Hello RPI,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, especially those who had their family and friends visit and enjoy the events offered over the last few days. For those of you who didn’t have someone visit, call home. Today. Seriously, I know half of you have been putting it off for over a month, just…DO IT.

Last week, I had the chance to meet with my mentee for my major, and talk to him about what he can do to put himself in the best position for his future. We talked about how to plan out his courses, what the real work load of different classes were, and then some. After we finished, a parent came up to me to comment on what she had just heard us doing. She was impressed to see students working together across the class years, but was also curious as to why her son hadn’t had the opportunity to have this. I explained that everyone has a faculty advisor to talk to, but apparently her son has been unable to get time to speak to his advisor about his specific career path. This particularly irked me, because I know for a fact that without the support of various faculty members, I wouldn’t know how to graduate, as my advisor had left the school. That being said, if you do not feel you are getting adequate advising, I recommend that you first talk to a student in your major. In my experience, this got me in contact with a professor who was willing to take the extra time to advise a student outside of her responsibilities, as well as other students to help work things out with. I’ve always said that academics come first when you’re here, so if you need more assistance figuring out your coursework or career path, go raise hell about it! I can confidently say that there are professors who value the advising system more than others, so don’t let yourself be the victim of that conflict. For those who don’t know where to look for other students, find out the student organization for your major, and ask someone there.

A brief explanation for why I write my updates about the Senate on a delayed timeline: this article comes out on Wednesday mornings, but the Senate meetings are on Tuesday evenings, so I write these articles before the meeting occurs. However, what I can tell you is that the Senate will have addressed a student petition regarding printer cover sheets. The basis of this petition is that the sheets printed at the start of every printer job are wasteful, and an additional expense to both students and the university. At the meeting, we will discuss the intent of the petition, and decide how we will proceed in addressing the situation. After that, stay tuned for updates on the progress of the project. If you’re interested in seeing how we do these projects, our meetings are open to everyone, and you can talk to the people doing the work. If you’re interested in helping with any project we have going on, we welcome you with open arms and occasional home-made snacks.

Next week, we will be addressing a petition by students on the Senate-Executive Board Liaison, who works with both organizations and leads several projects. We will also be discussing our plans for a Senate Town Hall meeting, where we will organize a time in the McNeil Room when students can discuss their thoughts with us in a large, open environment. Once we have further attendance confirmation, we will hold discussions on both Senate projects and Summer Arch.

As always, please contact me at gm@rpi.edu with anything you would like to hear or know more about.