Senate addresses Women’s Leadership Scholarship crisis
Last week, Academic Affairs Committee Chairperson Griffin Oliver ’27 brought forth a discussion surrounding RPI’s recent decision to discontinue their Women’s Leadership Scholarship, an award directed towards women accepted into the institute as an attempt to balance the gender ratio on campus. The removal of the WLS was brought to light a few weeks ago, sparking backlash from the student body and causing a petition protesting the removal to circulate throughout campus over Thanksgiving Break.
The AAC brought these concerns to their meeting with the Financial Aid office who confirmed with them that the scholarship was being discontinued due to recent federal government rulings which bar institutions from placing an emphasis on diversity over merit when making decisions regarding their student bodies. However, since the scholarship is earmarked from donations, RPI has a legal obligation to continue offering it in some fashion. With regards to this responsibility, Provost Dr. Rebecca Doerge informed the AAC that the funds initially directed towards the WLS are to be reallocated towards a new scholarship for incoming students. As for current students, the office confirmed that women who were granted the WLS when admitted will continue to receive its funding throughout their allotted award years.
Oliver expressed that it was as though the institute was taking preemptive measures based on their own predictions rather than concrete examples of other schools facing similar issues. Additionally, they addressed the potential wave of panic this issue induces amongst high school students currently going through their application process, highlighting the concern that some may even withdraw their application from RPI, thus exacerbating the already-prevalent issues surrounding the representation of women on campus.
In response to these concerns, the Student Senate came to the conclusion to inform the signees of the petition of the recent information they received in order to mitigate any rising tensions surrounding the issue. Grand Marshal Tiburon Benavides ’21, ’27G worked with other senators to write an email assuring signees that current recipients of the WLS will retain their scholarship and that “[t]he overall level of financial aid support RPI offers to its students will not change” as “the price for most women to attend RPI will continue to be competitive with state schools and other peer institutions.” After review from the Senate, this email was sent from the Grand Marshal to all co-signers on Thursday, December 4th.
On a lighter note, Class of 2028 Senator Nicholas Castiglione brought forth a motion to amend the Judicial Board’s bylaws in order to prevent the branch from going extinct. Previously, the bylaws had stated that the chairperson may appoint new members to be voted on by two-thirds majority vote first from the J-Board followed by the Senate. However, in a scenario where the J-Board didn’t have enough voting members to attain quorum, the branch wouldn’t be able to repopulate itself, leading to its inevitable dissolution. In such cases where the board has insufficient voting members, this motion establishes a process for the chairperson to appoint new members to be directly voted upon by two-thirds majority of the Senate. Furthermore, if the board becomes vacant entirely, the Grand Marshal can appoint a new chairperson to be elected by two-thirds approval from the Senate. This motion passed 16-0-2.
This Senate meeting took place on Tuesday, December 2, 2025. The Senate meets every Tuesday at 6 pm in the Shelnutt Gallery.