Young Democratic Socialists Club fails again to become affiliated

Jeffery Yu ’25 of Rensselaer’s Pickleball came to the Union Executive Board for Union affiliation. Currently practicing in the ’87 gym on Saturday mornings, the Pickleball club is hoping to expand, host instructional lessons, run tournaments, and even host leagues for the capital region in the coming semester. The club told the E-Board that they wanted to play outside using pop-up nets and sprayed lines on lots like North Lot. During debate, the E-Board was worried about the clubs safety if they played in parking lots. Despite this, the motion to approve RPI Pickleball as a Union recognized club passed 12-0-1.

The second motion of the night regarded the affiliation of the Young Democratic Socialists of America. After they unsuccessfully went to the Executive Board in September 2022 for affiliation, they adjusted their mission to focus on political education and got rid of club dues. The club focuses on historical education and activism, mostly on the topics of housing, Title IX cases, and mutual aid drives. The E-Board was worried about their national affiliation and the fact that the YDSA name without being nationally affiliated could be a legal issue. Currently they are not officially affiliated because they must be affiliated with our school before they can nationally be a part of YDSA. The E-Board was also worried about the merits of the club, mostly because the aspects of the club overlapped with the jobs of the Senate and the Sole Survivors. Student athlete Evan Mahns ’23 has gone to information sessions about sexual assault and Title IX issues. He exercised concern that there were no title IX coordinators in the YDSA and was worried about the legal issues of these cases. The E-Board also addressed the club potentially being very controversial—heavily supporting the Resident Assistant Union and pushing the Learning Assistants for one of their own. Freshman LA Jacob Fuhr ’25 told the E-Board that the LAs “do not want to unionize, but they have insisted on continuing to push us to join on the efforts; and giving an organization that is actively doing that more resources and giving a bigger microphone to push more students and other groups to do things they might not be in line with concerns [him].” In addition, the E-Board was concerned about rumors of a protest about the Colonie Apartments. They were worried the club would use the Union and the E-Board as a buffer from repercussions from administration.

The E-Board noted that since there was no faculty advisor, they technically did not meet the requirements to approach the E-Board as an affiliated club, but one of the administrative representatives in the meeting volunteered to take on the role of interim advisor if affiliated. The E-Board then started their roll call vote and for the second time, The Young Democratic Socialist Club failed to become Union affiliated.

The third motion of the night was regarding the Humans vs. Zombies club. Due to the club's absence, their E-Board representative, Noah Bennet ’26, presented to the rest of the board. The club was hoping to reallocate $200 for nerf dart refills, $13 for safety glasses, and $30 for storage bins. This motion passed unanimously.

After these three motions, the board motioned to close the meeting for administrative purposes.

This Executive Board meeting was held on February 23. The next E-Board meeting will be held Thursday, March 2 at 7 pm in the Shelnutt Gallery.