John Stotz

Martin A. Schmidt ’81 has been named the 19th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Schmidt will assume his position as president from July 1, 2022, succeeding President Shirley Ann Jackson after her 23-year tenure at RPI. Schmidt currently serves as the provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Business Manager John Stotz ’22 reflects on his inactivity in The Poly and explores his inability to finish an article.

On Friday afternoon, President Shirley Ann Jackson announced that she will be retiring from her position as President of Rensselaer in July 2022. Jackson has served as president since 1999.

An email from Strategic Communications and External Relations announced that the start of the Spring semester will be delayed by a week to January 25, with no specification on the end date of the semester. The email explains that students will return to campus between January 22 and January 24, and that students who will be living on-campus will be contacted with specific arrival dates and times during the week of January 4.

Former Editor in Chief John Stotz explains why The Polytechnic is necessary in today’s modern age of technology.

On Tuesday night, students were notified that previous emails approving their remote learning requests for the upcoming Spring semester were sent “in error,” and that the actual decision regarding remote learning requests would be communicated by December 18, one week after the on-campus housing application deadline. This announcement sparked outrage in the student body and a joint email by student leaders condemning the action.

In an email to the Rensselaer community, President Shirley Ann Jackson announced plans for the Spring semester. Freshmen, sophomores, and seniors will return to campus, with freshmen and sophomores living in on-campus housing. According to Jackson, this will cause “some increase in on-campus housing density.” All seniors will live off-campus and still follow the Fall semester density standards which include having two people per bathroom. Students will also not be allowed to live in Greek houses. Additionally, all winter sports, including hockey, are cancelled.

In an email to the student body, Assistant Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Travis Apgar announced that if a student misses two COVID tests at any point during the semester they will be required to go remote for the remainder of the Fall semester. Students who are living on-campus “will be immediately removed” with no refund on room and board.

The Union Executive Board unanimously passed a motion on September 16 allowing clubs to decide if they will collect dues this fall. If a club does not collect fall dues, the motion prevents the club from asking the E-Board during the Spring semester for any additional funding on programs in the club’s initial budget.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s COVID-19 testing dashboard has been recently updated to reflect a new positive test. This has been confirmed by a Rensselaer County Facebook post.

Editor in Chief John Stotz ’22 discusses the issues with the nonstop summer Arch semester and proposes a solution to provide students with periodic opportunities for recovery.

Over 4,200 members of the Rensselaer community were tested for COVID-19 prior to the return to campus this fall in an impressive feat of organization. While the process has gone remarkably smoothly, we hope that improvement in communication can make it even better.

An update to Rensselaer’s COVID-19 FAQ page clarified the housing requirements that RPI announced will apply to students living in off-campus housing. The requirements include a restriction of no more than two students per bathroom.

Rensselaer announced they will not participate in intercollegiate sports during the Fall semester. Athletes who are on campus will be allowed to train as long as they follow all social distancing guidelines.

A system-wide announcement posted to Rensselaer’s LMS site on Friday by Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Michael Hanna said the Institute is going back to “the normal rules” of the pass/no credit policy for the Summer semester.

President Shirley Ann Jackson announced that Rensselaer is expecting a revenue loss of $60 million due to the coronavirus pandemic between Fiscal Year 2020 and 2021 during the Spring Town Meeting.

After transitioning to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rensselaer professors provide their perspectives on online teaching and the lessons they will bring back with them when on-campus learning resumes.

Harshil Patel has been elected Class of 2023 President, narrowly beating Scott Schwartz 99 to 97.

The redo elections for Class of 2023 president, vice-president, and representatives took place online through Simply Voting from May 13 to 15, but more than 650 freshmen were not notified that the election was happening.

Rensselaer’s Student Guide to Financial Aid webpage was updated in April, adding the stipulation that financial aid “may also be revised due to unexpected business disruptions caused by … emergency situations.” The page was updated after the decision to reduce aid for the Arch semester was announced.

Advaith Narayan ’21 and Anissa Choiniere ’21 have been elected Grand Marshal and President of the Union, respectively. The announcement was made on a live stream through the Union’s Instagram account, and a rundown of the election results was sent out in an email shortly thereafter.

Major errors that could invalidate this week’s elections were at the forefront of discussion in the Student Senate meeting on Thursday. These errors included votes cast by those who should not have been able to vote, as well as the use of Google Forms to fix the incorrect categorization of students by class cohort.

A recent question on RPI’s COVID-19 Arch 2020 FAQ page clarified that the reduction of financial aid for this year’s Arch semester will impact both merit and need-based aid, as both are included in students’ total gift aid. According to the FAQ, “the adjustments will reflect the proportionate amount of room and board costs” that rising juniors would normally be charged for living in residence halls over the summer.

The Student Senate held a special meeting on March 21 through Webex to approve changes to the Student Government Election Handbook made to accommodate the transition to online classes. The changes included moving Student Government elections to Thursday, April 2, as well as updating the nomination procedure to allow for online gathering and submission. The Senate also discussed the third-party voting systems that are being considered for online elections.

Elections Commission Chairperson Keenan Adams ’21 announced during the Senate meeting on March 21 that the Elections Commission plans to use a third-party to host elections online due to the move to online-only classes. The two systems being considered are Helios Voting and ElectionBuddy.

In an email to the Rensselaer community on Wednesday afternoon, President Shirley Ann Jackson announced that this spring’s Commencement, planned for May 23, will take place in an online ceremony, adding that there will be an in-person celebration “when the public health situation allows us to do so.”

Two emails, sent Thursday, described precautions students and faculty should take as the global outbreak of coronavirus spreads, and the protocols Rensselaer has in place should the outbreak reach the Capital Region.

Hello, I became the editor in chief of The Polytechnic at the end of last semester. This is how I got there.

The Polytechnic sat down with the co-founder of Thunder Mountain Curry to discuss how it came to be and why it is loved on campus.

Our feelings about anonymous articles have evolved over recent years, so we want to take this time to explain the thought process behind the decision not to publish the submission. This is a new type of article in our Opinion section—dubbed “behind the URL”—that will be used by members of the Editorial Board to give a behind-the-scenes look at our organization and decisions.

In the first home game of the season, the Rensselaer Engineers lost to the University of Connecticut Huskies with a final score of 2‒5.

The Class of 2023 chose their representatives through a two-day election on October 9 and October 11.

I didn’t appreciate how well the freshman engineering curriculum is structured until I went home for the summer after freshman year. It's designed so that every student knows by the end of their freshman year if they love engineering and are sure about the major they chose.