This past Friday, the Student Senate nullified two of its four appointments to the Review Board. This board serves as a court of appeals for the decisions of the Judicial Board, the Greek Judicial Board, and the Faculty Academic Board, with its decisions binding unless overturned by the president of the Institute. As such, the student members of this group must be diverse and unbiased toward the other students of RPI.
Traditionally, these appointees are chosen with input from the Dean of Students Office, but Grand Marshal Michael Dillon chose to not follow this precedent. Dillon’s appointments featured four males, three of which are members of the greek community and had no prior experience. Of those, the two full members of the Review Board were both greek and lacked review board experience. In fact, the one appointee that was independent and would have represented 60 percent of students on campus held an alternate position on the board last year, but despite his experience was kept in the alternate position. This choice of appointments can hardly be considered appropriate, or a good cross-section of the student body. Luckily, the Senate has begun correcting this mistake.
This fall, the Senate held a lengthy meeting needlessly laboring over questions to Board appointees that a special selection committee had already reviewed. While one might argue that senators were creating work where none existed in that case, a similar statement can not be said for this situation. This time, the Senate failed to question any decision, confirming nearly all appointments with unanimous consent (two senators abstained from one vote). This is disappointing, and the duality is interesting, to say the least. It was also disappointing that the Senate, upon realizing their mistakes, attempted to close the meeting to the public, with a vote to shield their constituents from the error failing narrowly.
We can understand that the GM and senators are busy people that can occasionally overlook several crucial details. Hopefully, the mistake can be corrected without too much discomfort. However, a lesson must come of this fiasco. It is easy to see the judicial confirmations as a chore. Such a position can be disastrous. The Senate and GM must never again consider so lightly the task of securing the basic rights of the Rensselaer student body—a basic task that underlines the very reason for the elected body’s existence.
