As you all should know, fall of 2013 will mark the start date of the semester system at RIT. If you have any questions or concerns you can go to www.rit.edu/conversion. The school doesn’t have all of the kinks worked out yet, but over time more information will be available to us.

Facilities Management Services recently proposed adding another bus route that would go somewhere students have a hard time getting to.  Student Government voted on making that bus go to the East End of Rochester. We decided on this because so much is available in this area including many restaurants, nightclubs and theaters. For now, it is just a pilot program running from January to May of this school year. The bus will be operational from 9:30pm to 2:30am. Exact schedules are still being developed.

A very hot topic on campus lately is the Henrietta Family Law. The town of Henrietta wants to update a law that prohibits more than three unrelated people from living in the same house. Hundreds of RIT students would be affected by this change. Two weeks ago, Student Government held an open forum discussing the matter. The general consensus was that the law would not help solve the issues present in the neighborhoods, but the family residents don’t know what to do to really solve the problem. A town hall meeting was held last week as well. To see a video explaining everything that has been going on, see the SG Facebook page.

And finally, SG has officially elected the two remaining senator positions.

The Freshman Senator is Shantavia Edwards. Shantavia is a psychology major who wishes to strengthen the bond between the freshmen and upperclassmen. She believes by doing this, people who are unsure of career paths may settle on something without so much difficulty.

The new College of Health Sciences and Technology senator is Jamar Frater. Jamar is a biomedical science major and hopes to help make the transition of students into the new college as smooth as possible.

SG Update December 2nd, 2011 from RIT Student Government on Vimeo.

Although the school year has just begun, many projects are already underway.

There has been a proposal to start up a collegiate sprint football team. This league would be different from textbook heavy weight football for many reasons.

- There is a player weight limit of 172lbs

- It is much less expensive to start up and maintain.

- There would be no recruitment and no scholarships awarded to players.

- The season consists of seven games from September to November.

The initial cost to start up the team would be around $200,000 and about $165,000 to maintain every year. The cost of the team would have to come out of student pockets through tuition. The coordinators of the team are optimistic about financial support from alumni to cover some of the cost but students should be prepared to cover the whole cost if that support doesn’t come through.

Hopefully the creation of a football team will help to raise the spirit of the school and establish connections with other schools that didn’t previously exist.

Student Government has shown its support of investigating student interest and feasibility of the league by creating a committee that will come back with a decision on whether or not the program is a good idea later in the year.

In an attempt to bring RIT up from the 8^th most ugly college campus in the United States, a committee for campus beautification was created. They have decided to construct a graffiti wall. It will be built sometime this quarter. All students will be allowed to add to the wall.

Student Government has some very exciting news for the RIT community!  We have signed a contract to broadcast the live B2 feed of all away hockey games.  The games will be shown on SG TV channel 15.

If you weren’t lucky enough to pass by the table in the breezeway, SG just recently hosted Nick Tahou’s as our first Tour de Rochester. Every quarter there will be a new restaurant on campus. They will be providing small sample meals to students at no charge. This program was created to introduce a little bit of the Rochester community to RIT students who might not know what is available off campus.

The first Gray Matter presentation, “The odds are good…” was a success. The series is funded by SG and Student Affairs and talks about controversial topics that might address many problems you may face as a college student.

Make sure to check out our website www.rit.edu/sg to view upcoming Tour de Rochesters or Gray Matter presentations.

The Department of Parking and Transportation here at RIT would like to remind all students that just because you might not be able to find a parking spot on campus during the day doesn’t mean they are not available. Chances are you are just picking the most convenient lot rather than open lots. Lots that consistently have open spaces throughout the day include H, G and K lots.

Watch out for flyers about “meet your senator” events. If you need to contact your senator, you can find their information on the SG website under the ‘About Us’ section.

SG Update October 7th, 2011 from RIT Student Government on Vimeo.