Student Government (SG) listened to recommendations regarding Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) charges, received a report from the Greek Leadership Committee (GLC) and finalized Global Union (GU) election results during their April 3 meeting. They also discussed PawPrints and handed out awards for SGers of the Month.
AAC Charges
Bruce Herring, the chair of the AAC and senior lecturer at Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences, gave a presentation on AAC’s charges.
The first charge addressed student concerns regarding courses with different credit and contact hours. According to Herring’s presentation, differing credit and contact hours are common for both lab courses run by graduate students and studio courses where full-time faculty are present for many of the contact hours. AAC reached out to SG’s Academics and Co-Ops Committee (ACO), where they unanimously agreed that having the same credit and contact hours would be harmful, due to concerns about how it would affect their ability to take the required number of courses to graduate on time and the availability of electives in programs with lab and studio courses. Because of this, AAC will not be recommending any change to the current policy.
The second charge discussed reviewing RIT’s Latin honors rates compared to peer institutions to determine if adjustments were necessary. According to Herring, RIT undergraduate Latin honors rates have averaged 65.7%, which is often significantly higher than many of RIT’s peer institutions. AAC considered whether this negatively impacts graduates and, if so, how it’ll address it. Due to the honors not necessarily impacting employment, and the positive motivational impact given to students who receive the honors, AAC decided not to change the current policy.
The third charge covered updates to policies related to Reading Day. RIT’s D11.0 Final Examination Policies website states that “under no circumstance shall a final examination or final assessment be scheduled on Reading Day.” According to Herring, this policy caused issues for graduate programs where Reading Day allowed them time to present their thesis defense. AAC added onto D11.0.I’s policy, stating that, given the student agrees, it’s permitted for their thesis defense to be scheduled on Reading Day. AAC also went over Policy D05.0 and clarified that, along with assignments not permitted to be due during semester breaks and weekends attached to those breaks, they are also not permitted to be due on Reading Day.
GLC Report
SG’s Greek President, Alex Shuron, and Greek VP, Sophia Pries, gave a year-one report on GLC. Shuron explained that 51 weeks ago, the Senate had voted on having the Greek Senator serve provisionally as an SG Representative Student Organization (RSO), and that next week, SG will be voting on whether or not it will remain that way.
Pries talked briefly about the history of Greek life at RIT. In 1971, the Greek Council was created, serving as an “advocacy body” for the community on campus. It then became one of the first Major Student Organizations (MSO), and then in 2008, it became one of the first RSOs. In 2011, the Greek Council changed into the Greek Senator position.
Shuron explained that one of the few reasons why the RSO position is being considered over the Senator positions is that the workload was heavy for just a Senator position, as the past Senator was handling finances, creating initiatives and handling processing requests. According to RIT’s Fraternity and Sorority Life website, the campus is home to 29 “diverse inter/national social fraternities and sororities,” which fall within College Panhellenic Council (CPC), the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC). Shuron also discussed a bit about the GLC structure, explaining that there are four primary positions – president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. Each Greek council also has a president who oversees their own executive board, which delegates that report to them.
The two then discussed some of the initiatives that they’ve focused on throughout the year, the main one being establishing GLC as an RSO. Pries explained that it had been a while since an RSO had been created, so it took a while to figure out the specifics and lay out the groundwork. They looked over the GLC executive board, the creation of bylaws and how the president’s roundtables would work. They also established the creation of a GLC RSO budget and a new logo. One of GLC’s major programming events this past year was the Future Greek Leaders Workshop, an all-day workshop tailored for “group life and leadership development” and open to all GLC students. GLC will also soon be hosting its 125th anniversary event on April 19 from 3 to 5 p.m., in the SHED’s lower atrium.
Global Union Election Results
SG Director of Elections, Olivia Gauthier, announced the results for GU’s 2026-2027 President and Vice President (VP). Mobassirul Karim Faraz, a third year Mechanical Engineering student, and Sadia Ahmed, a third year New Media Interactive Development student, will be serving as GU’s President and Vice President starting next semester. More information about Faraz and Ahmed can be found on Reporter’s SG Election Town Hall coverage and their SG 2026-2027 Platform.
PawPrints
SG looked over a PawPrint calling for more transparency around Gracie’s health inspections and the quality of food. The PawPrint’s author cited a New York State Department of Health Inspection, explaining that since 2016, Gracie’s has not passed a health inspection without receiving a violation. According to the inspection, Gracie’s has received one non-critical violation in February 2026 and two critical and seven non-critical violations in January 2026. The petition then states that many students have been served improperly prepared food or have become ill after eating at Gracie’s. This has allegedly led to dining swipes not being used, and “students end up spending unnecessary money through their tuition.” The petitioner explained that clear communication must be made to both incoming and current students on how they can report concerns regarding food safety on campus. Housing and Dining Committee Chair Damian Hacke explained that Housing and Dining have spoken with RIT Dining on this issue.
According to Hacke, Monroe County inspection reports document “any observed violations at a specific moment in time,” and many of those violations have been non-critical and have been addressed promptly. Additionally, all full-time staff must complete ServSafe certification, and allergen audits are conducted by the campus dietician. Hacke also stated that Dining conducts an internal review 24 hours after a concern is reported. Students can address their concerns to an on-duty manager or to Dining. They can also file an incident report through this link, under the “Suspected Food Illness or Allergic Reaction” section.
SG then looked at another Housing and Dining-related PawPrint, which stated that RIT must cap upcharges to 500% for all food. The petitioner explained that while food prices have risen nowadays, 3,000% upcharge is not standard in markets and that if RIT wants to charge students more, then they should “increase their tuition instead of nickel and diming them for food they need to live.” Hacke explained that RIT Dining is an auxiliary service and must generate enough revenue to cover its own cost of food, labor and facilities, while also being able to give back to the university through events and renovations. He also stated that Dining is committed to avoiding unnecessary cost increases and that it’s currently exploring ways to offer more meal plan support to students through a budgeting resource that will allow students to plan their dining dollar usage.
SG then discussed a PawPrint calling for the Student Alumni Union (SAU) flags not to be taken down. A fraternity and sorority life display was added to the Campus Center lobby in November 2025, and an international display outside the Ingle Auditorium in the SAU is currently being installed. With this development, the flags on the ceiling of the SAU will be removed once installations of both displays are complete. Removal is planned for summer 2026. Student Affairs Committee Chair, Noah Manning, explained that the transition from a ceiling flag to a wall display is aimed to “allow for efficient turnaround and addition of flags to better represent students from all around the world and [RIT’s] Greek organizations.” Additionally, flags can fade, fall off hooks or become tangled, and in order to fix that, the SAU foyer would have to be shut down so that a lift could enter the space. According to Manning, this could potentially stop the SAU from being accessible to students, and the goal of the new displays is to stop those issues from occurring.
SGers of the Month
Near the end of the meeting, SG handed out their SGers of the Month awards. Housing and Dining Committee Chair Damian Hacke received Committee Chair of the Month. Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS) Senator Igor Polotai and Cross-Registered Senator Savannah Brown were both awarded Senator of the Month. OUTspoken was awarded RSO of the Month and Director of Elections Olivia Gauthier received Cabinet Member of the Month.
