A crowd composed of college students, members of the International Socialist Organization (ISO) and various other activists rallied on August 16 in protest of the police brutality fueling riots in Ferguson, Mo...

During Imagine RIT 2013, film and animation graduate students Michael Lacanilao and Brianna Byrne displayed their elaborate and intricate project: the Escherian Stairwell.

The supposedly endless staircase that loops itself in the Gannett building has gained widespread media attention as millions of viewers were unable to explain the seamless editing done by the two students.

Lacanilao and Byrne have gone to great lengths to make the story believable, even making a fake Facebook account for the architect, Rafael Nelson Aboganda, who supposedly made the stairwell in the 1960’s...

The summer after my freshman year of college, I had what felt like a major existential crisis. I broke up with my long distance boyfriend, chopped off my hair, donated half of my belongings to Goodwill and decided that I would change my major...

Not everyone has the time or the inclination to sit down and read through the New York Times every day. The NYT Now app provides a quick and easy way to access the news. While it doesn’t give readers intricate details about each story, it fulfills its goal of giving them a good idea of what is happening in the world.

Twice every day, once at 6 a.m. and again at 6 p.m., the app is updated with briefings. These briefings set this app apart from The New York Times’ website and main app in that they provide just a glimpse of each top news story...

As a part of SpringFest, the College Activities Board hosted a Turbo Glow Party on Thursday, April 24, 2014, in RIT’s Clark Gym in Henrietta, N.Y...

When it comes to marijuana use and legalization in this country, whether you’re in complete support or against it, it’s hard to deny that everyone from high schoolers to political figureheads have been throwing in their two cents recently. 

 Karen Pelc, RIT’s coordinator for Wellness Education, and Jessica Ecock of the Center for Student Conduct hoped to set the record straight on common marijuana myths this past Wednesday, April 16. During their presentation, aptly entitled “Up in Smoke - Let’s Talk About Pot,” Pelc and Ecock addressed a small gathering of students in the Center for Campus Life about marijuana and its potentially dangerous side-effects...

Tractor is  Shot from Unknown Source, 390N Shuts Down

On Thursday, May 2, Interstate 390 of Rochester was shut down at 10:30 a.m. According to Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle Newspaper, a tractor driver called 911 to report that bullets struck his vehicle. The driver heard the bullet strike his vehicle, and turned to see that there was a bullet shape hole in his rear window. Earlier in the previous week, a vehicle made a similar report.

The driver was unharmed, but the Interstate was shut down for four hours while the police commenced their investigation...

At the May 3 Student Government (SG) meeting, an update on student auxiliary services was given, changes to sexual assault policies were presented, revisions to graduate senator selections were presented and representatives from the committee for the smoking policy presented.

Howard Ward, assistant vice president of Student Auxiliary Services (SAS), brought to attention the various successes and improvements of SAS. Firstly, relations and communications with SG have greatly improved with an increase in  relations with students and staff improving as well...

Currently, there are over 140 lab assistants working all over campus, but this will be cut down to about 80 during the transition into the 2014 fall semester. Lab assistants - better known as “labbies” - work and monitor the many computer labs stationed around campus. Each college hires lab assistants through lab services. The cuts will only affect the College of Imaging Arts & Sciences and the College of Business.

Lab assistants were notified through email by lab services a little before spring break that there would be no hiring opportunities for the summer semester...

RIT has every reason to try to ensure that many people return to Imagine RIT each year. Not only does the festival provide a great opportunity for attracting new students, improving the view of the school within the public eye, and simply showcasing many of the amazing things that students do on this campus, but it also provides thousands of people with an enjoyable and interesting Saturday. With this in mind, I think that blocking full circulation of Reporter until after the festival was not only a smart decision, but it was also perfectly within the rights of the institute...

At the April 25 Student Government (SG), Kevin McDonald gave a update on diversity statistics for the campus, potential changes to the Student conduct policy were presented, bylaw changes were approved and a discussion about future bus service efforts was held.

Kevin McDonald, vice president of diversity and inclusion, presented earlier in the year to SG about the current state of diversity within the university. He has returned to give an update based on the same four areas he focused on before: access and success, campus climate and intergroup relations, education and scholarship and institutional infrastructure...

RIT Counseling Center sits on the second floor of the August Center. A small but dedicated staff prides itself in providing the highest quality care possible for our diverse campus. For years now, the numbers of appointments have continued to grow and have put strain on the center’s programming and the centers’ staff. At one point in February, it was rumored that they had done away with one on one sessions in favor of group sessions. This gathered a lot of interest through the RIT reddit page with people looking for concrete answers.

John Weas, director of the Counseling Center, made a direct statement himself in a reddit post and debunked the rumor...

The RIT community has a very innovative and creative mindset that harbors the free flow of ideas. RIT Governance Policy C3.0, Intellectual Property Policy, navigates the tumultuous waters of intellectual property (IP). Fortunately for RIT students, policy C3.0 has their best interest in mind regarding possession of IP rights.

There a few important things students should know about how RIT’s IP policy affects them. For starters, RIT doesn’t use C3.0 as a cookie cutter policy, as the policy states “…this Policy cannot and should not be mechanically applied to every situation that may arise...

In almost every movie, from action adventures to romantic comedies, we have seen the protagonist finally find and fall in love with the perfect person: their love; their soul mate; “The One.” Although some movies have started to include relationships between a variety of people of different genders and sexual orientations, the relationship style is still the same: one person madly in love with one other person.

However, despite the lack of evidence in pop culture, people are pushing to expand the view of how romantic relationships are structured...

Bisexual individuals constitute a growing and often misunderstood group in the LGBTQQIA community. Simply put, bisexual people are sexually attracted to both men and women. This should not be confused with pansexual, or people who are sexually attracted to all genders. People involved in this community are frequently stigmatized and incorrectly labeled due to a lack of understanding.

According to Henry Hinesley, staff coordinator of the Q Center at RIT, those who identify as bisexual are often accused of being unable to make up their minds...

“I [...] may say that if homosexuals in Berlin are now granted such a unique restoration of life, it is mainly due to our enlightening movement, without wanting to be blamed for some of the excesses which have emerged over time,” said Magnus Hirschfield, the founder of the first world gay rights movement, the Scientific Humanitarian Committee (SHC) in 1897.

Although elevated, this quote shows that Hirschfield, alongside many other individuals throughout history, has been fighting for equal rights for all sexualities for quite some time now...

Disclaimer: The stories and events shared in this piece are subjective to those who shared them with Reporter. Not every person’s story or experience may be similar.

“I remember that when I came out to my mom … she said I might have been masturbating wrong,” said Jack Meredith in an interview over the phone. “I don’t want to have sex.”

Meredith, a recent graduate of RIT, identifies as asexual. Asexuality is the absence of sexual attraction to other people. It is often misunderstood and people who identify as such face stigmas and misconceptions. Asexuality is an innate characteristic that many individuals from all walks of life identify with...

Free things are great—just don’t be an idiot. Don’t take free, opened candy from strangers, don’t click on an offer for a free trip to the Bahamas and don’t go hug the “Free Hug” guy standing on the corner...

One of the most difficult things to do in life is to decline something that’s free...

Editors note: In this article, we note the differences between the “male” and “female” orgasm and use biological sex as the distinction between the two. Due to the heteronormative nature of the research conducted on this topic, the information in this article does not reference intersex individuals. However, orgasm is an experience that can be achieved by many individuals regardless of genitalia and we encourage readers to use this article to become interested in what may be happening to their body during orgasm.

Sexual arousal and orgasm are extremely complex biological functions, affecting numerous areas of the body from the skin to the brain...

Sex is a fantastic activity, and like any other fantastic activity, sex comes with risks...

The History of Trans*

In 2011, Eliza Gray, staff writer at Time Magazine, boldly labeled the Transgender Rights movement as America’s next civil rights struggle.

RIT’s Safe Zone training process defines transgender as an individual who is gender nonconforming, such as those who were assigned the incorrect sex at birth and later in life may or may not decide to surgically change to outwardly reflect their preferred gender identity. For the majority of the article, trans* will include an asterisk in order to be as inclusive as possible of all members of the incredibly diverse community...

Quote of the Month

“I love to be individual, to step beyond gender.”

-Annie Lennox

Word of the Month

Ze (pronoun): One of many coined gender neutral pronouns used in lieu of he and she.

Sentence: Tim was lost while taking the bus. Ze asked for directions to the nearest museum and was able to get there on time.

Reporter Recommends: Rethink the Gender Binary

We live in a diverse world where each and every human being is the sum of unique attributes and identities...

I have a few things I would like to say to you regarding the Reporter advisory board decision to limit the availability of this reporter issue. 

I come from a very small town, roughly about 700 or so people. I grew up with ignorant parents, around a lot of very ignorant people. I was never taught about what being gay meant, who homosexuals were, what transgender is or anything LGBT friendly. A lot of the people I went to school with were also never taught this. And while we grew up in the 21st century so a lot of information was available to us through the internet at a very young age, it was still a struggle to learn about these other humans, these PEOPLE...

I am very saddened that the issue will be barred from complete public disbursement. A topic that is solely about humans and human processes and interactions should not be considered profane or obscene. Humans all have some gender, somehow everyone identifies with something at least. So it would be for the public good that we have a forum to learn more about it, or a platform for discussion to be brought up. I hope that this is reconsidered. I also do not want this sort of censorship to become common place on campus...

I'm a 20 year old female student here at RIT. When I was a junior in high school, I was raped. My body was violated by my then boyfriend. I don't think he understood what he did to me. He spoke to me the next day as if nothing happened. Even to this day, I still have nightmares and have trouble overcoming this awful situation. I don't know what could have changed to prevent my rape from happening. Maybe if he was even a little educated on how a female's body and mind works, he wouldn't have chosen to violate me. Maybe if he even had the slightest clue about what is okay and not okay and how to ask for permission...

There is a difference between being bombarded with images of sex and images of sexual health. While our generation has gained a reputation of being liberal and open about about sex, gender expression, and sexuality, much is still swept under the rug of shame and embarrassment. 

Many of us are victims of high school "health" classes where sex is discussed for maybe a total of a week and come from homes where gender and sexuality are not dinner table conversations.  The sad reality is a lot of those "informative" discussions are lectures not far from that of Coach Carr in Mean Girls.  To quote the character in the movie, "Don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die...

I have no problem with Reporter Magazine. During my time at RIT I found it a refreshing source of information about RIT and an alternative viewpoint as to what's going on around campus and in the Rochester area.

I do, however, feel that the administration is justified in preventing the normal distribution of this issue during Imagine RIT, no matter the importance of the content. I also feel that this situation could have been handled better.

From what I've seen thus far, the points that this issue brings up are extremely relevant, and I applaud the magazine for choosing to write a piece on this...

I'm very interested in getting a copy of this issue, and I understand that we need to spread information about this topic to everyone. So, that makes it reasonable to assume that Imagine RIT is a great place to do this.

However, there are factors we need to consider. Open-minded parents will have no problem with the issue, and might grab a few copies for their children. Open discussion about these types of topics are generally welcome in those households.

Closed-minded parents, on the other hand, are a completely different story...

I am a proud parent of an RIT student.  We spent many years teaching our children moral, religious and ethical values we believed were important for them to learn. By the time our children leave for college they have had a lifetime of living by our rules and examples. We have taught them as much as we can and we hope that when they arrive on campus, they have not forgotten the years of values we help to instill. Sexuality is a difficult topic for many people, young and old. Not allowing students to read about a topic that many of them are grappling with, and associating the topic with words such as vulgar, inappropriate, or obscene, seems counter productive and controlling...