Student Assembly spent the past year on bureaucracy, causing us to forget what should be our true mission: helping the student body enjoy daily life. This year, SA turned inwards, enacting internal reforms rather than dealing with campus problems. I want to now utilize what SA has created to make our experience here better, and I'll share with you just a few of my ideas for how to do that.
Anyone who has gone to resell textbooks realizes how much of a ripoff the used book market is. New textbooks sell at ridiculously high prices, those same textbooks are re-bought at much lower prices, and then re-sold as used books for somewhere in the middle. Students lose money at each step of the way. SA already has a way to solve this problem: the Course Review page. As Vice President, I would integrate a textbook re-sale section to the Course Review site so that former students can connect directly with current students, eliminating the middle-man, and saving us all money.
Kresge Gym is overcrowded. It's impossible to get on an exercise machine during peak hours, and there are always people using the weights. This year, SA helped convince the administration to expand Kresge and seemingly alleviate this problem. However, SA has failed to recognize the more fundamental issue: that walking to Kresge in the snow, changing clothes, getting sweaty, changing again, and trekking back to your dorm takes a damn long time, and more motivation than many of us have. I propose that SA create a series of small gyms, with a set of light weights, an elliptical, and a bike so that people in places like the River, the Choates, and elsewhere can exercise quickly and warmly.
As I've talked to people over the last few weeks, I've heard about problems from al l across campus, from the little irritating things (like last Friday's puke in the bathroom) to the larger issues like textbook prices and long walks in the snow. As Vice President, I want to return SA's focus to the wider campus community so that we solve the issues (no matter how small) that matter. SA should ask everyone we can: what can we improve? It should also work with the administration on communal goals, while challenging them when they forget their mission: to provide Dartmouth students with the highest quality education and undergraduate experience. With your help, I want to begin Student Assembly's real work.
