COS Senator Results

Student Government has elected Heather Drake to be the new College of Science senator. Her term begins spring quarter.

SAAC Revisited

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) submitted a new constitution to SG to be accepted as a Representative Student Organization (RSO). However, SG, who believed that SAAC would not represent all student athletes, once again turned them down. “SAAC as an RSO would provide better school spirit,” GCCIS Senator Paul Solt said. “They should especially represent all student athletes.” Despite this setback, SAAC was still granted RSO status by the Senate, pending a revision of their constitution indicating that they are to represent all student athletes, including those who play non-varsity sports and participate smaller athletic clubs.

Spring Programming

There has been some talk of events, which may happen in spring quarter, covering a wide range of topics from pollution to community service. These might include Earth Hour, which will happen on March 28, 2008. This event encourages people in some of the world’s major cities to turn off their electricity for sixty minutes to fight climate change. The promotion of community service to RIT students was also discussed.

College of Business Senator Carlos Cornejo mentioned hosting a “College Olympics” which would “create teams from each college to compete against each other in friendly competition.” CAB Representative Megan Maksymowich indicated that when creating events for the annual Do Stuff For Stuff Challenge, her organization has to be careful to account for both deaf and hard-of-hearing people to ensure that no advantages or disadvantages are had from using ASL as a primary means of communication. She added that if the Senate followed through on the “College Olympics,” they would need to keep such things in mind.

The Ombuds Office

Lee Twymann, the RIT Ombudsperson, gave a presentation about the role of the Ombuds office on campus. The Ombuds Office, located in the SAU in rooms 1110 and 1114, exists to assist individuals in resolving conflicts and concerns. “We try to get resolution at an informal level and we serve the whole community,” Twyymann said. “The highest levels of disputes are usually academic disputes. However, we have had many other disputes which have happened at one time or another.” The process of providing resolution to students was summarized by Twyymann who stated, “Complaints often materialize into recommendations. The good thing is that we are getting a lot of things resolved.”