Archives

September 2020


Top Hat

GM’s guide to managing student stress

By Advaith Narayan September 29, 2020

Grand Marshal Advaith Narayan ’21 shares his strategies for managing stress.

Derby

Fall financial guidelines for student organizations

By Anissa Choiniere September 29, 2020

President of the Union Anissa Choiniere ’21 reviews some changes made to club purchasing and fund reallocation procedures. She also provides information about the annual financial workshops required for all funded clubs and organizations.

Executive Board

E-Board allows clubs to not collect fall dues

By John Stotz September 29, 2020

The Union Executive Board unanimously passed a motion on September 16 allowing clubs to decide if they will collect dues this fall. If a club does not collect fall dues, the motion prevents the club from asking the E-Board during the Spring semester for any additional funding on programs in the club’s initial budget.

Executive Board

E-Board approves virtual events, outlines reallocation procedures

By Maya Johnson September 29, 2020

The Executive Board has passed a blanket approval on a list of virtual activities for clubs this fall. Activities included under the blanket approval are virtual events, including trivia nights, escape rooms, lectures, training, cooking events, crafting, and movie nights.

Breaking News

Student tests positive for COVID-19

By John Stotz September 23, 2020

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s COVID-19 testing dashboard has been recently updated to reflect a new positive test. This has been confirmed by a Rensselaer County Facebook post.

Opinion

The Arch academic calendar needs to be re-worked

By John Stotz September 18, 2020

Editor in Chief John Stotz ’22 discusses the issues with the nonstop summer Arch semester and proposes a solution to provide students with periodic opportunities for recovery.

Academics

Annual NSBE/SHPE career fair to be hosted virtually

By Sarah Shiang September 17, 2020

NSBE and SHPE will be hosting its first virtual career fair on September 25 and 26 from 11 am to 5 pm on the platform Brazen. According to the fair's co-director Galiea Overa, Brazen was chosen as it has extensive resources available to recruiters and students and its overall user experience.

Top Hat

Explore Troy through cuisine

By Advaith Narayan September 17, 2020

Grand Marshal Advaith Narayan ’21 introduces first-years to local Troy restaurants, encouraging the newest members of the Rensselaer community to go out and explore the city. In his experience, exploration is the best way to find the best places to eat.

Derby

Realities of remote RPI

By Anissa Choiniere September 16, 2020

In the current, remote reality, are students receiving the same benefits of the activity fee? According to President of the Union Anissa Choiniere, the answer is no.

Top Hat

Sharing governance when administrators won’t

By Advaith Narayan September 9, 2020

Grand Marshal Advaith Narayan ’21 discusses the importance of shared governance, a philosophy where various groups of people broadly communicate and all share in the decision-making process. He explains how Rensselaer administrators have failed to implement it at the institutional level and his full intention to uphold the practice through his role in student government.

Derby

Getting involved and staying connected

By Anissa Choiniere September 9, 2020

President of the Union Anissa Choiniere ’21 encourages students to stay involved with the clubs and organizations of the Rensselaer Union. She also explains how you can find clubs to join or start one of your own.

Student Rights

Rensselaer Student Handbook adds discrimination and pandemic policies

By Sarah Shiang September 7, 2020

This year, the changes made to Rensselaer’s Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities reflect challenges and conversations raised by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and RPI's Title IX policies were changed to follow federal guidelines set by United States Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

COVID-19

COVID testing: a 4-star experience

By John Stotz and Maya Johnson September 6, 2020

Over 4,200 members of the Rensselaer community were tested for COVID-19 prior to the return to campus this fall in an impressive feat of organization. While the process has gone remarkably smoothly, we hope that improvement in communication can make it even better.

Administration

Welcome to Rensselaer; please be safe

By Travis Apgar September 4, 2020

Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Travis Apgar welcomes students back to campus and urges them to follow Rensselaer’s safety protocols, as non-compliant behavior will be addressed swiftly. He emphasizes that all members of the community must demonstrate responsibility and take the lives of others seriously.

Food Review

It's a soggy mess: Rensselaer’s quarantine food does not fail to disappoint

By Avery Clark September 3, 2020

Students everywhere endure the mediocrity of dining hall food, but Rensselaer’s choiceless quarantine meals are a whole new take on this quintessential college experience. There was no way to prepare first-year students for the abysmal food that was soon to arrive on their dorm-steps: soggy croutons, cold sauceless noodles, and more. First-year writer Avery Clark reviews Rensselaer’s quarantine food delivery service.

Top Hat

Looking back and moving forward

By Advaith Narayan September 3, 2020

Grand Marshal Advaith Narayan discusses student government's new priorities and his commitment to addressing concerns about the Institute's pandemic response as well as recent diversity and inclusion efforts.

Opinion

Fake news, fake food

By Dylan Le September 3, 2020

Cooking life hack channels with their slick editing and deceptive recipes have been profiting by misleading their audiences in a similar fashion as fake news organizations. From microwave caramel to political scandals, these forms of media are poisoning the well of information we base our opinions on.

Opinion

Transfer students deserve better communication from Rensselaer

By Maya Johnson September 3, 2020

Rensselaer is on the 2020 Pi Theta Kappa honor roll for transfer friendly colleges, but their communication with transfer students falls short. RPI must do more to live up to its honor roll status by treating transfer students with equal regard as the rest of the student body, even with the extenuating circumstances caused by COVID-19.

Derby

Welcome back! Virtually, of course

By Anissa Choiniere September 3, 2020

President of the Union Anissa Choiniere welcomes students back to Rensselaer. She provides updates on Union operations and the upcoming Activities Fair, which will be operating virtually this weekend.