Student Government (SG) received presentations on proposed edits to RIT’s Intellectual Property (IP) Policy and updates to SG’s Election Bylaws during their Jan. 30 meeting.

IP Policy

James Eilertsen, the Director of Intellectual Property and Management Office at RIT, shared proposed updates to RIT’s IP Policy. The proposed changes target four areas: student-donated IP, IP created by students with certain RIT support, copyright ownership of scholarly works and patent incentive payments. 

The outlined edits surrounding student-donated IP intend to “provide a clear path permitting students to donate their IP to RIT if they wish” and to create clear expectations for the overall process. Changes regarding IP created by students with RIT’s support clarify that students “own IP they create while receiving RIT support (in certain programs).” 

The IP Policy would also be updated “to align with practice and expand to all RIT creators/personnel.” Lastly, an edit that would remove patent incentive payments aims to “eliminate patent submissions that have no commercial potential.”

Election Bylaws

Olivia Gauthier, SG Elections Committee Chair, presented potential changes to SG’s Election Bylaws. Gauthier proposed that the Elections Committee Chair role be renamed to Director of Elections to reflect that it is a cabinet position. Additionally, an edit would be made to outline the duties of the Director of Elections, as a description does not currently exist in Article II, where all other cabinet duties are outlined.

Other small edits were proposed, including the lengthening of “RSO” to “Representative Student Organization” for the sake of clarity.

Notably, Gauthier suggested that prospective candidates be allowed to tell peers that they are running in the election. Gauthier explained that using the right terminology during the petitioning and campaigning processes was stressful for her when she had previously run in an SG election. 

“It’s just generally confusing. There’s technically no reason why we can’t let them call themselves candidates or say that they are running,” she added.

A vote to implement these changes will be initiated at the Feb. 6 SG meeting.

PawPrints

Petition-specific links have returned, allowing students to share PawPrints.

A PawPrint to bring “Slurp Juice” to Artesano’s was closed, as Artesano’s has added the item to the menu under the name “Slurp Splash.”

A petition criticizing the decision to lower the flag following Charlie Kirk’s assassination was closed. According to Student Affairs Committee Chair Noah Manning, there is now a new flag-lowering procedure that “ensures compliance with federal and state laws and directives and reflects institutional values.”

A petition to reopen Sol’s was closed and responded to. Due to infrastructure challenges, reopening Sol’s is described as not currently feasible. 

A PawPrint asking for Brick City Café to serve breakfast for longer was closed with a response explaining that while an extended breakfast would not be workable because employees must “turn over” for lunch, there will be a special breakfast event on Feb. 10.

A PawPrint regarding classwork over fall break will be presented at the Faculty Senate.

A petition to add spaces for Muslim students to pray was updated to announce that the Student Affairs Committee is working with deans to find spaces within academic buildings, and that a space will be renovated on dorm side to accommodate prayer and meditation. 

Accessibility Senator

During a discussion about the potential addition of an Accessibility Senator position, Kate Gleason College of Engineering Senator Joshua Anderson suggested the possibility of SG appointing an individual to the position.

SG President Rafael Gilboa agreed that this could be a solution, but ultimately maintained that he wishes for the Accessibility Senator to be an elected position.

“All appointments come through the President and Vice President….I don’t think I’m the right person to decide who should represent a whole community on campus,” he explained.

Voting on the issue of adding an Accessibility Senator position will take place at the Feb. 6 SG meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at an hour and eleven minutes.