following the Elections Planning and Advisory Committee's Wednesday deadline for petitions, Amrita Sankar '12 confirmed her intention to run for student body president in an interview with The Dartmouth, joining the race against Will Hix '12 and Max Yoeli '12, who announced their candidacies last week. Brian Holekamp '12 will run for student body vice president, he said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Student Assembly candidates were required to submit petitions with 100 student signatures to EPAC an appointed five-person advisory committee by 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The official list of candidates cannot be released until the committee reviews the petitions on Friday, according to EPAC chair Harry Enten '11.
If elected president, Sankar said she hopes to work extensively with diversity issues, improve transparency regarding the new dining plan, enhance sustainability at the College, create a mentoring program for freshmen and facilitate students' interactions with College computing services.
Sankar, a government major from Ridgefield, Ct., has been involved with the Assembly since her sophomore year and served as co-chair of the Diversity and Community Affairs Committee during her sophomore fall, junior fall and junior winter.
Sankar is involved with Milan, Dartmouth's South Asian student organization, and is membership director for the College Democrats and the New Hampshire branch of the College Democrats of America. Sankar was also part of the Diversity Peer Program during her sophomore Summer and is a Sexual Abuse Peer Advisor, she said. Sankar is a member of Panarchy undergraduate society and served as president of the Subtleties for two terms.
In January, Sankar co-wrote a highly-circulated letter calling for greater transparency regarding acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears' decision not to be considered for the permanent deanship, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Yoeli, a history major from Pound Ridge, N.Y., is currently the vice president of Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity, a Mentor Against Violence, a Sexpert and a club hockey and club lacrosse player. He is a member of the Committee on Standards' Sexual Review Committee and is student co-chair of the Assembly's Alcohol Crime and Reduction Committee, which was responsible for the foundation of Green Team over Winter term. He also served as a student co-chair of the Student and Presidential Alcohol Harm Reduction Committee that was established to investigate alcohol consumption on campus and proposed policies to promote student safety during the spring of 2010.
Yoeli, who increased his involvement in the Assembly during his sophomore Summer, said he hopes to address the disconnect that he sees between the student body and the Assembly, and between the Assembly and the administration. Yoeli said his participation in a broad variety of campus organizations will aid him in his ability to bridge those gaps.
"I don't think that student opinion is consistently and widely represented in the Assembly and I don't think that the Assembly has done a good enough job of representing that opinion to [College President Jim Yong Kim], to the deans, to the administration and to [the Board of Trustees]," Yoeli said.
Holekamp, who participates in the College's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, is a member of Phi Delta Alpha fraternity and will serve as president of club lacrosse next year. Holekamp said he does not have any prior experience with the Assembly and declined to express his views on the Assembly.
Hix said in an interview with The Dartmouth that he has not recently made any major changes to his platform, but emphasized that he would like to make the Assembly a more accessible venue for discussion of campus issues.
The petition deadline followed a charged General Assembly meeting Tuesday night during which the Assembly voted to uphold a new EPAC rule prohibiting students who have been suspended from running for president or vice president. The Assembly voted 17-8 against the amendment, which was proposed by Hix, that would have allowed previously suspended students to run.
Hix will meet with April Thompson, associate dean of the College for campus life, regarding EPAC's new rule, he said in an interview with The Dartmouth. In 2004 the administration temporarily overruled a decision made by EPAC to sanction a candidate for rule violations, although the administration ultimately rescinded its decision and restored the original sanction, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Hix also asked EPAC to reconsider its decision to forbid students who have been suspended from running in the upcoming elections. Hix said he contacted the Dean of the College's Office and argued that the rule is a violation of Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA requires that students' disciplinary records remain confidential.
