Group seeks funding
Activity funding for political organizations is not only a contentious issue at RPI. The University at Albany chapter of The Collegian Action Leadership League of New York, a conservative-leaning group, has sued both the State University of New York system as well as the president of the University at Albany’s Student Association.
The disagreement stems over the group’s right to a campus-wide vote on whether all students should pay a $5 fee to fund the group. The group has asked for such a referendum twice but permission was denied and the group holds that the campus’s liberal-leaning New York Public Interest Research Group chapter at UAlbany seems to get a referendum for a $5 fee every four years.
The $5 fee would raise over $100,000 for the CALL-NY chapter compared to the $1000 it received from the Student Association last year. The group said it would use the money to pay for speakers and planting trees.
Looking at RPI’s past
Rensselaer Research Libraries recently added five new books to its online archives that talk about RPI’s history that were published between 1855 and 1968. The books cover topics from the general history of the Institute to biographies of some of the officers and graduates.
According to Loretta Ebert, director of the Rensselaer Research Libraries, “Making these books available online is part of the Rensselaer Research Libraries’ initiative to build digital collections for a 21st-century technological institution. This project addresses preservation, improved access for researchers, and increased visibility for the Institute.”
The books can be viewed at http://www.lib.rpi.edu/archives/e-collections. The libraries are also in the process of digitizing archives of both The Polytechnic and The Transit yearbook to make them available online as well.
New Ph.D. program
Beginning this fall, RPI’s School of Architecture will offer a Ph.D. in architectural sciences. The new interdisciplinary program was recently approved by the New York State Department of Education and will be open to those with master’s degrees in architecture, humanities, science, and engineering.
The program includes graduate study in the areas of informatics, lighting, computation and design, acoustics, building conservation, and energy efficient architectural systems.
According to Dean of Architecture Alan Balfour, “This new degree will allow our students to expand their inquiry and creativity—through the command of technology—to further explore the critical questions of culture, societal values, and the making of new environments to allow them to become pioneers and leaders in their fields.”
