The Ithaca College Student Governance Council met Jan. 27 for its first meeting of Spring 2025 to discuss the Fall 2025 course scheduling grid and the council’s goals for the semester.
The college created a new course scheduling grid that will take effect in Fall 2025. Junior Rishabh Sen, president of the student body, said the changes in scheduling were partly made to accommodate students taking classes across different schools. He said that under the old scheduling grid, course times in different departments often conflicted with each other.
“How many of you have heard of this problem where you’re trying to take a class at 2 p.m. and at 3 p.m. and then there’s a 2–3:15 p.m. class?” Sen said. “Then you just cannot take anything at 3 p.m.”
Sen asked the council to prepare questions about the schedule grid ahead of the SGC’s Feb. 10 meeting, when it will hear about scheduling from Melanie Stein, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs.
Sen then reviewed the council‘s goals for Spring 2025, which include environmental sustainability, promoting student success and increasing the council’s visibility on campus.
“[Spring 2025] is a time for us to make serious change on this campus [and] make sure that we’re making the campus more equitable, more just and a more comfortable place for our students,” Sen said.
Junior Caleb Cackowski, vice president of communications, said he wants the council to have a stronger presence on campus — a goal that SGC has continually strived for. He suggested holding more events like the SGC’s Fall 2024 Town Hall to achieve improved campus outreach.
“Tell people about SGC,” Cackowski told the senate. “There are lots of good things going on, and if you insert it into a couple of conversations, I don’t think it would hurt anyone or your social skills.”
SGC then went into an initiative incubator, a section of its meetings created in Fall 2024 where the council breaks into small groups to discuss ways to fully realize its goals and ideas.
Junior transfer senator Login Abudalla said she is continuing her work developing an Ithaca College crash course alongside the Office of Information Technology and Analytics. Abudalla campaigned on creating Crash Course for the college when running for her position in Fall 2024.
Junior student trustee Mureen Doherty said she would like to see SGC engage more with the campus community. She said that posting SGC related content on social media could help inform students who cannot attend the Monday night meetings.
Junior senate chair Nikki Sutera said SGC will be tabling at the Spring 2025 Student Organization Fair on Jan. 29, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and is looking to recruit students to fill open positions.
There are 11 open senate positions including two Class of 2025 senators, two Class of 2026 senators, one Class of 2027 senator, one School of Communications senator, one international senator, one off-campus senator, one graduate senator and two senators-at-large.
The SGC is the sole representative body for the Ithaca College student community. The SGC meets from 7–9 p.m. every Monday in the Taughannock Falls room of the Campus Center. The SGC can be contacted at [email protected].
