The 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12 affected and continues to affect people across the world.  With estimates of 150,000 dead and more now homeless, there is an international effort to help rebuild and comfort a country that had previously been plagued by poverty and unemployment. In addition to the fundraising and support work done across the nation and the world, members of the RPI community have found ways to support the people of Haiti prior to and after the earthquake. Read more...

No matter what potential Clustered Learning, Advocacy, and Support for Students holds for RPI, it means a big change and big changes are often difficult. Recent housing reform has not been met with open arms, whether unhappiness has been voiced through a Facebook group of 1,200 students or through the fretting heard in the hallways. Right now, the Rensselaer community needs to stick together and communicate. Kudos to Grand Marshal Michael Zwack ’11 for organizing an informal discussion about the housing process. The meeting is tomorrow at 8 pm in the Student Government Suite. If the housing reform affects you, make it a point to come to the meeting to both voice concerns and get answers to your questions. If you cannot make it or you have questions later, contact Resident Life and ask. They’re there to help you make the most out of your on-campus housing experience. Read more...

The spring season at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center promises to bring events to the RPI campus that are sure to both challenge and interest students, faculty, and staff alike. The season will start off big with Jeremy Wade: there is no end to more, an exploration of Japanese culture that will probably appeal to those who may see themselves as more likely patrons of Genericon than of EMPAC. The performance, on Thursday, January 28 and Friday, January 29 at 8 pm in the Theater, will combine innovative dance with a Japanese children’s television show in an enveloping way of looking at the “kawaii” world of Japanese media that is sure to be new to even the most die-hard anime or manga enthusiast. It will be paired with an exhibition of manga and anime in the Mezzanine, ongoing until February 3. Read more...

RPI women’s hockey started off the new semester with a bang, tallying two wins over opponents that have given the squad much trouble in the past. The Engineers took their first-ever program victory over the Dartmouth College Big Green on Friday by a score of 2-1, followed by their second program victory over the No. 7 Harvard University Crimson by a 4-2 margin on Saturday afternoon. This marks the first weekend sweep for RPI since early December, when the Engineers took down Union College in a home-and-home series. The two wins push RPI to an even 10-10-5 overall and 7-4-3 in conference play, while Dartmouth falls to 6-11-2 overall and 4-9-1 in the ECAC. Nationally-ranked Harvard drops to 10-5-4 overall and 8-5-2 in league action. Read more...

On December 18, the American Association for University Professors announced an investigation into key issues of shared governance at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, specifically, the ongoing suspension of the Faculty Senate. Having suspended the Senate in August 2007, the Board of Trustees has established a transitional faculty government in which only certain committees—such as the Committee on Promotion and Tenure as well as the Curriculum Committee—continue to function. At the time, the AAUP sent a letter to President Shirley Ann Jackson criticizing actions taken by the administration to suspend the Senate. Read more...

RPI is offering a new degree program: a Bachelor of Science in cognitive science, offered by the Department of Cognitive Science in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. The program has been in development for over three years and was approved in December by the New York State Education Department. Undergraduates are now able to declare a degree in cognitive science, and the program will start admitting new students in the fall. Read more...

Throughout my life, music has played a very important role. I’m not a musician; I once played the saxophone decently, but other than that, I haven’t really touched another instrument. However, my taste in music is something that has contributed to my identity as a person. While my taste in movies, books, and TV are pretty mainstream, my taste in music is something that I consider all my own. It may have changed over time, but it is something that has been with me my entire life. Read more...

I’m not sure what influenced me to take a chance with Data Structures, formerly Computer Science II, after having such a miserable time in Computer Science I. Why couldn’t I program? I ended up spending my entire summer break trying to answer that question, relearning Computer Science I material, insisting that I take (and under-stand) Data Structures. Read more...

A new decade, year, and semester begins. Welcome back, the winter break was long, but hopefully everyone took advantage of some time to rest and get ready for another term at RPI. It was almost seven weeks of not having to write editorials, so I enjoyed it tremendously… Read more...

This past weekend, the Executive Board was hard at work reviewing every line of every club budget submitted. This completes the first step in the process of allocating funding for the next fiscal year, which began with the review of intercollegiate athletics and administrative budgets late last semester. Clubs now have an opportunity to appeal these decisions before a formal proposal for next year’s activity fee is created. Read more...

It is my great privilege to serve Rensselaer as Chair of the Judicial Board. I would like to thank Grand Marshal Michael Zwack ’11 and the 40th Student Senate for selecting me for this position. This is my eighth and final semester as an undergraduate, and it certainly will be my most exciting one yet. Read more...

During the “Age of Enlightenment,” religion lessened its ties to nationality­—consider the religious wars of Europe—and became personal. Today, almost all religions of the world are represented in America to some degree, and several of them celebrate important holidays around December. To be politically correct, many of us will say, “Happy Holidays” instead of the holiday celebrated by one’s faith. But we must ask ourselves, are we unnecessarily allowing public opinion to influence our personal practices? Is this a regression to the days of conformity? Read more...

The 10th anniversary of President Shirley Ann Jackson’s administration certainly deserved celebration, but the one we got was a bit overdone. From the Board of Trustees lecture on Thursday (complete with caviar and prime rib) to the evening of entertainment on Saturday, no expense was spared. However, I was left wondering: if I was a potential donor or investor, would I really be impressed by all this? The final output of a university is two-fold: the knowledge and skills acquired by the students and the discoveries and intellectual property made by faculty and students. We heard very little about either on Saturday evening. Read more...

“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” Read more...

A covered bridge, amidst cows grazing on rolling meadows­—how serene, how rustic, how quaint. Yet in the early 1800s, covered bridges were state-of-the-art engineering, an immediate by-product of the Industrial Revolution. The Atlantic seaboard was covered with old-growth forests, with trees towering hundreds of feet tall. But it took water or steam-powered sawmills to translate that into useable lumber. Read more...

After my long hiatus, I was looking for a restaurant to review that would be different. It is the first issue of the semester, after all, and starting the reviews off on a high note seems like a good policy. Still, drinking can be fun. And drinking with good food can be even more fun. I just had to cleverly incorporate the two together. Read more...

Most, if not all, the genocides since World War II could have been prevented if doing so were a significant goal of the United States’ foreign policy. A few have been trimmed short by actions of our government, but always too late, and many genocides proceed unfettered. In his new book, Worse Than War, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen analyzes the causes, implementation, ends, and consequences of genocide, and offers some interesting suggestions for facing the problem. Read more...

Would you like to listen to one of the first classical music albums to go platinum? Here’s your chance. First released in 1968, Wendy Carlos’ Grammy winning album Switched-On Bach was a revolutionary attempt to bring the classical works of Johann Sebastian Bach to the attention of listeners who spend most of their time on bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I, too, was such a classical luddite, before I was completely blown away by this album. Read more...

With the Winter Olympics fast approaching, three Engineers got the opportunity of a lifetime as the ECAC All-Stars faced the U.S. Women’s Olympic team as part of the Qwest Tour at Quinnipiac University on January 3. Seniors Whitney Naslund and Laura Gersten, along with junior goaltender Sonja van der Bliek, made up the 21-man roster that took on the Olympic team as it prepares for its trip to Vancouver this upcoming February. In addition, Rensselaer Head Coach John Burke was named one of the assistant coaches for the event, managing the defensive side of the ECAC squad. Read more...

While most Rensselaer students enjoyed this year’s extended winter recess, the men’s hockey team has kept sharp with a seven-game schedule, beginning just before the start of the New Year. In that span—which included an appearance in the championship round of the 45th Annual Great Lakes Invitational held at the legendary Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Mich.—the Engineers posted a 4-2-1 record, ending with a win and a tie over Ivy League foes at home this past weekend. Read more...