The Student Assembly's proposed response to the steering committee's recommendations -- to be voted on at tonight's meeting -- came out against some key provisions of last term's report, calling for the establishment of a seventh sorority, for allowing all juniors and seniors to live in a Greek house and for the maintenance of rush during sophomore fall.
However, the Student Assembly response is in many other accounts supportive of the controversial recommendations, agreeing with some much-criticized parts of the report including the elimination of pledge period.
"I don't think there are many places where we disagree with the spirit of the CSLI," Vice-President of the Student Assembly Margaret Kuecker '01 said, adding that the response disagrees with some of the details of the steering committee report.
The still-unendorsed draft of the Assembly report, that is already included in the appendix of the Student Response Task Force Report, is expected to be finalized by the Assembly members by their April 4 meeting, after which the Assembly plans to conduct a campus-wide poll on its response -- the exact details of which have not been worked out.
Defending their long-awaited report, senior Assembly leaders said it is different from other proposals in that it does not represent the opinions of one organization, but that of the majority of the student body.
Apart from the Greek issue, the Assembly report deals with other campus issues including alcohol, social space and issue omitted in the steering committee report.
The Assembly also used a student poll of 1,157 randomly-chosen students to draft the report. Assembly leaders said they were pleased with the 41 percent response rate and said the poll was widely used in the drafting of the report.
Greek changes
Although recommending changes to the current Coed Fraternity Sorority system, the Student Assembly's draft report opposes many of the steering committee recommendations calling for "major changes" to the Greek system.
In fact, the report somewhat resembles the CFSC response released last term calling for allowing all juniors and seniors to live in a Greek house and for the maintenance of fall rush.
The Assembly report also requests College funds in the form of direct grants to improve the physical plants and for the maintenance of CFS houses as summer-term residences.
"There is definitely a lot of overlap," President of the Student Assembly Dean Krishna said about the Assembly and CFSC reports.
In order to guarantee bids to all interested women, the Assembly report also calls for the formation of a seventh sorority by fall 2000.
The Assembly report recommends that the cap of 30 selective social organizations be maintained, but also adds that a de-recognized residential organization should be replaced by a single-sex or coeducational CFS organization.
Contrary to the steering committee recommendation, the Assembly report advocates the maintenance of fall rush, but says that rush should be held in winter and spring terms as well. It also says all juniors and seniors -- and sophomores under exceptional circumstances -- should be allowed to live in a CFS residence.
The report also argues for the maintenance of permanent bars "where it necessary for controlling the licensed distribution of alcohol" and says the CFS Judicial system should be maintained.
In contrast to the CFSC report, however, the Assembly report calls for the elimination of pledge period and have it replaced with a term-long "New Member Education Period."
Alcohol
Similar to the CFSC report, the Student Assembly report concentrates on the need for education and counseling to tackle the alcohol-related problems on campus.
The report calls for a mandatory alcohol-education course during freshmen-orientation and says that alcohol education should continue throughout freshman fall.
Although the report does not disagree with the idea of non-student bartenders, it argues that the College should also train student bartenders and take responsibility for them.
While supporting the idea of "raising the bar" for alcohol violations, the report recommends that the new policy should avoid "unduly harsh punishment" and focus on alcohol education and counseling.
The Assembly report advocates the hiring of a full-time College addictions counselor and also for the living of a Drug Abuse Peer Advisor in every residence building.
Although recommending the creation of more licensed alcohol venues, the Assembly report says that alternative refreshments should also be offered wherever alcohol is served.
The report asserts that there is a greater need for more non-alcoholic events as well.
Omissions
A section of the Assembly report deals with topics omitted by the steering committee recommendations including the D-Plan and the idea of "substantially coeducation."
The Assembly report recommends that the College must complete a comprehensive review of the D-Plan to understand the role it plays in residential and social discontinuity.
Asserting that issue of substantially coeducation was not sufficiently covered in the steering committee report, the Student Assembly recommends greater funding for the Women's Resource Center and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community.
Although appreciative of the steering committee recommendation of creating a large flat-floor hall, the Assembly report argues that more social spaces such as bars, a club and a bowling alley should also be created.
Other issues
The Assembly report recommends that the College create enough living space for all students seeking on-campus housing. It also recommends the creation of "townhouses" for seniors.
The Assembly also recommends that the World Cultures Initiative should be used to unite all members of the Dartmouth community.
The report calls for the addition of cluster common houses to be used as social spaces and for greater funding and resources for cluster programming.
The Assembly report also calls for a dining facility in the north end of campus, newer and better art facilities and a dance club.
