On Sept. 19, Dartmouth Student Government decided in a closed session that new senators will each be elected by their entire class, rather than through the house system. Starting with first-year elections for the Class of 2030 this fall, eight senators will be elected for their entire grade. The Senate approved the change with seven in favor and two against.
Current senators will maintain their housing affiliations for the 2026-2027 academic year. In the spring, senators for the Classes of 2028, 2029 and 2030 will be elected by their entire grade. DSG began doing house-based senator elections in fall 2016 following the creation of house communities. In summer 2022, DSG restructured its framework and added general senators.
General senator Issa Allison ’29 said he voted for the change because having eight general senators will allow senators to create policies that affect the entire student body rather than only their house.
“Moving to a system of all general senators makes a lot of sense because no senator can only focus on their house,” Allison said.
In the closed session, DSG also reviewed Robert’s Rules of Order, made revisions to DSG’s constitution and governing documents and outlined DSG roles.
The Senate voted to divide the Student Life committee into the Academic Affairs and Faculty Relations Committee, Dining, Basic Needs and Accessibility Committee and Housing, Technology and Town Committee and expand the Health and Wellness committee into the Health, Wellness and Safety Committee.
According to student body vice president Maggie de la Fuente ’27, the committees were restructured because the previous committees were “too broad.” The new committees will have “more specific focuses that reflect the areas we hope to make progress on this year,” de la Fuente said.
Allison was confirmed as Dining, Basic Needs and Accessibility chair, South House senator Jason Zhu ’28 was confirmed as Academic Affairs and Faculty Relations chair, general senator Trace Ribble ’29 was confirmed as Housing, Technology and Town chair and South House senator Isla Walker ’29 was confirmed as Health, Wellness and Safety committee chair.
The first open-to-campus DSG meeting of the term will be held Sept. 27 at 4 p.m. in Collis 101.
Kailyn Holty ’29 is a news reporter from Redwood City, Calif., and is majoring in economics and quantitative social science.
