Film Club denied recognition, Flying Pigs Society budgeting woes

The first motion discussed at last Thursday’s Executive Board meeting was the RPI Film Club’s request for Union recognition. The recently formed club works on short films and film projects every semester as a team. According to club president Ali Amrani '24, the club is currently working on filling out officer roles and recruiting new members. After the film club presented to the E-Board, the meeting was closed to the press and public for a lengthy discussion. When the room was once again opened, the motion for the RPI Film Club to be Union Recognized failed 4-6-2.

The Flying Pigs Society, which maintains the goal of fostering entrepreneurship among RPI students, came to the E-Board to request approval of their starter budget of $250. The Flying Pigs Society, who regularly run events, workshops, and seminars in which they invite notable entrepreneurs and RPI alumni to speak, have recently been trying to expand their network beyond the capital region. In coming to the E-board, they hoped for a starter budget to cover any future speakers' travel expenses.

Unfortunately, the Flying Pigs Society had already budgeted their semester with funds from outside sources and the E-Board informed them that approving the motion for the club’s starter budget would mean they would have to reject their pre-existing funding. There was debate over the fact that the Flying Pigs Society, an already Union recognized organization, might have been violating the terms of their recognition with their outside funding. However, since they had been receiving funding from The Lally School of Management, specifically the Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship, it might not have been explicitly against Union protocol.

Upon being informed of this, the Flying Pig Society requested the motion be tabled indefinitely until they could discuss it further amongst themselves.

The last club-related motion of the evening was the Men’s Club Lacrosse's request for an additional subsidy of $1,290 to assist in reserving the club field space in Latham for their upcoming season, at least until RPI opens up the field they normally use in the spring. The $1,290 from the Union would only cover 50 percent of the expected costs, but the Men’s Lacrosse Club assured the E-Board the rest would be covered by the club itself. After a period of debate over the semantics of the request, the motion was approved unanimously.

Finally, the vacant Business Operations Chairperson seat was filled by Emryn Philogene '25 via a brief motion. Prior to this meeting, he held the position of Club and Organization Representative.

This Executive Board meeting was held on February 8. The next E-Board meeting is Thursday, February 15 at 7 pm in the Shelnutt Gallery.