In total, 44 percent of students voted in this year's elections, down by 394 ballots from the previous election. The attendance at the four Assembly debates was also low, with most debates drawing a crowd of around 20 students.
The small meeting, the Assembly's first since the elections, was led by Zhu, as student body president Adrian Ferrari '14 is off campus this term. Zhu said the Assembly's direction will be decided by members of the Class of 2015 over the summer and by the rest of the student body during the school year.
"I have many ideas for things we might want to do, but in the end Student Assembly is about what the students of Dartmouth want to do," Zhu said.
Zhu discussed three initiatives the Assembly hopes to pursue over the next year: the first-year mentoring program, a new bike-sharing initiative and an entrepreneurship upperclassman floor.
Kelly Wood '14, a former presidential candidate, was on the Assembly's executive committee last summer, when she helped create the mentoring program. A pilot program that paired freshmen with upperclassmen began in the Russell Sage cluster last fall.
"It is a wonderful idea, but we were disappointed by the number of mentor applications that we got," Wood said. "I'm looking forward to the revamped program in the fall."
Zhu, who ran on an unofficial ticket with Wood this year, said the new program will create one-on-one relationships instead of this year's three freshmen with one mentor.
"The new program will help build stronger relationships between mentor and mentee," Zhu said. "At first, the mentor will just be someone to help the freshman and mentor them. Eventually, I hope for it to become a real friendship."
Applications will be sent to all incoming freshmen over the summer. The Assembly is working on acquiring Starbucks vouchers for the mentorship pairs, who will continue to be matched based on common interests.
"We're trying to create a natural relationship between an upperclassman and a freshman," Zhu said. "I'm excited to see how it develops this summer."
A plan to cover Dartmouth's bike racks is being discussed, but the Assembly does not yet have any information on its financial viability.
A more feasible idea is a bike-sharing program that will reduce the number of bicycles stolen on campus, Zhu said. A number of bikes would be bought and placed around campus, giving access to all students. The Assembly is discussing a security system to ensure that only Dartmouth students can use the bikes, Zhu said.
"Due to the 10 minutes we have to get across campus between classes, bikes get stolen a lot," he said. "This will be similar to the library system of checking out computer chargers. Instead, we will be checking out bikes."
A bike-sharing system has been attempted at Dartmouth before, Wood said.
"It had less than successful results, because the bikes slowly started to disappear," she said. "Our plan will have to combat this danger."
At the end of the meeting, Zhu spoke about a pilot program, run through the Tuck School of Business and the Office of Residential Life that will create a residential floor based on a shared interest in entrepreneurship. The date of its implementation has yet to be determined. The Assembly is also looking into creating other residential floors built upon shared interests, Zhu said.
Yesuto Shaw '15, who attended the meeting, said interest-based floors would provide students with another venue to find community on campus.
"People are just looking for community that they lose after leaving their freshman floor," Shaw said. "A common interest, be it academic or extracurricular, and having a floor with people who share that interest has been successful with affinity houses and can be successful on a more casual basis with just a floor."
Zhu said Ferrari will return to campus in the summer and an executive committee will be chosen early in the term.
"It's unfortunate that we have such a small audience base today, but I'm looking forward to more students getting involved." Zhu said. "Adrian and I are both very passionate about all the progress we will make in the coming year."
