On Oct. 13, the Dartmouth Student Government Senate met for its fourth weekly meeting of the fall term. Led by student body president Chukwuka Odigbo ’25, the Senate discussed transportation to voting sites on Election Day, new library hours and the upcoming student issues survey.
Odigbo said DSG is organizing free transportation for students from campus to the local polling place at Hanover High School on Nov. 5. He said he was not certain, however, that DSG will organize transportation for students who live at Summit on Juniper in Lebanon.
In an interview after the meeting, Odigbo said he hopes House community professors will volunteer to shuttle students who live at Summit to their polling place at United Methodist Church.
“It’s always a good thing if as many people on campus are involved and invested in getting students to vote,” Odigbo said.
In an interview, senator Evan Gerson ’27 said it is particularly important that students register to vote this election cycle because it could be “exponentially harder” to vote in the future. He cited H.B. 1569, a bill signed into law in September that will require physical proof of citizenship — such as a passport or birth certificate — for voter registration starting after the upcoming election. In the past, students have been able to register with Dartmouth identification.
“If you’re a student and you’re getting ready to vote, in the past, it’s been a pretty simple process,” Gerson said. “… But after this election, it’s going to be made much harder.”
Meeting participants also discussed new library hours. Starting this fall, Baker Library began closing at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. At the meeting, Odigbo said he had met with administrators to advocate for later library closing times. In an interview, he explained that so many students had complained to him about the new hours that it became “laborious” to keep a tally of them all.
On Oct. 16, DSG announced in an email to campus that the library will now be open until midnight on Friday and Saturday.
“These changes were directly informed by data and sentiments collected from students,” the announcement stated. “…The library hours are an ongoing conversation, and we continue to encourage student input.”
To conclude the meeting, senator Ikenna Nwafor ’27 spoke about the upcoming annual student issue survey, which helps DSG set the agenda for the upcoming school year. The survey will ask students about a broad range of topics, from campus safety to dining. Last year, the student issue survey dealt with similar issues, including dining and mental health.
In an interview, Nwafor said the student data acquired through the survey is critical to affecting change. He said DSG’s advocacy to open the Class of 1953 Commons for late-night dining is an example of successfully using surveys. Last winter, DSG negotiated with Dartmouth Dining over the course of several months to keep the dining hall open for late night, citing food security concerns and public safety.
“Data is very important in getting anything — any project on campus — done,” he said.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
Correction Appended (October 17, 8:16 p.m.): A previous version of this article wrongly stated that the polling place of students who live at Summit on Juniper is Hanover High School.
