The Ithaca College Student Governance Council met Nov. 6 to hear updates from the Office of Parking and Traffic Services. SGC also heard concerns about smoking on campus from members of the community and followed up with senator and officer reports. 

Amy Shippos, parking services and transportation coordinator, and Thomas Dunn, associate director and deputy chief in the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management, addressed parking questions brought up by SGC members.

Shippos said she wanted to talk with the students about parking procedures at the college and hear suggestions from the members about how to maximize campus access and provide solutions to meet the college’s parking needs. Shippos mentioned that roughly 70 parking spaces for faculty and staff were converted to student parking spaces just before Fall 2023. 

Sophomore Nikki Sutera, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance senator, said she was curious to know how the increase in student parking has impacted students and what response the college has heard following the change. 

Shippos said the student body has accepted the changes well. Shippos said students have asked the college to consider more student spaces, especially in the J-Lot region, and she is working through challenges regarding fluctuations based on faculty and staff work schedules to implement that. 

“A lot of my challenges with reallocating more spaces in some areas that students would like is making sure it works with the flexible work arrangements for faculty and staff not having a consistent work schedule,” Shippos said. 

First-year student Joslyn Forcione, School of Humanities and Sciences senator, asked if there is any discussion about a financial aid waiver for student parking permits, especially for first-year students. 

Shippos said there are not currently any options because a car is not required to live on campus. 

“It’s an optional thing,” Shippos said. “I think the premise is if you can’t financially afford to bring the car, you probably shouldn’t bring it on campus.”

Shippos said the college implemented the $500 parking permits for first-year students to discourage them from bringing cars to campus because the college is supposed to be a residential campus. Shippos said that by reducing the rate of first-year students on campus with a car, the college can increase student engagement with on-campus events.

Sophomore Lili Chalfant, School of Communications senator, said the price of first-year parking passes discouraging students from bringing their cars is not necessarily a good thing. Chalfant said that traversing the city of Ithaca can be very difficult and stressful as the TCAT can be unreliable and inaccessible. 

“I would say that that price difference is unreasonable and really detrimental to students’ health and motivations,” Chalfant said. 

During the community session, first-year students Leif Jensen and Anthony LaBonte said they felt the amount of smoking on campus was very unpleasant and thought policies regarding smoking were being ignored. Jensen and LaBonte said the smoking 20 ft. away from buildings policy and the policy that prohibits smoking marijuana has not been enforced. The two mentioned they were writing an article for their journalism class about smoking policies on campus and were looking for someone in the administration to talk to. 

Sophomore Rishabh Sen, vice president of campus affairs, recommended contacting Marsha Dawson, dean of students in the Office of Student Affairs and Campus Life, to help Jensen and LaBonte dive into further research regarding the topic. Sen also said if a student is having issues they should contact their Residential Assistant or the Office of Residential Life. 

“That kind of enforcement and reporting needs to come from residents to [the Office of Residential Life] so that they can report it and resolve it,” Sen said. 

During senator reports, Chalfant said she is going to meet with Amy Falkner, dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications, about a Park Student Council. Chalfant said she has talked with other professors and students in the School of Communications about what that would look like. 

Chalfant also said she had an Academic Policies Committee meeting with the Assessment subcommittee to discuss outcomes for required core curriculum courses. Chalfant also mentioned an initiative that she and sophomore Caleb Cackowski, vice president of communications, are working on.

“There was also an issue Caleb brought up, which is for students to have the Adobe Suite on all their personal devices, to make editing, photography and all their creative endeavors much easier and more manageable,” Chalfant said. “Other colleges do it and right now it’s only available through reserving spaces and laptops and that’s inaccessible for people.”

Molly Hankinson, Class of 2024 senator, said she met with Dave Curry, director of the Center for Career Exploration and Development, and other individuals within the center about connecting with seniors through personal emails from their advisers and the career engagement specialist from their school. 

During officer reports, Sen said he is looking for someone to chair the social justice and sustainability committee and said he will be reaching out to Scott Doyle, director of the Office of Energy Management and Sustainability, and faculty in the Department of the Environment to see if they know of any interested students. Sen reminded SGC that the chair of the committee does not need to be a member of SGC.

Sen also brought up information from Bonnie Prunty, vice president of student affairs and campus life, about Cortaca. Sen said breakfast in the Campus Center Dining Hall is free for everyone, even if students do not have a meal plan. Sen said the recommendation is to show up before 11:00 because the kickoff is at noon and it is going to be crowded. Sen also said the college has a new weapons detection system everyone will walk through before entering the game.

Senior Carli McConnell, president of the student body, said she has been talking with the Students of Color Coalition and is looking into what role a specific BIPOC senator would have on SGC. 

“I’ve been talking with a lot of members of SOCC and a lot of people that the BIPOC Unity Center serves about having a BIPOC Senator,” McConnell said. “I have a meeting with Angelica Carrington [director of BIPOC Unity Center] to start getting some fundamental research and talking about how we can initiate this into a bill for a new senator.”

The SGC is the sole representative body for the Ithaca College student community. The SGC can be contacted at [email protected].