At approximately 6 am on the morning of Tuesday, April 23, a student was found dead in one of RPI’s residences. The Department of Public Safety—with agreement from the Troy Fire Department and the Troy Police Department—has announced that it believes the student in question committed suicide. According to an e-mail released by Vice President for Student Life Timothy Sams, the student in question was Michael Dickinson ’14. Read more...

“Toward the people that we love that we’ve lost, that will partially heal or will never heal. The world is a darker place without you here. Without your illuminating thoughts illuminating the world is a darker place without you here.” – Brent Green, “To Many Men Strange Fates Are Given” Read more...

Jack Harper, played by Tom Cruise, is a drone technician in a dystopian future where the earth has been ravaged by an alien war. Harper is plagued by impossible dreams and memories of before the war and before he was born. When a bit of his dreams comes crashing from the sky, he begins to question his reality, finding everything is not exactly what it seems. Read more...

This Tuesday, the RPI community suffered two losses. A student passed away in his apartment complex, and former Rensselaer Union Barber Tony Cafararo passed away from cancer. In light of these two tragedies, what I was going to write in this space seems insignificant. I was going to talk about responsibility and the power to change your life, or perhaps something on or the state of the paper. Read more...

Campus Takeout is a hole in the wall Indian/Pakistani restaurant located at 2207 15th Street, just north of Prospect Park on the opposite side of the street. I’ve walked past it day after day on my way between RPI and my apartment. The place seemed to be reasonably low-priced and strangely unpopulated, so I decided I’d give the relatively sketchy building a try. That was my first mistake. I went in and picked a meal out, then found out that the restaurant required cash. I went with “Sure, I’ll be right back after I get money from an ATM.” That was my other mistake. Read more...

The Rensselaer Electric Vehicle team recently competed with two cars at the Shell Eco-marathon in Houston, Texas. Both cars that competed in the marathon completed their runs successfully, taking the 12th and 18th places, respectively. Read more...

This past week has been somber for all of us. As most know, on April 15, during the Boston Marathon, two bombs exploded near the finish line, resulting in over two hundred injuries and three casualties. This sparked an intensive investigation by the FBI, the death of an Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer, and a shootout and manhunt in a nearby town. Additionally, a fertilizer plant exploded in West, Tex., on April 17, killing three, injuring more than a hundred, and destroying about 150 buildings. Soon thereafter, on Saturday, April 20, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Sichuan Province, China, affecting more than ten thousand. Our condolences go out to all those affected by these events and others that have taken place this past week. As a global community, RPI has a large number of members that are directly associated with these tragic events; RPI has recently experienced one of its own. Read more...

Muza is one of the most beautiful restaurants in all of Troy, with a magnificent beer garden and wondrous inside decor not unlike what I might expect from a great homestyle restaurant in some quaint part of an eastern European town. I stopped by here once before with friends during my freshman year and ordered a delicious chicken marsala. The place was somewhat small back then, and I had heard that they have made some significant changes since, including expanding into the garden behind them, so I was anxious to try them out once more. Read more...

Earlier this month, a man named Carl Westerdahl passed away. Younger RPI students may not know who he is, but Westerdahl left behind a legacy that all of us should remember. While I may not have known him personally, the stories that I’ve read and heard from people have shown me the powerful impression he left on RPI. I feel compelled to share a small glimpse of the rich history of this man and what he has given to this school. Read more...

On Friday, April 19, I went to see a comedy show featuring Myq Kaplan, a professional comedian from Comedy Central. I’d never gone to see a comedian in person, but having seen one on television (and the internet) before, I had hope for the show. Granted, I’d never seen a performance by Kaplan, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Luckily, I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. Read more...

Happy Wednesday! I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend. I also wish you all the best of luck as the semester comes to an end. This past weekend was extremely busy with many of our organizations hosting events. Read more...

Did you know that there are over 54 million Americans living with a disability today? People with disabilities face many challenges every day that you and I cannot imagine. But one of the most tragic barriers is a lack of understanding by our society. A simple message of empathy and acceptance is all it takes to break down this barrier, and we have committed ourselves to spreading this message.
As men of Pi Kappa Phi, we are taking this message to our campus by holding a 24 hour bike-a-thon from 12 pm Thursday, April 25, to 12 pm Friday, April 26, to raise funds and awareness on behalf of people with disabilities. We have set a goal for our chapter to raise $1,000 for Push America during our “Pedal for Push” event. Twenty-five percent of the funds we raise will also come back to our local community to have an even deeper impact on those with disabilities in our neighbor. Participants who donate to Push America’s mission will receive one raffle ticket per dollar they donate! We will be raffling off gift cards from local restaurants at 12 pm on Friday (you do not have to be present to win).
Our dedication to serving our community is regarded in the greek community. We continue to dedicate our time, service, and efforts to serving people with disabilities not only in our community, but across the country as well. 
We hope you will join us in all the wonderful things we are doing as a chapter for Push America and people with disabilities by making a tax deductible donation today. 
Thank you very much for your support. Together we can make a difference!  Read more...

Mary Herrick and her husband Richard have lived in Troy for over thirty years. For many of those thirty, Herrick would pass by a World War II monument near her home at least twice a day. Then, about eight years ago, as Herrick made her daily pass by the monument, she noticed that the plants around the monument were overgrown. That was when Herrick decided to give back to the community that had been her home for so many years. “That year I purchased a few petunias and planted them for Memorial Day in front of the memorial,” Herrick said. When questioned why she had decided to do this, she explained that she and her husband had done it “to honor both of our dads who had fought in World War II.” Since that year, Herrick has tended to the monument, cleaning it up every spring by purchasing flowers and flags and trimming back the “monstrous bushes” that annually attempt to take over the area. Herrick described that some of the bushes were beyond her control, as they were too big for her to trim by herself. Read more...

Click the image to view the spread in high resolution. Photos by Ryan Baltazar, Joseph Shen, and Ethan Spitz.
Read more...

Last week was Grand Marshal Week, an exciting time for all students to celebrate a campus tradition and take a break from classes on Wednesday. We would like to thank the GM Week Committee for organizing such a great week; much fun was had all around, and there was a decent turnout for student voting. However, during the week, a few issues arose that could have been better dealt with. Read more...

Starting Friday, April 19, the RPI Players will present their final production of the year: Curtains. Based on the book and concept by Peter Stone, Curtains tells the story of a hassled theater troop and production staff attempting to rescue their play, Robbin’ Hood of the Old West, from bad acting, bad attitudes, bad reviews, and bad luck, as the group quickly finds they are plagued by a serial killer. Read more...

On Saturday, April 13, the Student Senate’s Rules and Elections Committee released the results for this year’s Grand Marshal Week elections. Both having run uncontested, Charles Carletta ’14 and Gretchen Sileo ’14 were elected Grand Marshal and President of the Union, respectively. Overall voter turnout was about average at 48.52 percent of the student body. It was, though, a drop from last year’s 49.8 percent voter turnout. Read more...