SG Update 04/05

United Way Campaign

Tarra DeFelice, RSC: Block 4 Staff Council Election Committee representative, gave a presentation on RIT’s United Way Campaign. The United Way of Greater Rochester is an umbrella organization that raises money for the Rochester community by giving to smaller organizations that they have vetted.

RIT partnered with United Way with the goal of raising $400,000 by April 5, 2019. They have yet to meet their goal and are still accepting donations until the end of the semester. Staff, faculty, retirees and students can donate. Student groups having fundraising events for United Way organizations are also encouraged to donate through the campaign, counting towards RIT’s goal. To find out more about how to donate, visit here.

Public Safety: 24/7 Lab Access

Assistant Director for Public Safety Rod Lezette and evening shift supervisor Jake Griffin gave a presentation on recommendations for overnight safety in 24-hour access computer labs on campus. There are 27 labs that have 24/7 access with a swipe of an RIT ID. Public Safety controls access to these labs.

The recommendation to the administration, Academic Affairs and SG is for students to use “the buddy system” when accessing these labs overnight. Public safety will be enabling two-card swipe in the labs that do not have cameras, requiring that at least two people are present in the lab between midnight and 7 a.m. A patrol officer will be assigned to check these labs to ensure everyone’s safety throughout the night. If you are found to be alone, you will be asked to leave. Doors that are propped open will sound an alarm and an officer will come and close them to ensure only students are entering into the labs. They are hoping to implement this change by finals week; however, no exact date was given.

Lezette also is encouraging students to download the latest TigerSafe for quick access to Public Safety.

Revision to Policy D.15.0

Associate Vice President and Registrar Associate Vice President and Registrar Joe Loffredogave a presentation seeking endorsement for revisions to policy D.15.0. This policy oversees the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects the privacy of student educational records, gives students the right to review and amend their records and limit disclosure of their records.

On April 5, 2018 an interim version of policy D.15.0 was put in place working with Student Affairs, Academic Affairs, Public Safety and the Office of Legal Affairs. As of this meeting, the revision to the interim policy had already received approval from Staff Council and Academic Senate. SG unanimously endorsed the revision. Loffredo will go to University Counsel next week to seek final approval, and then both the policy and procedure documents will be up on the University Policies site the following week.

SG Student Pay Increase

SG Director of Finance Jeff Olivero gave a review of the SG stipend increase. SG is required to review their stipend every two years according to their bylaws. The last review was in 2017 where they had been given a 5 percent increase — a split 2.5 percent increase in both financial years 2018 and 2019. For this year’s review the same 5 percent increase structure was proposed: a 2.5 percent increase in both financial years 2020 and 2021.

Committee chairs will be receiving an additional increase to be at the same pay level as senators. This pay increase will result in a whole budget increase of $7,992.99 in the next two years. SG approved the proposal.

Announcements

This June 2019, there will be an update to SIS that will be mobile-friendly. During this week of April 16, 2019 the Office of the Registrar will be seeking between 50 and 70 students to volunteer to test the new interface. If you are interested, please email registrar@rit.edu.

SG's SpringFest occurred April 11 through April 14, 2019. Imagine RIT is on April 27, 2019.

SG voted to pass changes to their elections bylaws and Section 9 on student PawPrints petitions after their discussion last week. Read our previous SG update for details on the changes.

The SGer of the month for February was third year Biomedical Sciences student Anna Capria, the College of Health Sciences and Technology Senator. Representative Student Organization (RSO) of the month for February was ALANA Collegiate Association. The Committee of the month for February was Housing and Dining.

The SGer of the month for March was fourth year Marketing student Liz Vosburgh, Director of Marketing. The RSO of the month for March was Global Union. The Committee of the month for March was Sustainability.