Student Government (SG) convened on Dec. 5 for its final meeting of the fall 2025 semester, during which members discussed finance and the Strategic Framework, reviewed PawPrints, appointed new senators and celebrated their ASL interpreters.
Mid-Year Finance Review
SG Director of Finance Kate Seeman presented the Mid-Year Finance Review. This semester, SG has spent $40,913.74, leaving $162,586.26 for next semester. Seeman proudly announced that the SG Finance Committee has awarded 31 students and student organizations a total of $32,678.30. She also encouraged committee members to utilize their budgets before May and asked those who had not spent any money to plan ways to start spending.
Strategic Framework
SG President Rafael Gilboa gave a presentation on the Strategic Framework, a comprehensive plan designed to guide RIT’s direction over the next decade. Gilboa carefully reviewed the ideas of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee (SPSC) and urged SG members to write down their reactions. The four “pillars” that SPSC had honed in on are “transformative student experiences and success, world-changing research culture, well-being and belonging, and global reach and mindset.” Gilboa elaborated that “global reach” doesn’t refer to RIT’s global campuses, but rather offering an education that enhances students’ cultural awareness. SG members expressed appreciation for the emphasis placed on student success, along with research.
Reports
Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS) Senator Igor Polotai reported information from the Faculty Senate meeting. Firstly, in response to a PawPrint about the use of generative AI in RIT’s curricula, the Faculty Senate is putting together an AI task force. Additionally, the new Student Retention task force is interested in introducing Bachelor of Arts programs at RIT. This aims to allow students to create a program better suited to their individual needs. There is also an effort to extend the course add/drop period and to change the academic probation policies to be more lenient. The Student Retention task force hopes that implementing these changes will lead to a higher graduation rate.
PawPrints
A petition to bring line ordering back to Cantina was charged to the Housing & Dining Committee. Petitions to remove “license plate readers” and build an on-campus playground were charged to the Facilities, Parking, Transportation, and Sustainability (FPaTS) Committee. PawPrints advocating for the addition of a separate scoop for dairy-free ice cream at Gracie’s and bringing back water cups to Cantina were closed.
Senate Appointments
SG discussed new senate candidates and filled their ballots to vote. After running against fifth year Biomedical Engineering student, Steven Fertel, Fourth year Mechanical Engineering student Joshua Anderson was elected to the position of Kate Gleason College of Engineering (KGCOE) Senator. He will be succeeding current KGCOE Senator Dani Gonzalez Bonilla in the Spring Semester.
Anderson explained that he would like to hear more feedback from KGCOE students, saying, “I hear a lot of [contacts in the Mechanical Engineering office] talking about how much they really want to help students and how much they really want to get outreach from students.”
Olivia Gauthier, a fourth year New Media Interactive Development student, was elected as the Elections Committee Chair after running against fifth year Psychology student Momina Skandar Aziz.
Gauthier plans to focus on increasing voter participation in SG elections. “I would like to reach out to professors and ask if they could dedicate two to five minutes at the beginning of each of their classes during the election period as a time dedicated for students to vote,” she said.
ASL Interpreters
SG President Gilboa shouted out SG ASL interpreters Jennifer Horak and Stephanie Ferris, as they will both be retiring by the end of the school year. Gilboa thanked them for their commitment to interpreting the long meetings. The session was adjourned after two hours.