fter lengthy deliberation, The Dartmouth Free Press has chosen its endorsements for the offices of Student Assembly president, Vice President and ’03 Class President. In the year of the J, our choices are Janos Marton ’04, Julia Hildreth ‘05, and Jason Ortiz ’03.
The DFP endorses Janos Marton for a number of reasons. While we were wary of endorsing a candidate who has contributed to our publication in the past, we ultimately were swayed by Mr. Marton’s energy and idealism, as well as his vision for a more ambitious but focused Student Assembly.
As opposed to last year’s ‘outsider’ candidates, Mr. Marton has a year of experience within the Assembly. He is pragmatic about the potential for restructuring the organization, unlike the other reformist candidates on the ballot this year. Marton understands that the Student Assembly’s most effective role is one of advocacy. He recognizes that it is not within his power to dissolve standing committees and instead envisions his role as a harmonious one within the organization. Marton intends to steer the separate bodies within the Assembly more directly toward a handful of projects, in the model of Aly Rahim’s Undergraduate Teaching Initiative, which was introduced this past year.
Although a majority of SA’s influence consists of the work it puts into proposals to the Administration, the organization very much needs an effective and a visible leader to spearhead and present these initiatives to both the student body and the Administration. We believe that Mr. Marton has the charisma necessary to play this visible role. Similar to 2000-2001 Student Assembly President Jorge Miranda, we expect Marton would adroitly manage the double task of courting the Administration while at the same moment, maintaining a critical perspective towards it.
Where Mr. Marton differs most strikingly from his fellow candidates is in the scope and nature of his objectives. Other candidates emphasize the importance of continuing projects (particularly in the realm of student services). Many of these ideas, however, have come from within the SA and will, in all likelihood, be pursued regardless of who is elected. Marton has higher goals than just these. For example, he intends to push the student body into a dialogue on financial aid, in order to keep us in stride with other Ivy League institutions, some of which are preparing to offer full scholarship to incoming students in the next few years. Work study wages are also at the forefront of Marton’s platform. When Princeton and other schools offer starting wages of $9.00 per hour to student employees, what prevents Dartmouth from competing? This discussion must occur, and Marton will see that it will.
Too often progressive initiatives, such as socially responsible investment of the College’s endowment, have died at the hands of an Administration looking for evidence of greater student support. Marton wants the SA to begin to provide an institutionalized student voice in favor of such progressive initiatives. We thoroughly support such an effort.
Finally, The DFP believes that Mr. Marton has a unique potential to bring together factions from across campus, thanks to his strong ties to both Panarchy undergraduate society and to Chi Gam fraternity. Marton plans to bring needed reform to the Greek system by creating a safe space in which the Greek system can acknowledge its problems in order to deal with them and without the constant looming threat of dissolution at the hands of the administration. Not to be mistaken for a Greek apologist, Marton also plans to spearhead initiatives to increase the visibility and significance of coeducational living spaces. Some issues on campus are deeply divisive, not least of all the Greek question, but Marton is adamant that the way forward will emerge from student dialogue, not through administration action. Representation is what Janos Marton plans to provide, and we believe he will.
Our endorsement of Janos Marton should not be taken as a blanket rejection of the other candidates. Mike Perry is articulate and experienced with the workings of the SA. We agreed with him that an overly-ambitious SA president, especially one without an understanding of the SA, would do more harm than good. Cognizance of the limitations of the Assembly is an important characteristic, but we found Mr. Perry’s pessimism discouraging.
Mr. Perry’s experience and devotion to the Assembly are notable, and we hope that members learn from his capable example. But if, during his 3 years of involvement, he has found little within the Assembly to energize him, we cannot recommend him to lead the organization.
Turning to our Vice-President endorsement, Julia Hildreth ’05 got our unanimous support for her vision and experience. Despite being a first-year, she has held sufficiently high positions in the SA to indicate that she is well respected and highly capable. At the same moment, she comes with the fresh voice and ideas that the currently stale SA so desperately needs.
In our ‘03 class President vote, deliberations took by far the longest. Although both Dan Chang and Jason Ortiz bring experience and good ideas, the vote came down in Jason Ortiz’s favor. Ultimately, his enthusiasm won us over. We can only hope that the ’03 Class Vice- Presidential candidate will come to the table with great new ideas as well. Hopefully, Mr. Ortiz can create the rare occurrence of a class council that actually matters to a senior class.
