To the Editor:

I am writing in response to Blake Huovie's Editorial Notebook on the 28th Annual NSBE/SHPE Career Fair. I feel that a few clarifications are needed on some points that were not explained by the ill-researched notebook.

First, I would like to explain that Huovie did not request that any company be at the fair. Students are recommended to go online to the career fair website and fill out a request form. This gives our recruiting team a starting point and allows it to focus on companies that students really want at the fair. If students do not make requests, their major may not be represented.

Secondly, Huovie did not properly research which companies were asked to be at the career fair, and why they may have declined. The need for certain majors often dictates which companies will be at a fair. So by saying that the fair should have an even distribution of companies to each major is preposterous.

Here's some more food for thought: Maybe asking the biomedical engineering department to step up and introduce more students to industry or introducing more companies to the RPI community through other opportunities will solve this issue.

Also, realize that RPI is really known for departments like electrical computer and systems engineering. It only makes sense that companies want to recruit for those majors on our campus. Many companies contact us very soon after registration opens, with little persuading on our part.

I would also like to remind students that the career fair is not a mandatory event that National Society of Black Engineers and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers have to provide. It takes a great amount of effort to put on an activity of this magnitude. This year's career fair was the most successful in the last several years, and shows that we are returning to the numbers we once had. Having 153 companies attend and serving 1,450 Rensselaer community members is an achievement mirrored by few organizations around the nation. Please think about this next time you are so quick to judge what there "should be" more of.

Lastly, I encourage all students to help with the fair. It is a great opportunity to network with companies and for students to be more knowledgeable as to why things may be the way they are. Perhaps after considering that, you won't be so quick to judge why an event did not represent what you had hoped.