The Polytechnic

Zach Nobles for Grand Marshal

The Polytechnic Editorial Board — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:23:57 +0000

The Polytechnic endorses Zach Nobles ’27 for Grand Marshal. Nobles’ ambitious vision for improving student-administration relationships, policy reform, and plans for presence amongst RPI’s community make him a strong candidate for GM.

Nobles currently holds many Student Government positions, including Independent Senator, Senate Student Life Committee Chair, Academic Affairs Committee member, and Institute Alcohol, Other Drugs and Hazing Advisory Committee member. Over the past few years, he has been at the forefront of many major projects including pushing for the use of preferred names in the RPI system, revising alcohol and drug policies, and working closely alongside administration to push for change for the better of the students.

Nobles seeks the position of GM with the campaign goal of increasing the student voice within the school by fostering greater connection between student government and the student body. While this is the function of the Student Senate, there still seems to be a lack of engagement between the bodies. He plans to increase the student government-club relationship by personally going to club general body meetings and spreading awareness of the Senate, claiming he will be “the most visible GM.” He also wants to promote the physical Student Government suggestion box, currently located within the Union, to improve visibility and accessibility of Student Government’s feedback routes. Within the Senate, he wants to enforce the requirement for senators to be part of two committees, in an effort to increase productivity of the Senate as well as foster connections and uphold communication throughout student government. Taking a book out of Union College, Nobles wants to induct RPI students onto the Board of Trustees in an effort to improve the student-administration relationship, which has been strenuous in previous years. The idea is to place some student representation on the board by allowing them to have voting privileges. While voting power may not be viable, the idea of having a student representative on the Board of Trustees could mark a significant shift in how our voices are valued at the institutional level.

As an active member of the RPI Pep Band, Nobles is very involved in school spirit. One of his goals is to rejuvenate the lack of passion for the school’s hockey team, especially throughout the freshman class. Whether we win or lose, Nobles feels as though hockey is one of the highlights of student life at RPI, as it draws our community together with traditions such as the “e to the x dx” chant. His ideas include giving out physical tickets so that students feel less of a “mental hurdle” to enter the Houston Field House for the first time, as well as possibly offering free tickets to first year students as an introduction to the rich hockey culture present at RPI.

Despite Nobles’ ambitious goals, The Poly has concern for the feasibility of several of them, as some are not thoroughly outlined. Nobles proposed that students receive credit for participating in clubs, but this system currently faces friction from the registrar. Additionally, there would not be a streamlined process to allocate club credit. Nobles had also mentioned that he was not able to make effective changes on Title IX as SLC chair. When asked how he would make a greater impact on that as GM, he recognized the limitations of the role, but hoped to set a clear precedent that RPI students are not accepting of such behavior.

Nobles has the initiative and passion for making change at RPI. The Poly believes that Nobles’ ability to bring RPI closer together, alongside his motivation to achieve specific goals and drive policy improvement, makes him an ideal candidate for Grand Marshal.

Kate Goldstein for President of the Union

The Polytechnic Editorial Board — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:23:22 +0000

The Polytechnic endorses Kate Goldstein ’26, ’27G for President of the Union. Goldstein’s experience serving three years on the Union Executive Board, including her time as Chair of the Special Groups on Club Classifications and as the inaugural Marketing and Strategy Chair make her a compelling candidate for PU. Having worked on various E-Board projects for the Club Operations Committee, Business Operations Committee, and Special Committee on Union Operating Hours, Goldstein clearly demonstrates a thorough understanding of E-Board policies and how the board works.

Goldstein plans to improve policy in areas where she has personally seen inefficiency by enforcing monthly check-ins for committees, as well as easing the training process for both E-Board members and club officers. She is also working to help create a “welcome back” packet that includes all information that club officers may need in regards to E-Board. This idea has been in development for around one-and-a-half years, but she aims to process all required materials over the summer. Additionally, Goldstein wants to highlight the service offered by the Online Shopping Cart at Rensselaer, where officers can set up profiles for their club, facilitating a more efficient system for club resource procurement with quicker approval by their Student Activities Resource Person. By offering this information to club officers in a succinct manner, she hopes to decrease any confusion with club budgeting and their interactions with the E-Board.

Goldstein noted that Rensselaer Union Guidelines and Procedures is a living, breathing document. As such, it needs amendments to better reflect the current policies and procedures that are executed by the board, in the evolving interests of clubs and organizations at RPI. It is in her plan to prioritize these updates. For example, during her time as chair of SGCC, they rewrote and implemented the overdue change that better defined club statuses and the club probationary process. However, she was vague about which specific areas she wants to push for the updates, and offered no concrete plan for when or how she wants to address them.

Miscommunications between the E-Board and clubs, either through their representatives or otherwise, have occasionally contributed to those clubs not properly understanding the budgeting process, and in some cases mishandling money. Goldstein’s plans for a separate financial training, coupled with the “welcome back” packets, brings realistic plans on how to improve relations. Additionally, The Poly believes that her focus on improving the details of E-Board processes would ease the club management process and pave the way for a more efficient E-Board for years to come.

While Goldstein’s commitment to and knowledge of the workings of the student government is crucial to the PU position, The Poly is concerned about Goldstein’s long-term goals, which have not been clearly outlined. With the largest graduating class in RPI history leaving this year, there is uncertainty in the Union’s near four-million-dollar budget. Thus, the leader of the E-Board needs to be prepared to make decisions that have lasting effects past their tenure. Goldstein did not provide concrete plans beyond better financial training, updating the RUGP, and improved communication, nor could she cite any other long-term plans. To her credit, budgeting information can only be procured as enrollment data and subsidy requests come in, so her plan to “play it by ear” provides adaptability to the dynamic tasks E-Board takes on.

The Polytechnic believes that Kate Goldstein is a balanced and diplomatic candidate for the PU role. Her tenure on the E-Board, commitment to bringing clubs new and old up to speed on Union procedures, and levelheaded manner are all valuable assets of a student leader.

Beware the Fratification of Student Government

Tiburon Benavides — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:16:55 +0000

Soothsayer: “Beware the Ides of March.”

Caesar: “He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.”

I give to you this perspective, synthesized from my years at RPI, because my time as Grand Marshal is shortly coming to an end, and because we know this format of publishing is effective at transmitting knowledge to future generations of student leaders. The danger I am here to portent is not imminent nor fatal, as it was for Caesar, but slow-moving and a consequence of living in an ever-changing world. For this reason, this message is not only relevant to the student leaders to be elected during GM Week 2026, but for future generations of student leaders, be it five, 10, or 25 years into our future.

The key concept of this message is that RPI is in the middle of a century-long transition between a Greek-dominated campus and a Graduate-dominated campus. I am here to argue that the success of our Student Government can be measured in terms of how effectively we can simultaneously advocate for these two student groups, and how effectively we can counterbalance adverse incentive structures and lobbying campaigns impacting the politics of the Troy Building.

Fifty years ago, around 75% of RPI students were affiliated with Greek organizations. Decades of decline in RPI’s Greek Life was the result of various forces: societal pressure, stigmatization, cultural change, and punitive measures coming from within RPI. During my time at RPI, the reinstatement of deferred recruitment, the findings of the Greek Life Task Force, COVID-19, and shaky confidence in the Fraternity and Sorority Life Office’s ability to advocate for our Greek system have continued to push numbers down. Only now has the RPI Administration stepped in to put Greek Life on life support. Our current situation is complicated. Some fraternity chapters are quite healthy, while others are struggling to maintain smaller chapter sizes of less than 20 active students. Our three sororities, by contrast, are performing relatively well due to a well-practiced registered recruitment process, which keeps the three chapters around the same self-sustaining size. In the most optimistic scenario, everything else left unchanged, RPI’s Greek population will stabilize at its current numbers.

A countervailing thread to the decline of Greek Life is likely to be the growth of our graduate population. If we are to believe the messaging from RPI Administration conveyed through the Rensselaer Forward Plan, our graduate population is expected to increase to support the Institute’s renewed focus on sponsored research. A target model which RPI might aspire to, in terms of the graduate-undergraduate ratio, is that of President Schmidt’s previous institution, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Of course, we won’t get there overnight, and there will be bumps along the way due to unpredictable events and policies at the level of national–and international–politics, but overall, we should expect the trend over the next 25 years will be an increasing RPI Grad population.

Graduates and Greeks are two very unique constituency groups represented by our Student Government. Their needs, their experience as students, and their relationship with the Institute are distinct from one another. As alumni, Greeks are perhaps the most generous benefactors of the Institute, whereas Graduates typically do not build as close a connection to the Institute as they do with their lab or department. The stakes of our ability to advocate for these groups are no less than disaffiliation. This action has been considered before by the Interfraternity Council (IFC)–the creation of a Troy IFC unperturbed by RPI’s politics was something we discussed while I was president of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Meanwhile, Graduate Unionization is in vogue across our nation, and graduate worker union representation organizations have been working to establish a chapter at RPI for at least as long as I have been a Ph.D. Student at RPI. The threat of disaffiliation of either of these groups would be a certifiable disaster for RPI and for the Rensselaer Union.

Balancing the desires of these two groups is no small task, and unfortunately, it requires that a red line be established and maintained by the students and student government. Chapters are not clubs. The Union has always maintained its neutrality towards Greek Organizations, which are, by nature, trust organizations with a financial stake in real estate property, and most are members of national organizations. For these reasons and others, club subsidies or other direct financial support for RPI Greek Life cannot be funded by dollars collected through the Union Activity Fee.

Currently, the Greek and graduate constituencies are both minorities, each comprising around 15% of the total membership of the Rensselaer Union. Please, do not forget to advocate for these two student groups. With the pleasure of having been a Greek, a graduate student, and the chair of the Student Senate during my time at RPI, I can confidently say that the Student Government can effectively advocate for these groups and serve as an unbiased mediator between competing incentive structures set in place at our Institute.

Friends, Greeks, Graduates, lend me your ears; our institutions can survive this time of transition. Do not forget where we came from, keep an optimistic eye toward the future, and work diligently–together–to see it come to fruition.

Pi-K for (R)PI day

Meher Randeria — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 18:10:09 +0000

The Rensselaer community came together on Saturday, March 14 to celebrate the second annual R-PI Day Pi-K, a five kilometer race to commemorate RPI’s annual Giving Day. Organized in partnership with the Rensselaer Running Club, the Pi-K served as the pièce-de-résistance for the institute’s largest fundraising campaign, which had a $1,000,000 push goal set by the Office of Annual Giving. This goal was pushed beyond its limit as $1,066,035 from 3,029 donors was raised by the end of the day.

image: DSC_6784.jpg
caption: Abbey Pettus ’26 (left) as women's student division's second place, Natalie Schmitt ’28 (middle) was first in women's student division, while Jacob Walker ’28 (right) was first to complete the Pi-K.
size: medium

RRC’s very own Jacob Walker ’28 led the race with a blazing 18:27, while Natalie Schmitt ’28 topped the women's student division at 21:38; among alumni, Mason Buttaci ’25 and Charlotte Peterson ’25 took first place honors. Faculty, staff, and community members rounded out the field, with Drew Babitts and Maria Roberts claiming the top faculty and staff spots and Kristopher Showers and Malina Afzal winning their respective community categories.

R-Pi Giving Day traces its origins back to 2014, when the Office of Annual Giving first aligned fundraising with the worldwide celebration of Pi Day, every March 14. The event encourages alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends to give in support of current students, tapping into RPI's more than 110,000-strong alumni network across the globe.

Trustee Paula Simon ’68 matched all gifts to the Rensselaer Annual Fund starting at midnight, up to $10,000, while Trustee TJ Wojnar ’80 and his wife Susan Wojnar offered a 2-to-1 match on Annual Fund Scholars Program gifts, up to $10,000. When 20 alumni gave to the Rensselaer Annual Fund Scholars Program, an additional $20,000 was unlocked thanks to Trustee Gary DiCamillo ’73. The Rensselaer Alumni Association's 1869 Challenge, honoring the year it was founded, was also completed, unlocking $40,000 once 1,869 gifts were received.

Sigma Phi Epsilon's support fund aimed to unlock a $25,000 gift from their alumni board if 88 unique donors gave in honor of the chapter's 88th year at RPI. RPI Habitat for Humanity, celebrating its 25th anniversary, had alumni founders matching gifts up to $8,500. RPI Ambulance had a $6,000 match available toward their new first response vehicle, and the RPI Dance Team had up to $2,500 matched to support their trip to Nationals.

On the academic side, David Walker ’71 unlocked a cheeky $31,415 gift to the School of Engineering once 50 donors gave to the Dean's Excellence Fund. The MANE Excellence Fund had a $10,000 match from Gene Grecheck ’74, and the Parents Council unlocked $20,000 for the Student Experience Excellence Fund once 200 parents donated.

Donor support this year powered scholarships, research, athletics, student programs, and more. All of these gifts count toward RPI Forward, a comprehensive campaign targeting an additional $1.5 billion in support of RPI's future. Find a detailed list of gifts here.

image

DSC_6679.jpg

caption
image

DSC_6723.jpg

caption
image

DSC_6693.jpg

caption

E-Board reallocates Union rooms, leaves Photo Club in jeopardy

Kyle Pan — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:55:54 +0000

RPI Dance Club requested an additional subsidy of $1,885 to help them fund the hiring of professional show technicians for their Spring performance. In normal circumstances, the Dance Club would hold their performances in the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, however for the second year, they were unable to book the room. This resulted in them turning to Russell Sage College’s James L. Meader Little Theater, which comes with a host of complications compared to EMPAC. The total cost of required personnel amounts to $4100, with $1600 from club budget and $525 from ticket sales paying a portion, resulting in a $1885 deficit that needs to be covered via a subsidy. Business Operations Committee Chair Toby McDonald ’27 suggested that they try using West Hall, however that idea was quickly shot down with the reasoning that West Hall lacks essential features like suitably-sized wings, which would make it an impractical location for the show. After lengthy deliberation on how they could alternatively fund this using Dance Club’s reserve and gift fund, E-Board made an amendment to reduce the subsidy from $1885 to $1000. The motion passed 11-0-2.

A second subsidy was presented that evening, this time from the Union ShowTechs. UST requested $7,966.65 to purchase new equipment for modernizing their systems. They cited this as a long term plan to future proof their operations for the next 20 years. The motion to grant $7967 to UST was passed 12-0-1. Sew for Hope's starter budget motion request for $250 also passed 11-0-1.

During the second half of the meeting, a motion to reallocate club office spaces was passed 8-1-3 after lengthy debates, which included Photo Club and its affiliates. This motion rendered Photo Club, previously in RU 1412, without a room or any space to store their equipment. The Student Veterans Association is also without a room allocation. The Polytechnic will be moved from RU 3510/3511 to the former room of the SVA. The Union ShowTechs, RPI TV, Union Programs and Activities Committee, Alpha Phi Omega, and W2SZ remain without any changes. RU 3510/3511 and RU 1412 will be vacant, with tentative plans to become meeting rooms, although its use will be finalized in a future meeting.

While this motion is set to be in effect by July 1, there are still major concerns on how to address the needs of Photo Club. E-Board assured that there would be meetings with the affected clubs, meant to further expand on the logistics of displacing clubs, including specific moving deadlines.

The Business Operations Committee supported new room allocations with data on club size and room usage, presented shortly before the motion. The president of Photo Club, Skylar Bender ’27, defended their need for the room, stating that their low numbers came from the fact that the club was restarted two years ago, and that only six members have keycard access to ensure security of their equipment. They also cited the value of their equipment at about ten thousand dollars, emphasizing the need for space to ensure the security and safe distribution of their equipment.

Vice Chair of Business Operations Olivia Ocon ’26 proposed a storage closet or unit as an alternative. Photo Club agreed that it solves the storage issue, but that it is not a manageable or accessible space. Photo Club highlighted the need for a space to allow members to feel and test the cameras before borrowing them, which is not met with a storage closet. Photo Club emphasized that this would stunt their growth, and reaffirmed their stance of requiring a room.

Vice President for Board Operations Joseph Bowers ’25, ’26G responded that the E-Board does everything with the numbers, largely citing square footage per club member. The clubs with the largest ratios, The Poly with 18.1, SVA with 72.6, and Photo Club with 19.2, are the ones being reallocated, and the two groups with the lowest number of members are having their allocation removed. He reiterated that it doesn't make sense to give Photo Club such a large space with a low number of members.

Representatives from The Thread and the Black Students Association joined, explaining their relationship with Photo Club and how their operations and spaces are necessary for the other creative clubs to function. Photo Club provides photographers and equipment for their events and shows, as well as a collaborative space to plan or even host events.

The Poly also chimed in, asking why specifically Photo Club lost their room, and not another group like UST. Bowers responded again, citing that another significant factor being if the club provides a service. Clubs such as UST, RPI TV, UPAC, and The Poly provide an important service for the Union and campus, which justifies the use of their respective spaces.

The Poly queued another question about the completeness of the statistics, citing that APO and W2SZ are missing numbers, and that The Poly had a smaller space allocated despite having the largest number of members and usages overall. McDonald justified that W2SZ doesn’t have a card reader, APO is a public space that only uses the card reader after-hours, and that some of the space within The Poly’s office is being used for archival storage, which could be fulfilled with a storage unit. McDonald further clarified that APO is a public space as it serves all students, while Photo Club is for those interested in photography and media.

In the end, The Poly was moved and Photo Club removed because the E-Board wanted to open up those rooms for club meeting spaces. RU 3324 is generally underutilized, prompting The Poly’s movement there. The utilization of RU 3510 and 1412 will be decided at the E-Board meeting on March 18.

This E-Board meeting was held on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. The E-Board meets every Wednesday at 7:30 pm in the Student Union Room 3202.

UP Candidate Profile: Grace Meehan

Grace Meehan — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 22:36:06 +0000

Editor's Note: The Poly sent a questionnaire to every candidate that had filed to run for GM, PU, and UP prior to Spring break. Below are the unedited responses from UP candidate Grace Meehan '28.

1. Why do you want to be Undergraduate President?

My main motivation is wanting to help people. I believe one of the most meaningful ways I can do that on campus is by serving undergraduate students and working to ensure their voices are heard. As Undergraduate President, I have the opportunity to speak with administration about the issues students face and advocate for changes that improve the undergraduate experience.

I want every undergraduate student to feel seen, heard, and supported, and to know about the resources and opportunities available to them. I also hope to help create additional opportunities where they are needed. In addition, I would like to continue building on the initiatives, events, and goals that I have already begun during my current term and ensure that the progress we have made continues moving forward.

2. What makes you qualified to be Undergraduate President?

I currently serve as the Undergraduate President, and before that I was the Class of 2028 Council Secretary, which gave me a strong foundation in how student government operates and how to lead effectively within that structure.

Last semester, I also served as the New Member President of the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega (APO). In that role, I led discussions about the events our new member class organized, facilitated meetings, and helped coordinate responsibilities among the cohort. I answered questions and ensured that everyone stayed on track with their individual requirements. I also organized and managed a Discord server for the group and helped lead a cohort of 14 students, supporting them as they took on individual responsibilities and leadership roles.

Currently, I also serve as the Secretary of the Chem-E-Car Club. In that position, I manage our Google Drive, take meeting minutes, and handle external communications with other organizations interested in collaborating with us, such as joint events or fundraisers.

Through these roles, I have developed strong leadership, communication, and organizational skills, as well as experience working with teams and coordinating initiatives across different groups.

3. Name three short-term goals (within your term of office) and three long-term goals (beyond your term of office) that you have for the Undergraduate Council.

Short-term goals:

One short-term goal is to strengthen our event planning and increase the number of successful events we host. There have been some cancellations this year, and I want to help build stronger motivation and structure within the Undergraduate Council so we can consistently plan and execute events for the student body.

Another goal is to build stronger connections between classes. Currently, many events are organized within individual class councils, which can limit opportunities for students from different years to get to know one another. I would like to organize more events that bring all undergraduates together and help foster a broader sense of community across the student body.

My third short-term goal is to support the incoming class councils in becoming confident and comfortable in their roles within student government. Since we help train new councils, I want to ensure they understand how meetings and procedures work, who to contact for support, how to run their councils effectively, and the impact they can have within student government.

Long-term goals:

One long-term goal is to help develop a stronger sense of school identity and pride. I believe there is an opportunity to build a clearer sense of what it means to be an RPI undergraduate and to create traditions and experiences that connect students across different classes.

Another goal is to ensure that the Undergraduate Council and future councils fully utilize the influence we do have. While we do not pass legislation like the Student Senate or finalize budgets like the Executive Board, we are able to meet with administrators, advocate for students, and help address important issues. I want to set a precedent of using those opportunities proactively and encouraging future councils to continue advocating for undergraduate students in meaningful ways.

Finally, I would like to increase awareness of student government and encourage more students to get involved. Improving our communication, social media presence, and marketing of events and opportunities would help more students learn about what we do and feel encouraged to run for positions or participate in student government.

4. In your own words, what do you feel are the roles of the Undergraduate President, the Undergraduate Council, and the Class Councils?

The Undergraduate President’s role is to lead the Undergraduate Council and help guide its initiatives. This includes setting agendas, introducing ideas and projects, and ensuring meetings are productive and aligned with the policies and procedures of student government. The Undergraduate President also works to keep discussions focused and ensure that the council operates effectively.

The Undergraduate Council’s role is to support the undergraduate student body by organizing events and addressing issues that students bring forward. Council members collaborate to plan programs, communicate with administration when concerns arise, and work together to create initiatives that benefit the broader undergraduate community.

Class Councils focus more specifically on their individual class years. They organize events for their class, share important information related to milestones such as the ARCH (now ELF) program or graduation requirements, and address concerns that are particularly relevant to their class cohort.

5. What do you think are the incumbent Undergraduate President’s strengths and weaknesses? What are your strengths and weaknesses that could affect the role? How would you improve upon them if ypu were elected?

As the current Undergraduate President, I believe some of my strengths include strong communication skills, reliability, and a genuine commitment to supporting the students and council members I work with. I have also developed stronger public speaking skills and have worked to be someone others can rely on for support and guidance.

One area I continue to work on is balancing delegation with hands-on leadership. It is important to trust council members with responsibilities while still remaining involved enough to support them and ensure projects stay on track. Moving forward, I plan to improve this balance by checking in more frequently, asking members what support they need, and maintaining clearer expectations.

Another area of growth is strengthening my leadership presence during meetings. While I value being approachable and collaborative, I also want to ensure discussions stay focused and productive. Continuing to develop that balance between will help me lead the council even more effectively.

6. What qualities should a leader have? How are you a leader?

A strong leader should aim to empower and inspire others and help them develop the skills and confidence to lead themselves. In many ways, the goal of leadership is to create an environment where people eventually no longer need constant guidance because they have grown into capable leaders themselves.

I try to approach leadership with that mindset. For example, when working with the freshman class council, my goal has been to help them learn the procedures and responsibilities of student government so that they can eventually run their council confidently and independently.

I also try to lead with compassion, commitment, and trust. I care deeply about helping people and supporting the groups I am part of, and when I commit to something, I follow through. I also believe that building strong relationships is important for effective leadership, which helps me collaborate with other student organizations and communicate with administration.

Overall, I try to be someone who provides a steady foundation for others, while encouraging them to grow, take initiative, and succeed in their own leadership roles.

PU Candidate Profile: Kate Goldstein

Kate Goldstein — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 22:34:04 +0000

Editor's Note: The Poly sent a questionnaire to every candidate that had filed to run for GM, PU, and UP prior to Spring break. Below are the unedited responses from PU candidate Kate Goldstein '26, '27G.

1. Why do you want to be President of the Union?

I want to be the President of the Union to improve the Executive Boards Operations and external communication. Over the past three years I have seen positive changes in these issues, however no board has yet to balance the short allotted time for training and the extensive amount of time spent on budgeting. Additionally, the communication between clubs and the executive board tends to fall short with clubs accidentally mismanaging money (due to lack of knowledge) and the overall deadlines that we set for them (such as budgeting).

2. What qualifies you to be President of the Union?

I have served on the Executive Board for the past three years as a voting representative. In addition to that I have been the Marketing & Strategy Committee Chair (which previously was did not have an active chair before I stepped in) in which we have accomplished enforcement of a new sign policy, sign holders on the 15th street stairwell and Lobby Weekly Calendar, and Union Admin Office Bulletin Board filled with useful information for clubs that include: reserving rooms, club master list, how to start a club, how to obtain club storage, rules for postering, and union additional Union resources. I have also had the opportunity to serve as a committee chair for a special committee that investigated clubs and their classifications. In this committee, we dove into over ten years of information based on how a club should be classified as Union-Funded, Union-Recognized, or Union-Affiliated. Within this, we rewrote Section 2 of the Rensselaer Union Guidelines and Procedures (RUGP). In this we better defined the club resources for all clubs, a club renewal process, and a more defined probation status. I have been a part of Club Operations, Business Operations Committees, and Special Committee on Union Operating Hours. Last but not least, over the past few years I have developed the necessary relationships with the Union Admin.

3. Name three short-term goals (within your term of office) and three long-term goals (beyond your term of office) that you have for the Executive Board.

Short-Term Goals

External communication is critical for every club and member of the Union and needs to be improved. This may be through updated forms that are easy to follow such as Purchase Request Orders, Executive Board Cover Sheet, and Concur Profile Request.
Better financial training is needed to ensure that clubs are properly prepared for the day to day business items, as well as long term budgeting.
Day to day board operations can be improved upon by properly delegating specific tasks to members. This is currently being improved upon with standard operation procedures (created by myself, the current Vice President of Rules and Special Projects, and other members of the board), however more improvements are still yet to be made.

Long-Term Goals

Beyond the continued operations of the Union and serving the students I don’t have any long term goals because I am focusing on many of the solvable issues that I have seen on the board during my tenure.

4. In your own words, what do you feel are the roles of the President of the Union and the Union Executive Board? Do you think the current Executive Board is fulfilling that role? If any, what changes could be made?

The President of the Union, in addition to presiding over the meetings, is to be a manager for everyone else on the board. It is their job to ensure that everyone has the resources to succeed and to keep them on track when they struggle. Likewise, the Union Executive Board's job is to ensure that all clubs are receiving the right information at the proper time and being an overall knowledge base for anyone that needs to know about Union operations, facilities, and clubs. I believe that the Executive Board exceeds in certain parts of that, but unfortunately fails to properly inform the students about all of the necessary information. With that being said, as the President of the Union, I would have my board deliver the proper information to the clubs via first offering a club welcome back packet that includes when budgeting will take place, when financial training will be, what will be learned in financial training, all of the resources to which the Union offers, and the list of committees that the Executive Board has to offer to encourage change within the Union.

5. What do you think are the incumbent President of the Union’s strengths and weaknesses? What are your strengths and weaknesses that could affect the role? What would you do to improve upon them if you were elected?

The current President of the Union does a good job of trying to understand where everyone’s head is at and hears many opinions during meetings.This has kept meetings efficient and with little confusion for new members of the board. If I were elected, I would improve upon delegated work within the board as sometimes the current President of the Union gets too excited and chooses to do the work themselves and not trust their appointed members to do their own work.

6. What does the club-Executive Board representative relationship look like? What should it look like?

It currently looks like you contact them for budgeting and they contact you for anything else. For the representative side there should be additional training on how everything inside the Union Administration and operations works, so that these questions can be answered by any of the reps. I trust that whoever I appoint will represent their clubs well.

7. How would you evaluate the current Union budget situation? What do you foresee as future budget concerns?

With the largest class in RPI history graduating this year, the budgeting situation is left in a rocky place. Like this year, the board will need to take into account data to determine how to best utilize the next fiscal year's funds.

8. How do you intend to encourage students to fully utilize the resources of the Union?

Improved signage, communication to clubs about the spaces and resources available to them as part of the beginning of the year email that will be part of the club renewal process, and utilizing the Executive Communications Committee to communicate to students directly.

9. How do you plan to engage with the President of the Institute and the rest of Institute Administration?

Although I do plan to maintain proper contact with the President and the rest of the Institute's Administration, that job does fall primarily on the Grand Marshall.

10. What qualities should a leader have? How are you a leader?

A good leader should be able to listen to those around them and properly delegate. I have learned these skills from my time in and outside of the Union.

GM Candidate Profile: Jordan Krishnayah

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 22:18:04 +0000

Editor's Note: The Poly sent a questionnaire to every candidate that had filed to run for GM, PU, and UP prior to Spring break. Below are the unedited responses from GM candidate Jordan Krishnayah '28

1. Why do you want to be Grand Marshal?

Everyone here is passionate about whatever they do, and that's what makes RPI special. Go anywhere on campus, and you'll find someone with ambitious plans and goals, whether it's starting a business, wanting to publish their art, wanting to make a difference within their fraternity, or wanting to change the world with their research.

That passion is initially what defined RPI. The drive to create, build, and just do things that we enjoyed is precisely what this school was founded on, as Amos Eaton once dedicated RPI to "the application of science to the common purposes of life."

I feel as if our school no longer has that focus. Previous RPI leadership forced us to look forward, not up– teaching us that RPI is a school where we suffer to get a degree and then go work. Nothing else.

I’m not running for Grand Marshal because I have the answers to everything, nor am I promising to fix everything within one term. I’m running because I want to push this school towards what it could be. I want students to be excited about science & technology or to be excited to go to hockey games or concerts. I want you all to feel like RPI isn’t something you endure for 4 years, but a school that is yours.

And for the first time in a long time, that vision is within reach. Students have regained their ability to govern; the creative energy for arts, music and student organizations is alive as ever. The same passion Eaton hoped to inspire when he cofounded this school is still here. We just need someone to channel it.

I want to lead the charge in bringing RPI together as a school and for the first time in decades, looking up again.

2. What makes you qualified to be Grand Marshal?

I currently serve as the Student Senate Communications & Engagement chair. Under my leadership, we’ve rapidly grown the @rpistugov Instagram account, reaching over 4 million views across 2.5+ million accounts through making short-form ‘brainrot’ content. Initially, the account’s purpose was to advertise student government, but over the course of the past 1.5 years, I’ve shifted priorities to utilizing our social media reach to improve RPI’s brand name across the East Coast by highlighting our student life, and to make Student Government feel more ‘visible’ to the student body at RPI.

Beyond communications, I've been hands-on with other projects in various other areas: I’ve launched the rpi.wiki, a knowledge-base to keep track of RPI related guides & information. I’ve conducted research in AI safety & vulnerabilities, building in-depth

knowledge of the limitations and strengths of LLM-based technologies. I've led dormstorming efforts to collect student concerns directly and ensure that students feel more heard by StuGov. I wrote & promoted the ‘Commons Burger Petition.’ I’ve also drafted the Senate resolution addressing immigration concerns during a time where students felt uneasy about sweeping federal policy changes.

What makes me uniquely qualified is that I combine institutional knowledge of how the Student Senate operates with the technical ability to actually build solutions, and the communications instinct to make sure students see and feel the impact. I understand our bottlenecks inside and out, from where projects stall to where communication breaks down between committees. I’ve placed myself in a position to understand where the gap between the Senate and the student body widens, and I’ve been working within that gap so long that I understand precisely what needs to change.

3. Name three short-term goals (within your term of office) and three long-term goals (beyond your term of office) that you have for the Student Senate.

Within my term of office, I would like to:

Reform how the Senate and Institute connect with students in-person by establishing Semesterly Town Halls and creating joint committee work/outreach sessions to accelerate our ongoing projects.
Establish a ‘Rensselaer Media Coalition,’ getting a variety of clubs together and coordinating our social media output as a school. This gives clubs more visibility on campus (local reach) and the school more visibility across the country, which boosts RPI’s name recognition as high schoolers begin to search for colleges with vibrant student life.
Start off our school spirit goals. I’ll get students involved directly with hockey games from the very start (through a collaboration with FYE & HFH) while pushing for student-made murals either on Freshman Hill brick walls, the DCC tunnels, or the Union.

Some broader goals of mine are:

Transform our alumni outreach into mutual partnerships. I want to build infrastructure for year-round alumni involvement: mentorship pipelines, career networking, and inviting them on campus for student-run events.
Modernize the CCPD & URP Programs. By better funding our career preparation programs and doing collaborations with professional development clubs, we can better prepare students for technical interviews, getting referrals, and finding a job in a worsening career landscape. The hope is that our URP program initiatives of creating a centralized system to get involved with research can back up and hone the skills of students across all fields and disciplines, while the CCPD helps them highlight and display this real world knowledge on job applications.
Unify our technology. QUACS, the RPI Wiki, club platforms, and student-facing technology are all fragmented and poorly maintained. I want to lay the groundwork for a unified digital ecosystem that connects academic tools, club resources, and student information, one that’s built and maintained by students but supported by the Institute. This won't be done in one term, but the architecture, talks, and partnerships with admin need to start now.

4. In your own words, what do you feel are the roles of the Grand Marshal and the Senate? Do you think that the current Senate is fulfilling that role? If any, what changes could be made?

The role of the Student Senate is to focus on legislative and advocacy oriented projects to better the RPI student experience, under the guidance and vision of the Grand Marshal. In an ideal world, a Grand Marshal would set the tone and overall vision for Senate’s projects, which committees work on by developing solutions, contacting administrators, and pushing forth policy changes.

I think the Senate currently is indeed fulfilling that role, but in a structurally unsound way. We have a major issue where many committees are understaffed and overburdened with work, and when committees are stretched thin, there’s lower response time on issues that are critical to the student body.

Because of this friction, there seems to be this common notion that the Senate's too performative, focusing too much on internal governance of themselves and other boards. The Student Senate is arguably the most deliberative organization on campus. I don’t necessarily think it’s because we dislike student-facing projects that just ‘get stuff done,’ but rather the current structure of Senate encourages us to tackle these internal issues first.

I’d want to introduce outreach/work sessions to the Student Senate, where senators and committees collaborate together on various critical projects in one large meeting. Each committee would be able to collaborate with other chairs, and each Senator will walk away from a meeting having felt actively engaged with making direct change on campus.

Another change I would bring is a semesterly Town Hall. These would be highly publicized events in the Union, aiming to have Senators & administrators answer questions from the student body and take input. It creates a sense of accountability by creating a public forum where both Senate and the administration have to show their work, while also providing answers to students on why certain decisions were made.

5. What do you think are the incumbent Grand Marshal’s strengths and weaknesses? What are your strengths and weaknesses that could affect the role? What would you do to improve upon them if you are elected?

T has been an amazing and supportive Grand Marshal throughout my time at RPI, and we’ve often said that if we could describe him in one word, it would be ‘patience.’ He gives everyone a place to contribute in Senate, and has fostered an environment where everyone feels welcome. He has a unique and valuable perspective of the school from his many years at RPI through both undergrad and grad (we call him an ‘unc’ for this though.)

I think one shortfall under T’s leadership has been in situations where he was a little too laid-back. We could have very much issued a response to the Bar contest situation as other students were not happy with the Institute’s handling of the issue. I also think, although I don’t mind getting many emails, the push for the FSL constitutional amendment could have waited, and we lost a lot of good will with the student body by flooding their inbox.

My strengths are in communication and execution, and more specifically, getting really talented, diverse groups of people to work together on projects. Most of the help that I’ve received on my campaign so far has been from non-student government people. (which has proven successful with decent growth on Instagram, local to the RPI community.) I think I have a decent ability to target key players based on their talents, passions, and goals and bring them together to tackle issues while fostering a collaborative environment for them to pitch in.

And as a sophomore, I have a stake in all the projects I push forward as GM. I’m here for another 2 years, and whatever we work on will directly benefit or diminish my experience as I spend time here as a student. A huge portion of my vision for RPI is also inspired by friends & acquaintances that just casually complain to me in a non-student government context.

My main weakness is that I spread myself thin across too many projects. It’s partly what led me to propose outreach sessions in the first place, as I know from experience that one person can’t carry everything. Senate works better when the whole body is able to share the workload of committees, so as GM I’d heavily use the power of delegation to distribute work effectively. I think by focusing on prioritization, delegation, and really selecting the best project leads for committee work, I can accomplish my goals for RPI without directly burning out.

6. What does the student-senator relationship look like? What should it look like?

Right now, for most students, the relationship with their senator is essentially nonexistent. The average student doesn't know who their class senator is, doesn't know what committees they sit on, and has no easy way to bring a concern to Senate without going through channels that feel bureaucratic and unfamiliar. This leads to an issue where students end up venting their frustrations on Reddit, Fizz, or Discord, which often feeds back into this negative sentiment of Student Government.

Students see this negative sentiment, and end up feeling like they can’t get anything resolved through the proper channels even if they tried. As much as I really enjoy making digital content, the real solution is more in-person outreach. More talking to students, and more easily accessible forms of sharing your concerns. It’s daunting to have to go to a Senate meeting, we need to have accessible office hours, public-facing town halls, and ‘dormstorming’ style mass-outreach events to better reach students.

If students complain about something, they shouldn’t get a ‘we’re working on it,’ only to never hear back. We need to tackle the issues head-on, and keep students updated in the process, not with flyers or posters, but by proactively reaching out to them.

7. What does the senator-administration relationship currently look like? What should it look like?

The current senator-administration relationship exists, but is a bit limited. Senate brings issues to administration, administration responds (sometimes slowly), and progress depends heavily on which individual administrator you're dealing with.

The relationship needs to be transformed into a proactive two-way partnership, built on mutual accountability. Administration shouldn’t see Senate "just a source of student input," but as a serious body with the ability to push back, propose alternatives, and hold them to timelines.

One thing I’ve been looking into was a database/tool of some sort that keeps track of Institutional contacts and their relevant expertise/areas of focus. It’s hard for committee chairs to spend weeks hunting down a very specific administrator, and we need a better way to keep track of that. I want to work with the Web Technologies Group to host a contact solution (probably an open source customer relation management system,) and integrate this software with our annual Senate training.

My proposed town hall idea also modifies the senator-administration dynamic. It's much harder to stall on a commitment when you know you'll be asked about it in front of the whole campus.

8. How do you plan to engage with the president of the Institute and the rest of Institute administration?

I plan to approach the Institute president and senior administration as a collaborative but firm partner. The GM is the chief spokesperson for the entire student body, and that position carries weight, but only if you act as a force to push for school-wide changes or resist harmful administrative decisions.

From communication projects we’ve collaborated on, I’ve already built up some small connections with members of the Institute administration, like Provost Doerge and Dean Ryan Keytack. I intend to schedule meetings and get to know faculty from a variety of departments: ranging from facilities, to CCPD leadership, to Houston Field House leadership. Each meeting that I have with administration, I’ll ensure that there’s at least one project that I can bring up as a discussion point.

The establishment of town halls won’t just be for students, but also for administration too. When the Dean of Students or Provost participates in a public forum, they're making themselves accountable in a way that private meetings can't replicate, and directly proving to the student body that Institute Administration genuinely cares about what students think.

I’m not interested in an adversarial relationship with administration, but I am willing to take risks and, if beneficial to students, push back against controversial admin decisions.

9. What qualities should a leader have? How are you a leader?

I believe that a leader should have ambitious visions, be honest, and take proactive risks. They should be able to not just articulate what they want for the school, but explain precisely how they plan to do it and why. A leader also needs the ability to turn their ideas into results, and the discipline to prioritize ruthlessly when everything may feel urgent.

I didn't wait to run for GM to start building things for this campus. I grew the student government Instagram to over 4 million views, because I had a vision of better RPI social media presence that I believed in. I’ve been proactive in collaborating with various organizations, offering my committees support in getting students better engaged with campus resources.

I’ve taken many risks at RPI. I drafted the immigration concerns resolution because it was the right thing to do for student-wellbeing, even if it faced scrutiny for being ‘too political.’ I took a risk (and faced a bit of scrutiny) for the Dormstorming project. And I think that’s okay, because a government that doesn’t take risks is a government that doesn’t get anything done.

I have a vision for the school that I’ve spent the past year and half executing, I’ve taken risks (many of which have paid off,) and I have been committed to making RPI a better place.

I see my bid for Grand Marshal as a continuation of my existing work, as a role where I can hone down what parts of my vision students want, and what I need to fight harder for.

GM Candidate Profile: Zach Nobles

Zach Nobles — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 22:16:44 +0000

Editor's Note: The Poly sent a questionnaire to every candidate that had filed to run for GM, PU, and UP prior to Spring break. Below are the unedited responses from GM candidate Zach Nobles '27.

1. Why do you want to be Grand Marshal?

I feel an occasional anxiety–one that I do not believe I am alone in feeling–that RPI should be greater than it is. I mean this in many senses. I have been given the impression in my three years here that RPI’s name used to mean more. Our students used to have more spirit. Our traditions, like too many of the buildings on campus, have decayed from a lack of upkeep.

As Student Life Committee Chair, I have spent a great deal of time trying to convince students to put some faith in their administration. One issue in particular is our good samaritan policy, which protects students from disciplinary action if they call for help in an alcohol- or drug-related emergency. I have been told time and again that students don’t trust it. The Dean of Students Office handles disciplinary action, and they also wrote the good samaritan policy. I know the Dean of Students personally. Dean Ryan is incredibly nice, and from my many interactions with him, it is clear that he is far more interested in harm reduction than punitive action. He has also done his best to promote the good samaritan policy, but there is a culture of deep distrust of the administration that prevents many from taking advantage of it.

This is not without reason. The recent history of the Institute almost seems taboo to talk about publicly, but is necessary context for how we got here. It is discussed openly among students, and I have gleaned that it is discussed even among administrators, but students and administrators do not speak to each other about how much damage the poor management of RPI in the 2000s and 2010s caused. It is an odd phenomenon I have witnessed many times in meetings with admin. We dance around the fact that Dr. Jackson’s administration dealt serious damage to us as a community because we worry that controversy may damage our fledgeling relationship with a new administrative corps.

When I became SLC chair, I had multiple general ideas for projects. We were starting to look into Amicus Properties and we were talking about replacing legal names with preferred names (a battle we are still fighting), but I always had a fixation on a particular thorn in my side: about a decade ago, RPI made a change to the Handbook of Rights and Responsibilities. It stated that demonstrations must be registered with and approved by the Dean of Students Office. During Save the Union, this clause was used to take disciplinary action against students who protested against the administration without approval. And of course, a protest that is approved is not doing much in the way of protesting.

I have not sought to make this change without the input of anyone else; that is what committees are for. However, I have not been secretive in speaking with the Senate Cabinet about my opinions. I want this clause gone. But more than that, I have been looking for over a year for a way for RPI students and administrators to move forward from the distrust. Modification of a clause in the handbook is entirely under the jurisdiction of SLC. Moving forward and rebuilding our community is the job of a Grand Marshal.

This is the crux of what I want to do as a GM that I cannot accomplish as SLC chair. It is not truly the policies that matter. I aim to amend that clause as a matter of principle, but if you are familiar with your Union history, you may have recognized that I misled you somewhat about its enforcement. That clause was used to take disciplinary action against students, but the disciplinary action happened first. The clause was added later to justify it. What actually matters is that the Dean of Students at the time was less amenable to students. I do not believe the current DOSO would attempt to take judicial action under it (though I wouldn’t test it). The problem is that Dean Ryan will retire some day. I hope his successor will be as good as he is, but that cannot be truly guaranteed.

I do seek to change the policies, and I believe that the changes will be more than symbolic. I am currently helping DOSO revise our alcohol and other drug policy, and I have hope that those changes will produce a friendlier RPI for students. That I can do as SLC chair. The lasting change I hope to make as GM will be to foster the growing sentiment that the systems we put in place are meant to serve us. I intend to push for more student involvement in the Trustees’ committees. Students were involved in the selection process for many of our newer administrators, and I think that was productive for RPI as a school. I intend to keep pushing for student-centered Institute policies, so that incoming administrators are introduced to a system that they know primarily intends to serve students. Most of all, I intend to push for an RPI I can be proud of, and I hope to encourage students to be proud of their school as well. I am running for GM because I love RPI, and if you truly love something, you do your best to help it be the best it can.

2. What makes you qualified to be Grand Marshal?

The Grand Marshal has many responsibilities, but the most important one is to be the mouthpiece through which the student body speaks. In that regard, there are few students who have as much experience as I do. I joined SLC in between my freshman and sophomore years, and I was a committee member for a year. As a committee member, I tried my best to solicit concerns about the school from friends and classmates and bring them to Senate to be addressed. It was under my advice that the previous SLC chair reached out to the dean of Student Living and Learning to dispel the many rumors about how the housing selection process worked. I helped compile data for SLC’s push for better accommodations, and I helped revise many of the policies that SLC brought to Senate. As Chair, I have assumed the oversight of these responsibilities. I will spare you a comprehensive list of SLC’s projects, but I put a great deal of my time into making sure the concerns of students are listened to and acted on.

The Grand Marshal also presides over the Senate and deals with many bureaucratic and administrative responsibilities. In this regard, there are very few students who have as much experience as I do. The sheer quantity of councils, committees, and commissions I have been in has anointed me thoroughly with the function of the Senate and the Union as a whole. Again, I will spare you a comprehensive list here, though if you would like to see one, the elections website has an experience field that has it.

3. Name three short-term goals (within your term of office) and three long-term goals (beyond your term of office) that you have for the Student Senate. Within my term of office:

I hope to amend the policies I mentioned earlier. The protest clause is one I would like to discuss, but in a perfect world, I would also like to add presumption of innocence to our judicial process, and amend or remove as many of the restrictions on speech as I can.
I intend to push for credit for some clubs. This was a project AAC worked on last year, but it fell by the wayside due to other projects taking priority and a hurdle with the Registrar’s Office. However, I believe it is doable, and if elected I will encourage my AAC Chair to prioritize it, as well as help them lobby admin for it.
And, the most difficult task: get more people in student government. This requires no cooperation with admin, but we have struggled for members for years now. The Union has a committee on the Playhouse and at least one other commission I know of sitting empty because we never found anyone to chair them. The Playhouse in particular is a sore subject for many, and I am very much aware that the Union simply does not have $2 million in the basement, but I do think the Union could do more to help the Players fundraise in a way that does not put RPI’s 501c(3) status at risk. I will do my best to get enough people involved with the Union for us not to be stretched as thin as we are now.

Beyond my term of office:

I hope that one day, I will stop hearing about people being mistreated by our Title IX Office. Further than that, I have hope that one day students will never have to endure an experience that would necessitate contacting the Title IX Office. It is my greatest failure as SLC Chair that after many student complaints about Title IX violations and poor handling of cases from the Office, we were not able to effect much meaningful change. We did our best to inform students of their rights in the Title IX process, and we encouraged students to reach out to administrators if they have issues, but we have no power to change Title IX policy, which is set by the Code of Federal Regulations. The stories I have heard and continue to hear weigh heavily on my conscience. I am given some hope by the fact that the number of sexual misconduct cases at RPI dropped last year to the lowest number barring COVID since 2015. This is a difficult task for me to wrap my head around, as it’s not something I can affect by changing a clause in some long policy. It is a cultural shift that we can help develop by asserting that we as a community should not and will not accept violence against one another. I hope that Senate’s past resolutions have helped stake that claim, and I will do my best to keep spreading the sentiment.
On a lighter note, I want our school spirit back. I’ve been in the pep band since freshman year, so I have been to a lot of hockey games. Every time I hear someone say “we should bring back the e^x dx chant,” it makes me think they’ve never been to a hockey game, because we say it frequently. Another candidate for GM and I mused recently about trying to make the first home game of the year free for freshmen to try to draw people in. I have thought often about better promoting the hockey line, and some of the major football and lacrosse games. It’s not all sports, either. Many of us in Senate throw out ideas for celebrations of various events that might spark some interest in what’s happening in the Union. I would like to promote those. It is also my hope that credit for clubs will encourage some people to get into clubs that they might have been interested in but just couldn’t get over the initial hurdle of getting involved. Anything that fosters cohesion is a positive.
I think all GM candidates have pipe dreams they don’t promise in their campaigns because they are incredibly unlikely. Mine is students on the Board of Trustees. Union College has two student trustees, and I hate Union. Watching enough RPI hockey will engage you with some vehement rivalries. However, they are doing better than us in this one regard. I have never met any of the Trustees, so I have no idea how receptive they would be to the idea, but it would be a major win for student advocacy?

4. In your own words, what do you feel are the roles of the Grand Marshal and the Senate? Do you think that the current Senate is fulfilling that role? If any, what changes could be made?

I alluded to the GM’s responsibility to preside over the Senate, but that’s the easy one. The main job of the Senate, and the GM by extension, is to be a representative body that advocates for the wants of students. We are okay at this. Like most citizens with the US Congress, most students probably do not know who represents them in Senate, and that’s okay. We are a student government, and the onus is on us to make ourselves visible to students. I do my best to make my position known to people I know, and many SLC projects have stemmed from me asking people I know for their problems and concerns.

We can improve this in multiple ways. First, all senators are required to be members of committees. This requirement is not enforced for all but the most lax of senators, and all members should be encouraged to fulfill their committee requirements. Second, the Senate occasionally sends out news or public service announcements through email or social media, but they are often not seen. Encouraging senators to disseminate information in clubs and organizations they are in and to friends and peers would help with both visibility and our communication problems.

T has been an effective leader with many good ideas for Senate. He campaigned last year on moving our invitation to speak to the beginning of meetings so that students could express their opinions without waiting through committee reports and motions. This is a good change that very few students use. The Senate has found it profoundly

difficult to get students into meetings to talk about issues, but I believe they have them. By encouraging Senators to disseminate information to their constituents more, I hope to develop a culture of everyone knowing someone in student government. More realistically, a degree of separation between every student and a representative is probably attainable. We are a small school with a large student government. If Senators talk more with other students about the Union, this is probably attainable.

I think I am well suited for this as someone who is well known among clubs I’m in and friend groups as being on Senate. Not everyone knows what we do, but they don’t need to be deep in the stugov weeds to complain to a friend about a problem with a professor or administrator.

6. What does the student-senator relationship look like? What should it look like?

Insufficient at the moment. My answer to the previous question may have been premature. I believe students should not be far removed from their representatives on Senate. I have heard from some students that the student government website is not broadly known to exist, and we could do a better job promoting it. We also do not keep it as up to date as we should, and if elected, I will encourage my cabinet to keep current records of Senators and their contact information.

7. What does the senator-administration relationship currently look like? What should it look like?

These days, pretty good. The senators who really know administrators are the committee chairs, but this term, we have had many administrators from different divisions come to Senate to run ideas for changes by students. They have responded well to senators’ feedback, and we always appreciate hearing what the administration is up to. If anything, I would like to hear from more administrators. Some of the ones closer to student government reach out to Senate, but we could afford to ask about the goings on of the less visible departments.

An improvement I would like to see made is an invitation to committee chairs with topics to discuss at the monthly student leaders meeting. I have been to a couple, and they are one of the easiest ways for senators to gain insight from admin. Combined with more regularly enforced committee requirements, and the chain of information from students to administrators could be much more reliable. Some toying with the advocacy structure may be necessary, but senators and their constituents should never be far removed from the affairs of the Institute.

8. How do you plan to engage with the president of the Institute and the rest of Institute administration?

I have a considerable amount of experience in this area. The President, as far as I can tell, is usually not the person you want. He is the most powerful administrator, but he is also by far the busiest, and unlikely to be as engaged in the minutiae of operations as you might want. Which administrator to work with is very dependent on the particular goal one is striving for. In my experience as a committee chair, most administrators are reasonably responsive to emails. It can take some cajoling, but most are agreeable.

Sometimes public pressure is also needed, as with the petitions on keeping burgers at Commons and the Women’s Leadership Scholarship. In these instances, the Senate does its best to connect students with administrators to demonstrate the will of the people. I think of all the questions, this one poses the least of an issue, so I will not expound any more. We are currently blessed with an administration that doesn’t make us work too hard to engage with them.

9. What qualities should a leader have? How are you a leader?

There is no singular answer to this question. Many very different people have been effective leaders. Perhaps the most necessary quality a leader can have is an ability to know what their peers need. As elected representatives, we work for the people. An effective leader for RPI might need to recognize that our collective identity as a student body is not as strong as it could be. They should probably recognize that our school does not have as strong a reputation as it once did. They should recognize the flaws in the student experience. Most importantly, they would be operating blind if they did not recognize how these came to be.

The Rensselaer Union is unique. An effective leader needs to look forward, but have a keen awareness of the past. They need to understand the failures and successes of the Union and the Institute, and how both have created the Institute as it exists today. Broadly, a leader needs the compassion to recognize their peers’ concerns and the competence to not only address them, but take steps to ensure that problems stay fixed.

Of the two, competence is less difficult to develop. You can spend a couple hours every week in committee meetings and pick up on how to talk to administrators. Insight is harder to gain. I have been in many different clubs. I have talked to many different people, and participated in many different activities. I have been to the Institute archives to learn about our history, and I have pored over the Senate’s archives to better understand the Union. I am certainly not lacking in terms of competence, but my insight makes me an effective leader. There are many things RPI could improve on, and many initiatives I would take on if elected, but they must always be in service to improving the student experience at RPI. I intend to do so.

Tradition!

Tiburon Benavides — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:54:56 +0000

RPI is an institution steeped in tradition, befitting its status as America's oldest technological university. The Rensselaer Union, as one of—if not the—oldest continuously student-run union, is no exception. Traditions like the Top Hat, which dates back to the American Civil War, serve as cherished reminders of what makes our institution great.

Why have a Grand Marshal? According to the Rensselaer Union Constitution, the Grand Marshal acts as the "Chief Spokesperson" for the entire RPI student body. This raises a clear representational challenge: How can one person possibly capture such diverse perspectives? The truth is, our system doesn't depend on a single individual in a funny hat. Instead, it unites many groups of elected student leaders under RPI Student Government to amplify your voices and viewpoints.

The elected roles within Student Government are best seen as positions of service to their constituents. We work to represent your interests to administrators who are so removed from the daily realities of RPI student life that they seem unaware of basic issues—like decades of deferred maintenance in residence halls, endless delays in infrastructure repairs, and deliberately obfuscated messaging on key decisions, from financial aid changes and course offerings to the Institute’s brand identity.

One core challenge in our system—and in all higher education—is that those with the most control over the student experience aren't themselves students. To address the representational issue of having a single chief spokesperson for RPI's student body, I would argue that any student-led body, created by and for students, is far better than the alternative.

As an RPI student, you bear personal responsibility for preserving these traditions. Through the Rensselaer Union, you have a community of peers ready to support and uplift you in times of petition or advocacy. Your voice is essential this GM Week, March 23 to 27, to help select the next generation of student leaders: your advocates in rooms filled with administrators who cannot relate to your experiences.

To those who might say, "Our problems are small—why should I care?" I would respond: our issues are only as small as they are emblematic of problems faced by all institutions of higher education across America. If you care about how your education—and that of millions of others—is delivered, or if you want to see firsthand how academia really operates, there's no better way to learn than by serving in the Student Senate of the Rensselaer Union. This tradition is part and parcel of the RPI student experience. It is at the forefront of the Institute’s intentional focus on experiential learning, and it is a tradition that I hope and pray will continue to shape the Institute in its third century and beyond.

Our community is still recovering from recent traumas, including COVID-19 and a prior administration that clearly undervalued student autonomy. This was evident in the "Save the Union" movement of my freshman year in 2017, and related events that followed from a fractured relationship between the students and the administration, including the Greek Life Task Force.

One key factor shaping the student-administrator relationship is its fleeting nature: students come and go, while administrators remain. As a result, student leaders often appear to suffer from ongoing short-term memory loss. A current freshman, for instance, cannot understand, and is not personally injured by the events that transpired at RPI between 2019 and 2022. Similarly, future students won't care about the details of how Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute became RPI the same way as today's Club Swim members and those who voted on their bar design in fall 2025 might care.

During my time in the Student Senate, I've witnessed the real benefits of centralized student agency for the Institute. On sensitive and timely issues of concern to the students of Rensselaer, the Student Senate has time and again served as a voice of reason and compromise. This should be a cherished asset to our administrators, and not something to be passively diminished. In the coming years, the Senate must preserve its autonomy and power to influence events within the Rensselaer Union. The challenges facing our Union will not find adequate solutions or balance solely in the minds of administrators in the Troy Building.

Next week, I will share the key questions future terms of The Student Senate must tackle in a piece titled "Beware the Fratification of StuGov."

Until then, I encourage you to seriously consider running for elected office in the Student Senate, the Undergraduate Council, or the Graduate Council. If you are unsure how to start, please reach out to me at gm@rpi.edu.

In conversation with Matthew J. Ter Molen and Maria Roberts

Meher Randeria — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 17:54:35 +0000

The Polytechnic recently sat down with Matthew J. Ter Molen, RPI’s Vice President for Institute Advancement, and Maria Roberts, Annual Giving Officer, to discuss philanthropy at Rensselaer and the upcoming R-Pi Day, or Giving Day, on March 14. Ter Molen, who has been at RPI for over three years, was recruited by President Martin A. Schmidt ’81 and oversees the university's alumni engagement and fundraising efforts. Roberts, who has been at RPI for around nine years, focuses on student philanthropy programs and annual giving, including the coordination of R-Pi Day.

Institute Advancement is the team behind RPI's fundraising, alumni relations, and philanthropic efforts, work that extends well beyond asking for donations. Alumni contribute time and talent alongside financial support, helping with internships, job placements, corporate connections, and even enrollment outreach. The department has grown significantly under the tenure of new leadership, both in staff and programming, with a particular focus on deepening the lifelong relationship alumni have with the university.

This work sits under the broader umbrella of RPI Forward, specifically, the five-year strategic roadmap. The plan identifies four key priorities: growing student enrollment, advancing research, strengthening alumni engagement and philanthropy, and most importantly, according to Ter Molen, supporting students and faculty. Institute Advancement is in charge of philanthropic work, which becomes most tangible for students on campus.

RPI's total fundraising goal for the current fiscal year is $85 million, up from $71 million last year and $42 million the year before. Of that, $9 million is the annual giving target managed by Roberts' team. The funds are distributed broadly across financial aid, faculty professorships, athletics, departmental funds, study abroad programs, clubs and organizations, and facilities.

A recent high-profile giving example is a $5 million endowed chair gift from Jackson Tai ’72 and Kay Tai to create the Kay and Jackson Tai Endowed Chair in Finance, Risk, and Advanced Computing in the Lally School of Management. Jackson Tai was Editor-in-Chief at The Polytechnic as a student and has served on the Board of Trustees for many years, fostering a relationship with Rensselaer that grew over decades before resulting in this gift. A more student-facing example is the School of Architecture's Rome program, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, with fundraising specifically targeted at supporting students who participate in the study abroad experience.

Of the $9 million annual giving goal, $4 million is earmarked for restricted funds that include clubs and organizations, fraternities and sororities, athletic teams, departmental funds, and student relief funds. The remaining $5 million is the unrestricted annual fund. The team is currently just under $6 million raised for the fiscal year.

R-Pi Day is both a celebration of the date and the university's largest annual giving campaign. Running primarily through an online platform and dedicated landing page, this year's push goal is $1 million. Last year, the campaign raised $824,000, well past its initial target, driven largely by individual transactions on the day itself.

Roberts describes the purpose of R-Pi Day as giving in accessible terms. Throughout R-Pi Day, a number of challenges and matching opportunities run alongside the main campaign, with many targeted specifically at student-run clubs and organizations. A club's Union budget, she explained, is like a checking account, whereas agency funds are more like a savings account. Gift funds, that R-Pi Day supports, are investments, which is the money that sticks around for the long-term health of a club or for a major one-time purchase. Last year, for example, Roberts helped the Rensselaer Crew Club raise over $50,000 for a new shell, which was purchased, dedicated, and put in the water. This year, RPI Ambulance is working toward $60,000 to $70,000 for a new first-response vehicle, with an alumnus already pledging $6,000 as a matching gift to kick off donations. Roberts notes that some donors count on R-Pi Day as the moment they give each year, making it a critical day for donor acquisition and retention.

For the second year running, R-Pi Day will include a physical event on campus: the Pi-K, a five kilometer race at 11 am starting outside Commons Dining Hall, developed in partnership with the Rensselaer Running Club. The pep band and cheer team will be present, and the event is open to runners, walkers, and those who simply want to come out and be part of the energy.

New this year, graduating seniors who make a commitment of $100 or more, or a $10 monthly pledge beginning now, will receive Patroon Society Philanthropy Cords to wear at graduation. Roberts will be at the Rensselaer Union the day before R-Pi Day, encouraging graduating students to make that gift before they leave campus. She acknowledged the common pushback of the sense in asking students for money, to develop giving as a participatory and habitual act rather than a financial one. The goal is for alumni to carry that habit forward, returning each R-Pi Day to give to the clubs or programs that mattered to them as students. Beyond that, students can get involved by making a gift on the R-Pi Day landing page to any club, department, or fund of their choosing, or simply by sharing the campaign on social media and encouraging others to participate. Ambassador tools are available here for those who want to promote R-Pi Day through their organizations.

Transcript: Mark Hampton Interview

Matthew Treanor — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:56:55 +0000

The following is a transcript of our interview with CAO Mark Hampton. The transcript has been edited for clarity.

The Poly: As a position, a CAO is maybe unknown to a lot of people. Would you mind, in your own words, as the person in that position, describing what you do here at RPI, and what your specific position entails?

Hampton: Okay. All right. Well, first, I just want to thank you for your interest in talking to me and for the opportunity to get to know you better and through you for students to get to know me and my particular role better. I am the Chief Administrative Officer. I'll hit my six-month anniversary next week, so I'm sort of still figuring things out, but really loving being part of the RPI community. The Chief Administrative Officer is a new role that President Schmidt created to combine a lot of different portfolios that support teaching and learning on campus. There had been over time a sort of siloed approach to the work that different departments did. So these departments include DotCIO, so all of the IT organization, human resources, auxiliary services, so parking, dining, and transportation, and then all of the things related to our physical plant, including the campus planning and design, environmental and site services, as well as our environmental health and safety. These were all little silos that were all kind of operating and they have a very common theme to their work. It's really there to enable teaching and research to make sure that students and faculty have the best possible experience here on campus and because of that siloization that wasn't often happening. I think there's lots of examples of the right hand not knowing what the left hand's doing. And so my job really is to try to bring all of those functions together so that they're working together and actually coordinating efforts. You think about it, IT people are having to go into residence halls and office buildings. So are our environmental and site services people. So are our environmental health and safety people. So are our physical plant people. I mean, they're all doing the same sort of work. And so the more that we can sort of combine approaches leverage each other's perspectives and really sort of become a closer team. That's really what I'm seeking in my role.

So you're really just like working together with a lot of these distributed smaller groups that benefit from communication, but maybe in the past haven't had that connection?

That's correct.

Okay, then all in the end for the faculty and the students benefit.

Would you like to give a little bit of information on your background?. Where you've worked?

RPI is my seventh institution. I started out at the University of Utah where I got my PhD, but was also an administrator and a faculty member. Spent some time at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia, Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, New York Institute of Technology downstate, and Brooklyn Law School. And then interestingly enough, I took three and a half years off of higher education and went to Amazon Web Services, where I was essentially a, I don't want to say a consultant, but I was a bridge between technology and higher education and sort of communicating on both sides, you know, to the AWS folks how higher ed works and thinks and how they change and so on and so forth. And then to the higher ed folks how AWS technologies could help them modernize, use data better, reduce the reliance on on-premises systems, and be more resilient. That kind of thing. So it was a really fascinating three and a half years, I probably interfaced with 150 institutions in some way or another, several dozen of those very extensively. I really got a cross-section of American higher education.

In your near six-month tenure, is there anything tangible that you could point to that the student body would be able to say, “oh, that was his work?”

Well, this was teed up for me. I'd love to have been responsible for it, but it was something that really attracted me when I was considering this role, and that is the campus master planning process that we're doing. This is really a once-in-two-decades kind of opportunity, both for RPI and for the people at RPI, to shape the future of the campus. It's a huge effort that's involved hundreds and hundreds of people, literally over a thousand students in, envisioning what RPI can be over the next 20 years. And I think it has the potential of being the most transformative work that my team will do, you know, not only this year, but really for the coming years. It's really important because it doesn't just look at, you know, a residence hall or the Rensselaer Union or a particular classroom building. It's looking at the totality of that and really looking at not only how we can make it the best that it can be, but how we can make it the best that it can be for the future. And there's been a lot of work on this and I'm really excited.

Of course, you have that Campus Master Plan and President Schmidt's RPI Forward Plan. I think a lot of the current post-bicentennial culture around the RPI administration is that looking forward. And so that's something you're going to be involved with. In terms of actual plans for current buildings, kind of to zero in on the more physical side of what you do, can you tell us anything about any current plans? I know when we spoke previously, you mentioned that sometimes it's a very lengthened process and it's something that if you say something too early and it changes, that can lead to disappointment. I think we saw a lot of that with the Ricketts building, how there was information going around that stated that it would be transformed into a computer science center. And in the months/years that have not happened, that has led to a little frustration. I understand that that's a natural part of the job. And so, you know, what do those next steps look like in terms of the physical campus?

Well, I think, and this is where master planning is different from regular building-by-building planning. It's really taking a more holistic view. So it's less about what disciplines go where and more about what kind of activities happen in what buildings and what kind of activities are encouraged by the design of our overall campus and then the design within buildings as we choose to renovate them or have the opportunity to renovate them. So whether Ricketts is a computer science building or something else, is not the focus of the Campus Master Plan. Now that's not to say that that doesn't become a decision at some point, but those decisions are made in the context of an overall Campus Master Plan. But what it does entail is what does Ricketts look like inside? Do you have spaces where you can study? Do you have spaces where you can meet with a group of students? How far do you have to walk to get food? How far do you have to walk to find a place to unwind? And those are the kinds of things that we really focus on. Not to say again that the disciplines, the specific research that's going on, the students, you know, the majors that they're taking, so on and so forth, don't figure into it, but you answer some of those basic questions. And then you start to say, okay, now with this sort of bigger vision and bigger philosophy and this sort of framework in mind, how do we then tackle the challenges of campus? Because for Ricketts or any other building to be enjoyable to study in or to serve food or eat food in or to have classes in. It's got to have really good heat and electricity and those kinds of things. And so then you kind of back up and how do we deal with the infrastructure to support that? And then how do we take space that we're not using well now and really redeploy it to its best and highest uses? So you probably know there are a number of buildings where there's really not much going on inside of them. There are a lot of spaces within buildings that are very busy where there's not a lot of going on. You know, we're going to take a deep look in the master planning process at that and say, what are the opportunities we're missing here? And how do we create those opportunities? Because we've heard over and over from students that we don't have enough space to study. We don't have enough space to meet for student clubs. We don't have enough space for performing. We don't have enough space to just have fun and unwind and kind of de-stress after a hard day. So that's really what the Campus Master Plan is looking at. And core to all that too is what's going on inside of labs and classrooms. We, like most universities and colleges, have a very traditional campus. More and more we're seeing learning happening in ways that it didn't 10, 15, 20 years ago. So why would we restore these buildings to a state that is in the past and not really what's in the future? So having deep discussions about those kinds of things, recognizing that we're all abuzz with generative AI and the fact that you can have individualized learning and all sorts of crazy things. But the reality is those technologies are going to evolve over time. Those technologies are going to evolve over time and the teaching and learning 10 years from now may look very different because there may be even cooler technologies that are allowing us to do things. So designing with flexibility in mind.

Right. I think one really great thing that you brought up that you yourself said, was the idea of that student voice. It's easy for certain voices to not be heard. I think college, it's very important for the students, the nearly 7-8,000 undergrads and graduates we have is important. I'm aware of a survey that was sent out to students recently.

Yeah, we have a consultant, Perkins and Will. They're basically architectural and planning services for higher education. In fact, the person who's leading it is actually an RPI alum who's leading our effort. We put the survey together with them. They actually were the ones who administered it. But yes, it went out to faculty, staff, and students, and we got just a tremendous response for our surveys. Getting a response, you know, around 20% is really cool. So I think we were edging close to that.

I think the core content of that survey really revolved around the kind of where people spend time. And I know in our previous conversations, and what you just stated now is about club space, study space. How do you see RPI's campus transforming in the future to accommodate for those kinds of things? Because we saw it just this summer, we had the first floor of the Union here renovated where we got a small theater, gaming section, and billiards room. So how do you see the future, in those holistic study spaces becoming more open club spaces, becoming more available? What kind of decisions do you see being made there?

I think again we've got a lot of extra space that we're not using really well. I think the work that Perkins and Will did indicated that we're probably using five out of every six square feet of space at this point, which means there's a pretty significant surplus around 16 to 17%. At the very least, we need to look at reuse of that space, because if we've got shortages in an area that directly impacts the student experience, I think we have an obligation to find a way to use this excess resource to meet that need. So I think what we're going to see more of is more flexible use of space. You named some really great improvements to the Rensselaer Union, which I was really delighted about. It was like my first week and I got to see them finish it up. And it's the kind of thing that you see a little makes a huge difference. But I will be honest, you know, it's a pretty flexible space. I mean, yes, you have billiards and you have a gaming space and all that. But over time, if the needs change or student interests change, that space can be used very flexibly. The performance space, for example, can be used for student clubs and other things. Whether or not it is, I'm not commenting. But in the future, it really does allow for different uses, even if they're just one-time uses. I love that and I want to see more of that because I am just so struck by how innovative and dynamic RPI students are. And it's great to think you have a great idea for a club or for an activity, whatever that is, to be able to have space where you can quickly mobilize and deploy. Maybe six months later, you're doing something different with that space, but you've been able to do that as opposed to having to empty it out or pull things off the wall or add things to the wall. This is kind of the sort of RPI culture that gives you a nice white box and a set of Legos and you'll build really cool things. And that's kind of the metaphor that I want to see with space. And the second thing that I think comes through resoundingly from students, from faculty, staff, certainly my experience, is we need to have a campus that is much more amenable to just gathering and running into people. This is my seventh institution of higher education. There's a lot of activity between classes, but a lot of the time there's '86 Field or up here by the Rensselaer Union. There just aren't a lot of people outside. And it's not because it's not nice weather. It's because there aren't any places to gather. And so to create those natural gathering spaces, to create a sense of flow through the entire campus so it doesn't feel as janky as it does now, where you're kind of different up here by the Union and then you've got the raised walkway and bridge, and then you've got the lower part of '86 Field. Where everything, to really create more of a flow, and in that flow to create spaces that allow you to kind of gather. If you've ever been to the High Line in Manhattan, you have a real sense of how possible that is. That it's not only can get you through places, but the journey itself is an experience. And we need more of that here because it's in those, you know, chance meetings that a student club gets formed or an idea for a startup gets talked about. And we want to create more opportunities for those kinds of chance interactions to happen. And then to be followed by just a really nice place to sit and continue the discussion without having to go downtown to a coffee shop or something like that. That's what great institutions, universities and institutes do is they allow for that kind of interaction. And we really need to design that very intentionally into our campus.

That sounds great. In terms of that development of places of interaction, or maybe even what some may call a third space…

That's the term that we use, yes.

In our previous conversations, you've spoken about the RPI Tech Park, which I think is something that not a lot of people are aware of. And so could you speak a little bit on its current implementation and some of the ideas you've had for how to integrate it further into the daily or weekly RPI student life?

Yes. So I want to start just by sort of talking about the founding principles of the Tech Park because these came from President George Lowe and I think kind of frame the opportunity there. He really saw that as a source of revenue for RPI, and I'm here to tell you we can use all the revenue that we can get because that allows us to do a lot of these things that we're talking about. But I think more importantly than that, he saw it as a place where RPI innovation can drive regional economic growth, where we can take the ideas that are occurring in the classroom and in the lab and actually apply them in a way that has an impact, that creates jobs, that creates new technology, that improves life. And then finally, he wanted it to be a place where RPI students and faculty could interface with industry, where there was a real exchange, not just of, you know, you're going to license my technology and you're going to commercialize this, or I'm going to do research for you and then file my report, but real, true interaction. So things like internships and opportunities to share best practices. And, the Tech Park has over time done those things, but at the moment, and largely as a result of the pandemic, we really are where it's kind of a glorified office park. So, you know, our vision, and I say ours, I think it comes from President Schmidt really, is to just revitalize that original vision. And create real reasons for students to go to the Technology Park because it's a lovely space and we intend for there to be a lot of really cool things going on there. So I've been working with a lot of economic development leaders from the state and region, to talk about how we can do that, how we can get investments to build out the infrastructure, looking at different potential tenants that can go in there that fit that profile of somebody who's really going to help drive economic development, really leveraging three core strengths and not to be exclusive, but focus is good: We're very good in biotechnology, we're very good in semiconductor R&D and fabrication, and we're very good in advanced computing, including quantum computing. Having those sort of our three tent posts that attract industry, that create that value proposition that if you come here, you not only have access to some really beautiful and well-situated land, you also have access to incredible expertise and an even more incredible pipeline of student talent that can come and actually build out whatever it is that you're doing. So that's really the vision there. And I think it's a kind of thing that can take all sorts of different turns and twists depending on which tenants we ultimately get. But I think at some point it is a place that students want to go. And maybe we have a compelling reason to have regular shuttle service there, because on Friday afternoons, we have leaders of industry and leaders among the faculty. I'm speculating here, but just to create that kind of information sharing environment where it's not just a place to go clock your internship hours. It's really a destination to go and learn and be enriched.

Right. Definitely. I think one kind of idea you were striking at there that I want to speak on is this idea of visibility. So, of course, the Tech Park has, since COVID with a lot of those more distributed things, communication, visibility, and total engagement kind of decreased. What sort of plans and ideas would you have for the future of RPI to increase visibility of these spaces? I think the shuttle service, as you mentioned, would be a great idea, but in terms of the Tech Park, if you're familiar with the Mercer Lab in JEC, with our clean room in Low, and many of the distributed labs across campus, that if you don't know which staircase to take or which elevator to go on, you may not know they exist. Any idea that you know these resources and these physical spaces exist but maybe if you don't go looking for it you may not find it.

It's a huge problem and this is one of the themes especially from the student voices in the master planning process. I think there was a quote from a student that said “you know marketing materials say you are welcome here but the campus says you're not.” I'm paraphrasing but the point is very much consistent with what I just said, that we've done a really bad job of making spaces inviting. And you'll see cool things going on and not realize, wow, I can actually go in there. I can find out how to get involved. Some of that is just purely mechanical. I mean, we just have to have better way-finding. Some of that is, I think, building a culture that communicates that openness to participate. And I think, for example, Mercer XLabs has been very good at doing that because it's a place where people who are attracted to that are welcome and immediately have an opportunity to get involved. We need to find a tactical way-finding solution that dovetails with a cultural welcoming solution. And that's just going to take some time. But I will say, I think this is a situation where the space has sort of driven behavior because we have such closed off spaces because we have such poor signage and poor storytelling in our buildings. It makes it hard for people to know what's going on because we have so many labs that are behind closed doors and no one knows what's going on. We're not encouraged to ask questions and therefore we're not encouraged to tell on the other side of the transaction. We're not encouraged to tell our stories. And I think we need to make a conscious effort to fix that. Some of that's through design and some of that's just through more openness and better communications internally. And externally, there's no reason that story should be limited to the RPI community.

To maybe switch gears a little bit, one story that we at the Poly have been following for a while and that maybe you could provide insight on is the RPI Playhouse. For a short brief, about three years ago, the building flooded. And since then, the RPI Players have been forced to use theaters in town. Luckily they have the space just opening up in the Union though that is comparably small compared to what the Playhouse was and as time goes on it seems like this becomes more and more of a renovation that will never happen . I believe we just hit the three-year anniversary, which means the clock is ticking. We're less than a year away from all members of the undergraduate Players having never set foot in the Playhouse. And as a club that is very vital to the RPI experience and the RPI culture, even showing up in many Union logos and Union advertising materials, what sort of conversations have been had at the administrative level in terms of the use of that space, whether that becomes a renovation, a teardown, a reallocation to another building or purpose?

Yeah, again, part of the master planning process. There's been no decisions. There's been lots of things discussed. And I will say that we have heard loud and clear that that space somewhere on campus is needed. And the same goes for the orchestra. We need dedicated space for those kinds of activities. Part of the master planning process is to find spaces for that. They haven't been identified and, again, there hasn't been a specific decision made about the Playhouse. My understanding is the cost of renovation is prohibitively high and therefore that's why it hasn't been done. And as a building like that gets older and older you know in a basically disuse. It just becomes even harder. So let's just say the problem isn't getting smaller. I will say, and this is just purely speculative, but just to give you a sense, it also is part of the problem with the campus flow because it's sort of sticking out when you come over the bridge. It creates, basically challenges, bottlenecks for congregating outside of Sage. And not to say that it isn't a fine building and all, but there are certainly reasons to think about how the campus would feel if it weren't there and those activities were somewhere else. And the question is, where is that somewhere else and how do we set that up? And as I've said, we have a lot of opportunities because we have a lot of unused spaces. This is where we really want to hear from students, you know, what does that space need to look like? How can it be, I mean, that was a playhouse, so it was, you know, It was basically built for the activity that was in it. We don't obviously have something like that. So what could we convert that would meet those same needs? Does it have to have a stage? Does it have to have a proscenium? Does it have to have an audience or house, those kinds of things. Because obviously the more specific we get, the more it's locked into performances of plays and rehearsing for plays. But this is where we need the student voice. And this is why we've so actively engaged student voices. But I would say of the five key findings of the student voice in the campus master planning process, the need for performance spaces, particularly around the orchestra and around The Players, has been one of the easily top five findings. And I also think, just that there be more informal practice and you know just having pianos more you know I know there are some around on campus but having more of those because that really is something that RPI students love and we want to support.

I do know that the few pianos I believe one in the Union and one in Barton Hall can get their uses, and seeing that more definitely could bring benefit. In terms of unused spaces, I think one frustration coming from people in the sphere of The Players and of the orchestra has to do with EMPAC. Of course, the exact ownership and booking of EMPAC is a more complicated process than other places on campus, but considering we have an extremely large performing arts center and we currently have a club struggling to get a venue for their performing arts, I see a lot of frustration and friction coming from that end on why those two problems can't be solved at once. Where do you see EMPAC as a core part of the campus in the future, whereas many have seen it maybe off to the side?

Yeah. It's a challenging question. I mean, we have new leadership at EMPAC, and she's very much trying to answer that question. I think she realizes not only the frustration, but also just the missed opportunity and engaging students on that. I think we need to make sure that we find space that is dedicated space for students. And part of the challenge with that is it wasn't designed to be that kind of space. I mean, you have a very, very large, very gorgeous performance space that is way more than our orchestra or The Players need. Then to add on to that, that has regular programming that would displace students. And I think that's part of the challenge. But I do think that there are opportunities there for students to be more built into that regular programming. And I think Dina [Beard], the executive director of EMPAC, is very much open to working with students to make that possible. But my goal is for there to be a dedicated space that students basically have control over so that they can engage in those activities without having to worry about external schedules. But no, I know that I oversee dining services. I know one thing that we're pushing very, very hard is to get the cafe that's in EMPAC up and running again because that part of campus is kind of a food desert. And if you think about all of the people studying in the library as well as the foot traffic to the VCC for IT support, it would be very nice to have the ability to have a meal down there. And so that's one area where I think we can definitely make some improvements on helping sort of address food and informal study space needs.

It's very interesting that you mentioned dining. That's also another thing, people have very strong opinions about some of the dining services provided here, whether it be through a dining hall or through an establishment in the Union or one of those distributed services. What sort of plans for the future are there in terms of maybe changing the dining up, whether that be offering new locations, different hours, some more of those like satellite places, maybe changing up dining halls, anything like that currently in the works?

Well, I will say outside of the master planning process, just the day-to-day, He's been here now over a year, but we have new leadership in dining services. The director of auxiliaries joined us in November of 2024. And he has a lot of really good ideas for how to improve dining services. So we are working with Sodexo, our dining services provider, to find those improvements, both in terms of locations and in terms of who is actually operating in those retail locations like here in the Rensselaer Union and at Evelyn's to make sure that we have just a better overall product. It's an area that I care very deeply about because I will tell you that master plans take 20 years. Building a new residence hall takes three to five years. Fixing dining can be done in six months. We're not going to fix it in six months, but I think we're going to push to have a significantly better dining experience, soon because it's not only possible, it's necessary. So, I won't over promise on that, but it's an area, a real area of focus on my part because I know that it is something that students have, I mean, let's just put it this way. It was my second week, Hamburger Wednesday happened when they canceled Hamburger Wednesday. And I realized how important not only dining generally, but these kinds of special events are to students, and I get it, and it's something we can do something about, and Mohamed and I are committed to doing something about it.

I think one thing students have appreciated is those kinds of programs, whether it be the burgers on Wednesdays or a lot of the Commons programs they put on, it definitely improves the user experience. One space that has gone unused in the dining area is one of the vendor locations on the bottom floor near Rathskeller where several years ago there was Ben and Jerry's. It has since fallen to be empty and part of the problem with that is when it was originally made for Ben and Jerry's as an ice cream parlor, they did not have the connections for exhaust and for gas power and whatnot. And now it has kind of fallen into only a very specific niche of vendors that are able to be there. So since that niche has not been filled, it's gone unused. Are there any current plans to either look for one or renovate the space in any way such that it can fit somebody else to offer more options to those in the Union?

The direct answer is none that I'm aware of. The less direct answer is I know that Mohamed is reviewing all of our retail operations, and I wouldn't be surprised, but I can't commit to there being something going on there. The challenges that you mentioned in space are unfortunately challenges that we would have to fund, and this is a tough thing when we have to ask if this is the highest priority. But I will take your question to Mohamed because, you know, and I can probably follow up with you to see if he has any specific plans. I haven't heard any. I just know overall that he's looking at retail in the Rensselaer Union sort of comprehensively.

And maybe speaking more, whether in the Union or across campus, of some of those more auxiliary services that don't really fall under dining or education. We have a bank and the campus store. Part of President Schmidt's plans through emails, he has mentioned talks of a childcare center for faculty and general use. Is there any updates on those? Because I believe certain deadlines were for late December of 2025. And since then, I don't believe we've had an update.

I can give you an update. So in the decision-making, there's “do we want to build this ourselves and run it?”, “do we want to build it ourselves and have somebody else run it?”, or “do we want to have somebody else build it and run it?”. And quite honestly, given all of the other things that we need to be thinking about on campus. The latter seems to be the one that serves us best. And so we have agreed to work with Bright Horizons to explore the possibility of a daycare center on campus. We would build it, but they would actually design it and sort of manage the construction because the daycares are notoriously difficult to get licensed because of all the state requirements. It's just better to have somebody who understands it really kind of have the design and make sure that things are built to spec. Bright Horizons would then run the facility for us and we're actually going to be touring campus, I think, next week to start scouting out locations to see what might be possible. So we are moving forward. I think probably more progress in the last three or four months than probably in the last three or four years. So I'm really excited about that.

Back towards, you mentioned dormitories. We've seen a kind of a negative trend towards the availability of dormitories. We had Colonie close several years ago. Just this last fall, Bryckwyck was no longer offered as an option. And then we've been informed, I believe one or two weeks ago, that our contract with City Station West will not be continued. With this, it can seem that the availability of housing through on-campus resources seems to be shrinking. What kind of approach are you guys taking to ensure that the people who want housing get it, whether that be through increasing the space already available, building new dorms, or increasing resources for off-campus housing?

Okay, so there are two distinct approaches that we're taking there. One, obviously the Campus Master Plan is looking at housing. Not surprisingly something that students feel very strongly about. And interestingly enough I think students are pretty generous in terms of understanding that older buildings are tough to manage, but just the spaces aren't terribly conducive to group work, informal meetings, unwinding, those kinds of things. And quite honestly, they're also, once you get off Freshman Hill, they're very far away, except for the ones on Sage Avenue. And so one of the things that the campus master planning process is looking at is could we bring some of those dorms, not physically the buildings, but actually the space that they now provide closer into campus and create more of a community feeling here. And I think there's a lot of possibility around that. Now, the question is how we would do that. Nowadays, most universities engage outside providers of housing to build and maintain student housing. And then the institute would still continue to provide the RA and LA support and make sure that the security and everything is integrated. So that's common and something that we'll explore. So that's number one, it's just sort of replacing over time housing and trying to make it more central so that we create more of a community here in the core campus. The second thing and something that I'm really excited about is, RPI actually owns a fair number of buildings off campus. And one thing that we've done is we've executed a ground lease with an organization called Foundation Assets. That's going to take a number of the buildings that RPI owns in the People's and 8th Street, People's Avenue corridor. So just above the Rensselaer sign on People's. A lot of the houses on that next corner are RPI-owned, some of which are actually unoccupied. And basically, Foundation Assets is going to renovate those and make them available for off-campus student housing, which, I mean, I'm in the service building, so I'm downhill, but other than the fact that they're downhill, they're actually pretty proximate. The walk to West Hall, for example, is less than a quarter of a mile and pretty much a straight shot across. And we're working with a number of other providers to see how we can get off-campus housing. Because a lot of students want off-campus housing. A lot of our off-campus housing is closer than our on-campus housing. While being off-campus, we can still make the sense of community in the area very strong. Certainly, the Student [Living] and Learning folks are very plugged in and can sort of make sure that students have amenities, support, so on and so forth. Foundation Access actually coordinates very strongly with our SLL folks so and they have programmed activities. They're really nice spaces. And so that's really how we're trying to address that. and see if there are ways that we can, I think some of the residence halls that you mentioned might be at the point where it'd be easier to tear them down and rebuild. But if we did that, the question is would we really rebuild up on the hill or could we rebuild them closer to campus? Obviously a much more new and modern and student friendly kind of format.

One important note with housing and I guess campus life as a whole has to do with the summer semester. Of course, as was announced earlier this year, starting with class of 2028 and onwards, the Arch summer semester is no longer required. And while still an option for students, sophomores and freshmen, it seems more and more every day like people are less and less likely to want to sign up for it. And we may very well be approaching a future where there is no summer semester or an extremely limited, whether it be online or otherwise, summer semester such that campus is not in full operation for those four to five months. How does your office plan on accounting for this loss of use? Because if we keep talking about unused spaces, if spaces are used to a decent capacity for two thirds of the year, but then unused, what does that say about our efficiency? So what kind of plans, whether it be for dormitories, for actual academic buildings. How do you plan on moving forward with these changes to the Arch?

Well, I can't speak to the academic side. You'd have to talk to the provost about that. I think, you know, my experience is that you don't need to have an Arch to have a robust summer program. I've worked at universities where students will come and take organic chemistry at an institution for the summer and transfer the credits back to their home institution. And I think we have a lot of opportunities to do those kinds of things. And again, I'll leave it to the provost as to whether those are going to go forward. But one thing that is very common is the summer conferences. It's a great way to get younger potential RPI students on campus and get to experience. It's great outreach for K-12. It can actually generate revenue, and it does create a reason to keep buildings in use throughout the year. So that's something that we'll probably explore once we see what the actual demand for summer courses is in the post-required Arch summer world. We're not in a post-Arch world, just the post-required Arch summer. And then another thing that I will say is this gives us a really good opportunity to do some of the maintenance and deep cleaning that these buildings need. I think it's a challenge when you don't have some downtime, and our Arch has sort of thwarted that. And so I personally see it as a positive, certainly in the short term, as we explore long-term options.

One sort of more recent issue that has come up with many people has to do with the cold. Of course, we had some rather cold weekends and we saw a lot of issues with buildings and heat regulation. And of course, being such an old campus, our systems can only catch up so much. Are there any current plans or future plans for any renovations to HVAC or other heating elements to withstand some of these colder temperatures and as well as these temperature swings, so some of these more sedentary systems may not be able to handle that compared to a more dynamic system. So are there any current plans to maybe amend some of these things.

Yeah, it's a great question. Obviously, it's a central question to the Campus Master Plan. Those sedentary systems, as you describe, are also incredibly wasteful because if people are having to open windows to keep buildings cool during warmer times, And they leave those windows on when it gets really cold and pipes break. I mean, this just isn't a good system. So they will be looked at. I will say, you know, it's a lot of work to update that because it's part of a larger campus heating, which typically involves steam. While I am a big fan of steam in terms of how amazing it is, how easily distributed it is, it's not terribly smart and it's really hard to design systems that use it smart without complete building overhaul. Yes, we constantly, you know, HVAC, in terms of our capital projects, typically pick off the worst and let's update. So there will be some short-term plans, but I think this is where we're sort of thinking of the big picture, long-term. Would it be easier to just not have those systems at all, design things that are much more sustainably oriented? That use heat pumps instead of steam heat and cooling, that sort of thing. That's, I think, where we're really focusing, the big picture. But yes, we will always continue to maintain as best we can this aging heating system that we have.

One campus maintenance/campus renovation project that I think many people have been impacted by is the JEC Bridge.

Everybody has been impacted by that.

Of course. And it's very curious because renovations began in the middle of the Arch semester and there are many current Class of 2029 freshmen who have yet to realize that you can walk from JEC to Folsom. Do you have any updates on that project because the current perspective that has been brought by administration is it'll happen next week and then next week comes and it keeps getting delayed.

Well, just a sort of explanation of how we got where we are. This is a classic case of a problem being noticed. And the initial assessment is that it's a pretty modest fix. Concrete had been chipping off and falling. I think everybody was aware of that. And quite honestly, the initial assessment was that it was a superficial problem. And as they went away to chip away the concrete that had basically started to fail, they realized that it went deeper and deeper and deeper until what probably should have been done is just to cut the walkway and replace it entirely. We didn't end up having to do that, but it probably would have been cheaper and certainly a lot faster. The intent was to have the walkway completed by the end of the winter break so that students would come back. But that is exactly when the cold weather came in. And so we've been thwarted by weather delays. You simply can't do that kind of concrete work in this weather. And so we're going to have to wait until things warm up and dry out a little bit, and then it'll be completed. Smart students and others will note that there is a twin of that on the other side. And in some ways, that one is going to be much harder. And so the team in campus planning and facilities design and physical plan are taking a much more aggressive approach, assuming the worst as opposed to that it's just a superficial problem, and try to get that one replaced during the summer break. In fact, starting the design work on it well in advance so that as soon as graduation is over, they can close that and get started on it. But the goal is to have that back up. I think the current JEC walkway closure, we should expect to see that sometime in the spring once things start to warm up and dry out a bit.

So you're saying the side of JEC that is, or can you repeat that, sorry?

Well, the walkway that goes to the DCC, that one is also going to have to be replaced.

That will be very controversial.

Yeah. Well, and that's why we're trying to get that done while students are away during the summer. Yeah, I think in some ways that one will be more impactful than the other.

Although we have since had the path to the Green building open up, which I think for traffic towards Sage Labs, which may be a larger proportion than towards Folsom and VCC, that is definitely helpful. Moving around campus, one important element being on, we keep talking about the hill, EMPAC Hill, Freshman Hill, is staircases. Last year we saw the staircases towards Freshman Hill built. Living in a more snowy climate, we see snow buildup, we see staircases closed. If we look towards the stairs that broach towards Pittsburgh and West, we see maybe some older, more dilapidated staircases. I guess in terms of those that I've mentioned, stairs in general as well as walkways, what kind of improvement plans do you see, whether implemented right now or in the near future?

Well, certainly that is another core element of the Campus Master Plan. One of the goals of the Campus Master Plan is to create something that as much as possible goes from ECAV all the way through campus, all the way downtown, including the Approach. And that it is accessible, that it is pleasant, that it doesn't cause you to sweat excessively during the summer, that there's shade, that there's seating. And so I think a big focus of it is that last bit before you get to the Approach. So basically once you've left '8[6] Field and start taking those stairs, they're gonna have to be replaced, redesigned for a number of reasons. So I think that's something that we're probably going to have to hold off on until the Campus Master Plan is done and we can figure out where in the priority that sits. But it is definitely, from a design perspective, a very high priority because it's seen as something, one of the factors that leads to a perception that the RPI campus is not terribly friendly. I mean, I'm a marathon runner and I hate those stairs.

RPI definitely presents itself, and a majority of us are very academic-faced people, but we, of course, have a major athletic program, we have a Division I hockey team as well as many great Division III teams. What parts of the RPI Forward and Campus Master Plan kind of pertain to those athletes, whether it be new facilities, increased transportation, and other sort of services that help out that unique kind of student?

Well, I think you're right. They're a core part of the RPI student experience. And obviously, the student experience and student outcomes generally are very central to RPI Forward. I think from the campus master planning perspective, which I can speak more directly to, it really is integrating that experience a little bit. I mean, unfortunately, we've got the geography issue that it's up on a hill and it's quite a ways away. But I think creating easier ways to get there that don't involve crossing. I mean, we're going to always have to cross a busy road. But how can we change the sort of pathway to get there so that it's easier for students to come and go to ECAV? There is a project that will be starting next month at the Houston Fieldhouse to redo the hockey arena. And I think that's going to be a significant upgrade. Obviously, it's our Division I sport, so I'm very excited about that. I'd say beyond that, I think it's just a sort of general, you know, how do we provide services to support all students, including student athletes? And then with respect to the Campus Master Plan, how do we design spaces that provide that level of support? So hearing their voices, what are their health and wellness needs? How are they able to access services to support student success? Do we need more of those up at ECAV where a lot of athletes are, more in the Mueller Center? One thing that's come out of the Campus Master Plan is kind of a design concept that I'm pretty excited by because I think it just makes sense. We're sort of sitting in the, if not the heart of campus, at least a very important center of campus with the Mueller Center next door and here with the Student Union and Freshman Hill is here. If we kind of thought of this as the wellness center, because you've obviously got physical fitness and is there a way of building a kind of place here that's actually a little bit closer and a place that people come to all the time. So really thinking about wellness in a conscious way when designing the overall plan for the campus. So that's just an example of a kind of concept that I think affects all students. But I think recognizing that student athletes are obviously a key subgroup of students, definitely making sure that they're well supported in that.

And to kind of finish off talking about these specific dorms and dining and athletics, is there any other category that you oversee that you believe deserves attention that you would want to talk about? You mentioned being in charge of some IT services, that of course is important. Anything of that category that you think?

Well, yes, I'm extremely excited to say that we've got a new chief information officer, CIO. She started last week. She comes to us from Oregon State University, and she's a real change agent, real modernizer, but a real team builder. And I'm just really excited for her to be here because she's our first new CIO in a very, very long time. She brings a really, really rich set of perspectives on how to address some of the technical debt challenges that we have, how to be more student focused and student serving, strong ideas around how to use AI and generative AI in particular to help us modernize systems. We're in the process of developing a student advising platform that has agentic AI capabilities to make it so that students don't have to repeat their story every time they go from one office to another. There's actually a central location repository for that and that the agentic AI takes a lot of the busy work out of just managing the student experience, setting up appointments, scheduling reminders, those kinds of things. So there's a lot going on in IT. I'd say, let's just say in about five and a half months, I think you should have our new CIO sit in this chair and do the same thing with her.

Definitely. I think we love hosting interviews. Obviously, the Poly, this is the first time we've interviewed you and we would definitely look forward to maybe next February interviewing you again and looking at how some of the things you talked about coming to fruition. I guess in a future where we do interview again, what can we look out for in the next year and what should we be seeing on campus that is from you from your office and that our readers can know is part of the bettering of this campus that you've brought forward?

So I'll put some, this will be fun because I'll make some challenges for myself. A year from now, I want our on-campus dining experience to be something that faculty and staff are excited about and use. I would like there to be at least, if not done at least in the works, plans for four or five spaces for students that are not currently available that are maybe not yet programmed out but that we're going to be really sort of sandboxing to figure out what their best uses are. I would like to see IT very much modernized and a lot of the student experience just interfacing with your academic records, setting up meetings and things like that to be much more seamless and really leverage new technologies. I'd actually like students or at least those that really care to dive deep to have a sense of what RPI could be in 20 years to really kind of feel how it's going to change and really be part of that change part of that's just holding us accountable to that plan that we develop because that plan is going to come out in October, the Campus Master Plan. And that's day one of a 20-year process. And I want by then we'll be four months in, which is in some ways just a tick of time, it's the first second of 60 seconds, if you will. And if we're not already moving there and at least communicating that vision out, I think we will have gotten a slow start and I don't want to see that. So I'll put those out as challenges and you can document them and a year from now you can see if I was able to deliver.

Thank you so much, we’re looking forward to seeing what you work on and speaking with you in the future. It was great talking to you.

You as well, thank you.

RPI SWE hosts Exploring Engineering Day, teaching kids about engineering

Audrey Johnson — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:15:59 +0000

RPI knows that the curiosity for STEM starts young. A love of learning is created by a good introduction into the subject—and the Society of Women Engineers introduces local kids to engineering through a myriad of hands-on explorations of different engineering concepts.

On February 14, the Society of Women Engineers hosted Exploring Engineering Day, a reoccurring event for 20 years now. Along with SWE, Engineering Ambassadors, Rensselaer Motorsport, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Girls Who Code, Association for Computing Machinery committee on Women in Computing, Engineers Without Borders, Biomedical Engineering Society, RPI SWE Outreach Community, Coding && Community, the Theta Chapter of Chi Phi Fraternity, Student Nuclear Advocacy Group, and RPI Materials Advantage all volunteered for the event.

Together, these groups hosted 11 different activities. Rensselaer Motorsport ran a LEGO car building competition, Girls Who Code and ACM-W taught binary bracelet building, RPI SWE Outreach explored hover racing, and SHPE led tower building. When young kids explore STEM concepts in an engaging environment, they can foster an interest that may go far into the future that classrooms might not be able to.

image

IMG_9262.jpg

caption
image

IMG_9304.jpg

caption
image

IMG_9287.jpg

caption

image: IMG_9283.jpg
caption
size: small

image: IMG_9276.jpg
caption
size: small

E-Board rejected a request from RPI Ambulance for a budget rollover into their reserves

Ronan Hevenor — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 21:57:57 +0000

The primary purpose of an ambulance is to provide emergency care to patients who are being transported to a hospital. Ambulances, however, are large vehicles that aren’t able to respond to an emergency as fast as smaller vehicles. To get around this problem, EMTs often make use of a rapid-response SUV, or Flycar, allowing them to arrive ahead of an ambulance and in some cases resolve emergencies not requiring transportation off-site, freeing up the ambulance to respond to other emergencies. RPI Ambulance is currently seeking to replace their current flycar, a 2007 Ford Explorer, and has estimated the cost to be between $60,000 and $80,000, including the cost to upfit the vehicle for emergency response. They aim to purchase the new vehicle before the end of the Spring 2026 semester, but currently only have $23,000—pending further fundraising. As a hedge against the possibility that they aren’t able to purchase the flycar by the end of the semester, the six EMTs who double as E-Board representatives dug up a decades-old Union financial workaround.

At a previous meeting, the Executive Board introduced a motion to grant RPI Ambulance a budget rollover into Fiscal Year 2027, something that E-Board has not done in over 25 years. If passed, the motion would grant RPI Ambulance the ability to roll over any unused funds from FY26 into their reserves account, instead of directing them into the Union Facilities Reserves. The motion stated that 15 percent of the FY26 subsidy would be allotted for them to possibly purchase their car in Fall 2026. The motion was tabled until their meeting this past Wednesday.

Vice President for Board Operations and RPI Ambulance’s Vice President Joseph Bowers ’25, ’26G reiterated the case for the budget rollover before the rest of E-Board. Refuting concerns from some E-Board representatives around the lack of precedent for budget rollovers, he argued that as RPI Ambulance is one of the most well-funded service clubs on campus, not many other clubs are equipped to make large purchases like this one, or like their $197,999 ambulance purchase in 2024. Five E-Board representatives, as members of RPI Ambulance, abstained from the ensuing discussion due to their conflict of interest. The remaining nine E-Board representatives deliberated over the precedent this motion would set as well as concerns around displaying bias toward RPI Ambulance, as nearly one-third of E-Board is involved with RPI Ambulance, including President of the Union Isabele Lieber ’25, ’26G. The remaining E-Board representatives brought up numerous alternative ideas, including the possibility of capping the rollover at a percentage of RPI Ambulance’s current budget, or denying it altogether. The motion failed 3-6-6, as the majority of E-Board agreed that it makes more sense to revisit this issue next semester if RPI Ambulance actually reaches a point where they need additional funding. There is a possibility that the Facilities Reserve budget could be used by the succeeding E-Board to help RPI Ambulance complete their purchase next semester, if necessary.

On another note, RPI Rounak, RPI’s Bollywood Fusion Dance Team, requested a retroactive subsidy of $6,256 to fund their February 8 trip to Bloomington Ki Badtameezi, Indiana University’s Bollywood dance competition. The club delayed booking flights until just under three weeks prior to departure, bringing their total trip cost to nearly $14,000 for 19 members. The E-Board weighed between saddling the club’s dancers with the entire cost of the trip and taking on the cost of the club’s inefficient travel themselves, eventually settling on a $1,000 additional subsidy to supplement the cost of travel. RPI Rounak’s initial request was for $6,256, which would satisfy the Union’s typical policy to supplement 50 percent of the cost of student travel expenses. E-Board subsequently passed a motion to put RPI Rounak on probation, citing poor financial planning from club leadership. As a result, RPI Rounak's Union account is frozen, until their outstanding trip fees has been paid off and until club officers complete additional financial training with the Union's Business Administrator Martha McElligott. Once this training is complete, the PU holds the power to restore RPI Rounak to active status.

E-Board also voted unanimously in favor of a additional subsidy from the Rensselaer Music Association of $378 from the FY26 Club Contingencies budget to allow them to attend the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performance in New York City on March 14, 2026 at 7:30 pm.

This E-Board meeting was held on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. The E-Board meets every Wednesday at 7:30 pm in the Student Union Room 3202.

Who’s freaking out? Fans on Big Red Freakout

Riley Sobel — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:22:44 +0000

The Big Red Freakout, now in its 48th year, is one of the biggest Rensselaer spirit events of the academic year. The time-honored tradition has united the RPI community for decades. Starting in 1978, the Big Red Freakout began with a showdown against the University of New Hampshire. Fans were to wear red and bring noisemakers, receiving commemorative gifts as part of the festivities.

This year’s Freakout saw the Engineers upset Harvard in a 3-1 victory to mountainous applause. At a school mostly populated by nerdy introverted engineers, the Big Red Freakout is one of the few truly spirited events of the RPI calendar—and it does not disappoint. During the 1987 Freakout, gifts were handed out to fans in the form of red plastic noisemakers. The noise generated within the stadium sounded off RPI’s 8-3 victory against Brown, and subsequently led the NCAA to create the “RPI Rule,” which banned noisemakers from Division I athletic competitions.

Out of the 48 Big Red Freakouts, the Engineers hold a record of 26-16-6, with a 5-3-1 record in the past ten years (the 2020-2021 season was canceled due to COVID-19). This year’s game marked the first Freakout for both Head Coach Eric Lang and 20 out of 28 of the Engineer skaters. Struggling throughout this season to find cohesion in a team of new faces, it was rewarding to see Rensselaer not only take down a respected opponent within the ECAC, but do so in the name of RPI pride.

The Freakout also brings in a sizable alumni fanbase, including several old members of the RPI pep band, who broke out the old rugby shirts to play for the game. RPI’s most seasoned returners to the Houston Field House brought back memories of several old Engineer traditions. Fans reminisced about plenty, including the RPI Hockey Line—the line which students would sit in for hours or even days to get prime seats for the hockey season—and the pins that used to be custom-made for every hockey game of the season.

“I’ve been part of the band since I came here in 2009… The fans have been fantastic through and through. If anything, we’ve even got more spirit, especially with the new president…I keep coming back because of the [pep] band.” - Senior Lecturer Charles Harold Martin ’13, ’16G, Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy, at last year's game.

“We get to see that coming back to campus it’s healthy, it’s fun—this was their home for four years, [and] it’s our home for four years…you get to see… the community that Rensselaer fosters.” - 158th Grand Marshal Vivian Rost-Nasshan ’26, at last year’s game.

“It’s the biggest crowd I’ve seen!” - President of the Union Isabele Lieber ’25, ’26G.

“One thing to note is we’ve got a great video crew…Coach Lang has [challenged] a couple of these challenging goals, and he’s won more than we’ve lost…it’s a really good sign, great staff—and that was a big turnaround, being down two is a lot worse than being down one.” - President Martin A. Schmidt ’81, after the first period.

“When I was a student in the mid-90s, there was a woman who would come to the games with a big bag. And she would make buttons for all the games…When I was a freshman in ’92, my RA talked the whole floor into buying season tickets. So we all sat on the hockey line, which you don’t know what it is, [but] we sat on the hockey line as a dorm…I’ve had season tickets since then,” - Aren Paster ’96, ’98G, ’01G

The Big Red Freakout provides everything you could ever want from a college’s traditions— something to yell about, something to cheer for, something to add more lines to the rulebook, and several things to bring the Rensselaer community together.

image

DSC_3435.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3652.jpg

caption

image: DSC_3232.jpg
caption
size: small

Third period frenzy: Rensselaer surges past Harvard in Big Red Freakout

Moiz Steenhuis — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 19:21:44 +0000

The Engineers triumphed over the Harvard Crimsons with an emphatic 3-1 victory in front of a sold-out crowd at home on Big Red Freakout. The Engineers entered the game off a decent stretch of games this season, thumping Colgate University 6-1 and forcing Cornell to a shootout in a 1-1 result. Harvard, meanwhile, enters the game in a slump and fresh off a 4-1 loss to Union.

The game was played on the 48th annual Big Red Freakout, a yearly event where scores of Rensselaer join students and local fans at the Houston Field House. With an announced attendance of 4,456, officials announced that the arena was sold out before the game started, eclipsing attendance figures throughout the season. A crowd of onlookers found themselves standing behind the goal along the west side of the arena as the game progressed; it is unclear if they had moved in hopes for a better view or never been given one to start with.

Harvard, however, took the lead fifteen minutes into the first period as an open Crimson player fired it past freshman goaltender Nate Krawchuk. Harvard would continue to put Rensselaer on the ropes throughout the period and the game nearly seemed to spiral out of reach for the Engineers. Krawchuk himself almost had an injury scare when he landed face down on the ice after a Harvard player knocked into him. Adding salt to the wound, officials concluded that the collision was caused by a cross-check from Rensselaer’s Kazimier Sobieski, handing Harvard a power play. Sobieski was joined almost a minute later by Thomas Klassek, momentarily giving Harvard a five-on-three advantage.

But despite the rocky start, Rensselaer stabilized themselves in the second period. The Engineers withstood the five-on-three powerplay as well as a torrent of Crimson shots on the Rensselaer goal. Opportunistic counters—a specialty of the Engineer offense—would begin to increasingly threaten the Crimson goaltender. As the second period expired, momentum had begun to swing towards the Engineers despite the scoreless period.

Eight minutes into the third period, a Rensselaer power play finally put them on the scoreboard. With less than fifteen seconds left on the power play, a Max Scherzer pass found the stick of Engineer Jagger Tapper who poked it into the net, triggering the airhorns. The goal against Harvard’s vaunted power kill defense reengaged the 4400-strong Rensselaer crowd as “Let’s Go Red” and “Daddy’s Money” chants thundered throughout the Field House after the goal.

President Marty A. Schmidt ’81, quoted between the second and third periods, shouted out the Engineers "great video crew" and noted that "Coach Lang has called a couple of these goal challenges and he's won more than [he's] lost.” During the last period, what had seemed to be a Harvard goal was overturned due to goalie interference thanks to an astute challenge by the Engineers’ review team. “That was a big turnaround …being down two is worse than being down one” said the president. Schmidt’s observation would prove to be prescient.

Midway into the third period, what was originally a minor penalty on Rensselaer’s Will Hughes, was challenged again by the Engineers. After a drawn-out video review, referees would also tack on a major penalty on a Harvard player as well. A minor penalty called on Harvard’s captain seconds later would give the Engineers a 4 vs. 3 advantage.

The goal and the man-disadvantage seemed to spook the Harvard players. Almost inevitably, probing Rensselaer attacks would finally pierce through the beleaguered Harvard defense through the stick of Rainers Rullers into the top-left corner of the net to the roar of the Rensselaer fans.

Despite frantic efforts from Harvard to put themselves back in striking distance, Rensselaer had them pinned in their zone. Harvard pulled their goaltender with two minutes left to play, but the move was in vain as captain Dovar Tinling would golf the puck from behind Rensselaer’s goal line and watched it slowly slide into the back of the empty net.

The victory sees Rensselaer improve to 6-13-1 in the ECAC standings and remain in contention—though unlikely—to play playoff hockey on home ice if they win their next two games.

Even if the Engineers are unable to achieve this, their season has seen significant improvements across the team. The young core have continued to acclimate to NCAA hockey and held their own against all five Harvard power plays. Krawchuk—who saved 30 of 31 shots on goal Saturday night—has given Rensselaer the chance to win games against tougher opponents like Harvard. And perhaps most importantly, they’ve continued to stay strong late into games, to avoid more heartbreaks like the Mayor’s Cup.

The Engineers will end their season on the road Friday against Yale and then Saturday against Brown. Next week's results will determine who Rensselaer plays in the ECAC playoffs. The box score for this game can be found here.

image

DSC_3557.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3401.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3467.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3184.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3030.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3133.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3485.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3638.jpg

caption
image

DSC_3169.jpg

caption

The 2026 Winter Carnival

Ryan Gibeau, Devyn Martin — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:56:36 +0000

UPAC hosted its annual Winter Carnival this year at ECAV, with free food, axe-throwing, different carnival games, and tickets you could deposit to win various prizes. Those prizes included: a Nintendo Switch 2, a pair of Bose WM-1000XM6 headphones, Lego, and Stuff-a-Plushes. An exciting edition was the caricature portrait booth that witnessed an excess of attention, making it possibly the most popular attraction. The carnival saw decent foot traffic although there seemed to be a noticeable decrease from previous years.

image

DSC_1685.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1616.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1575.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1644.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1593.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1662.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1560.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1680.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1570.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1569.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1651.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1559.jpg

caption

Let's go Red! Rensselaer and Cornell tie

Riley Sobel — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 01:08:11 +0000

The Engineers kept their feet on the ice all through their match against the Big Red on Friday, managing a 1-1 tie against one of their toughest opponents. Cornell, ranked 9th in the NCAA, beat the Engineers 6-1 in their previous matchup November 22.

The lone goal for the Engineers was scored by Mathieu Bourgault in the second period. While the Big Red’s defensive strategy was sound throughout the game, Bourgault managed to take advantage of a rebound from Cornell’s goaltender and knock in the puck. This put the Engineers up by one goal through to the middle of the third period, when the Big Red managed to knock one past Engineer goaltender Bruno Bruveris.

Bruveris had an impeccable game, saving 31 of 32 shots that came his way. Several of those were solo efforts, shutting down Cornell’s offense and forcing them into a game of inches with Rensselaer. As a second-string keeper with a save percentage of .879, this game marks the highest save percentage of the season for him and may establish him as a genuine second option to first-string Nate Krawchuk.

Ultimately, the Engineers brought the game into overtime, with a five minute stretch of three-on-three play showing strong formation of the Rensselaer offense, but no goals scored. In the shootout, the Big Red made two of five goals, while the Engineers made just one. Although the shootout went to Cornell, the game is marked as a 1-1 tie.

Following Cornell, Rensselaer had a resounding 6-1 victory against Colgate, raising them to an 8-21-1 record. Their next game will be Friday, February 20, up against Dartmouth for Hockey Alumni Weekend. The following day, they will take on Harvard in the 48th Big Red Freakout, which will be their last home game of the season. The box score for this game can be found here.

image

DSC_2752.jpg

caption
image

DSC_2157.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1985.jpg

caption

Fashion meets engineering at this year’s BSA Fashion Show

Riley Sobel, Eleni Doughney — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 17:04:55 +0000

The Black Students’ Alliance pulled out all the stops for this year’s BSA Fashion Show, this year hosted in its largest venue yet. The show featured designs from RPI students and local artists alike, with all designs modeled by student volunteers for the event.

The theme of this year’s show, “Fashion Engineered,” as named by BSA, is a subversive take on the traditional boundaries between art and technology. Clothing is designed using methods very similar to those in engineering, accounting for comfort, flexibility, durability, and style in every piece made. Through “Fashion Engineered”, designers were given the freedom to showcase the more technical side of their art, drawing attention to the many ways they have to act as engineers in their work.

The first showcased designer was Knare Pedraza, an electrical engineering student from Norfolk State University who also has a passion for textiles. His collection included a series of rigid, boxy outfits that alluded more to brutalist architecture than wearable outfits. Using newspaper, puzzle-piece patches, and other unorthodox materials, each outfit was nevertheless a functional piece that models could wear across the stage and pose with for the cameras.

After that was the show’s only RPI-native designer, Tiffany Suporn ’26. Able to finally pursue her passion in art while enrolled in a tech school, she used the fashion show to further develop her personal brand, which was being built alongside her technical skills.

The last showcase of the night featured the Mikael Pono brand by designer Pono Skousen. Drawing on his Hawaiian upbringing, Skousen approaches fashion from an ecological perspective, incorporating strong ties to the natural world into his designs. With soft, flowy fabrics of beige, green, blue, and pink, his works feel earthy and grounded. Furthermore, he emphasizes sustainability in his art, making materials from “invasive plant species in New York City” and transforming “leaves and organic waste to create moldable, durable sheets.”

Aside from the artist’s stunning designs, the show also offered musical and performing arts. In the middle of the show, performers from RPI’s Dance Club took the stage and captivated the audience with an elegant ballet routine. The dancers pirouetted in long, flowing black skirts, metallic tops, and pointe shoes, adding a touch of futurism to their dance. On another note, a musical interlude took place during Pono Skousen’s presentation, featuring a harpist playing a light, intricate melody. As she gracefully strummed her instrument, an electric guitar track began to play on a speaker, unconventionally complementing the peaceful harp sound with a bold, electric solo. After their mesmerizing performance rang out, models from Mikael Pono began to walk the stage once again.

The BSA Fashion Show is an annual reminder of the creative and cultural excellence that persists across RPI’s campus and beyond, as well as the importance of the arts within our school. Knare Pedraza, in his closing remarks, compares building circuits as an electrical engineer to creating art, carrying out the show’s initiative of bridging the gap between fashion and engineering. With this year marking the show’s largest turnout, there is no doubt that BSA will continue to impress with their annual tradition in years to come.

image

DSC_1148.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1048.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1005.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1234-2.jpg

caption
image

DSC_0779.jpg

caption
image

DSC_0879.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1100.jpg

caption
image

DSC_0897.jpg

caption
image

DSC_1170.jpg

caption

In conversation with CAO Mark Hampton

Matthew Treanor — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 13:28:13 +0000

The Polytechnic recently sat down with Mark Hampton, RPI’s new Chief Administrative Officer, to discuss our physical campus, life at RPI, and the Campus Master Plan. Hampton, who was appointed to the CAO position in August 2025, has previously worked at six other higher education institutions, while spending the previous three and a half years at Amazon Web Services as a bridge between technology and higher education. Throughout our interview, Hampton repeatedly spoke on the Campus Master Plan, a holistic approach to shape the future of our campus, which will be revealed to the public in October of this year.

The CAO Role

The role of Chief Administrative Officer is a new position created by President Marty Schmidt ’81 this past year. It aims to combine different portfolios that support teaching and learning on campus. Hampton cites the old “siloed” approach, where individual groups are sections off, to the work of these distributed departments, including IT services, human resources, and campus planning. Despite having the same end goals, that being the betterment of campus and campus life, there was little communication between the work of these departments, and Hampton as CAO seeks to incorporate these departments together such that they can benefit each other and become a closer team.

Student Voices

Hampton spoke on the results of the Student Climate Survey that was sent out in 2025, and how those voices impact and inform his work. One major discovery from the survey was that RPI only utilizes about five out of every six square feet of space, leading to a surplus of 17%. Hampton wants to fully utilize the space we as an institution have available to us, while also lending all the space we have to flexibility. He cites the recent renovations to the first floor of the Union, and how, for example, the performance space can be used by a wide variety of clubs.

Study Spaces and Club Spaces

One of the largest topics coming from students is the lack of study spaces available to them, as well as spaces to host club meetings and unwind. Hampton compared his vision of these spaces as “a nice white box and a set of Legos” where students will be able “to build really cool things,” again lending to his ideas of flexibility with our spaces.

Campus Flow

Another topic he has heard from students is having a campus that is more conducive of running into people and gathering. Excluding 86’ Field and the Union, there aren’t many spaces for students to gather between classes. He compares his vision of RPI campus to the High Line in Manhattan, where “not only can [it] get you through places, but the journey itself is an experience.” Hampton also notes that it is those chance interactions in those spaces where clubs get formed and startups get talked about.

The Rensselaer Tech Park

The Rensselaer Technology Park is an RPI location just five miles south of the main campus that was created under the tenure of President George Lowe. Lowe saw it as a place where RPI innovation can drive regional economic growth, and where ideas from the classroom can be applied in a way that has impact. He also saw it as a place where RPI students and staff can have meaningful interactions with industry. Since the pandemic, Hampton sees that, despite past successes of the Tech Park, it has since become a glorified office park. He, as well as President Schmidt, want to see a future where its original vision is revitalized. Hampton is working with local economic development leaders on how to get investments for the infrastructure as well as looking at tenants for the park, with a particular focus on our core strengths: biotechnology, semiconductors, and advanced computing, including quantum computing. He also wants it to be a place where students want to go, which may be supported by possible shuttle services to the location.

Visibility

Visibility is a large concern in the Campus Master Planning process. Hampton quotes a student who said “marketing materials say you are welcome [at RPI] but the campus says you're not.” He cited the sheer amount of interesting things happening on campus that does not receive attention due to poor signage and storytelling. Hampton also speaks on the culture of visibility, and how “we're not encouraged to ask questions” with what is happening on campus. He hopes to create a more open campus environment with greater communication.

The Playhouse and EMPAC

Hampton has heard loud and clear from the student body the need for The Players, as well as similar performing arts groups like the Orchestra, to have a space on campus. While they have searched for a place on campus to accommodate them, they have yet to find a suitable venue. Hampton also spoke on the sheer cost of renovating the Playhouse, a project he believes is only getting harder and further out of reach. When asked about using EMPAC as a venue for these clubs, Hampton noted that the regular programming of EMPAC would displace student clubs, and that he hopes for a space which they have full control over without having to worry about external schedules.

Dining Halls and Food Services

One of Hampton’s first weeks here at RPI saw the outrage from the student body of the discontinuation of having burgers offered at dining halls daily. He takes that experience to inform him on how important these dining services are to students here. Current plans involve working with Sodexo to improve where these dining services are located as well as what retail vendors are in these locations. One benefit of these kinds of improvements is their speed. Hampton states that while an academic building may take decades to build, a dormitory can take years to renovate, dining options can be improved in mere months, so he hopes to deliver those quicker improvements to the student body.

Dormitory/Off-Campus Housing Plans

Hampton mentions two distinct approaches towards ensuring that students get the housing they need. Firstly, as many other universities do, RPI may, in the future, work with outside providers of housing to build and maintain spaces close to campus, while administration provides RA and LA support, security, and programming. Secondly, RPI owns a decent amount of buildings off campus, mainly on People’s and 8th Street. Hampton says they are working with Foundation Assets to renovate these spaces and make them available for off-campus housing.

Role of Campus During the Summer

With the recent changes to the Summer Arch no longer being required, the question of what will happen on campus during that time has come up. Hampton mentioned that RPI campus could look into hosting summer conferences as a great way to utilize the spaces and outreach to potential students over the summer. He also speaks on the benefit of maintenance time. In a post-required-Arch world, where the summer semester is much smaller or gone entirely, an emptier campus lends itself to large-scale maintenance projects that would normally disturb student life during the academic year.

Childcare center

RPI is working with Bright Horizons to explore the possibility of a childcare center on campus. RPI would build it, but Bright Horizons would design and manage the construction. They are currently scouting out locations, and Hampton mentioned that more progress has been made in the past few months than in the past few years.

JEC Bridge

The JEC Bridge renovations were originally to address surface-level issues, though deeper-rooted problems were discovered and needed fixing as the project went on. It is close to being finished, though the Winter weather has delayed work a lot. Hampton sees renovations finishing by the time the weather warms up in the Spring. Hampton also notes that that bridge has a twin, the walkway between DCC and JEC, which will also need to be addressed. Renovations on that are planned to start right after graduation, and administration hopes that those get finished while the majority of the student body is away for the summer.

Heating

Most of the heating on campus is steam-power, which can be wasteful and hard to adapt to the changing temperatures we saw this Winter. Hampton wants to focus on the big picture, long term approach, where RPI changes the way it looks at heating all together, whether through a different heating source or other innovations, while still considering short term issues that pop up.

There is a lot going on with IT, especially as RPI got a new Chief Information Officer just a month ago. Modernizing systems, using AI, and other innovations sit at the forefront of RPI’s IT plans. They are currently working on a student advising platform with AI capabilities that smooth out the student-experience with scheduling meetings and speaking with advisors.

Athletics

There is currently a project to renovate the Houston Field House’s hockey arena starting next month. Recognizing student athletes as a key subgroup of students is important to the future of campus, while also making sure they are connected through routes between main campus and the athletic facilities.

Future Goals

Hampton spoke on a few goals he has for the near future:

The on-campus dining experience should be something faculty and staff are excited about.
If not done, at least in the works, four or five spaces for students that are not currently available.
IT modernized and a more seamless student experience for scheduling meetings and accessing academic records.
Students, or at least those that really care, to have a sense of what RPI could be in 20 years and to be a part of that change.