On Jan. 12, the Dartmouth Student Government Senate held its first weekly meeting of the winter term. Led by student body president Chukwuka Odigbo ’25, the Senate appointed a new executive board and set its agenda for the next nine weeks.
According to the Senate’s constitution, the executive board is “the internal administrative body of DSG” and includes positions such as chief of staff and finance director. At the beginning of each term, nominees give speeches explaining their goals for their respective positions and are confirmed by a majority vote, Odigbo said.
In an interview after the meeting, student body vice president Jon Pazen ’25 explained that executives “take on more responsibility” than other senators.
“They keep the same amount of voting power as senators but help with the logistics,” Pazen said. “The general senator title can really range in what someone does. Executive positions help keep everyone more accountable.”
The meeting saw six incumbent executives retain their positions. Among them, North Park senator Sydney O’Connor ’27 and South House senator Ian McKenna ’27 were re-elected as co-chairs of the Health and Wellness Committee, which aims to provide mental health support on campus, according to DSG’s website.
During her speech, O’Connor said that, under her and McKenna’s leadership, the committee handed out health resources — such as yoga mats and Liquid I.V. — to students and purchased walking treadmills for students to exercise indoors during the winter term. McKenna said in his speech that he and O’Connor “hop[ed] to carry [their] momentum into [winter] term.”
General senator Ana Arzoumanidis ’28 and North Park senator Jude Poirier ’28 were appointed as new Communications and Community co-directors. In an interview after the meeting, Poirier said his and Arzoumanidis’s goals were to increase student outreach through social media and improve the DSG website.
“I think that DSG could be doing a lot more to reach out to students and get to know what they would like to see from us,” Poirier said. “Our website is pretty outdated, and me and Ana [Arzoumanidis] are pretty excited to work on that.”
Among other appointments, general senator Evan Gerson ’27 was confirmed for another term as deputy town affairs liaison. In his candidacy speech, Gerson described his previous work to improve the Senate’s relationships with local businesses and the Department of Safety and Security. For example, he invited Safety and Security associate director Tom O’Donnell to the Senate’s eighth weekly meeting of the fall term, he said. At the meeting, O’Donnell had discussed improvements to campus infrastructure and encouraged the Senate to “advocate” for new campus safety measures.
“It’s all about continuing the great work we’ve done,” Gerson said.
The Senate also approved School House senator JJ Dega ’26 and general senator Ikenna Nwafor ’27 as co-chairs of the Student Life Committee and re-appointed North Park senator Sabik Jawad ’26 as project director — which entails “oversee[ing]” Senate Committee and Task Force meetings and “manag[ing]” project and meeting timelines, according to the Senate’s constitution — for a second term. Jawad explained after the meeting that he has been “part of a revamp of the role” by focusing on direct involvement with other board members and their projects.
“The way I’ve defined it in the past term … is being an open resource for senators and committee chairs,” he said. “That involves having regular check-ins … Newer senators can have office hours with me to figure out projects.”
Additionally, North Park senator Matthew Givens ’25 and West House senator Reece Sharp ’28 were elected finance director and deputy finance director, respectively. The Senate also elected West House senator Samay Sahu ’27 as chief of staff and Allen House Senator Kabir Datta ‘28 as deputy chief of staff. According to the Senate’s constitution, the chief of staff is the “manager” of the executive board and “assist[s] the President and Vice President with logistics, Senate initiatives and communications.”
“I’m a first-year and an international student, so I can look at everyone’s perspective and receive their input,” Datta said.
Other positions remained vacant. No senators were nominated to serve as First-Year Engagement director, deputy project director or town affairs liaison. As a result, Odigbo opened the floor for senators, representatives and attendees to nominate themselves. West House Senator Favion Harvard ’26 nominated himself for first-year engagement director, and representative Roger Friedlander ’27 and School House senator Hanna Bilgin ’28 nominated themselves for deputy project director.
Representative and incumbent town affairs liaison Daniel Cai ’26 nominated himself for for a second term. According to the Senate’s constitution, “all undergraduates” are eligible to serve on the executive board. The slate of new nominees will speak and be voted on during the next DSG meeting on Jan. 19.
At the end of the session, senators in the Health and Wellness and Student Life Committees met to discuss plans for the upcoming term. In an interview after the meeting, Odigbo said he was “excited” to “start executing” upcoming projects, such as amending the Senate’s constitution for “clarity” and “efficiency”.
“We spent the last term just building up the foundations for project management,” Odigbo said. “I think we have energetic committees that are ready to get the ball rolling.”
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
Jon Pazen ’25 is the strategy director for The Dartmouth’s business staff and is not involved in editorial production.
Update Appended (Jan. 24, 6:16 p.m.): The article has been updated to include that Daniel Cai '26 is a representative and was the incumbent town affairs liaison.
