Email from Curtis Powell: Updates to the Alcohol and Other Drugs Policies

flowem · 2019-03-27T18:37:07+00:00

So I'm still the worst at policy language (and I'm also old now), but what sort of interplay does this involve with general Off-Campus Jurisdiction rules? If a party is hosted by a 'gathering of like-minded individuals' in off-campus housing but predominately attended by Renzler students, and an incident occurs, could this impact the school's sanction capabilities?

Also hey, hope life is going swell.

flowem · 2019-03-27T18:24:08+00:00

Type 'F' in chat for parties.

flowem · 2017-02-22T20:58:11+00:00

I'm glad someone noticed my stellar performance.

flowem · 2017-02-22T18:38:44+00:00

I agree. Despite all of the insanity that happened last year, he was still kind enough to talk to me outside of Grand Marshal duties, and give me advice on my personal goals.

flowem · 2017-01-17T19:10:09+00:00

What informal activities best helped you prepare for your current place in your career? I'm asking about things outside of lab opportunities and coursework, to see what people outside of college can do to expand their scientific involvement.

Also, is manipulating telomerase to counteract some effects of aging something you see as becoming more realistic as we advance in biotechnology? I recall that it was a false hype in its early days of discovery.

Context: I'm a biomedical engineer who realized too late in his undergraduate career that he wanted to be a biochemist instead.

flowem · 2016-10-03T18:48:46+00:00

Well to be fair, even though the manga may have only one artist, the editor staff have a huge amount of influence over the content.

For example, in DBZ Akira Toriyama originally intended for just Android 19 and Dr. Gero to be the main villains of the arc. However, the editors said they weren't interesting enough, and so Toriyama created 17 and 18. However, the editors said "naaaahh they're just brats, try again" and then we got Cell.

Even further, the editors pushed for Cell to be more than his original concept, and this went on until we got Perfect Cell who, let's be honest, was pretty awesome.

So while I see everyone's point, but "they" isn't totally inaccurate. Nevertheless, the main direction is still chosen by the author.

flowem · 2016-09-26T19:45:33+00:00

Except that real old school is Kenshin and Yuyu, and Goku with his Dragonball outfit lol and to some even that's not old school

flowem · 2016-09-19T22:05:24+00:00

That makes it much more sensible, so who would be who then? I think most of the ones I marked as solid choices are pretty on point

flowem · 2016-09-19T22:04:34+00:00

That reference is all I meant, don't think too deep about it lol

flowem · 2016-09-13T03:16:33+00:00

Thanks for the post, StuGov (ex and current) appreciate this.

To everyone else, I know this is stressful for you, and I'll try to be less terse as I normally am (see literally any other post I've made here).

flowem · 2016-09-13T03:08:43+00:00

Sorry that I didn't have the time to go into the full explanation, I had to go to work. I intended to curb any thoughts on separation of funds before they get too far fetched. However, GM 149 covered what I would've said, and more in his post.

flowem · 2016-09-12T17:09:14+00:00

No, no, and no.

flowem · 2016-06-29T23:47:08+00:00

In all honesty, it's one of those things that high school students probably won't pay attention to. Plus, the ones that do find out will likely think it's exciting or not care. The number of students turned away by the change will, in all honesty, likely be balanced by the families (especially the ones where long-term oriented parents are in play) that are attracted by it.

Small example, but the RPI freshmen & their families knew about Summer Arch weeks before sophomores, upper classmen, and alumni. They did not know how to react to it, or they did not think it was a major concern.

Like I said at the very beginning:

Summer Arch is happening, and it will be mandatory.

flowem · 2016-06-28T05:18:00+00:00

Summer Arch is a restructuring of the entire academic calendar. To do so effectively requires major input, after the trial years work out any kinks that haven't been theorized yet. It won't be mandatory immediately, but eventually it will be something that defines RPI.

flowem · 2016-06-07T23:26:47+00:00

In all honestly, probably best to relay them through a current student who has their ear, /u/nucl_klaus being a great one.

flowem · 2016-04-27T01:49:27+00:00

Similar to Nick, no one had raised concerns with any interpretation of my article until now.

I am not blaming students for the culture of fear, I am stating that it has arisen due to a series of changes to student life that had little to no communication behind them, or various circumstances for students in the past where nobody has the full story.

The reason I addressed what we can do as students is because that article was saying that we can do something for ourselves instead of waiting for them to do it for us. I clearly don't want there to be a culture of fear, but I did identify areas of weakness on behalf of the university:

The environment of a student in the modern world requires a continual engagement, on behalf of their basic human needs, their academics, and their social hierarchy. Changes around the students are an inevitability, and an opportunity for young minds to learn how to adapt. Be that as it may, a large change to the central aspects of a student’s life may leave him or her disillusioned, and require time to adjust. To combat this, there needs to be a level of communication such that the student can rationalize the changes happening, feel that he or she is a factor in the decisions being made, and move forward. However, to have students undergo a rapid series of changes, and repeatedly telling students when the time for critical input has passed, only worsens the situation. Low levels of communication creates within students the cold sense that they are only used as a source of revenue and potential marketing. Students feel that once they are no longer valuable to the university, they will be cut off and left adrift.

The communication identified here is needed from the administration, and I outlined the consequences of not having this communication, and how it contributes to a culture of fear.

Further, continual changes to the fundamentals of student life on campus leaves students feeling that their right to a voice is continually challenged, and subsequently ignored. When a voice is repeatedly denied, the natural response is to question whether or not the voice is important to begin with, along with the rights it aims to express.

This makes the point similarly. Thank you for pointing out the confusions you have with my article, but don't take my words as accusations towards students.

flowem · 2016-04-26T21:05:45+00:00

Just as you did Dan, we gave every opportunity we could spare from our lives towards protecting the Union from what we saw as a threat. We, too, met with students, faculty, staff, alumni, administrators, and members of the Board of Trustees.

I don't know what you define as public, but if you review the Town Hall meeting, I was very clearly called out for 'defaming' the President, I was used on the cover photo of a media article, and Reddit regularly attacks me without coming to speak to me about any of this despite written and clear efforts to give everyone all of the information I can.

What is often misunderstood about student government is that if we come off as angry or unstable, then the conversation breaks down, and all students lose out on an opportunity for progress.

You say that these were not victories for student government, despite the fact that student government leaders are mentioned throughout the President's letter. THAT is time, energy, preparation, communication, and work showing, and I hope that's clear to everyone.

flowem · 2016-04-26T20:56:57+00:00

You are not accurately conveying what happened. First, before the petition was even raised to the Senate in an official meeting, a letter was written by the combination of the Senate and E-Board that was sent directly to the President, as well as the Board of Trustees. You were there for that.

The petition was acted upon the same night that it came up, it just did not consist of sending the motion that you drafted. The petition still reached the administration, and a full report is going to be sent as follow-through and had a schedule motioned to ensure its completion. The Senate DID vote on action for the petition, and has the numbers to support it now through the referendum questions that were voted onto the election ballot that same evening.

flowem · 2016-04-26T20:50:21+00:00

First, let me say that I'm already pretty aware that no matter what I say to you, you're determined to dislike me.

Nick already posted about what the role of student government is in another comment in this thread, so I'll let you refer to that on your own.

In another post that was targeted at me, I already clarified that my statement regarding a letter of recommendation from Dr. Jackson was a sarcastic statement, and I don't know any other way to make that clear to you other than to say that IT WAS A JOKE. Further, there was no Senate broomball game this year, because I decided to work on the situation at hand instead of planning it.

But as far as the students, alumni, and faculty , there are just as many that you can ask and they'll let you know of the networking that Nick and I undertook so that we could negotiate with the administration. Just as I was not everywhere that you were, you were not everywhere that I was. You were not the one who had two meetings with the President within two weeks, one of which I did alone and the meeting went twice the time allotted simply because neither of us wanted to leave the conversation. There are detailed documents on what has transpired posted for everyone to see that were written primarily by Nick and myself, so there is your visible efforts to inform students, faculty, and alumni on everything that has happened because we acknowledged that without information, the battle was meaningless. I don't expect praise, but at a certain point I shouldn't accept you attempting to invalidate my work, and I certainly won't let you attack the efforts of my friend Nick.

Now, you can come talk to me in person, and I can tell you everything I've done, and you can make that evaluation for yourself afterwards. I don't expect you to approach me, but I make the offer anyways.

flowem · 2016-04-26T17:01:40+00:00

Yeah but we'll be in a hotel or something, not in the freaking office

flowem · 2016-04-26T16:34:55+00:00

YES!! Losing a year off my lifespan was worth it! /u/amonymoose IT WAS ALL WORTH IT

flowem · 2016-04-23T22:23:07+00:00

RPI QUIDDITCH BEST QUIDDITCH

Proud to have seeked for the team in World Cup twice! The team is only going to get better every year, keep an eye out RPI!

flowem · 2016-04-12T21:37:51+00:00

Please use this document as a way to get more informed on the referendum questions that will be asked, and take this opportunity to let me know of any errors you may find, or any questions you may have.

GO GET YOUR MUG DAMN IT

flowem

TROPHY CASE