The Student Senate established several major priorities for the past year, including a firm commitment to integrate sustainablity into RPI culture. This resulted in the development of the Student Sustainability Task Force and the addition of recycling containers all over campus. Student rights were another major priority, and their importance shone through in many different projects and issues we worked on, including greek initiatives, businesses’ right to advertise in our Student Union, and the degrading and rebuilding of the Judicial Board, which preserves your ability to appeal a disciplinary ruling.

Another major priority was communication, particularly, how to best convey information to you, as well as hear what you have to say. Our mid-week mailing was merged with the “Union Key” newsletter, creating the Union Pulse, but we soon realized this wasn’t the best method for relaying information. MyRPI.org became our prized scaffolding for communication, as we realized we could both give and receive information easily. This site is up and running, enabling you to provide feedback and ideas at this very moment with only the click of a button (and some typing, too). Additionally, digital signage, which arose from a need to rapidly and efficiently convey information to the entire campus, has recently began its pilot program, thanks largely in part to the Rensselaer Alumni Association. Those of you who will be around for at least another year will have the opportunity to see digital signage in all its glory.

Academic integrity arose as another major issue; an ongoing dialogue among faculty, students, and administrators has been fruitful, resulting in a forum on academic integrity to be held in April.

We also wanted to improve the quality of student life on campus by doing more than just tackling the “issues,” so we worked on offering more events and activities. We partnered with Yale University to bring GoCrossCampus to RPI, a massively multi-player game similar to the strategic board game, Risk! The Committee on Student Life designed and planned Winterfest, with the help of many of our clubs and organizations on campus, as well as video game tournaments sponsored by the Student Senate. The very successful Pizza with the President series was sustained, offering students a chance to grab a slice of pizza and talk to President Shirley Ann Jackson once a month. The Community Relations Committee has also been working on reviving the Pizza with the Mayor program and planning the debut of the Cooperative Community Service program, which will be a union of RPI students and residents of the City of Troy focusing their efforts on improving our community, one project at a time. Off-campus RAD, which I’ve mentioned in previous columns, should also be available for RPI students starting next semester.

To further improve your life on and off of our campus, the Finance, Facilities, and Advancement Committee has spent countless hours participating in physical facilities checks for buildings and classrooms on campus. They have also worked to improve off-campus living by spearheading a response to the issue of absentee landlordism, which is picking up speed.Improvements to on-campus parking is another goal of the FFA, with aims to increase transparency with regards to the potential over-selling of permits for certain parking lots.

Student government also addresses issues affecting you that crop up on a daily basis and in the past year, this has included community safety, greek initiatives, tuition, faculty governance, curriculum changes, and student rights, to name a few.

Currently, we are in the process of editing the Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities, and discussions are well underway over a plethora of issues, such as the new study abroad program in the Department of Engineering, Public Safety’s escort service, the future of the environmental engineering program, and freedom of speech on campus. I am also working to ensure continuity with all of the aforementioned projects and issues that have been or are currently in the process of being addressed.

My hope is that many of these changes will not only have an effect on your life at RPI, but actually help you, if they haven’t already, whether you realize it or not.