Rensselaer Endurance Motorsport and NASA-based competition club gain affiliation

The Executive Board convened for their final January meeting, passing motions to affiliate new clubs, approve new budgets and subsidies, and grant access to the Union Building’s McNeil Room.

Code Red, a competitive Nerf team that builds their own blasters, was the first motion of the night. The team requested a $1,060 for a stopgap budget that would be used to fund darts, magazines, and travel costs to attend the Maryland Mayhem Tournament. A reduced stopgap budget of $652 was approved 13-0-2.

Rensselaer Endurance Motorsport was up next seeking Union affiliation. REM aims to build a racing car capable of taking part in the ChampCar Endurance Series, an amateur auto racing competition that hosts races for as long as a day. The club representative stated that the car would be built to ChampCar’s modern safety standards and hopes to use resources from alumni and ties to the School of Engineering to compete. RPI would join four other colleges, including Virginia Tech and the University of Georgia, in entering a racecar in this competition. The motion to approve the club affiliation passed 14-0-1.

The RPI Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage club followed, also seeking affiliation. RASC-AL is a NASA competition that intends to promote prototypes and concepts from college students. Winning this competition would grant the winning club a stipend from NASA to continue their work. The club intends to improve RPI’s portfolio of space-related initiatives and activities by entering the 2025 competition focused around “scalable lunar infrastructure” for a “permanent presence of a rotating crew” on the moon, as stated on the RASC-AL website. The motion to approve the club affiliation passed unanimously.

The Rensselaer Spaceflight Society had their classification changed from a Union Recognized-Funded Club to just Union Affiliated. The change was due to the club receiving funding from both the School of Engineering and the Union. The motion to reclassify the club effective immediately passed unanimously.

Club Field Hockey then came to the E-Board for a starter budget. The fledgling club, which started competing last fall, wanted their new budget to include $250 for safety equipment like mouthguards and facemasks to allow the club to participate in regional competitions this spring. The starter budget was approved unanimously.

The Dance Team requested a subsidy of $900 for their NDA Regional Budget which would help cover hotel costs for their trip to the NDA College Nationals. Last year, the team placed 3rd in the Division III Pom Finals. The subsidy was reduced to $450 and passed unanimously.

The Finance Club was then up requesting use of the McNeil Room for their end of year alumni panel. This event involves several panelists and a number of students. However, their use of the room would occur during reading days and potentially disrupt the studying routines of the student body. Consequently, the motion failed 4-8-3.

The Indian Students Association also sought access to the McNeil Room for their Multicultural Food Festival on February 18 from 5 to 8 pm. The festival usually features the cuisines of several cultural clubs on campus, a number ISA officers hope to increase this year. The E-Board approved the request 14-0-1.

This E-board meeting was held on Wednesday, January 29, 2025. The E-board meets every Wednesday at 7:30 pm in the Student Union Room 3202.