At the seventh weekly Dartmouth Student Government meeting of the term on Nov. 2, the Senate unanimously approved funding for a book bank program to increase the affordability of course materials. The Senate also unanimously endorsed a proposal to create a dining advisory council with students, dining representatives and administrators to inform dining decisions.
The book bank program will “encourage” students to donate their used textbooks at the end of each term by offering a $5 Amazon gift card for each donated book, according to South House senator Jason Zhu ’28, who sponsored the proposal. Students would be able to borrow donated textbooks for free.
“A lot of textbooks are underutilized right now,” Zhu said.
Zhu proposed allocating $2,000 of DSG funds to the program to fund 400 of the $5 Amazon gift cards for students who donate books, with unused funds returning to DSG.
General senator Ikenna Nwafor ’27 suggested in response that DSG buy textbooks “according to demand” to prevent students from continuously donating textbooks to get gift cards and “exploiting” the program.
North Park senator Jude Poirier ’28 proposed specifically providing books for popular introductory classes and coordinating with professors.
“Let your students know at the start of term that they can pick up books from this bank, and also let them know at the end of the term that if they bought a book, they should [donate] it to the book bank,” he said.
The Senate approved $2,000 in funding to the book bank and will resume conversation on how the funds will be used on a later date. The program will begin next term.
After continuing the last meeting’s discussion about the proposed dining committee, the Senate voted unanimously to endorse it. The new committee will give “access to more financial information” from Dartmouth Dining and allow students to make “long term recommendations” on dining decisions, student body president Sabik Jawad ’26 said.
The proposal as written by the DSG’s own dining advisory council did not offer specific details about the membership, eligibility or other factors.
The Senate also approved funding for an existing program to provide Co-op Food Store gift cards, usable at all Upper Valley locations, to address student food insecurity on campus during winter break. Students can apply for the gift cards, with priority placed on students who demonstrate financial need. One hundred will be available, each worth $75. First year engagement director Mary Sherrard ’28, who sponsored the program, said this is an increase of a $25 value-per-card from last year.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
