Red Army

The Red Army was founded at the beginning of the 2006-07 season as an outgrowth of the previous season's Go Be Red competition. Its goal is to be a group of active fans at RPI athletic events akin to the pep band, only without instruments.
From the Red Army website:

   Satisfy your urge to jump up and down, cheer until your muscles ache and shout until your throat
   is Rensselaer red. Our primary purpose is to support RPI athletics by making sure student fans
   are heard loud and clear. The Red Army inspires students with pride in Rensselaer by promoting
   school spirit and energizing traditions. Greater involvement in all events and by all students
   on campus—especially at sporting events—is our mission.

Though initial excitement was quite high, the Red Army has largely failed to live up to many people's expectations in its first year. This is partly due to the fact that its membership is largely freshmen who have not had the time to learn the traditions of RPI athletics (or upperclassmen who haven't bothered to do so). Its members also have generated animosity with other fans at home hockey games by standing up and partially obstructing their view of the game. They also got into the bad graces of the band after a a series of misunderstandings, culminating in a shouting match over the playing of Jump On It and an inflammatory letter in the Poly in February 2007. The band has since mended its ties with the Red Army.

Proposed Changes for the 2007-2008 Year

All of these changes were proposed in the March 21, 2007 meeting of the Red Army.

• The Red Army (student section) will encompass the entire student body. Discounted tickets will not be available for next year, nor will you have to sign up for Red Army (unless you want to be leadership).
  • 200 new t-shirts will be distributed to freshmen at SOs, and more t-shirts will be available for ~$7 apiece at the Bookstore.
• The Red Army (club) will be comprised of a president, 6 committees, and 4 liaisons as detailed below.
• There will be an attempt to put more emphasis on hockey line.
• Non-ticket related incentives are being explored, such as concessions discounts for wearing a Red Army shirt to games.
• General meetings of the Red Army will occur once a month to garner input. Leadership meetings will occur more frequently.
• Tailored cheer sheets will be made for every game. This will likely fall under the sphere of the Material Command.
• As opposed to trying to make it to every game for every sport, research will be done to find the biggest games/matches for each team so that the Red Army can be present.

Proposed Leadership Structure

• The General (President) of the Red Army will overlook the various committees and liaisons and basically be in charge.
• Committees - There will be 6 committees, each led by a Committee Chair.
  • 1. Signal Corps. (Promotions/Communications)
    • The Signal Corps. will be in charge of communicating with the student body and making sure that students get to Red Army events.
  • 2. Material Command (Spirit)
    • The Material Command will be in charge of furthering school spirit across campus at games and events. It has been suggested that a member(s) of the pep band join this committee or become the committee chair.
  • 3. Game Corps. (Game Day)
    • The Game Corps. will make sure that everything that needs to happen for tailgates, game promotions, and anything else during games gets taken care of.
  • 4. Special Ops (Special Events)
    • Special Ops is much like the Game Corps., except for special events.
  • 5. Reserve Command (Alumni Relations)
    • This position wasn't elaborated on in the meeting.
  • 6. ____________ (____________)
    • A sixth committee TBD will even up voting at 10.
• Liaisons - There will be 4 liaisons, each taking a different responsibility. These are single person jobs, which are pretty self explanatory from the title.
  • 7. Quartermaster (Treasurer)
  • 8. E-Board Liaison
  • 9. Greek/IFC Liaison
  • 10. Administrative Liaison

As soon as these positions and a focused purpose are defined for Red Army, a constitution will be drawn up. Until then, they are governed under the general constitution for a starting club as detailed by the Union.

The next meeting of the Red Army will be Wednesday, April 4th, in a location TBD.