On Sept. 28, the Dartmouth Student Government Senate met for its second weekly meeting of the fall term. Led by student body president Sabik Jawad ’26, the Senate discussed funding a memorial for Won Jang ’26 and increasing river safety initiatives by adding lighting and railings by the river.
Later in the meeting, economics professor Bruce Sacerdote presented the upcoming Peak Bag community hike to the Senate. Jawad also proposed updating the attendance policy and releasing a statement on recent antisemitic vandalism on campus.
Rachel Roncka ’26 and Chaehyun Lee ’26, who were friends of Jang, spoke at the meeting to request funding for a physical memorial to honor Jang and Senate oversight on river safety projects.
“I think it’s really important to recognize that this [Won’s death] could have happened to anyone,” Lee said during the meeting. “We want to send a message to the future generations, and from the College as a whole, to just show care and love for our community.”
Chaplain and Director of the Tucker Center Nancy Vogele, who said she has been working with Roncka and Lee to offer them options for memorials, explained in an interview with The Dartmouth that College policies restrict options for memorials.
“The College has very clear guidelines of how we remember people, and it’s a bench or a tree,” Vogele said. “If you want to think creatively, there might be things you can do that don’t require student-centered spaces [or] the policies of the college.”
The Ledyard Canoe Club, who owns and operates the river docks, agreed to help construct, install and maintain a memorial outside the College’s purview, according to Roncka.
Sacerdote attended the meeting to share information about the annual Peak Bag community hike, which began five years ago to raise money for mental health and suicide prevention in memory of Kenyan lightweight rower Omondi Obura ’88. The event will culminate in a picnic on Baker Lawn with performances from The Subtleties and a speech from College President Sian Leah Beilock.
Jawad also presented a statement he and general senator Tamia Kelly ’27 drafted prior to the meeting on the recent swastika graffiti found outside of a Jewish student’s room. Beilock announced in an email to campus that the Department of Safety and Security had received a report of a second swastika graffiti over the weekend, an account which the Hanover Police Department disputed on Monday but resulted in immediate widespread campus concern.
The email statement, sent Monday morning to Dartmouth undergraduates, denounced the vandalism as “deeply disheartening and wholly unacceptable.”
“The High Holidays and Family Weekend coincide this year, and we cannot allow a time of celebration to be perverted by hatred,” the statement continued. “Residence halls should be a sanctuary for the students living there, and students deserve to feel safe in their space.”
The email also provided a link to student resources available through the College’s Office of Undergraduate Student Affairs.
The Senate also discussed ongoing projects and operational matters. School House senator Hanna Bilgin ’28 said Dartmouth Dining added 87 new Fresh Zone vending machines in 23 locations across campus. These vending machines will accept DBA, she added. Additionally, a fresh fruit bar will be added to the Class of 1953 Commons on Oct. 8, and a community barbeque will be held on Oct. 17 for the soft reopening of the Courtyard Cafe.
Jawad proposed adopting a constitutional amendment to the DSG attendance policy for senators after noting “an issue with committee attendance in particular.” According to Jawad, the current attendance policy allows senators six consecutive unexcused absences from committee meetings without repercussions. Jawad’s proposed amendment states that missing a combination of four public and committee meetings would result in senators being “automatically impeached.”
Kelly disagreed with this amendment and said she believed it would “operationalize something that we currently already do.”
“I think that there should be stricter attendance policies, but maybe that this amendment in particular isn’t the best way to go about it,” Kelly said.
West House senator Reece Sharp ’28 agreed that a stricter attendance policy is needed to ensure attendance at committee meetings, but that Jawad’s constitutional amendment should be clarified regarding how to excuse absences.
“We are elected members of the student body, we have a duty to show up and do what we were elected to do,” Sharp said.
Kelly also proposed funding shuttles for sports games away from campus, citing similar programs at Fordham University and Harvard University, both of which do so for basketball and football games. She also suggested establishing remote classes specifically for students who need one to two credits in order to graduate.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
