RPInsider

Our hearts are with those in Haiti

Post updated at 4:27pm to clarify donations.

In a commendable step to helping those affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti, RPI has announced that they will be matching donations from Faculty, Staff, and Students to the aid organizations AmeriCares, Oxfam America, and Save the Children. The ‘Tute will also donate $10,000 to each organization, for a total of $30,000, in addition to matching donations by community members. RPI has been accepting donations since the 14th and Bill Walker (Vice President for Strategic Communications and External Relations) has confirmed that the community has donated almost $12,000 already. This means that the people of Rensselaer will be sending almost $54,000 in aid to help with rescuing and rebuilding Haiti.  So much for pervasive apathy!

Yesterday, the deadline for RPI’s offer was extended to January 31st. This means there’s still time to take advantage of this opportunity to do twice as much good with your money! If you’d like to have RPI match your donations to one of the designated aid agencies, follow these instructions:

Donate direct to the organization electronically through their website:

1. Make payment to AmeriCares, Oxfam America, or Save The Children
2. Forward the electronic receipt to salval@rpi.edu

Donate electronically though RPI:

1. Go to RPI’s giving page
2. Select “Other Designation” and type “Haiti Relief Fund”
3. Enter your donation amount (no dollar sign)
4. Click “Submit Securely”

For more details, see the emails below. We are very proud to be members of the RPI community at times like this. A big sincere thanks to everyone at RPI who made this possible!

Read more…

Share Uncategorized employees, health, money, students, unity

If you’re looking for a chuckle, check out this link. WNYT, the local NBC affiliate tells the world that RPI has warned us that beer pong can spread H1N1. What’s next? WNYT reporting that RPI is telling us that kissing can spread germs, and sex can spread STIs?

And apparently beer pong is banned on campus: MyFoxPhilly. (I’d like to see them try…) Fox manages to butcher the pronunciation of Rensselaer, and then contradicts their headline in the report by saying that not playing the game is only “urged”.

Share Uncategorized health, media

This is an illustrative device to show you how your favorite RPI blog reports on stuff before the other guys.

So it seems that our top-notch uber-serious reporting has beat the local news by just under a week. We reported our first case of H1N1 last Friday, and that the magic number of cases that the local media requires before they swarm campus is 5. There have been 5 reported cases of alleged H1N1 on campus. Our favorite comment by “real” media? Tweeted by @WTEN: “Swine flu has reached the RPI campus….but youll be surprised on how students are laxed about it.” What good is fear and panic? Damn straight RPI.

Times Union story.
WTEN’s story and video here.

photo: flickr user Paul-W

Dr Lawrence’s update to the campus is after the jump:
Read more…

Share Uncategorized H1N1, health, media, Times Union, WTEN

So far swine flu has stayed off of our beloved campus. However other campuses haven’t been so lucky. The International Association for Emergency Managers has put together a H1N1 college map. (September’s map is here.) It’s worth checking out.

You may also be comforted to know that the higher-ups have been planning for worst-case scenarios. This document was sent to us and contains campus shutdown scenarios for 1-4 weeks. They some scenarios involve having finals during the last week of classes, others involve us coming back to campus in early January to finish up the fall semester. An interesting lens into the running Institute.

photo by flickr user Y

Share Uncategorized health, swine flu

This just couldn't be good.

So ha ha ha, swine flu is making its way around the world. We can all laugh about what a big deal people are making of if we want to. But in all seriousness, if it affects us all at RPI, then you are going to want to be informed. So log into SIS, update your RPIAlert information, and be sure that your current address in in the system. It takes all of about 3 seconds, and there’s really no reason not to.

If you’d like to stay very informed, the school has put together a nice website for you. In case you were wondering what our campus’ H1N1 status is, it’s listed here. At the time of publishing this post, it is “Normal.” Who knows? Maybe they’ll add some colors to make it easier for us to understand…

Share Uncategorized health, swine flu

Careful. This little guy could kill you.

It’s over. No one is safe. Swine Flu has descended upon us all. The NY Times cites that “officials expect to eventually have cases in every county in the state”. The situation is so dire that an RPIAlert was issued and sent out to subscribers warning us of the impending doom. Everybody, it’s time to panic! Call your loved ones, reserve your spot in the graveyard, and make sure that your wearing your best clothes, because who knows when the flu might hit.

On the bright side, if you want to visit Mexico, I hear that hotel rooms are nice and cheap now…

No but really, don’t be stupid. Wash your hands, and like any other germ, it is spread from person to person, so if you’re around someone who is sick, you run the risk of contracting it youself. If you notice symptoms, go get treated.

Share Uncategorized health, Mexico, NY Times, RPIAlert, swine flu

Looking around campus lately I can’t help but be a little anxious: I hope I don’t get a cold! Everyone seems to be sniffling, sneezing and coughing like the plague has set in. Well, according to some research done by some people, “sleeping less than seven hours a night has been shown to increase the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, weight gain and hardening of the arteries.” Yikes!

Well if that’s a tall order (we are students after all) then any number of these might work in addition to the standard cold meds. Oh and those tissues with lotion? A godsend.

Share Uncategorized health, weather