Three years ago, this campus rallied around Janos Marton '04 and elected him Student Assembly President. Everyone from Dartmouth Reviewers to Free Pressers, Psi U's to Panarchists to people who actually have lives and don't need pong voted for Janos, who brought a campus not without unrest over Greek life, the adminstration, and the SLI to some kind of accord, and a new beginning. The Greek system is arguably stronger than ever now, the adminstration actually does listen, and though Dartmouth has its controversies as always, I'd say it's a pretty dynamic, balanced, thriving place right now.
This time around, Paul Heintz has Janos' endorsement, and he has mine, too, for what little the latter is worth. I'm hoping people rally around Paul as they did Janos. I know Paul personally and through working with him on Young Dems, of which he served as president during the 2004 national elections, organizing a hell of an effort in Hanover which helped Kerry win New Hampshire. I respect him highly on both levels. He's a great person to work with, a proven leader who is still easy-going and open to all ideas from all kinds of people. He's an AD and stands up for the rights of the Greek system, but he doesn't see things at Dartmouth in Manichean terms of fraternity vs. anti-fraternity. In some hard-to-define way, he comes across as the most inclusive and energetic of the candidates, much as Janos was.
Though the SA seems to be marginally more productive than when I first arrived at Dartmouth in 2001, it's been plagued by petty internal strife recently, and, from what I understand, attendance numbers at the meetings are woefully low. I can promise you Paul Heintz is the best candidate to turn these trends around: he'll make the SA vibrant, and, well, less childish; and he'll get things done that Dartmouth students want done.
As George W. Bush would say, Paul Heintz is a "stand-up kinda guy" -- the kinda guy I'd trust to house-sit and water my plant, for example, and also to represent Dartmouth's student body.
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