Student Life Committee

(Updated January 2024)

Chairs: Sabik Jawad ’26 and Ikenna Nwafor ’27

Members: Kiara Ortiz ’24, Anthony Fosu ’24, Nicolás Macri ’24, Jessica Chiriboga ’24, Ale Carrasco ’25, Matthew Kim ’25, Ranvir Deshmukh ’26, Daniel Cai ’26, Favion Harvard ’26, Jack Wisdom ’26, and Daniel Pruder ’27

This Committee is working on issues related to several student life concerns, including dining, housing, equity, transportation, and technology. These are the projects our Committee has worked on/is currently working on during the 2023-2024 academic year.

WE COMMIT TO SUPPORTING STUDENT LIFE ON CAMPUS. HERE’S HOW:

Below, you can find some of our current projects for the 2023-2024 Academic Year. Consult the Committee Progress Tracker at the bottom of this section for a full list of our projects and priorities.

  • Meeting with a student on trash, recycling, and composting 

  • Dining: Forming a food insecurity task force to provide Student Issue Survey research on food insecurity and represent student perspectives to the administration.

  • Dining: Planning a fireside chat with Dartmouth Dining leadership.

  • Dining: Assisting students in creating focus groups with Dartmouth Dining to discuss the A9 food station and food allergies.

  • Dining: Researching methods to create a food waste campaign.

  • Dining: Continuing regular Dining Advisory Group meetings.

  • Student Activism: Drafting an itinerary and contacting student advocacy groups to create a Student Activism workshop. 

  • Bike-Sharing: Meeting with interested partners to form a possible bike-sharing program.

  • Residential Experience: Continuing regular meetings with Residential Operations to discuss vending machines, bike storage, and other relevant issues.

  • Health and Safety: Contacting Dartmouth EMS about their capacity to host additional CPR courses funded by DSG.

  • Health and Safety [Working with Mental Health Committee]: Inquiring about the expansion of open hours for Dick’s House and the Dick’s House pharmacy. 

  • Health and Safety: Contacting the Campus Emergency Manager to determine the availability of resources or guidance for students in the event of a fire, intruder on campus, or other campus emergencies.

  • Technology: Meeting with the developer of the Dartmouth application to inquire about usage and potential expansion in services.

 

Along with this sheet, you can also view the Mental Health Committee Projects, as well as the Mental Health Committee’s Projects from 23F.

2022-2023 Accomplishments and Ongoing Projects:

DINING/SUSTAINABILITY

  • Re-open FOCO Late Night (COMPLETE). DSG advocacy to Dartmouth Dining has resulted in the return of Late Night Dining! FOCO Late Night will run from 9:30 PM-1:30 AM, 7 days a week, starting this winter, Tuesday, January 3rd!

  • Continue Stocking the Food Pantry (COMPLETED) in the Dick’s House basement. We have donated over $10,000 of goods to food-insecure students since current President David Millman ‘23 restarted it in the Fall of 2020. We continue to donate on a termly basis.

  • Provide students with reusable sporks to reduce plastic waste (COMPLETED).

  • Reinstate the CO-OP voucher program (COMPLETED) for students during breaks throughout the year and run more community donation drives for end of the term food items. We offered over $3,000 worth of CO-OP vouchers for students in-residence over winterim 2022.

  • Run a coupons program to support local businesses (HOLD) and encourage community bonding, as well as connecting students to further volunteer opportunities.

Equity

  • Dartmouth Coach vouchers provided each term for students. (IN-PROGRESS). Now offered to students on financial aid. Read more about this change here.

  • Reinstate Safe Rides and Improve Transportation in the Upper Valley (IN-PROGRESS).

    • Public transportation (Advance Transit) does not run on the weekends nor past 6PM in most locations. Students, families, and prospective applicants, are unable to travel or visit the Upper Valley area. 

    • In addition to this, Dartmouth College Safety and Security shuttered its “SafeRide” program during the pandemic, which “offered individual, vehicular transport by on-duty Safety and Security officers between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. to students who felt unsafe walking alone”. Now, they only offer “Safe Walking Escorts" or transportation for a medical emergency AFTER a screening at Dick’s House. 

    • We have heard from the Director of Campus Security that SafeRide utilization dropped from 13,000 annual rides to 3 safety walks total--this is emblematic of a crucial safety need. 

    • Given the recent safety concerns, we ask that the Safe Ride system be reinstated. We also would ask the Campus Connect Shuttle to stop at Hanover Inn and do an extra loop around campus from 9PM-2:30AM to allow for students to safely get home.

  • Paid qualitative and quantitative research opportunities to determine what services and goods low-income students struggle to afford (“hidden costs”). Results used across campus to better support students. (IN-PROGRESS).

HOUSING

  • Reopen 24/7 Dorm Access for Students (IN-PROGRESS).

    • Currently students are unable to get into all dorms 24/7, which is a safety concern if students are concerned about their friends but cannot get into the building.

  • Our new DSG position, the Town Affairs Liaison (IN-PROGRESS), will work with the town on issues that affect both communities (advance transit, zoning, green key, etc.).

  • There should be a rental protection system for students (IN-PROGRESS), to be able to lodge complaints with the town government and all tenants should be aware of their rights as renters. We will work to create this in our administration.

  • We will advocate for better infrastructure (IN-PROGRESS), entirely across campus and conduct an official report on the status of dorms and student needs within the larger student census. We would take this data and push for improved services.

  • We also will work in partnership with the town (IN-PROGRESS), to change the overly restrictive definition of family and inform the town master plan. We hope to meet with the new town manager and establish an official partnership soon.

Student Census

  • This fall, our Student Life Committee launched an incentivized Student Census that has received over 1,000 responses from undergraduates. Results from the Student Census will quantify student needs and inform our agenda. The Student Census report will be shared with students and appropriate campus stakeholders at the start of winter term and on the ‘Student Census’ tab of our website.

Technology

  • Members: Anthony Fosu ’24, Alex Lawson ’23, Matthew Kim ’25

  • Throughout the year, our tech subcommittee has been hard at work advocating for the tech needs of students to ensure that the Dartmouth community has access to the best emerging educational technologies. We are grateful to continue our partnership with Information Technology and Consulting to bring about many of these projects and ensure that the student tech experience is as effective, gratifying, and helpful as possible. Below you can see some of the ways we have worked with ITC to improve the student tech experiences. 

    • Increased GreenPrint Allowance from $20 to $60 a term 

    • Increased GreenPrint printer locations (Starting Academic Year 2021 into 2023) 

    • Onboarding Canva as a new student enterprise solution (coming soon in early 2023)

    • Onboarding VaultMe as a new solution to improve the student offboarding experience (Summer 2022)

    • Improving the new student technology onboarding process and orientation (Summer/Fall 2022)

    • Representation in the Council on Computing (Academic Year 2021-2022; beginning in January)

    • Improved process for reporting WiFi issues (Spring and Summer 2022) 

    • Wi-Fi on the Green (Announced January 2023)