Earlier this year at the Spring Town Meeting, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center Theater was packed to capacity. It was so full, in fact, that members of the community were forced to wait outside. At the time, there were questions as to why the Spring Town Meeting was not held in the main concert hall, as to accommodate everyone. Last week, we were reminded of the answer. Read more...

Named as one of Time Magazine’s All Time 100, Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go received critical attention for its strange, romantic atmosphere and delicate, artfully constructed prose. Over the course of his career, Ishiguro has made broad strokes in the field of writing, with his work being noticed in songs, short stories, screenplays, and novels. Ishiguro has developed a discreet style to his writing that manages to be both concise and incredibly descriptive; in many ways, Kazuo uses unique word choices that make his work distinct, but has developed a deliberate readability that keeps his work fully engaging. Time describes Never Let Me Go as being “told with a dry-eyed, white-knuckled restraint.” Read more...

The Engineers had a tough weekend against their rival, the Union College Dutchmen. This double header weekend is a benchmark for students of Rensselaer and is usually an enjoyable break, but this year the games resulted in two losses for the Engineers. Read more...

Last Wednesday, Tom Cech, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, gave the second of two inaugural lectures in a new series, “Life at the Interface of Science and Engineering” at Rensselaer’s Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies. The first lecture, also given by Cech, was at the University of Albany on Tuesday. This new lecture series was established thanks to the work of Dr. Marlene Belfort and Dr. Georges Belfort, professors at the University of Albany and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, respectively. The series concerns itself with topics requiring collaboration with the life sciences and engineering. Read more...

Hello again RPI! This week I am excited to announce the return of the Rensselaer Union Comment Cards, similar to comment cards in other areas of campus like the Clubhouse Pub and Commons Dining Hall. Our cards are available outside of the Student Government Suite on the third floor of the Union (room 3120). There is a large box with cards next to it for writing and submitting comments about anything in regards to the Union. Comments can range from tangible issues having to do with dining services, Father’s Marketplace, the Collegiate Store, the games room, questions about being in a club, getting in touch with staff or E-Board representatives, or even starting a club, just to name a few. This new comment card program is headed up by the Executive Board’s Business Operations Committee, which is responsible for reviewing the comments and providing answers. Once a comment card has been answered, it will be placed on the bulletin board to the left of the comment box. If you have any feedback about our comment cards, please fill one out and we will take it into consideration! Read more...

Sid Meier’s Civilization holds a special place in my heart. Civilization IV is one of the first titles that got me into computer gaming. The complete edition of Civilization V is a hallmark of the turn-based strategy genre, and one that comes highly recommended by yours truly. With such huge shoes to fill, Firaxis Games would need to make something special happen with Civilization VI for it to stand out. Read more...

This past week, the men’s soccer team extended their win streak to five wins, defeating Keene State College 1–0 on Wednesday. However, the team only managed a 0–0 draw against Saint Thomas Aquinas College the following Saturday. For the women’s team, they picked up their fourth loss of the season in a 1–0 game against Skidmore College. The team made up for the loss the following Tuesday, defeating Vassar College in the Liberty League Tournament 1–0. Read more...

Grand Marshal Paul Ilori ’17 welcomed everyone to Monday’s Halloween Student Senate meeting, which opened with committee reports. Read more...

Students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute once had the option to move off-campus for their sophomore year. In 2009, the administration opted for a new policy requiring sophomores to live on campus starting in fall 2010. This decision sparked the “Uprise at Five” protest on March 12, 2009 where over 500 students stood together against the administration’s overreach (https://poly.rpi.edu/s/22e2c). Read more...

Every year since the beginning of the Liberty League in 1995, St. Lawrence University has won or tied for first place for the men’s league championship meet title, until now. On Saturday, at Seneca Lake State Park in Geneva, New York, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute made league history when they broke the Saints’ 21-year hold on the Liberty League title. Read more...

On Friday, October 28, a group of students from Hoosick Falls High School came to visit Rensselaer. In order to inform the students about Rensselaer and what engineers do, some members from the Engineering Ambassadors made a couple of presentations for the students. The first presentation was on the “Future of Light.” During this presentation, ambassadors talked about the different types of lightbulbs and their respective efficiencies, as well as the difference between diodes and photodiodes. During and after the presentation, the presenters gave the students the opportunity to try several hands-on activities, which included finding light spectrums and connecting wires to create different colored lights. Read more...

Rensselaer men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had their 11th consecutive dual-meet on Saturday, October 29 at Ithaca College. The men’s team beat the Ithaca Bombers 201–93, giving Rensselaer their second victory over Ithaca this season. The women’s 13-win streak was broken with a 180–120 loss to Ithaca. Read more...

On September 9, Vice President for Student Life Dr. Frank E. Ross III met with members of the Alumni Inter Greek Council to discuss upcoming changes to Greek life at Rensselaer. Among these changes was the plan to mandate that students affiliated with Greek houses spend the Summer Arch program in on-campus housing, rather than in their respective Greek houses. The decision appears to have been made without direct contact with the students, as the information was only provided to campus fraternities and sororities after it had been made. For Greek organizations, the changes could be detrimental to the normal working function of the houses, and could result in additional living costs. Read more...

It’s that time of the year again; as the temperatures start to drop and the leaves change colors, winter’s arrival seems imminent. Recently, new winter predictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated that much of the U.S. could expect a milder and drier winter. For regions such as the northern part of the Midwest, however, winter weather will most likely be colder and wetter. This warmer trend can be attributed to the La Niña climate pattern which shifts global weather patterns, making some areas warmer and others cooler. This prediction of warmer temperatures might seem like welcome news for us. After all, who wants to walk across campus in freezing temperatures? However, this news should cause some concern. Of the past twelve months, eleven of them have been the warmest on record. Many experts agree that 2016 will be the warmest year yet. What’s even more concerning is that fifteen of the sixteen warmest years have occurred since 2000. Future predictions aren’t looking very good either. An increase of up to seven degrees Fahrenheit is expected if current rates continue. This could spell disaster for many people as sea levels will rise and severe weather will become more prominent and frequent. In order to solve these climate issues, we may have to turn to geo-engineering. Read more...

You won’t find many artists as unabashedly honest as Banks. The 28-year-old singer-songwriter will take you on a disillusioned trip through her darkened world of brooding alternative R&B trip-hop aesthetics. Fresh off the release of her sophomore effort, The Altar, the dark-haired phenomenon Banks has had an epic year. Read more...

The men’s hockey team saw success in their home openers during family weekend this past week. The Engineers only managed to tie Niagara University 3-3 on Friday, but steamrolled Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday night with a 6-3 victory. Read more...

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute football faced off against the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Engineers last Saturday at East Campus Stadium in the annual Transit Trophy game. A cold, heavy rainstorm loomed over the Capital Region all day, dumping more than an inch of rain on Troy and making handling the football difficult. In view of the slippery conditions the storm presented, RPI relied heavily on its ground game. Rensselaer rushers pounded through the WPI front line all afternoon, combining for 244 yards rushing on 41 attempts. To counter Rensselaer’s rushing attack, Worcester ran the ball 50 times. However, the RPI defensive front held them to just 140 yards total. But in the end, three Rensselaer turnovers and 16 points in the second half were too much for the home team to overcome as WPI upended RPI by a final score of 19–7. Read more...

This week’s meeting opened with reports from the committees of the Senate. Steve Sperazza ’18 spoke on behalf of the Academic Affairs Committee, and started discussion at this week’s Senate meeting on collecting feedback about the Core Curriculum changes that were discussed last week. He encouraged people to send feedback to chairperson Varun Rao ’18. Facilities and Services Committee Chairperson Austin Miller ’17 said that the Department of Public Safety is looking to have officers go to dinner at Commons on either November 15, 16, or 17 in order to get feedback from students and share new initiatives. Read more...

In the two months I’ve been here at RPI, I’ve learned a lot more than just how to study for tests and complete work, as all that knowledge came over from high school. Sleepless nights and cramming for exams are almost second nature, whereas RPI posed a whole new set of challenges. Read more...