Moving forward with SIS Man, preferred names

Hi, RPI! I wanted to give you all an update on some initiatives the Student Senate is hoping to make great progress on during this semester in collaboration with the Office of the Registrar and the Student Life Committee.

Recently, the Student Senate has recognized and begun to address a petition that has reached over 250 signatures. The restore “SIS Man” petition was posted about a month ago to voice concern with the improvements made to the SIS landing page and the drawbacks of the update. These drawbacks include the removal of “SIS Man”—the clipart computer character—and the loss of useful links. After reaching out, Vice President for Information Services and Technology and Chief Information Officer John Kolb ’79, assured me that the useful links would be restored. Unfortunately, the new SIS landing page is unable to accommodate the “SIS Man” character as of now. However, the Student Senate will be revisiting the idea with the Registrar.

In addition to addressing the restore “SIS Man” petition, I am hoping to use this opportunity to make progress on preferred names and to better support student athletes. A few years back, the Student Senate was working in collaboration with the Division of Student Life and the Registrar to allow students to use preferred names. This project was not seen to completion, though it did make great progress. Also, it is my hope that we can start a conversation with the Registrar about how to better accommodate and support student athletes with their rigorous academic and athletic schedules. These conversations will help to identify what support and resources are being provided to student athletes and to address any areas or aspects of academic planning or course registration that student athletes need assistance with.

I will be working closely with Student Life Committee Chairperson Bryan Johns to forward with these initiatives this semester and hopefully see them to fruition before the end of this school year. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me at gm@rpi.edu or Bryan at johnsb8@rpi.edu!