Former Director of the Union Rick Hartt ’70 spoke about his experiences at Rensselaer on Sunday, October 29 in a phone interview with Brookelyn Parslow, a reporter for The Polytechnic. Read more...

Imagine you were in charge of budgeting for a person’s salary, but had no decision-making say in the job responsibilities that person was expected to uphold or in how that person was to be evaluated each year. This is the current situation in the Rensselaer Union. Read more...

This past Saturday, as part of UPAC Concerts’ Fall Concert Series, Shane & Emily performed in Mother’s Wine Emporium from 8 to 9:30 pm. The charming couple played a wide range of music, with lots of covers and originals. Their sound is pop, acoustic, and folk with a lot of voice harmonization that fits perfectly. They gave off positive vibes, as well as a sort of sweet, romantic vibe that is accentuated by the way they act on stage. Their performance was full of cute back stories to their relationship, lots of dad jokes, and jokes about their future babies. However, the main attraction was really how well their voices harmonized together and their ability to put their own spin on songs that the audience requested through an app. Read more...

Rensselaer won 63-14 against the University of Rochester at home on Saturday, November 4. The game took place on Senior Day and Military Appreciation Day. The victory puts the Engineers at 7-2 for the season and 3-1 in the Liberty League. Read more...

President Shirley Ann Jackson “dispense[d] with a formal presentation” at the annual Fall Town Meeting on November 2. She took barely over 10 minutes to speak and show a short video that was also played at the capital campaign launch event before opening up to questions. Read more...

Recently, a document that was sent to members of the Executive Board was leaked via Reddit. This document was a pledge of confidentiality that members of the Board were asked to sign prior to participating in interviews for the director of the Union position. From my understanding, this document was intended to ensure that the integrity of the search and that the identities of the candidates would not be compromised. Read more...

On November 3, Maroon 5 released its sixth studio album, delivering the band’s latest sound wrapped in a quirky album cover and album name featuring references to the 1999 sci-fi action film The Matrix. Red Pill Blues plays with the idea of deciding between a blue pill or a red pill: a safe option permitting obliviousness, or a risk permitting truth. As a result, the album title may hint at the consequences of knowledge, or “blues,” as most tracks on the album have gloomy titles like “Help Me Out” and “Cold.” Regardless, it is no doubt that Maroon 5 has evolved into a whole new animal. Read more...

Rensselaer lost 6-0 against St. Lawrence University last Tuesday, October 31. The Halloween game was part of the first round of the Liberty League playoffs. The loss pushed the Engineers out of the playoffs, ending their season at 8-8-2. Read more...

The Web Technologies Group presented the current status of the Shuttle Tracker on Monday, November 6 at the weekly meeting of the 48th Student Senate. Chairman of the group Sidney Kochman ’19 and project lead Joseph Lyon ’20 discussed specific progress made on the tracker, the updates and changes to the admin interface, the analytics they have received, and some features they have planned for the future. Read more...

To the RPI Community:

Given the pending changes in reporting and authority for the director of the Union position, the last vestige of shared governance at RPI appears to be in its final days. When implemented, this action will complete the transition of RPI’s administration to a top-down corporate governance model, in the stated interest of a so-called “transformation.” Read more...

When I first saw the HoloLens unveiling in January 2015, I was blown away. It was the first time I had seen anything related to augmented reality or AR, and I could not wait to get to experience it myself. I finally got the chance to do that on November 1, at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, almost three years after I first saw the HoloLens. Read more...

RPI men and women’s swim and dive teams had mixed meets at WPI last weekend. The women’s team defeated both WPI and Simmons College in two dual meets, beating WPI 204-96 and crushing Simmons College 225-75. The men’s team lost, ending a 19-meet winning streak, losing for the first time since the 2015-2016 season. Read more...

One of the most pressing challenges that faces our global community is the self-imposed destruction of our planet’s ecosystem, according to Elizabeth Kolbert, a journalist and the author of the world-renowned book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. In the main theater of the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center on Thursday, November 2, Kolbert made an effort to challenge the Rensselaer student body with this issue. Read more...

I am ready for this semester to be finished. I am currently in my last difficult semester at RPI and I am looking forward to being done with it. Read more...

During the E-Board’s last meeting, the RPI Dance Team received money to finance their uniforms, the Alpha Delta Phi Society was given a room in the ’87 Gym, and President of the Union Matthew Rand ’19 gave an update on director of the Union candidate interviews. Read more...

I Hope you all had a fun and great Halloween week. I don’t know how you spent your time, but I think there must have been candies, fancy costumes, and parties. Besides these joyful and exciting activities, Halloween sales also add the sense of happiness and fulfillment at the same time. For me, I bought some spooky games from Steam, and most of them were even as cheap as the Thanksgiving sale. In this notebook, I will recommend some awesome horror games. Read more...

The Poly is currently aware of multiple instances of students being contacted by administrators to meet and discuss their involvement in the demonstration on Friday, October 13. We did not have adequate time to prepare a news article on this topic for this issue, but we feel that it is necessary to share that this is happening with the Rensselaer community. Read more...

The Executive Board had a busy agenda on Thursday, approving Lavender Ambassadors—a professional networking group for LGBT students and allies—fireworks during the GM Week 2018 finale, and an increase in RPI Flying Club’s subsidy. Read more...

I feel déjà vu: a French expression commonly used to express familiarity. As my junior year progresses, I’ve come across a familiar feeling—one of being at a crossroads. The last time I felt this way was four years ago, as a junior in high school, deciding my future college and career. I was fortunate enough to pick both a school and major I have grown to love, but another turning point in my life has surfaced and yet again I must make a decision: graduate school or industry? Read more...