It has been just over two weeks since the elections results were announced and Grand Marshal Julia Leusner ’08 and President of the Union Erik Swanson ’08 are already well on their way to making their intentions for the coming year clear to the Senate and Executive Board. While in the process of taking care of appointments for committee chairs in the Senate, Leusner has been in talks with the Troy Mayor Harry Tutunjian to investigate student parking along streets that the city cleans. According to Leusner, Tutunjian was very receptive to her office’s concerns and will look into the matter himself. One of the keystones in her campaign was a plan to strengthen and improve the quality of teaching assistants at RPI, and she has met with Acting Provost Robert Palazzo, who recognizes the problems and is looking forward to her ideas. The Teaching Assistant program at MIT is one of particular interest to Leusner and she has been looking into its structure and costs.
Swanson has been continuing the Union Challenge where former PU James Fisher ’07 left off and has been reading through the many valuable suggestions on ways to improve RPI. Over the summer, he’ll be compiling them for the E-Board members to begin working on individually. Swanson has also been at the forefront of the Games Room redesign, which will see significant changes once final plans are set by winter break. The bowling lanes and many arcade games will be axed due to underuse, while the billiard tables will remain and a partition wall is added for student exhibits or small gatherings. Swanson is also calling for greater club accountability, which will require self assessments by club members and from E-board representatives, and he hopes to implement this as soon as possible.
The Poly is most pleased with the quick progress that Leusner and Swanson have made thus far and hopes to see a continued, expanding movement in ways to improve student life and RPI in the next part of their terms.
