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The Dartmouth
March 30, 2024 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Kuppa-Apte: VP Candidate Statement

4.11.13.news.SAheadshots2_Cirrus Foroughi
4.11.13.news.SAheadshots2_Cirrus Foroughi

Here at Dartmouth, I am a member of the Class of 2014 and a government and economics double major. I am a social chair for Sigma Delta sorority, co-captain of the women's rugby team, liaison for the Inter-Community Council and a tour guide for the Admissions Office. Over my sophomore summer, I was a mentor in the Summer Enrichment at Dartmouth program. I studied abroad in Barcelona and spent my last winter in Washington, D.C., interning at the Legal Aid Society.

Adrian and I believe the best way to represent the interests of the student body and present a coherent, strong student voice to the administration is to set a new standard for group collaboration at Dartmouth. We know there are smart, dedicated students in organizations all over campus that are already working on initiatives and reforms to solve the most pressing issues we face. They do not need the Assembly to hand ideas or proposals down to them; they need the Assembly to be a resource through which they can gain access to the administration. If we can establish a system of communication and collaboration between campus groups, we can ensure that our efforts our channeled rather than replicated.

Furthermore, we believe that the Assembly, Palaeopitus and the Inter-Community Council, three groups that regularly lobby the administration, need to work more closely together than they do now. This would ensure that the work done by these organizations can be presented in a strong, coherent voice to the administration. For example, we propose that the diversity and community chair, whose purpose overlaps with ICC's work, attend ICC meetings to coordinate the Assembly and ICC's initiatives to address pluralism and inclusivity at Dartmouth. Coalition-based initiatives, built from the ground up and given access to the Assembly's considerable resources, are the best way to bring student concerns, ideas and reforms to the administration.

Adrian and I also want to expand and improve the freshman peer mentorship program. This program needs to focus attention on freshmen at the individual level and bring the ratio of mentor-to-mentee down to one-to-one. This program could be one of the best things we offer to our freshmen, and it needs to be made available to all freshmen, especially the ones who do not fall under other mentorship programs like OutReach or Link Up.

While Adrian and I started off together in Russell Sage two and a half years ago (ask him about the time he had to climb out of the bathroom window in his pajamas), we have taken somewhat different paths at Dartmouth. Even though we have not had the same D-Plans or extracurricular activities, we have remained close friends who share the same passion and goals for Dartmouth. We have always had really great conversations about what we love about this college and how it could be better. Hearing each other's perspectives has given us insight into parts of campus we wouldn't otherwise know. Our strong respect for each other brings together two very different Dartmouth experiences, two spheres of campus and a shared motivation to leave this campus even better than it was when we got here.

Kuppa-Apte is a former member of The Dartmouth Staff.