At the fifth Dartmouth Student Government meeting of the term on Oct. 19, the senate unanimously approved $10,000 of funding for the IdeaLab and expanded the program to support more projects involving student life.
IdeaLab is a grant program founded in the winter of 2022 by then-student body vice president Jessica Chiriboga ’24 to fund student mental health projects at Dartmouth, according to the DSG website. Last year, IdeaLab funded seven projects with $1,000 grants each. Past IdeaLab projects include an intentional eating workshop series and expanding the Ukrainian language at Dartmouth.
Majority of respondents in DSG survey opposed compact
The Senate also discussed the results of a DSG survey about the Trump administration’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which was sent to campus on Oct. 16. Dartmouth rejected the compact on Oct. 18 after receiving it on Oct. 1.
Seventy-seven percent of 107 respondents opposed the compact, student body president Sabik Jawad ’26 said. Fifty percent opposed the compact with amendments and 26% supported the compact with certain amendments. In specific written comments, many students discussed concerns of academic independence and the effects of the compact on marginalized students, Jawad added.
“Even among most respondents who supported the compact, they also highlighted that they still have more concerns about academic independence, and they would like some more reassurances in terms of that,” Jawad said.
Ivy mental health conference set for November
Later in the meeting, Ivy League Mental Health Conference student representative Noelle Chen ’28 spoke at the meeting to invite senators to participate in the upcoming event.
The annual conference, which originally began in 2016 at the University of Pennsylvania, will be held for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic at Princeton University from Nov. 7 to Nov. 9. The purpose of the conference is to share various mental health initiatives at each respective university.
Chen said she hoped for DSG members and students to attend the conference as Dartmouth representatives to “talk about” Dartmouth mental health initiatives and “learn from” other universities’ initiatives.
“It would be great to have representatives from Dartmouth come to Princeton to talk about our initiatives, and also so that we can learn from the other Ivies about some initiatives they have in the mental health conference,” Chen said.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
