After serving as Student Assembly vice president his junior year, Frank Cunningham ’16 was elected SA president last spring. We talked to him about some of his plans for the year.
Can you give a general outline of Student Assembly’s role on campus?
FC: Like any other student government, Student’s Assembly’s main focus is to be a liaison between the administration and the student body, to ensure that whatever the students are concerned about, whatever issues, the administration is made aware of. But communicating with the administration is only part of our job. The other half is seeing that those wishes of the students are actually achieved. So there are two parts to it, we’re first the liaison to inform the administration what is going on within the student body, but also the second part is to actually see something happen.
So for example, one of our biggest pushes right now is our student bill of rights, and that’s going to be our major endeavor throughout this entire year. Given the fact that so much is changing at Dartmouth, some [changes are] for good, and some have left the student body in a state of turmoil and unrest. But given the fact that there has been so much change, students must have some form of stability within their lives, and so they know exactly what they can and cannot do and what rights they actually have. And given the fact that Dartmouth is a private school, it’s a sticky situation when you start discussing rights. But I’m positive that the administration and Student Assembly can come to some form of agreement when we outline these rights that students have when they’re on campus. And it’s not even creating new rights, it’s almost defining rights that students might not even know they have once they enter Dartmouth.
Why do you think it’s so important to have something like Student Assembly on campus?
FC: A prime example would be during the whole “Moving Dartmouth Forward” [presidential] steering committee and rollout — Student Assembly played a critical role in that. Student Assembly was trying to coordinate with student groups to ensure that their feedback was heard. And to take a more recent example, let’s take the new class schedule for this upcoming year given Rosh Hashanah. Classes are starting later, and we’re having Saturday classes [on Sept. 26 and Oct. 24]. The moment we heard that, we began to see that the campus climate was somewhat upset with that, and we immediately went into discussions with the administration and told them they should have consulted us, so all of us could have come to a better agreement, rather than just saying, “Let’s have classes starting at 8 a.m. Saturday morning.” But luckily, given our negotiations, classes are now starting later on that Saturday. So, every community needs some to actually represent them and their interests, and that’s exactly what Student Assembly does. And it’s a serious honor, that the student body had enough faith to elect me as [SA vice president] last year and elect me as president this year. And it is a serious honor for anyone serving on Student Assembly because it plays a key role in the students’ day-to-day life.
What do you think are some of Student Assembly’s achievements from last year?
FC: I would definitely say our mental health campaign, which I’m excited to say we are continuing this year. We finally shone a light on a topic that I have personally dealt with, that friends of mine have dealt with, and that’s always something that administrators compliment us on — the fact that we have our kick-off event, that we have our relaxation fest, that we really take a key stance in working with Dick’s House and making sure that the students are receiving the counseling sessions that they need during their time at Dartmouth. Another campaign from last year was the “It’s On Us” campaign, and that was in conjunction with the White House. It was a White House initiative to address sexual assault on college campuses. And jumping back to “Moving Dartmouth Forward,” we coordinated discussion groups with key administrators, such as [College] President [Phil] Hanlon, Provost [Carolyn] Dever, Dean [Inge-Lise] Ameer, so that students could come and have their questions answered. And those are simply a few of our items from last year.
Do you have any plans that are specifically tailored to the ’19s?
FC: I just remember how excited I was when I entered into Dartmouth. I heard stories that my sister had told me — my sister was a ’07 — and I also had classmates that were older than me. So my biggest goal is to make sure that the ’19s coming in actually have that excitement and are proud to say that they are going to Dartmouth College, and also fostering a sense of community. I feel as if that is one of my, and also Dari [Seo]’s [’16] once he is hopefully confirmed [as SA vice president], biggest goals this year, is to bring that community. With so much change and unrest, everyone feels as if they can’t talk to each other and that Dartmouth is not the same. And yes, Dartmouth may be different, but I know the thing that everyone loves about Dartmouth still is our community, and that is really the thing that I want to push with the ’19s, and what I really want to do is to get the ’19s on Student Assembly immediately. I know I’m in the process of coordinating with the rest of the staff on hosting our ’19 cookout in the McLaughlin [residential] cluster, so I really hope the ’19s will come out to meet us and figure out what’s happening in Student Assembly.
What are some of your more general campus-wide plans and goals for this year?
FC: Our mental health campaign is going to take a bigger stance this year. We’re working with Dick’s House and [the student and presidential committee on sexual assault] on that as well. We’re excited to be addressing the issue of social spaces on campus in line with the new residential college system, so Student Assembly will start moving forward with our Shark Tank concept that I ran on during the spring. We’re also really looking at community and ways that students can be aware of other issues that are happening on campus and also around campus, and also service. I really want the Dartmouth community to have a focus on giving back, and it’s something that a lot of students naturally do, but I think that Student Assembly need to be the ones leading this effort of focusing on community and giving back. Student Assembly is redoing our website to include all things student life on there; hopefully it can be a way that allows Student Assembly to be more transparent with the student body so they can always be aware of what we’re doing, but also a way for students to know what’s happening on campus. And I’m also excited to have a more detailed discussion with the dean, once I get back, and once [Seo] is confirmed and I’ve had time to speak with our new team, because I am really excited about this year, and I think its going to be a great year for Student Assembly.
