This past week the Student Senate appointed the Judicial Board for the coming term. With an incredibly qualified applicant pool, those brought before the Senate for appointment were of a caliber not seen in many years. The outgoing chair, Stanley Johnson ’09, and the Senator representative, Andrew Neidhardt ’11, deserve praise and thanks for the quality time they put into the selection process. With this high quality group of students now appointed, we will soon see great things from the J-Board.
The next few weeks will also prove to be rather busy for the Student Senate. This past Monday the Senate met with Eddie Ade Knowles, vice president of Student Life, to discuss the Student Life Performance Plan. After reviewing this document and having an open discussion with Knowles, we will hopefully have a clear picture of the Institute’s plans for this portfolio for the coming year. Some of the topics to be explored include the class dean model, the Sophomore-Year Experience, the improvement of athletics, and residence life.
Following the meeting with Knowles, the Student Sustainability Task Force presented a motion to the Senate in regards to sustainability and energy initiatives on campus. The SSTF has drafted this motion to ask the administration to create specific goals and to participate in an Institute-wide task force. The SSTF would like greater focus to be placed on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving the recycling program, composting, setting energy and resource use reduction targets, installing gray water systems in new construction and facilities retrofits, starting new conservation efforts, and improving community education in sustainability matters. If passed, the motion will be presented to Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson and the cabinet.
Next Monday the Senate will have the opportunity to meet with President Shirley Ann Jackson and her cabinet to discuss Institute-wide initiatives. Additionally, we will discuss the progress we have made towards our goals and the remaining concerns we have with future RPI initiatives. Any interested students are welcome at this meeting.
If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at gm@rpi.edu
or visit me at my office in the Student Government Suite on the third floor of the Rensselaer Union.
