The Senate met for the third time this school year as Grand Marshal Kara Chesal ’09 called the meeting to order this past Monday.
The GM started off by encouraging the Senate to stay and help at the Hockey Line, also being held that night outside the Union. The second order of business was an update on the Grand Marshal’s meeting with Vice President for Student Life Eddie Ade Knowles, in which Knowles stated he wanted to work with the Senate to create a task force that would work together with him and other members of the student life sector to increase its potential effectiveness.
Knowles also revealed a great deal of information regarding the progression of mandatory sophomore residence. RPI has set benchmarks for housing standards that are gradually being realized. The housing will be patterned closely after the residence housing programs of several other universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth College, and Yale University. Representatives of these schools are working with RPI to create an effective program for the Institute’s campus. Knowles plans to work closely with the Senate and its housing committees to make this new residence program rewarding for the students. He will be attending the Senate meeting next week specifically to discuss sophomore housing. Chesal encouraged Senate members to do their research on the issue and come prepared with questions, comments, and suggestions. For now, Knowles and the Senate are encouraging students to e-mail the Finance, Facilities, and Advancement Committee with any problems they are experiencing in the condition of their dorms.
The next order of business was the appointment of an alternate Judicial Board member, Kyle Mattson ’11.
During the discussion, Mattson assured the Senate members that his various experiences with different cultures and people, in addition to his extensive involvement on campus, would help him have an open mind to make the best decision for the students and the school. After being personally recommended by two Senate members, Mattson was approved as a new alternate Judicial Board member in a vote 13-0-0.
During committee and constituent reports, all of the greek organizations were thanked by the GM for their continued school spirit. The Community Relations Committee had numerous freshmen show up at the meetings and, after a reflection on last year’s agenda and the goals for this year, many projects are now in planning. The next meeting is Thursday at 7 pm, and the CRC will be assigning tasks to members of the board for this year’s agenda.
FFA will have finance updates within the next couple of weeks. August Fietkau ’09 updated the Senate on the prevailing agenda for the Sustainability Task Force. He spoke with the Director of the Department of Transportation Jason Jones on Monday and has already laid out some of the blueprints for temporarily altering some shuttle routes and creating some permanent new ones. The progression of these new shuttle routes is coming along rapidly, and more updates should be underway soon. The committee is continuing to work on Public Safety Initiatives and had a Public Safety representative at their last meeting, in addition to finishing up its recommendation for the sophomore residence program.
The Academic Affairs Committee is having a committee meeting with Associate Dean of Students Paul Meyer regarding the possibility of an honor code at RPI on Thursday at 8 pm in the Student Government Suite.
Twelve students showed up to the Rules and Elections Committee’s info session for the upcoming freshman elections.
After a correction was made to last week’s minutes, the Senate moved on to discuss the approval of a new motion regarding the Senate’s response to the response to the administration’s refusal to reinstate an e-mail address for Don Steiner as an emeritus professor. This issue was related to the suspension of the Statler & Waldorf magazine website in the spring due to what was deemed excessive profanity, as the magazine is recognized by the Union and, therefore associated with RPI.
The Senate deliberated for a long time regarding both issues and had significant representation from all sides of the arguments, including a member of the Statler & Waldorf magazine. The Senate is taking the new motion very seriously and has decided to delay their response to the proposed motion, as many of the Senate members felt it was their duty to further investigate the facts of both situations. The Senate wants to be sure that it accurately reflects the student body in their final decision on the issue.
One side-note that did come out of the discussion was the frequent mention of the Rensselaer Policy on Electronic Citizenship, which has not been revised in 10 years. The general consensus about the revision of the policy, especially in regards to the exponential change in technology in the past decade, was that it is seriously outdated. Updating the policy, could eliminate many potential incidents in the future. There were numerous comments about what was outdated about the policy and many suggestions about how to make it more relevant to RPI.
The Senate has set aside specific time to discuss its revision at a later date.
