In an effort to recruit more participants and spark interest in student affairs, Student Assembly treated its current members and potential converts to 250 flavors of ice cream, along with an introduction to the countless opportunities and projects available to take on this summer, at an informal meeting Tuesday night at the nearby Whistlestop ice cream parlor in Wilder, Vt.
As students sat at picnic tables enjoying their free ice cream, Assembly Summer President Julia Hildreth '05 addressed the crowd from the bottom of the Whistlestop steps.
Meeting attendees old and new also got the chance to participate directly in Assembly affairs. Responding to student input in the mascot search, the Assembly asked the students at the meeting to comment on the more popular mascot ideas, striking irrational ideas from the list and ranking the others.
Mixed in with traditional choices, such as the moose and pine tree, were some more peculiar options, including the Big Green Blob, the Dinosaurs and the Dragons.
Partially in response to a somewhat controversial "Roomies" cartoon printed in Tuesday's issue of The Dartmouth, Hildreth defended the Assembly-sponsored sexual consent T-shirts as part of a program to raise sexual awareness as a result of increased relationship violence in the past few years.
"The point is to start a dialogue with people we really know, and it is designed to be racy and get people to question," Hildreth said.
This Friday, from 5 to 7 p.m. on Webster Avenue, the Assembly is sponsoring a Consent Day event, including dinner and a movie. A campus-wide BlitzMail message was sent out yesterday encouraging students "to support, promote, and learn about sexual consent and sexual abuse, and to have fun doing it!"
In addition, Summer Vice President Steve Koutsavlis '05 announced fundraising plans to reintroduce the College Readership program by October 1. More newspapers would be distributed in more locations around campus, Koutsavlis said.
And in other related news, Hildreth was elected president of the Green Key Society in elections held last Monday. Joining Hildreth will be Stella Treas '05 as vice president, Ali Youssefi '05 as secretary, and Colleen McCaffrey '05 as treasurer.
Youssefi is also a member of The Dartmouth staff.
Green Key Society -- a service organization comprised of both elected and appointed members who provide labor and hours to different functions around campus -- is gearing up to start planning Freshman orientation and Homecoming, Hildreth said.
