On Feb. 11, the Dartmouth Student Government Senate met for its fifth weekly meeting of the winter term. Due to the Super Bowl taking place on Sunday evening, the meeting was held at 5 p.m. in Paganucci Lounge at The Class of 1953 Commons but will return to its normal time and place next week, according to an email from student body vice president Kiara Ortiz ’24. The Senate, led by Ortiz, discussed the reinstatement of the standardized testing admissions requirement and updates on various committee initiatives.
Ortiz led a discussion on how DSG should respond to the reinstatement of the standardized testing admissions requirement. On Feb. 5, College President Sian Beilock announced in a campus-wide email that Dartmouth will reinstate the standardized test requirement, starting with the Class of 2029.
Chief of staff Anthony Fosu ’24 said that campus reactions have been “split,” noting that many students who oppose the decision are “underrepresented minority student groups, FGLI students [and] international students.” Fosu added that “emotions ran high” during a conversation between students and admissions officials held on Feb. 7. Students of color and first-generation, low-income students were invited to a discussion with Vice President and Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment for Access Strategy Jarrid Whitney and members of Beilock’s leadership team, according to emails that were sent to students from affinity groups.
Ortiz added that during a meeting with the College administration on Jan. 17, she and student body president Jessica Chiriboga ’24 became aware of the “research being done … and the intention of the admissions office and administration to consider a decision like this.”
“At that meeting, [Chiriboga] and I firmly stated our stance that we want student voices to be considered,” Ortiz said. “We did not voice an opinion about [the decision to reinstate standardized testing].”
According to Ortiz, she and Chiriboga “were really clear” about asking the administration to incorporate student voices, such as international students and low-income students, given that they may “be affected more by the decision.” During a Jan. 31 meeting with members of the admissions office, members of College administration and several DSG senators, Ortiz said the College was “leaning towards” with the decision to reinstate the standardized testing admissions requirement.
“They told us that we would be able to provide recommendations on how to gain that student input,” Ortiz said. “We said we would provide it the next week, they said, ‘Okay,’ and then on Monday the decision was being made, but we were not aware that decision was being made.”
Following Ortiz’s remarks, several senators discussed potential next steps for DSG regarding the College’s announcement. East Wheelock House Senator Daniel Pruder ’27 said that DSG has “compiled a list of recommendations” to the College, but added that DSG should release a statement clarifying its role in the decision-making process.
“Our role in the process was not very active, and I think DSG should say that,” Pruder said.
DSG-Hanover town liaison Nicolás Macri ’24 agreed, noting that “the policy was decided in the way that they claimed to [have used] Student Government as input when they really were just using our name.”
According to previous reporting from The Dartmouth, Coffin said that the decision to reinstate the standardized testing admissions requirement was informed by Beilock, the Board of Trustees and the Council on Institutional Priorities, as well as alumni groups and DSG leadership.
School House Senator Alejandra Carrasco Alayo ’25 added that DSG should continue to maintain communication with student communities affected by the decision, since communication is “something that they want to see, and that’s something that they really value.”
Following several minutes of discussion, Ortiz said that DSG would draft an “informational message” regarding the decision and “express our dissatisfaction with the process,” which DSG members will be able to vote on before its release.
Mental Health committee co-chair and North Park House Senator Chukwuka Odigbo ’25 then requested $1800 that would fund nine student focus groups, whose aim is to understand different student communities’ experiences surrounding mental health awareness, according to Odigbo. The student communities comprising the focus groups would include student athletes, Black students and Asian American students, to name a few.
Carrasco suggested institutionalizing these focus groups “every winter term,” while Macri proposed adding demographic questions to the student interest survey.
DSG voted 12-0-0 to approve funding for the focus groups.
School House Senator JJ Dega ’26 and South House Senator Ranvir Deshmukh ’26 requested $950 for a sponsorship to allow DSG access on the Dartmouth Student app, an app that allows users to access information such as laundry machine availability, a map of campus and the class schedule, among other information. A potential sponsorship would include “space on the app” as well as access to push notifications. Dega noted that “no organization yet has been given the access to send unlimited notifications” on the app.
In response to several concerns about the app’s usefulness and widespread usage, Dega said that while the app hasn’t “done any marketing” to increase its user base, he noted that information sent through the app might be more effective than emails sent by DSG.
Ortiz motioned a vote to table the discussion to the next meeting, which passed through a majority vote.
Macri discussed a meeting with Dartmouth Transportation Services and Business/Hospitality Services to restore a bike share program, which was provided by Zagster, a start-up company. The program, which offered bike rentals to students, ended in 2020 due to Zagster shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic. Macri shared that he and North Park House Senator Sabik Jawad ’26 were “looking into potential vendors.”
In his updates, Fosu shared that the College’s Information, Technology and Consulting Office offered to provide technology to DSG for virtual meetings with administration and students.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
Daniel Modesto ’24 is the News executive editor. He is from Brooklyn, New York, and is a Native American and Indigenous Studies major modified with Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies.
