News
From the campus-wide housing crunch to the resignation of Student Assembly President Danielle Moore '95, Fall term at the College proved anything but calm.
Many students were forced to confront tough decisions about living accommodations before they even arrived in Hanover, due to a long housing wait list that peaked at nearly 400 students in May.
After the list dwindled significantly as people shuffled their D-plans, all students who still remained on the list finally received on-campus housing.
As summer waned, the College was set abuzz by the decision to try to add a new administrative position to address issues concerning the College's gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities.
Although details about the position were sketchy, the hired official would be "the voice of gay, lesbian, and bisexual student concerns on campus," Religion Professor Susan Ackerman said.
No College funds have yet been identified to support such a position.
Student Assembly had perhaps the roughest time of any campus organization this fall.
It was a long term for Student Assembly, often filled with partisan politics and bickering.
Moore delivered a speech at Convocation promising an end to infighting in the Assembly, but that goal would never be reached.
In one of its first meetings, the Assembly debated the constitutionality of Moore's decision to appoint several female members to the Assembly.
After a brief investigation by a procedural committee headed by John Honovich '97, the appointments were allowed to stand.
Also during the term, Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Winner and Holocaust writer, spoke to a capacity crowd in Spaulding Auditorium to encourage students to "serve as the custodians of memory."
"Memory serves as a cathartic release for Holocaust survivors but also serves as the best hope to insure history will not repeat itself," Wiesel said.
In one of the biggest developments of the year, the College was involved in a heated legal controversy involving a Hanover Police Department policy geared at enforcing underage alcohol possession laws.
The campus erupted when a false Associated Press story was printed describing how the Hanover police were stopping and arresting students on campus if it was found that they had been drinking by using a breathalyzer.
After several weeks of reviewing the legality of the case, the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union decided to enter the fray and challenge the "internal possession" policy in court.
The term ended with a new meal plan proposal presented by the Meal Plan Task Force, created last winter by College Vice President and Treasurer Lyn Hutton and former Assembly President Nicole Artzer '94.
The plan would eliminate the current mandatory freshmen meal plan and require all students to pay $70 instead.
Angered that the Assembly voted down a campus-wide referendum, Honovich took his battle over BlitzMail -- sending hundreds of message to students spurring them to protest the decision.
Moore, tired of playing politician and refereeing fights within the Assembly, decided to resign on the heels of Honovich's actions, leaving Vice President Rukmini Sichitiu '95 the new president.
On the sports front, the College's football team had a very disappointing season.
