A lot has happened over the past ten weeks, and we would just like to thank all students who participated in SG-hosted or co-hosted events such as the Super Bowl party, The Hammer showing and Q&A, the disabilities events and the Amerks hockey game at Blue Cross Arena.

SG is very happy to announce the TE3 bus route to the East End of Rochester has been very successful with hundreds of students already using the service. Just as a friendly reminder, please remove any trash that you bring onto the bus and act appropriately. It would be a shame for the bus to be discontinued because of these actions.

Institute Council, after much deliberation, has chosen the 2013-2014 academic calendar. All information, including the calendar broken down by day, can be found online at the official conversion website. If you feel uncomfortable with any part of the transition you can always set up an appointment with your academic advisor. If you would like your voice to be heard when it comes to decisions the school makes about the change, your college senator is available to talk to. Just send them an email to set up a meeting. All senator contact information can be found on the SG website, www.rit.edu/sg under the About Us section.

RIT has proposed a new smoking policy on campus due to complaints about air quality around doorways. In an earlier survey, about 8% of students that responded were smokers. With such a large percentage of the student population, RIT is trying to find a solution to please everyone. RIT has proposed to eliminate smoking on campus except for designated areas far from buildings. Many people had problems with what was proposed. Arguments included how long it would take a student to just go smoke one cigarette resulting in being late to class and exposure of those students to the Rochester weather in the winter.  In order to combat some of these arguments, the school will make sure the areas are covered. Classes and help will always be available through RIT if you are seeking to quit smoking. This seemingly drastic step could help improve the health of many students if they decide to use this help offered.

Lastly, as many people have noticed, card swipes are being installed on the outer doors of every UC apartment. It is the school’s goal to have swipe access on all on-campus housing, but the funds for this are not currently available. With the new arena coming, RIT felt like UC was the first priority for the card swipes at this time. The swipes will either go live sometime spring quarter or over the summer depending on when installation in completed.

Remember that any SG recognized club or organization can advertise on SG TV. Just email me at sgconmgr@rit.edu if you are interested.

SG Update February 24th, 2012 from RIT Student Government on Vimeo.