This past Thursday, the Student Senate hosted President Shirley Ann Jackson, who gave a presentation to the Senate on the state of the Institute, which was followed by a question-and-answer period. No vote on the controversial motion concerning political and religious funding was possible, as quorum was lost after Jackson’s departure.
Jackson’s presentation centered on many of the points of The Rensselaer Plan. She spoke of 140 new tenured and tenure-track positions that will have been hired by the end of 2005, 100 of which are new positions. Out of these 100 new positions, 73 have already been filled. These new faculty positions are part of the Institute’s initiative to add faculty in new and varied areas.
RPI received $80 million in research grants and awards in fiscal year 2004 out of proposals totaling $270 million. This is up $37 million from fiscal year 1998. Jackson said that much of the reason for bringing in faculty who do high quality research in new areas is because “we want faculty who are at the leading edge of their fields.” Over fiscal year 2005, Jackson plans to increase the amount of research funding received by RPI to $100 million. Research in biotechnology will also be a main focus with the completion of the new biotechnology facility. “Biotechnology is an interdisciplinary area,” Dr Jackson said; biotechnology incorporates many science and engineering fields.
Jackson moved on to speak about the incoming classes of freshmen and graduate students. The Class of 2008 is composed of 1,090 students while the incoming graduate class is composed of 316 students, 167 of which are doctoral students. Both numbers are down from last year, but Jackson pointed out that the shift in graduate students is deliberate as the Institute focuses more on doctoral students.
Next, Jackson covered student life, starting with academics. She spoke of the early warning system and the new Teaching and Learning Assistants which are part of ResLife’s initiatives to take better care of the students. Also, as part of this initiative, the student records and financial services office will be moving into Academy Hall once renovations are completed, creating a “one-stop shop” for student needs including the student health center, the Dean of Students Office, the archer center, and the Office of the First Year Experience.
The Institute is also working to respond to what Jackson called a “renaissance in athletics at Rensselaer.” Currently in the approval stages with city planners, RPI will be building a new athletic complex to the east of the Houston Field House. This complex will include an indoor track, basketball court, and improvements to the surrounding fields. The Rensselaer Alumni Association has pledged to support this campaign.
Much of the construction going on at RPI is centering on “adaptive reuse of what we have,” according to Jackson. RPI is renovating upper-classmen dorms and buying more housing for graduate students. By the beginning of the spring semester, RPI expects to open a new coffee shop at the corner of College Avenue and 15th Street. Also, Hospitality Services plans to change the DCC café into a new concept café to be called Jazzman’s and is in the planning phase of revamping food services in the Union’s McNeil and Rathskeller levels. RPI is also investing in Troy at large, having purchased the old Proctor’s Theatre and other buildings in downtown Troy, and helping homebuyers to renovate their homes through off-campus housing grants.
Jackson finished her presentation by talking about the capital campaign to raise $1 billion by the end of 2008. To date, RPI has received over $615 million.
In the question-and-answer period that followed, rumors that RPI was trying to kill the greek system were rebutted by Jackson and her cabinet. Vice President of Student Life Eddie Knowles said, “I think we’ve done more to preserve greek life than in some cases greeks have.” He further said that his hope for the future of greek life at RPI could be summed up as: “If you want to know where they have greek life and do it well, look at Rensselaer.” Rumors that RPI was looking at purchasing greek houses on 15th Street were answered by Secretary of the Institute and General Counsel, Chuck Carletta. He stated that RPI is working to get the area along 15th Street zoned for collegiate purposes, (fraternity living being a collegiate purpose,) and that RPI had no intention of buying the houses from the fraternities.
Concerns were also raised regarding the escort services provided by the Department of Public Safety. Some students have had problems with receiving escorts due to the DPS being understaffed. This was answered by pointing out that RPI is working to staff the DPS at all hours, but there is some lag from the summer months because of vacations.
Another concern raised was that Jackson might leave RPI for a possible presidential post depending upon the outcome of the November presidential election. Jackson’s replied, “I intend to finish the job we started with The Rensselaer Plan, and then, we’ll see. I’m a person who likes to finish what she started.” Jackson then asked the Senate if the senators think of her as committed to the students. Many of the senators felt that she was committed, but a few did not agree.
During Jackson’s presentation, while talking about increasing female enrollment, she joked that it would probably be appreciated by guys here. A few minutes into the question-and-answer period, Senator David Scherzer GRAD vehemently objected to the statement, saying that he found it to be “heterosexist.” Jackson apologized, saying it was not her intention to offend anyone.
A few minutes later, Senator Max Yates ’06 apologized for the comments some senators had made, an obvious reference to the way Scherzer had made his remarks. At this point, Scherzer left the room.
Later in the meeting, Scherzer returned and presented a motion to be read after the meeting was called back to order; however it was not read, as a few senators intentionally pushed for loss of quorum to prevent its being read. The prevailing speculation after the meeting was that the motion concerned censuring or impeaching Yates, and that it may be represented at this Thursday’s meeting.
