This year has been a very eventful one in Dartmouth’s history. From the welcoming of our third College President in five years, to multiple protests and national media attention, this year has been a bit of a wild ride. A ride, unfortunately, that has led to divisiveness and dissatisfaction with various aspects of the College by many students. What our campus needs now is a leader who can unify the campus and move us forward toward a better Dartmouth for all.
While I claim to be that leader, I do not hold any misconceptions about the extent of the role played by a student body president. Throughout my three years of experience in Student Assembly, I have seen multiple presidents come in with unrealistic and exaggerated goals. Thankfully, I also saw how these presidents came to terms with the limitations of their position and used their influence to incrementally improve life on campus, even if not to the full extent of their original desire.
The main role of the student body president should be to represent student interests from all corners of campus as an advocate on their behalf to the administration. In addition, the president should be willing to push the administration to constant transparency so that the student body is always aware of what is going on at the upper levels of the College. Because of my experience and my personality, I am the best candidate for this job.
Not only do I have leadership experience from serving on the executive committee of Student Assembly and leading the Modern Abolition Initiative, a group committed to raising awareness about human trafficking, I also have an approachable personality and a willingness to reach out to each segment of the student body and familiarize myself with the issues that affect them. I would be a president that continually strives to represent and to advocate for all students’ interests.
A student body president should work to make realistic changes to campus life to improve the Dartmouth experience. I saw how this worked firsthand during the contentious switch to a new meal plan system a few years ago. I worked alongside the president and vice-president of the time, Max Yoeli ’12 and Amrita Sankar ’12, to gather student opinions about what should be changed, sit down with the appropriate administrators to discuss which changes were feasible and actually enact those changes. Through that process, we were able to bring about the block choice options, as well as the 10 swipes per week plan. While these were not massive changes, they did provide more choices to the student body about how their meal plan money is spent.
This is the type of experience needed in a student body president. From getting DBA to roll over from term to term, to finding incentives to increase participation in the Dartmouth Bystander Initiative to reduce sexual assault, to implementing the top ideas from Improve Dartmouth, what is needed is a leader who understands how to work with the administration, come to agreements on realistic changes that can be made and actually get things done. As president, I would commit myself to reaching out to our diverse student communities to learn about and promote other desired changes. And as the year progresses, I would keep students informed of the Assembly’s work by sending out two to three blitzes per term describing what we have been doing. Students should be kept aware of the work Student Assembly is doing on their behalf.
Being the only non-write-in candidate without an unofficial running mate this year, I am willing and able to work with any of the vice presidential candidates and collaborate on our various initiatives. So I hope you will vote for me and whoever you believe to be the most qualified vice presidential candidate.
With my experience in Student Assembly, my dedication to improving campus life for all, and my willingness to reach out to all segments of campus to fully represent the student body, I hope you will agree that I am the best candidate to be your student body president. Feel free to visit my website to read more about my platform and planned initiatives at www.shaw4prez.com.
Yesuto Shaw '15 is running for student body president.
