The Ithaca College Student Governance Council met Oct. 27 to hear from Paula Younger, executive director of government, community and constituent relations. She discussed how her position connects the communities of IC and Tompkins County.
Younger first joined the college in 2018, left in 2020 and returned in 2024 to her new position. Younger explained how her position works to bridge connections for IC’s students, faculty and facilities with the greater Ithaca community.
Younger said she has been looking at the amount of students choosing permanent residence in Ithaca postgrad. Younger said career programs in Ithaca are lacking when it comes to student outreach, and it is leading to students not having incentives to stay. She said this issue affected all departments in the college and gave the example of Cayuga Medical Center, a place with a robust residency program that does not do outreach to IC students.
Younger said this would be counteracted by a new program which is informally being called “A Bridge Program for Talent Retention.” This program would work to integrate students into the community through career and social engagement.
“What I’m trying to do is bring people to the table locally to talk about what this might look like and also try to have conversations with students,” Younger said. “[And ask], ‘What would be the reason you wouldn’t want to stay? What kind of incentives would encourage you to stay?’’’
Younger said she is organizing a Congress to Campus event for Fall 2026 which would bring two former members of Congress from both parties to campus to engage with students about the legislative process. The event would span a day and a half and would take place across campus. Younger and the planning team for the event have designated the theme to be civil dialogue in the age of climate change.
“We really want to get at the intersection of both legislation and policy, as well as constructive public discourse,” Younger said. “Climate change is something we think that everyone can gravitate around and [it is] also very polarizing.”
Younger said she is looking to connect this event to the community by inviting local elected officials to be incorporated in the activities. Local high schools will potentially be involved as civic engagement and to also help them see a college environment.
Junior Juno Brooks, vice president of business and finance, asked what communication Younger does at a federal level. Younger said she works with the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities to track legislation that would affect IC.
First-year student Ari Medvinsky, senator-at-large, asked if Younger could elaborate on current events at IC where there was intersection between federal regulation and higher education. Medvinsky referenced specifically a FOX news article that called out IC for not following NCAA regulations and Cornell University’s $100 million settlement with President Donald Trump. Younger said that her role is to counteract potential misinformation surrounding federal regulations.
“I’m always interacting with [the] general counsel because they very much have to be in tune with how certain legislation is going to impact us directly,” Younger said. “My job is to make sure that I communicate the facts as best as possible to folks.”
During senator reports, first-year student Margaret “Mega” Gem Martinez, international senator, said her initiative for more accessible prayer and mediation rooms in residential buildings is almost complete. Martinez said she received confirmation from the Office of Residential Life that the new prayer spaces would be in Rowland Hall, Clarke Hall and Towers.
Sophomore Ash Beall, senator-at-large, said that in conversations with those at the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach & Services, there have been motions made to recreate a form for transgender student housing. Beall said they also discussed a Residential Learning Community for disabled students.
“We thought the first floor in one of the renovated quads would work really nicely because they have single stall accessible bathrooms, so it would be accommodating for both disabled and transgender students,” Beall said.
Senior Ty Anderson, vice president of residential affairs, said SGC’s annual Thanksgiving meal will take place Nov. 26. This event provides those who are staying for Thanksgiving break with dinner. Anderson said he is planning for 200 people and the event is open to anyone and needs volunteers.
Next week the council will conduct another initiative incubator to propose more initiatives and to continue to workshop ones that have already been started.
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].
