The motions passed by the Executive Board at the beginning of November have sparked several responses from the student radio station, WRPI. At its weekly meeting on November 7, the E-Board passed a motion which asked WRPI to move toward compliance with the Union rule that community members should constitute only 5 percent of the station’s total membership. This decision was in response to the problems that had been brewing between students and other members of the radio station.
WRPI students held a meeting November 11 with the “Friends of WRPI,” which, though beneficial, did not change the way that the two groups interact at the station, according to President Jeremy Kauffman ’07. Though there still need to be further talks between the two groups, members of the Executive Committee are fairly optimistic about being able to work out problems.
The main focus of WRPI lately has been to develop a response to the E-Board proposal, which was the purpose of the general meeting held Tuesday night in DCC 330.
This meeting had two items on the agenda: the E-Board’s motion and the WRPI Executive Committee’s response to it. A proposal for the revised “Membership and Programming Eligibility Policies” was introduced at the meeting; however, this document was picked apart.
At the meeting, Brian “Seth” Kane ’07 summed up the opinion of the E-Comm, saying that the document was subject to change and that change was likely. Kauffman also stated that he was willing to do what the students wanted to be done.
Although there were several objects in the new proposal that met controversy, the most notable object of scrutiny for many members was the section regarding faculty and the WRPI station. The draft stated that the “Faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and any institutions of the Hudson Mohawk Consortium will not be permitted to be members of the station. Advisors appointed by the Institute or Rensselaer Union will be the only exceptions to this rule.” The purpose of this revision is to guarantee the student leadership and policies will not affect academic relationships and will not be influenced by academic means. Some members felt that having faculty involved with the station was a conflict of interest—if a faculty member was disciplined by an E-Comm member, for example, that member may not feel comfortable taking his class.
However, other members felt that student-faculty interaction and faculty contribution was more valuable than the risks associated with it, and that in the rare case when there might be a problem, it could be dealt with on an individual basis. “The decision would potentially affect longstanding faculty shows such as those by Professors Breyman and Zahavi. To the best of my knowledge, the faculty shows were not canceled. However, according to the report in Metroland, during the past year several progressive community talk radio shows have been canceled,” said Professor David Hess of the Science and Technology Studies Department. “I am also receiving some concerns voiced by students and others involved in WRPI that proper decision-making procedures are not being followed and that community members have been treated in ways that they viewed as impolite.” Hess continued, “The issue is not student control of the station; it has always been a student-run station. However, the climate within the station appears to have become acrimonious.”
There are many mixed feelings on the WRPI issue. Some members feel that the timing is wrong for the issue to come up, as there is little time for discussion. There will also be new members of the E-Comm in less than a week that will be coming into leadership as a potentially large change is underway. Although there is a rush to get the issue solved, members want their voices heard particularly since the proposal is supposed to be due to the E-Board by next week.
“We respect the E-Board and the Union Administration in their attempts to get things running with the books, but we wish we had more time to discuss this among our entire group,” said WRPI member Allison Guidry ’08.
