Editor-in-Chief Lorien Tyne and News Editor Kaeleigh Banda spoke with Ithaca College President La Jerne Cornish about how IC is responding to institutional financial challenges and political pressures from the federal government.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Kaeleigh Banda: Two of the college’s scholarships are under investigation right now for alleged racial discrimination, and you recently attended an SGC meeting and stated, “We will comply with the law when it’s the law, but it’s not the law yet,” regarding those anti-DEI efforts. Can you just expand on what you meant by that?
La Jerne Cornish: The only criterion for eligibility for each of those scholarships is that you are a current undergraduate student. We do not admit students to Ithaca College based on race. … So somebody made some assumptions about the scholarships, and it was inaccurate.
KB: You recently signed “A Call for Constructive Engagement.” Can you talk more about the decision-making behind that?
LJC: It’s who we are and what we stand for as an institution. I just repeated what our strategic planning goal is. We are going to continue to defend people’s freedom of speech, freedom to express themselves [and] right to protest. What this [federal] administration is doing goes against our values, and I don’t mind signing something in support of our values.
KB: How does this institution plan on following through on all those points made in “A Call for Constructive Engagement?”
LJC: We are going to continue to do what we’ve always done. We’re going to continue to live our values and lean into our values, unless and until we cannot. We will comply with the law, but today, we are not breaking any laws and so when there’s a law, we will comply with it.
KB: How would the NIH’s proposed 15% indirect cost rate affect your research programs?
LJC: I don’t think we have felt the impact yet. More to be revealed.
KB: Have any potential funding cuts led you to freeze hiring or eliminate any positions, and if so, which areas are being most affected?
LJC: We are undergoing [a] restructuring. I announced at the beginning of the year that we had hired Huron consultants to work with us because the Board of Trustees has given us a mandate to have a balanced budget by FY28. Having a balanced budget is going to require that we reduce staffing in certain areas across the institution. I announced a few weeks ago via an email that I have restructured the executive leadership team, going from 12 direct reports to five direct reports. We now have five divisions … [and] each division has been given a reduction target that they must meet effective FY26, which would be July 1 of [20]25. … I have not been able to present a balanced budget to the board for the three years that I’ve been the president, and so I am grateful to the Board of Trustees for giving the team until FY28 to get back to balance.
LT: As these cuts and reductions happen, how can we maintain the quality of education here while also decreasing faculty size and course offerings?
LJC: I think we will be able to do that because the faculty and staff will be aligned with the student body. … We have to make other decisions about what we’re going to stop doing because we cannot continue to do all the things that we did before because we are not the size that we were before. And so again, this is about alignment.
KB: We found out that the Deaf studies minor is on administrative pause and will be cut after Fall 2025, and students found out from their instructors. Can you tell me a little bit about the decision to end this program and what other programs will be similarly impacted that students may not know about yet?
LJC: I think that the leadership in the School of HSHP looked at majors, minors and resources and personnel and made a decision based on the needs of HSHP right now. What I like about the decision is that it’s on pause, which says that should things change, they can bring it back. But, there are no full-time faculty associated with that program — all of those faculty were part-time faculty.
LT: What would be far enough that the college would not want to comply with the law and do something to remove themselves from that situation?
LJC: We will comply with the law. I’m really clear about that. We are not going to break a law. I’ll use what happened with our trans athlete as an example. We had a trans student who competed in an NCAA event. NCAA guidelines say that trans students cannot compete. We didn’t follow the guidelines. We self-reported to the NCAA. They appreciated that we self-reported. Trans athletes can practice with their teams, but they cannot compete, and so that’s an instance where we are complying with a rule by the NCAA.
LT: As an institution and a community, how do we respond to this kind of attack on one of our trans athletes and what can be done going forward to protect transgender student athletes while also following NCAA guidelines? And are our NCAA guidelines compatible with protecting our transgender athletes?
LJC: Again, our trans athletes can practice with the teams that they’ve been on, and that remains the same. They cannot compete, and so we will follow the rules. But we supported that particular athlete, and we will support all of our trans students. We are so LGBTQIA+ friendly. That’s what we are. That’s what we do. You have a queer Black president.
LT: What I’m asking is, is following NCAA guidelines directly against our values by not participating in a set of guidelines or organization that allows all of our students to compete equally?
LJC: What do we stand to lose by not complying with the NCAA? We have [26] teams on this campus, so if we do not comply with the NCAA rules, we disadvantage all of the other athletes who play on the other teams.
KB: There have been whispers around campus about students wanting the mascot of the college to change from the Bombers to something regarding the geese. What is your perspective on this?
LJC: I know what I’m about to say is going to upset some people, and I know who they are. I love the idea of the goose. … There are geese all over this campus. Find your flock. Geese are fierce. You don’t mess with them. But there are others who have said to me that geese leave things around our campus, and so they aren’t happy about the droppings.
LT: What would be the next steps in making that happen?
LJC: I think it needs to come up from the students. … I think if the students take hold of it, I’m going to support them fully.
