What is GM Week?

Grand Marshal Week is an annual student-run event at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. The focus of the week is the election of new student government representatives for the next school year. The Grand Marshal is the highest elected student office at Rensselaer. Since 1865, the festivities have grown from Grand Marshal Night to a fun packed week. Many of the over 175 student clubs and organizations on campus have special activities and events during this campus-wide celebration.

When is GM Week 2013 and what's in store for this year?

GM Week 2013 will run in from Monday, April 8th - Saturday, April 13th. The committee is working hard to bring the best GM Week to you this year. Look for something big in the near future.

Want to be part of GM Week?

Come join us every week, Mondays at 7:00 PM and Thursdays at 9:00 PM in the Student Government Suite (SGS) on the 3rd floor of the Student Union.

Schedule

Elections

Elections will be held on Thursday, April 11th, 2013

For more information about elections, see elections.union.rpi.edu.

The Committee

Who we are

We are fellow RPI students who dedicate a few hours a week to bringing RPI the greatest Election Week celebrations to date!

What we do

We plan and organize a special event during the spring semester to promote the participation in student government elections. We provide a weekful of activities to promote campus community social life and reduce work related stress. Basically, we throw one of the biggest and greatest parties on campus, for one week straight. And we give you a day off from classes. Sweet, huh?

How you can contact us

Our meetings are in the Student Govenment Suite (SGS) on the 3rd floor of the Rensselaer Student Union, at 7:00pm on Mondays and 9:00pm on Thursdays.

Or you can email us here to get in contact with us.

Officers

Name	Email	Position
Amanda Leonardi	leonaa@rpi.edu	Events Coordinator
Brian Nock	nockb@rpi.edu	Communications Coordinator
Cameron Mclean	mcleac2@rpi.edu	Advisor
Elizabeth Ottman	ottmae@rpi.edu	Secretary
Geoffrey Seber	seberg@rpi.edu	Advisor
Ji Ming Hong	hongj4@rpi.edu	Vice Chairman
Melissa Mohner	mohnem@rpi.edu	Treasurer
William Schmitt	schmiw5@rpi.edu	Chairman

Members

Name	Email	Position
Allison Ahn	ahna@rpi.edu	Member
Gary Shea	sheag@rpi.edu	Advertising Coordinator
John Wallace	wallaj3@rpi.edu	Member
Marissa Halperin	halpem@rpi.edu	Club Relations
Raymond Jacobson	jacobr2@rpi.edu	Webmaster
Oliver Schultz	schulo@rpi.edu	Volunteer Firelord
Ryan Moriarty	moriar@rpi.edu	Entertainment Coordinator
Zijing Chen	chenz7@rpi.edu	Food Coordinator

History

The event most cherished and observed by the whole student body, which became a major ceremonial preserved in a relatively mild form to this date, was the Grand Marshal's election and installation. This first occurred in 1865, when Major Albert M. Harper of Pittsburgh was elected and endowed with a ceremonial sword, as was fitting in a year of war. His function was to head and represent the entire student body on all occasions in all relations, thereby giving it a formal unity. Except for a few years during the 1890's Grand Marshals were elected each year, usually in the spring, and this provided, as it were, the culminating event of the student calendar. The election was often hotly contested, and the split between fraternity and nonsociety candidates and voters was already evident in 1872.

The election customs were well established by 1882, when Independence Grove, a strangely named junior, of Chi Phi, was elected Grand Marshal. In 1883 occurred a characteristic Grand Marshal's election night on May 2 in Harmony Hall, used for many years for the purpose, and the retiring marshal was presented with a suitably inscribed gold-headed cane. The students then filed into the streets and, headed by Doring's Band, paraded through the city, with Greek fire displays and houses illuminated. They stopped at Boughton's hat store, where the new marshal was presented with a high silk hat, still used symbolically as the headgear of the office.

A common practice of the student parade was to serenade the students of the Emma Willard School, located in downtown, as well as some of the professors and school dignitaries at their homes, and they generally responded with speeches of acknowledgment. At about eleven at night the parade returned to Harmony Hall for food, drink, and high jinks. Until the wee hours of the morning, the press reported, the shouts and plaudits could be heard for blocks on the still night air. In 1883 the total expenses of the election were $212.50, raised by class assessments, and they included $28 for the hall and damages to it, $127 for the music, and $12 for the services of the 8 policemen at the hall and in the parade. In 1884, the excitement of the occasion was enhanced when the Columbia College baseball team arrived for a game and was welcomed uproariously.

The political order on the postwar Rensselaer campus was also transmitted from the past and continued to function despite discontent and the desire for reform. The Student Union as an association of all students had its roots in the nineteenth century, although its modern and formal organization dated from 1908. Its two heads, one the Grand Marshal, and the other, president of the Union, carried great prestige, and harked back to the nineteenth century. They were the occasion for an annual student campaign, election, and celebration which were encrusted with tradition and lively youthful antics. On these foundations was erected in due course a broad system of student elections, comprising class officers and members of the Student Council, in which the fraternities almost from the first played a prominent, if not dominant, role. The spring week of hectic campaigning and voting culminated in the celebration of Grand Marshal's Night. How genuinely democratic this election system is can be debated, but it has persisted as the one unifying, all-Institute event, accompanied by the frenzied excitement of electioneering characteristic of American politics generally and caricatured by the exploits and ebullience of youth.

The election of the grand marshal has undergone many changes since the position was created in 1865. In the 1880's the GM was elected by a "caucus" of students at a location off campus in an environment that might not have been conducive to intelligent voting. These 1886 Transit illustrations indicate that the process was reformed. Institute regulations, city and state laws, and changes in society have continued to modify election events. In spite of change, Rensselaer alumni share fond memories of these GM nights, days, or weeks, whether they were held on or off campus and with of without certain beverages of entertainment.

Text excerpts from "Education for a Technological Society - A sesquicentennial History of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute" by Samuel Rezneck [Professor Emeritus of History - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]

Past GMs

1865 | 1900 | 1925 | 1950 | 1975 | 2000

Years of Service	Grand Marshal	Graduation Year
1865-66	Albert M. Harper	1867	^ Top
1866-67	Frank J. Hearne	1867
1867-68	Virgil G. Bogue	1868
1868-69	John Pierpoint	1869
1869-70	Thomas O. Morris	1870
1870-71	George C. MacGregor	1871
1871-72	David Reeves	1872
1872-73	Daniel A. Tompkins	1873
1873-74	James N. Caldwell, Jr.	1874
1874-75	William L. Fox	1875
1875-76	Morris S. Verner	1876
1876-77	Coddington Billings, Jr.	1877
1877-78	George S. Davison	1878
1878-79	Robert R. Bridgers	1879
1879-80	Frederick S. Young	1880
1880-81	Thomas D. Whistler	1881
1881-82	Independence Grove	1882
1882-83	Robert J. Pratt	1883
1883-84	William A. Aycrigg	1884
1884-85	Leverett S. Miller	1885
1885-86	James E. Larrowe	1886
1886	Edward B. Ashby	1886
1886-87	Halsey B. Pomeroy	1887
1887-88	James M. Africa	1888
1888-89	Paul O. Herbert	1889
1889-90	William Easby, Jr.	1890
1894-95	Athol M. Miller	1895
1895-96	Henry B. Voorhees	1896
1896-97	Charles J. McDonough	1897
1897-98	Thomas R. Lawson	1898
1898-99	Gustave A. Keller	1899
1899-1900	Parley L. Williams, Jr.	1900
Years of Service	Grand Marshal	Graduation Year	^ Top
1900-01	James W. Davis	1901
1901-02	William H. Young	1902
1902-03	Edward W. Banker	1903
1903-04	Homer G. Whitmore	1904
1904-05	Cuyler W. Lush	1905
1905-06	William S. Lozier	1906
1906-07	Herman S. Chalfant	1907
1907-08	Horace W. Rinearson	1908
1908-09	Robert A. Searle	1909
1909-10	Carl W. Schedler, Jr.	1910
1910-11	James T. Ganson	1911
1911-12	Frank B. Watkins	1912
1912-13	Edward D. P. Gross	1913
1913-14	Philip C. Rummel, Jr.	1914
1914-15	Glenn W. Tisdale	1915
1915-16	John H. Howard	1916
1916-17	Walter L. Johnson, Jr.	1917
1917-18	Harry F. Parrott	1918
1918-19	Newell L. Nussbaumer	1919
1919-20	John Van N. Richards	1920
1920-21	John S. Thompson	1920
1921-22	Neal D. Howard	1922
1922-23	Gardner S. Staunton	1923
1923-24	William M. Stilwell, Jr.	1924
1924-25	George V. Robbins	1925
Years of Service	Grand Marshal	Graduation Year	^ Top
1925-26	H. Fuller Stearns	1926
1926-27	Marvin H. Anderson	1927
1927-28	James M. Robbins	1928
1928-29	Bernard F. Wade	1929
1929-30	Edward P. Kennedy	1930
1930-31	Richard E. Warren	1931
1931-32	Meredith H. Thompson	1932
1932-33	Howard H. Disbrow	1933
1933-34	Carl H. Wunnenberg	1934
1934-35	J. Russell Schwarting	1935
1935-36	Walter F. Powers, Jr.	1936
1936-37	Richard V. Anderson	1937
1937-38	King Ward	1938
1938-39	Eustace P. Hetzel	1939
1939-40	Henry T. Moeckel	1940
1940-41	Frank J. Sherry	1941
1941-42	William L. Hawks	1942
1942	Allen R. Stokke	1943
1942-43	Jack V. Richards	1944
1943-44	William D. Peace	1945
1945-46	Frank P. Waters	1947
1946-47	Richard L. McLaughlin	1948
1947-48	Ronald F. Ball	1949
1948-49	Daymon E. Jordan	1950
1949-50	Gerald S. Ellsworth	1950
Years of Service	Grand Marshal	Graduation Year	^ Top
1950-51	Gibson W. Smith	1951
1951-52	William F. Payne	1952
1952-53	Geraldo O. Penna	1953
1953-54	Glenn O. Brown	1954
1954-55	Robert W. Fox	1955
1955-56	Larry O. Edwards	1956
1956-57	David R. Murphy	1957
1957-58	James F. Morgan	1958
1958-59	David E. Lord	1959
1959-60	William J. Murdoch, Jr.	1960
1960-61	J. Gregory Crozier	1961
1961-62	Gary B. Garofalo	1962
1962-63	Michael D. Spear	1963
1963-64	Gordon N. McIntosh	1964
1964-65	Charles H. Harper	1965
1965-66	Dolf H. Beil	1966
1966-67	Kenneth A. Ullman	1967
1967-68	Alan P. Hald	1968
1968-69	Zachary I. Levine	1969
1969-70	W. Scott Staruch	1970
1970-71	Mark P. Rice	1971
1971-72	Thomas J. Engellenner	1972
1972-73	Robert J. Koch	1973
1973-74	Ross B. Gingrich	1973
1974-75	Donald Michael Stull	1976
Years of Service	Grand Marshal	Graduation Year	^ Top
1975-76	Gordon E. Michaels	1975
1976-77	Ira S. Tackel	1976
1977-78	Mark R. Feinstein	1977
1978-79	John A. Malitoris	1978
1979-80	Paul J. Kowalczyk	1980
1980-81	William P. Duggan	1980
1981-82	Peter Traversy	1983
1982	Jeffry A. Langan	1982
1982-83	James E. LaPosta	1980
1983-84	Mary P. Garrity	1983
1984-85	Richard E. Glassberg	1985
1985-86	John H. Cerveny	1986
1986-87	Catherine Ekstrand	1985
1987-88	Douglas K. MacKechnie	1987
1988-89	David A. Sovie	1989
1989-90	Eric M. Lambiaso	1990
1990-91	David W. O'Connor	1991
1991-92	Mark N. Fellenz	1991
1992-93	William A. Wheeler	1994
1993-94	Kristen Delvental	1994
1994-95	Sonny Jandial	1995
1995-96	Greg Waters	1997
1996-97	Kristen Trout	1997
1997-98	Mamani Datta	1998
1998-99	Erica Kulesza	1999
1999-2000	Eric Schmidt	2001
Years of Service	Grand Marshal	Graduation Year	^ Top
2000-01	Joseph Greco	2001
2001-02	Gil Valadez	2002
2002-03	Christopher Mather	2003
2003-04	Michael Borzumate	2004
2004-05	Michael J. Dillon	2005
2005-06	Max Yates	2006
2006-07	Carlos Perea	2007
2007-08	Julia Leusner	2008
2008-09	Kara Chesal	2009
2009-10	Michael Zwack	2011
2010-11	Benjamin Hunt	2011
2011	Lee Sharma
2011-12	Russell Brown	2014
2012-present	Kevin Dai	2014

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