GCCIS Senator

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Pronouns: He/Him/His

Hello yall! My name is Igor Polotai, and I am a third year Game Design & Development and History double major at RIT. I'm the Voter Engagement Leadership Scholar, leading Roar The Vote this year. I am also the President of the Tunnel Visionaries Club (helping create the Open Canvas), helped found both the Tunnel Visionaries and Archives Collective clubs, and have worked as a RIT Orientation Leader and a RIT 365 Facilitator for several sections now. But my most well known work was creating the RIT Iceberg, a compendium of the lore of RIT. I presented my work at the RIT Undergraduate Research Symposium, and then won $3,000 from the RIT History Department to chair a panel at the American Folklore Society's Annual Meeting in Albuquerque back in November. Now, I am leading a multi-department team to turn the RIT Iceberg into an ImagineRIT exhibit. After leading a coalition of several clubs and special interest houses in the repealing of the recent rock painting and chalk art policies, I became inspired to run for this position, and to become a true advocate of students.

Student government is fundamentally broken. Let me ask you: how many of you actually know who your representatives are? How many of you know what Student Government accomplished this year? Why are some positions running unopposed, and why are others having no one run at all? We are on the brink of a new change in leadership in RIT, and now is a critical time for us to advocate for student rights and voices to be recognized, and for students to have a voice in RIT policies that affect them. To this end, I have three main goals:    1) I will work to heavily reduce or remove the signature requirements to run for Student Government Elections. They allow only those involved in big clubs to get enough signatures to be able to officially run, and is a main reason why Student Government Elections have so few candidates across all positions.  2) I will get students more informed about what policies are affecting them, and how they can use their voice to fight back. Decisions are often made behind closed doors, and its time that students both knew what Student Government does for them, and what Student Government could do for them.   3) I will host weekly chats in Golisano and talk directly to all of you, so that you know your issues are being heard. I want to be held accountable by all of you, and I will work to ensure that your concerns are taken seriously.     Golisano is a massive college of almost five thousand unique students. The only way I can serve you all is if I know what issues are affecting you. But I will take each and every issue extremely seriously. Just like how I ran Roar The Vote in a critical time during the 2024 General Elections, I am confident that I can advocate for all of you in this critical transition time at RIT.    By improving Student Government, we improve the lives of all students, and that includes all of Golisano. I hope you vote for me, a candidate who puts students first. A candidate who knows the ins and outs of RIT, its past, present, and future. A candidate who will make Golisano student's voices pierce the ivory tower of Eastman.     A vote for me is a vote for you.