What’s going on at RPI?

Following a successful demonstration that drew over 1000 students, faculty, and alumni in Spring 2016, RPI President Shirley Ann Jackson told the press we were misinformed and there were no plans to take over the Rensselaer Union.

Despite her appeals to reporters, less than two years later, this was proven to no longer be the case as the RPI Board of Trustees passed a resolution in September 2017, effectively nullifying the Union Constitution and shifting control of the Rensselaer Union from the students to the Jackson Administration. While another massive protest involving students and alumni swiftly followed, the Trustees and administration continued their deceit and doubled-down in their efforts to chill free speech on campus.

After 127 successful years of rich student leadership, tradition, and pride, the Union is now a shell of what it once was, and shared governance at RPI is all but a memory. And without its ability to self-govern, the Rensselaer Union is no longer considered student-run. We must act now before we have nothing left worth saving.

Our Objectives Renew Rensselaer

Take action

Control of the Student Union has been taken by force, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t rally support for the Union and see to it that the administrative groups who systematically stripped the Union of its student governance are held accountable. Our student governed Union is the last shred of shared governance on campus. A positive future for RPI depends on us preserving and advancing a student-run Union’s goals.

Petition

Withhold your donations from RPI in a show of solidarity.

The biggest impact alumni can make is by refusing to donate to the Institute until this issue is resolved and the administration relinquishes their hold on our Union, and we urge you to withhold donations in a show of solidarity. Please join us in sending a clear message to Dr. Jackson and the Board of Trustees that usurping our student-run Rensselaer Union is unacceptable.

What has already been lost

Approval of the Student Handbook

As of October 2015, the Student Senate no longer approves handbook changes (see Timeline). In the past, this was not the case (Article (X), Section (10), paragraph (h))
Athletics budgets

Citing NCAA rules 2.1.1 and 6.2.1, Student Life officials seized control of all varsity athletics budgets on February 9, 2016. Their interpretation is neither accurate nor valid.
Student representatives on Board of Trustee committees

Until recently, student leaders met with the chairman of the Board of Trustees and served as representatives on several Board of Trustee committees.
Authority over the Activity Fee

Before the administration removed varsity athletics budgeting from the Union, the Executive Board oversaw these budgets. In removing the Athletics postion, the administration has taken away a significant portion of the Activity Fee.
Role in daily Union operations

The last Director of the Union felt it within his job remit to take on massive unapproved pet projects without Executive Board approval.
Decision in hiring the Director of the Union

After being caught moving in secret to search for an "Executive Director" who would serve under his control on March 29, 2016, Vice President for Student Life Dr. Frank Ross made it clear no new director would be student-hired. Since then, Vice President for Human Resources Curtis Powell and the Board of Trustees have weighed into the situation, contesting that the decision was to be made by the president despite the Union Constitution and 127 years of tradition saying otherwise.
Say in future direction of the Union

After students questioned the unilateral and secretive decisions Dr. Frank Ross took for the Union, Dr. Jackson instantly moved the matter to the Board of Trustees . This removes any say students or anyone else on campus have regarding the Union.
Control of the judicial system

As of the last Constitution amendment, senators were told to remove the language creating/authorizing the student-run judicial system, as it was “duplicative” of what was in the handbook. Now that they approve neither one, this power is lost to students.
Open choice of student leaders

In March 2013, Student Life staffers demanded that the Student Senate impose a GPA requirement. The Senate imposed a 2.5 GPA minimum. They were ignored and a 3.0 requirement unilaterally imposed on March 8 by the Dean of Students, exceeding his authority under the Union Constitution.
The Archer Center

As part of the Spring 2016 restructure of the Division of Student Life, The Archer Center was removed from part of the Rensselaer Union and added under Student Success in the Student Life portfolio.
Rensselaer Union Constitution

The Union Constitution was effectively nullified by the Board of Trustees' September 22, 2017 Resolution.

What we stand to lose

Any non-club budgeting authority

In her comments, Dr. Jackson has stated the Activity Fee is a fee charged by the University, and while students may still make a recommendation for this fee for club funding, mention of other Union operations was carefully avoided.
The Mueller Center

In his meeting with the Student Senate and Union Executive Board after the discovery of the Executive Director position, Dr. Frank Ross explained the restructuring of Student Life and discussed the possibility of separating the Mueller Center from the Union
Control over Union policy
Any influence on campus policy

Students no longer have representatives on Board of Trustee committees
A Director or staff loyal to students

The current Director of the Union was hired by the administration with no meaningful student involvement. Dr. Jackson and the Board of Trustees nullified the Union Constitution which gave students the right to hire and remove Union employees.
Oversight of student elections

After students supporting a student-run Union were elected to the GM and PU in Spring 2018, the administration moved to nullify the election results. Their claim, that the election results had been compromised, was unsupported by any evidence and subsiquently ruled to be without merit by the student Judicial Board.
A Union by and for students

Why is it so detrimental?

For over a century, the students of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have run the Rensselaer Union, and it's a source of pride on campus as one of the few completely student-run unions in the country. Stripping away student control from the Union will strip away much of RPI students' way of life.

Who will it impact?

Most directly, the members of our 200 clubs, 46 sports, and countless students who use the Union as a study and meeting hub. But this failure of Institute governance in the cause of power consolidation undermines the faculty, academics, alumni contributions, and the credibility of the Institute.

Save the Union