Year in Review 2019-2020

YEAR IN

review

THE ITHACAN | ITHACA COLLEGE 2019–20

THE ITHACAN

YEAR IN REVIEW A special publication of THE ITHACAN

Ithaca College 2019–20

Abbey London/The Ithacan

Peter Raider/The Ithacan

Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

Cora Payne/The Ithacan

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Eleanor Kay/The Ithacan

Athina Sonitis/The Ithacan

Chloe Gibson/The Ithacan

2 | YEAR IN REVIEW

YEAR IN REVIEW

2019 – 20 EDITOR

Sierra Guardiola DESIGNER

Nicole Peter COVER PHOTOS

PHOTO EDITOR

Kristen Harrison PROOFREADER

Zoë Freer-Hessler Alisha Tamarchenko & Courtesy of the C. Hadley Smith Photograph Collection, Ithaca College Archives

THE ITHACAN EDITOR IN CHIEF

Sophia Adamucci MANAGING EDITOR

Zoë Freer-Hessler

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORS

DESIGN EDITORS

PHOTO EDITORS

ASSISTANT DESIGN EDITORS

Lauren White Arla Davis

Ashae Forsythe

Kristen Harrison Molly Bailot Abbey London

OPINION EDITORS

ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS

COMMUNITY OUTREACH MANAGER

Brontë Cook Kate Sustick NEWS EDITORS

Madison Fernandez Falyn Stempler ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORS

Alexis Manore Ashley Stalnecker Cora Payne LIFE & CULTURE EDITOR

Avery Alexander ASSISTANT LIFE & CULTURE EDITOR

Arleigh Rodgers SPORTS EDITOR

Emily Adams

Anna Costa Maya Rodgers

Erika Liberati Dayna Thomas

WEB DIRECTOR

Molly Bailot Abbey London Reed Freeman

Sam Edelstein

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGERS

Jessica Elman Frankie Walls

MULTIMEDIA EDITORS

Adriana Darcy Nick Macaluso Erika Perkins Alison True

SALES MANAGER

Jordan Herson

ITHACAN ADVISER

Michael Serino

PODCAST EDITOR

Jackie Marusiak

CHIEF COPY EDITOR

Becky Mehorter PROOFREADER

Emily Lussier

ASSISTANT PROOFREADER

Lauren Leone

© 2019–20 | THE ITHACAN

YEAR IN REVIEW | 3

Senior Chaim Goodman waves a flag during the third quarter of the 61st Annual Cortaca Jug game.

Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

CO N T NEWS

4 | YEAR IN REVIEW

08 World News

20 Campus News Photo Spread 22 Coronavirus Impact on IC 26 To Those Who Stayed 30 Changes in Leadership 32 In Memorium

34 Big Changes 35 Tuition Increase 36 CAPS Improvements 37 CAPS Changes Help Students 38 Health Center Updates 39 Supporting Athletes 40 In-House Dining Program 41 Shopping Local 42 Park Scholar Endowment 43 Bob Iger Scholarship 44 Higher Education and Climate Change 46 STEM Additions

48 Demanding Action 49 Concerns with Administration 50 Climate Strike 52 Theater Class Speaks Up

Recognizing Racism 54 Faculty as Allies 56 Support for Adjunct Faculty 57 Labor Unions 58 Shower of Stoles 60 How Journalism Can Grow 62 Australian Wild Fires 64

66 Bright Ideas THRIVE 67 International Faculty 68 New Clubs on Campus 70 Community-Centered Apps 72 Longform Radio Production 73 Student Activism 74 Music Professor Recognized 76 Ad-Lab Brings Home a Win 77 Going Green 78 Sensory Room for Cortaca 79

80 Building Community Bomberthon 81 Social Justice Through Music 82 Project Embolden 83 Friendship Donation Network 84 Students Volunteer in Campaigns 85

ENTS

YEAR IN REVIEW | 5

Life &

SPORTS

Culture

86 Photo Spread 88 Student Builds Personal Brand 90 Gaming Fosters Friendly Competition 92 Drag Queen Story Hour 93 Step Team 94 The Bookery Closes Its Doors

118 Photo Spread Playing with Pride 120 Fall Sports See Success 122 Runner Parley Hannan 123 Cortaca 124 Barrack’s Bracelets 128

95 Press Bay Alley Offers Retail Space

Club to Support Athletes of Color 129

96 Food Insert

Mental Health of Injured Athletes 130

100 Bob Dylan Comes to Campus 101 Student Finds Passion as DJ 102 Astronomy Club

Club Baseball Makes Vasity Field Debut 132 Kayaking for a Cause 133 All-Around Competitor 134

104 Composer Draws on Identity

Student Body Builders 135

105 Students Jam at Towers Marketplace

Success off South Hill 136

106 Politics Meets Printing 108 Intercultural Fashion Show 110 TikTok Takes Off 111 Students Start Personal Businesses

112 Reviews 113 Music 114 Movies 116 Video Games 117 Popped Culture

Pole Vault Program 138 Basketball Senior Makes Mark 140 Track and Field Earn National Ranking 141 Quarterback Sneak 142 Ping Pong Club 143 Varsity Athletes Practice Yoga 144 Field Hockey Team Adopts Cancer Patient 145 Annual Rumble and Tumble 146

6 | FROM THE EDITORS

SIERRA GUARDIOLA Editor, Year in Review

W

The Ithacan

“We appreciate now more than ever the good news of the world. this book is full of that.”

– Sierra Guardiola

FROM THE EDITORS | 7

SOPHIA ADAMUCCI Editor in Chief, The Ithacan

The Ithacan The Ithacan The Ithacan

The Ithacan

“it is important now more than ever to document the world, since it seems to change with each day.”

– Sophia Adamucci

8 | GLOBAL NEWS

2019–20

GLOBAL

GLOBAL NEWS | 9

NEWS TIMELINE

10 | GLOBAL NEWS

AUGUST 2019

WILDFIRES BLAZE IN THE AMAZON

VICTOR MORIYAMA/GETTY IMAGES

The Amazon wildfires in Brazil were the worst the country has experienced since 2010, with fires intensifying during the month. Areas in northern Brazil felt the impact of these fires most severely.

While fires are common during the dry season in Brazil, which lasts from July to October, the number of fires recorded during the first eight months of the year in 2019 almost doubled as compared to the number in 2018. Many of these fires are believed to be caused by farmers and loggers clearing land.

VAPING-RELATED DEATHS The first death from a lung illness related to vaping was reported in Illinois. Mysterious lung illnesses related to vaping, most of which have been found in teens and young adults, are under investigation by state and federal organizations. Officials have not yet determined all dangerous chemicals found in vaping producst that are related to these illnesses.

BERNARD TRONCALE/THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS

DEATH OF JEFFERY EPSTEIN Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his jail cell Aug. 10. His death was ruled a suicide by the medical examiner. Epstein was a convicted sex offender who was in jail for federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York. All criminal charges against Epstein were dropped Aug. 29 because of his death.

NEW YORK STATE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY

GLOBAL NEWS | 11

SEPTEMBER 2019 THUNBERG ADDRESSES U.N. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, 17, addressed the United Nations at the Climate Action Summit on Sept. 23. Thunberg gave a speech that called out world leaders for not doing enough to combat climate change. Her speech, which caught the attention of people worldwide and was shared widely on social media, called out leaders for “betraying young people” with their inaction.

KAY NIETFIELD/DPA/ZUMA PRESS

JOHN BOLTON OUT President Donald Trump fired John Bolton as his National Security Advisor on Sept. 10. Bolton was Trump’s third national security advisor since assuming the role of president. Bolton was fired due to differences regarding how to handle major foreign affair policies. His departure from the White House was disagreed with on Twitter, with Trump stating he was fired and Bolton stating he resigned.

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS

HUFFMAN PLEADS GUILTY Actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison after pleading guilty to charges in the national college admissions scandal. The investigation looked into if and how wealthy parents interfered with their childrens’ admittance into elite schools. Huffman pleaded guilty to paying $15,000 to have her daughter’s answers on her SAT exam inflated. Huffman was sentenced to a $30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and a year of probation.

PAT GREENHOUSE/THE BOSTON GLOBE/GETTY IMAGES

OCTOBER 2019 12 | GLOBAL NEWS

ANTONIO PEREZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

CHICAGO TEACHERS DEMAND CHANGE Teachers in Chicago Public Schools went on strike for 11 days to demand contract negotiations, including more resources for teachers and salary increases. The strike ended Oct. 31 and was one of the longest in recent history. Chicago Public Schools is the third-largest school district in the country. Approximately 300,000 students returned to the classroom once issues reached a resolution.

BILES BRINGS HOME GOLD Simone Biles collected her 21st World Gymnastics medal for Team USA on Oct. 8. Biles’ gold medal marked the fifth-consecutive win of a world championship for Team USA. This win set the record for most medals won in women’s gymnastics history. Biles scored the highest individual points on the floor exercise, vault and balance beam during the meet.

JAMIE SQUIRE/ GETTY IMAGES

CALIFORNIA BANS FURS California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a state-wide ban on fur, the first of its kind, into effect Oct. 12. This ban prohibits the sale and manufacturing of fur products after 2023.

The ban excludes second-hand fur products, and products used by Native Americans for spiritual or cultural purposes. The state-wide law follows similar bans that were passed by several cities in California over the past two years.

AL SEIB/LOS ANGELES TIMES

NOVEMBER 2019

GLOBAL NEWS | 13

KEYSTONE PIPELINE LEAKS A leak in the Keystone Pipeline had a dramatic effect on the land in the surrounding area of North Dakota. Approximately 209,100 square feet of land was affected by the estimated 383,000 gallons of oil that leaked. The pipeline was shut down Oct. 29 when the leak was discovered and was reopened Nov. 10.

SHANNON PATRICK/FLICKR

FAMILY KILLED IN MEXICO Three women and six children were murdered in northwest Mexico. The group was traveling on a country road via car when they were ambushed by gunmen.

The women and children who were victims in the attack were part of the LeBaron family who are members of the breakaway Mormon sect that is based approximately 80 miles from the United States border.

The victims were dual citizens of Mexico and the United States.

HERIKA MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES

DISNEY+ DEBUTS The new streaming service from The Walt Disney Company, Disney+, made its debut Nov. 12. The launch included 500 films and 7,500 television episodes available for users to stream.

The service comes at a price of a $7 a month and offers subscribers a range of options from Pixar to Marvel movies. On the day of the launch, 10 million people subscribed to the service.

14 | GLOBAL NEWS

DECEMBER 2019 JOHN BOREN/GETTY IMAGES

WHITE ISLAND VOLCANO ERUPTS

On the afternoon of December 9, an active volcano erupted on New Zealand’s Whakaari White Island.

There were 47 tourists at this popular destination when it erupted. The incident left 21 people dead and 26 more injured. The island’s alert level had been raised from 1 to 2, indicating that there could be increased volcanic unrest.

TRUMP FACES IMPEACHMENT The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump for the abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The House, which is under Democratic control, approved two articles of impeachment. Every Republican in the House voted against impeachment. In February, he was acquitted of the charges.

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

PROTESTS IN BAGHDAD

Protesters stormed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad two days after U.S. warplanes struck positions of Kataib Hezbollah, a top paramilitary faction that is backed by Iran. Thousands of protesters aligned with an Iraqi paramilitary group protested at the Embassy in response to the strikes that killed 25 people and left 51 others injured.

AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

JANUARY 2020

GLOBAL NEWS | 15

KOBE BRYANT DIES NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, on Jan. 26. The helicopter was en route to a travel basketball game for the Mamba Sports Academy, the team Gianna and others in the crash were members of. A massive outpouring of love for the fallen superstar, his daughter and the other passengers on board occurred on social media.

ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES

EARTHQUAKES IN PUERTO RICO

On Jan. 7, the island of Puerto Rico experienced an earthquake of 6.4 magnitude. The island had been affected by hundreds of small earthquakes since the end of December, which led up to the powerful quake that occurred Jan. 7. The earthquake affected the island dramatically, and it is still working to rebuild after the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017, which left many in shelters or without power or water.

ANTONIO PEREZ/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

U.S. RELATIONS WITH IRAN On Jan. 3, the U.S. used drones to kill General Qassem Soleimani, the nation’s top general, and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis at an airport in Baghdad. Iran responded five days later by launching missiles at two bases in Iraq housing U.S. soldiers. On Jan. 9, President Donald Trump issued sanctions against Iran in response to the missile strikes.

AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

16 | GLOBAL NEWS

FEBRUARY 2020 CHIEFS WIN THE SUPERBOWL

ANGELA WEISSAFP/GETTY IMAGES

The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-20 to win Super Bowl LIV. The Chiefs came back from a 10-point deficit during the fourth quarter, racking up 21 more points to win the game. The last time the Chiefs won a championship game was during the 1969 season.

BOB IGER STEPS DOWN AS CEO Bob Iger announced Feb. 25 that he would step down from his post of CEO of the Walt Disney Co. effective immediately. He has held this role for 15 years, and previously said he would be stepping down in 2021. Iger announced he will act as executive chairman until his contract ends Dec. 31, 2021, in order to ease the transition for his predecessor Bob Chapek. Chapek formerly held the position of chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.

JAY L. CLENDENIN/LOS ANGELES TIMES

BANKRUPTCY CLAIMS

The Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy Feb. 18 in Delaware. The organization has been facing financial instability amidst lawsuits from men who were allegedly sexually abused as scouts.

The organization has been exploring the possibility of bankruptcy since 2011 when they hired a firm for potential Chapter 11 filing, which is a filing that reorganizes a business to help it stay alive.

JOHN J. KIM/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

MARCH 2020

GLOBAL NEWS | 17

DOW JONES PLUMMETS The Dow Jones went into a bear market on March 11. This change marked the end to the longest bull market in history, which started in March 2009. A bear market is when stock indexes drop by 20% or more and stay low for a few months. The sudden decline is the fastest the market has seen since the Great Depression, which was the worst bear market in history followed by the Great Recession. The decline worsened dramatically after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

RICHARD DREW/AP PHOTO

SUPER TUESDAY Joe Biden, who had been trailing Bernie Sanders since early on in the Democratic primaries, won 10 states on Super Tuesday held March 3.

Sanders came out of Super Tuesday with four of the 14 states and one U.S. territory that held their primaries on this day. A total of 1,357 delegates, 34% of all delegates, were on the table during Super Tuesday. A candidate needs just 1,991 delegates to win the presidential nomination from the party. Sanders’ big win of the night was taking California and its 415 delegates.

AL SEIB/LOS ANGELES TIMES

18 | GLOBAL NEWS

APRIL 2020 NFL DRAFT The NFL Draft was held via videoconferencing April 23–25 due to COVID-19 restrictions. The first round of the draft kicked off April 23 at 8 p.m. Joe Burrow, former quarterback at Louisiana State University who led his team to a national championship win, was the number 1 overall pick in the draft. The Cincinnati Bengals picked Burrow to join their team for the 2020 season.

Burrow was also the winner of the 85th Heisman trophy for the 2019 season.

TODD KIRKLAND/GETTY IMAGES

SANDERS DROPS OUT OF RACE Bernie Sanders dropped out of the Democratic race for president on April 8. This was Sanders’ second run for the White House, following a run against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Sanders and Joe Biden were the two democrats still campaigning for the Democratic presidential bid. Sanders concession signified that Biden will be the presumptive Democratic nominee.

JOHN J. KIM/CHICAGO TRIBUNE

GLOBAL NEWS | 19

MAY 2020 UNEMPLOYMENT RATES RISE

Unemployment rates reached their highest since the Great Depression due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of May 8, the U.S. economy lost 20.5 million jobs with unemployment rates reaching 14.7%. In February just before the pandemic, the U.S. saw a jobless rate of just 3.5%, the lowest it had seen in 50 years.

Many states and local governments announced stay-at-home orders during the pandemic, which limited Americans from going into work unless they were considered essential workers, causing many companies to lay off or furlough workers. Those who filed for unemployment voiced complaints about waiting long periods of time before receiving unemployment benefits.

STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL

THE LAST DANCE ESPN released its long-awaited 10-part documentary series “The Last Dance,” which follows basketball legend Michael Jordan and the 1997–98 Chicago Bulls during their championship-winning season.

Much of the footage used in the series was shot during their championship season when an NBA Entertainment crew followed the team. The series premiere was pushed up to April 19, with a new episode released every Sunday through June 7. According to ESPN Press Room, the series averaged 5.8 million viewers across the premieres of the first six episodes.

ESPN/NETFLIX

20 | NEWS

Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado speaks at the All-College Gathering on Aug. 29, 2019. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

21 | NEWS

news

22 | NEWS

PANDEMIC UPROOTS SEMESTER

Coronavirus has major impact on remainder of school year

BY FALYN STEMPLER

Like colleges and universities across the country, Ithaca College closed campus for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

NEWS | 23 Ithaca College closed its campus and switched to online learning for the remainder of Spring 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to move to remote learning was announced March 17 in a campuswide email from President Shirley M. Collado. “I ask for your continued patience as we

meeting that students had the option to take classes S/D/F for the spring semester. Normally students can only take one class per semester S/D/F and can only use a total of four S/D/F options during their academic career. She advised students to speak to their academic advisers before making a decision because

such as students who will have to pay rent for college can allocate up to $500 per student.

In a email sent to the campus community classes and events for the months of June and July were canceled. The college also announced via email that it will be suspending support for all

your understanding that we are doing our very

said in the email.

The senior leadership team updated students about how the college planned to move forward during the COVID-19 pandemic via Zoom on April 3.

The team addressed concerns about grading

GPA requirements.

Cornish also said the college will look at cumulative GPAs to allow some students requirements to take courses S/D/F.

credit refunds.

The room and board refund will allow the college to analyze student refunds on a case-by-case basis because students can opt for this meeting is one of many virtual meetings that the college would host to interact with the community and answer questions and concerns.

70 questions were submitted in advance in addition to questions submitted live during the Zoom session. is keeping the Ithaca and Ithaca College communities safe.

our collective [community]. We have students and families members right now negotiating

academic year. “This decision is driven by two factors: A prioritization of the safety of our college and local communities by mitigating the risk that comes with international travel during a Collado said in the email.

to the Tompkins County Health Department.

The total number of people tested in Tompkins Collado sent an email to the campus community April 8 detailing how students will be refunded for room and board.

Koehler said the college is revisiting

circumstances for many students and their families.

She encouraged students whose

also encouraged students to complete their FAFSA forms.

The college has also established an emergency relief fund to help students who

deaths were recorded at that point.

phase of reopening of businesses in accordance with guidelines set by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The region met criteria set forth by the governor allowing them to begin the

other low-risk businesses. Social distancing guidelines are still in place during the phased reopening. The Finger Lakes and Mohawk Valley were the only other two regions in New York State that also met the criteria for reopening at the time.

The college took a phased approach when making decisions that affected the remainder of the on-campus semester. Athina Sonitis/The Ithacan

24 | NEWS

COVID-19 AT IC Timeline of the virus’ impact on campus REPORTING BY FALYN STEMPLER, ALEXIS MANORE, CORA PAYNE, EMILY ADAMS AND SIERRA GUARDIOLA

MARCH 13, 2020

The college’s campus closed March 17 when President Shirley M. Collado announced the semester would move online. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH

The college and the Liberty League announced March 13 that all spring athletic competitions are canceled for the 2020 season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference’s decision comes in the wake of athletic cancellations across all levels of sport.

The NCAA announced March 12 that it was canceling all remaining winter and spring sports championships for 2020. In a statement, the Liberty League presidents announced that the league will advocate for the NCAA to restore a season of eligibility for the student-athletes who are impacted by the cancellations. The NCAA announced March 30 that spring athletes would receive another year of eligibility due to season cancellations.

MARCH 11, 2020 Ithaca College extended spring break for one week and moved to remote instruction from March 23 to April 3. In an email sent March 11 to the campus community, President Shirley M. Collado announced the college would continue spring break until March 20. Then, the college would hold classes online from March 23 to April 3. Students were expected to be able to return to campus April 5, with in-person classes restarting April 6. The email stated that the college may have to extend remote instruction throughout the end of the semester.

JANUARY 21, 2020 The first case of Coronavirus, the disease caused

by COVID-19, was recorded Jan. 21 in Washington. The patient had recently returned to the U.S. from Wuhan, China, where the virus originated.

The virus then spread to all 50 states. The number of cases in the U.S. reached 1,384,930 as of May 14.

New York state currently has the most cases with 343,051 positive tests, according to the New York State Department of Health.

Courtesy of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention

MARCH 14, 2020 The New York State Department of Health confirmed a positive case of COVID-19 in Tompkins County, according to the Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) on March 14. The individual had been in isolation since their samples were sent for testing. TCHD nurses conducted an investigation to determine if there were additional exposures, the statement said.

The sample was tested positive at the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center in Albany, New York, and sent to the CDC for confirmation, the statement said.

NEWS | 25

MARCH 17, 2020 According to a campuswide email sent March 17, Ithaca College would continue remote instruction for the remainder of the semester and commencement. The email also stated that commencement was moved to Aug. 1 for the Class of 2020. The decision to move online for the remainder of the semester was in response to precautionary measures outlined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and New York State that banned gatherings of over 50 people for at least the next eight weeks, said Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado via the campuswide email.

Courtesy of Devin Kasparian

APRIL 3, 2020

The senior leadership team updated students about how the college planned to move forward during the COVID-19 pandemic via Zoom on April 3. During the meeting, La Jerne Cornish, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, announced that the affiliated London Center and New York City programs were canceled for the 2020–21 academic year. However, the Los Angeles program would remain open but close for summer 2020.

The programs are anticipated to reopen for summer 2021. In an email sent March 31 to students planning to study abroad during the 2020–21 academic year, the college said it was closing the programs “to redirect its resources to the re-opening of the Ithaca campus, the return to full-time operation, and to re-engagement with its student body.”

Courtesy of Carly Swanson

APRIL MARCH 31, 2020

MARCH 15, 2020 A member of the Ithaca College campus community tested positive for COVID-19, according to an announcement from Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado on March 15. The IC community member who tested positive was placed under “mandatory isolation” in their home, the announcement said. They reported to Tompkins County Health Department (TCHD) on March 5 that they were experiencing symptoms shortly before the college’s spring break. There were 12 members of the IC community who had been identified as possibly being exposed to COVID-19 through interactions with the individual, the announcement said.

Ithaca College canceled all on-campus classes and events for the months of June and July due to public health concerns regarding COVID-19, according to a campuswide email sent April 23. This decision, made by the college’s senior leadership team, was specific to on-campus classes and events and did not reflect when faculty and staff would be able to return to campus for work. Faculty and staff at the college were creating virtual summer opportunities for students, according to the email. The college also announced via email that it will be suspending support for all college-sponsored international trips for faculty, staff and students for the next academic year.

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

APRIL 23, 2020 The college established an emergency relief fund to help students who experienced immediate financial hardship, such as students who pay rent for off-campus housing, Cornish said. She said the college could allocate up to $500 per student. This fund could also be used for emergency travel costs, shipping and storage costs, food and academic needs.

Students were able to apply for financial support from the emergency relief fund online.

26 | NEWS

TO THOSE

who stayed

A photo essay on Ithaca’s remaining student population

BY KRISTEN HARRISON On March 17 when Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado announced via email that the college would extend remote instruction through the rest of the rapidly-moving

COVID-19

virus

would

and live.

Even with the remainder of the on-campus academic year canceled and a majority of the campus buildings closed, many students chose to continue living in Ithaca. An estimated 160

students still remain in the area as of April 9, Doreen Hettich-Atkins, director of strategic planning and administration for the Division email. She said she predicts the actual number of remaining students to be higher.

SENIORS

COLIN BOYD, MELANIE MARSH, SAM UNGER , ARY STEWART & KAL HERTAFELD “Our neighbor Linda is the garden master.”

inspired them to create a small garden in front of their house. She’s also read Marsh’s tarot cards from her window.

have a meal chart. Since we all have more time on our hands we’ve been cooking some really nice meals for each other.

been helping us improve our garden, has been letting us use her tools and giving us already started plants that we can put into our ground like strawberries, lilies and irises.

relationship with her, which was nice because when there are so many things going on I feel like people don’t connect with their neighbors as much because we’re always on the go. been this invaluable resource for local, good, reasonably priced food. I think it’s really taking care of itself right now. places where you can get free food. People want to help each other out here which is really nice.

NEWS | 27 JUNIORS

TERESA GELSOMINI, RONEE GOLDMAN & RAFAEL LÓPEZ “I’m introducing myself to my coworkers, but I don’t know what their smile looks like.” during quarantine. Three roommates turned to four when they welcomed a friend to stay with them whose musical tour was canceled. Goldman works on campus at the information desk and Gelsomini started a job at the new GreenStar location.

co-workers. I’m introducing myself to them when they’re wearing their mask. I don’t even really know the full identity of my co-workers because we would chat and we laugh and smile, but I don’t know what their smile looks like. That makes me really sad, but it’s also kind of nice because I’m making more eye contact with people. feeling, us included, we are suddenly expected to have all this time to do extra things when sometimes we feel even busier than we were before —

so sedentary. I want to be more active because before you at least

SENIOR

MATT MASTRANGELO “I felt like this is where I want to be even though there’s nobody here.” every day from his porch of the Garden Apartments. He’s one of the hotspots of COVID-19. His three roommates have left and he is almost certain that no one else remains in his building.

“The only thing I’ve been doing is sleeping until noon at the earliest. I’m doing any and all of my homework the second it gets assigned and then spending the remainder of my free time watching movies. I’ve watched over 75 movies. I spend a majority of the warm, nice days sitting on this balcony with a beer in my hand, listening to music. I watch the empty TCAT I don’t really leave and I’m kind of okay with it. I think part of the reason I stayed is because I’m a senior and regardless of nobody being here, regardless of the rest of the semester being stripped away, I deserve to stay if I wanted to. I felt like

28 | NEWS SENIORS

CONNOR DUFFY & BRIAN JOHNSON “In quarantine, tomorrow is just today again.”

quarantine motivation.

didn’t want to leave Connor alone in the house. keep you company. So I stayed behind because over spring break, I was one of the stupid people that traveled not knowing that things would be as bad as they were. I couldn’t get the thought out of my head that if I go back, there’s anyone else. to bed late at like 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. and waking up late at like 11 a.m. or noon. sort of end up blending together. I don’t feel like I’ve done that much or achieved anything interesting. There’s plenty of people that are doing a lot in quarantine and they’re using it as a time to better themselves and I should be doing that.

work. On the bright side, there are a couple things where I always told myself if I had more time I would do this more that I’ve been doing. I’ve been calling my girlfriend a lot more because I have the time to do that now. to just being near people. Quarantine has helped me realize the really close, other and you’re still connected with those people. It’s been sad to lose some of those day-to-day acquaintances, but I also think it strengthens some of the long-term friendships that I’ve had.

SENIOR

REBECCA VAN DER MEULEN “I stayed in quarantine so I knew that I would be safe to go home.”

Since the start of spring break, van der Meulen had lived alone in her apartment. She heavily self-quarantined so that she could go home to see her older parents, who are at higher risk of catching the virus. She packed her things and returned home the day she was photographed.

“I stayed in quarantine so I knew that I would be safe my parents and brother, and I’ll be helping out doing the things that they can’t do because of the pandemic. I’ll be helping out with groceries, picking up food, anything that has to be done outside of our property. I should be hanging out with all my senior friends right now. And we should all be partying and getting drunk. And hugging people.

It’s really weird to have to take online classes while being walking distance from school. It’s making me think more about the things we take for granted like human contact

NEWS | 29 SENIOR

JESS COMPETIELLO “I get to spend more time enjoying Ithaca.”

As a member of the track team, Competiello spent a good deal of her college career practicing and traveling for meets.

She has used her newfound free time to connect with the outdoors.

“I try three days a week to go to Cornell to volunteer with Cayuga Medical Center to make medical masks. I’m a sewer’s assistant, so I’ll chop all the masks and wire them and just whatever the people on the actual machines need help with. I get to spend more time enjoying Ithaca, which is kind of ironic due to the situation. I brought bikes back so I bike all around for hours and I go to go to a gorge every day and do all these big hikes because I just never had the time to before. I felt like we were supposed to be here anyway. I still kind of get some time here and enjoy how beautiful it is here. And going home, I would have felt like I didn’t

NICOLE MARINO ‘19,

FIFTH-YEAR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY STUDENT

ABBY CHIROKAS & CARLY HOUGH JUNIOR

“I feel like with the stillness and extra time, I’m definitely more creative.”

After being forced to leave her on-campus apartment, Hough moved into an apartment with Marino and Chirokas. Marino

soon and then I’ll be outside and not doing school. It feels really safe here. it feels somewhat normal sometimes just like minus the face public spaces, just walking through The Commons and seeing all the businesses closed. working on photo projects, working on my Etsy store, just trying too much TV. a live-in nanny. I’m also running my business on top of that.

Since I used a machine in our local maker space to make all my products and that local maker space is now closed, I decided to buy a $6,000 laser cutter to put in my bedroom and continue running my business even through the pandemic.

making earrings. I’m working on some projects for myself, like a poetry collection.

more creative.

30 | NEWS

CHANGES IN LEADERSHIP Two deans announce plans to step down from roles

Dave Burbank/ Courtesy of Ithaca College

KARL PAULNACK Dean, School of Music

Karl Paulnack announced he would step down as dean of the School of Music at the end of the academic year.

Paulnack has served as dean of the School of Music since he returned to campus in 2013.

Paulnack previously served as an associate professor of piano at the college from 1986 to 1997. It was during this time that he created a new degree program for students, the bachelor of music in performance collaborative emphasis degree program.

During his time serving as dean, he helped with the successful reaccreditation of the School of Music by the National Association of Schools of Music. This reaccreditation lasts through the 2027–28 academic year.

He also recently helped establish the Masters of Business Administration degree in entertainment and media management. Although housed in the School of Business, this integrative degree is taught by faculty in business, communications and music so students can learn the Outside of his work with the college, Paulnack has seen personal success as a musician. He has played thousands of concerts in North America, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Macedonia, Norway, Romania and Russia. He currently also serves as the music director and coach of the Contemporary Opera Lab of Winnipeg at the University of Manitoba in Canada.

Maxine Hansford/The Ithacan

DIANE GAYESKI

Dean, Roy H. Park School of Communications the Roy H. Park School of Communications, Diane Gayeski ’74 announced she would step down as dean. Gayeski returned to Ithaca College in 1979 after earning both a Master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. Her dedication to improving her alma matter is seen through the many projects she has spearheaded and been a part of, as well as her support for student media.

During her time at the college, Gayeski developed a and distinguished visitors. She also developed the S’Park Media Mentor Awards that honor high school teachers and advisors who inspire students to pursue paths in media. Other programs she introduced to the college include Women in Media Month, the Rod Serling Award for Advancing Social Justice Through Popular Media and the John Keshishoglou Center for Global Communications Innovation.

Aside from her work at the college, Gayeski consults with various organizations about adopting and training Gayeski Analytics.

Gayeski will continue to stay on as faculty at the college as a professor in the Department of Strategic Communication.

She also plans to assist the administration with alumni ambassador for the Ithaca Forever strategic plan.

NEWS | 31

DEAN SEARCHES PLACED ON HOLD UNTIL OCTOBER Interim deans will fill roles for 2020–21 academic year

BY ASHLEY STALNECKER The dean searches for the Ithaca College School of Music and Roy H. Park School of Communications will be postponed until October 2020, said La Jerne Cornish, provost and senior vice president for Faculty Council meeting April 7.

“In this time of crisis, I could not in good conscience make two big hires when I know

result of decreased enrollment as a result of COVID-19,” Cornish said.

The music school dean candidates visited the college before spring break, but the Park School candidates participated in Zoom sessions after the extended spring break. Both schools’ sitting deans, Karl Paulnack, dean of the music school, and Diane Gayeski, dean of the Park School, announced they would step down at the end of Spring 2020.

A collegewide email was sent out April 8 notifying the campus community of the decision to postpone the searches, Cornish said. She said she planned to reach out to faculty members in the respective schools to

nominate faculty members to serve as interim deans for the 2020–21 academic year. On May 20, the college announced that Jack Powers, associate professor and current chair of the Department of Media Arts, Sciences and Studies, will serve as the interim dean for the Park School. It was also announced that Keith Kaiser, Dana professor in the Department of Music Education, will serve as the interim dean for the School of Music.

Cornish said the college expects to hire new deans for the 2021–22 academic year.

Janice Levy, professor in the Department of Media Arts, Sciences and Studies, said via the public chat function of the Zoom meeting that she did not understand Cornish’s rationale because the schools still need deans.

Cornish said the college wants to two major positions currently.

All candidates for the searches were in the dean positions at the college, Cornish said.

Jason Harrington, associate professor in

the Department of Media Arts, Sciences and Studies, asked if the college will have to start over in the search process.

Cornish said that if the candidates are hired somewhere else, the college may have to restart the searches. Otherwise, she said, the searches will resume with the current candidates.

“We brought in excellent candidates in each school,” Cornish said. “It is my hope that when we resume, we will be able to top candidate pool to begin to be the dean to start in the Fall of ’21.”

Harrington said he is worried that the college will lose strong candidates if it postpones the searches.

“We really could have lost something really big here,” Harrington said.

Phil Blackman, assistant professor in the Department of Accounting and Business Law, said the college was making a good decision to save money.

“Our responsibility is the curriculum,” Blackman said. “We need a curriculum that attracts students.”

Members of the Ithaca College Faculty Council met via Zoom on April 7 to discuss search updates. Ashley Stalnecker/The Ithacan

32 | NEWS

IN MEMORIUM Ithaca College mourns the loss of community members REPORTING BY ALEXIS MANORE, CORA PAYNE AND LAUREN WHITE

Courtesy of Ithaca College Men’s Club Soccer

JASE BARRACK

Courtesy of Ithaca College/photo by Sheryl Sinkow

SUE-JE GAGE

Ithaca College student Jase Barrack died May 9, 2019, after his family decided to remove him from life support following an injury Barrack studied in the School of Health Sciences and Human

have informed the campus community via email that Sue-Je Gage, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, died “Our hearts break with this loss, and our thoughts are with her

The news was announced in a statement to the college community

this tragedy, which comes at a time when our campus community is collectively celebrating the end of the academic year,” Collado in our thoughts and prayers, and to please continue to look out for “She was an approachable and neutral listener, an insightful thoughtful guidance to chairs, deans, and the provost in addressing Previously, she was a member of the inaugural cohort of To honor his memory, junior Erin Capozzi and seniors

keychains in his honor, all bearing the saying “Just happy to The three hope the company can raise enough money to give

Gage participated in the HERS Institute, a leadership development

NEWS | 33

MICHAEL PALUMBO Ithaca College campus community members gathered Nov. 8, 2019, at the Muller Chapel for a service in memorial for Michael Palumbo, a residence director for upper Terraces who died Nov. 7, 2019.

Palumbo, 28, died in his on-campus residence. No foul play is suspected, Rosanna Ferro, vice president of the Division of Student announcement to the campus community Nov. 7, 2019. Palumbo joined the college’s director for Terraces Residence Halls 7–13.

Hierald Osorto, director of religious and spiritual life, welcomed attendees to the service.

Osorto read the poem “A Blessing for the Brokenhearted” by Jan Richardson during the service. say the breaking makes us stronger or that it is better to have this pain than to have done without this love,” read Osorto.

Senior Kayla Shuster shared a statement from Shadae Mallory, residence director for lower Terraces. Mallory could not attend the service but wanted Shuster to share a message on their behalf, Shuster said.

“Mike was a lover of quotes, and he shared this with me early in our relationship,” Shuster read. “Neil deGrasse Tyson has said, ‘We are part of this universe; we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.’ Mike may not be with us physically anymore, but he will always be a part of this universe no matter what we believed about the afterlife.”

Those that attended were invited to light candles in remembrance of Palumbo and partake in a moment of silence in his memory.

Courtesy of LinkedIn

SUSAN LOWE equestrian and trainer of the Ithaca College Equestrian Team, died after a tough battle with Freeville, New York, where the team trains and spends quality time. farm in 1979, and they welcomed the equestrian team to train on the farm in 2002. Head coach Audra Ravo-Putnam ’05 started coaching years, and now she has been the head coach since 2011. horses and her facilities, the program wouldn’t have grown nearly to what it is today,” Ravo-Putnam said. “She opened up essentially her home to us to ride at. … Now we have between 25 and 30 riders on the team every year, and we are in the top few teams in the region every year. We send kids to nationals, which we had never done before.”

Ravo-Putnam said that when she became coaching position in addition to being the farm and horse owner for the club. Ravo-Putnam said a heart of gold.

“She basically was like their grandmother,” Ravo-Putnam said. “They saw her tough side, but then they realize that it made them a stronger person as well, not just riding but as a person in general.” for her horsemanship and teaching her students how to truly be a horse person and how to value Ravo-Putnam said the team will continue to train at If Only Farm.

Courtesy of Genevieve Declerck

CAROL SERLING Carol Serling, an 18-year-long member of the Ithaca College Board of Trustees, died Jan. 9 at age 90.

The community learned of Serling’s death in an announcement from Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado and Board of Trustees. Serling was heavily involved in establishing and endowing scholarship programs at the college, many of which honored her late husband Rod Sterling. He was a former visiting professor at the college best known for writing “The Twilight Zone” series. In 1995, the college’s Alumni Association awarded her with the James J. Whalen Meritorious Service Award, which recognizes nongraduates for their contributions to the college.

She helped to endow the Rod Serling Scholarship in Communications, which is awarded to Roy H. Park School of Communications students who excel in scriptwriting. She also played a role in establishing the Rod Serling Award for Advancing Social Justice Through Popular Media, which is awarded annually to a media industry professional who focuses their work on inequality and social injustice.

She also served as a judge for the annual Rod Serling Screenwriting Competition, which recognizes exceptional scripts in incorporate contemporary social issues. This year’s competition will be in dedication to her legacy.

Serling’s family said there will be no public memorial or funeral service for family privacy reasons, according to the announcement.

Courtesy of Ithaca College

34 | NEWS: BIG CHANGES 25 | NEWS: BIG CHANGES

Students dance at Club Glow during orientation on campus, which is now held the week before fall classes begin.

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

BIG changes CAPS EXPANDS, IN-HOUSE DINING SERVICES, BUDGET CUTS, NEW SCHOLARSHIPS

NEWS: BIG CHANGES | 35

COLLEGE TO INCREASE TUITION Tuition for 2020–21 students set at $46,611

BY MADISON FERNANDEZ The Ithaca College Board of Trustees has set the tuition for the 2020–21 academic year at $46,611,

The total cost of attendance, including tuition, a standard double required

academic year, when the dollar amount of the increase

TUITION INCREASES

SOURCE: ITHACA COLLEGE AND COLLEGE BOARD

3 2.9

PERCENTAGE

2.95%

2.95%

2.95%

2.85%

2.8

2.75%

2.7 2.65%

2.6 2.5

2.55% 2014–15

2015–16

2016–17

2017–18

ACADEMIC YEAR

2018–19

2019–20

2020–21

36 | NEWS: BIG CHANGES

CAPS EXPANDS SERVICES TO MEET STUDENT BODY NEEDS

BY ALEXIS MANORE The Ithaca College Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has implemented a 24-hour call service, hired a new

Junior Daniela Rivero, event planner for Engaging Mental Health in People of Color, mental health and need assistance.

CAPS has partnered with ProtoCall, a

for Fall 2019.

CAPS received criticism from the campus

provide care services 24 hours per day and

and long wait times. In 2015, students launched the Get CAPS Ready campaign, a funding

on-call counselor and will reach out to callers

Rivero said. after running a pilot program in Spring 2019.

records at CAPS. Meilman said ProtoCall pressure on the administration led to the hiring of an additional postdoctoral resident. In 2017, President Shirley M. Collado announced that CAPS would add two new counselors and a case manager.

Stephanie Nevels, a mental health counselor

professional counselor and mental health counselor in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and hired in August 2019.

The new 24-hour call service, called the CAPS after-hours on-call counselor, is

is closed.

57% of undergraduate respondents nationwide felt hopeless; 88% felt overwhelmed; 85%

and the James J. Whalen Center for Music.

CAPS counselor Ron Dow said via email

lonely, according to the Spring 2019 American College Health Association National College Health Assessment.

Meilman said the 24-hour service

2019, so three more CAPS counselors and two more meeting locations were added.

times that CAPS was not open, they were getting as counselors.

“After hours, a lot of the distress that students

Meilman said. “But sometimes things are

“people can’t schedule when they need help or when they’re having a crisis.”

– Daniela Rivero

CAPS improved their programs and hired new staff members to better meet needs of students. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

NEWS: BIG CHANGES | 37

SUPPORTING STUDENTS AND THEIR STRUGGLES Editorial: New CAPS service provides on-call support Jacoba Taylor/The Ithacan

Just before the start of the 2019–20 academic year, the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services at Ithaca

Center for Collegiate Mental Health.

Despite the increasing demand for mental health

College Counseling Center Directors reveals that students hours the center is closed, including

company called Protocall to provide this additional layer of mental health support.

access to mental health resources are vital moves. As rates of loneliness

“Mental health crises aren’t confined to a 9-5 workday.”

and crisis support on campus is a necessary measure to support and advocate for struggling students.

and Ithaca College is no exception.

call center be open during night provide mental health support in

can call the CAPS primary phone

among college students. More than 60% of college students have the opportunity to reach out to the callers to provide year, according to a 2018 report from the American College Health Association.

campus counseling centers increased by 30%, according to the

for the college community.

38 | NEWS: BIG CHANGES

HAMMOND HEALTH CENTER MAKES TESTING MORE ACCESSIBLE

Jennifer Metzger, nurse practitioner at the Hammond Health Center, started the Express STI Clinic in Spring 2019. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

BY ALYSHIA KORBA

NEWS: BIG CHANGES | 39

RECOGNIZING MENTAL HEALTH OF ATHLETES

SUPPORTING TRANSGENDER ATHLETES EDITORIAL The national conversation around transgender participation in athletics is unquestionably complicated and raises many issues of fairness and equality. As transgender athletes continue to be the targets of these polarizing conversations, it is absolutely crucial that members of the Ithaca College community actively engage in sincere conversations about trans inclusion and work to cultivate a safe environment. We must remember that, at the center of these controversies, there are people who are going through a complicated, emotional time in their lives. Taking away their ability to participate in their sports also prevents them from engaging with a primary part of their identities and will likely only make matters more complicated.

Collegiate transgender athletes face a

Jacoba Taylor/The Ithacan

EDITORIAL For centuries, sports have played a crucial role in culture and society. Many people across the world value sports both as a compelling source of entertainment and a symbol of community, and collegiate athletics are no exception. sports games — who wins and who loses — they often pay little attention to the players beyond their athletic performances. This is particularly prominent in college athletics, a demographic that statistically requires regular care beyond

This isolation can trigger a number of can mean loneliness and over-thinking. In more severe cases, sports-related injuries can reveal mental health issues like depression, anxiety and disordered eating.

Sports teams cultivate an environment centered around strength and success. For this

just impose physical burdens — they impose emotional and psychological burdens, too.

Severe injuries can force athletes to forfeit their sports temporarily and, in some cases, permanently. In doing so, these student-athletes lose a primary aspect of their identities and are likely to experience some level of isolation.

When student-athletes are removed from the

about their struggles, eliminating an opportunity for student-athletes to discuss their struggles with those who would best understand them.

The expectation that athletes remain tough is a problematic approach to sports culture, one that inherently discourages athletes to seek help for their mental health.

At the college, students in the athletic training program are taught to acknowledge injured athletes as complete individuals and recognize that their needs might have a mental health component, too.

We should take note of this athletic training method and approach sports culture with a balanced perspective. Mental health must be treated with the same importance as physical health.

There is no harm in reveling in the excitement of the game and recognizing the positive role sports can have in the community.

part of their identities but also from one of their primary support systems.

members to recognize student-athletes beyond their uniforms.

Approximately 90% of student-athletes report experiencing an athletics-related injury during their careers, according to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association. This can lead to dangerous measures that can impact students’ mental and physical health. According to the National Athletic Training Association, 54% of student-athletes reported they played while

nature of athletic organizations in the United States frequently limits opportunities for transgender individuals to publicly and comfortably explore their own gender expressions, often forcing them to express select parts of their identities. Medical transitions and physically transformative surgeries impose additional complications, often raising questions about whether or not physical transitions grant certain trans athletes an edge over their competitors. These arguments are particularly prevalent in regards to athletes who have transitioned from male to female and they often allude to their potential physical and hormonal advantages.

and Inclusion policy. The policy supports trans athletes’ expressions of their individual gender identities through names and pronouns, locker and bathroom use and travel and uniforms. The college’s decision to establish transgender-inclusive policies is a crucial step toward cultivating a safe, secure and uplifting campus environment for transgender athletes.

This issue is dynamic and complex, and it is unlikely athletic organizations in the U.S. will as athletes and audiences across the country continue to engage in dialogue around trans rights in athletics, it is absolutely crucial that the college community continues to engage of the issues faced by trans athletes and continually supports their authentic identities as they navigate the collegiate athletic world.

40 | NEWS: BIG CHANGES

DINING

changes

Students see major changes to campus dining services REPORTING BY MADISON FERNANDEZ, CORA PAYNE AND ALEX HARTZOG

Ithaca College Dining Services replaced the college’s partnership with Sodexo. Nick Bahamonde, Kristen Harrison, Frankie Walls and Elyse Kiel/ The Ithacan

GRUBHUB

NEW DINING SERVICES

ready to be collected, he said.

Towers Marketplace often has long lines, sophomore Erin Terada said, and allowing students to order ahead may allow the lines to move quicker.

The college plans to implement delivery in the future, Oulida said.

When Grubhub’s delivery service from Towers Marketplace is launched, it will allow students to order their food from the comfort of their dorms and have it delivered to their buildings for a fee.

Company and Purity Ice Cream Company, as well as South Hill Smash Grill, a burger station with options of beef, chicken and Impossible burgers. The marketplace also has Towers of Pizza run by Hicham Oulida, who owned Due Amici, a pizzeria formerly on The Commons.

Local partnerships exist in IC Square food court, the cafes located in each school, The Campus Center Cafe and the Library Cafe.

Terraces Dining Hall scratched its late-night dining.

Instead, it closes at 9 p.m. with an hour closure from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Campus Center Dining Hall now closes at 7:30 p.m. with an hour closure from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Towers Marketplace partnered with Grubhub to expand access to the dining destination.

The service allows students to order meals through their phones and pick up their food at the marketplace, said Hicham Oulida, retail manager at Towers Marketplace. Students will receive a push

Ithaca College implemented its self-operated dining program after ending its 20-year partnership with food provider Sodexo.

Changes seen with this transition include partnerships with local businesses as retail dining options, new hours for dining halls and the replacement of Towers Dining Hall with Towers Marketplace.

BOMBER BUCKS

The college also announced that any student at the college, even those who do not currently possess a meal plan, can load Bomber Bucks onto their IDs. Bomber Bucks are a virtual form of currency loaded onto student ID cards that can be used for tax-free on-campus purchases at select locations, like Ithaca Bakery, Chick-n-Bap and Mac’s General Store. Previously Bomber Bucks could only be used for food items, but are now able to be used for any item in the store, including toiletries, makeup and over-the-counter medicine.

Dining Services made this change to try and make retail dining more convenient for students, said Yan Salcedo, assistant director of dining administration.

In the past, loading extra Bomber Bucks onto a student ID online was impossible.

NEWS: BIG CHANGES | 41

SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESS

BY BRIANNA RUBACK As college students try to juggle academics, cocurricular activities, jobs and social lives,

Commentary: Students should shop local to engage with community

Senior Brianna Ruback advocates for the benefits and importance of students shopping locally. Surina Belk-Gupta/The Ithacan

42 | NEWS: BIG CHANGES

PARK RECEIVES ENDOWMENT

Park Scholar program transitions to be funded internally

BY FALYN STEMPLER Ithaca College received its largest endowment donation in history — worth $30 million. The endowment donation came from the Park Foundation, which will lay the foundation for the Park Scholar program to be funded internally.

The Park Scholar program is a competitive full-ride scholarship to the Roy H. Park School of Communications. For the 2019–20 academic year, the Ithaca College Board of Trustees approved a 4.5% payout, which means the scholarship will only have approximately half of the yearly funds it previously got — at approximately $1.35 million per class.

The initial cut to funding will reduce the size of the cohort to approximately 7 or 8 students and will temporarily discontinue the rising junior program after the Class of 2022. The terms of the program will remain the same, providing a full-ride scholarship covering room, board and tuition, the college announced Aug. 14.

The college will no longer have to rely on the Park Foundation for yearly grants to fund the scholarship. The endowment money is a sum of donations from Roy and Dorothy Park’s estate and the Park Foundation.

The Park Foundation said via email that it made this decision because of “a commitment by the [Park] family and Foundation to secure the long-term health and stability of the Park Scholars program.”

The number of students per class receiving years since its inception in 1996, said Nicole Koschmann, director of the Park Scholar program, but there are typically approximately 10 students per class. Additionally, she said, program as rising junior scholars. Now, the program will have 28–32 students per year, which means selecting approximately seven to eight students per class, Koschmann said.

The Park Foundation has funded the program for over 20 years by annually granting the college between $2.8 to $3.3 million per academic year, Koschmann said. The yearly grant would entirely fund every scholar class’s four-year education, including stipends for books and other expenses, she said.

In 2016, the Park Foundation gave four separate payments to the college for the Park Scholar program for Classes of 2017–20 totaling $3.3 million, according to the Park Foundation’s 2016 Internal Revenue Service 990 forms. These are the most recent tax forms available.

The endowment will allow the college to internally fund the program by investing in the stock market with the money from the endowment under guidelines approved by the board of trustees. Koschmann said the endowment is being managed by the college’s

of the endowment.

Diane Gayeski, dean of the Park School, said the college intends to continue fundraising funding and that the endowment gives the college momentum for fundraising from other donors. Gayeski and Koschmann both said the hope is to reinstate the rising junior program in the future, once there is more funding for it.

In 2018, the college’s endowment was in the middle when compared to its peer institutions, totaling $316 million. A few peer institutions’ endowments fell below Ithaca College, including Elon University with a $230.4 million endowment and Muhlenberg College with a $285.4 million. Some institutions had far more than Ithaca College, including Fordham University with a $729.2 million endowment and Hofstra University with a $573.6 million endowment.

Senior Andrew Hallenberg said that the short term results are upsetting but that he thinks it will overall help the longevity of the program. this, but the fact that the program can be a little bit more stable and have the ability to look in the future is giving everyone a little more

Nicole Koschmann, director of the Park Scholar program, speaks to finalists in Spring 2019. Courtesy of Andrew Hallenberg

NEWS: BIG CHANGES | 43

FOSTERING DIVERSITY IN MEDIA New scholarship aims to support underrepresented students at IC

”Increasing diversity in the newsroom is crucially important to us.”

– Bob Iger

BY MADISON FERNANDEZ Ithaca College will launch the Iger-Bay Endowed Scholarship to support underrepresented students studying select majors in the Roy H. Park School of Communications.

Bob Iger ’73, former CEO of The Walt Disney Co., and wife Willow Bay, dean of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, is funding the scholarship using the funds from Iger’s autobiography, “The Ride of a Lifetime,” which was released in September 2019. Iger and Bay donated $1 million to the college to establish the scholarship. Iger is worth an estimated $690 million, according to Forbes.

Incoming students who have declared a major in journalism, sports media or documentary studies can apply for the scholarship. Dave Maley, director of public relations, said that the details regarding the application and distribution of the scholarships, including how much they are worth, have not been determined yet.

“Willow and I have advocated strongly for equitable representation of people of color in media and journalism for our entire careers,” Iger said in an announcement. “Increasing diversity in

the newsroom is crucially important to us, and so we made the decision to allocate book proceeds in support of educational initiatives for underrepresented students in the hopes of fostering a more inclusive media environment for talented communications professionals.”

Diane Gayeski, dean of the Park School, said she is grateful for Iger’s contributions to the Park School, including calling in to speak with freshmen Park students during S’Park and connecting students with resources in the media industry.

“In his recent talk with the S’Park initiatives and business deals he’s led at Disney that have transformed the media industry and what changes he feels still need to be made as he prepares for his own retirement,” she said via email. “He quickly responded that he was proud that today’s media companies like Disney have made some recent strides in including more diverse individuals in their content but that he felt not nearly enough progress has been made in increasing the diversity among the ranks of writers, reporters and executive decision-makers. The Iger-Bay Scholarship is one important step in creating the pipeline of well-educated young professionals who can step into those roles.”

Bob Iger ’73, dean Diane Gayeski and dean Sean Reid at a Q&A on campus in Fall 2016. File Photo/The Ithacan

44 | NEWS: BIG CHANGES

THE QUEST FOR CARBON NEUTRALITY College moves carbon neutrality goal up to 2030

BY CODY TAYLOR Ithaca College’s Climate Action Plan Reassessment Team proposed changing its original goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 to becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

Energy Management and Sustainability, said the college is on track with its initial plan to be carbon neutral by 2050, but the planet is likely to reach a temperature threshold by 2030. This could result in groundwater depletion and the loss of mangrove trees, which provide coastal protection from storms and rising sea levels, according to NASA. The new plan proposed to be 45% carbon neutral

by Spring 2020, Lischke said.

In the Energy Roadmap released July 2019, the team proposed multiple boiler replacements, motor upgrades

Senior Abby Haley calls on higher education for support. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

STUDENTS DESERVE SEATS AT THE TABLE Commentary: Higher Education has role in climate crisis solutions

BY ABBY HALEY As students head home for the holidays, thousands of people across the globe will

The roadmap found possible changes for every building on campus and also provided estimations for cost, annual electric savings and annual natural gas savings.

Lischke said energy created by

convention focusing on how best to support our global environment. The event is held in a

that makes it easy for businesses to purchase clean energy, plays a big role in making the college carbon

members of the press for presentations, panels and performances that generate conversation

conference in Madrid in December.

While I am very fortunate to have this

future. This is important because it is a space

it eliminated its scope two carbon emissions — emissions that come from purchased electricity. Instead of buying energy that is harmful to the planet, the college buys energy created through solar and wind farms.

Last year, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend this conference. I was studying abroad in Europe near where the conference was hosted, which made the cost of my attendance

year report is sent out.

in conversations about their own futures should Higher education — including but not

accounts for about 30% of the college’s total reduction, and the program provides forms of environmentally friendly energy to buyers. When the college adopted Green-e

the Geneva solar farm, the college was able to reduce its carbon use by 45%.

Lischke said the college can measure

of Energy Management and Sustainability and

investing in students like myself to continue climate solutions.

Institutions of heightened roles

higher education have and responsibilities in

are the future that will enact those changes.

Right now, young people have to work twice

thankfully, to receive — the Dr. Keshishoglou Center for Global Communications Travel Grant.

This year I maintained my lucky streak — the conference is taking place near This, once again, decreased the cost of my attendance and made it more convenient for the school to send me. With funding from the Roy

to be included as a symbol of inclusivity for policymakers. This is a narrative that needs to change.

My attendance at this conference was only possible by the generosity of several departments on campus, as well as the thoughtful guidance of my mentors and professors. This is not a gift that I take for granted. But I do ask that higher

of opportunity to mitigate the catastrophic investing in our collective future.

PROMPTING ACTION ON PERSONAL LEVELS Commentary: Climate action starts with habitual changes

environmental advocacy is voting, even though it may not seem that way as we’re living under an intensely partisan national government. It is during periods such as this when small-scale governments are necessary to push forward an agenda to combat the climate crisis.

Limiting or eliminating beef consumption or using alternative transportation may not be a step that many are able or willing to take, but there are other ways to combat the problem.

The elimination of single-use plastics, as was done with straws, is a crucial step we must take. However, a lifestyle change of that degree might not be accessible in many circumstances, and habitual changes are just as important as a lifestyle change.

A lifestyle is a way in which a person or group lives, as opposed to a habit, which is a settled or regular practice. One often overlooked habit is getting involved in local politics. Local mayors and congresspeople are the foundation

HUMANS CREATE CLIMATE CHANGE Column: Admitting dependence is important in stopping destruction

BY ISABEL BROOKE

BY THOMAS MINETT As both the threat of climate change and the unwillingness of those in power to address it become increasingly apparent, it’s become the job of younger generations to take action.

The rise of prominent activists such as Greta Thunberg, policy initiatives like the Green New Deal and organizations like the Sunrise Movement are all examples of generational backlash against a stagnant and unorganized

NEWS: BIG CHANGES | 45

constituents noticeably backs a movement, local Attending public events held by local politicians and bringing up climate concerns is

comes with that approach, especially if state representatives live outside your town, this is where the value of writing comes into focus. to contact state senators or assembly people. A quick Google search can give the name, address, committees and interests of the representatives in your area. If possible, check who has donated to these state representative campaigns. This knowledge helps as corporate donations often sway votes. It is important in assessing who is worth writing to.

There is a basic skeleton to follow when

introduce yourself, then bring up the impacts of climate change on a personal and regional level. After, request that they vote for climate protection policies. Finish the letter with a write the potential devastations of climate change and a thank you. Following this basic letter structure can be used for any initiative, and incorporating this habit into your weekly schedule can help prompt climate action.

Senior Thomas Minett states that habitual changes support advocacy. Eleanor Kay/The Ithacan

undeniably renewed our sense of urgency in our address of climate change. Our own world is closing in on us, forcing an existential reckoning with how we treat and understand the planet. And while people in positions of greater power obviously hold more responsibility in the matter, I want to suggest that the climate crisis is an opportunity to reunderstand our own relationship to our planet and, by extension, one another. Our not really independent agents. Instead, we are a function of a greater whole, and we only exist in the context of our communities.

It was human behavior that produced

oversized carbon footprints and the capitalistic incentive to value luxury over sustainability have landed us here. This behavior relies on the hidden assumption that our human societies are somehow separate from the planet, as if we can just exchange this one for another once we have ruined it.

Thinking more honestly about our place as a society in the world will produce more productive strategies for addressing the societal and global problems we’re facing today. Reunderstanding the problem will lead to better solutions.

Just as we have operated under a myth of independence within society, we have extended a similar myth to our planet. But as water levels rise and rage and destroy biomes, the truth of our interdependent relationship with nature has become unavoidable. To ensure our own continued existence at the basic existential level, we need to admit that dependence and rebuild cities that coexist with rather than destroy the natural world.

On our planet, nature and society sooner we can come to terms with our dependence on others, as well as our planet, the sooner we can progress toward a more sustainable and equitable future.

46 | NEWS: BIG CHANGES

Ithaca College students can now study pharmaceutical science at Binghamton University. Courtesy of Jonathon Cohen/Binghamton University

PHARMACY PROGRAM ADOPTED THROUGH PARTNERSHIP

BY CODY TAYLOR

Ithaca College and Binghamton University partnered to allow Ithaca College students with three years of undergraduate study and the required prerequisites the opportunity to transfer to Binghamton University’s Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) program.

Ithaca College and Binghamton University signed an articulation agreement that created the 3+4 program, which lets Ithaca College students complete three years at the college and then attend Binghamton University for Binghamton University, they will have the opportunity to obtain their Bachelor of Science degree. They will then complete the remaining three years in Binghamton University’s School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences to obtain the PharmD degree in seven years total.

The program requires students to have minimum cumulative and math/science grade point averages of 3.0, good disciplinary standing at Ithaca College and the mandatory prerequisites. Students also need three years of undergraduate schooling from Ithaca College and a C- or better in prerequisite courses taken.

The program allows students to receive their doctoral degrees faster, have a lower cost of attendance and give them the chance to make professional connections, said

Gloria Meredith, founding dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Binghamton University.

Binghamton University’s tuition for New York state residents is $7,270, while tuition at Ithaca College is $46,611. Approximately 45% of undergraduate students at Ithaca College are permanent New York state residents, according to the Ithaca College Facts in Brief for the 2019–20 academic year. Binghamton University is approximately one hour away from Ithaca College.

Linda Petrosino, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance at Ithaca College, said the reason the college chose to partner with Binghamton University was to broaden the number of graduate “This is a way to support student pathways into a health profession at the graduate level that is not available at the college, and it provides a partnership with a well-established SUNY school,” Petrosino said via email.

Petrosino said another reason for the partnership is that the PharmD program, which was created in 2017, presented a new “Binghamton University’s Pharmacy, (PharmD), program is relatively new,

Petrosino said. “As a new program, we were approached to consider establishing this articulation agreement. We already had a relationship with BU, and formal agreements will often sprout out of already established relationships.”

Ithaca College also has an agreement with the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science at Binghamton University that allows students to simultaneously complete a bachelor’s degree in physics at Ithaca College and a bachelor’s degree in either medical engineering or electrical engineering at Binghamton University.

Meredith said Binghamton University’s PharmD program enrolled a class of 90 students last year and hopes to enroll the same number of students going forward. from Ithaca College will participate in the program per year. Meredith said she thinks the partnership will bring talented individuals from Ithaca College to the PharmD program.

“We know that the quality of students at Ithaca College is excellent, and we are very happy with the STEM education at Ithaca,” Meredith said.

NEWS: BIG CHANGES | 47

RESEARCH GRANT FUNDS STEM SCHOLARSHIP FOR STUDENTS

BY MEAGHAN MCELROY

belong to an academic community, according

success and retention rate of students in

also be trained to serve as mentors for

The research grant of nearly $650,000 will allow Ithaca College to establish a STEM scholarship program. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

48 2 | NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

Senior Kendall Anderson spoke at the Voices of Experience Panel on Jan. 21 about the needs of athletes of color at the college.

Reed Freeman/The Ithacan

DEMANDING

action GLOBAL CLIMATE STRIKE, GIG ECONOMY, THEATER CLASS SPEAKS UP, SHOWER OF STOLES

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 49

ADDRESSING FACULTY CONCERNS Faculty members express frustration about lack of plans presented by the administration

BY ALEXIS MANORE AND FALYN STEMPLER

La Jerne Cornish, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, spoke at an open house meeting Jan. 29 in Clark Lounge. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Certain faculty members, particularly from the Roy H. Park School of Communications, have expressed frustration about the lack of plans presented by the Shirley M. Collado administration regarding the college’s enrollment, budget and fundraising, as well as addressing microaggressions in the classroom.

These issues have been raised at faculty meetings with the administration, most recently at the All-Faculty Meeting on Jan. 30, a discussion that escalated when Janice Levy, professor in the Department of Media Arts, Sciences and Studies, read from a prepared statement of her concerns.

She said she and other faculty members have felt belittled by the tone and manner that La Jerne Cornish, provost and senior

of the meeting was to share the results of the 2019 National Survey of Student

when approaching faculty during meetings about incidents of microaggressions in the classroom. Levy said she is frustrated by Cornish’s generalizations made about Park School faculty, vague allegations about microaggressions in the classroom and the lack of solutions provided for moving forward.

In recent years there have been ongoing complaints about microaggressions either perpetrated or tolerated by faculty in Park classes.

The All-Faculty Meeting was hosted by Cornish; Rosanna Ferro, vice president of

crisis because of issues like lower enrollment and stagnant donations.

The college is dependent on tuition and student fees for its funding. As a result, some faculty members are nervous about the

Analytics and Institutional Research, Cornish said via email.

Cornish said via email that the purpose

given to faculty, so The Ithacan cannot access the data. The presentation was followed by a question-and-answer session in which Levy read her prepared statement. made departments cut their budgets to reallocate funds and balance the budget. This enrollment for the Class of 2023.

At the All-College Gathering on Jan. 28, Collado alluded to imminent changes, including budget cuts that could result in positions and departments being eliminated.

At the same meeting, Collado told the campus

college. The administration has previously said that the college’s lower enrollment coincides with trends in higher education for private, residential and tuition-driven institutions.

The All-Faculty Gathering was not the the administration this semester. Following an all-Park School faculty meeting Jan. 21, some Park School faculty members said they felt Cornish was condescending and did not provide plans for improving the climate in the Park School.

Cornish did not directly address the fact that some faculty members felt she has been condescending when asked via email.

The Collado administration created a bias reporting system in Fall 2018. The most recent microaggression incident that became public occurred at the end of Fall 2019. Students of color expressed feeling uncomfortable after Anne Hamilton, interim lecturer in the Department of Theatre Arts, asked the class to write racial slurs, including the N-word, on the classroom whiteboard Nov. 21 because of a play the class was reading. Hamilton was removed from her position the same day.

Scott Hamula, associate professor and chair of the Department of Strategic Communication, said he and other faculty members feel as if they are not receiving the level of support they should from the administration.

“I think it goes back to some faculty believing that the atmosphere that we have or the climate is less supportive of faculty,” Hamula said. “I think that that needs to be addressed by the administration.” with a portion of the All-Faculty Meeting in showed students felt that they were not being challenged or supported by faculty, but no information was provided on how to address the issue.

Hamula said he would like to see more meetings between the faculty and the administration. He also said he thinks the college should conduct a faculty climate survey.

TAKING A 50 | NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

STAND

Students and members of the community march to The Commons for the Global Climate Strike. Reed Freeman/The Ithacan

Students and community members come together to strike

BY FALYN STEMPLER Freshman Petar Odazhiev was one of hundreds of Ithaca College students who did not attend their classes Sept. 20, 2019. The low class turnout was not because of a rowdy night before but rather because of Ithaca’s chapter of the Global Climate Strike that took place.

“I am here today because I give a s--- about our future,” Odazhiev said to the on the Academic Quad before making their march downtown to The Commons.

“F--- class,” he said. “It doesn’t matter

right now because this is what f------ matters.”

Ithaca was one of approximately 1,500 locations in 150 countries that participated in the strike, according to the Global Climate Strike website. The strike, inspired by Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, took place three days before leaders met at a UN Climate Action Summit in New York on Sept. 23 to address the climate crisis.

There are only 11 years left to stop irreversible damage caused by climate change, according to the United Nations.

The Ithaca College Eco-Reps led

downtown to meet up with the larger event on The Commons, which was organized by the college’s branch of the Sunrise Movement. The Sunrise Movement is a national youth-led movement addressing the local elementary, middle and high schools and community members took part in the strike on The Commons alongside students from the college. Ithaca food, agriculture and environmental activists and union organizers were also represented at the downtown event.

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 51 The Eco-Reps led the Ithaca College group from the campus to the larger event downtown while shouting group chants, “Gay, straight,

Cayuga, Seneca and Onondaga tribes. Joe Soto and his daughter Maya Soto, local Ithaca community members of Taino descent, spoke at shared cultural chants during the event.

Joe and other speakers said indigenous people

Sophomore Lauren Miller, a member of Eco-Reps, led the gathering of approximately Quad. She said the strike was an intentional attention to the severity of the climate crisis.

of color, people living in poverty, people with disabilities, queer and transgender people and elderly people are those most likely to be the most impacted by climate change, as seen in recent events that garnered national attention, including the Keystone Pipeline protests and the Flint lead water crisis.

members Russell Rickford, associate professor in

intersection of racial and climate justice.

Michael Smith, professor in the Department

stated, “Since 1750, the U.S. has produced by far the most C02 of any country in the world — 397 gigatons, the equivalent of almost 2 up to be the hottest year ever recorded, joining

prioritize the climate crisis in the strategic plan. draw

attention

to

the

severity

of

this

politicians and corporations and leaders to shift the narrative, to change the economy,

The events held on campus and on The protest: implementing the Green New Deal, respecting indigenous sovereignty, enacting environmental justice and reparation, restoring biodiversity and creating sustainable agriculture.

In response to climate change, many in the United States are advocating for the Green New Deal, a piece of legislation that takes on the climate crisis. The Green New Deal addresses economic inequality and climate change by creating more job opportunities and decreasing pollution, according to the Sierra Club. began by acknowledging that the town of Ithaca, along with vast parts of New York state, rests on

“We strike today... to draw attention to the severity of this climate emergency.”

– Lauren Miller Other speakers at the downtown event included senior Julia Keene, who shared a poem about her anxiety regarding the climate crisis; Luca Maurer, director of the Center for discussed the intersectionality of climate issues and marginalized communities; Miller, who a union leader for Greenstar Natural Foods

develop cross-sector partnerships to address challenging issues is to “Create an environmental sustainability mindset that recognizes the strategic plan.

“I think any institution that plans for the future without consideration of the impact of the President Shirley M. Collado shared her support and solidarity Sept. 17 for the campus community members taking part in the strike.

She said in the statement that her schedule would not allow her to participate in the strike.

“I am inspired by those within this campus community who bring their passion and collective energy to address the urgency of this complex global problem, and I am deeply inspired by our

the statement.

The statement also addressed that vulnerable communities, including people of color and those of lower socioeconomic status, are the most susceptible to climate change.

Protesters hold signs as they march in the Global Climate Strike on The Commons. Reed Freeman and Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

52 | NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

A MANIFESTO OF VISIBILITY

Campus community reacts to racially charged incident

BY ALEXIS MANORE AND ASHLEY STALNECKER Ithaca College students and members of President Shirley M. Collado’s senior leadership team responded to the racially charged incident that occurred in a senior-level theater arts seminar Nov. 21, 2019.

During the class incident, lecturer Anne Hamilton asked her students to write racial slurs, including the N-word, on the classroom whiteboard. The scenario evolved into a verbal altercation between Hamilton and students of color in the classroom. After students raised concerns to Catherine Weidner, professor and chair of the Department of Theatre Arts, the students received an email the same day stating that Hamilton was removed from teaching the class, according to previous reporting done by The Ithacan.

In response to the incident, three students from the class made a display Dec. 12, 2019, by posting quotes and scenarios from recent

academic years on the lower hallways of the Dillingham Center. Collado, Melanie Stein, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, and La Jerne Cornish, provost and walked around the Dillingham Center on Dec. 13, 2019, to hear from students about racial incidents in the classroom. In an email sent to the campus community Dec. 13, 2019, Cornish said the college was working to address its failures in creating a welcoming environment for all students.

The display put up, titled “A Manifesto of Visibility,” was created by seniors Jada Boggs, Avery Lynch and Roxy Matten as part of Developments in Theatre class with Hamilton.

“We want to make clear our belief in transparency, honesty and accountability regarding the misogynistic, sexist, racist, ableist and other discriminatory or otherwise derogatory words and actions of current

“This is now the community’s voice, not just ours.”

– Jada Boggs

Dillingham,” the students wrote in the display. “And, like our poster, these incidents stick to the walls of Dillingham like grime.

They spread but are never cleaned up.”

Boggs said via email that she, Lynch and Matten do not have further comments beyond what was written in their manifesto.

“This is now the community’s voice, not sparked it, but it has turned into something much bigger, which is understandable, and we support the students 100%.”

Some of the quotes and scenarios on the board read: “White male faculty member to a black female student: ‘Act more sassy,’” “Holding a meeting about microaggressions where a student of color was told to stop being mean to white people,” “Male director explaining to a female student what happens emotionally to a woman when she is assaulted” and “Female-identifying students

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 53 told to lower the pitch of their natural voices in production to ‘sound stronger.’”

The display also had pieces of paper with pens available for students to write responses about their experiences and feelings on the issue. Additions included “Speak Up” and “SILENCE IS NOT MANDATORY.” Cornish sent an email to the college community Dec. 13, 2019, responding to the events.

“Prompted by a classroom incident that took place earlier this semester, our students in the Department of Theatre Arts have sent a powerful message that they will no longer accept an atmosphere that allows hurtful and derogatory words and behaviors to go unchecked and without consequence,” Cornish said in the announcement. “They are demanding that this institution both acknowledge this culture and take action to bring it to an end.”

In response, Cornish said, she gathered a group of approximately two dozen community members including deans,

this incident. She said in the announcement that adherence to the values of “diversity, equity and inclusion” continues to be paramount in the strategic plan’s Campus

Climate action group.

An email sent Jan. 17, 2020 by Cornish and Rosanna Ferro, vice president of the

upcoming plans to address the racially charged incident as well as other similar micro- and macro-aggressions occurring in the community. The goal is to “ensure that our community is collectively held both responsible and accountable for upholding the college’s values and states commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” according to the email.

The email detailed proposals raised a meeting duirng Fall 2019, including having mandatory fourth-hour seminars of the curriculum, implementing policies that clearly articulate expectations when micro- and macro- aggressions occur inside and outside the classroom and promoting the Bias Impact Reporting Form as a tool for accountability.

The email also mentioned programs in the process of being implemented by the Center for Faculty Excellence that will address issues, including inclusive search training

for chairs of faculty search committees to increase diversity in search pools and increase the likelihood of diversifying the faculty and an Early Career Institute to help tenure-eligible faculty develop strategies to enhance teaching and learning. There will be a new faculty orientation for all faculty; and workshops on diversity, equity and inclusion and Recreation Sports led by Paula Ioanide, associate professor in the Center for the Study of Culture, Race and Ethnicity, according to the announcement. The announcement said the Campus Climate Action Group will be revising its diversity statement to be used as a tool for engagement, instruction and accountability. against racial injustice has been present on the college campus. During the 2015–16 academic year, a series of student-led protests against institutional racism took place. These prompted former president Tom Rochon to step down from his position in July 2017.

Most recently, a Snapchat posted by an Ithaca College student in which she used the N-word went viral. In response, the campus administration held an open conversation for the campus community to address issues of race and claiming the N-word.

Students made a display in response to a racially charged incident that occurred in the Dillingham Center. Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

54 |NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

AD LAB POSTER DRAWS REACTION Students address racial stereotyping present in 2007 Ad Lab poster

A poster created by the 2007 Ad Lab team was marked with comments calling it racist for stereotyping a man of color. Abbey London/The Ithacan

BY ASHLEY STALNECKER An advertisement created by students that hangs in a classroom in the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College

“I want the discussion to continue about of conversations now before you go out into the

Oct. 7, 2019, accusing the ad of being racist men of color.

bullying a white man of smaller stature. Another white man wearing a Coca-Cola bandana is

for integrated marketing communication majors.

he and his students discussed the comments on

in the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF)

Direction class. Mooney said most students had

Diane Gayeski, dean of the Park School, said

Julie Friedman ’07, who was on the 2007 Ad

and with comments from the alumni who created

the students who raised concern about the advertisement’s content.

“At the time [the advertisement] was created

the bully. The comments, which were written

resource for teaching.

“there is a social responsibility when creating an ad that needs to be considered.”

– Julie Friedman

said via email. “Chris, the bully in the ad, was

recognize or select him because of his race. Chris

Junior Mateo Flores, student chair of should be taken down, and that it should be used as a reference for teaching diversity in the future.

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 55

MAKING AN impact

Facebook page informs followers of anti-Semitic hate crimes

BY RYAN BIEBER By day, Jennifer Herzog is a lecturer in the Ithaca College Department of Theatre Arts.

In her free time, she operates a Facebook page called “Awake to Fight Hate” that informs its approximately 1,500 followers about instances of anti-Semitic hate crimes.

Herzog, a grandaughter of Holocaust survivors and self-proclaimed “proud, practicing Jew,” created the page approximately a year ago after she noticed an increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes. In the FBI’s 2018 Hate Crime Statistics (HCSA) Report, approximately 60% of religious hate crimes targeted Jews and Jewish Institutions, a trend that has persisted for years. The page aims to promote nonpartisan content that shows how anti-Semitism manifests on both ends of the political spectrum, a sentiment that other Jewish Americans have articulated.

“I’m attempting to document, in one place, happening across the globe and across the political spectrum,” Herzog said. “If the monster that is anti-Semitism is awake, we also need to be awake.”

Although the page is public for any Facebook user to access, only Herzog can post content to maintain the page’s credibility.

“I am passionate about doing activism that can make even the smallest impact,” she said.

“Running ‘Awake [to Fight Hate]’ is one thing I can do to keep my fellow allies against bigotry educated and informed.”

Additionally, she said she was motivated to curate content for the page because of her disappointment with certain media coverage of anti-Semitism. When sifting and curating content, Herzog said, she ignores sponsored content and posts only reputable regional and national turning to smaller outlets when mainstream media fails to report on anti-Semitism — and corroborates stories with multiple outlets before posting about it.

Large-scale violence motivated by anti-Semitism, like the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, received national media attention. Other cases, like the recent attacks on the Hasidic community, including the stabbing of in Monsey, New York, received less attention.

Rebecca Lesses, associate professor and coordinator in the Department of Jewish Studies, said that while the media covers some issues surrounding anti-Semitism, she believes it does

not probe deep enough into the real reasons behind the issues.

“I still think that there’s some gaps in the news coverage,” she said. “They’re not investigating enough about why these attacks are happening.”

Lesses said the attack in Monsey and another in Jersey City, New Jersey, attacked religious spaces — including a rabbi’s home and a kosher deli — in areas with growing Orthodox Jewish populations. Some residents are resentful toward this population increase, which has increased tension in these communities, she said.

Although the recent attacks have targeted visibly Jewish populations, Lesses said she believes everyone, Jewish and non-Jewish, should be worried about the increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes.

Senior Matt Feiler, a Jewish student at the college, said he thinks the page is an important tool for starting conversations about anti-Semitism.

“It’s important to have ‘Awake [to Fight Hate]’ to highlight what’s happening to Jews,” he said.

“When people are seen as a minority, there’s not always as much information. … I think that this page, ‘Awake [to Fight Hate],’ is trying to show that Jews are important and Jews are human.”

Lecturer Jennifer Herzog operates a Facebook page that posts about instances of anti-Semitic hate crimes. Abbey London/The Ithacan

56 | NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

Lauren Britton and Jennifer Huemmer, assistant professors in the Roy H. Park School of Communications, call for white professors to step up.

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

STANDING TOGETHER

Commentary: White professors have responsibility as allies

BY JENNIFER HUEMMER AND LAUREN BRITTON I have been a faculty member at the Roy H. Park School of Communications for three years. In that time, colleagues have become friends, student’s faces have become familiar, and

singled-out, and falsely accused. Did I have an

about the history and context of this situation am comfortable.

faculty of color to shoulder the burden of this conversation alone.

enough to be blind to its machinations. To take communication, and tone of the administration.

Last semester, I started hearing rumors of microaggressions and racist incidences

of us (myself included) have gotten a little too

feelings of being misunderstood, feelings of being condescended to, feelings of being overlooked. In made it clear that many of them felt maligned,

SUPPORT FOR FACULTY

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 57

Commentary: Contingent faculty need equitable working conditions

Tom Schneller, lecturer in the Department of Music Theory, History and Composition, states that contingent faculty are part of the gig economy.

Chloe Gibson/The Ithacan

BY TOM SCHNELLER What comes to mind when you imagine the life of a typical college professor? You may be picturing a comfortable middle-class existence devoted to the idyllic pursuit of teaching and scholarship, an existence sheltered by the ivy-covered walls of academe from the turbulent economic winds of the 21st century. You probably don’t imagine your professors as members of the gig economy: as underpaid part-time workers who, like fast-food employees or Uber drivers, struggle to keep their heads above water by working several jobs simultaneously and still may have trouble paying the rent And yet, the latter is the stark reality for many professors at colleges and universities across the United States. According to the American Association of University Professors, 73% of instructors at American institutions of higher learning are contingent faculty — that is, part-time or full-time instructors will and are paid a fraction of the salary earned by the shrinking minority of tenured professors. University administrations may lure students by promoting the illusion that they support and invest in all of their faculty.

So it is not surprising that in recent years, there has been a self-empowering movement for unionization among contingent faculty at colleges and universities nationwide. When workers in any profession realize that they are stuck in a dead-end rut of exploitation, they push back by uniting in solidarity. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, 20 new faculty unions

ago. According to the most recent statistics provided by the IC administration, 52% of the faculty were isolated, disrespected and powerless, so we decided to these patterns of exploitation by forming a union that would stand up for the interests of the most vulnerable segment of the professorate at IC. After spending months talking to our colleagues and collecting signatures, we May, an overwhelming majority of contingent professors at IC voted in favor of creating the union. We began contract negotiations with the administration in October 2015, a process that continued until Spring 2017, when after a long, hard struggle and an impending strike, we

working conditions. contract, these gains are not permanent. Much remains to be done to make working conditions for contingent faculty at IC fair and equitable. This is not just a matter of justice, but vital for the health of our student body as well because professors’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions.

weapon against its own faculty, as former President Tom

“this is not just a matter of justice, but vital for the health of our student body.”

to its rhetoric of equity and inclusion?

– Tom Schneller

negotiating a second contract to build on the gains of Shirley M. Collado’s administration will be revealed to the campus community. Will IC once again deploy an

that continues to proliferate across the country.

58 | NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

LOCAL LABOR RIGHTS ADRESSED

BY MADISON FERNANDEZ Although Ithaca is consistently ranked as one of the most liberal cities in the United States and Ithaca College is known to be a predominantly liberal institution, the community is not immune to labor rights issues.

“One of the things that ... I really want to touch on is the idea of working for liberal organizations and how their image of being a liberal organization is at odds with the union-busting practices that they do,” said Megan Graham, vice chair of the Ithaca College Contingent Faculty Union and assistant professor Local Labor Discussion Panel on Oct. 28, 2019.

In addition to discussing student and faculty labor rights issues on the college’s campus, the panelists spoke about attempts in the local community to form labor unions. Along with Graham discussing the union’s past and its plans for its contract renewal in 2020, other panelists included senior Alex Gray, who spoke

about compensation for resident assistants at the college; Kerrie Gordon, a worker at local supermarket GreenStar Food Co-Op, who spoke Blatter, a graduate student at Cornell University, who discussed graduate students’ unionization; and Nicholas Sledziona, a local worker who attempted to form a union at STgenetics, his place of employment. Approximately 10 people attended, including members from the Ellen David Friedman, a local activist who moderated the discussion, commented on the low turnout at the event.

“The reason it surprises me is because we have not had a moment in the labor movement in this country like the one we are experiencing now for at least 40 or 45 years,” David Friedman said. “There is a moment of incredible purpose and insurgency, and impassioned militancy among workers in this country and around the

world.” In 2018, approximately 485,000 workers were involved in labor strikes, the highest number since 1986, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Most recently, Chicago schools have canceled classes for over a week since more than 25,000 teachers went on strike Oct. 17, in classrooms and underpayment.

The number of union members nationally has stayed relatively consistent over the past years. In 2018, 14.7 million workers belonged to unions compared to 14.8 million in 2017, according to the BLS. The BLS also reported that in 2018, New York had one of the highest union membership rates at 22.3%. Pete Meyers, director of the Tompkins County Workers’ Center, said that locally, six unionization attempts have been made in the past year, although four were not successful.

David said labor movements are critical to protect workers’ rights, including being properly

Members of the community protest unfair working conditions for GreenStar workers during a picket Sept. 15, 2019. Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 59 compensated for labor. Nonunion workers have lower median weekly earnings than union members, according to the BLS. The living wage for a single person working full-time to live in Tompkins County is $14.28 per hour, according to the 2019 Alternatives Federal Credit Union Living Wage Study. The minimum wage in New York State is $11.10 per hour.

“We should be indignant about how precarious most of our lives are,” David said. and disaster. How humiliating it is to have to put

“this is a moment of incredible purpose and insurgency.”

– Ellen David Freeman

up with working conditions that are really, totally unacceptable. But you put up with them, because really, what else are you going to do? It’s this bad job, or it’s that bad job.”

Amid other local labor rights initiatives, there was a unionization push at GreenStar.

Gordon said that she has worked at GreenStar part-time for approximately four years and

has had a positive impact.

“I believe that this community aspect to the campaign has put enough pressure that in

by human resources in terms of harassment, the implementation of policies, favoritism and managers not being trained adequately. Gordon said that a new HR manager, Erin Durdon, was hired.

Gordon said that even though there was

She said the board is not aware of an end date

feel supported.

In July 2019, the GreenStar workers Labor Relations Board against the management, alleging attempts to thwart unionization.

GreenStar employees rallied Sept. 15, 2019, to protest unfair working conditions, low wages and the issue to the attention of the community and

we would be getting a living wage starting in January [2020],” Gordon said.

Marilyn Chase, president of the GreenStar Board of Directors, said via email that GreenStar’s compensation structure is reviewed

increases are independent of that. a living wage and intends to continue to implement a compensation structure that does so,” she said via email. “Not only are our pay rates higher than any other retailer in the area, in 2020 our lowest rate will match the its employees.”

Gordon said the workers are working toward an election to vote for the union.

Chase said that the only way a third-party representation like a union can be decided is by secret ballot election.

60 | NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

SHARING OF STORIES

BY ALYSHIA KORBA

For years, Ithaca College senior Maria Bushby thought her calling was to become a pastor in the United Methodist Church. Her dream changed in February 2019 when the United Methodist Church voted to maintain its international opposition to LGBTQ clergy.

LGBTQ community, she cannot be ordained.

non-Christian religious leaders.

we curate the space that people have access to.”

Every stole in the collection was

local churches, events and denominations, said Victoria Kirby York, the deputy director and action department. Kirby York said the

people like Bushby — every stole represents an their church.

shows us and also what is purposely hidden,” Maurer said.

Bushby said she noticed a stole that

The National LGBTQ Task Force organized not use their name because they had not come out to their religious community. represent LGBTQ individuals’ presence in 32 religious denominations. Stoles are garments mainly worn in Christian denominations by clergy members. The collection also

“as long as you show love, that ’s what faith is.”

Muller Chapel.

Outreach and Services, said he has been

I appreciate that they’re sharing their stories somewhere and with someone,” Bushby said.

representing people who were not accepted

members who were able to be open about Osorto said he was interested in bringing religious organizations.

– Maria Bushby this diverse community,” Osorto said. “So I

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 61

National Shower of Stoles Project highlights LGBTQ individuals across multiple religious denominations

“if you want positive change, you have to stay a part of it.”

– Kayla Shuster

Each garment in the Shower of Stoles collection displayed in Muller Chapel represents an LGBTQ person of faith. Lexi Danielson/The Ithacan

62 | NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

MAINSTREAM MEDIA MISHAPS

Democracy Now! co-host discusses shortcomings of media

BY EMILY HUNG Nermeen Shaikh, broadcast news producer and co-host of “Democracy Now!,” spoke about the fallacies and distortions of mainstream media Oct. 3. Shaikh also presented on issues regarding and literature.

She discussed several distortions of mainstream media and then held a Q&A session afterward. around the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few individuals, which creates an inequality of coverage in the media as it reports the stories of those in power.

“Where is the media in all of this?” Shaikh said. “As we all know, nary a word was spoken about this inequality before Bernie Sanders then did the media begin taking marginal note of this.”

Shaikh mentioned the strike that President Donald Trump ordered in April 2018 on Syria.

It was a response to the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons on Syrian citizens.

“A strike which was celebrated in the most extraordinary way in the media with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria declaring that Trump became president that day,” she said. “And MSNBC’s Brian Williams gushing over what he termed

‘beautiful pictures of the strike,’ quoting none other than Leonard Cohen: ‘I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons.’”

Another topic she covered was regarding the media’s extensive coverage of the death of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabian journalist and Washington Post columnist, who was allegedly murdered in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Turkey by agents of the Saudi Arabian government and Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Arabian crown prince.

Khashoggi had been critical of bin Salman’s policies and went to the Saudi Arabian consulate Hatice Cengiz. He never left.

Shaikh said the media’s coverage of Khashoggi’s death exposed the mass killing, starvation and destruction by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, which began in March 2015. transition following an Arab Spring uprising.

Former president Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to hand the presidency to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who has struggled to deal with issues like corruption and food insecurity. A Saudi-led multinational coalition intervened thousands of civilians. The condition in Yemen has been labeled a humanitarian catastrophe and

is currently at a stalemate.

Saudi Arabia has been a staunch ally of the weaponry from the country, Shaikh said.

“U.S. involvement, though not highlighted in the media here, has not gone unnoticed elsewhere,” Shaikh said. “But until the murder of one of its own, the U.S. media seemed not in an unjust war waged by an American ally with critical U.S. support.” media’s role in election coverage. Shaikh said that during the 2016 presidential election, the media paid more attention to President Trump than to candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

“The Tyndall Report analyzed major network campaign coverage in 2015,” she said. “The report found that in over 1,000 minutes of national broadcast television airtime devoted to all the campaigns, Trump received 327 minutes while Bernie Sanders was granted all of 20 minutes. Hillary Clinton got a total of 121 minutes. That’s six times the amount Sanders received but still much less than what Trump received.”

Shaikh said that for the 2020 presidential election, media companies are anticipating

Nermeen Shaikh, co-host of Democracy Now! spoke about the distortions of mainstream media Oct. 3, 2019. Chloe Gibson/The Ithacan

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 63

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONNECTING

Commentary: Journalists should not abandon empathy for the sake of truth and accuracy

Junior Brontë Cook advocates for the importance of empathy in reporting. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

BY BRONTË COOK

64 | NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION

DOCUMENTING DEVASTATION Students capture the aftermath of Australian wildfires during study-abroad semester

NEWS: DEMANDING ACTION | 65

BY RYAN BIEBER When Ithaca College sophomores Jordan

of smoke. thinking, ‘Wow this is so real,’” George recalled. “It was smoky in Sydney, and we were 200 kilometers

because many feel Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is failing to address climate change and rather is downplaying and denying its existence.

When Brown and George arrived in Sydney, they found themselves smack in the middle of the controversy. Brown said they knew they had to act and wanted to let their photography tell the story.

Brown and George, who are both cinema and photography majors at the college, studied abroad at the University of New South Wales in Kensington, Australia. Although they had heard

talk about things that don’t get talked about, like

realized the scope of the problem until they were standing face to face with it.

of tagging along with the crew, but he was turned down.

“After a lot of rejection, I just looked up where

something and speak up.”

Brown immediately began reaching out to

said. “You see people wearing masks because of the air quality.”

2019 and began to die down approximately six months later because of massive rainfall.

The Australian climate has become increasingly dry and hot, resulting in longer and more intense increased over the past 200 years in Australia, an occurrence that many scientists attribute directly to climate change. ravaged the ecosystem, destroying millions of hectares of forests and killing an estimated half a million to a billion animals, many of which are exclusively found in Australia.

Patrick Baker, professor in the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences at the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia, said that Australians were previously able to prepare for the “prescribed burning.”

The process consists of running relatively cool burn during the summer, Baker said. But he said climate change is making it harder for Australians “Because of

the warming climate, the

the forest is getting narrower and narrower,” Baker said.

He said this is because the autumns are drier and the winters are shorter than before, an issue that is reducing the time frame in which Australians can prescribe burn.

Australia is the world’s No. 1 exporter of coal, production of greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases, in turn, accelerate climate change, which

Brown took a two–hour train ride to Voyager Point in West Sydney using a website that

preserve, Brown said that he was shocked.

“I didn’t take photos for a while, and I almost forgot why I came,” he said. “As soon as I saw the aftermath and how much was truly burnt, I just stared at it. It was a sight that kind of put you in awe.”

After his initial trip, Brown reached out to George, and the two of them attended a massive protest on Jan. 10, 2020 in Sydney.

Approximately 30,000 people were in attendance, with similar political protests being held in every capital city in the country on the same day. The protesters demanded that the government not and provide relief services.

George said the two were able to sneak onto the media platforms and take photos of the protest.

“Nobody was asking for press passes,” she said.

“The two of us just had our cameras in our hands, so we walked right up. … It was just amazing to see everyone there and feel all this energy and power of the people.”

“It feels sort of apocalyptic in a way,” she said.

“I think the photos I got really kind of demonstrate the gloom around it.” that massive rainfall has helped to either contain has been extinguished, Australia is now facing a the country.

Australia’s weather agency said that in a four-day period, Sydney saw more than three times the average rainfall for February. The New South Wales Rural Fire Service said the rainfall

There have been pointed protests recently Sophomores Jordan Brown and Grace George captured photos of the Australian wildfires during their time abroad. Courtesy of Jordan Brown

66 | NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS

Professor Tom Pfaff teaches Modern Data Science, a class included in the new data science minor. Reed Freeman/The Ithacan

BRIGHT

ideas INTERNATIONAL SCHOLAR, STUDENT ACTIVISM, NEW CLUBS, AWARDS FOR CAMPUS MEMBERS

NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS | 67

WELLNESS WORKSHOPS HELP STUDENT BODY TO THRIVE

Monthly workshops offer tips to students on balancing many aspects of their lives

BY JULIA DANNEVIG

Health Promotion Specialist Kristen Lind blows bubbles to illustrate breathing techniques used through THRIVE@IC. Abbey London/The Ithacan

68 | NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS

COLLEGE WELCOMES CARTOONIST AS AN INTERNATIONAL SCHOLAR

BY ALYSHIA KORBA Ithaca College welcomed Pedro Molina as a visiting international scholar in the Honors Program for the next two years through the college’s collaboration with Ithaca City of Asylum (ICOA).

Molina was a journalist and cartoonist in

ICOA

is

a

volunteer-run

“Drawing Conclusions: Global Cartooning and Social

funded through Cornell University. sanctuary to international writers

government run by President Daniel Ortega.

After the Nicaraguan government began targeting government critics and took over Molina and his family came to Ithaca so he could continue his journalism work remotely

understandings of cartoons’ roles in society and what in communicating ideas.

Molina has been internationally recognized

for them.

Molina is ICOA’s seventh resident artist and the college’s third visiting international scholar. Past scholars at the college include Sonali Samarasinghe from

Maria Moors Cabot Award in international journalism from Columbia

Molina said he has continued to work is the current director of the Park Center for he has faced because journalism makes other countries aware of the issues in Nicaragua.

Molina is teaching courses in the Honors Program through the School of Humanities and Sciences and is available to visit

the understanding of North and South Americas through his work. He has also Cartoons of the Year by Pelican and the Gallimard/Cartooning for Peace collection.

a visual artist. journalist and someone who communicates through drawings and caricature and who

Molina said he believes that cartoons are messages because they are more accessible than other forms of journalism. During his

form of communication.

“I’m looking forward to sharing with students here in Ithaca College about my craft

in this new world which we live in where humor in cartooning can be sometimes very Swords said the visiting international

Pedro Molina, a journalist and cartoonist from Nicaragua, is a visiting international scholar at the college. Courtesy of Pedro Molina

“I think we need mentors and role models about in order to learn how to be courageous

NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS | 69

THE QUEST FOR CITIZENSHIP Editorial: International perspectives improve campus

Jacoba Taylor/The Ithacan

On Feb. 19, 2020, Mirit Hadar-Bessire, lecturer in the Ithaca College Department of Modern Languages and Literatures,

politics and societies.

the Lebanese War.

focus education on “making mistakes and

but also pushes students in understanding personal histories.

and teaching and bettering those around

that can sometimes be lost if a course is not dedicated to.

“This negative rhetoric paints immigrants as the enemy instead of people who improve the country..”

70 | NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS

NEWEST CLUBS REPORTING BY JULIA DANNEVIG, JULIA DEGERONIMO, SYDNEY KELLER AND MAGGIE MCADEN

IC GENES

MINDFULNESS CLUB

IC Genes was created at the beginning

IC STRIKE

genetic engineering

Reed Freeman/The Ithacan Peter Raider/The Ithacan

Alison True/The Ithacan

NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS | 71

TO JOIN campus CAR CLUB

Junior Aaron Segal is the president of Car Club and a self-described car enthusiast — what he said people refer to as a “gearhead.” when he joined as a freshman, but a graduating senior forgot to renew it, unintentionally putting the brakes on the organization’s status. status as a club reinstated now that the club has an adviser — one of the requirements to

2017–18 academic year, Segal said that the club served as a place for people to connect over cars. Segal said the club, which had approximately 20 active members as of last year, hosted a number of events for

CAMPUS CENTER ITHACA TALKS Ithaca Talks worked to bring TEDx PROGRAMMING BOARD events to Ithaca College. TEDx is a branch The Campus Center Programming Board is a student group that aims to provide Ithaca College students with more community events held at the Campus Center.

The board was created in Summer 2019. Jess Shapiro, assistant director at the Campus Center, is the board’s advisor. Shapiro also advises IC After Dark, an organization that holds monthly late night events.

Shapiro said she wants the board to gain more recognition so it can become a student organization. The Campus Center Programming Board currently consists of eight students. Students applied to join the board through IC Engage.

“The ultimate goal is seeing Campus Center not just as a building you walk through to get somewhere else or a place you just go to to eat and leave, but a place you can spend your time and meet people or come with your friends and have a good time,” Shapiro said.

Athina Sonitis/The Ithacan

Tenzin Namgyel/The Ithacan

of the TED speaker series. Its purpose is to facilitate the process of hosting TED conferences within smaller communities with local speakers. The TEDx speaker with the most recent event being held in 2017.

At the club’s event in March, speakers focused on topics pertaining to the event’s “2020 Vision” theme, which involved social or environmental issues to think about for the upcoming decade, said sophomore Lizzie Smith, Ithaca Talks secretary.

“I think it’s really great to pause and think about where we’re heading in the future and where our planet should be and what our society should be,” she said.

Courtesy of Elena Haskins

Tenzin Namgyel/The Ithacan

72 | NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS

EMERGING MEDIA ENDEAVORS Campus members create apps to meet needs of locals

Professor Doug Turnbell and his team and professor Laura Campbell Carapella created new apps. Olivia Jackson and Becks Edelstein/The Ithacan

REPORTING BY JULIA DANNEVIG AND CORA PAYNE Professors and students on campus actively worked to create apps that members of the community can use to meet their needs.

Ithaca College Professor Doug Turnbull and a team of students at the college have been working diligently since 2018 to develop Localify, a service meant to “make Spotify local.”

Through Localify, users sync their Spotify accounts, and Localify then generates playlists based on the users’ music tastes, integrating local music into the users’ frequently played tracks.

Localify currently has 500,000 artists, 500,000 past events, 25,000 upcoming events and 1,700 cities with at least one local music event in the current database. Websites and news outlets are scoured for performances in the area, and artists that play a high percentage of their shows within a particular region are considered local. The project is made up of three services: a web app with event recommendations, a Spotify playlist generator and a personalized weekly email digest.

Localify launched in early August.

Vianca Hurtado, Tim Clerico ’19 and juniors Nicolas Wands, Connor Shea,Erich Ostendarp and Brontë Cook.

Localify functions more like a true start-up than a group of students, Turnbull said. He feels as though he is the coach, but every student is

to give students the freedom to work, Turnbull said, because they are much more likely to be self–motivated and accomplish things creatively.

Turnbull said some students prefer to get their best work done in the middle of the night, while others work best early in the morning, and all methods are acceptable to him.

The funding for Localify is primarily sourced from the National Science Foundation, Turnbull said. The project recently received a $1.2 million grant that was split between the college and Cornell University teams working on the project, Turnbull said. Thorsten Joachims, a computer science professor at Cornell University, works with undergraduates at Cornell to focus on research and data assembly, while the Ithaca College team focuses on design and marketing, Turnbull said. Students working on the project are not paid because Localify is an “academic project.”

In 2017, Laura Campbell Carapella, associate professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education, began to develop ICU Gratitude, an app for Ithaca College students with the goal of reducing levels of anxiety by sharing instances of gratitude online.

Carapella said she used funding from the college’s President’s Seed Grant, a grant that

that add to the campus community, as well as her own savings. The app is still being tested by released to the entire campus in Fall 2020.

She said that the app will work as a medium for students to share anonymous instances of gratitude they experience throughout the day and that her goal is for it to act as a new form of social media.

Carapella said she has found through research and studies that social media plays a role in the increase in anxiety as it promotes judgment and ridicule.

“We get to the point where we’re paranoid with the way people are going to judge us, that we are paralyzed in that anxiety,” she said.

According to a study conducted by the American College Health Association, over 60% of college students felt overwhelmed with anxiety.

The theory behind Carapella’s app, she said, is that replacing these judgments with thoughts of gratitude will help to reduce anxiety over time.

“What would it look like if we every day instead of pulling out a social media platform that encourages you to like or dislike something or to compare yourself, it encouraged you to give gratitude,” she said.

MAKING A MARK Students create long-form radio production group

“We wanted to fill in a gap and be something that no other club has done before.”

– Noah Pantano

NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS | 73

BY JORDAN BROKING TNT Radio Productions, a new student radio production group, is working to produce creative long–form audio stories.

The group was created by sophomores Noah Pantano, Tristan Berlet and Jay Bradley and junior Tyler Jennes. Students in the club create projects ranging from contemporary drama to experimental audio narratives that are not restricted to common formats like podcasting.

“We want this to be the nurturing ground for creativity,” Pantano said.

Members do not need prior experience in podcasting or radio, but there is one thing that club leadership requests of all members.

“If it’s able to be put on the radio and people are able to understand it, we want people to come to the club and bring their crazy big ideas,” Pantano said.

Jennes said he and the group believe there is a lack of diversity in audio content at the college. The college is well known for its radio stations, WICB and VIC. They have won numerous awards, with WICB recently winning the 2019 Best Sports Reporting (Audio) and Best Podcast awards from College Broadcasters, Inc. The Princeton Review also ranked WICB as the seventh-best college radio station in the country. something that no other club has done before,” Pantano said.

Bradley said the college’s radio stations hopes to accomplish.

“What [WICB and VIC] do is primarily

music and news based,” Bradley said. “They have a pretty full schedule already with all that they do, so I don’t expect them to really pick us up or anything.”

Senior Peter Champelli, station manager of WICB, said that while radio is an evolving medium, WICB’s programming primarily focuses on music and live podcasts. He said WICB is creating its own podcast network to move into more experimental programming.

“Consistency is really important to us and our audience,” Champelli said. project called “First Time.” For this project, group members created long–form pieces — approximately 10 to 30 minutes The club leaders said they felt the theme was Sophomore Vedant Akhauri said he enjoys the atmosphere of the club.

“I really like it,” Akhauri said. “It seems that we have a group of really creative people.”

Akhauri’s “First Time” project centers around a young journalist in Mumbai, India, who is trying to seek the truth. Akhauri said the idea came from his personal experience of working at a news station during high school.

Akhauri was raised in New Delhi, and he said the culture there also impacted his creative process.

“Over there, your options are very limited basically,” Akhauri said. “The creative arts is very stigmatized there, so that’s why I wanted to set it there.”

TNT Radio executive board junior Tyler Jennes and sophomores Tristan Berlet, Noah Pantano and Jay Bradley. Reed Freeman/The Ithacan

74 | NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS

SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT ACTIVISM

BY SAM HAUT Ithaca College sophomore Peyton Falk talked about the struggles indigenous people face and the activism she has done to combat those struggles as an indigenous woman in faculty Nov. 12, 2019.

Falk spoke as a part of the long-term project IC Voices that began Fall 2019 through the Center for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Social Change (IDEAS). The project’s focus is to document the activist work students at the college have done.

Junior Hana Cho, who thought of the project, asked Falk a series of questions and then followed up with questions from audience members.

Falk talked about the work she has done for groups like the United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and as a speaker for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement. UNITY seeks to improve conditions for indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada through leadership and action, while MMIW seeks to raise awareness for the violence committed against indigenous women. Falk said she is a current member of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, one of two federally recognized tribes for the Iowa Native Americans.

Falk said she was inspired to start activism work at 16 because of the Dakota Access pipeline DAPL) movement that began in

2016 and has since gotten involved with the movement. The DAPL movement was started to protest the construction of an oil pipeline near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation because of the possible damage the pipeline could do to the reservation’s water supply.

Falk said she believes there is more people can do to help promote the rights of Native Americans.

“To be an ally of native people, you have to stand up at all times, not just when your native friends are there,” Falk said. “To be a true ally, you have to talk about indigenous rights and indigenous needs more than just on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.” Omega Hollies, assistant director for the Center for IDEAS and an organizer of IC Voices, said the project aims to give students a better understanding of the activist work at the college.

“Because of the nature of institutions like Ithaca College, memory on campus is very so during the time you’re here at campus, you might see three years before and three years after, but you don’t necessarily get a snapshot 10 years before you and 10 years after you.”

Cho said she thought of the project because she did not want the activist work students have done to be forgotten after they left the college.

“I came in as a freshman in 2017, and I

heard things about POC at IC, but no one was really willing to talk about it, … and I in it,” Cho said. “I was thinking how it’s such a shame that there’s this four year turnover at colleges. … So I wanted to capture people’s voices and uplift those voices because I think it’s really important that their work doesn’t go into thin air when they graduate.”

POC at IC formed in 2015 in response to racial tensions on campus. It held protests against former college president Tom Rochon, who resigned after facing heavy criticism from the campus community.

Junior Timothy Kennedy said he thought the event was interesting because Falk talked about issues that normally do not get covered by the Town of Ithaca or the college.

“Ithaca doesn’t really acknowledge ever that we’re on stolen land or that we have indigenous students here,” Kennedy said. voices more.”

Kennedy said the talk informed him more about the kind of work students of all ethnicities can do to stay informed. people know we should do our own research and, as she said, taking classes, not just expecting all the information and work to people, but doing our own work to search it out ourselves,” Kennedy said.

Junior Hana Cho, left, asks sophomore Peyton Falk about her work as an activist as part of the IC Voices project. Liam Conway/The Ithacan

NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS | 75

ACTIVISM STARTS WITH STUDENTS Commentary: Students can take small steps to become more socially active Junior Amanda Behnken shares her journey to becoming socially active. Eleanor Kay/The Ithacan

BY AMANDA BEHNKEN I used to be a horrible underachiever. In high school, I did the bare minimum amount of work, maxed out on excused absences and failed to commit to the biweekly meetings of the one club I was in. So, if you told my 16-year-old self that four years from then she’d be writing about the importance of student activism for her school newspaper, she’d just about fall over. The good thing is because I’m not someone who’s naturally inclined to join every club my school

“Not all young people have the same educational opportunities that I and other student activists have.”

– Amanda Behnken

learned a lot about living with intention and the

voter turnout. Nearly 36% of 18–29 year olds voted in the 2018 election, which is a 16% increase from 2014. Imagine the change young people could make if everyone in our age demographic made it to the polls.

As a student in high school, and now here at Ithaca College, it’s a privilege to have access to the information and resources necessary to make meaningful change.

Not all young people have the same educational opportunities that I and other student activists have, which is why often times student activists become the collective voice for young people. Those in higher

I had to start small, and it wasn’t easy. I learned that there are so many ways to be “active,” like simply taking the time to educate yourself on something you don’t yet understand or speaking up the next time

for those who do not have the same time or tools to collect information, gather and protest.

A number of on-campus organizations take advantage of these opportunities and are passionate

to realize that you’re not going to be able to change overnight, but that’s not to say you shouldn’t start.

Eventually, I came to discover that the primary reason why student activism is so important is also the primary reason why so many young people, myself included,

College’s Futures Club. Futures is a social activism club that focuses on keeping college students informed and getting them involved. It holds weekly discussions on varying social justice issues and encourages members

power don’t want you to. participation in government and policy, creating a culture that disconnects young people from policymakers. The prominent idea that young people simply don’t have the power to make an impact further discourages youth from getting involved. Throughout the last decade, young people have driven increased

not be comfortable having elsewhere. Futures also holds events, protests and connects members to other organizations taking actions against social injustices. I joined this club as a freshman in college, when I was still feeling disconnected from the world and the issues

me avenues to explore those passions and create meaningful change.

76 | NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS

Assistant professor Steven Banks won a spot on the Young Concert Artists roster.

Caroline Brophy/The Ithacan

TAKING TALENT TO THE BIG STAGE Music professor wins classical music accolade as saxophonist

BY CODY TAYLOR Steven Banks, assistant professor in the Department of Performance Studies at Ithaca years to earn a place on the Young Concert Artists (YCA) roster. classical musicians and helps further their music Concert Artists International Auditions in which Banks performed for a panel of 11 judges.

Banks said that during the auditions, he felt comfortable onstage and concentrated on his own musical performance rather than other contestants’ auditions.

“During my audition, I was not really worried about the outcome,” Banks said. “I just wanted to be myself and play my best. I was not worried if I messed up, but, instead, I wanted to make sure that I represented myself artistically.

That was freeing in a way, and it makes being

other musicians, Quartet Amabile, a string quartet; Martin James Bartlett, a pianist; and Albert Cano Smit, a pianist, were chosen to receive three-year comprehensive management opportunities at recital halls and with orchestras in New York City and Washington, D.C. Monica Felkel, director of artist management ability to represent YCA until she heard Banks play.

“Before even hearing Steven or any classical not this was an instrument that Young Concert Artists could really take under their wing and book concerts with,” Felkel said. “The way that the board members took to his performance, I think this really shows us that there is space for us to move still within classical music. It shows that there is so much more room for growth in helping people understand what classical music is.”

After the auditions, the performers were concerto engagements and Kennedy Center

knowing that it was not just based on perfection.”

Banks and three

from places like Germany, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. “The fact that presenters were there who

rarely have someone outside of the standard piano string quartet spoke leaps and bounds to what a great musician he is,” Felkel said.

YCA has fostered over 270 professional musicians like pianist Richard Goode, pianist Karl Paulnack, dean of the Ithaca College James J. Whalen School of Music, said individuals from that list have consistently gone on to become some of the world’s best, and he thinks Banks will be one of those someday.

“This competition seems to have a history of identifying people, many of whom are going to become superstars of their generation,” Paulnack said.

Banks said he believes that being part of YCA will allow him to perform with people who will further his musical career, and he will look back on this opportunity later in his career as a life-changing moment.

“I like to describe it as a chance to do all of the things that I have been dreaming to do since starting to play music,” Banks said. “It is a chance to play with major orchestras and composers, and so it gives you the opportunity to be in front of the right people that you would not necessarily be able to be in front of without the

NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS | 77

Carlie McClinsey ’19 holds the first place award for Ad Lab’s Wienerschnitzel campaign. Courtesy of Scott Van Osdol

AD LAB BRINGS HOME A VICTORY Student team named winner of Wienerschnitzel campaign

BY MAIA NOAH Ithaca College’s Ad Lab was named the 2019 winner of the American Advertising Federation’s (AAF) National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) for its campaign about hot dogs.

Standing out among over 2,000 advertising and marketing college students, its campaign June, with Liberty University coming in second and Syracuse University in third. This year, the competition tasked teams with creating a campaign for Wienerschnitzel — the world’s largest hot dog chain — focused on dismantling negative perceptions surrounding hot dogs; these include the notions that hot dogs are made from leftover remnants of animals after they are slaughtered and that hot dogs are unhealthy.

The team’s campaign, titled “Defend the Dog,” put the hot dog on trial and thus found the hot dog innocent of charges and guilty of being delicious. It has been 26 years since the college last won this competition.

Carlie McClinsey ’19, co-chair of the Ad

greatest moments of her college career.

“That moment was by far the most surreal and incredible moment I’ve experienced,” she said. “We had not won this competition in quite a long time, so we went into the competition fully anticipating we weren’t going to win.”

Amanda StClair ’19, director of the brand activation team of the Ad Lab team, said that

hearing the college’s name called at nationals gave her an overwhelming feeling of success.

She said that hearing the college declared the winner at districts was the moment she realized that its campaign could ultimately win it all.

“When we won nationals, everyone was sobbing,” StClair said. “When you win, you kind of forget all the pain and work you had to go through to get to that point.”

Beginning Fall 2018, some of the college’s students joined AAF’s NSAC by enrolling in a one-credit mini-course for integrated marketing communications students taught by Lisa Farman, assistant professor in the Department of Strategic Communication. Farman said this course was designed as a platform to conduct research prior to the college’s Ad Lab capstone

Strategic Communication, said that, initially, his Ad Lab students decided not to focus on the misconceptions because they thought the incorporate into the campaign. However, Hamula said they realized that focusing on the misconceptions would help them achieve the client’s goal.

Hamula said that by the time the Ad team only had two to three weeks left before the deadline.

“It was so last minute and just serendipitous,” he said. “When you come across a really great big idea, you can tell because hands start going up with ideas based on that big idea; … that’s what happened here.”

The team submitted its 21-page campaign just in time for the deadline. It made it through the three rounds of competitions: the

for Ad Lab. She said she thinks this course The other National Student Advertising campaign that impressed Wienerschnitzel.

“In past years, Ithaca College has been at a bit of a disadvantage because most schools who compete in the competition work on the case for a full year, and, historically, we at Ithaca College only work on it for one semester,” Farman said.

“So we came up with the idea of a one-credit course to get a jumpstart on the campaign.”

More than 20 students took part in the Ad Lab course. Scott Hamula, associate professor and chair of the Department of

college included Columbia College Chicago, Johnson and Wales University Providence, Liberty University, South Dakota State University, Southern Methodist University, Syracuse University and the University of Alabama, all of which have notable advertising programs.

78 | NEWS : BRIGHT IDEAS

GOING

GREEN Eco-Reps help students increase individual sustainability Sophomore Eco-Rep Emily Gronquist helped start the green room program during Fall 2019. Ana Maniaci McGough/The Ithacan

BY KRISSY WAITE The Ithaca College Eco-Reps rolled out the Green to increase sustainability on an individual level on campus.

The program allows students to have their rooms evaluated based on how sustainable their lifestyles are. The Lower Quads, East and West Towers, Emerson Hall and the Terrace Residence Halls, according to the request form available on the Energy Management and Sustainability, the Eco-Reps and the Residence Hall Association Community Council Eco-Reps.

Students who sign up for the program have Eco-Reps conduct walk-throughs of their rooms. Eco-Reps are students employed by

Eco-Reps. The checklist is divided into four categories — waste, energy,

to place on their doors.

Some criteria to qualify for the program include not using using LED lights in lamps, using campus printers rather than a personal one, having a plant in the room and carpooling. Some items on the list keeping showers under seven minutes long.

Rebecca Evans, campus sustainability

coordinator

in

the

important to have on college campuses because it reinforces the idea of individual responsibility for sustainability. “[The program is] a way to acknowledge students that are highly engaged with campus sustainability or that are actively trying to reduce will encourage other students to make more mindful decisions in how Sophomore Emily Gronquist, an Eco-Rep who helped spearhead the program, said the program is important because it uses a peer-to-peer education system. She also said this initiative is an approachable way for students to increase sustainability.

“It shows that sustainability doesn’t have to be this scary thing where

it shows people that you can make these tiny changes and it makes a Ithaca college is not the only college with a sustainability program focused on individual changes in dorm life. Colorado

waste, energy, water, involvement and technology. Another liberal arts

said she agrees that peer-to-peer education programs like this are

she said. “I think … because you have a peer saying that, or that you’re in trouble, that it can be a more casual

NEWS: BRIGHT IDEAS | 79

ALTERNATIVE VIEWING PARTY OFFERED FOR CORTACA Students enjoy the big game in sensory viewing room

BY ANNA DE LUCA Ithaca College students socialized and watched the 61st Cortaca Jug game during a sensory room viewing party from noon to 4 p.m. Nov. 16 in Klingenstein Lounge hosted

by Disability Education, Alliance and Resources at Ithaca College (DEAR@IC).

The game was played at a lower volume, and the room was dimly lit. Approximately 20 students attended the event according to senior Kimberly Caceci, DEAR@IC president and co-founder.

DEAR@IC was founded in September 2018. The organization aims to provide a safe and accepting environment for students with disabilities and able-bodied allies. She said the purpose of the event was to provide a sense of calm for students who wanted to attend a viewing party without the stress of large crowds and loud noises.

“We are the only student organization on campus to create a safe space for students with disabilities and able-bodied allies to come together to talk about disability, our experiences, resources on campus and the area,” Caceci said.

Students attending the viewing party in the sensory room concentrated on crossword puzzles and talked to friends while the game played in the background.

Junior Jamie Duncan, a student attending the event, said they the room was calmer and more relaxed.

“I think that the sensory room is really important to be noticed and to get out there amongst the community,” Duncan said. “I think that it’s a very helpful thing for people who have disabilities, and people also just want a chill place to watch the game without a bunch of people around. I think that the more people that come, the

more people will be able to take advantage of everything.”

Senior Laura Tarone said because she is an occupational therapy major, she wanted to observe how the sensory room is set up and see the purpose of the objects that were provided.

“I think it’s really important,” Tarone said. “They have good lighting here. Sometimes bright lights are too much for some people.

It’s not too loud. It’s a nice calming environment to watch the football game.” Senior DEAR@IC treasurer Maggie Callery said the inclusion of tactile objects allowed for students to alleviate the stress they might experience in social situations.

Activities and toys like crossword puzzles, sudoku, coloring books, stickers, spinning tops, yo-yos, bubbles, paddleball, squishy toys, stress balls, weighted blankets and sequin pillows were also available on side tables for everyone to use. Callery said stress balls and squishy toys are able to help students feel more comfortable in the environment they are in.

“We wanted it to be a quiet place for people to come and spend time, and we thought the crossword puzzles might be a nice way for people to distract themselves or occupy their minds while they’re in here and they’re enjoying the quieter environment,” Callery said.

“It’s also facilitating some social interaction because people are sharing the crosswords, people are talking about what the answers might be, so it’s also doing some community building.”

Caceci said the event space was chosen because it is far enough from the Emerson Suites, where a separate viewing party took place, so it does not get too loud but close enough so students could get food from the event and bring it back to Klingenstein Lounge.

Freshman Grace Madeya and junior Matt Kamen at the viewing party. Maxine Hansford/The Ithacan

80 | NEWS: BUILDING COMMUNITY

The Protestant Community has rebranded to promote inclusivity. It is now known as the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship.

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

BUILDING community SOCIAL JUSTICE EDUCATION, PROJECT EMBOLDEN, POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS, FOOD REDISTRIBUTION

NEWS: BUILDING COMMUNITY | 81

GET ON YOUR

feet

Students participate in six-hour dance marathon to benefit children’s hospital

BY ALYSHIA KORBA Damon Goga is a normal 12-year-old, his father Rich Goga said. He loves to play soccer, baseball and Xbox. However, he does all of this with one leg. Damon is a survivor of Ewing’s Sarcoma, a bone cancer that led to the amputation of his lower left leg.

Damon and his family came to the Fitness Center at Ithaca College on Dec. 7 for Ithaca Miracle Network Dance Marathon. Miracle Network Dance Marathon is a program involving over 400 colleges, universities and schools throughout North America. Since its founding in 1991, the program has raised over $250 million for its partner hospitals, according to its website.

The college’s event raised $28,233.22 for the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse, New York, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. The money was raised during a six-hour dance marathon and months of fundraising before the event. The donation to the hospital will be used to fund costs, including patient services, education and equipment, according to the hospital’s website.

The 190 participants in the marathon danced for six hours to 2010s pop music with an organized dance performed every hour by the morale captains — students who were responsible for maintaining participant enthusiasm throughout the marathon. Throughout the day, dancers collected donations through social media

and payment apps like Venmo.

Toni Gary, assistant vice president for community relations and development for Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, said events like BomberTHON are important in helping the hospital accommodate children.

“We see 100,000 children a year, so every time you take a step today, think of one of those kids that will be in the hospital,” Gary said.

The idea for BomberTHON began in April 2018 when junior Laura Heppes, now the president of BomberTHON, learned about THON, the dance marathon at Pennsylvania State University, and she wanted to bring the program to Ithaca College. Penn State’s THON has over 16,500 students participating every year and has raised over $157 million for Four Diamonds at Penn State Children’s Hospital since 1977, according to the website.

Junior Lee Folger was also looking to start a dance marathon at Ithaca College because of his experience as a morale captain for a dance marathon when he was in high school.

“I just fell in love with it, and then I got here, and there wasn’t one, and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way,” Folger said. “When Laura brought it up, I realized that this school had too many amazing resources for us to not have one.”

Junior Madison Cardinal, BomberTHON’s director of promotions, said its original fundraising goal was $15,000, but it expected to actually raise $9,000. Junior Thomas

Students dance for six hours in the Fitness Center to raise money for a children’s hospital.

Reed Freeman/ The Ithacan Edson, director of hospital relations, said that when the event started, it had already surpassed its goal with approximately $24,000 raised during the preceding months by collecting donations.

The Miracle Network Dance Marathon program has raised $38.6 million in 2019 as of Nov. 12 with 31 colleges and universities across the country hosting dance marathons, according to an article by the Miracle Network Dance Marathon.

Edson said the executive board’s goal at the start of the event was to raise more than Cornell annual dance marathon, Big Red Thon, which was held Nov. 9 “It’s so surreal,” Edson said. “This is 20 months in the making, and that number is going to stick with me forever.”

Over 25 sports teams and organizations from Ithaca College participated in fundraising, and the women’s crew team raised the most with $2,064. The team received a banner that will hang in its locker room and be passed on to next year’s top fundraising team.

After six hours of dancing, games and fundraising, a circle of approximately 100 people swayed to the sound of Ithacappella and celebrated the organization’s success. Edson said the board plans to run this event annually.

“It’s in the history books,” Edson said. “We’ve started it.”

82 | NEWS: BUILDING COMMUNITY

THE POWER OF MUSIC

Community program teaches social justice through music

BY NIJHA YOUNG The Community Unity Music Education Program (CUMEP) connects Ithaca College with children from the community by teaching social justice through music. the Southside Community Center that exposes kids ages 3–18 to music, art and dance while discussing topics of self-awareness and social justice.

The program had its 16th summer session in July, and students from the college helped run the program.

This year’s session focused on current events like the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. This session allowed campers to a call-and-response chant that participants in the program often use.

This lesson was coupled with deconstructing teachings of anti-blackness and emphasis on spreading black joy.

Nia Nunn, associate professor in the Department of Education, began running the program in 2007. Her father, Fe Nunn, founded CUMEP to grant children in the community opportunities to learn through music. The program was originally founded as an after school program, and then it became a summer camp in 2003.

Nunn said the major pillars of CUMEP include self-love, self-discovery, developing one’s academic self and civic responsibility.

The 16-day program brings in 75–100 kids every year.

Although there are fees associated with the program, Nunn said the fees.

Nunn said CUMEP openly discusses controversial topics, making the program’s goals of civic duty and engagement clear and unapologetic.

The program has discussed social issues and movements such as the Black Lives Matter Movement, Islamophobia, same-sex marriage and honoring the Cayuga people, on whose land Ithaca was established.

Senior Phoebe Holland was a band teacher at CUMEP this summer. Holland said concepts like black joy are not making their way into classrooms. She said CUMEP helps to bridge this gap. CUMEP discusses subjects that may not be explored in classrooms where teachers may not be fully equipped to do so, Nunn said.

allowing counselors to genuinely connect with campers. One moment that stuck out to her was when she helped the children compose an original song for them to perform.

Sophomore Gisela Rosa was a counselor at CUMEP and said her educating children.

Rosa said she thinks teachers should be held accountable for building meaningful curriculums and forming strong relationships with students.

Rosa said.

Nunn said there is hope in educating youth on topics that may otherwise be considered taboo in some households.

The Community Unity Music Education Program was formed to teach social justice through music. Courtesy of Alyvia Covert/The Ithaca Voice

NEWS: BUILDING COMMUNITY | 83

BOLD Scholar seniors Breana Nieves Vergara, Clare Norwalk, Kelly Madden, Diana Castillo, Markiesha Morgan and Audrianna Evelyn. Chloe Gibson/The Ithacan

BOLD SCHOLARS COLLABORATE WITH NEW ROOTS CHARTER SCHOOL

BY ALYSHIA KORBA Project Embolden, a new mentorship program with New Roots Charter School, aims to create connections among Ithaca high school students and Ithaca College students.

The Class of 2020 BOLD Women’s Leadership Network Scholars organized the program that will take place at New Roots Charter School. This program is the Class of 2020 BOLD Scholars’ campus transformation project, which is a project every class of BOLD Scholars is required to do during its senior year. The class is comprised of eight seniors: Clare Nowalk, Breana Nieves Vergara, Markiesha Morgan, Kelly Madden, Ashae Forsythe, Audrianna Evelyn, Diana Castillo and Calissa Brown.

Nowalk said the scholars chose to organize Project Embolden because they wanted to create a connection between the college and the greater Ithaca area while providing career mentoring for high school students. The program will pair a mentor from Project Embolden to two or three 11th and 12th-grade students at New Roots Charter School.

New Roots Charter School was chosen for the program because its values align with the values of BOLD, said Michael Mazza, director of community engagement at New Roots Charter School. The school’s mission is to “prepare a diverse student body to embrace the opportunities of citizenship, work, and life-long learning in the 21st century,” according to its website.

“The BOLD scholars are great examples for

our growing changemakers, demonstrating what powerful citizenship looks like at the university level,” Mazza said. “New Roots Charter School is honored to participate with IC’s BOLD program.”

Nowalk said the scholars’ goal with the program is to help students make informed decisions about their lives after high school. They plan to achieve their goal by presenting students with a variety of post-high school options including higher education, military service and entering the workforce.

“Students should have agency and choice in their decisions to pursue life after high school,” Nowalk said. “They should feel empowered in whatever they choose to do and be happy with that decision.”

BOLD Program Director Sam Bobbe said the scholars plan to hold professional development workshops for the high schoolers in which professionals will be brought in to teach students career skills. They are also hoping to organize a conference that will be open to Ithaca High School as well as New Roots Charter School, Bobbe said. This conference would have representatives from colleges and vocational schools as well as employers and military recruiters. Bobbe said they also hope to have a variety of speakers presenting at the conference.

The program received approval for their grant proposal to implement Project Embolden from the Pussycat Foundation, which sponsors BOLD, Bobbe said. The grant will be used to transport

mentors to the high school and transport the high school students to any events or trips organized by Project Embolden.

Bobbe said the mentor program consists of the eight BOLD scholars and 12 additional student-mentors. Mentees joined mentors on campus throughout the spring, and visited Syracuse University’s campus as well as Onondaoga Community College.

Although BOLD is a program for female-identifying students, all students regardless of their gender identities can participate in Project Embolden. Bobbe said one concern she has is that the program has not had much engagement from male-identifying students and who would prefer male mentors.

Nowalk said the scholars are hoping that Project Embolden will continue even after their cohort graduates in May. Bobbe said the group is looking to form a student organization with another group on campus that volunteers at local elementary schools to create one organization.

“they should feel empowered in whatever they choose to do.”

– Clare Nowalk

84 | NEWS: BUILDING COMMUNITY

ON A MISSION TO CURB HUNGER Local pantry redistributes food throughout community

Carolyn Tomaino ’87, interim coordinator of the Friendship Donations Network, helps redistribute food to the community.

Cora Payne/ The Ithacan

BY CORA PAYNE Every Friday, David Harker, director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Ithaca College, loads boxes of fresh fruit, vegetables and bread from the Friendship Donations Network’s (FDN) pantry. The food, rejects from local establishments destined for the trash, is redistributed throughout the community, including at the college.

“Just because Wegmans can’t sell the slightly bruised fruit doesn’t mean it’s bad fruit,” Harker said. “Someone can still eat it.”

FDN’s goal is to redistribute perishable items — gathered from various local food chains including Wegmans, Ithaca Bakery, Panera Bread and the Ithaca Farmers Market — to eliminate food waste. As a result, Ithaca community members, including college students, get access to healthy food such as bags of produce with some bruised or slightly damaged items, surplus kale and still-fresh breads. As a result, the food is also kept Harker brings the food back to the college’s food pantry located in the DeMotte Room in the Campus Center as well as a monthly pop-up pantry at the Athletics and Events Center.

“It’s a great way for Ithaca College and the community to look within itself and the way we

talk about food,” Harker said.

By collaborating with organizations like the FDN, the college is able to partially address the issues of food insecurity and general lack of nutritious diets within the campus community, Harker said. Approximately 36% of students Campus Climate Survey. Currently, a residential

of fresh food locally per year that would otherwise be wasted. According to FDN, the average and vegetables a year, which means FDN can Over one-third of the food produced on Earth is never eaten and ends up being thrown out, according to National Geographic.

Carolyn Tomaino ’87 is currently the interim coordinator for FDN. After graduating from the college with a degree in philosophy and religion, eventually ended up at the organization. In her position, she forms relationships with other local organizations — including the college, Youth Farm Project, Cornell Bread N’ Butter Pantry,

Lansing Summer Lunchbox and more — to provide FDN’s services to the greater community.

College students are often drawn to FDN because of the organization’s combination of sustainability and equity, Harker said. college students, Tomaino said.

Senior Alexandra Rose interns with FDN, and she said she was drawn to FDN because of the organization’s unique approach to tackling local hunger.

“I remember sitting with my parents when I was younger, and they told me that it was okay to throw food out because it was biodegradable,” Rose said. “That just isn’t always true. I didn’t know then that food waste was such a problem.” organizations, students can feel more connected to their community, Rose said.

“People who are older bring a lot to the table,” Rose said. “They have a lot of wisdom and life experience. But when young people get involved in their community, they bring a certain energy that’s really special.”

As the world aims to tackle food insecurity, it is important to utilize food redistribution, Harker said.

NEWS: BUILDING COMMUNITY | 85

PARTICIPATING IN POLITICS

Students work with campaigns to gain political experience

BY ALYSHIA KORBA Not many college students can say they have had a phone call with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and presidential candidate, but sophomore Vedant Akhauri has twice. Akhauri is a volunteer on the Sanders campaign and was recently promoted to be a campaign moderator.

Akhauri began working with the campaign in April 2019 and spent the summer texting and calling voters and helping people organize rallies for the Sanders campaign. In October, he was promoted to campaign moderator, where he supervises other volunteers. since Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.

“I’ve supported Bernie Sanders since 2015 during his previous campaign,” Akhauri said.

“I didn’t expect to like Bernie, but I ended up agreeing with him on a lot of policies. It’s interesting how the campaign has opened me up to so many viewpoints of people across the political spectrum.”

In August, Akhauri had the opportunity to speak with Sanders on the phone with other campaign volunteers, and they spoke with Sanders again in October. Sanders talked with the students about strategies for promoting

Sophomore Vedant Akhauri began working with Bernie Sanders’ campaign in April 2019.

Molly Bailot/ The Ithacan

the campaign on college campuses during the strategy during the second phone call.

“Young people in this country hold the future of the nation and the world in their hands,” Sanders said to the volunteers. “Years from now, your children and your grandchildren will look back on this moment and they’re going to say ‘thank you.’”

Junior Michael Deviney also spent his summer as an intern in Washington, D.C., for Rep. Tom Reed. Deviney said he began working with Reed in Fall 2018 during Reed’s congressional campaign.

After Reed won the election, Deviney said

Deviney said he guided tours of the Rayburn building, answered phone calls and did research for proposed bills.

He said he decided to get involved with the Reed campaign to make his college experience productive.

“I was like ‘Do I sleep in until noon on Saturday and Sunday like other college students, or do I actually do something?’” Deviney said.

“It opened many more windows for me for the future.” volunteer opportunities in the Reed campaign through Ithaca College Republicans.

Senior Elaina White, president of IC Republicans, said she believes it is important for students to be involved in politics.

“I think getting involved in a campaign, speaking your voice and relaying your opinions to other people like-minded on campus would inspire you to go out to vote more,” White said.

The voting rate for registered voters at the college has increased by 31.3% between 2014 and 2018 with a 41% voting rate in 2018. Groups at the college such as IC Republicans and Ithaca College Democrats aim to encourage voting on campus.

Don Beachler, associate professor in the Department of Politics, said via email that participating in campaigns is important for students to obtain experience in politics.

“There is the opportunity to gain experience and contacts that can be useful in seeking postgraduation employment,” Beachler said. “Also, you can learn a lot about how campaigns work.”

86| LIFE & CULTURE

Members of Pulse Hip Hop perform at their spring semester showcase Feb. 23 in the Emerson Suites. Brooke Bernhardt/The Ithacan

LIFE & CULTURE | 87

life & culture

88 | LIFE & CULTURE

BUILDING A

BRAND

Senior Devin Kasparian had an internship with Flaunt Magazine in Los Angeles during spring 2019. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Senior Devin Kasparian expands photographic portfolio with exclusive celebrity shoots

BY PARKER SCHUG In a matter of seconds, Ithaca College senior Devin Kasparian’s plans for a simple photoshoot of a gallery turned into a mission to capture the perfect shot of rapper Kanye West. While living and interning in Los Angeles, Kasparian took on many photography challenges like this one. visual arts major, photographed artists at events through his internship at Flaunt

“i’ve always tried to step outside the box. ” – Devin Kasparian

Magazine during the 2019 spring semester, including the Maisie Wilen x Kanye West that he was unaware that West would be at the event, much less that he would be photographing him.

“I walked in and one of my coworkers was there, and I was like, ‘Is there anyone I they were like, ‘Probably Kanye,’” Kasparian said. “I had no idea he’d be there. I was really excited, of course, but I was like, ‘I’m not even going to get excited right now because I know this is an opportunity that I can’t ruin.’” arts as a child, and he enjoyed painting, drawing and sculpting. He said that upon entering high school in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, he started following his love high school, Kasparian began shooting

fashion and music events. Now, through internships, private photoshoots and working for on-campus magazines, he said, he discovered his love for photographing music events. background where I was trying to push other people come from more of a technical background,” Kasparian said. “I’ve always tried to step outside of the box.”

During his time at the college, Kasparian has been involved in extracurriculars like Distinct Magazine. One story he photographed was a feature about senior Luke Bonadonna, an art major. For the photoshoot, Kasparian tore apart his own photographs and combined them with Bonadonna’s materials and some of the quotes from the interview.

LIFE & CULTURE | 89

“It ended up getting such great feedback, and people really supported this idea that I had,” Kasparian said. “It fueled me. I was like, ‘Woah, if I can do this on a small scale, I can do this on a large scale, and if people are impressed or are getting something or some emotion or impression out of the work we’re doing here, I know I can do it on a larger scale.” by his time spent learning and working in New York City and Los Angeles. Kasparian said that in New York he took the opportunity to shoot street photos at New York Fashion Week, a resume-builder that any photographer can take part in. Kasparian said he had the opportunity to make connections with other artists and clients he never thought possible.

“There are people you run into who are incredible,” Kasparian said. “It’s a really inspiring location to be because there’s always so much happening. … Especially in the to be connecting with people all the time.”

Hannah Jackson, Kasparian’s former coworker at Flaunt Magazine, said Devin was an integral asset to the workplace.

“I think when people think of working at a fashion magazine it can be like the ‘Devil

Courtesy of Devin Kasparian

Wears Prada,’ it really can be true,” Jackson said. “Devin is just one of the friendliest, most optimistic people. He puts a happy smiling face to an industry that can seem really serious.”

Another event Kasparian photographed for Flaunt Magazine was The Billie Eilish Experience, an interactive event debuting Eillish’s album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” Kasparian said he was dedicated to getting the best pictures possible, vowing not to leave until he was the last photographer there. Kasparian said he had to prepare for the event more than usual because he would be photographing Eilish herself.

“It was a really interesting situation because there was really low security,” Kasparian said. “I got to follow her around for 40 minutes, which was so amazing because, usually, you don’t get that much time.”

Kasparian said he also used this approach when photographing artist Lil Pump at the “Harverd Dropout” release party. This event friend Caity Schmitz said.

“He’s not afraid to ask them to do what normal photographers would not ask them to do,” Schmitz said. “He has asked them to

jump over things or leap and lay down. He has them do cartwheels and handstands.”

Additionally, Kasparian photographed

visible for approximately 30 seconds, forcing shots. Kasparian said that in situations like this he has his two cameras ready at all times in order to get the photos he needs. However, Kasparian said that he still likes to enjoy the music while he works.

“Music photography is kind of crazy,” he said. “There’s a lot of movement, a lot of action. I was always dancing and singing songs while getting photos at the same time.”

Kasparian said that for anyone who wants to pursue their passions, they should never back away from their aspirations or be afraid of the unknown.

“Chase things that are bigger than you,” Kasparian said. “When you feel like you are not reaching the expectations that other people have for you or that you have for yourself, just change your approach. You have to really believe that anything is possible, especially things that you think you’re not able to handle.”

90 | LIFE & CULTURE

ALL FUN AND GAMES

BY CONNER AHERN

Tabletop role-playing games form community connections

Inside Emerson Hall at Ithaca College, eight friends sat, wrapped in blankets and sweatshirts around a table in a warmly lit room. The narrator of the game told them of a massive gas planet they must land their starship on. The group focuses on one player because rolling the dice low could jeopardize the whole mission. The dice tumble into a total of seven. The narrator smirks, and everyone goes quiet, directing their attention and preparing for whatever is next.

Every Saturday, these students play “Stars Without Number” together, a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) set in a sprawling, open universe. Games like these have existed since 1974 when Dungeons and tabletop role-playing game. Hundreds more TTRPGs have been published since then as the community of players continues to grow. has skyrocketed in popularity after the release of D&D Fifth Edition in 2014. There are an estimated 13.7 million players worldwide of D&D alone.

At the college, the TTRPG community exists through organized clubs and small, personal groups. Personal groups outside club activities are few and far between, but one of these groups has been meeting weekly for almost a year now.

Sophomore Danny Igoe, the game master (GM) of the group, is in charge of running the game and telling the story. A GM builds the world, formulates the story and fabricates the nonplayer characters that the players interact with.

Within the game, every player designs their own character with individual personalities and backstories.

“Looking at the choices people make, how their personas impact their characters, all these small attributes, I get to see them played out,” sophomore Cade Ferreras said.

Their characters demonstrate the expansive and peculiar elements of the “Stars Without Number” universe. Every character was

Students gather to partake in tabletop role-playing games on campus. Alison True/The Ithacan

made by the students who play. The band of colorful characters includes Chen, a birdman who is addicted to reading and substance abuse; Gordon “The Ram” Z, a universally known chef who became a space pirate; Aquilla, an archaeologist and religious fanatic; Winnie, an ex-guard of a space prison; August, an extremely smart sharpshooter and revolutionary; Caspian, an aspiring artist-turned-thief; and Atlas, a household android that started a robot revolution.

The group laughed and talked as they played, and afterward they said that “Stars Without Number” is a way to destress for them.

Recent studies have shown that playing TTRPGs can help reduce depression and improve mental health among players. psychologists use them as therapy.

Igoe said it is easy to let go of stress when he is placing his focus on the game.

“As the session goes on, the characters start to meld with the individuals playing with them, and you get into a really good groove,” so and everyone gets really into it, it becomes this almost seamless story. It’s really excellent.”

Although players have their individual sessions with their friends, TTRPGs have

also become a way for people to connect with other like-minded individuals, especially because of the internet and the rise of online TTRPG resources like Roll20. These tools helped establish TTRPGs as an element of cultures all around the world. Marion Deal, a freshman at the University of Rochester, said that playing TTRPGs helped him connect to people outside of the United States.

“I was staying in China studying at a kung fu academy for a few months, and there were backgrounds, but there were a few people who knew D&D and RPGs, and that was a very delightful community,” Deal said.

Sophomore Anna Niedzielski is another member of the “Stars Without Number” group, and she said that being a part of the TTRPG community has also helped her connect with people in surprising ways.

“Even if you make a joke about something like alignments, chaotic neutral jokes or dice, you can start this instant connection with certain types of people,” Niedzielski said.

LIFE & CULTURE | 91

MAY THE BEST GAMER WIN

Students compete in tournament for Nintendo Switch

BY CORA PAYNE For one afternoon, the Emerson Suites was converted into an arcade, complete with dim lighting and energetic music. through Rainbow Road, battling to be crowned the Mario Kart Champion and win a grand prize — a Nintendo Switch.

The 2019 Information Technology Gaming Tournament took place Sept. 21, and over 145 students attended. While the Mario Kart tournament was the main attraction, the event had other gaming options for attendees to enjoy. In one corner there was a virtual reality station. Attendees could try immersive games like “BEAT Saber,” “Dance Central” and “I Expect You To Die.” There was also an Xbox One, equipped with a Kinect with which attendees could play “Just Dance.” Even those who were not playing for a score were welcome to walk by and join in the dancing. Nearby was an Atari gaming console, with which attendees could play the classic game Tempest 4000.

Despite the other choices, most of the visitors that day were there for the Mario Kart tournament. With over 80 competitors, the tournament was organized in a large bracket, similar to March Madness brackets. The tournament was broadcast on four screens, accommodating four racers at a time, against one wall. Swaths of spectators cheered for their favorite players, and the sound of virtual tires roared against computerized pavement, mixing with the energetic encouragement and gasps.

While many competitors joined the competition for fun, others were much more serious about their races.

“I got third in the tournament last year,” senior Aidan Lentz said. “I came in really wanting to win.”

In the last round of the one on one for the crown. Lentz and sophomore Julian Gorring

sat at the front of the room with cheers and cries of support sounding from behind. In the end, Gorring emerged victorious.

Mario Kart was one of the most logical choices for a gaming tournament, said Terry Ruger, associate director for engagement and client technologies for Information Technology. He said Information Technology knew it needed to go with a game that was popular and that everyone would be comfortable playing.

“Shooting games, like Fortnite, are really popular right now,” Ruger said. “But we wanted to choose a competitive game that wasn’t violent and didn’t include any shooting.”

All rounds of the tournament were played on a Nintendo Switch. The Nintendo Switch is one of Nintendo’s newest consoles, released in 2017. Information Technology owns all of the Nintendo Switches used in the tournament. Information Technology funds the event, but costs are relatively small, Ruger said. He said the gaming tournament is one of the best ways to reach out to students and make them aware of all that

appliances, and its various employment opportunities.

Andy Hogan, director of engagement and client technologies for Information Technology, said students are at the forefront of planning this event and are critical in keeping it running smoothly.

“This event is great for establishing partnerships with businesses and to connect with students, and it’s really important for students to have fun,” Hogan said. providing free Monster Energy beverages to competitors and spectators alike. Other businesses, like Purity Ice Cream Co., Chipotle and Cinemapolis, donated gift cards to serve as prizes in a drawing with free entries to competitors.

Alongside the video games was a long table that was covered with traditional board games like Clue, Candyland and Checkers.

“I thought it was all fun and games at the beginning,” freshman Will Walberg said. “A Mario Kart tournament sounds so fun, and it’s awesome that something like that even exists. But I had no idea how good some of the other competitors were going to be.”

The Emerson Suites filled with students competing to win a Nintendo Switch during gaming tournament. Chloe Gibson/The Ithacan

92 | LIFE & CULTURE

Drag queen Tilia Cordata reads to children at Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca during Drag Queen Story Hour. Courtesy of Manic Photography

PROGRAM PROMOTES INCLUSIVITY Drag Queen Story Hour teaches children about acceptance

BY JULIA DIGERONIMO

LIFE & CULTURE | 93

TAKING THEIR STEP ROUTINE TO THE STAGE Step club fosters community while preserving history

BY GABRIELLE TOPPING The stage lights fade up as four members of the step team D.O.P.E. Steppers of Ithaca College stand in a line and begin their routine for the 2019 Step Fest. The dancers, clad in black pants, boots and club T-shirts, start by pounding their feet, clapping their hands and yelling. The performers move in unison and cleanly execute every step, using their bodies as instruments.

The 12 members of D.O.P.E. Steppers rehearse twice a week in preparation for their performances throughout the academic year. Their annual solo event, Step Fest, is held during Black History Month in February.

“We work really hard to perfect things,

be able to hear the progress,” said junior Taury Phelps, D.O.P.E. Steppers captain. really like being on the team, and they enjoy the friendly culture that we try to encourage.”

Dedicated, overachieving, precise and entertaining is not only the acronym for the D.O.P.E. Steppers but a reminder to live up to the expectations set for their team and the history of step dancing.

Step dancing was invented by African American slaves as a way to communicate with one another. Stepping resembled African tribal dances and call-and-response folk songs and helped the slaves hold onto their culture during their enslavement. During World War II, even after slavery was abolished in the United States, black veterans incorporated the sounds of military marching into step, leading to an evolution in the style.

As more African American students began attending colleges in greater numbers in the early 1900s, the students created their own Greek organizations to support themselves academically

and socially. Step gained much of its popularity when these African American fraternities and sororities performed it at their schools.

Phelps said she has been stepping since she was in sixth grade. She said her roots and that she wants other people to have the chance to do the same. Phelps said that many of the steps are passed down from previous years and members.

“I take a lot of pride in [step],” Phelps said. “Being able to embrace my culture in that way, being able to share it, being involved in something healthy and physically active with people of the African American community.”

Sophomore Kianna Robinson, secretary of the group, said one of the most important reasons for having a group like D.O.P.E. Steppers on campus is because it gives members the opportunity to be around other people of color. She said it helps the students involved feel more comfortable on campus. know a lot of people, but joining a POC club like the D.O.P.E. Steppers allowed me to create a group of friends and build the best part, creating relationships with and socialize.”

Robinson said that because the college is a predominantly white institution (PWI), the presence of people of color and spaces for people of color on campus tend to get overlooked by the majority of the student body. In Fall 2019, only 5.7% of students at the college are black or African American, and 9.3% are Hispanic or Latino, while 72.6% are white.

“When we get new members, I have the opportunity to help others feel comfortable and learn steps if they want to try something new,” Robinson said.

Step dancing was invented by African American slaves as a form of communication. File Photo/The Ithacan

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CHAPTER CLOSES FOR LOCAL STORE

Independent used bookstore closes its doors after 45 years of business

BY EMILY LUSSIER In The Bookery, a small used book store in Dewitt Mall, shelves that were kept full for 45 years are now half-empty. Every bookcase and all other furniture in the store was put up for sale, and all the books were put on clearance.

The independent local bookstore closed mid-December after 45 years of business. The store was opened by Jack Goldman in 1975.

Additionally, he opened The Bookery II in 1981,

Street Books. Jack also edited and published The Bookpress, a monthly literary newspaper, from 1991 to 2003. It featured book reviews and essays and was distributed for free.

Jack said that after a decade of community-based work in Ithaca involving journalism, literature, teaching and more, he resided in the school vault of Dewitt Junior High School, now the Dewitt Mall, before moving to a “I can’t really imagine the Dewitt Mall without The Bookery,” employee Mandy Goldman ’13 said.

Mandy Goldman, who has no relation to Jack Goldman, began working at the store after graduating from Ithaca College and has worked

was applying to all sorts of terrible retail jobs, and this was kind of a dream for me to be hired here because I loved the store,” Mandy said.

Jack said The Bookery gave him the opportunity to interact with all kinds of people, and that is what he loves most about doing his job.

“Mainly, a bookstore is about people, and kinds of people,” Jack said. “I’ve always enjoyed meeting people from all walks of life, all kinds of backgrounds.”

Jack said he has a regular customer who is an evangelical Christian. They do not agree on many subjects, he said, but they enjoy conversing with each other.

“We like to talk about baseball,” Jack said.

“We like to talk about all kinds of things, and we like to talk about where we don’t agree on some very important topics. So we suggest books to one another and that kind of thing.”

Jack said certain personal events have ultimately led to his decision to close the store, though

decreased over time and that competition from online retailers like Amazon.com has negatively impacted business.

Amazon has changed the landscapes of many markets and industries, including the book industry, both print and digital. The company now controls over half of all print book sales in the U.S., and it dominates the digital publishing and book-selling world with its popular e-reader, Kindle. brick-and-mortar bookstores.

From 2000 to 2007, following Amazon’s 1994 founding, over 1,000 book stores closed. In 2018, there were 22,586 bookstores in the U.S. compared to 38,539 in 2004.

Barbara Adams, associate professor in the Department of Writing, said the changes happening in the book industry are part of a larger, complex social shift related to writing and publishing industries on a wider scale.

Adams, who teaches about book editing and publishing and the magazine industry at the college, also wrote long-form book reviews for The Bookpress during its 12-year lifespan. She specializes in feature journalism. The journalism industry, like the book industry, is changing as part of this cultural shift, she said.

“Where are the newspapers?” Adams said.

“Where are the magazines? They’re disappearing out from under us, but there’s no shortage of writers, and there’s no shortage of readers. There’s a shortage of venues.”

The remaining books were donated to the Friends of the Tompkins County Library Book Sale, or kept for himself or his friends, Jack said.

“I feel like it was rewarding,” Jack said. “It was worthwhile. I have no regrets of having done it, and in a way I feel it’s time to just move on.”

Pictured: Jack Goldman Reed Freeman/The Ithacan

L I F E & C U LT U R E | 9 5

REIMAGINING RETAIL SPACE

Press Bay Alley offers storefronts for businesses to thrive

BY ARLEIGH RODGERS In Press Bay Alley beer, homemade hand cream on the grounds and distribution space

passersby can purchase pies and scoops of ice of the former printing of the Ithaca Journal.

Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA). Large segments of the building became available to rent.

Circus Culture now occupies the space that Life’s

Computer

a warm but busy reception in May 2019, said

alley is now home to local businesses established and emerging.

The shops are small, but the shops’ microretail style are trademarks of the alley. It is a short walk from The Commons to the alley, and the short

shared the main building. It was assumed that any buyer would knock down the Journal’s garages

shops can only be reached on foot, but the alley is separate from the rest of downtown, allowing for a more private space.

Every shop has a close neighbor. Diagonal string lights connect the buildings on either side.

Melissa’s Ice Cream shop. A plant decorated in twinkling ornaments stands proudly beside Adrina Pietra, a custom-made and vintage lingerie and accessory shop.

The alley formerly operated as the production center of the Ithaca Journal, with the alley itself being the Journal’s loading area.

It also encompasses the Journal’s main building, a warehouse, garages and storage area, which the Journal stopped using in 2006 when it relocated its production to Johnson City, New York. As the Journal shifted its production out of Ithaca, the buildings became vacant industrial spots,

Consulting,

an

information

worked with his business partner, David Kuckuk, to form Urban Core, a real estate development

Journal here as a tenant, but they weren’t actually using the very end of the warehouse, which is presently [Circus Culture], or the storage building, which is what became Press Bay Alley.” from the Journal’s storage areas, which operated from the alley’s main building. The properties’ minute sizes meant tenants would spend less money on rent, sometimes as low as $450 per month, including utilities, internet and cleaning,

use locally sourced ingredients.

“There’s still some growth

available,”

is … there’s camaraderie basically throughout this whole space. … Many of us are actually new to the alley, so I feel like we’re all in it together, learning and discussing.”

Bay court, another set of microretail spaces, he said that he felt these businesses could become an important part of Ithaca.

“I think that really what it’s about is creating opportunity for people in a format that’s interesting and engaging and creates a canvas upon which they can paint their own business model,” he said. “I think that some concepts

spaces are 200 square feet, making the rent alley, rent in Ithaca can range from $15–$30 per square foot.

The alley was completed in 2014, and it currently hosts Press Cafe, Adrina Pietra, Mama

are going to grow and move on, and hopefully that means that the downtown environment as a whole grows from their presence.”

Press Cafe is one of the microretail stores located in Press Bay Alley.

Reed Freeman/The Ithacan

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Curtis Radcliffe, head chef and owner of ZaZa’s Cucina, prepares veal osso busco. Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

DISHING

it out

The Ithacan editors explore restaurants and cafes around Ithaca Rashad Edwards, executive chef at The Boatyard Grill, makes a white wine sauce. Jill Ruthauser/The Ithacan

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

AGAVA’s chupacabra flatbread features house-cured bacon, crimini, garlic, mozzarella and tomatos. Liam Conway/The Ithacan

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

LIFE & CULTURE | 97

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Viva Taqueria server Niki House reaches for plates of food from the kitchen. Nick Bahamonde/The Ithacan

Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

Jill Ruthauser/The Ithacan

Coltivare line cook Cristiane de Toffoli transfers a completed sheet of individual balls of dough. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Viva Taqueria bartender Josh Lambert serves a margarita. Nick Bahamonde/The Ithacan

Line cook Benny Janowsky tops a salmon dish off with avocado tomatillo salsa at AGAVA. Liam Conway/The Ithacan

98 | LIFE & CULTURE

A FULL DAY OF EATING

BY SOPHIA ADAMUCCI | ILLUSTRATIONS BY MAGGIE KENT

9:30 A.M. The best breakfast in Ithaca is

served at Carriage House Cafe in Collegetown.

The cafe draws its name from the renovated stone carriage house it calls home. If you are in the mood for a savory breakfast, order the sconewich, homemade ham, cheddar and scallion scone. If you want something sweet, the brie French toast is a confection of creme brie, berry coulis and maple syrup that melts in your mouth. Make sure to get there before 10 a.m. or the wait for a table hovers around 45 minutes. If you do get stuck homemade scone out of the bakery case.

NOON Located in the Dewitt Mall, Cafe sandwiches and salads made with quirky ingredients. Sit in the dining room, which is read the small but diverse lunch menu. The Michel sandwich is a spin on the classic BLT but instead uses bacon, baby spinach and cranberry has white bean and garlic hummus, carrot-apricot chutney and almonds. The salads are equally delicious, like the Terra, which has avocado, hard-boiled eggs and pickled beets among its ingredients.

3 P.M.

pick-me-up? Head over to Press Cafe.

drinks, the menu is small and has all the classics.

Order a latte, Americano or cold brew, and settle in. The tables are small, so it is best to go with that one friend you’ve been meaning to catch up with for months. And yes, there is oat milk.

7:3O P.M. Saigon Kitchen, located on West and casual environment. The menu is full of traditional pho, which is especially yummy in the colder months. The portions are big and leave you feeling full and warm. The Spicy Saigon Soup is perfect if you have that cold that seems to be going around. There are also many options for vegetarians, including tofu and vegetables served over steamed rice. Saigon Kitchen does not take reservations, so get there early to avoid standing in a line that goes out the door.

9:3O P.M. Finish — or start — your night with a nightcap at The Watershed. Located

Talk to your friends or strangers over original specialty cocktails, like a Purple G & T, with gin, tonic and apple-beet shrub, or a Blackberry Bourbon, with bourbon, limonata and cassis. The menu also boasts a full hot tea selection that can

be ordered by the cup or pot. If you can’t choose between alcohol or tea, order a hot toddy and get the best of both. There is also a small plates like salted caramel and lemon ginger.

MIDNIGHT Open until 2 a.m., Sammy’s

is the quintessential stop for late-night grub.

Situated on The Commons, it is centrally located from the majority of bars downtown. Sammy’s satisfy your munchies with a slice of classic cheese

knots. There is nothing showy about Sammy’s,

THE BARTENDER RECOMMENDS

BY SOPHIA ADAMUCCI | PHOTOS BY KRISTEN HARRISON

1. SILKY JONES the place to go for a party. The bartender recommended starting the night with tequila shots. No tequila shot is complete without the quintessential lime and salt, so make sure to request them.

1

2. THE RANGE Known for having live music most nights of

2 3 4

Irish Whiskey. The bar normally has a cover charge when there is live music, so anticipate paying at least $5 at the door.

3. PETE’S CAYUGA BAR Keep it classic at Pete’s Cayuga Bar with a Labatt Blue on tap. Pete’s is a classic bar With wooden booths in the front of the bar and a pool table in the back, there is plenty of room to hang out with friends. The bartender recommends keeping the rounds coming at Pete’s.

4. THE WATERSHED

5

The Watershed is known for its creative cocktails and classy atmosphere. The

syrup, water, orange and lemon essential oils, Agnostura bitters and a cherry marinated in vanilla.

5. THE WESTY Along with having a large selection of beers on tap and specialty cocktails, The Westy machine and a pool table. The bartender recommended the Double Dragon. grapefruit juice, cranberry juice, tequila

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BOB DYLAN PERFORMS IN CONCERT ON SOUTH HILL

Courtesy of Dan Smalls Presents (DSP) Shows

BY HANNAH FITZPATRICK As the rows of seats placed across the Ithaca College Athletics and Nov. 17, the crowd inside started to buzz with anticipation. In one their seats.

the crowd erupted with booming cheers.

Administration program in entertainment and media management.

the area.

of the event. more uniform and clear.

set up chairs, label sections and individual chairs and all other small

understand on a good night, but, during that show, even the music

In addition to the thousands of fans inside the A&E Center, there were also people scattered throughout the venue who could

important to them.

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STUDENT MIXES MUSICAL INTERESTS AS EDM ARTIST

BY ARLEIGH RODGERS “DROWN” is an electronic dance music (EDM) track with 168,358 plays on Spotify — a statement number for Ivy., the stage name of Ithaca College junior Graham Johnson.

freshman orientation but, Smith said, it was during Spring 2018 that

other songs, “Ascension” and “Cold,” which have fewer than 1,000 listens. But all his songs stem from the same place: his history as a musician.

anymore, which is my major,” Smith said. “I really started moving

eventually got into production, which I thought was really interesting Johnson said he both uses and ventures outside conventional EDM sounds in his music. In “DROWN,” a high-pitched melody drives the

piano holds the focus.

Merging genres and experimental exploration is a key element of his music, Johnson said.

“I really like creating new things or things that people

that was where it blossomed.”

As a solo artist with Smith as his manager, Johnson released “DROWN” with the record label Lowly Palace — a sub-label of Trap Nation, which is a record label prominent on YouTube and Spotify.

Smith was in contact with the label coordinators and marketing teams at Lowly Palace in February 2019 after the label expressed an interest record release for “DROWN,” which was released on Spotify on April 30, 2019.

Before he released his songs on Spotify, Johnson posted the bulk of his music on SoundCloud. Unlike Spotify, which requires artists to pay a fee for distribution, SoundCloud users can upload and publicize up to 180 minutes of their music for free. This has fostered a community of emerging artists on SoundCloud.

me. … Creating something brand-new is just a great feeling, honestly.”

In his Spotify for Artists 2019 Wrapped — a breakdown of a 160.8k times, listened to for 8.6k hours, amassed 62k listeners and drew users from 79 countries.

Though Johnson said he has faced struggles in terms of creative blocks and decent exposure for his music, overall he thinks his budding music career has gone well so far.

“I really like creating new things or things that people haven’t heard before.”

– Graham Johnson

Junior Graham Johnson goes by the stage name Ivy. when he performs. Athina Sonitis/The Ithacan

# 0|2 N 1 | ELW I FSE & C U L T U R E

AIM FOR THE

STARS New Astronomy Club creates space for students to share passions

Seniors Mia Manzer and Alex Massoud stargaze with Astronomy Club. Reed Freeman/The Ithacan

LIFE & CULTURE | 103

BY JULIA DANNEVIG Gazing up at Ithaca’s clear night skies, one may wonder what exactly is up there just beyond the stratosphere. For anyone curious to learn about the workings of the universe, the stars and the planet, Ithaca College’s new astronomy club is here to educate members.

Senior Mia Manzer, Astronomy Club president and co-founder, said the club’s leaders want to share their passion and engage students at the college with astronomy.

Manzer said the club planned to hold like movie nights, theme nights and star parties, which are outdoor observation nights during the academic year. During the star parties, students have the opportunity to use portable telescopes, look at constellations and learn about the universe beyond their lenses. Due to the campus closing, Manzer said the club was only able to hold one star gazing event and a movie night. Although Manzer said the club planned a Zoom seminar with Luke Keller, dana professor in the department of Physics and Astronomy, to discuss black holes. Manzer said the club has also sent out weekly newsletters to club members.

The club was created in Fall 2019 college at the beginning of Spring 2020, Manzer said.

Freshman Antara Sen, Astronomy Club secretary, said she is hoping to utilize the college’s Clinton B. Ford Observatory, a building on campus that is not currently in use, to hold open events for students and the greater Ithaca community. Sen said the club is planning fundraisers to raise money to

repair the observatory, but it does not have a set fundraising goal yet.

“We have a really good observatory that does not get as much usage as it could,” said Matthew Price, Astronomy Club adviser and associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.

Price said the club will be reaching out to students, alumni and faculty for donations to go toward repairing the observatory.

“The club itself supports the Ford telescope,” he said. “It supports outreach. It helps the students to help to do these things.

It’s about taking the next step and getting everyone active.”

Junior club member George Cozma said the club is looking to involve students in the refurbishing process for the observatory. He said the club may open up the observatory during repairs and have students come in to paint the panels of the observatory dome.

Cozma said one of the greatest issues the club has is planning around unpredictable weather. The telescopes cannot be used in the rain or snow, so the outdoor star party events are subject to cancellation. for Oct. 1, 2019, on the quad in front of Roy H. Park Hall but was canceled due to impending rain, Manzer said.

The rescheduled event, a movie night that discussed the phsyics behind popular February 20 due to the below-freezing temperature that night.

Manzer said her goal for the club is to promote engagement in astronomy from students outside of the college’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. Club meetings

will be open to all students, and Manzer encourages anyone to attend regardless of their major or experience with astronomy.

“We want people to feel involved and be interested in learning about space and our universe and just have fun with it,” she said.

Sen said she believes all students could

and answer any questions inexperienced members may have.

“That’s why we’re building the Astronomy Club,” Sen said. “In our club meetings, we want to educate our members about the night sky and about the constellations and planets that we will be able to see.”

Price said the club is looking to engage the campus and act as an outlet for students who are interested in the topic and looking for help understanding the basics.

“The club can be campuswide,” he said.

“It can recruit across the campus and help people be involved. The telescope can be used by any human who has an interest.

They just need a little training.” information about astronomy and space exploration that students may not learn in their classes. She said that the club will make the topic more easily understood and will initiate discussions about current issues in the world.

“We have so many crises on earth right now, like the energy crisis,” she said. “There are so many things wrong right now, and I think that space exploration gives at least a new avenue for research, a new avenue for looking into something that not a lot of people have ventured into.”

Seniors Alex Massoud and Mia Manzer, professors Matt Price and Luke Keller, and freshman Antara Sen are in the club. Reed Freeman/The Ithacan

104 | LIFE & CULTURE

Pictured: Sarah Hennies Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

INSPIRED BY IDENTITY Experimental composer finds true calling through music

BY ARLEIGH RODGERS As a professional composer, Sarah Hennies’ life and house revolve around music. Hennies attempts to usher her two troublemaking dogs, Twig and Harriet, around a shelf of musical records and a However, the cello is not Hennies’ primary instrument. She’s using it to write a piece for another musician. Her true instruments are percussion-based: the drums, music began in her hometown, Louisville, Kentucky, she said.

“My earliest memories are music toys,” she said. “When I was 5, I wanted to play piano and my parents said, ‘No,’ and then when I was 9, I wanted to play drums, and they said, ‘Yes!’” Hennies lives in Ithaca, her solution to being on the East Coast without living in a big city. Prior to becoming a full-time musician, Hennies worked at Cornell University in 2013 as an events coordinator for the Society for the Humanities.

Since then, Hennies has grown into an experimental composer who focuses on psychoacoustics, or how sound behaves in a space. As

a transgender woman, she said she explores queer and transgender identities, through her compositions.

These themes were the topic of her lecture “A Persistent Obsession with Identity,” which she gave Jan. 31 in the Iger Lecture Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. The lecture was part of the Ithaca Sounding festival, a multiday event that featured Ithaca-based musicians hosted by Cornell and Ithaca College.

Hennies’ lecture was sponsored by Ithaca Music Forum, a group that Sara Haefeli, associate professor in the Department of Music Theory, History and Composition, Whalen’s curriculum.

Although she attended a performing arts high school, it was not until college that Hennies dove into avant-garde chamber music and composers. She attended an undergraduate program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a graduate program at the University of California, San Diego, where she studied percussion.

While her degrees technically label her as a classically trained musician, Hennies said, she feels this description does not truly encapsulate who she is as an artist.

Hennies’ compositions can be outwardly simple: In her piece “Psalm 3,” the performer

repeatedly hits a woodblock for the entire performance. But one of her most wellknown compositions, “Contralto,” is written for seven musicians — a string quartet and three percussionists. examines transfeminine identities, with clips of seven transgender women speaking to the camera. These women can be heard practicing vocal exercises meant to train a person’s voice to sound more traditionally feminine that are written by speech pathologists. Another section of the responding to a question the audience does not know.

Hennies said the piece was a moment for her to reckon with being outwardly labeled as a transgender composer. But upon further examination and production of the piece, she said, she realized “Contralto” tied together the strings of all her previous pieces.

“When I started to psychoanalyze work that I had done before, I was thinking about identity and context in the music that I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what all of these pieces are about,’” Hennies said. “I just didn’t realize it.”

LIFE & CULTURE | 105

ALL THAT

jazz Club hosts weekly open mic night for campus community

IC Jazz Club started hosting open mic night in Towers Marketplace after the renovations happened in Fall 2019. Lucas Cavanagh/The Ithacan

BY RYAN BIEBER Walking through the Ithaca College Towers Marketplace, it’s not uncommon to hear the sweet sizzle of burgers and the crisp crackle of fries emerging from the kitchen. But on Thursday nights from 9 to 11 p.m., a new sound joins the symphony: jazz.

The IC Jazz Club, a music group on campus, meets every week at Towers Marketplace to host an open mic night in which students of any major can take their turns jamming to popular jazz standards.

Although the event has been going on for years, the club switched to playing at Towers Marketplace in Fall 2019 to take advantage of a larger audience and venue.

In the past, the open mic night was held in the Campus Center, the James J. Whalen Center for Music and the former Towers Concourse lounge.

The event is led by the house band, which consists of seniors Dan Yapp on piano, Eric Myers on drums and junior August Bish on upright bass.

Yapp, a jazz studies major, said the club is a nice change from his typical music classes.

Students in the music school often face long practice hours and demanding course schedules, but Yapp said the open mic night is a great way to de-stress.

“Jams are a time to get out of the academic setting and just make music with people,” he said. “This is more of

a collaborative experience. We’re all improvising, and we’re all just making music together.”

Sophomore Henry Sauer, a former jazz studies major turned writing major, said he has been coming to the open mic nights for a long time and enjoys the lighthearted jams.

“It’s such a great environment to kind of just show up and play,” he said. “There’s no judgment. We’re all just here to have fun.”

Although the group sounds well rehearsed, many of the musicians have never previously met. Everything is spur-of-the-moment: Most songs are chosen on the spot and never practiced as a group ahead of the show. Subtle nods and pointed looks are all that is needed to carry the band through the song.

Junior Sacha Presburger, a writing major, said that he decided to perform at

his every word as a crowd of students watched intently.

Presburger said that he enjoyed playing

hearing about the club at a recent student organization fair.

“I knew I wanted to do something musical even though I’m not a music major,

come back to do it again.

“I was impressed by how easily they were able to fall in line to the music,” he said. “It takes a special kind of group to be able to communicate with each other in the middle of a song silently.”

Freshman saxophone player Drew Martin often played at the open mic night, and he said it’s a great way to gain experience playing live.

“Now’s the time to put what I practiced into performing,” he said. “Sometimes, it can be a little nerve-wracking, but, other times, you’re burning. Your hands are working. Your mind’s spinning, and it’s just great.”

Yapp and Myers are both graduating in Spring 2020, but they said they believe the club and open mic night will continue after they leave.

“August [Bish] will probably run it,

I could do that,” he said. “They said, ‘You don’t have to be a music major. Just come and jam with us.’”

When Presburger took the stage, he glanced back at the band and closed his eyes, crooning the classic tune “Fly Me to the Moon,” famously sung by Frank Sinatra.

Smooth bass and dancing keys accompanied

we can keep it going for the future,” Yapp said.

For now, however, Yapp said he’s just glad he can share his love of music.

“We get to reach out to more people,” he said. “It’s just the place to be on Thursday nights for jazz people.”

106 | LIFE & CULTURE

“i think art is a space where you really get to invent and are asked to generate your own ideas.”

– Paloma Barhaugh-Bordas

Freshman Sam Khoo Wien’s print commented on the impeachment trial of president Donald Trump. Lucas Cavanagh/The Ithacan

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POLITICS MEETS PRINTMAKING Students use art medium for social justice

BY ARLEIGH RODGERS Political movements call for change through protests, speeches or executive action from national leaders. But in the Ithaca College class Introduction to Print Media, art is a medium for social justice.

The class is taught by Paloma Barhaugh-Bordas, assistant professor in the Department of Art. Barhaugh-Bordas said the class rotates among research, carving and printing days.

On printing days, students to roll out their ink, test the registration of their print and soak their paper. Before those steps, students dedicate their time to brainstorming and researching the topics they will draw, carve and print.

Freshman Sam Khoo Wien said that because of Barhaugh-Bordas’ teaching style, the class is well structured. disorder], my mind is all over the place,” he said. “So today, she was helping me really narrow down where I was going with my project and what I really wanted to say. I think that’s something that I really haven’t experienced with a professor before.” around a political statement. Spurred by

Lily Dickinson and Paloma Barhaugh-Bordas.

Lucas Cavanagh/The Ithacan

the impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump, Khoo Wien printed U.S. troops drop over battlegrounds during poster read “We are watching!” in Arabic and targeted the Taliban. Next to the words, a black-and-white image showed former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in a set of crosshairs.

Khoo Wien’s print features a silhouette in is the phrase “Where are the witnesses?” The cherry red image and accompanying phrase are printed multiple times across a large, white poster board.

“With the impeachment hearings, it was really powerful to me how there were no witnesses, and it was stirring a storm in me,” he said. “People talk about it, and they’re … disappointed, but I feel like there should be people in the streets. There should be people really upset about it. But hey, I guess I’ll just make some art.”

After the initial drawing, students carve the negative space of their sketches out of woodblocks, a typical medium used in the class. These carvings are printed on top of each other, usually on separate days to keep the layers polished.

For his project, sophomore Sebastian Chavez is exploring the roots of the Chicano art and culture movement, which originated in the Southwest of the United States. The movement began in the 1960s when Latino students fought for better education and health care after immigrating from Mexico.

Chavez is using an eagle, which is a symbol of unity on the Chicano front, in his print, but he chose to draw it upside down to portray the loss of identity he said Latinos have experienced in the United States.

Growing up from the bottom of the eagle are branches and cacti that represent the Chicanos’ ancestral foundations.

“The Chicano movement is not the same because we are [in] a new era,” he said.

“That’s why it grows out into cactuses or branches where we’re expressing ourselves, but the foundation of it is the Chicano movement. We tend to forget who came before us and how [we can] learn from them and how people mobilize.”

Chavez is a politics major with a minor in Latino/a studies. He said he chose to take the printmaking course because of the medium’s

Students have the opportunity to sketch, carve and print their projects during class time. Lucas Cavanagh/The Ithacan

close connection to his major.

“Printmaking [has] a very important role through political movements,” Chavez said. “Some of the most famous campaigns, … banners, protest posters have printmaking in them. … It’s amazing to see how much people can put a statement of how … they endure on the day-to-day basis.”

While the process is slow and steady, Barhaugh-Bordas said she hopes students can leave the class with new skills.

“I think art is a space where you really get to invent and are asked to generate your own ideas [and] pursue what it is that is meaningful to you, personally, every day,” she said.

108 | LIFE & CULTURE

Freshman Qilei Huang Emily Silver/The Ithacan

From left, senior Giulia Villanueva, junior Karla Pale, sophomore Khangelani Mhlanga, junior Charu Gaur, sophomore Bryan Wood and sophomore Selam Kebede. Emily Silver/The Ithacan

Junior Fan Feng Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Sophomore Khangelani Mhlanga Libby O’Neill/The Ithacan

Senior Fernando Vargas Herrera Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Senior Sairam Reddy Emily Silver/The Ithacan

Freshman Isabella Orrego Libby O’Neill/The Ithacan

Senior Vy Trinh Emily Silver/The Ithacan

Sophomore Ali Selina Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

CELEBRATION

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of culture

Interfashional Night recognizes international students

BY AVERY ALEXANDER

Seniors Anika Verma and Julia Minsky-Kern and junior Karla Pale at the annual Interfashional night. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

110 | LIFE & CULTURE

THE TIKTOK TAKEOVER

Students build following on popular social media app

BY JULIA DIGERONIMO With each college class, a new social media platform seems to take over. In 2004, Facebook, emerged, and in 2006, young people were captivated by Twitter. Students

When someone opens TikTok, they are greeted by thousands of videos that show users dancing to catchy songs, cracking jokes and attracting viewers. The app’s content consists of only videos that can be up to a minute long in which users usually lip-sync to songs and spoken audios. The videos are unique to TikTok because of the

fame features him between two friends, dancing to a sped-up version of “If You’re Happy and You Know it Clap Your Hands.”

Instead of clapping his hands, Sullivan slaps the butts of his two friends.

“It was just me and my friends doing cool how it blew up,” Sullivan said. “I had video, … and then all of a sudden, I was getting 6k followers, and then eventually plateaued out. It was kind of just a big boom after I posted that video. ” the app, Sullivan started posting on TikTok

Creators can be found all over the world, including at Ithaca College. The app’s demographic ranges from all ages, but approximately 25% of its Ithaca College students have gained thousands of followers, including freshman Brett Sullivan, who received almost 600,000 views on one of his videos after it made its way to the “For You” page.

The video that led to Sullivan’s overnight

the beginning of the semester. Even though he has only been posting regularly for a few boosted him to over 30,000 followers.

Sophomore Nathan Smith, another Ithaca College TikTok star, has even more followers. Smith started actively posting on the app before TikTok’s spike in mainstream

“I’m approaching almost 300,000 followers, which is very crazy, but it’s cool though,” Smith said.

Unlike Sullivan, who had a rapid increase in followers, Smith said his increase in fans has been slow and steady over the past year. Each video he posts slowly impacts the amount of views and followers he receives, and, he said, he works hard to create content.

“The content that I post is very much me, or at least some aspect of me,” Smith said. “I put most of my time what I post and the quality of the content I post.”

Smith said TikTok is a way for him to promote himself and pursue his musical career aspirations. Each video of Smith is viewed by at least 20,000 people.

Each view he gets is an opportunity for him to develop his brand, he said. Smith said that he has an interest in fashion and drawing and that he wants to create a distinctive brand for himself that he can incorporate into his content. He created a dance to one of his original mixes of to promote his music to his fans and the public.

Sophomore Nathan Smith and freshmen Brett Sullivan and Josh Pusateri . Courtesy of Josh Pusateri; Molly Bailot/The Ithacan; Courtesy of Nathan Smith

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Sophomore Luna McCulloch and freshman Massaran Cisse both started businesses out of personal hobbies. Lexi Danielson/The Ithacan

YOUNG ENTREPRENEURS

Personal passions inspire students to start businesses

BY HANNAH FITZPATRICK Before sophomore Luna McCulloch came to

McCulloch and Cisse took areas of interest and turned them into business ideas. Lexi Danielson/The Ithacan

112 | LIFE & CULTURE: REVIEWS

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REVIEWS

JESUS IS KING

BY KANYE WEST Awaited album is anything but divine

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BY KARA BOWEN After his arrival to the hip-hop scene in the late 2000s, rapper Mac Miller’s music was characterized by nonstop, exponential growth. The posthumous release of “Circles,” his sixth studio album, seems to be the natural progression creative work.

“Circles” is a companion album to 2018’s “Swimming,” for which Miller was posthumously nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The hip-hop world has seen several posthumous releases from the rapper since his untimely death in September 2018 at 26 years old.

In June 2019, Miller’s family approved the release of the singles “That’s Life” with 88-Keys and Sia and “Time” with Free Nationals and Kali Uchis. The rapper had no

COURTESY OF UMG RECORDINGS

BY HANNAH FITZPATRICK It is safe to say that Chicago-based rapper Kanye West is one of the biggest trolls in the music industry to date. His long-awaited ninth album, “Jesus Is King,” was delayed several times in the past year. In addition, his shift from secular to gospel music is questionable considering his statements to the press this past year. These statements range from West claiming in a TMZ interview that slavery was a choice to stating in his Oct. 24, 2019, interview with radio DJ Zane Lowe that he is “unquestionably, undoubtedly, the greatest human artist of all time.”

However, “Jesus Is King” shows little evidence that West is the greatest artist of this month, let alone of all time. He provides lazy lyrics and sloppy beats that rely heavily on soul samples and gospel features. This makes the record sound like Tasked with the challenge of creating potentially chart-topping songs, West delivers a set that is lyrically as thin as Bible paper itself. In “Closed On Sunday,” he muses, “Closed the lemonade,” which at face value is one of the dumbest lyrics of the year, if not of all time. “Everything We Need,” which features the voices of rapper Ty Dolla $ign and R&B artist Ant Clemons, borders on the absolutely absurd. Lyrics like “What say, ‘Baby, let’s put this back on the tree,’” make West’s reasons for pushing back the album’s release for over a year seem extremely questionable.

Diehard fans of West will contort themselves into human pretzels to defend this record, and, to some degree, they

until his family announced the release of “Circles” 16 months after his death.

For the album, producer Jon Brion and Miller combined elements. “Circles,” the song, leans more fully into its electronic base while sticking to a backbone of introspective and thoughtful hip-hop. The song “Complicated” goes full electronic with a razor-sharp snare, while “That’s on Me” switches to a piano-heavy waltz.

The last word we hear from Miller is short and sweet “Once a Day.” In a 2015 Billboard interview, Miller said was “supposed to be the last song [he] made on earth.” forceful vocal delivery of “Grand Finale,” “Once a Day” is quieter, based in soft synth and sounds like Miller giving advice to the listener. The track ends on an incomplete cadence, the volume rising with the expectation of leading into another song on the album. But then the song ends, and there’s nothing else. The other 11 songs on the album, and the entire body of work before it, are impressive and the more tragic — the promise of more artistic progress, cut short all too soon.

CIRCLES

BY MAC MILLER Posthumous album is a fitting goodbye

Oct. 23, 2019, in Los Angeles sold out within minutes of its announcement. The record itself has also been edited and updated on Apple Music since its release, with changes made to tracks like “Selah,” “On God” and “Use This Gospel” to address its mixing issues. However, no number of changes will he has unfortunately transformed into in recent years: all sound and no fury.

COURTESY OF WARNER RECORDS INC.

114 | LIFE & CULTURE: REVIEWS

FROZEN II Cold does not bother charming sequel

BY AVERY ALEXANDER

“Frozen” and “Frozen II” share a laundry list of similarities.

They both feature the same main cast, Elsa (Idina Menzel), Anna

COURTESY OF VILLAGE ROADSHOW PICTURES

JOKER

DC offers a gritty look at the Clown Prince of Crime

BY ANTONIO FERME on its own outside the connected cinematic universe that Warner Bros. Entertainment has been building for the past six years. Because the movie stands on its own, director Todd Phillips had full creative freedom to establish his own Gotham City and tell the story he action and spectacle that have become the standard of most other comic book movies. Instead, it focuses on the psychological aspects of the Joker character in a completely fresh way.

they have the same directors and songwriters. But “Frozen II” goes far beyond what its predecessor achieved. This sequel, unlike other Disney sequel endeavors like “Ralph Breaks the Internet”

of the year.

One aspect of “Frozen” that originally set it apart from illness and isolation. These themes are fairly mature concepts, palatable for people of all ages. “Frozen II” takes the discussion even further, pushing the lessons beyond what one would expect reaches her lowest point. She sits alone, weak and broken on the

conversation about mental illness and its impact carries into other It is understandable that audiences are tired of sequels, but this is one everyone should not pass up seeing. The movie is far too amazing, intricate and well-thought-out to judge negatively just because it is a sequel. Those who will not see it on that basis simply need to let it go or else they miss the chance to experience a genuine masterpiece.

ill and impoverished party clown completely disregarded by society. and his transformation into the villainous Joker. Phoenix’s role is terms of authenticity and talent. While Ledger gave a more raw and unpredictable performance, Phoenix humanizes the Joker. He adds layers of complexity and emotion to the character, something that of view of Fleck, which reveals the true depth of his performance.

“Joker” succeeds by putting the viewer in an uncomfortable position and raises questions about the role they play in society: Who becomes responsible when our society creates these division and how society treats the mentally ill and outsiders.

“Joker” is much more than a comic book movie — it’s a drama, a psychological thriller and a masterpiece of the current generation. is a treat for any viewer familiar with the Batman mythology. It successfully leaves the door open for potential sequels while also ending the self-contained story on a satisfying note.

COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

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PARASITE Movie is thrillingly unpredictable

BY ARLEIGH RODGERS

1917

COURTESY OF AMBLIN PARTNERS

Film captures realistic panic of war

BY ANTONIO FERME Set during World War I, “1917” is a grand-scaled epic directed and co-written by Sam Mendes. Mendes based the premise of the story loosely on a tale his grandfather told him when he was a MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), who are sent on a mission to travel across enemy territory to deliver an important letter. The message would ultimately prevent a battalion of 1,600 men from walking into a trap set by the Germans.

Mendes never expands past this premise, leaving a scenario that’s easy for the audience to understand. The viewer is able to digest it quickly and take in the high stakes of the situation. The

To predict “Parasite” is to ask the impossible, like erasing a memory, turning backward in time or evading gravity. But writer-director Bong Joon Ho’s shrewd narrative is sharp and grim and, most importantly, unpredictable. The story is lined with unease and balanced with stunning black humor. Bong evokes both inescapable laughter and requisite squirming while following the impoverished Kim family. The unemployed family members swindle their way into working for the opulent, uptown Park family in modern-day South Korea, and everything seems calm until an unsettling discovery unravels their plan.

Their scheme begins when Kim Ki-woo (Woo-sik Choi), the family’s college-aged but not college-educated son, receives the recommendation of a friend to take his place as an English tutor for the Parks’ daughter, Da-hye (Ji-so Jung). The job pays well, his friend says — Ki-woo needs little persuasion after that. With the help of Ki-woo’s sister, Ki-jung (So-dam Park), Ki-woo fakes his college documents and arrives at the Park family’s lavish doorstep, a humorous sequence that highlights the permeating nature of Bong’s comedy. As the Kims slowly weed out the Park family’s old help and place themselves in their shoes instead, the comical manipulation of the Parks is on full display. bring emotion and ardor in their roles. Choi and Park, the actress, Ki-taek, the haunting patriarch of the Kim family, is characteristic Watching “Parasite” should be like a sightless dive. The diver should know little about their surroundings or the feelings they will its climax. The softly churning conclusion is explosive — a faultless suddenly, it’s insurmountable.

like they are following the two soldiers on their mission across

look like one seamless, continuous take. This technique, also used as if they are moving in real time. The camera often follows behind that will be useful later on in the mission.

to see in theaters but to make viewers feel like they are experiencing the setting — in this case, the trenches — in real time.

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116 | LIFE & CULTURE: REVIEWS

POKÉMON

New “Sword” and “Shield” games fail to catch ’em all

BY ALEX HARTZOG A young girl dressed in Scottish garb runs across the rolling hills of the countryside. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a red and white ball. Clicking the button in the middle, it springs open and out comes a rabbit-like Pokémon. This is they start their own journey in “Pokémon Sword” and “Pokémon Shield.”

“Sword” and “Shield,” the newest games in Nintendo’s long-running franchise, take place in the Galar region, an area of the Pokémon world inspired by from their rural town in Postwick, aiming to become the new champion of Galar along with their best friend and rival Hop. “Sword” and “Shield” are the second pair of Pokémon games to appear on the Nintendo Switch. Like many games in the franchise, “Sword” and “Shield” were released together. Both games have

jump in power from the 3DS, “Sword” growing pains.

The scope of the games feels narrow, and the story often blocks the player from setting out on their own path. The player, in some instances, is physically blocked from

advancing by virtual walls formed by Team of the game, and various objects. These barriers are strategically placed in front of paths that the game developers do not want the player to access until later and pop up frequently.

The Wild Area is a new feature to the Pokémon games and provides an open-world area for the player to explore. game, allowing players to traverse most of the overworld early in the game. However, the player is blocked from progressing too far by roadblocks and powerful Pokémon.

The player is not incentivized to spend any time in the area, despite the Wild Area being marketed as one of the biggest changes to the Pokémon formula. The player only spends time in the Wild Area to catch pokémon for their pokédex and participate in Max Raid Battles, a new feature that turns Pokémon into kaiju-sized versions of themselves.

There is not much to speak of when it comes to story, as the player has zero involvement with the story, watching as it unfolds around them. Game Freak, the studio behind the game, seems to have decided to essentially demote the player to the status of a side character.

Battles are one of the more enjoyable aspects of “Sword” and “Shield” and introduce Dynamaxing, which adds a new layer to the boss battles, called gym battles.

This feature allows players to grow their Pokémon to the size of buildings during gym battles. Gym leaders will Dynamax their last Pokémon, turning the last few turns of The most enjoyable aspect of gym battles is by far the music. The sound of the crowd cheering for the player’s Pokémon and the fast-paced techno music get the Gym battles are staged in soccer stadiums Controversies surrounding the games is that Game Freak cut out over half of all Pokémon from the game. The cut pokédex idea of cutting pokémon from the game goes against the series’ catchphrase, “Gotta catch ‘em all.”

Ultimately, the games feel underbaked and could have used a bit more time in the oven. Game Freak and Nintendo should have taken more time to truly create the best game possible, but instead, a rushed production and a bland story leaves “Sword” and “Shield” disappointing and mediocre.

COURTESY OF NINTENDO

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“Parasite” became the first non-English language film in Oscar history to win the award for Best Picture . Courtesy of Al Seib/The Los Angeles Times

GROWTH AT THE 92ND OSCARS

BY ELIJAH DE CASTRO At the 92nd Academy Awards, actress before announcing the Best Picture winner: “Parasite.” South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho walked to stage for the fourth time that night, shaking his head in disbelief.

I predicted that Sam Mendes’ “1917” would win, but for all intents and purposes, I’m glad that I was wrong. The win for “Parasite” — not only for Best Picture but for Best Director, Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay — is a watershed moment for the representation not in English to win Best Picture.

Bong Joon-ho directed the South Korean film “Parasite.” Courtesy of Allen J. Schaben/The Los Angeles Times

That was Feb. 9, 2020. Let’s rewind the clock a bit.

Three years ago, the Dolby Theater was the night of the 89th Academy Awards as one misplaced card led to numerous apologies before the team of “La La Land” gave its rightful winners: the team of “Moonlight.”

Like with “Parasite,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose an

It chose “Moonlight,” a rich identity drama about a black, gay man over “La La Land,” a pleasant musical about a white, heterosexual couple. The decision seemed to symbolize a choice between unconventionality and comfort.

And yet, the next year for the Academy’s 91st awards, the nominees were an onslaught

internal alarm with the Academy.

Perhaps this was why it chose “Green Book,” a cursory biopic of black musical prodigy Don Shirley’s road tour of the Deep was described as sterilization, which Carol Shirley Kimble, the niece of Don Shirley, acknowledged: “It’s once again a depiction of a white man’s version of a black man’s life,” she said.

Director Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” front-running competitor to “Green Book,” was not a common or cozy story. “Parasite” was not cozy either, but it was sharp, deft and moving at a break-neck pace. It had the crowd-pleasing appeal that the black and If “Roma” had possessed this quality, Cuarón’s dejected, Mexico City-based feature in history to win Best Picture. But its loss to “Green Book” was considered a cheap

“Vice,” “A Star is Born,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and, the winner, “Green Book.”

Since then, us critics of the Academy have dismissed “Green Book” as kitsch, celebrating

the Academy’s unaltered, moderate status.

The win for “Parasite’s” win is similar to that of “Moonlight” and seems to be a

Academy’s out-of-touch voters.

It seemed like the Academy returned to

it also showcased the celebration that could have happened if “Roma” won in 2019.

to reconnect with viewers after declining ratings. The show’s ratings for the 90th awards in 2018 dropped, and viewership hit a record low of 26.5 million viewers. In the four years since the 2014 Oscars, viewership was diced approximately in half, signaling an

a door to a new wave of validation and representation in Hollywood awards shows.

But it doesn’t loosen a century of disregard will only tell whether or not the Academy is

118 | SPORTS

Members of the women’s field hockey team celebrate after a goal against the University of Rochester on Oct. 27, 2019. Jill Ruthauser/The Ithacan

SPORTS | 119

sports

120 | SPORTS

BALANCING PASSION

AND PRIDE

Transgender student-athletes reconcile sport and identity

BY EMILY ADAMS

Junior golfer Alex Perry said he knew he was a transgender male when he was 12 years old after watching a documentary on YouTube about a transgender adolescent. However, when he committed to play for the Ithaca College women’s golf team during his senior year of high school, Perry knew he would not be able to fully transition anytime soon.

“I came out to my mom, and I was like, ‘I don’t think I can really do anything because I had to choose between golf and being trans,’” Perry said. “I came to school under the same name and used Perry is one of two openly trans varsity athletes at the college. Junior swimmer

Junior golfer Alex Perry and junior swimmer Cody Conte are two openly trans varsity athletes at the college.

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

masculine, and the two have become close friends since they met approximately a year ago.

The college does not have a men’s golf team, so Perry did not have the option to compete with his gender identity. In May 2018, after Perry’s freshman year on the golf team, Perry reached out to Will Rothermel, associate director of athletics, and golf head coach Keith Batson about transitioning publicly. For Perry, this meant using he/him pronouns, wearing longer shorts than his female teammates. However, he cannot begin the process of physically transitioning

because of NCAA regulations that would prevent him from competing with women.

Perry said he has been interested in pursuing hormone treatments since he came out and has struggled to and continuing to compete with the college’s golf team.

“For a while, I didn’t know if medical transition was something that I wanted, but I think golf getting in the way just really clouded my vision,” Perry said. “I was very close to walking away last fall, and it was a very tough decision, but I felt that the community was what made me decide to retain my eligibility.”

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The NCAA adopted its current inclusion policy for transgender student-athletes in 2011. The policy establishes separate rules for transgender men and women. Gail Dent, NCAA associate director of external during 2020.

Under the current policy, trans males transitioning from female are able to compete with either gender as long as they are not undergoing hormone treatments.

Once they start taking hormones, they immediately become ineligible to compete on a women’s team,

Perry cannot begin physically transitioning due to NCAA regulations that would prevent eligability.

Courtesy of Ithaca College Athletics

compete on a men’s team while using hormones.

Hormone supplements are banned by the NCAA as performance-enhancing drugs.

Trans females transitioning from male are eligible to compete for a men’s team regardless of hormone use.

They cannot compete for a women’s team until they

year of hormone treatment.

Conte said the swim team’s support was essential to their transition. Conte began using they/them pronouns change their name to Cody after experimenting with using it among their teammates. Conte also struggled with their

“I want this policy ... to benefit future varsity athletes”

their identity. Miller said she saw Conte’s performance

– Alex Perry

“You could tell they weren’t into it,” Miller said. “There was no joy. They had no goals. We knew they were struggling, but this is a wonderful support group. This year coming back in, their attitude

its webpage. The policy addresses allowing athletes to express their gender identities through names and pronouns, locker with NCAA regulations. associate athletic director and senior woman administrator,

Junior swimmer Cody Conte competes at the 2018 Liberty League Championships. Courtesy of Cody Conte

current policy does not directly address recreational sports at the college.

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STRONG SHOWING FOR FALL SPORTS Four teams made their way to the NCAA championships

BY LAUREN WHITE As the 2019 season came to a close for the Ithaca College fall varsity teams, four programs made their way into the Division III NCAA championships. Men’s soccer, women’s volleyball and the men’s and women’s seasons with impressive national runs.

The men’s soccer team had a record-breaking season. The squad was nationally ranked all season, appearing as high tournament appearance since 2008 and Senior defender Justinian Michaels said that the NCAA ranking the team held

throughout the season was a fun title but that ranking list was the team’s top priority.

In 2018, the team awaited an NCAA bid into the tournament, but its name was never called. After missing the opportunity to make an appearance last year, Michaels said, the athletes worked even harder in all aspects of their training to get there this year. Michaels said that historic seasons are now becoming part of the culture for the growing program.

“There is no peak or pinnacle in the eyes of the players or Coach Dezotell,” Michaels said. “There is no such thing as perfection — there is always room to improve and get better no matter what.”

The women’s volleyball team has advanced at least two rounds into the NCAA tournament each season since head coach Johan Dulfer was hired prior to the 2016 season. This fall, 20–11, a conference record of 6–1, and ended on a 3–2 loss to Clarkson University in the NCAA Sweet 16. Dulfer said that the team the country.

Dulfer said that because of the challenging schedule, almost every game that the team played was a battle. After a consistent few years of extremely competitive seasons, Dulfer said, the NCAA tournament is not only the goal of the program but now the expectation.

“It’s really easy to forget how lucky we are or how good we are to get there,” Dulfer said.

“It’s a standard that Ithaca has to be pursuing.

The bar is high, and it creates expectations,

but we never want to get to a point where we take it for granted.”

The women’s and men’s cross-country teams placed second and third respectively at the Liberty League championship. Both championship Nov. 16 to qualify for the both teams made it to nationals since 2002.

The men, who were the nationally ranked the NCAA Atlantic Regional meet, which held in Louisville, Kentucky, where they placed 26th.

The team was headlined by a strong group of senior runners. Head coach Jim Nichols said the athletes established at the beginning of the season that their main goal was to qualify for the NCAA championship.

The women also had impressive performances on the national stage. Nichols said senior Parley Hannan, who is now a national champion, was a major factor for the motivation and momentum of both teams. history of the women’s cross-country program.

The women’s team had six other runners championship race. Head coach Erin Dinan said she could not have asked for a better ending to the season.

“They were hungry for wanting to qualify,” Dinan said. “The team just really pulled together, so to see them get exactly what they wanted is phenomenal.”

Men’s soccer, women’s volleyball, and men’s and women’s cross-country all made their way into the Division III NCAA Championships.

Abbey London/The Ithacan

Peter Raider/The Ithacan

Courtesy of Garrett Bampos

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OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

Senior runner shines during cross-country season

BY JULIA DIGERONIMO Senior cross-country runner Parley Hannan has not had an easy path through her collegiate career. However, after overcoming an eating disorder and academic challenges, Hannan has become a star of Ithaca College women’s cross-country team.

Out of six races so far this season, Hannan won four and placed in the top three in the other two. At the Connecticut College Invitational on Oct. 19, Hannan smashed her previous personal best for a 6K course by over a minute with a time of 20:52.2 and set a new course record.

“That was the moment I realized my full potential,” Hannan said. “I always compare myself to other runners and other times, and to win, … I think I realized who I am. … That moment was probably the best moment of my life.”

At the Liberty League Championship on Nov. She also set the record for the largest margin of victory by 1:21. The record was previously held

by Taryn Cordani ’18. cross-country to earn the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Athlete of the Week in back-to-back weeks. She was honored for her victory at the

said she began running in high school to get into better shape but then started dieting and cutting certain foods out, and this is when her mentality shifted from staying in shape to an eating disorder.

“It really inhibited me from reaching my potential, and at that point, I didn’t even know my

Hannan said.

Hannan said she took this past summer to work on herself. She also ran a 15K at the 42nd Annual Utica Boilermaker Road Race on July 14, which Hannan said gave her a positive outlook about the impending season. Head coach Hannan’s improvement.

“I don’t usually have expectations of anyone going into the season because we have to see where we’re at as the season progresses, but I kind of knew that she would be coming at it in Senior teammate Lindsay Scott joined the team with Hannan. She said Hannan has become the hardest worker on the team.

“I’ve gotten to watch her day in and out from the summer set her mind to her goal for the season and do everything in her power to get there,” she said. “Every day she inspires each and every one of us on the team that there is no limit.”

“the only thing that kept me sane through it all was running.”

– Parley Hannan

on Oct. 12 and again for her performance at the Connecticut College Invitational.

Before Hannan began her career at the college in 2018, she attended the University of Colorado from Fall 2015 to Spring 2016 and Northeastern University in Fall 2016 before taking a medical leave for depression and anxiety the following spring. After changing her major three times and transferring to Ithaca College, Hannan said, she believes that she belongs with the Bombers’ cross-country team.

“I don’t think I would have been able to or wanted to do sports at the other schools,” Hannan said. “I think that Ithaca has a very special team.”

Hannan said school has never been easy for her. She did not begin running competitively until she came to the college, but, she said, it has always been a way for her to forget about her struggles. one in my sophomore year of high school and then one my sophomore year of college, and then last semester I took a medical leave,” Hannan said. “The only thing that kept me sane during it all was running.”

Hannan has struggled with an eating disorder in the past, and it led to her leave of absence during her sophomore year of high school. She

Senior Parley Hannon began her career at Ithaca College in 2018.

Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

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ANNUAL CORTACA JUG ITHACA IS

3RD

CONSECUTIVE WIN FOR ITHACA COLLEGE

37-24 IN JUG GAMES OVERALL

TICKETS SOLD:

MORE THAN

39,000 ATTENDANCE

45,161 FANS PREVIOUS RECORD SET IN 2017 BY THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS AND SAINT JOHN’S UNIVERSITY AT TARGET FIELD.

37,355 FANS

A GAME

SPORTS | 125

to remember Football team wins Cortaca Jug at MetLife Stadium

BY EMILY ADAMS AND JACK MURRAY When the Ithaca College football team

Head coach Dan Swanstrom hugs senior Rob Daly after a 32-20 win at MetLife stadium. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Photos by Kristen Harrison, Molly Bailot and Abbey London/The Ithacan

SPORTS | 127

point, and we went on to win the national

fumbled on the following drive, and the ball

Contributing writer Connor Glunt contributed reporting to this story.

“We got the division i-feel type game, and to go out this way, i can’t even put into words.”

– Nick Garone

Members of the Ithaca College football team celebrate during the 61st annual Cortaca Jug game at MetLife Stadium. Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

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BRACELETS KEEP STUDENT’S LEGACY ALIVE

BY ARLA DAVIS Junior softball player Erin Copozzi placed one small order of bracelets last May to give her teammates, friends and other sports teams a way to remember former student Jase Barrack.

However, that single order has turned into a cause that has spread throughout the country.

Jase was a member of the club soccer team and athletic training program at Ithaca College who unexpectedly died Spring 2019. Senior soccer player Justinian Michaels, senior softball player Shannon Grage and Copozzi were all friends with Jase. They currently spearhead Barrack’s Bracelets, which has sold approximately 300 bracelets and 100 keychains at sporting events and through social media and has raised over $2,000.

Michaels and Jase were both were recruited to play for the Bombers’ varsity soccer team and also in the athletic training program together, and Michaels said they became close friends who did

almost everything together.

“Pretty much my whole life was around Jase and his life around me,” Michaels said. “Having those three years with him and every moment with him will always be special to me.”

Copozzi and Grage became close with Jase when he served as a student athletic trainer for the softball team last spring. Both Copozzi and Grage sustained injuries and spent time in the training room with Jase.

Grage said Jase helped her get through her torn bicep.

After Jase’s passing, Copozzi said, she wanted to create something physical that she could look at to remind her that Jase was there for her even if he could not be with her. She decided that bracelets were the best option.

When Copozzi designed the bracelet, she wanted to keep it simple so that she never

and his immediate family,” Michaels said. “Later on, we want to go into the Ithaca community and have everybody wearing them, not just the people who were touched by Jase.”

colors: a white band with blue lettering that reads Jase’s name on one side and the phrase “Just happy to be here” on the other. Copozzi was looking for something to match Jase’s optimism when one of her friends suggested the saying, which he often said to encourage the softball team.

“He would be there at 5 a.m. practice with

towards making [the students] tighter and closer and feeling like they are a part of something big because Ithaca always supported Jase,” she said.

Jase’s sister, Sarah, said her family was shocked to see how many people wanted the bracelets.

“It’s just so meaningful to know that all the people who love him will have this and wear it,” Sarah said. “Even people who didn’t know him but now know his story and they know who he was, wear them. It’s just amazing.”

here,’” said Copozzi.

During the softball team’s postseason in May, she ordered a small number for her teammates and sold them at games for $5. The bracelets quickly became popular as the club and varsity soccer teams requested them. Copozzi said she had to order approximately 500 bracelets by up with Michaels and Grage for extra help as demand grew.

“We wanted to spread awareness and get the bracelets further than just the varsity sports teams

Barrack’s Bracelets has sold over 300 bracelets and 100 keychains at sporting events. Kristen Harrison/ The Ithacan

Junior Erin Capozzi and seniors Shannon Grage and Justinian Michaels spearhead Barrack’s Bracelets. Kristen Harrison/ The Ithacan

been used to buy and ship more bracelets. The trio managing Barrack’s Bracelets said they hope to use its future funds to give back to the college in Jase’s honor. Michaels said they hope to put a bench in front of the Hill Center Athletic Training Room where he used to sit before going to class.

He also said a portion of the money went into hanging a professionally framed soccer jersey that belonged to Jase in the training center, and they have recently ordered a new gold-plated plaque to be placed underneath it. Jase’s mother,

“WE WANT TO GO INTO THE ITHACA COMMUNITY AND HAVE EVERYBODY WEARING THEM.” – Justinian Michaels

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President Katelyn Hutchinson and vice president Allura Leggard speak at the SAOC’s first club meeting. Frankie Walls/The Ithacan

NEW CLUB FOSTERS COMMUNITY FOR ATHLETES OF COLOR

BY ARIEL DOWDY

When sophomore Katelyn Hutchison came to Ithaca College last year, she said that she felt lonely as one of the few black athletes on the

club with the goal of creating the community she

safe, inclusive space for athletes to express

“From the panel discussion we had, I think that we were able to see a lot of issues that happened on some of these sports teams that

like, no matter what, they have a place to talk and Hutchison said she wants to provide the

experiences on their respective teams and

a place where we can all come together and talk

“You’ve got people there for you,” Hutchison

Hutchison said that she came up with the idea for the club after she returned home to Chicago said she noticed that she felt more comfortable with her summer training group of mostly black teammates than she did with her mostly white

there’s anybody else feeling like me, but, if there is, I think that this would be the time to start providing resources for other people who might

said he believes the club will be an important continuation of discussions about race in the

topic of discussion was why they chose to be athletes and why being an athlete of color matters

“I would say my hopes for the club is one, athletic department, which I think is a huge thing

“We’re trying to create an environment where we can talk and have healthy conversation,” Leggard said she hopes the club offers a safe space for athletes of color to discuss their experiences. Frankie Walls/The Ithacan

130 | SPORTS

INJURIES IMPACT

Mental health

Injured athletes deal with mental health during recovery

BY EMILY ADAMS

For Ithaca College freshman Daniel Hutchinson, football had always been an escape. However, a simple misstep while running turned his senior year of high school, his future and his identity as an athlete completely upside down.

Injuries are often an inevitable reality for athletes competing at the collegiate level. During their careers, 90% of student-athletes report an athletics-related injury, according to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association.

However, for the athlete, the pain of an injury can go beyond being just physical and can cause lasting emotional and

psychological impacts.

Hutchinson said he used football to and his father’s abusive behavior toward him, his siblings and his mother. He said that when he felt his knee pop during a football game at the beginning of his senior year of high school, he immediately knew something was wrong.

Hutchinson’s injury turned out to be much more than a typical ACL tear.

Hutchinson said that after undergoing surgery to repair the ligament, his doctors found a blood clot the size of a golf ball in his calf during a follow-up appointment.

The clot was in a main artery connected to his lungs, so he had to have a second major surgery approximately a week after “I spent a week just laying [in the hospital],” Hutchinson said. “I couldn’t move or do anything. I was in a dark, scary place. I needed help going to the bathroom and taking a shower.”

Hutchinson said that as an athlete he felt particularly devastated by his inability to be active and independent postsurgery.

He was unable to compete for the entirety of his senior football season, and he is still completing the recovery process a year later. Hutchinson said that periods of inactivity, especially in the months immediately after his surgery, allowed him to spend more time worrying and overthinking.

Chris Hummel, chair of the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, said the athletic training clinic at the college treats hundreds of athletes every year. He said he believes that almost every athlete who comes into the clinic with an injury struggles psychologically at some point during their recovery process.

“It’s getting better because there’s less of a stigma around psychological issues, but athletes tend to want

JUNIOR ALLURA LEGGARD

to deal with it themselves,” Hummel said. “They take pride in being stronger than the people around them, so I think it’s harder for them to get to that point where they feel comfortable asking for help.”

A study of Division I football players found that 33% of injured athletes demonstrated high levels of depressive symptoms. Another study of male and female Division I college athletes concluded that athletes with self-reported pain or a history of injury had higher risks of of depression.

Hutchinson said because he had always used football as an outlet, he found that he had no way to manage his emotions after the injury. While Hutchinson described his mental state as depressed, he never sought professional psychological help. He said he never felt comfortable opening up about his feelings because he felt like no one could relate to his experience.

Greg Shelley, associate professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, said it is common for student-athletes athletic achievements.

“Athletes identify with their sport due to their past accolades [or] recognitions from their participation,” Shelley said. “For many college-level athletes, they have been associated with and played their respective sport since their earliest youth sport years.”

While Hutchinson said he felt ostracized from his football teammates and friends, he was able to heal psychologically through his Christian faith.

Senior swimmer Angelina Domena severely dislocated her shoulder in her junior year of high school right before her club swimming championship meet. She had to have surgery and was unable to swim for approximately six months.

SPORTS | 131

Domena began dealing with an eating disorder in the aftermath of her surgery.

Domena said that she began feeling self-conscious about her size when she was in middle school but that while she was swimming she had been more concerned with building strength than losing weight.

She said her muscles atrophied as a result of her inactivity postsurgery, and she lost that losing the weight transformed her insecurities into a psychological problem.

“During that process of transitioning from training 20 hours a week to nothing I had to change every aspect of my life: what I was eating, how much I was eating,” Domena said. “I became so skinny, but I was still seeing myself as this chubby 13-year-old girl. I was always really anxious about gaining that weight back and going back to how I looked before. I was so scared of that.”

Domena said that she weighed approximately 145 pounds during this time. She was 5 feet 11 inches tall.

Domena said the mental impacts of her eating disorder continued to impact her even after she returned to swimming.

Senior Justinian Michaels is an athletic training student and a member of the men’s soccer team. Michaels said the athletic training students at the college are taught the biopsychosocial model, which frames an injured athlete as an individual beyond their physical condition.

Michaels said they learn to understand how a patient’s biological, psychological and environmental factors combine to form a complete picture of their overall health.

“It’s really important to have a bond with these athletes other than just the rehabilitation and the science aspect.”

As Domena’s freshman year progressed and she reacclimated to the intensity of training, she said she gained back nearly 20 pounds of muscle weight. She said this allowed her to escape the negative perception she had of her body, and she rediscovered her passion for swimming.

Junior sprinter Allura Leggard when she was just 5 years old. Leggard said that aside from a sprained ankle in high school, she never had a severe injury before coming to college.

Leggard competed in the long jump Page Relays, on Dec. 2, 2017, at Cornell University. She said she remembers taking feeling a sharp pain in her back.

“When people asked me what was going on, I kept saying that my back felt I was afraid of really expressing the pain I was in to a full extent because I didn’t want to let people down.”

Leggard said her anxiety about disappointing her coaches, family and teammates was so great that she continued to compete with severe pain until the Liberty League Indoor Track and Field Championships on Feb. 23 and 24, 2018. for the 60-meter dash of competition, but, the morning of the barely walk.

Leggard

was diagnosed with a stress fracture on her lumbar three, a vertebra in the lower back that plays an important role in supporting the torso. She was allowed to return to running in August 2018.

However, when she began training, her pain returned, and she eventually learned that the stress fracture had become a full fracture.

“The fact that I wasn’t able to perform to the level I thought I could killed me,” Leggard said. “It completely busted Leggard said that she also struggled throughout recovery with feelings of isolation. Because she was unable to compete for more than a year, she felt disconnected from her teammates.

Hummel said that the athletic training with their teammates during their recovery process.

“It’s bringing them in when the rest of the team is there to do their rehabilitation so they feel like they’re still part of the team,” Hummel said.

Leggard said her loneliness was exacerbated by the lack of diversity on the squad, especially during her freshman season.

“I think being a person of color is the reason I had so much trouble opening up about what I was feeling,” she said. “I had like two upperclassmen and that was it.

It’s like being a woman in a room full of men: You feel like you don’t have anyone to back you up or get you on that deeper level.”

Hutchinson said he hopes that his story will help athletes open up about the connection between their mental and physical health.

FRESHMAN DANIEL HUTCHINSON (LEFT) SENIOR ANGELINA DOMENA (RIGHT) PHOTOS BY KRISTEN HARRISON, ABBEY LONDON & MOLLY BAILOT/THE ITHACAN

132 | SPORTS

CLUB BASEBALL MAKES DEBUT ON VARSITY FIELD

BY MAX O’NEILL When the Ithaca College club baseball team ran out onto the diamond Sept. 8 for its game against

the club baseball executive board and team adviser

baseball team had ever competed on Freeman Field, The process of getting the game on the varsity

Durr said Bassett and Fitzmaurice repeatedly established ground rules intended to protect the using the turtle — a batting practice hood that serves as a backstop — during practice, cleaning

baseball head coach George Valesente. Current among others. refused to grant the team access for several years.

The Bombers’ home games have been played

Ithaca, I consider part of the family,” Valesente said.

varsity facilities on campus. The club soccer team competes in Higgins Stadium, and the basketball

compete on Kostrinsky Field.

Bassett, associate vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics and recreational sports, and Sean Fitzmaurice, coordinator of facilities, led to approval for the team to use Freeman Field for its tryouts and one game. The club team used

the doubleheader, these games may not be the last games on Freeman Field for the club team.

everyone can have access to it,” Valesente said. be canceled due to rain. took place among Fitzmaurice, Bassett and Brad Buchanan, associate director of recreational sports,

team continue to train and be a part of the program here.”

The club baseball team played against Hobart College for its first-ever game on Freeman Field.

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

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CLEANING UP CAYUGA LAKE

Students participate in a kayak clean-up day

BY BECKY MEHORTER Ithaca College sophomore Leah Harbison-Ricciutti said she had never pulled a tire out of Cayuga Lake before participating in the Ithaca College Outing Club kayaking event Saturday, Oct. 26. While kayaking with fellow members, she collected cans, plastic bags and, yes, even a tire out of the water.

“While we were paddling in the beginning, we saw a bunch of cans on the bottom that we people treat the lake,” Harbison-Ricciutti said.

“They’re just throwing their cans in the lake, and their car tires.”

Harbison-Ricciutti was one of approximately 25 students from the college who congregated in Lansing, New York, on Saturday to partake in kayaking at Myers Park. The group also received a lesson about plastic pollution in waterways from cleanup of the shore around Myers Park.

The students kayaked for free in exchange for closing the Myers Park location of Paddle-N-More for the season. Paddle-N-More rents kayaks, canoes and other boats to visitors of its three locations: Taughannock Falls State Park, Stewart Park and Myers Park.

Jennifer Wells, assistant professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies and owner of Paddle-N-More, said she had previously allowed students to paddle for free in exchange for their help cleaning up the waterfront shop.

She said the kayaks need to be stored for the winter in order to avoid weather-created wear had organized to put away the boats.

The event was organized by members of two classes, Program Planning and Organization and Supervision of Outdoor Pursuits, within the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies.

One of the organizers was senior Peter Van Houten.

Van Houten said he is enrolled in both classes. For Program Planning, students set and evaluate goals and objectives for a program they create.

“The main goal for the semester is to develop a step such as creating a budget, creating a needs that,” Van Houten said.

The other class, Organization and Supervision of Outdoor Pursuits, also requires programming, he said, but requires that events involve clubs at the college. communities on campus: the Outdoor Adventure Learning Community and the Outing Club.

The housing community is located in Terrace 8 and allows students to attend outdoor trips members of the community. Matt Vosler, assistant professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies and faculty fellow for the living

community, said the group has gone whitewater rafting, rock climbing and hiking this semester.

The Outing Club was created in Spring 2019, said junior Colleen Euclide, president and founder of the club. She said the goal of the club is to connect individuals who enjoy the outdoors.

“We really want to make a community of people who want to go outside together and establish those relationships, so people can eventually do it on their own as well,” Euclide said.

Euclide said the kayaking event at Paddle-N-More was a way to enjoy the water and Euclide said she started the club because she thought students wanted an outlet to do outdoor activities but that the college was not doing enough to organize this for students. She said she believes outdoor recreation helps keep students refreshed and rejuvenated.

“As college students, we are often stressed, and we’re inside all day,” she said. “There really is a need to get outside and to take a breather and take that moment to be outside.”

Students spent the day cleaning up Cayuga Lake and helping close Paddle-N-More for the season. Cora Payne/The Ithacan

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Freshman Cameryn Nichols competes in vault, uneven bars, balance beam and the floor exercise.

Lexi Danielson/The Ithacan

FRESHMAN FINDS SUCCESS IN ALL FOUR EVENTS Gymnast becomes college’s first all-around competitor since 2016

BY EMILY ADAMS

SPORTS | 135

CONCENTRATING ON COMPETITION Students balance both bodybuilding and academics

BY CODY TAYLOR

Senior Alexandra Zanni has competed in four bodybuilding competitions.

Courtesy of Alexandra Zanni

Like most college students, Ithaca College senior physical therapy student Alexandra Zanni’s

While training for this competition, Demiris has

the mornings, and the gym doesn’t open until

is still training in hopes of competing again in

Sixth-year physical therapy graduate student Victoria Demiris and sophomore Dan Taapken are bodybuilders. Quentin Bowden/The Ithacan

136 | SPORTS

SOUTH HILL

stanDouts

Athletes compete in sporting events beyond South Hill

REPORTING BY EMILY ADAMS, JACK MURRAY AND MAX O’NEILL Many athletes call South Hill their home.

They see success in their Division-III athletic competitions here and elsewhere in their Bomber blue and white. Few athletes though pursuit of recognition at a higher level.

While she was still in high school, Ithaca goalkeeper, watched her older sister, Sierra, compete in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) Division III Senior Game. Five years later, Savanna took Complex in Manheim, Pennsylvania, to compete in her own senior game.

The senior game is an annual event held by the NFHCA to celebrate the best senior organization selects 60 seniors to compete in the game from 150 squads around the country. Savanna was one of eight goalkeepers chosen for the senior game, and

Savanna is from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania,

which is approximately 40 minutes from the Spooky Nook Sports Complex. She said the experience was made more unique for her because her entire family was able to attend the game.

“It was weird to have my mom drive me to a game because I hadn’t had that

I was like ‘Woah, this hasn’t happened in a while.’”

On gameday, Savanna competed with and against athletes who she had never met before, as well as regular Liberty League opponents. Her team was also coached

by Michael Warari, head coach at league runner-up Vassar College. She said that playing with a brand new group of women was very challenging at the start of the game.

“It was certainly a learning curve,” she said. “We got some time to learn each other’s

We had a bunch of defensive corners, which you normally have a very distinctive strategy for, but we obviously didn’t have time to decide what that would be.”

While her peers on the Ithaca College rowing team were returning to campus to

begin training for the season, senior rower Pearl Outlaw was in Linz, Austria, competing at the World Rowing Championships, which Outlaw competed alongside alumni Erik Frid ’14 and Meghan Musnicki ’05 on the U.S. national team. Outlaw performed in the Paralympic mixed double sculling event, Frid raced in the men’s double sculling event and Musnicki participated in the women’s eight with a bronze medal, while Frik’s entry Outlaw said the experience of earning a medal for her country on the international stage carries a sense of pride that she hopes never leaves her.

“You see people up on the podium who are disappointed with a silver or bronze medal,” Outlaw said. “What I want to hold onto is that feeling of holding onto that bronze medal and knowing that you did it.

The color doesn’t really matter — it’s the fact that you did that. The best thing about having a medal is knowing that you got that.

You got that for your country.”

Outlaw entered the championship as a However, instead of competing for the Bombers’ rowing team in the spring, Outlaw spent the entire spring and summer preparing

Senior Savanna Lenker earned a spot to play in a national field hockey game for senior athletes. Courtesy of Savanna Lenker

SPORTS | 137 for her event with the Para National team.

Outlaw has a genetic condition called and causes severe vision loss. She said that she left the college during the spring semester after her vision drastically decreased, and she decided to go to the Carroll Center for the Blind in Boston. Outlaw said she took classes at the center to help her learn life skills that will help her live with her condition. Boston is also the home of the USRowing Para Training Center, and she trained when she was not in class.

With the increased training time that took place while she was in Boston for the spring and summer, Outlaw said she was able to put in more hours working with her partner, Joshua Boissoneau. The pair competed together in the mixed double sculling event, and she said this time allowed them to improve their performance as a unit.

“We were a lot more mentally prepared,” Outlaw said. “We were able to row so much better and had gotten stronger. We had time to devote to our boat and that made all Before taking the court for the Ithaca College men’s basketball team this season, freshman forward Jack Stern competed twice for Team USA at the Maccabiah Games in 2017 and 2019.

The Maccabiah Games are an Olympic-style tournament for exclusively Jewish and Israeli Arab athletes around the world. The Games were founded in 1932 and medal with the U-18 junior team in 2017 and another in 2019 with the open squad.

Stern went through an application and tryout process, after which he was selected to

Senior Pearl Outlaw competed for the U.S. national team in the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Austria.

Courtesy of Ruth Ellen Outlaw

represent Team USA. He said that playing in the games gave him experience with a higher caliber of play while still competing at the high school level.

“The European rules really helped me to speed up my game, as we had to play with a shot clock, which I wasn’t used to in high school ball because we don’t play with a shot clock in New Jersey,” Stern said. “Playing with such elite players on the team as well really helped to show me what type of pace I’d have to play at in college.”

The 2017 games were played in Israel, and Stern’s older sister, who is a sophomore on the Widener University basketball team, competed for the United States’ women’s basketball team. The trip to Israel was a who all came to support. Stern said that experiencing the games with his sister made them even more meaningful. He also said it meant a lot to him to play the games in Israel from a religious standpoint, as Israel is considered the homeland for Jewish people.

He said that competing there allowed him to feel closer to his religion.

Marc Chasin ’18 and Travis Warech ’13

competed for the open basketball team at the 2017 games as well. Travis’ brother, Zach, is a sophomore on the Bombers’ basketball team and was a big part of Stern’s decision to attend the college.

Stern did not have much interaction with Travis and Chasin during the 2017 games, but, he said, he spoke to Chasin a little bit at the alumni game earlier this season about taking pride in the fact that the program boasts three players who have played in the “Jewish Olympics.”

Freshman Jack Stern competed in the Maccabiah Games in 2017 and 2019 before coming to South Hill. Peter Raider/The Ithacan

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Junior pole vaulter Julia Nomberg works on technique with the help of pole vault coach Matt Scheffler. Jill Ruthauser/The Ithacan

POWERHOUSE POLE VAULTERS Track and field coach helps build program’s success

BY DANI PLUCHINSKY When Ithaca College sophomore Meghan Matheny became the No. 1 pole vaulter in Division III after her performance at the Bomber Invitational on Feb. 1, 2019,

about the sport. Currently, there are three

“It’s probably the easiest job because a they’ve never come to my clinic or been in

athletes of any age can join to compete

the club goes to various competitions to

SPORTS | 139 that during the early 2000s, three athletes died in the United States while pole vaulting, which led people to question the overall safety of the sport. Because the community by sharing his knowledge of the sport and making sure people practice it safely.

Ithaca,” Heichel said. “[High school athletes] know that if they train with that is drawing people here and towards the track team. Now there’s more of us on the pole vaulting squad, which I think attests to him.” had immense success with pole vaulters

in high school and at The College at Brockport, he did not have a pole vault himself with a video recorder his parents bought him, and he would watch his vaults on frame-by-frame playback. He would compare his videos to footage of elite pole vaulters and try to match their techniques. He then began using that to help other athletes at Brockport.

Because of his accomplishments as

who were instrumental to the program

at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

In recent years, Kat Pitman ’18 won All-American honors during her career. In Pole Vault Summit’s Collegiate Coach

knowledge about the sport as he can. He

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Atlantic Region

“There’s not one thing that works for

2017 seasons.

Jennifer Potter, head coach of the

technical model that you teach, but I think and you have to tailor to that. If you have someone vaulting that’s 5-foot-3, things don’t work the same way with someone who is 5-foot-9, and I think you have to be adaptable. If you get stuck in one way as a coach, you could be selling your athletes short.”

TCPVC. He said that as another way to share his knowledge of the sport, he started the pole vault clinic as well. The clinic, which runs on Monday nights from November to March, focuses more on the developmental aspects of pole vaulting for high schoolers.

NCAA colleges competing in Division III sports are not allowed to recruit athletes like Division I colleges can, but high schoolers to see the campus while also learning more about pole vaulting.

“It’s a way to continue having high teaching them safety and awareness,” potential because kids come here, they see the facility, they work with me and they realize this is a great place to be.”

Heichel, who attended the clinic and was a big factor in her decision to attend the college.

“If he hadn’t been here, I don’t know if I would have leaned as strong towards

him to be successful.

“He is very knowledgeable about it’s also his delivery,” Potter said. “I love to watch Matt coach because I feel the way he coaches athletes is unique in the sense that he can relate and react to

I think that makes him pretty special.”

Matheny was an NCAA indoor

coach athletes regardless of their pole the program is gaining recognition.

“I think other kids see the success Kat and Dom and I… the program is growing,” Matheny said. “We have so many kids on the team that never touched a pole in high school and didn’t start until college, so I think a lot of that comes from seeing the success of other athletes that train with him, and that’s really cool.” the clinic or TCPVC impacts athletes’ decisions to compete for the Bombers.

“With the club, if we get anyone that comes here as a result, that’s a great for the sport, and I want kids to have the same success or even more success than I’ve had with it.”

The track and field programs have seen immense success with pole vaulters in recent years. Jill Ruthauser/The Ithacan

140 | SPORTS

TAKING IT TO THE

net Senior guard reaches 1,000 career points in final season

Senior Sebastian Alderete joined the 1,000-point club during the home game against Union College on Jan. 24. Abbey London/The Ithacan

BY CONNOR GLUNT Senior guard Sebastian Alderete became the 28th member of the Ithaca College men’s basketball program to score 1,000 points during the Bombers’ victory over Union College on Jan. 24.

Alderete said that when he was just 67 points away from the goal, assistant coach kept this in the back of his mind, but he focused more on just playing basketball.

“I know in the game [on Jan. 18 at Clarkson University] I was close to breaking it,” Alderete said. “I had 13. No one told me anything, but I’m kind of glad they didn’t so I could get [1,000 points] at home. … I enjoyed the fact that it was at home. I’d much rather be at Ben Light [Gymnasium].”

It did not take long for Alderete to hit 1,000 points against Union. He entered the contest three points shy of the milestone, and he hit a three-pointer just 34 seconds into the game. He said his nerves were not bad before the game because he went through the pregame routine he’s had since freshman year: He put on headphones; listened to his favorite artist, Lil Baby; and visualized what he is going to do on the court to help his team.

Alderete said this milestone has been a long time coming. He said that joining the

1,000-point club was a matter of when, not if.

“I knew I was going to join the 1,000-point club at some point in my career before I even got to Ithaca College,” Alderete said. “In high school, I got to 1,000 points, so coming into this program, I knew that I was going to get it.”

Alderete needed to grow as a basketball player and wait for an opportunity before getting his chance to consistently help the team on the court. He played behind guard Marc Chasin ’18, the fourth-highest scorer in program history, until his junior year.

Alderete said the summer between his

one game in his junior season.

His progress did not surprise anyone who knew how hard Alderete worked on his craft. Head coach Jim Mullins said that he could see the potential in Alderete during his freshman year.

the summer.”

Alderete averaged approximately 10 more points per game, increased his shooting percentages from 38.2% to 46.9% from

game, we went down to the locker room and talked, and guys are starting to head out to their dorms or supper,” Mullins said. “I walk in, and Sebastian was doing situps in the locker room. I go, ‘What, you weren’t tired enough from playing?’ Obviously, he’s a very physical kid, and his shot has evolved.”

Sophomore guard Skylar Sinon said that whether it was postgame workouts or getting extra shots up whenever he could, Alderete showed the coaches he was a dependable scorer.

“He’s a competitor,” Sinon said.

“He wants to win. Just knowing that he has the same mindset to go out there and do whatever he can to win is comforting for our team. If we need a bucket,

three-point range, and he started all but

one for us.”

for his development. The Bombers lost four seniors, including Chasin, and the team needed someone to step up.

“I would say that summer going into my junior year I knew I had to step up for our team’s success,” Alderete said. “Honestly, I was very scared of not starting and not being

SPORTS | 141

GOOD AS

GOLD

Women’s track and field team crushes national rankings

BY TYLER EVANS

The Ithaca College women’s track and

The Bombers earned a No. 1 ranking in Division III athletics. Molly Bailot/The Ithacan

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QUARTERBACK SNEAK

Germinerio joins the Bombers for his last year of eligibility

BY EMILY ADAMS The Ithaca College football team added

Senior Joe Germinario holds eight passing records at the College of Brockport. Abbey London/The Ithacan

SPORTS | 143

FRIENDLY COMPETITION

IC Ping Pong provides stress-free environment

Students gather Monday and Wednesday nights in the Fitness Center gym to participate in IC Ping Pong. Alison True/The Ithacan

BY AIDAN CHARDE At most Ithaca College club sport practices, members do not wear jeans,

Ping Pong are relaxed in both their attire and attitudes.

On Monday and Wednesday nights, the club members congregate in the Fitness Center gym. There are three tables set up with enough space between them

encouragement

where

beginners

can

there is not an open spot. to play against other schools. They also

paddles as Ping-Pong balls rapidly spin between them.

all students — not just club members — to participate in. said experience is not necessary to be a part

gym. Most people at the tables are not

Junior Ioan Dascalu practices his technique during a club practice. Alison True/The Ithacan

that she try it. Sen said she is not sure why Ping-Pong is so popular with physics majors, but it created an easy bond between younger

“They were a really welcoming I played more Ping-Pong, I got better, so I

some physics students can be heard casually

Senior Sam Weeks is the president of IC Ping Pong. Alison True/The Ithacan

said, he has been a loyal member since the

with one another between points or in the

Sen said. “Along with being a club, it’s also

other members, she is a physics major,

144 | SPORTS

VARSITY TEAMS ADD YOGA INTO TRAINING

Teams work with local yoga instructor to focus on strengthening mind and body

BY LAUREN WHITE

Varisty teams practice yoga to strengthen their minds and bodies.

Athina Sonitis/The Ithacan

“we are always welcome to the idea of any type of training that can help both our mind and body.”

– Robby Atwood Athina Sonitis/The Ithacan

SPORTS | 145

WELCOMING THE NEWEST RECRUIT Field Hockey team adopts 3-year-old girl with cancer

BY WILLY WRIGHT

The Ithaca College women’s field hockey team welcomed Nora Zelko, a 3-year-old girl with stage 4 neuroblastoma, as the newest member of the squad. Courtesy of Friends of Jaclyn Foundation

146 | SPORTS

RUMBLE AND TUMBLE

Gymnastics and wrestling teams compete side by side

BY ARLA DAVIS AND EMILY ADAMS When Ithaca College senior gymnast to perform her routine, her music began to blare over cheers and the thud of wrestlers hitting the mat on the other side of Ben Light Gymnasium.

The Bombers hosted the fourth annual Rumble and Tumble Meet against SUNY Cortland on Feb. 19. The Rumble and Tumble Meet is a competition format in which a college’s wrestling team and gymnastics team compete simultaneously against the same opponent.

The gymnastics and wrestling teams competed side by side on either side of the gymnasium, and athletes could be seen running back and forth between the wrestling mat and the various gymnastics apparatuses to cheer on their respective schools throughout the meet.

The gymnastics team lost to the Red

Dragons this year 185.550–188.150, and this brought the series to a 2–2 stalemate. The wrestling team dominated SUNY Cortland 31–9 to remain undefeated in the Rumble and Tumble Meet matchup.

Gymnastics head coach Rick Suddaby said that Gary Babjack, then–SUNY Cortland gymnastics coach, came up with the idea for the meet in 2017. The meet has been alternately hosted by the two schools since its inception.

“The idea has been done at other schools,” Suddaby said. “Usually, Division I schools will do it, but Cortland held our Cortland as such rival schools.”

SUNY Cortland gymnastics coach Sulekha Modi Zaug, who is also an alum of the Red Dragons’ gymnastics program, is in

competitive because of the history between Ithaca College and SUNY Cortland.

“The longtime tradition of Cortland versus Ithaca is always intense,” Zaug said.

“I’ve known these coaches for 20 years, and it’s such a fun rivalry. It feels like coming back home.”

The Rumble and Tumble Meet was also a Bomber Bash event for the Ithaca College Student-Athlete Advisory Council and a pink event for the Ithaca College Unites For HER club, along with it being the wrestling team’s senior night. The partnership among the teams and on-campus organizations drew bleachers in the gymnasium. Senior wrestler Ben Brisman said the meet is often one of the best attended of the year.

“I really enjoy that a lot of people come and watch it,” Brisman said. “It’s cool to

SPORTS | 147

The gymnastics and wrestling teams competed at the annual Rumble and Tumble on Feb. 19. Quentin Bowden and Peter Raider/The Ithacan

have a big crowd and a lot of excitement.

It’s a great environment, and a lot of other student-athletes come to support.”

Many of the athletes sported pink T-shirts and accessories to represent Ithaca College Unites For HER club. The Bomber Bash also featured free food from Chick-N-Bap for student-athletes who attended.

Wrestling head coach Marty Nichols said that having so much going on during the meet provides the wrestling team with good experience for the distractions that are often present at larger championship competitions. the music is on, so it’s a really good training situation,” Nichols said. “Getting ready for to distract you, so if you can focus on what it’s really good practice.”

The wrestling team put up several strong performances against the Red Dragons.

No. 10–ranked sophomore Eze Chukwuezi defeated SUNY Cortland senior Kevin Morgans in a 14–2 major decision in the 184-pound weight class. Brisman came out on top in a close 3–2 decision over Cortland

SUNY freshman Cahal Donovan in the 149-pound weight class. Graduate student Dalton Elias ended the meet with an exciting heavyweight match against SUNY Cortland freshman Trentyn Rupert. Elias pinned Rupert in the third period after being down 3–2 in the second period.

While the meet is an exercise in focus for his team, Nichols also said he enjoys getting to watch other Bombers compete as well.

“We don’t have many home meets, so it’s good to see the gymnastics team,” he said.

“In between the breaks, I’ll watch a couple events. Everyone gets the chance to be around each other a little bit more, and it’s really supportive. The guys love it.”

Suddaby said the gymnastics team also used the Rumble and Tumble Meet to prepare for upcoming championships.

“It’s fun to get out there and compete in the main gym for this year because we’re hosting our national tournament,” Suddaby said. “It helps us get out there and see what get there.”

The Bombers’ gymnastics team posted a higher score than the Red Dragons on

vault and trailed them by less than half of a point on the uneven parallel bars

second place in the event. Senior Cassidy Marquette led the squad on vault with a Nichols was just behind Marquette in second Kyriakopoulos said that her favorite part

and the uneven parallel bars.

“We started super strong on vault,” Kyriakopoulos said. “We had a couple

together was really good.”

Suddaby graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1979, but he said he loves the rivalry between his alma mater and his current team.

“As much as I admire Cortland, I want to beat them,” Suddaby said. “I was there a Bomber.”

Frankie Walls/The Ithacan

Emily Silver/The Ithacan

Bejin Philip Benny/The Ithacan

Lexi Danielson/The Ithacan

Kristen Harrison/The Ithacan

Peter Raider/ The Ithacan Surina Belk-Gupta/The Ithacan

YEAR IN REVIEW Printed by The YGS Group in York, Pennsylvania.

World news photos provided

by Tribune News Service.

Reed Freeman/ The Ithacan

Chloe Gibson/The Ithacan