Student groups submit many Initiative proposals
When the Social and Residential Life Task Force headed by then-Acting Dean of the College Dan Nelson requested student input on the Initiatives, many groups jumped at the chance. Student-generated proposals engaged the Trustee Initiative as an opportunity to improve Dartmouth's social life and provide more residential options for students. A number of student organizations submitted proposals to the Task Force in response to the Initiative, with many focusing on how their current activities could be improved and play a part in the Trustees' new vision of Dartmouth social life. Afro-American Society The Afro-American Society submitted one of the most thorough student proposals included in the Task Force report addressing both residential and social implications. The proposal focuses on the needs of students of color at the College and also for all community members. The AAm encourages more support for minority groups at the administrative level, because students are left shouldering the burdens of cultural programming and resource establishment in addition to the rigors of academic life. "As members of the African Diaspora, we feel that we already suffer from enough situation where we are 'THE minority voice,'" such as in a classroom setting, the report states. The group also addresses the need for the College to enhance its judicial system to punish acts of ignorance and end the vicious cycle of apologizes from groups that cite they were unaware an action was offensive. "Instead of improving, race relations are getting worse," the report states, and students cannot continue to be expected to combat prejudice without more College action. The proposal suggests to amend the "Principle of Community" to make it possible for a student to seek penalization against an offender in matters of discrimination, in a manner that resembles the Committee on Standards, which hears cases sexual harassment and physical assault. The report also includes the need for a Student Center of the Arts as a replacement for Webster Hall to give more space for student groups to practice and perform. Presently, one of the two available spaces in the Hopkins Center is used by the Physical Education department, the FLIP program, Ujima dance troupe, Sheba, Fusion, Stepping Out and the Fencing club. The AAm proposal suggests a need for more social options and student entertainment including shuttles to West Lebanon stores and Sony Theaters, out-door and late-night basketball and easier bowling alley and roller skating access. In the residential section of the proposal, the group aims to increase continuity in housing to alleviate D-plan dispersion and improving residence halls to make them more personable, to have repairs conducted on a quicker timetable and to make study and dining areas more attractive. In addition, the report addresses a need for better alcohol, drug abuse and sexual assault education. The proposal cites the need for the Dartmouth College community to work together as a collective unit to make a safe and nurturing environment for all its students. The Dartmouth Outing Club The Dartmouth Outing Club - quoted by the Admissions Office as the largest student organization on campus with over 1,200 undergraduate members - submitted a host of reports. The DOC proposal from president Lydia Dixon '01 and Pat Leslie '01 states the club's mission "to further, through camaraderie in the out-of-door, the educational objectives of Dartmouth College." Dixon said the goal of the DOC proposal was to try and get more people involved from the outside and dispel myths about members' exclusivity. "The perception is that it is an elite group of people that don't really care about what goes on with the rest of campus.