The Ithaca College Student Governance Council met Oct. 13 to discuss feedback needed for Ithaca College’s accreditation process and recent student concerns regarding artificial intelligence.
The council was presented with the Middle States Self-Study Report, which is a part of Ithaca College’s three–year–long accreditation process. The accreditation process is conducted every eight years and evaluates the whole institution on factors such as governance, academic effectiveness and financial stability. Ithaca College uses the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) as an independent evaluator. Accreditation gives institutions of higher education eligibility for federal financial aid and gives credibility to the degrees given at that institution.
Senior Rishabh Sen, president of the student body, said that the council will help with the editing process for the 200-page report. The goal of the editing process is to fix grammatical and content errors, but also to have clear communication throughout. This includes looking through the report for language that could be confusing to someone who is not familiar with the college.
“We are here to serve not only a student body, but a general Ithaca College community,” Sen said. “This is a service that we are giving to the whole Ithaca College community, both present students and alumni [are] participating and helping with this Middle States committee.”
The Middle States Self–Study draft is open to the community, and the administration is requesting feedback through an online form by Oct. 20.
During senator reports, Sen spoke about his past meeting with President La Jerne Cornish. Sen said the two discussed the council’s recent concerns with AI policy on campus, specifically regarding worries of mandatory AI usage within academics. Sen paraphrased what Cornish said regarding the council’s concerns.
“[They are] preparing students for an AI driven job market, and that if AI is not incorporated she believes the college would not be fairly and adequately preparing students for the job market in the future,” Sen said.
Cornish also told Sen that the administration has received feedback from students regarding AI recently and are looking to host a town hall or forum focusing on AI next semester.
Senior Caleb Cackowski, vice president of communications, raised the issue of the TeraWulf AI data center that is planned to be built along the bank of Cayuga Lake. Cackowski asked the council if they had any recommendations regarding this.
Sophomore Ash Beall, senator-at-large, said there has already been student criticism over the data center. Beall said a petition has been circulating against the developments around the Finger Lakes and their effects on the environment and Ithaca residents.
First-year student Aditya Valecha, senator-at-large, said TeraWulf has claimed to be carbon zero, but residents are still concerned about the environmental impacts of the project.
“Residents do complain about the noise and water usage, so on the face of it, the company looks [like its] clean energy [and is] keeping low damage to the lake,” Valecha said. “They’re trying their best to be sustainable … but the residents’ complaints make sense.”
In further senator reports, sophomore Luis Antonio Toriche, first-generation senator, spoke about the first generation club which had its first event Oct. 13. Toriche is on the E-board for first-gen club which is overseen by the First-Generation Program within The Unity Center. The club has begun communicating via GroupMe and is looking to recruit any first-gen students.
Junior Angel Pandey, School of Business senator, spoke during senator reports about her efforts to boost engagement within the School of Business. Pandey said she wants to create more opportunities for career development by collaborating with alumni networks. There are some networking trips that the business school organizes, but only around 15 to 20 students get a spot every semester. Pandey said she is not only looking to strengthen the alumni network for students but also improve the academic experience.
The council was supposed to hear from Barbie Bargher, Director of Student Financial Services, but Bargher was unable to attend due to personal reasons. Bargher has rescheduled for Dec. 1. Lindsey Allen, an alum who works in corporate communications, was going to call in as a substitute speaker but was also unable to attend due to technical issues.
Next week the council will hear from Elyse Nepa, assistant director of Clery Act and Prevention Education in the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management, along with members from the Office of Public Safety to speak about campus safety.
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].
