In a community where the exchange of ideas has brought about the ideas and innovations that RPI is known for, there is no more important goal we should be striving for than communication. It must be a bridge between us students, faculty, and administrators to bring positive change to campus.

Last week’s Pizza with the Cabinet is a step in that direction of consistent and open communication with all the members of the RPI community. I would like to thank the members of the president’s cabinet for their attendance as well as the numerous students that spent over two hours conversing and listening to the questions and responses made over many topics, including January Term, the CLASS initiative, ResLife compensation, and student attendance at EMPAC. The 40^th Student Senate will be sure to sponsor more of these discussions through the next year.

How do all of us stay connected, stay aware, and continue discussions? It is a challenge to keep the motivation and the interest of students in the process of addressing changes to campus life and the student experience. Student government is a tool for the students, but it becomes useless when the voice of students is no longer heard. How do we continually hear the input of students as well as effectively disperse the information that we members of the Student Senate receive? We have some ideas to communicate, and we’re interested to hear yours.

• Concerto is the digital signage system on campus, sponsored by the Student Senate Web Technologies Group. You’ll find campus events, headlines, weather, and more. Plus, you can submit events or information; just sign in with your RCS account at signage.union.rpi.edu.
• Flagship is the document management system where you can find all the information exchanged in the Student Senate, the Union Executive Board, the Inter-Fraternity Council, and many other student government organizations on campus. You can view all this information at documents.studentsenate.rpi.edu
• As far as the office of Grand Marshal & the 40^th Student Senate, you can soon check out the Student Senate website at studentsenate.rpi.edu where you’ll see my weekly column, blogging from senate meetings and other gatherings, plus contact information for your senators and representatives. Also, I am now on Twitter, and I’ll do my best to continuously update information that I receive and what I and the Student Senate are doing for you. Find my Twitter page at twitter.com/rpigm.
• Do you have an idea for something for me or the Student Senate to do? Let us know!

I hope that I can be an easily accessible point of contact for questions, comments, and concerns that you would like to bring. The Grand Marshal/President of the Union Office is in the Student Government Suite in the Rensselaer Union; if you see the door open, come on in! I’m looking for your input and your ideas for the path that we in the Student Senate and student government should take; e-mail me at gm@rpi.edu and let’s get going!

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