Student Government (SG)’s purpose is to represent the student body. According to their official website, SG provides “programs, services and initiatives that enrich student lives.” Another one of SG’s main functions is to address student concerns enumerated in PawPrint petitions.
This year, Yasmine Ibrahim, a fourth year BS/MS pre-dental student, serves as the SG president. Nkodia Ndongala, a third year Physics major, is vice president.
SG leadership is composed of nine cabinet members — including Ibrahim and Ndongala — five Committee Chairs, 14 Senators and 12 members from Representative Student Organizations (RSOs).
SG senators are voting members of SG who represent a subset of the RIT population. There are nine Academic Senators — one for each college — and five Community Senators, which include the Women’s Senator, Cross-Registered Senator, Graduate Senator, First Year Senator and Accessibility Senator.
According to SG’s official website, “A Representative Student Organization (RSO) is a student organization which operates in a governance or representative capacity or provides a significant service to the student body of RIT.” SG includes voting representatives from each RSO, which include NTID Student Congress, OUTspoken, Global Union, ALANA Collegiate Association and the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Shared Governance Structure
SG is just one governance group within RIT’s shared governance structure. Alongside SG are Staff Council and Faculty Senate, which represent RIT staff and faculty, respectively. Each governance group has 12 chairs on University Council, which decides university-level policies. RIT’s president is in charge of final decisions made by University Council. From there, the Board of Trustees has the final say for university decisions.
PawPrint Petitions
One way that SG serves the student body is through PawPrint petitions, RIT’s student-run petition platform. PawPrints that receive 200 signatures or more are reviewed by SG at one of their senate meetings. Following review, the petition is charged to one of SG’s internal committees, which includes Academics & Co-ops, Dining, Clubs, Policy & Wellbeing, Facilities and Parking, Transportation, & Outdoor Spaces. Each committee has a different meeting schedule, so most students can attend at least one meeting.
Once a committee is assigned to a petition, they discuss its subject matter during their meetings. The committee then works with staff contacts to address the concerns brought forth by the PawPrint.
Everybody is welcome to attend committee meetings; students who would like to support a petition are especially encouraged to attend. According to SG Committee Chairs, physically attending meetings is one of the most important things that students can do to support a PawPrint, because it can demonstrate the scale of an issue.
Students who are unable to attend committee meetings can email Committee Chairs with their concerns. Emails can also be used to demonstrate that students care about a given issue.
Getting Involved
Any student is welcome to attend SG senate meetings on Fridays at 2 p.m. in Campus Center-2610.
SG elections happen every year and are a great opportunity to get involved. They occur throughout March. Students typically receive emails and see fliers around campus in the lead-up to election day.
Some SG positions, like Committee Chairs and the First Year Senator, are always selected by appointment rather than by election. Other roles may be appointed if nobody runs for it during elections, or if the role becomes vacant in the middle of the academic year. During the appointment process, SG will select somebody for a given position out of a pool of applicants. If an appointed position becomes available, students will receive information about applying via email.
While SG may seem like a complex process, it is in every student’s best interest to learn how the system works — whether they want to inspire change through a petition or just feel more connected to the RIT community.
