The Face of Dickinson College

Lee Tankle ’10 reflects on his four years with Student Senate

by Hillary Leeb ’10

April 20, 2010

Student Senate President Lee Tankle ’10 presides over a recent meeting. Before him, no other first-year student had served on the Student Senate Cabinet.

You’ve seen his face around campus, you’ve heard his speeches and you’ve definitely felt his influence at Dickinson. Lee Tankle ’10 of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., takes on many roles—from acting as an admissions tour guide to co-chairing the Public Affairs Symposium. He also has the demanding role of Student Senate president.

How does the law & policy major stay on top of his multiple responsibilities? “I don’t sleep much,” Tankle says. “There’s always something to be done.”

Along with lack of sleep, Tankle attributes his success to a heavy dose of commitment applied to each task he takes on. Every assignment or suggestion, big or small, deserves his full attention, he says.

Such perseverance worked well for Tankle’s initial Student Senate campaign when, as a first-year student, he ran for secretary. Dissatisfied with the traditional flyers and posters, he took his message directly to the students, knocking on the doors of classmates to explain why he wanted to be secretary and to ask for support. It would mark the beginning of a four-year career in the Senate.

Tankle was vice president and a member of the Constitutional Affairs and Election Committee during his junior year and spent that spring semester studying at The Washington Center, Dickinson's partner program in Washington, D.C. When he returned to campus, he became Student Senate president and since then has been committed to being an effective liaison between the administration and students.

Tankle sees the Student Senate’s response to the H1N1 virus as one of his proudest moments at Dickinson. The Senate created a database and worked with Dining Services to ensure that every person under quarantine was able to get three meals a day.

The connections he built between the Senate and the administration proved effective for the recent Haiti relief concert, when Dickinson raised $17,500. Tankle also worked with the Office of Student Development to reallocate a portion of the student-activy fee to fund three new coordinators who will live in first-year residence halls and be a 24/7 resource for students, as well as a new campus-life coordinator who will develop new weekend, residential and social programs.

After graduation, Tankle will attend William and Mary Law School, and eventually—because the itch for politics is just too strong—seek public office.