The Ithaca College Student Governance Council met Oct. 16 to confirm a new member to the Appropriations Committee and hear senator and officer reports. 

The meeting was supposed to feature Reginald Briggs, senior director of dining services, as a guest speaker but Briggs could not attend because he was out of town. 

Cameron Small, Class of 2025 senator, was confirmed to the Appropriations Committee. Small said he wants to support different clubs’ visions for the semester and the year. 

“I want to know the different clubs and organizations we have on campus so that I can see if their missions align with me and my constituents,” Small said. 

The council then went into an executive session to confirm Small. 

Following the executive session, sophomore Rishabh Sen, vice president of campus affairs, discussed new plans to address senators and executive board members’ questions and concerns during the miscellaneous business section of the meeting. 

Sen said the council would begin having short sessions during the miscellaneous period as a chance to focus on and check in with senators. The council gathered into small groups consisting of new and returning senators and executive board members. This time allowed senators to ask questions and get help in figuring out the tasks and roles they play. 

Asata Rothblatt, Class of 2026 senator, said in her small group that she is working on following up on initiatives from last year. 

“I had the accessibility bill from last year, but I’m doing that from scratch because the seniors had the idea but didn’t really outline anything before they left last year,” Rothblatt said.

Sophomore Nikki Sutera, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance senator, discussed her meeting with Anne Hogan, dean of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and the tasks she is looking to take on in her small group. 

“One thing is the [School of Music, Theatre, and Dance] itself has funds that they can allocate to students and to organizations to claim if they need the funds,” Sutera said. “But it’s not super clear on how to get it and not everyone even knows that it’s an option.” 

Sutera also said she is helping with the newly formed joint council between the Dillingham Center for Theatre and Dance and the Whalen Center for Music and is working to create more unification between the two centers. 

During senator reports, first-year student Joslyn Forcione, School of Humanities and Sciences senator, said she is researching first-year class registration and why the college set the schedules for all first-year students. 

“After speaking with the [dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences] and a couple of other professors, it’s been an improvement from a system where students used to choose their own [courses],” Forcione said. “I’m asking for senators or for anyone that has any experience with the way that things have gone in the past to give their input.” 

During officer reports, senior Carli McConnell, president of the student body, said she met with Scott Doyle, director of the Office of Energy Management and Sustainability, to discuss the upcoming climate action meeting that will take place Nov. 7.

The climate action meeting, which is about sustainability on campus, will be with Doyle, McConnell, a few professors from the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences; Claire Gleitman, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences; Tim Downs, chief financial officer and vice president of finance and administration; and President La Jerne Cornish. McConnell also said Doyle will be the guest speaker at the next SGC meeting. 

“The goal of the event is to have more of a sustainable outlook and look at sustainability practices,” McConnell said. “[Doyle] …  is just one person, but he has a lot of great ideas and is going to come in and talk a lot about what they’re doing for green initiatives on campus, energy-related aspects which Downs touched on last week but also about climate justice and environmental justice in general.”

Sophomore Ty Anderson, vice president of residential affairs, said he has learned about how the Residential Hall Association was run before COVID-19. Anderson said the RHA had just under 100 members and a whole executive board before the pandemic. 

“I definitely want to start getting people to the RHA meetings, even if it’s similar to SGC where people can come in and talk about what they want to see,” Anderson said.

Anderson also said the RHA put on many events in the past, including an event in the spring semester that gave students the opportunity to meet potential roommates for the following year. 

Sen said he is looking to create more peer student advising at the college. Sen said he will be meeting with the academic service coordinators for all schools as a way to look at what each school can do before reaching out to the deans of other schools. Sen said he is scheduled to meet with Elizabeth Bleicher, dean for student success and retention in the Center for Student Success and Retention, to discuss creating more student advising.

Sen also said he wants to meet with Amy Falkner, dean of the Park School of Communications, about launching a peer-advising pilot program within the school. Sen said he is always looking for senators to help him with this bill. 

“This is such an excellent way for senators to get involved and it’s something that is very real, that’s very close to hopefully coming to fruition, something that’s actually happening,” Sen said. “For academic senators, this might be a great way to work with people in the schools that are not exactly deans, other people under administration within the school you work with.”