With the Student Assembly president and vice president together on campus for the first time since their election last spring, organization members will spend fall term solidifying their agenda and developing online projects, long-term student life initiatives and partnerships with administrative offices, Student Assembly vice president Michael Zhu '14 said.
The organization will also focus on improving its internal participation, implementing an attendance policy and distributing weekly assignments to members in each of its six committees, Zhu said.
"We hope that by keeping members accountable we will be able to be more productive and accomplish more," Zhu said.
In the spring, the organization attracted attention for low student turnout in its presidential election and an open planning meeting, which was attended by three students.
While the summer's Assembly consisted of the executive board and committee chairs, summer programming director Yesuto Shaw '15 said the Assembly hopes to grow in size to 30 or 40 student members once all classes return to campus and the organization begins recruiting freshmen.
The Assembly will focus on publicizing a newly developed, comprehensive course review system this term, Shaw said. The redesigned course picker launched for beta testing this summer.
Working with Hacker Club, whose "Hacktown" course guide had lost popularity and grown outdated in recent years, the Assembly integrated reviews collected by both organizations into a single website, Zhu said.
"Hopefully, by introducing one centralized course review system, we can encourage students not only to use it more often, but also to keep it more up to date," he said.
According to the Assembly's website, future updates will include a search-by-rating option and the ability to create course wish lists.
Responsibility for running the First-Year Peer Mentor program, one of last year's major initiatives, will shift to the Dean's Office, Shaw said. Associate Dean of the College for Academic Support Services Inge-Lise Ameer, who partnered with the Assembly to implement a pilot program in Russell Sage residential cluster last year, will oversee the program, with Student Assembly taking on a supporting role.
Shaw, who volunteered as a mentor last year, said the program functioned like an informal friendship. He had meals with his three mentees several times per term to talk about adjusting to life at Dartmouth.
"I tried to ask how they were doing, try to give them advice however I could in the Dartmouth lifestyle," Shaw said, adding that although they did talk about academics, his mentees seemed to have those issues under control.
Yet he expressed frustration with the mentor to mentee ratio, saying the program would be much improved if each mentor advised a single first-year student.
Zhu said the mentor to mentee ratio will remain the same this year.
Student Assembly has begun discussions with the Tuck School of Business and Office of Residential Life about creating a residential floor for upperclassmen interested in entrepreneurship. To date, there is no set timeline for the floor's launch.
In the future, the entrepreneurship floor could serve as a pilot for other interest-based housing programs, though there are no concrete plans to expand the proposal yet, Shaw said.
The Residential Education office recently conducted site visits and meetings to explore how interest-based housing options are implemented at other universities.
Student Assembly plans to hold regular office hours with a rotating schedule of executive committee members to solicit feedback and suggestions from students, Shaw said. Office hours will take place in Robinson Hall 103 on Sunday nights.
Zhu said the group is looking to relaunch its website with a new layout, banners and logos. The site has not yet been updated with the names of the new executive committee members or information about new initiatives.
Also on the agenda are movements to institute a bicycle-sharing system and bicycle shelters for protection from weather damage, Zhu said.
Both items will be discussed by the Assembly in coming months.
"It's unlikely that anything will be visibly done this fall because it's more of a long-term process," Shaw said.
A former bike-sharing system at the College was crippled and eventually ended by theft, while a bike covering system has raised questions about its financial feasibility.
Student Assembly stumbled last spring when their funding from the Undergraduate Finance Committee was cut by $12,000 from the previous year, leaving them with a budget of $58,000, about half the amount they applied for.
"We will definitely need to look into reallocating some funds," Zhu said, noting that final budget decisions have not been made.
Possible cuts include the readership program, which purchases newspaper subscriptions for campus dining halls, a program providing vouchers for student-faculty lunches at Molly's and the peer mentor program, for which UFC advised the Assembly to narrow its costs. The committee also recommended that the Assembly narrow the focus of its programs and collaborate with Class Council.
Dean of the College Charlotte Johnson met with Student Assembly early in the summer, before its agenda was fully formed.
"From my perspective as the Dean of the College's office, I will support them on their various agendas," Johnson said, adding that she believes student body president Adrian Ferrari '14 will bring many new ideas to the job. As in past years, she will meet with the organization regularly beginning in the fall.
Office of Pluralism and Leadership director Alysson Satterlund said Ferrari was enthusiastic about how the Assembly could support OPAL, by educating students about the College's online bias reporting system and promoting programs focused on dialogues about diversity and inclusion.
OPAL and the Assembly will also partner with other groups to organize "A Week in Community." Resembling Pride Week, the mid-October event series will focus on all types of diversity and inclusion through social events that "break down barriers," Satterlund said.
"I'm grateful that SA, via Adrian, via other people on the committee, are committed to making Dartmouth an inclusive and respectful place to study and learn and connect with others," Satterlund said. "OPAL cannot do this alone and we don't want to."
Ameer was unavailable for comment by press time.
