On Jan. 19, the Dartmouth Student Government Senate met for its second weekly meeting of the winter term. Led by student body president Chukwuka Odigbo ’25, the Senate continued closed session voting for executive board positions — which began at last week’s meeting — and began discussions about new student life projects.
In a closed session, the Senate voted 4-6-7 against the appointment of representative Roger Friedlander ’27 to the deputy project director position. Friedlander had volunteered at the previous meeting because the position was vacant, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth.
According to West House senator Reece Sharp ’28, the vote failed because senators were “confused” by the decision to call a vote for Friedlander but not for School House senator Hanna Bilgin ’28, who had also volunteered for the role at the previous meeting. The decision “seemed arbitrary to the rest of the Senate,” Sharp said.
“I think [Friedlander is] a great representative,” Sharp said. “He would be an amazing deputy project director. … I believe the same about [Bilgin].”
General senator Ana Arzoumanidis ’28 said she would have voted “the same way” she did in the closed session if Bilgin had been nominated rather than Friedlander.
Chief of staff and West House senator Samay Sahu ’27 said he believes that “a lot” of senators voted against Friedlander’s appointment so the vote could be “brought up again with more clarification.”
“Whether we get that clarification is solely up to [Odigbo],” he added.
Sharp explained that senators were also confused by the language of the Senate’s constitution, which referred to “deputy project directors” — implying that the role could be held by multiple people.
Friedlander said he “hope[d]” he and Bilgin could “do some sort of co-deputy position.”
“I think it was just a miscommunication and a misunderstanding about the constitution between [Odigbo] and [Bilgin], and we all just wanted to make sure [the appointment process] was fair for everybody,” Friedlander said. “The right decision [voting against the appointment] was made based on the constitution.”
General senator and deputy town affairs liaison Evan Gerson ’27 proposed an amendment to the constitution to explicitly allow for two deputy project directors.
In an interview after the meeting, Odigbo said he chose to only conduct a vote for Friedlander, who served as project director in the winter and spring of 2024 while serving as a School House senator, because of his “prior competence.”
“I stressed to [the Senate] that they had the power to confirm [who] they like, so that was a check and balance,” Odigbo said. “I don’t want to spend multiple meetings talking about executive appointments when we already spent one meeting talking about it, and I know Roger can do the role.”
In hindsight, he would have “talk[ed] to [Bilgin] beforehand and let her know that we were going with Friedlander,” he added.
Bilgin declined to comment on the deputy project director vote.
Several other elections were conducted for executive board positions. West House senator Favion Harvard ’26 was appointed first-year engagement director by a unanimous vote, and representative Daniel Cai ’26 was re-appointed town affairs liaison by a vote of 17-1-0. Cai, who co-wrote a January 2023 report in support of the North End housing project proposal with former town affairs liaison Nicolás Macri ’24, said during the meeting that he aims to improve campus infrastructure this term. In an interview with The Dartmouth, Gerson explained that addressing “missing middle housing” and a lack of bike racks on campus are “on their radar.”
After the elections, senators updated the Senate about their respective individual and committee projects.
School House senator JJ Dega ’26 provided an update on the Student Life Committee’s review of Dartmouth’s alcohol management policy, dining initiatives and campus partnerships. In an interview after the meeting, Dega said by reviewing the alcohol policy — which provides guidelines and potential disciplinary action for students and College-recognized “student programs, events and activities,” according to the College website — the committee hopes to “improve” the policy’s preventative measures and “make more inclusive [and] safer environments … where alcohol exists.”
Additionally, the committee expects to discuss initiatives such as “bringing multiple swipes back” for students on a block meal plan, “pushing further” for fresh fruit in the Class of 1953 Commons and “hearing plans” for a second dining hall, Dega said.
“Expanding the scope” of student group partnerships will be “important” given that “students and our campus” will be “potentially affected” by “certain policies from the Trump administration,” he added.
“With the new institutional restraint policy, I think it’s [DSG’s] job as student advocates to communicate what students need from the administration,” Dega said.
Additionally, the Student Life and Health and Wellness committees are collaborating to propose a new nap pod project, he continued.
“Whether a student lives in Summit or across campus from the library, they can go and take a 30-minute nap that will recharge them throughout the day,” he said.
North Park House senator Jude Poirier ’28 discussed his goal of improving the accessibility of safe sex resources in residence halls. He noted that “a lot” of people are “not comfortable” asking their undergraduate advisors for condoms and lubricant. Currently, safe sex resources are available “as [UGAs] see fit,” Poirier said, and some UGAs choose to leave them in common areas.
“We’re either thinking about sending out a reminder to UGAs to post safe sex materials and resources outside of their dorms, or just changing the policy with [Residential Operations] … so that the norm just becomes policy,” he said.
Arzoumanidis said the Student Life Committee plans to add cubbies to residence hall laundry rooms and create a campaign to educate members of the Class of 2028 about the Campus Connect bus services.
“A lot of us want to use the bus service but are too scared that we’re going to be sent to Summit,” Arzoumanidis said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Sharp also discussed her work to expand GreenPrint services across campus. Members of the Student Life Committee are currently mapping the locations of printers on campus to see where printers may need to be added, Sharp said.
“Whole sections of dorms don’t have access to an easy printer, so we’re hoping to fix that,” she explained.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
