The Polytechnic endorses Zach Nobles ’27 for Grand Marshal. Nobles’ ambitious vision for improving student-administration relationships, policy reform, and plans for presence amongst RPI’s community make him a strong candidate for GM.
Nobles currently holds many Student Government positions, including Independent Senator, Senate Student Life Committee Chair, Academic Affairs Committee member, and Institute Alcohol, Other Drugs and Hazing Advisory Committee member. Over the past few years, he has been at the forefront of many major projects including pushing for the use of preferred names in the RPI system, revising alcohol and drug policies, and working closely alongside administration to push for change for the better of the students.
Nobles seeks the position of GM with the campaign goal of increasing the student voice within the school by fostering greater connection between student government and the student body. While this is the function of the Student Senate, there still seems to be a lack of engagement between the bodies. He plans to increase the student government-club relationship by personally going to club general body meetings and spreading awareness of the Senate, claiming he will be “the most visible GM.” He also wants to promote the physical Student Government suggestion box, currently located within the Union, to improve visibility and accessibility of Student Government’s feedback routes. Within the Senate, he wants to enforce the requirement for senators to be part of two committees, in an effort to increase productivity of the Senate as well as foster connections and uphold communication throughout student government. Taking a book out of Union College, Nobles wants to induct RPI students onto the Board of Trustees in an effort to improve the student-administration relationship, which has been strenuous in previous years. The idea is to place some student representation on the board by allowing them to have voting privileges. While voting power may not be viable, the idea of having a student representative on the Board of Trustees could mark a significant shift in how our voices are valued at the institutional level.
As an active member of the RPI Pep Band, Nobles is very involved in school spirit. One of his goals is to rejuvenate the lack of passion for the school’s hockey team, especially throughout the freshman class. Whether we win or lose, Nobles feels as though hockey is one of the highlights of student life at RPI, as it draws our community together with traditions such as the “e to the x dx” chant. His ideas include giving out physical tickets so that students feel less of a “mental hurdle” to enter the Houston Field House for the first time, as well as possibly offering free tickets to first year students as an introduction to the rich hockey culture present at RPI.
Despite Nobles’ ambitious goals, The Poly has concern for the feasibility of several of them, as some are not thoroughly outlined. Nobles proposed that students receive credit for participating in clubs, but this system currently faces friction from the registrar. Additionally, there would not be a streamlined process to allocate club credit. Nobles had also mentioned that he was not able to make effective changes on Title IX as SLC chair. When asked how he would make a greater impact on that as GM, he recognized the limitations of the role, but hoped to set a clear precedent that RPI students are not accepting of such behavior.
Nobles has the initiative and passion for making change at RPI. The Poly believes that Nobles’ ability to bring RPI closer together, alongside his motivation to achieve specific goals and drive policy improvement, makes him an ideal candidate for Grand Marshal.
