Every so often, the Top Hat is used as almost an announcement bulletin of the Student Senate. In the past I have strived not to let my piece of The Poly fall into this pattern, but the work of the Senate in the last week is important enough to justify more than just a brief mention.
Two major events happened last week. The first of which was the calling of the Governance Commission to review and recommend revisions to the Rensselaer Union Constitution. This is an extremely important duty, which is why the members of the student body that have been appointed to the Commission include the eight heads of student government, and a Senate representative. Over the next few months, this body will decide on a suite of recommendations to bring back to the Senate on ways that the Union should be reformed, and on ways our current system can be improved.
We have a system in place whose roots date back to the original student council, which was effectively replaced by the Student Senate when the Union Constitution was passed over thirty years ago. The Union Constitution also had provisions that created the Graduate and Undergraduate Councils as we have them today, with the intention that they would be the bodies that would provide the forum for students to voice their opinions when the issues only affected either undergraduates or graduates. Over time, the Senate has absorbed some of this original responsibility, and these bodies have shifted their focus. Also, the Judicial Board has shifted from a board that initially hears cases to a board that hears appeals, without any corresponding change to its definition. This body is designed to get all of the leaders of student government into a room so consensus can be reached on the future of the Union, and to make sure that the way we are governing the Union is in line with the Constitution.
The second major event in last week’s Senate meeting was the creation of a committee to investigate why so many students were invited to the Biotechnology Center’s opening, but why so few students were able to view the proceedings. It interests me to note that that the Senate called a committee to investigate the events that transpired, rather than to hastily draw up a response or a resolution without first attempting to find out the details of the situation. To the Senate, I tip the top hat to you.
Congratulations to all of the freshmen who were elected in last weekend’s election, I am looking forward to working with all of the new senators and meeting the new class council.
As always, if anyone has any questions or comments, my e-mail address is gm@rpi.edu, and my screen name is “RPI GM”.
Have a Nice Week, RPI.
