At the December 6 Student Government (SG) meeting, the Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration presented on the organization’s status, the GCCIS, CAST and Greek Senators presented on their midyear progress and administrators shared information on recent and upcoming policy revisions.

Finance and Administration

To start the meeting, James Watters, the Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration, spoke to SG about Finance and Administration’s activities, progress and plans. Highlights of his presentation include an update on RIT’s financial status. RIT has $9 million less revenue this year due to the semester conversion. This is the first time that RIT’s yearly revenue has gone down in 16 years. Watters shared that although it is unlikely that more buildings will be constructed in the near future, progress on the new ice arena is on schedule. Watters also shared that priorities of Finance and Administration include working on renovation, considering new ways to handle campus security and expanding global opportunities.

Policies C6.0 and C6.1 and New Academic Calendar

Following Watters’ presentation, RIT’s Chief Legal Officer, Bobby Colón, and Judy Bender, the Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, spoke about RIT’s proposed new policy C6.1 and already revised policy C6.0. This presentation was also given at the Institute Council meeting; more information can be found in Institute Council Update. A proposed 2015-2016 academic calendar was proposed, which is also covered in the above article.

SG Midyear Reports

Following the administrators’ presentations were several midyear status presentations from senators. Joe Sciandra, the CAST Senator, shared that he has been meeting with the dean, associate dean and department heads of his college to talk about ways to improve the community. The GCCIS Senator, Anshul Kapoor, presented his progress in finding a new senator, as well as his efforts to revitalize the GCCIS community. Finally, the Greek Senator, Jonathon Diaz, shared his progress in improving Greek life at RIT, including a new academic incentive program and the provision of eight storage units for Greek organizations.