Students elected David Millman ’23 and Jessica Chiriboga ’24 as student body president and vice president, respectively, after the end of a two-day voting period on Tuesday. In the election, students also selected next year’s house senators, senior class leaders and other student representatives for Student Assembly.
The Millman-Chiriboga campaign ran on a platform dedicated to providing better mental healthcare options, improving student housing infrastructure and bringing back dining options such as late night at Collis Cafe.
Millman and Chiriboga, who ran uncontested, will succeed current Student Assembly president Jennifer Qian ’22 and vice president Maggie Johnston ’22. The new leaders will assume their roles when Qian and Johnston graduate in June, and Millman said they hope to begin laying the groundwork of their administration’s initiatives during the summer.
A total of 1,458 ballots were cast in the election for student body president and vice president. Millman received 1,349 votes and Chiriboga received 1,360 votes.
“I think the amount of votes we got, which was very similar to last year’s turnout, but in an uncontested election, just shows that people are excited about what we want to do next year,” Millman said.
Millman, who previously served as a South House senator, said he hopes to continue his previous efforts on Student Assembly, such as addressing food insecurity by bringing back the Co-op voucher program — which provided gift cards to students during breaks when groceries are needed — adding more meal options and improving ongoing issues with student housing. Millman added that his experience running for Hanover’s Selectboard in summer 2021 has allowed him to connect with members of the Hanover community and make progress toward re-writing the zoning restrictions currently in place on West Wheelock Street.
“I have already written and introduced a warrant article to rezone West Wheelock Street to allow for more construction and upwards of 300 more bedrooms for students, which currently due to law would not be possible,” Millman said.
Millman also said he hopes to create concrete changes through Student Assembly’s efforts and areas of advocacy, as was the case with successful past projects like spearheading the ongoing “take a faculty member to lunch” program.
“Student Assembly’s budget doesn’t allow us to unilaterally re-open late-night dining at Collis Cafe or provide universal teletherapy,” he said. “So we’re going to try to make sure that these initiative side programs, which can’t be run forever on the Student Assembly’s budget, are taken up and institutionalized by the College.”
Chiriboga said she is looking forward to continuing her work as a member of Student Assembly’s mental health committee while vice president. She said her goals include advocating for the establishment of universal teletherapy as well as implementing the JED Foundation’s strategic plan upon its release later this spring, among others.
“We are also thinking about ways we can support different identity groups on campus, such as undocumented and international students, by hosting dinner conversations as well as providing vouchers or giftcards that can cover any sort of hidden cost they’ve been carrying because of the nature of their identity,” Chiriboga said.
Chiriboga added that she and Millman plan to restructure Student Assembly to provide more accountability, structure and transparency.
“Some of our proposals include creating an executive council, being clear about the attendance requirements and adding project managers that will help us delegate work more efficiently, all in the interest of making a more powerful and effective Student Assembly,” Chiriboga said.
In a joint statement emailed to The Dartmouth, Qian and Johnston congratulated the Millman-Chiriboga campaign on their win and expressed optimism in seeing what the new Student Assembly will achieve.
Qian and Johnston wrote that they look forward to seeing the new student body leaders continue projects whose “foundations” were set in their administration, such as vouchers for the Dartmouth Coach and the expansion of menstrual product and “wellness space” projects. They added that they trust in the incoming leaders’ ability to expand upon existing collaboration channels with College administration, such as structured meetings with the Board of Trustees.
Students cast their vote for a number of other positions in the election, including house senators and class council executives. Anthony Fosu ’24, who will serve his second term as South House Senator next year, said he hopes to continue his efforts with respect to student aid, including the Dartmouth Coach voucher program as well as maintaining the free menstrual products available throughout campus facilities. Fosu added that a number of the ideas in the Millman-Chiriboga campaign were “solicited” from other students and house senators.
“I am very excited to advocate for many of these causes,” he said.
Qian and Johnston added that Millman and Chiriboga had made substantial contributions to the projects of their administration, especially during the “trials of COVID-19.”
“We believe that there is no better team to further the legacy of Student Assembly in improving the Dartmouth experience moving forward,” they wrote.
Jessica Chiriboga ’24 is a former member of The Dartmouth staff.
