In response to criticism that Student Assembly inadequately represented students' interests last year, Student Body President Max Yoeli '12 and Student Body Vice President Amrita Sankar '12 announced plans to improve efficiency and solicit increased student feedback at the term's first General Assembly meeting Wednesday evening. The two Assembly leaders aim to regain the "trust and respect of the student body" throughout this year, Sankar said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"I know that Student Assembly has not been the most effective organization in the past, and I know that it has taken a lot of heat for not doing what it should," Sankar said. "We want to earn the student body's trust and be as transparent as possible so that if students have issues, we can be the best messengers that we can."
Sankar returns to the Assembly after spending Spring term in India following the Assembly elections on April 15. Yoeli took over for former Student Body President Eric Tanner '11 on April 17.
The Assembly hopes to begin earning students' trust this year by increasing Assembly membership, Yoeli said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"We came in at the end of last spring and attendance was pretty low, so we're excited for this year because we're going to have a lot of enthusiastic freshmen participation," Yoeli said. "We had a number of events during pre-Orientation and during Orientation, and there seems to be a lot of interest among the '15s."
Freshmen are important members of the Assembly because they are able to "see the campus from a third-party perspective," Sankar said.
Yoeli and Sankar have also sought to increase upperclassmen participation by reaching out to individuals and organizations that are passionate about various policy issues, according to Yoeli.
In a departure from past Assembly requirements, Yoeli and Sankar annonced that when organizations send representatives to Assembly meetings this year, those representatives will immediately have full voting privileges. Assembly rules currently require an indivual to attend three General Assembly meetings before being able to vote. Sankar said she hopes the new representative policy will make it easier for students from all parts of campus to voice their opinions.
The Assembly will continue working with students and administrators to address issues that are important to the entire student body this year, Sankar said. She cited the new, highly contested SmartChoice dining plan as one of the Assembly's current focuses.
Assembly leaders have already had multiple discussions with Director of Dartmouth Dining Services David Newlove, Sankar said. Such conversations facilitated the creation of the six-page "Your Guide to DDS" document that the Assembly emailed to all Dartmouth students on Sept. 21, she said.
The Assembly plans to create an online poll to gauge student reactions to the new dining plan, according to Sankar. The poll's results will be compiled and presented to Newlove, she said.
Although the meal plan structure has fundamentally changed at the College, students can still suggest ways to improve the system, Yoeli said.
"We're not going back to an a la carte system regardless of student input, but we can tweak what we do have to make it more conducive to student life here," he said.
During the Wednesday meeting, Assembly committee chairs and representatives from various Assembly initiatives introduced themselves and presented their goals for the upcoming year. Sankar described projects recently completed by the Assembly including the Green Team bystander intervention program intended to reduce alcohol harm on campus, the DDS guide and an iPhone application which provides users with quick access to various resources at the College. The Assembly is also considering "prospective projects" including an Android equivalent of the iPhone application, a leadership summit organized in conjunction with Palaeopitus Senior Society and a community dinner during which students would be able to speak candidly with faculty members, Sankar said at the meeting.
