GA Minutes 08 May 07

Proposal to Fund the Student Legal Rights Dinner Discussion
Sponsored by: Neil Kandler ‘09 and the Student Organizations Committee

WHEREAS many student are unaware that the New Hampshire State Constitution has been interpreted in a manner in that it provides more legal rights than the United States Constitution;

WHEREAS over 120 students are arrested every year for drug and alcohol-related offenses and other crimes according to the “Annual Security Report” published by Safety and Security in 2006;

WHEREAS many of these arrests could be prevented if students fully knew their rights;

WHEREAS Kacavas, Ramsdell & Howard, P.L.L.C. (the “Firm”) has an extensive track record of representing Dartmouth students and has extensive knowledge of the laws and students’ rights in New Hampshire;

WHEREAS the Firm has agreed to charge the Student Assembly a fee of $250 for services rendered;

LET IT BE RESOLVED that the 2006-2007 Student Assembly allocate $350 towards the Student Legal Rights Dinner Discussion: $250 for services and $100 for food;

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that this event be held with the objective of educating students about their legal rights and preventing unnecessary student arrests;

LET IT BE FINALLY RESOLVED that the Student Assembly hold this program on May 14th, tentatively scheduled to be held at Tri-Kap at 7pm.


Proposal to Renew Funding for the Course Guide Incentive Program
Sponsored by Corey Chu ’08 and the Academic Affairs Committee

WHEREAS the Academic Affairs Committee oversees the SA Professor/Course Guide in conjunction with the SA Web Team;

WHEREAS the Course Guide helps students choose courses by providing them with feedback and ratings from previous students;

WHEREAS the efficacy of the Course Guide is contingent on having a large number of reviews, which are submitted by students upon the completion of the term;

WHEREAS the number of reviews submitted has recently declined;

WHEREAS the Course Guide contributions rely on students providing input for courses they’ll never take again while also competing with a faculty-administered course evaluation whose results are inaccessible to students;

WHEREAS in the first week of January 2007, over 2,000 students viewed the Course Guide, with an average of 40 courses viewed per user;

WHEREAS last term, the Academic Affairs Committee instituted an incentive program to raffle off a large quantity of small prizes to boost participation rates;

WHEREAS to obtain these incentives, the Academic Affairs Committee has arranged a deal with Everything But Anchovies to purchase 150 $15 gift certificates at a 50% discount;

WHEREAS course evaluation incentives raffled based on the number of reviews submitted would encourage students to fill out evaluations not only from this term, but for previous terms as well, thus improving the Course Guide’s reviews on a whole;

WHEREAS a fifth of the reviews submitted to the Guide were for courses from previous terms;

WHEREAS since the Fall 2001 term, the Course Guide would receive on average roughly half the number of reviews every Winter term as compared to the Fall term preceding it;

WHEREAS the Course Guide incentive program has stopped the recent decline in participation rates, receiving more reviews for Winter 2007 courses than courses for any previous term since Fall 2005;

WHEREAS with the current incentive program in place, those who would choose to contribute to the Guide contributed an average of 15% more reviews;

WHEREAS a quarter of the users who contributed to the Guide last term (a tenth of the reviews) received a gift certificate;

WHEREAS the Academic Affairs Committee can utilize the incentives themselves, as well as the statistics gathered, to promote the incentive program, thus further boosting future Course Guide participation rates;

WHEREAS on average, for a given Winter term, the Guide receives half as many reviews as it did the preceding Fall term;

WHEREAS the Course Guide received over 2.8 times more reviews following the Winter 2007 term than the preceding Fall Term;

WHEREAS continuing the Course Guide incentive program will allow the Assembly to assess the incentives’ potential for positive reinforcement as their novelty diminishes.

LET IT BE RESOLVED that the Student Assembly allocate $1130.25 for the Course Guide incentive program:

1) $1125 in order to purchase 150 $15 gift certificates, and

2) $5.25 to print out 150 3.5¢ black-and-white thank-you letters to the winners.

LET IT BE FINALLY RESOLVED that the Academic Affairs Committee coordinate the random and fair distribution of gift certificates to students who complete course evaluations.



Statement in Support of Alternative Options for Cable Television Systems in ORL Residence Halls
Sponsored by: Cory Cunningham ’10, Harshil Shah ’09, Corey Chu ’08, Neil Kandler ’08,
and the Student Services Committee

WHEREAS the Department of Computing Services at Dartmouth College administers the cable television network for students living in on-campus housing;

WHEREAS as of present, Computing Services has not modified its plans to charge students approximately $300 to purchase a cable box that is required to watch television on anything but DarTV;

WHEREAS many of Dartmouth’s peer academic institutions, including Brown, Cornell, Amherst, Boston College, Villanova, Lehigh, and UNH, include free cable television access in their residence halls at no additional cost to students without the need for a cable box;

WHEREAS the current policy would place a significant financial burden on a large number of Dartmouth students, 51% of whom receive some sort of financial aid, by requiring them to pay $300 for the cable boxes;

WHEREAS Computing Services is still planning on partnering with Evolving Vox, an organization unaffiliated with the College, for the future distribution of the cable boxes no longer needed by graduating seniors;

LET IT BE RESOLVED that the Student Assembly issue the following statement of concern regarding the Department of Computing Services’ plans for charging for cable boxes:

Dartmouth College frequently prides itself on its ability to offer all of its resources, both academic and otherwise, to all of its students regardless of financial need. Furthermore, Dartmouth often holds itself to a standard greater than that of its peer institutions with regards to maintaining a particularly high quality of life for its students.

By allowing its peer institutions to continue to offer cable television at no charge while charging Dartmouth students $300 for the privilege of having television in their rooms, Dartmouth places its students at a serious disadvantage in comparison to other colleges and universities.

The Student Assembly urges the Department of Computing Services should take the policies of other colleges’ cable television policies into consideration before implementing their intended program of cable box purchase, ideally creating a solution that costs students no out-of-pocket funds.

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution and concerns be shared with Dean Stuart Lord and President Wright to encourage them to dissolve the issue of class that could potentially occur as a result of this initiative;

LET IT BE FINALLY RESOLVED THAT the Student Services Committee and the Student Assembly at large share its concerns with Computing Services and the Office of Residential Life to encourage them to provide free cable television access, a standard set by many of their fellow institutions.


Proposal to Present Alternative Options for Cable Box Distribution and Pricing to the Department of Computing Services
Sponsored by: Cory Cunningham ’10, Harshil Shah ’09, Corey Chu ’08, Neil Kandler ’08,
and the Student Services Committee

WHEREAS the Department of Computing Services at Dartmouth College administers the cable television network for students living in on-campus housing;

WHEREAS as of present, Computing Services has not modified its plans to charge students approximately $300 to purchase a cable box that is required to watch television on anything but DarTV;

WHEREAS the Student Services Committee has repeatedly met with representatives from Computing Services and has evaluated a variety of options for the distribution and pricing of the cable boxes;

LET IT BE RESOLVED the Student Services Committee on behalf of Student Assembly makes the following recommendations to the Office of Residential Life and Department of Computing Services, listed in order of preference;

1) Cable boxes would be loaned to students with the contractual understanding that if the units are damaged in any form when returned, students’ college bill will be charged for the full value of the unit.

2) Cable boxes would be loaned to students upon the payment of a refundable $100 security deposit, in which students would not have their deposit refunded if the unit is damaged at the end of the academic year.

3) Cable boxes would be sold outright at a cost of approximately $300 to students, at which point the students would completely own the unit.

4) Cable boxes would be sold by Computing Services to Evolving Vox, a College-independent, for-profit organization, which would subsequently handle the sale and/or rental of units to students.

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that the Student Services Committee, on behalf of the Student Assembly, forward the aforementioned suggestions to the Department of Computing Services and the results from the attached student blitz survey in an effort to encourage a change in plans for the coming academic year.


Proposal to Fund the Lwala Benefit Concert
Sponsored by Lena Martinez Watts ’08, Jamal Brown ’08, Raymond Rodriguez ’09 and the Diversity and Community Committee

WHEREAS In 1977, Dartmouth College established the first gay student group, the Gay Students Support Group to provide an environment that was accepting towards homosexuality. Due to the College’s inclusive efforts, the 2006 Advocate College Guide for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBTQA) named Dartmouth one of the top 100 gay–friendly universities in the country,

WHEREAS PRIDE week serves as an opportunity to celebrate and educate the Dartmouth community of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) history and culture at Dartmouth College, through a week long of events filled with various speakers, lecturers, educational campaigns, programs, performances/entertainment, a festival, and a dinner gala. The ultimate goal of PRIDE is to address and eradicate homophobia, prejudice and bigotry, in order to promote a more inclusive and pluralistic Dartmouth,

WHEREAS PRIDE will occur the week of May 7 – 11, 2007. Beginning on Monday and ending Friday night, PRIDE will involve numerous activities throughout the week,

WHEREAS The 2006-2007 Student Assembly has made it a priority to advocate and support all communities of Dartmouth College,

WHEREAS On Wednesday, May 9, 2007 in Collis Common Ground a three–hour benefit concert will take place. The benefit concert will feature Visionary-In-Residence Stacey Ann Chin, world-renowned drag artist Kevin Aviance, student group performances by Sheba, Dog Day Players, UJIMA, Rockapellas, among others, and exhibitions that illustrate the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa and LGBT communities, and stories from individuals suffering from the epidemic. Proceeds of this event will go to help benefit Dartmouth alums Fred Ochieng’ '05 and Milton Ochieng’ '04’s Lwala project. The Lwala Project is a charity that strives to provide primary health care, clean water and HIV/AIDS education for a poor village in Kenya.

WHEREAS The Lwala Project has attracted great attention from the greater Dartmouth community and the nation. All proceeds from the benefit concert will go towards the Lwala Project.

WHEREAS participating in an event of this kind follows the SA guidelines for co-sponsorship;

LET IT BE RESOLVED that the Diversity and Community Committee and Community Service Committee coordinate volunteers from Student Assembly and participants from the larger student body.

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED that Student Assembly allocate $3000 to support the Lwala Benefit Concert.