On April 20, the Dartmouth Student Government Senate met for its third weekly meeting of the spring term. Led by student body president Chukwuka Odigbo ’25, the Senate voted to allocate $15,000 for a student emergency fund, as well as $1,500 for a Make Your Own Bouquet event to be hosted on the porch of the Collis Center.
Student Emergency Fund
A student emergency fund was originally proposed two weeks ago by general senator Sabik Jawad ’26 with the goal of providing funds for legal aid for international students.
However, the fund will not be able to provide aid specifically for international students due to restrictions set by the Undergraduate Finance Committee on how DSG is able to spend its funding, according to Odigbo in an email statement to The Dartmouth.
“We are not able to fund projects that are disbursed differentially based on status,” Odigbo wrote. “The fund, if realized, would be open to all undergraduate students.”
Members of the Senate raised the concern that DSG funds could not be disbursed specifically to international students at both their April 13 and April 20 meetings.
In an interview with The Dartmouth after the April 20 meeting, Jawad said he was “fine” with the fund going to all students, rather than only international students.
“I don’t have any qualms with all students getting emergency funds,” Jawad said. “It’s just this [fund] was made with the purpose of solving a particular problem right now.”
DSG’s next steps in developing the fund will be to clarify how an “emergency” is defined, how DSG will evaluate submissions for funding and how disbursed funds are classified for tax purposes, according to Odigbo.
North Park Senator Jude Poirier ’28, who voted against both of Jawad’s emergency fund proposals, said in an interview with The Dartmouth that while he was not opposed to DSG assisting international students or creating a legal aid fund, the proposal passed was not “comprehensive.”
“I think it would be a little bit over-generous to call what happened a vote on a proposal, given that it doesn’t even seem like the majority of members of DSG right now are sure what’s going to happen with that money,” Poirier said.
Jawad said his proposal was “intentionally somewhat open” to allow members of DSG discretion in how the fund is operated.
“Dartmouth has the money to support international students, but the issue is that institutional resources come with institutional bureaucracy,” Jawad said. “[Having funds] dispersed through DSG would streamline the process so that before [international students] can access the institutional resources, they have something for at least a first consultation with a lawyer.”
Make Your Own Bouquet Project
The Make Your Own Bouquet project, based on a similar initiative from the fall term, was proposed by West House senator Reece Sharp ’28 and South House senator Senate Shaw ’28.
“We really want to do a project that will uplift peoples’ spirits after their first midterms,” Sharp said.
Funding for the Make Your Own Bouquet project was earmarked by unanimous consent at the April 20 meeting. The event will take place on May 8.
At the April 20 meeting, the Senate also voted by unanimous consent to make minor phrasing and style changes to the DSG constitution and specify an official timeline for the appointment of non-voting representatives.
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.
