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Executive Board members approved an event proposal from the African Students Association and denied a funding request from the Dance Dance Revolution Club on Thursday. The Board then closed their meeting to work on the upcoming budget for the next three hours.

I know that the music industry has been notoriously manipulative for decades, but this time, it’s different. It’s no longer an issue tied to managers and pop superstars. It’s woven deep into the music that teenagers and young adults are listening to today, the same music they cling to and use for their support.

The avant-garde Turkish dance duo Taldans performed one of their earliest pieces, titled Dolap, on Thursday at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center. Mustafa Kaplan and Filiz Sizanli make up the group, which was formed in 1996, the duo choreographed Dolap in 2000, and Thursday evening's performance was an example of the cumulative effect of working on a single piece for nearly twenty years. Dolap was the kind of piece that excited the audience with the dancers’ physicality and trust in each other. It lent itself to many interpretations and plenty of discussion, especially regarding Taldans’ strange choice of prop: a refrigerator.

Shards of glass scattered the rough asphalt, voices yelled out in frantic desperation, feet shuffled back and forth in a nervous sway. I stared at the scene before me, processing the previous hours leading up to this exact moment. A single question buzzed loudly in my head: How could this happen?

B. Gentry Lee, one of the chief engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, gave a talk to members of the Rensselaer community in the Russell Sage Laboratory as a part of the Union Speakers Forum. Lee engaged the audience with his animated storytelling, combined with his advice to students and interesting experiences in engineering at NASA.

The Student Senate meeting brought multiple changes to the Undergraduate Council Bylaws, as well as presentations on this year’s Senate survey and Light Walk on October 21.

During this semester’s Fall Town Meeting held Wednesday in the EMPAC Theater, President Shirley Ann Jackson spoke in front of a smaller-than-usual crowd about the acquisition of a new supercomputing facility, the establishment of a Greek Commons fund, and the impacts of the recent storm on RPI’s campus.

President Shirley Ann Jackson confirmed that she would not consider making the Arch optional, when asked by The Polytechnic during her biannual town meeting on Wednesday, regardless of if the majority of students wanted it to be.

The Grand Marshal–President of the Union brunch was held in the McNeil Room as part of an activity-packed Family Weekend. During her address to the students and parents, President Shirley Ann Jackson stated how proud she was to have “a Union run by the students.”

The Arch Core Committee approved the recommendation to eliminate six-week courses during the Arch.

In the first home game of the season, the Rensselaer Engineers lost to the University of Connecticut Huskies with a final score of 2‒5.

Rensselaer's annual student-run hackathon will be held over the weekend of November 2 in the Darrin Communications Center. HackRPI invites students of all majors to work in teams and develop a software project in one of this year’s project themes: natural disaster and mitigation, accessibility in education, and artificial intelligence.

During this year’s Family Weekend, Fall Fest celebrated autumn and entertained students and their families alike.

From the vast assortment of food around the McNeil Room to seeing the smiles of family and friends, Rensselaer’s annual International Fest is a celebration of RPI’s diverse student body.

We have officially reached the halfway point of the semester. This tends to be one of the busiest times of the year for students, and that is no different at the Union. Very soon, the Executive Board will begin club budgeting for Fiscal Year 2021.

About one month ago, Mario Kart Tour released on the iOS and Android app stores. Since then, playing has been a daily practice for me, probably too much so. In playing as often as I do, I have found it to be my all-time favorite mobile game, but it still doesn’t capture the essence of previous Mario Kart games.

This week, I am going to write about the new Union wall wraps, which are the signs that are now over the Sage Avenue and 15th Street entrances. The wraps were designed by the Union marketing team, and the proposal was brought to the Executive Board and passed over the summer.

The Class of 2023 chose their representatives through a two-day election on October 9 and October 11.

It is unfortunate that Rensselaer now treats its students as chickens to be plucked rather than members of an academic community.

Devices emerge that are only expected to last a couple of years: either until the warranty runs out, or until the user is disenchanted with its performance compared to new releases later down the line. Firms shouldn’t be making these products with short lifetimes, they should make products that last lifetimes.

So far during my time at Rensselaer, many people have asked me about the television shows I enjoy watching. Usually the answers vary depending on who’s asking. I, however, always make sure to mention Over the Garden Wall, the animated miniseries created by Patrick McHale that aired on Cartoon Network in 2014. In fact, this is a show that I often call “essential fall viewing,” because the aesthetic of the show meshes so well with the changing colors of the leaves outside and the spookiness of Halloween, but, this show can, and should, be enjoyed at any time of the year.

The Active Minds “Stronger Than the Stigma” event, held October 9 on the ‘86 Field, was a great way to showcase the various mental health resources available on campus.

The Student Senate met on October 7 to listen to reports from senators about the state of each of their constituencies. Additionally, there was a report from Grand Marshal Meagan Lettko ’20.

As of September 26, TeamRPI eSports is now a Union funded club and will attend this year's Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament. The RPI Pep Band will also—for the first time in years—attend an away men’s football game rather than an away men’s hockey game. Finally, a Pedi-Mate was purchased for RPI Ambulance to facilitate safer transport of pediatric patients. Each of these expenditures was approved by the Executive Board with no votes against.

This year, all provided feminine hygiene products on campus—both free and paid for—have been removed by the Environmental and Site Services department. In response to student complaints, the Business Operations Committee of the Executive Board responded by purchasing period products to place in all three women’s bathrooms in the Union.

During their meeting on Thursday, the Executive Board confirmed the absorption of the Indian dance teams RPI Rounak and RPI Bhangra into the existing dance team within the Indian Students Association, RPI Rudras. During a closed portion, they also approved a budget for Men's Club Basketball.

Over five police vehicles and a SWAT team were seen on campus stopping a vehicle and apprehending multiple people on Tuesday around 9 pm. Near the time of the stop on 15th Street, uniformed officers with guns lined the Darrin Communications Center walkway near Russell Sage Dining Hall, where an arrest took place.

During the Executive Board meeting on Thursday, the RPI Tennis Club, RPI Fishing Club, and the Multicultural Leadership Council all had their requests for additional funding approved.

The “Dominoes Project” is a series of club, organization, and business location shifts throughout the Union, approved in an Executive Board meeting last spring. The plan was set to be executed over the summer; it is now the Fall semester and there are still some dominoes left to topple.

Josh Groban, the Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and actor, mesmerized audience members by performing many of his classic numbers in the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center Concert Hall on Saturday.

Last week, the Senate unanimously passed the exact Union Annual Report that it refused to consider six months ago, without making any of the changes it deemed necessary at the time. As a result, The Polytechnic is concerned that the Senate is failing to do what’s best for the Rensselaer community: reclaim the student-run nature of our Union.

Six months after the Student Senate declined to consider the Union Annual Report because the Executive Board was "strong-armed" into making the changes it entailed, members unanimously approved the same document without discussion.

During its second meeting of the year, the Student Senate approved Executive Board appointments and passed a motion in support of the Climate Action Plan presented by the Student Sustainability Task Force.

Almost fives times a week, my friends and I will visit the Union’s game room to play a few rounds of pool. I've found more value in pool than I expected and it has taught me a valuable life lesson.

Screen time is unavoidable due to the requirements of my education. This constant attachment to screens has a large impact on my engagement, learning, and mental state.

When you were little, crying was natural. If you fell down while running and scraped your knee, you cried. If your parents didn’t let you buy the coolest new toy, you cried. But, somewhere along the road of growing up, you were told crying is weak, that what you’re feeling doesn’t matter, and that you should just deal with it.

During their second meeting of the year, the Student Senate closed its meeting to hear and discuss the results of the Arch Task Force Survey. Grand Marshal Meagan Lettko ’20 and Chairperson of the Arch Task Force Peter Gramenides ’20 defended this decision, citing that responses were “vulgar” and “extensive.”

Every year, Rensselaer brings together a group of diverse individuals, each from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, who are passionate in pursuing varied academic interests and are all unified in our shared experience of building a new life away from home.

At the end of the Spring 2019 semester and over the Arch, Greek Dean Meredith Bielaska and assistant Greek deans Pierre Jefferson and Craig Rowley left their positions at Rensselaer.

The Union Programs and Activities Committee organized an open house for students and alumni on Saturday.

On Friday, Troy Night Out took place in Downtown. The month’s theme was “All About Animals (and pets),” and the event definitely lived up to its name.