Last Saturday, over 500,000 people gathered in the nation’s capital for the Women’s March on Washington. This march was a women’s rights movement, a human rights movement, an environmental movement, and a resisting protest against Donald Trump and his new administration. The turnout of the march was much larger than the expected 200,000. The number of people who attended the march was three times greater than the number of people who attended the inauguration of President Trump the day before. There were sister marches in all 50 states throughout the rest of the country and around the world across the seven continents. The nearly five million total participants are said to have made the Women’s March one of the largest protests in history. Read more...

Whether or not you agree with his policies, Barack Obama’s last public speech in Chicago left us with plenty to dwell on. As we return to campus and settle into routine, the editorial staff of The Polytechnic thinks back to a particular line of Obama’s speech: “... for all of our outward differences, we in fact all share the same proud type, the most important office in democracy: citizen… that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you. Not just when there’s an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime.” Read more...

Rex’s review:

To be quite honest, two things at this restaurant stood out to me: the setting and the price. It is easily the most eye-grabbing shop on the street—its windows are lined with colored Christmas lights which, while not cohesive with the rest of the restaurant atmosphere, breathe life into the space. Otherwise, Unagi had a very relaxed, intimate ambiance, similar to the kind found at Troy’s Illium Cafe or Whistling Kettle. Its prices are outside the range of a college student’s budget; our party of four only managed to afford the Sushi Dinner for Two (three six-piece rolls and 16 pieces of sushi for $50) through a Groupon discount. Read more...

This past weekend, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams took on the Skidmore Thoroughbreds in the Robison Pool. The Engineers defeated the Thoroughbreds 166-97 and 164-97 for the men's and women's teams, respectively. Read more...

On December 23, Grand Marshal Paul Ilori ’17 opened the Student Senate meeting with committee reports. Those reports included a recap of last semester’s efforts by the Student Life Committee chaired by Justin Etzine ‘18 and planned meeting times for Student Senate committees this semester. Read more...

I pulled my back over winter break. It was one of those moments I would’ve forgotten if it hadn’t happened; I was just passing my break like usual. I had been sitting at the dining table, with my knees pulled up to my chest, just relaxing and talking to my family. But this put me in pain for a week. I couldn’t walk—each step sent a jolt up my cardboard back. I couldn’t sit or stand in one position for too long—I would start cramping up more than when I moved. I couldn’t focus—I was taking pain relievers like a 40-year-old. For that matter, I had to take them to sleep; otherwise I would roll around, uncomfortable in every position. When it was all over, I was finally able to walk away, though with a greatly shifted perspective. Read more...

To this day, I’m not sure what the title of the pairing of words “collateral beauty” even means; all I know is that collaterals have to do with loans, and beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. The movie Collateral Beauty hit the theater a little more than a month ago and has had quite a variety of reactions. Read more...

This past weekend the Engineer's Track and Field team competed at the Ithaca Invitational against Ithaca College, SUNY Oneonta and SUNY Brockport. The men's team was able to obtain a total of 55 points and win the meet. The women's team obtained a total of 24 points and placed fourth.

The men's team was victorious in several events. Freshman Dale Kelly won the 60 meter dash, and sophomore Jason Hall won the 400 meter dash. Kelly and Hall were both part of the winning 4x400 relay team, along with freshman Michael McNicholas and senior Max Drexler. Junior Terrence Lawrence had two victories, one in high jump and another in the 60 meter hurdles. Junior Matt Vitagliano took the victory in the triple jump.

On the women's side, sophomore Vera Titze brought the only event win to the Engineers. Titze easily won the 400 meter dash with a two second lead on the runner-up. Senior Jodi Wrzosek '17, running the mile; Sophomore Melissa Folk '19, throwing shot put; and Sophomore Jillian Salkind '19 in high jump all finished second in their respective events.

The Engineers will travel to Middlebury College next weekend Read more...

When I arrived home from Washington after the march, I received nothing but support from my closest friends and family. But from others, it was different. In Washington, there were a few Trump supporters protesting the Women’s March, and I also encountered disappointing people on the street. Many called the march disrespectful and a waste of time. The march was, hands down, the best experience of my life. Read more...

From the very beginning, Lion makes the world seem both small, yet vast. While altogether, the film arouses tear-jerking— this reviewer definitely got a little teary-eyed—and heartwarming emotions, the film’s second half seems to falter slightly to the strong, vivid opening of the first. Read more...

The Rensselaer men's and women's basketball teams struggled this week, with both teams losing home games to Skidmore College on Friday, and Union College on Saturday. The women's team fared better in each matchup, losing by just five to Skidmore and eight to Union, in comparison to the men's team losing their games by an average of 19 points per game. Read more...

Hi RPI!

Happy second week of the spring semester, and happy last second week of classes to all my seniors out there! There were a few things happening within the Executive Board over these past two weeks. First off, congrats to Caitlin Kennedy ’20 and Majken Rasmussen ’19 on being officially confirmed as Executive Board members by the Student Senate on Monday night! They will be filling two vacancies as members at large. After the vote on Monday night the Executive Board has returned to full strength. Read more...

The United States Government fascinates me.

More specifically, I find it so interesting to see how the federal, state, and municipal governments of such a major world player operates on a regular basis, and how the United States Constitution— primarily written almost 230 years ago—and its short list of amendments ensure that even the most mundane and overlookable regular operations of the country persist. This fascination plays a role in the television series I find very interesting, and is a common distraction when searching through Wikipedia. Read more...

The RPI Engineers fell shy of defeating the ninth nationally ranked Union College Dutchmen, after a strong start this past Thursday in the fifth annual Mayor's Cup. The Mayor's Cup drew a crowd of over 5,200 to Albany's Times Union Center. This loss pushes RPI to 4-21-1 for the season, and marks the second time Union has scored a 3-2 overtime win over the Engineers. Read more...

This past semester was an exciting one for the Student Senate’s Student Life Committee! The committee, which is tasked with creating projects, proposals, and legislation relating to “student rights, residence life, quality of life and well-being,” has made substantive progress in a number of different projects, all with the common objective of improving the RPI experience for all students. For the fall semester, four subcommittees were established to tackle these projects: the Study Spaces Subcommittee, the Counseling Center Subcommittee, the Student Rights and Policy Subcommittee, and the Pharmacy and Residence Halls Subcommittee. Read more...

Women's hockey ended the weekend with a win against Union College, after tying 2–2 with the Dutchwomen on Friday. The entire first and second periods of Friday's game were scoreless. Sophomore Jaimie Grigsby grabbed the first goal of the game, with junior Shayna Tomlinson scoring four minutes later. The Dutchwomen responded with two goals in a span of 1:05. The game continued into overtime, and neither team was able to score. Grigsby came close when her shot hit the crossbar. Read more...

I’ve written a number of editorials on how the education you receive at Rensselaer is only as powerful as you make it. In all honesty, it’s probably the easiest thing to complain about at RPI: we’re consumed by studying to a degree that prevents us from remembering that the world is larger than Troy. I think it’s important to take the value of our education into perspective, and to understand the context in which you can apply it. Oddly enough, that context is much larger than the capital region, and even the United States. Read more...

Over break, the men’s and women’s basketball teams played six games each. The men’s team went 3–3, while the women’s team struggled and only claimed one victory. Read more...