On March 4, Grand Marshal Julia Leusner ’08 started the Student Senate meeting by reminding the senators that there are three weeks left in their terms. Judicial Board appointments were finished up. Ryan Callery ’09 and Matthew Rommel ’09 were appointed as regular members, with Callery also being instated as the vice-chair. Additionally, Jonathan Davis ’09 was appointed as an alternate member and student judicial advisor.
The Academic Affairs Committee brought up a discussion of the release of class book listings. It was discussed that an early release of the listings could help students save money, but that earlier releases have not been possible due to professors failing to meet deadlines. The Campus Communication Committee will be reaching out to clubs to encourage their use of the new myRPI website. The Finance, Facilities, and Advancement Committee mentioned the annual Spring Town Meeting which occurred on March 17, at which the commencement speaker and other budget and facility plans were announced. How the Institute has been managing the removal of snow was also detailed by FFA, which concluded that the ice has posed greater problems in recent weeks, while snow has been managed fairly well. Placement of new recycling receptacles in the JEC, Greene, and the Alumni buildings were also brought to light.
New greek initiatives, signed into effect by President Shirley Ann Jackson, have become a concern to the senate, mainly due to what Kara Chesal explained as an evident “lack of transparency.” The issue surrounds the lack of public knowledge and information released concerning the greek initiatives since they were approved and signed by Jackson. Executive Vice President of the IFC Brian Keating presented to the Senate an update on events surrounding the administration’s initiatives. The initiatives, Keating stated, are focused on three directives: housing, alcohol, and recruitment.
Keating answered questions about the knowledge that the Inter-Fraternity Council has had of the initiatives and what occurred at a recent meeting between Dean of Students Mark Smith and the greek community. The recent meeting was a topic of some confusion, as many greeks were uninformed of its planning until the last minute but that most of the IFC and some other groups managed to attend. There was also discussion of revision of wording in the documents, such as the definition of “social events” and whether this term implied the drinking of alcohol, particularly with its use in the statement “all social events are banned.” Ways that the Senate could help the situation were also discussed, including the idea that a senator will show up to future meetings to ensure that everyone is involved.
