Hello RPI! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break and is recovering well from their food comas! Finals are just around the corner with only two short weeks left of classes. I hope everyone manages to make it through these last few days before enjoying Winter Break. Read more...

With the release of their debut album Cross in 2007, the French electronic duo Justice achieved international attention for their funk-laden bass lines and creatively sampled lyrics. The group, composed of Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge, described the album as “opera-disco.” Cross was unique in that it stretched the borders of the disco genre using modern sampling and mixing, and ultimately the album earned a nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 50th Grammy Awards. Read more...

With the outcome of the Presidential election decided almost three weeks ago, President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet is beginning to take shape. Through these picks, I am happy to see Trump is not reneging on his campaign promises to bring sweeping changes to the federal government. He is taking great care in choosing highly-experienced, well-respected individuals for Cabinet positions without regard for any personal opinions. Read more...

I moseyed over to Bismarck, North Dakota this past week to find out what was really going on at the Standing Rock Reservation, with this “protest” of the Dakota Access Pipeline. I learned two main lessons. First, this is a classic case of egregious political corruption in which the governor, in collusion with private (foreign) corporations, is sending police, sheriffs, and even national guard troops to beat the hell out of citizens in violation of their most fundamental civil rights—in this case, non-violent demonstrators exercising the right of assembly. It’s blatant, constantly one-sided, and enraging. I saw and experienced it first hand, inquired of it, challenged it, and got confirmation that there is only one side to the story. Read more...

This past weekend, Rensselaer hosted a meeting of the New York State section of the American Physical Society. A banquet for the event was held on Friday, November 11 in Sage Dining Hall, and featured the esteemed Professor Mildred Dresselhaus for an “after dinner” talk. Dresselhaus grew up in a poor family in New York City during the Great Depression. She received a scholarship from Eleanor Roosevelt to attend Hunter College, and later received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Read more...

When the election results came out, I felt numb. Everyone I spoke to that morning felt numb. All of the anger, the sadness, the disappointment, and the disgust meshed to form this feeling. The numbness turned into a pit in my stomach, and every time I thought of the fact that Donald Trump will be our next president, I felt physically sick. Read more...

On Friday, November 11, the Rensselaer Pride Alliance hosted their annual Drag Show. This event was held in the West Hall auditorium. As students shuffled into the first few rows, clad in rainbow colored and glitter covered garb, music blasted through the speakers, setting the mood for a good time. Read more...

For the first time in 20 years, the now No. 9 nationally ranked Rensselaer men’s cross country team received an invitation to compete at the NCAA Division III Championship Meet, the top meet in the country for Division III schools, following their second place victory at the NCAA Atlantic Regional Meet on Saturday. The meet will be held at Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky, this Saturday, November 19. Read more...

Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Virginia Gregg was in attendance at the Faculty Senate meeting last Wednesday to present an update of the financial status of Rensselaer. Read more...

The dynamic folk-rock duo of Lewis Del Mar is based just three hours south of Troy, New York, their humble beginnings originating in a Queens basement. Danny Miller and Max Harwood dropped their sonically strong debut album last month, and its compelling indie rock aesthetics prove to be worth a closer look. Read more...

Rensselaer lost 4–1 against Saint Lawrence University on Friday, November 11. After travelling to Potsdam, NY on Saturday, November 12, Rensselaer also lost to Clarkson University 8–3. The two losses dropped the Engineers to 4–9–1 overall for the season. Read more...

The Student Senate’s main discussion of their Monday night meeting was on the changes to the core curriculum. The Academic Affairs Committee aimed to receive feedback which could be brought to Professor Lee Ligon, who is leading the committee proposing the changes. Read more...

Hi RPI! Some exciting things are happening all around campus but I’ll do my best to inform you on some of the bigger ones from the Executive Board and the Rensselaer Union. This weekend, members of the E-Board and the Student Senate will be traveling to Lowell, MA to participate in the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) Region VIII conference. This is a great tradition for RPI, students, and the Union for a number of reasons. Read more...

The hit TV show Black Mirror is like none other. Drawing themes from old Twilight Zone episodes and mashing them with this generation’s general distrust for technology, Charlie Booker created a disjointed yet extremely interconnected TV series. Each episode is stand-alone, yet ties in with others, even those not necessarily in the same season. Constantly changing, yet retaining similar elements of sinister, almost realistic parodies of human culture, Black Mirror aims to create sleepless nights and terrifying views of the future alike. Read more...

On November 11, Policies Committee Chairperson Matt Rand ’19 opened the Rensselaer Union Executive Board meeting with a review of the E-Board budgeting policies in its entirety. This detailed presentation touched on all aspects of a club’s budget, from travel to food. Rand’s presentation not only specified the items that are Union policy to subsidize, such as 40 percent of travel costs, but also described the items that are strictly not. These items include personal items that would become the property of an individual member, rather than a club. These are not to be confused with uniforms. A uniform, such as a swim suit, may have the life-span of only a year or few years, and may only be used by a single member, but the uniform is still the property of the club. A customized shirt or jersey that will belong to the individual member will not be subsidized by the E-Board. Read more...

I recently read Curtis Powell’s “Post-Election Message” of 11/10/16 to the RPI community, and I felt compelled to write to you. His message was, simply put, repugnant. I’ve always found RPI to be a relatively freethinking and normal home for education, research, and camaraderie. Different points of view could be shared and students could handle the world around them without the need for intervention or counseling. RPI has never struck me as a school like Vassar, where “special snowflakes” are kept in “safe spaces” from opinions and news that might damage their delicate sensibilities. Read more...

As a gay American, I had everything at stake in this election. Muslim Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, and essentially every other minority group in this great country had everything at stake in this election. For a presidential candidate who stated that he wanted to register Muslims, end marriage equality, deport Mexicans, and “grab women by the pussy,” it seemed like every group that wasn’t straight, white, and male had something to lose over the course of a Trump presidency. At this point, I’m dumbfounded that so many Americans voted in a way that condones bigotry at worst and passively accepts it at best. I’m dumbfounded that so many Americans voted in a way that would signify that my civil liberties are less important than their tax breaks. Read more...

On Friday, November 4, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center was filled with Rensselaer community members eager to listen to CIA Director John O. Brennan speak. Read more...