(The following letter was sent to the addressees on February 16, 2022)

From: Connor Watson, Class of 2023, Politics (B.A.)

To: Leticia Guibunda, SGC Vice President of Campus Affairs, Student Representative on Presidential Search Committee

Subject: Student Concerns for Presidential Search Committee

Hi Leticia:

As our Student Representative on the Presidential Search Committee, I’m writing to you to bring some concerns to your attention that I’m hoping you can present to the Committee.

I am writing you today to urge the Committee to consider strongly and seriously announcing Interim President La Jerne Terry Cornish as Ithaca College’s next President.  At this time of upheaval and unrest at the College, our Students need consistency.  Our world is ever-changing to this day, between the ever-lasting pandemic, lots of Interim Deans, changes regarding APP and the School of Music/Dept. of Theatre Arts mergers. All of these changes are weighing on our IC students and community, and to announce more change–someone different, someone who isn’t attune to our Campus dynamic, just sounds to myself and many others as a selfish decision on the part of the Committee.

It’s bad enough we don’t have enough student representation on the search committee.  I certainly hope this comment will be brought to the attention of the Committee and seriously heard.  Interim President Cornish is a calming presence and someone who knows how our institution fundamentally operates.  I urge the Committee to remove the title “interim” and instead make it known that La Jerne Terry Cornish is the next president of Ithaca College.

Thank you for your time and consideration, Leticia.  Thank you, too, for all the hardwork you do for our student body.

Well Wishes,

Connor Watson