Senate receives funding for new shuttle tracker technology

The Student Senate went back to the E-Board this week after being tabled the week before. The Web Technologies Group in the Student Senate hopes to build new shuttle tracker hardware that can be used with Yankee Trails buses. The request was postponed from last week over complications of funding a custom-printed circuit board. Web Technologies Group chair Gabriel Jacoby-Cooper ’24 and Grand Marshal Cait Bennett ’23G presented again, this time removing the budget for the circuit board until next semester. Jacoby-Cooper explained the circuit board was the second-to-last step, hoping to instead “get the time-sensitive stuff in [first].” The Senate will discuss the circuit board later, but by removing it for now and having this proposal pass, progress can be made by shipping the other parts. The goal is to have the shuttle tracker hardware done by March. The reallocation of $958 passed 13-0-0.

The Outing Club proposed an additional subsidy and funding reallocation request to fund avalanche training from the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education. The funding reallocation request takes money out of the club’s funds for kayak training, as there was less interest in kayaking compared to avalanche safety. The additional subsidy of $1,546 and the funding reallocation of $174 passed unanimously.

The Union ShowTechs requested a new program to hold a fundraiser on December 10. The goal was to raise money for unforeseen expenses like equipment repairs. The members sought to sell grilled-cheese sandwiches on the Union patio. Approval for the fundraiser passed 12-0-1.

During the invitation to speak, Director of Student Activities Cameron McLean noted that rules on cooking are being rewritten by Rensselaer’s Risk Management department. “There’s been a conversation about the Department of Health rules—we don’t follow them—but [we’ve] got some concerns that if something were to occur, and they said, ‘were you following the Department of Health rules?’ We would have some issues.” To address this scenario, McLean noted that there may be new rules to follow in the Spring.

This Executive Board meeting was held on December 8, the last meeting of the semester.

Correction: December 13, 2022

An earlier version of this article implied that Jacoby-Cooper directly confirmed approval for implementing shuttle tracker hardware with Yankee Trails. This has been corrected to note that Jacoby-Cooper got approval from Director Ramella to implement the shuttle tracker hardware, not approval directly from Yankee Trails. The Polytechnic apologizes for this error.