The Student Assembly passed a resolution last night that will provide discounted bus fares for Dartmouth students to and from Boston and New York City for spring break.
By allocating 410 dollars of the Assembly's budget for the service, round trip ticket prices will be subsidized to and from Boston and New York City both at the beginning and end of vacation. The discounted bus fares are being handled by Dartmouth Travel with buses provided by Vermont Transit.
Assemblyman John Apostolides '03 reported that the television in Thayer lobby, which was approved last week by the Assembly, is not up because the company installing it needed to order new parts.
A second resolution was proposed on the spot by Karim Mohsen '03 to hold a conversation in the style of "fireside chats" on issues regarding relations between police forces and minority groups.
Because not enough Assembly members were present for a quorum, the resolution was not passed, although it will be proposed again next term.
The resolution follows the recent acquittal of four New York police officers in last year's shooting of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant. Diallo was shot 41 times in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment when the officers thought the wallet he was withdrawing from his pocket was a gun.
"[The resolution] is not directly related to this incident," Mohsen said, adding that "sometimes it is forgotten that police aren't invaders, they're there to help."
Mohsen also said the issue is not just a minority issue but one that concerns everyone at Dartmouth, and expressed concern because a lot of people he talked to didn't know about the incident.
During the second part of the meeting, Assembly members broke into small groups and discussed issues including student-faculty relations, diversity and multiculturalism, student choice and gender relations.
The group discussing student-faculty relations reported there should be more interaction between the two groups.
The group discussing student choice reported that the current adviser system is not adequate and needs to be improved.
Jorge Miranda '01, a member of the Committee on Instruction, told the student choice group that a plan has been submitted calling for academic advisers to hold volunteer positions with improved pay and better training. The proposal also called for freshmen to be paired with senior student advisers.
Miranda also called the fact that the faculty are the only ones that make decisions about the curriculum an "archaic view," and said students should have a vote in the process.
