RPI’s campus is lacking in school spirit. This was the mindset of Julian Arnold ’27, Ethan Behar ’27, and Ekantika Shankar ’27, during their creation of Rally Week, the amalgamation of talent shows, relay races, and distributed food supplies that hit campus last week with a thud. Backed by all five schools, as well as the Office of Student Experience, the Office of First Year Experience, the Office of Student Living and Learning, the Office of Auxiliary Services, and the Center for Career and Professional Development. Responses towards Rally Week and its organizers have run the gamut of emotions, though many of the details surrounding it remained unclear.
According to Behar and Shankar, Rally Week began as an idea in late April 2026, partially inspired by the continuing orientation-style “welcome weeks” at other schools. It was also encouraged by the success of the Touch Grass Music Festival, organized by Ground Zero Basement and WRPI, which had drawn in roughly 2,000 attendees over the course of the day. A meeting was held in late Spring, with Director of the Union Dr. Charlie Potts, as well as Student Experience. Over the summer, they met with Director of Student Activities William O’Brien, as well as everyone else listed as “Rally Week Partners.” The idea was to create an event that brought together all of the student body using existing resources, akin to the Bicentennial celebration from 2024. Several campus partners expressed interest when organizers brought the event to them; however, the planning of the activities was where cracks began to show.
Timing for Rally Week proved to be an ever-present problem, with three organizers working remotely over four months in the summer to plan an event that most likely needed a year of preparation. Several participating members recommended the event be put on hold until next year, but the organizers refused. As seniors, they wanted the opportunity to see the event through not once, but twice before Behar and Shankar graduated from the Accelerated Master’s program in 2028.
Despite coordination across ten campus partners and over 50 student clubs, per the organizers, the entire Rally Week itinerary was completely upended in late August, just weeks before the event. Issues with timing also led to a few major partners to pull back from Rally Week-affiliated programs, including the Union Show Techs for the Rally Week kickoff and GZ Basement, who had been expected to host several events downtown, according to the organizers. GZ Basement had previously partnered with Behar, who represented RPI Ski & Snowboard Club, and WRPI early on to host the Touch Grass Music Festival last April, drawing many of their regular performers and vendors for the day-long event. Show Techs and GZ Basement declined to comment on Rally Week.
Funding for this event did not come from the Union, as it does for other spirit events such as Grand Marshal Week or Big Red Freakout in the spring semester. Instead, according to the organizers, each listed partner contributed “some amount depending on what they could,” whether through funding or resources in kind. There was no real centralization other than the Rally Week leadership themselves. Late in the process, their leadership worked with O’Brien and Student Activities to set up a way for departments to pool undesignated funds—an improvised system with a replicability that remains to be seen for next year.
It is unclear whether Rally Week will happen again next year. Arnold, Behar, and Shankar all graduate this year, though Behar and Shankar plan on returning for graduate studies. Additionally, past events the organizers have been involved with, such as Touch Grass and Philanthropy Fest, had significantly larger teams behind them and notably seemed to have survived the departure of their originators through the intervention of larger clubs such as GZ Basement.
Though Rally Week may have its faults, it did amass over 150 participants, most of whom were new graduate students, transfer students, and freshmen; though, the organizers mentioned that they were surprised by how many upperclassmen also participated. The original organizers have no plans as of yet to abandon planning for next year. No Rally Week partners have expressed disinterest in continuing to support the event. By all metrics, it seems that Rally Week may return to campus, in a new form, and perhaps with more wisdom and experience the next time around.
