Improving the College’s printing system, divesting from fossil fuels and extending weekend library hours are among community-generated suggestions gaining attention on Improve Dartmouth, a new student-designed online forum. The website, launched Wednesday, serves as an outlet to suggest, vote on and discuss ideas that could benefit campus.
After logging in with a Dartmouth NetID, users can submit comments and click to agree or disagree with others’ suggestions. As of press time, 98 ideas had been posted, 3,749 votes had been cast and 1,071 users had registered on the website.
Coordinated by Esteban Castano ’14 and Gillian O’Connell ’15, Improve Dartmouth’s goal is “to better understand, prioritize and execute ideas that improve our community,” according to its website.
Twice a month, student moderators from Dartmouth Roots, an organization that aims to resolve various campus issues through concrete action, Student Assembly and Palaeopitus Senior Society will meet to discuss possible implementation of the most popular or promising ideas. These moderators will then collaborate with administrative contacts and student organizations to help push forth changes.
Student body president and site moderator Adrian Ferrari ’14, who helped Castano pitch the idea to College President Phil Hanlon last summer, said one of his favorite suggestions so far mentions making the library’s Theodor Seuss Geisel Room more “Seuss-esque.”
The website’s strength is its ability to aggregate student opinion, Ferrari said in an email, adding that he was excited to see suggestions that are within Student Assembly’s ability to fund and implement.
The Improve Dartmouth team will consider suggestions based on popularity and feasibility, according to Mark Andriola ’14, a Palaeopitus moderator.
“I thought the outlets on Collis Porch idea was a really classic, simple, good one,” Andriola said in an email.
Improve Dartmouth’s voting method automatically prioritizes posts, allowing users to immediately see which issues are salient to the greater community.
Subur Khan ’17 said the democratic voting system appealed to her.
“I think it’s a cool way of getting student voices out there,” Khan said. “I feel like a lot of times when students have complaints they don’t really know who to take them to.”
The Dartmouth Roots website states that “the absence of anonymity creates a self-censored environment.” Users can also submit their ideas directly to moderators, who can post the suggestions from their moderator accounts.
A suggestion to invest in a modern, more reliable printing system is one of the most popular ideas on the website. Other proposals include allowing physical education class registration during off terms and improving mental health care at Dick’s House.
Noah Manning ’17, a Student Assembly moderator, who suggested fixing the Dining at Dartmouth mobile application, said he found the website easy to navigate.
“We’re all students here,” Manning said. “We all have a vested interest in making Dartmouth the best place it can be.”
In addition to acting as a forum for ideas, the Improve Dartmouth website includes a question-and-answer section and a shoutout board on which students can post their appreciation for people or things on campus.
These features are designed to draw attention to good work on campus, according to Dartmouth Roots.
Funded by the President’s office, Improve Dartmouth’s administrative partners include associate dean of the college Elizabeth Agosto, senior assistant dean of the college Katherine Burke, greek letter organizations and societies director Wes Schaub and Collis Center director Eric Ramsey, among others.
