For the first Student Senate session of the year, all committee appointments were approved. All of the Board of Trustees representatives, Parking Review Board representatives, and the Faculty Senate Curriculum undergraduate representative were approved. New business included the revised freshman elections handbook. The Rules and Elections Committee added a heavily-debated article to ban campaigning in dining halls, it was passed 13-2-0.
All senators will be using Google’s Gmail system to contact their committee members and constituents. This feature also includes a calendar tool to help with the scheduling and advertisement of meetings and events. Since it is still early in the academic year, not much committee activity was reported from updates. Many of the committees just started having their first meetings and are in the process of finalizing their members. Any students interested in joining a specific committee should contact the appropriate chair by visiting the Student Senate website.
The Finance and Facilities Committee saw a lot of summer activity, including improvements in the pedestrian bridge, the shuttle tracking system (which will utilize Itrak GPS units), and a comparative study on tuition of other universities in RPI’s bracket.
The Committee on Judiciary and Students’ Rights brought to the table a much awaited update from the students: the Institute withdrew the deadlines associated with the three impositions on greek life, and also decided not to extend the no-alcohol policy to off-campus students. The Campus Relations Committee, chaired by Cody Powers ’07, is in the process of a few initiatives, one of which may be to expand the use of Rensselaer ID cards to include off-campus locations.
Grand Marshall Carlos Perea ’07 is also in the process of preparing items on which to update the Trustees in a business meeting about student life. RNE had a few updates for this week, including the approval of Elizabeth Kelley ’08 to be GM Week committee chair for the upcoming year.
So far in the sign-ups for freshmen elections there are 12 senate candidates, eight for class President, two for Vice president, five for Representative, and one for a seat on the Independent Council. The Senators will be attending a 9/11 memorial ceremony as well.
