Hello everyone. The semester is quickly winding down and I am looking forward to Thanksgiving break, as I imagine you are, too.
As the semester gets into the heart of crunch time, I would like to remind everyone that the Union is open 24 hours a day, five days a week, Sunday through Thursday. Come and take advantage of our central location on campus and relaxing atmosphere when you study or have group meetings.
This week is a great time to come support our athletic teams as the women’s and men’s ice hockey teams both have home games. The women’s ice hockey team plays Friday at 7 pm and Saturday at 3 pm, both games are against St. Michael’s. The men’s ice hockey team takes on Mercyhurst on Saturday at 7 pm. It’s a great weekend to watch some hockey and support our team.
If you are interested in seeing some live music this weekend, UPAC Mother’s is presenting Lucy Kaplansky on Saturday the 23rd in the McNeil Room at 8 pm. This is a great opportunity to see live music in the Capital Region without even leaving campus.
In our meeting this past week, the Executive Board was presented with two proposals. The first proposal came from the Wrestling Club, which is a new club that formed last year. The Wrestling Club’s proposal was a contingency request for the club to host a tournament and travel to compete in several other tournaments. The E-Board approved the funding for the club to host a tournament and take three tournament trips in the spring. If you are interested in the Wrestling Club and would like to get more information, check out their web page at http://wrestling.union.rpi.edu. The second proposal to the E-Board was for the reallocation of funds by the Chinese American Student Association for their program, Asian Awareness Weekend. Asian Awareness Weekend is a collaborative effort of 10 clubs to expose the community to culture and diversity. The theme this year is “Roots” and the weekend will focus on various cultures and how they arrived in America. The E-Board approved the program reallocation and is pleased to support an event that involves collaboration between different clubs and organizations.
Also this past week, the E-Board continued its discussion of the upcoming budgeting year and the current status of the Union. The recent downturn in the economy has affected everyone, including colleges and universities. Rensselaer is in a similar situation as our student enrollment has decreased this year and is expected to decrease next year as well. This factor directly affects the Union because our budget is based on the activity fee that all students pay. As the population of Rensselaer varies so does the amount of money received by the Union. The E-Board and Union administration staff has been proactive in preparing for this difficult budgeting time. A plan has been devised and communicated to all clubs, organizations, and the athletic department to unify our efforts. As a unified team, the E-Board will tackle budgeting with a global perspective of the Union, and most importantly keeping students in mind.
As always, everyone is welcome to attend Executive Board meetings, which are held on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm in the Patroon Room of the Union. Please feel free to send me any questions or comments at pu@rpi.edu and x8598 or stop by the office in Union Room 3136.
