At the October 25 Student Government meeting, a progress report was presented explaining RIT’s sustainability growth compared to last year. SG also talked about changes to the bylaws concerning the requirements for SG Graduate senator.

Sustainability at RIT: Progress Report

Enid Cardinal, RIT’s senior sustainability advisor, presented an updated report on the campus’s efforts to increase sustainability compared to last year. RIT has earned LEED silver certification for sustainability and is working on achieving gold certification by next school year. RIT scored a 56.75 percent compared to the average silver certification score of 52.67 percent. The average gold certified school achieves 68.44 percent. RIT also currently has a bronze rating in bike friendliness, awarded to us from the League of American cyclists. Cardinal explained that she hopes to achieve a platinum rating in 5 years.

 Among the projects Cardinal hopes to begin this year are office certification for sustainability, expansion of e-waste collection to the Resident Halls, implementation of a 2 megawatt solar array on campus to direct energy composition, participation in the campus conservation national’s completion and the release of a sustainability guide for events on campus.

Bylaw Changes: Graduate Senator Requirements

RIT has been unable to elect a graduate senator. Tristan Wright, student relations representative, presented bylaw changes that he said would fix the problem: The current bylaw states that the graduate senator must have been an RIT student for one semester prior to being elected, but the change would make it possible to be eligible to be elected without needing a semester at RIT. The proposed changes were tabled until the next SG meeting for voting and amendments. The senate will also look into ways to change the voting process for graduate senators at the next meeting.