The Ithaca College Student Governance Council met May 5 for its last meeting of the semester and the first with the newly elected members of the council.
Junior Rishabh Sen, president of the student body, opened the meeting by showing the new members the organizational chart of the college. He said SGC members are given unique and powerful opportunities in SGC as students with the ability to influence administration and urged them to think about what they wanted to get done as a member.
“This platform is not afforded to every single student,” Sen said. “Make good use of it and advocate for students … because that’s what it’s all about.”
Sen then moved to “senior shout-outs,” highlighting senior members of SGC who will be graduating May 18. Seniors Tisa Manandhar, outgoing chief of staff and Kathi Hodel, outgoing vice president of business and finance, were both honored. Sen gave each of them a blue SGC cord for graduation, commemorating their commitment and service to SGC and the college community. Sophomore Haley Beckford will be taking over for Manandhar and sophomore Juno Brooks will be taking over for Hodel.
Sen introduced confirmations in which new members who did not run in the elections get voted into their new roles. Each new member gave a short platform presentation before the session was opened for questioning by the other SGC members.
Junior Nikki Sutera, current senate chair serving since Spring 2024, ran for re-election. Sutera said she was proud to have passed a bill at the April 29 SGC meeting that would add a land acknowledgment before every meeting. She said she has pushed the executive board to find new ways to better support the senators.
First-year student Amelia Grimshaw ran to be the senator for the School of Humanities and Sciences after spending the last two semesters as the class of 2028 senator. Grimshaw said she wanted to get more into the academic side of SGC and to focus more specifically on the School of H&S and the needs of its students.
Sophomore Emmi Chen ran for the vacant varsity athlete senator position. Chen is on the women’s rowing team and is a member of the Ithaca College Student Athlete Advisory Council. Chen said they have noticed a lack of diversity and support for BIPOC athletes as well as a general lack of supportive resources for student athletes at the college.
Junior Login Abudalla, current transfer senator, ran for re-election after the position was initially left vacant after the Spring 2025 elections. Abudalla said she felt the year was successful and that she would like to continue working on the Crash Course project, which would be included in an app that is being developed by the Office of Information Technology and Analytics. The Crash Course project would help transfer students and first-year students to learn more about the college.
Sen then brought the candidates to the front for open questioning by the rest of SGC.
Hodel asked Sutera what she has learned from her past three semesters in SGC and how she would apply what she has learned in the next academic year. Sutera said she was proud of the town hall-style events that SGC hosted this year which she had a large part in organizing.
“I learned a lot about how to better engage with the larger student population,” Sutera said. “I’m really hoping that we can have more successful outreach events like that in the future where we get to talk to the student population and they feel comfortable to talk to us about issues they’re having.”
Hodel also asked Grimshaw what she saw could be improved in her new position and what her plans were. Grimshaw said she wanted to specify her role to the School of H&S and to build better connections with the students in that school.
“My general plans are to establish a better way for humanities and science students to [connect] with me and vice versa and see what kind of their problems are and just go from there,” Grimshaw said.
Sophomore Eva Horst, vice president of campus affairs, asked Chen about what kinds of initiatives they plan to implement as the varsity athlete senator. Chen said there is room for growth in the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and that they wanted to make sure students were more involved in the department’s decision making.
Horst also asked Abudalla about what her new goals would be for the coming year. Abudalla said she wanted to work on a program called “credit articulation,” in which the process of transferring credits from a different institution to IC would be much easier and less time intensive for transfer students.
“[My goal is] making the [transfer] process a lot easier, but also more efficient,” Abudalla said. “[Transfer students] can dedicate more of their time to being an actual student.”
After an executive session, a restricted meeting of only the SGC members, each of the candidates was confirmed. There are still 14 positions on SGC open: both Class of 2029 senators, both Class of 2027 senators, both Class of 2026 senators, the senator for the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, the senator for the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, the international senator, the graduate senator, the Student of Color Coalition senator, the off-campus senator and two senators-at-large. Sen said that there will be more elections held in Fall 2025.
“Obviously I preach to a room full of people who love their positions and want to be here,” Sen said. “But keep an eye out for people who want to get involved more, especially on the philanthropy, giving, advancement and alumni side. It’s a really great way to make a difference and kind of make the voice for a community.”
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].
