Picture this: it’s Friday night after a busy week, and you and your friends decide to share dinner in town. When it’s time to pay the bill, you look at your server, reach for your Dartmouth ID, and say, “I’d like to use Dartmouth dining dollars, please.” Now, what if I told you that this scenario isn’t as far from reality as you may think?
Since our freshman fall, Favion and I have been immersed in Dartmouth Student Government, working behind the scenes to get things done. We helped bring enhanced Late Night dining to the Class of ’53 Commons, institutionalized free laundry, expanded mental health resources, extended gym hours, launched and analyzed the Student Issues Survey, added picnic tables for outdoor studying and much more. We’re proud of what we’ve helped accomplish. But we’re also acutely aware of where the system falls short and how we, as DSG, could have accomplished more.
We’ve seen the cracks from the inside. Passionate senators have struggled to direct their energy, sometimes due to confusion over complex constitutional procedures. Other times, they lacked the information needed to move a proposal forward. In some cases, they didn’t know which committee to approach or which executive position could help them see it through. We’ve seen a structure that’s long overdue for a reboot — a student government that too often defaults to discussion instead of direction, that lets frustration spiral instead of turning it into concrete, measurable progress.
It’s not that DSG can’t do more — it’s that it hasn’t. Not yet.
It’s one thing to call out what’s not working — it’s another to fix it. We want a student government that listens more consciously, collaborates more profoundly and acts more swiftly. We want to make sure every voice has a seat at the table, with scheduled conversations with campus affinity groups, smaller but more agile, project-based committee workflows and a streamlined executive board that cuts unnecessary roles and gives more power to the most effective positions, reducing the bureaucratic hoops that slow real progress. These changes will boost accountability across the Senate and lead to more follow-through on projects.
Our platform is ambitious, but it’s also practical. It’s grounded in student needs and driven by a diverse array of student voices. We want to introduce Dartmouth Dining partnerships with local restaurants and cafes — giving students more flexibility and supporting our town economy in the process. We want Collis Cafe open on weekends, so you aren’t left wondering why one of our best campus hubs shuts down just when you have the time to enjoy it. We want to follow through on the proposal of a termly wellness day — because rest is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.
We’re also looking closely at administrative transparency. Why are students still so often left out of the loop when Dartmouth leadership makes major decisions that directly affect us? Let’s fix that by demanding forthrightness from College administration and publicly holding them accountable if they fail to share thought processes and decisions before announcing them. When it comes to representing student voices at the highest levels, let’s make sure we connect the Board of Trustees to campus through a young alumnus or student member. The gap between students and decision making needs to close.
Our campaign isn’t built on empty slogans. We’re not running on promises. We’re focusing on progress. This campaign is built on ideas that are possible, powerful and overdue. But none of this happens without you. Student Government should be a tool that works for you — not a club that works around you. Our mission is to make sure your ideas don’t just get heard, but get done.
So take a minute. Think about what kind of Dartmouth you want to live in — not just this term, but next term, and the ones after. If you believe we can do more and do it better, we’re asking for your vote. Your vote isn't just for Jack and Favion, but for a Student Government that finally steps into its full potential.
Because it’s not that we can’t, it’s that we haven’t. Yet.
Let’s change that together.
Opinion articles represent the views of their author(s), which are not necessarily those of The Dartmouth.
