Now that I've had a chance to relax a little over Thanksgiving Break, I thought I'd reflect on some of the stuff that has happened in student government over this past semester. This being my third year on the Student Senate, I've been involved with all sorts of forward-looking projects. But this year I'm happier than ever with what we've delivered thus far and where we're headed.
When we first opened up the new year, we already had a couple things done and in-process. Over the summer, August Fietkau and I prepped this website for the Senate, a new vision of what we had been working on for some months prior. We put up this blog (not sure how many people actually see it, but whatever), built a really robust project management system, and implemented some other tools for the Senate. The Senate's space on the web isn't frequented by too many students, which can be a little discouraging sometimes, but at least we've got a space to tell people about what our organization does. We also launched the Union Pulse, a newsletter focused on Union activities.
Another thing we started to do in the summer is preparation for GoCrossCampus, an online game created and run by fellow nerds at Yale and Columbia. We created an RPI version of a Risk-type game map, named all the territories, and launched a promotional campaign and website to get people started with the game. It launched in October and has, by all accounts, been pretty damn successful. Sure the game has its kinks, but we're happy to see a lot of RPI students keeping up with it every day.
We've launched a free web hosting service that gives tech-savvy students and organizations a lot more power under the hood for experimenting and hosting web sites--much more than what RPI provides. Our membership numbers have been phenomenal so far and we're excited to see what people build using the myRPI-space service.
The "myRPI" moniker points to a much bigger work-in-progress. You might have noticed this site on the web. It's a prototype of a student web portal that we're building--the single, central site for student life at RPI. We're not ready yet to lift the pot cover on what we've got cooking on the stove, but I have a feeling you'll like it. Just give us a little more time!
With Thanksgiving over, I've got one final thing for which I'll give thanks: the ability to work with great people on projects that really spur positive changes at the Institute. Student government doesn't always get it right. But I can tell you that this semester we've started to bring some great stuff to the table, and we've got a hell of a lot more coming.
I remember learning about the business of the Student Senate by listening to senators discuss business in the Student Government Suite while I was doing homework. At the time this disturbed me from my work, but as a relatively new student I didn't know any better. When I decided to run for Senate, I chose to focus my campaign on improving communication of Senate business to the rest of campus. Communication with the rest of campus is about providing information to people about what we do in the Senate, and also about gathering input from constituents to bring before the Senate. Senate Hours is an effort intended to increase the communication of feedback from students to the Student Senate.
It's an idea I came up with to encourage students who are not senators to become involved in influencing their senators. This pilot program consists of student senators volunteering an hour or two during the week to be available for other students to meet with them. Senate Hours follow an open door policy, meaning that you can visit senators during the times they are available without making an appointment. You can give feedback to senators on issues that have already been brought to the Student Senate, propose new business to bring before the Senate, or talk about projects that you feel the Senate should undertake. I believe that in order for senators to represent their constituents best, they should get feedback. Open government is important to maintaining a democratic process and part of the process is to transfer information from constituents to the Senate.
Senate Hours will only be effective if you, the constituents the senate represents, use them. We have posted a sheet on the door to the Student Government Suite (Suite 3120 on the third floor of the Student Union) that lists all of the meeting times of every committee and student government body on campus, as well as contact information for each senator (including their Senate Hours). Hours are being held on each day of the week and in several different locations around campus. I highly encourage all students on campus to use Senate Hours to ensure that we remain a responsive form of government. Feel free to drop by the Student Government Suite on the third floor of the Union with any questions, comments, concerns, or project ideas you might have!
Between September 4th and September 30th, there were eight incidents involving students being accosted within just a few blocks of campus. Our campus may be relatively safe, but the streets around it - even in broad daylight - are not safe any longer. These incidents have occurred at a variety of times, but primarily late in the afternoon. RPI Public Safety and the Troy Police Department have taken measures to put a stop to this crime wave, making several arrests in the process, but more is needed - from students. While students may just be "passing through" the Troy community during their college years, everyone has a responsibility to help make their community a pleasant and safe place to be.
To that end, the Senate is working to organize a workshop to be attended by a number of prominent community members, representatives from Troy PD and Public Safety, RPI administrators, and, of course students. The focus of the workshop will involve identifying the nature and causes of the problems students and residents have had off-campus and identifying some steps to be taken by everyone to help alleviate some of the type of crime we've experienced. Once a date has been ironed out, we'll be spreading the word so that any interested students can attend (pending available space).
So we just got back from this year's Union Activities Fair, and it was pretty cool. For those of you who may have stopped by the Senate's area at the front of the Field House, we had a great time talking with you and hope that you check out all the cool stuff we've got brewing for you and the rest of the student body. Actually, if you're interested in getting involved with a fun activity, it's a great time to hook up with a group of Senate members and crank out some sweet projects that help improve the student experience. It really doesn't take much to become part of the Senate--just show up to one of our committee meetings and see what's happening. It's all what you make of it.
Regardless of whether or not you're interested in working as a part of the Senate, you might want to check out a new editable guide we threw up at myRPI, the brand new student portal. It might provide you with some extra insight about what goes on in student government. Oh, and keep your feet up and stay for a while at myRPI--let us know what you think of it and what you'd like to see added. Maybe you might want to design the homepage banner for the site or submit a funny quote. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to read it. And do be sure to hit up the problem-reporting links in the left column if you run into any problems with classes or the like.
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