On April 6, the Dartmouth Student Government Senate met for its first weekly meeting of the spring term. Led by student body president Chukwuka Odigbo ’25, the Senate discussed changes to Dartmouth Dining locations, the creation of a DSG text hotline, library nap pods and the recent West Lebanon shuttle pilot project.
Dining Changes
Earlier that day, Odigbo and student body vice president Jon Pazen ’25 met with Dartmouth Dining director Jon Plodzik, associate vice president of business and hospitality David Newlove and senior vice president for operations Josh Keniston to discuss the renovation at the Courtyard Cafe, which is now largely automated.
Odigbo and Pazen presented Plodzik, Newlove and Keniston with data from student surveys which received approximately 500 “very passionate” responses, according to Odigbo. Ninety one percent and 94% of respondents were dissatisfied with changes to the Courtyard Cafe and late night, respectively, according to a tentative report of the survey findings issued by DSG on April 2 via email. Odigbo and Pazen plan to meet with College administrators about dining again “next week,” according to Odigbo at the April 6 meeting.
In response to criticism from students that DSG was not advocating for students during last week’s DDS changes, senators also discussed creating a text hotline between students and DSG senators during the meeting. General house senator Ana Arzoumanidis ’28 said the program was a “helpful solution” for informing students about DSG’s ongoing activities.
“With all the dining changes this past week, I feel like a lot of people blamed them on [DSG] because they felt that we weren’t advocating for them, or we had said yes to [the changes],” Arzoumandis said. “I think something like this … where we could give them an update on Dining from our end … could be very helpful.”
General house senator Sabik Jawad ’26 said he thought the text hotline was a “good idea,” but that he was “not convinced [DSG] could properly man it.”
“Hotlines usually [have] someone full time working there,” Jawad said.
Odigbo clarified that he would be asking student senators to respond to text messages, not take live calls or handle “crisis” situations.
Nap Pods
Senators also discussed purchasing a trial nap pod for Baker-Berry Library. The MetroNaps Energy Pod, recommended by School House senator JJ Dega ’26, would cost $12,250.
The EnergyPod is “recommended” by Dartmouth Libraries over cheaper models because it does not completely cover student’s bodies, and it is the nap pod “most widely used across the nation at other universities,” Dega said. Wesleyan University and Stanford University currently use EnergyPods.
East Wheelock senator Sreshth Tiwari ’28 said nap pods would be useful for students living in the off-campus Summit on Juniper apartments. Once students living in Summit get on the shuttle to campus, “they can’t go back to the room to take a nap, so just having [nap pods] there would be nice for them,” Tiwari said.
West House senator Reece Sharp ’28 recommended the Senate table voting on nap pod funding until later in the spring term.
“If we have [$12,250] left over in the last two weeks, we make the purchase,” Sharp said. “If we have $50,000 and we don’t spend it, that [would be] a waste of money.”
Shuttle Program
Senators also discussed the April 5 trial run of a free express shuttle between Baker-Berry Library and shopping locations in West Lebanon. One senator said that the bus was so full that some students had to sit in its trunk. Sharp, who rode on the trial run, said that while the shuttle is “very helpful” overall, there are routing issues because the shuttle runs in a “loop, as opposed to a line.”
For instance, taking the 3 p.m. shuttle to Target, “there’s no shuttle coming back,” Sharp said. “We begged [the driver] and he picked us up. On the way back … all seats were taken, and there were three people in the trunk.”
The three students in the trunk were Sharp, North Park senator Jude Poirier ’28 and non-voting representative Carolyn Bartroff Cardenas ’28. Cardenas said the program had “positives.”
“A lot of people were talking like this was their first time taking any transportation outside of Hanover,” Cardenas said.
During the meeting, the Senate voted to allocate $3,600 for additional West Lebanon shuttles through April, as well as earmarking $2,000 for safer sex dispensers, both by unanimous consent.
In a closed session after the meeting, Ikenna Nwafor ’27 was appointed chief of staff for the spring term, Samay Sahu ’27 was appointed spring projects director, Jack Wisdom ’26 was appointed spring chair of the Student Life Committee, Julia Zichy ’27 and Senate Shaw ’28 were appointed spring co-chairs of the Health & Wellness Committee and Mary Sherrard ’28 was appointed as representative to the Council on Libraries, all by unanimous consent.
DSG Senate meetings occur weekly on Sundays at 7 p.m. in Collis 101 and are open to all students.
Jackson Hyde '28 is an intended philosophy major from Los Angeles, California. His interests include photography, meditation, and board game design.
