Student employees of Ithaca College Recording Services decided against a strike after meeting last week with administrators in the School of Music. The students had threatened to stop work if concerns about their major, sound recording technology, were not addressed.
The 18 students gave administrators a list of the program’s insufficiencies, the most prominent being a lack of usable equipment while their main recording tool, the SSL console, is being repaired.

On Friday, the students were told the administration had purchased 90 hours of studio time at Pyramid Studios for the three seniors with final projects to complete.

“The purchase of the studio time was enough not to stop working,” senior Adam Day said. “This is a very good partial solution.”

Arthur Ostrander, dean of the School of Music, said the seniors were the initial concern because of their senior projects.

“Now they will have similar equipment to what they have been missing,” he said.

Day said he is happy with the changes so far.

“The seniors are very pleased with the fact that the administration has heard our problems,” Day said. “But we are still working to meet the needs of underclassmen.”

Ostrander said the next concern is for juniors in the major, and the school is searching for a recording space for those students. He said the Roy H. Park School of Communications has been generous in offering use of its equipment.

Subsequent meetings have been planned for the remainder of the semester to assure that these accommodations are satisfying the students’ needs.

“The important thing is that we are keeping this on the front burner,” Ostrander said.