The Student Assembly yesterday released its Fall term agenda, which included plans to upgrade an electronic course guide and to lobby the College to make Latin American and Caribbean Studies a permanent department.
The administration and faculty relations committee, chaired by Laura Bennett '96, will talk with administrators about making the LACS department a permanent fixture. LACS is currently on a five-year trial run.
"Since the administration and faculty have taken an initial step to provide these courses, we would like to reaffirm this decision and press them to take this one step further by making the department permanent," Bennett wrote in an electronic-mail message.
The Assembly also plans to place voting student members on all College committees, according to the agenda. Scott Rowekamp '97, vice president of the communications committee, said the Assembly especially wants to have a student member on the Committee on Instruction. Rowekamp is the Assembly's spokesman.
The administrative committee will also push to create more cultural centers and institute a more active recruiting policy for high school students, according to a release from the Assembly.
Rowekamp said the Assembly is considering lobbying for cultural centers for gay and lesbian students or Latino students. Rowekamp said the administration has a list of certain groups slated to receive some sort of resource center and the Assembly should ensure those groups receive their centers.
The academic affairs committee, chaired by Brandon del Pozo '96, will be in charge of improving and expanding an online course guide.
Rowekamp said the Summer Assembly already placed more than 20 course analyses on the World Wide Web. He said students will soon be able to access the pages to learn about student opinions of several Dartmouth courses.
The academic affairs committee will survey student opinion of several classes and continually update the pages. The committee also plans to continue funding undergraduate publications and will urge the College to offer certain courses the Assembly deems "practical," such as a Korean language program.
The Student Life Committee, chaired by Della Bennett '96, will work to construct a lighted outdoor basketball court, install lights in existing tennis courts and reduce student parking fines.
Rowekamp said the Assembly seeks to help increase social options by extending the availability of athletic courts. He also said most other colleges have lighted courts.
The student services committee, chaired by Meredith Epstein '97, plans to install change machines around campus and initiate a safe rides program.
Assembly member Sam Keating '97 led a committee this summer to develop the safe rides project, which will provide rides home to students late at night, regardless of their level of intoxication. Since Keating is on a foreign study program this term, Epstein said she will assume the responsibility for the project.
Rowekamp said the program is currently in the developmental stage, but should be available as a service to students by Winter term.
The community service committee, chaired by Sarah Johnston '97, will work to organize Scholastic Achievement Test preparatory courses for nearby high schools.
"A lot of area high schools which are less affluent don't have as much of a competitive edge in SATs simply because they can't afford coaching," Johnston said.
Johnston said committee members and other volunteer students will teach the courses sometime early next year to prepare students for the May SAT exams.
The committee will probably offer this course at Lebanon High School, because Hanover High School already has a similar program, Rowekamp said.
The communications committee, chaired by Rowekamp, will maintain an Assembly newsletter and publicize Assembly accomplishments with regular news releases.
Rowekamp said the Assembly's executive board finalized the agenda after accepting input from the general Assembly and speaking with all of the vice presidents.
The press release accompanying the agenda quoted President Jim Rich '96 as saying, "If we can complete these projects and also manage to deal effectively with relevant campus issues as they arise, then the 1995-1996 Student Assembly will be a great success."
