At the Dartmouth Student Government’s first weekly meeting of spring term, School House senator Oscar Rempe-Hiam ’29 solicited feedback on a statement he drafted urging Dartmouth to rename the Black Family Visual Arts Center. BVAC was funded by a $78 million donation from Leon Black ’73, who maintained a longstanding relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
In his presentation, Rempe-Hiam said he believes the College has shown no “sense of urgency” about renaming the building and that he hoped the statement would not only “increase awareness about this issue for the student body,” but also “put some real pressure” on the College to do so.
“I do think that we have a responsibility as student government to call on the College to rename the building,” Rempe-Hiam said.
General senator Trace Ribble ’29 said he supported renaming BVAC, which he compared to recent renaming of buildings at universities following information regarding labor organizer Cesar Chavez’s sexual assault of young girls in the 1970s. The College replaced a fellowship named after Chavez without public announcement following allegations published by the New York Times that the labor leader sexually abused two underage girls in the 1970s.
Black has denied sexual abuse accusations against him and that he directly played a role in Epstein’s criminal enterprise. Dartmouth has no current financial relationship with Black.
DSG agreed to revisit Rempe-Hiam’s statement in their next meeting.
Senators also debated the distribution of DSG’s remaining budget of $4,500 for the year, as well as how to fill three vacancies on the senate.
National Pan-Hellenic Council president Alicia Cage ’26 requested $1,000 from DSG to support the Dartmouth African Students’ Association’s Green Key weekend “Beat the Streetlights” party, which plans to host food, games, a bounce house and a photo booth. The event had over 400 attendees last year, according to Cage. The $1,000 from DSG would be used to fund safety kits containing condoms, flashlights, lip balms, hand sanitizer and band aids given to attendees during the event. The budget will also go towards purchasing Narcan.
The event is centered around “Black joy, culture and visibility during one of Dartmouth’s biggest spring traditions,” Cage said.
“We are intentionally trying to create a space during Green Key where the community can come and feel ownership and private energy surrounding this event,” Cage said. “But also inviting the community to experience the culture as well, and also to have that cross cultural engagement.”
General senator Julia Zichy ’27 raised concerns about DSG’s ability to fund Green Key safety for the entire weekend if the proposal passed and suggested earmarking less money for the proposed event.
DSG did not have “any Green Key related projects” last year, according to student body president Sabik Jawad ’26 in a statement to The Dartmouth.
East Wheelock senator Sud Paul ’27 argued that it is important for DSG to fund initiatives and events that “represent other students from a variety of identities.”
“At the end of the day, this is a celebration of culture,” Paul said. “They came to us to get representation, and that’s what’s important.”
In a roll call vote of 21 in favor for the proposal, DSG agreed to earmark $1,000 for the event.
Jawad also announced three vacancies following two resignations by senators in the Class of 2029 and a senator in the Class of 2026 who graduated early. Jawad raised concerns about filling these vacancies for the spring term with senate elections set for this term.
Jawad declined to comment on the reason for the resignations or the schedule for senate elections.
General senator Reece Sharp ’28 argued that DSG should not fill the senate vacancies because elections for the 2026-27 senate will happen soon.
“It takes a long time to properly go through the process of calling to the class years and going through everyone,” Sharp said. “Even though elections are soon and we still have a full term by the time elections happen, people who are elected tend to just come to meetings as a representative or a member of the public.”
West House senator Samay Sahu ’27 argued that it is important for DSG to fill senate vacancies in order to offer “students the representation that they need.”
“I just think that no matter what, it’s always important, no matter how much of a hassle it is for us to offer students the representation that they need,” Sahu said. “For that reason, I’m always filling vacancies as soon as possible, regardless of the restraints.”
In a roll call vote of 16 for, three against and three abstaining, DSG agreed to hold elections for the three senate vacancies.
Jawad also proposed earmarking $500 for DSG’s textbook accessibility initiative, which began in the fall term. This term, DSG partnered with Still North Books and Bar to provide students with free donated textbooks. The program received 160 applicants, four times as many as previous terms, according to Jawad.
Senators expressed concerns about exceeding the budget for the spring term. However, general senator Tamia Kelly ’27 shared that in comparison to previous years, DSG has been able to spend the majority of their $76,000 allocated annual budget,
This year, DSG has been “doing things that actually benefit the students, compared to past years where they had large amounts left over,” Kelly said.
In a roll call vote of 17 in favor, one against and three abstaining, DSG agreed to earmark $500 for the textbook accessibility initiative.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
Oscar Rempe-Hiam ’29 is an opinion columnist for The Dartmouth. He was not involved in writing or editing this article.
