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The Ithacan
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The Student News Site of Ithaca College

The Ithacan
The Student News Site of Ithaca College

The Ithacan

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At the event, attendees had the opportunity to buy a copy of “King: A Life” from Odyssey Bookstore. Eig signed copies of the book after the event.

Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Eig speaks at Tompkins County Public Library

By Isabel Alasio and Kaeleigh Banda • February 12, 2025
On Feb. 10, journalist and biographer Jonathan Eig visited the Tompkins County Public Library to speak about his book “King: A Life.” In 2024, the Martin Luther King Jr. biography won a Pulitzer Prize. Eig spoke to attendees about his years of research and King’s work as a civil rights activist and preacher while also uncovering who King was as a person. 
Harry Shuldman ’08, died in a car crash Jan. 26 during a wildlife trip in Uganda.

Ithaca College community remembers alum Harry Shuldman

By Kai Lincke, Community Outreach Manager • February 12, 2025
The Ithaca College community remembers Harry Shuldman ’08, who died in a car crash Jan. 26 during a wildlife trip in Uganda. Shuldman was a staff member for The Ithacan who went on to work as a copy editor for The New York Post. While at the college, Shuldman majored in cinema and photography with a concentration in screenwriting, according to April Johanns, coordinator of student and external relations in the Roy H. Park School of Communications. 
Susan Bassett ’79, Ithaca College’s director of athletics, was the first president of Women Leaders in Sports and has held leadership roles in collegiate athletics for over four decades. Bassett announced she will retire at the end of the spring 2025 semester.

Bassett to retire at the end of Spring 2025

By David Schurter, Sports Editor • February 8, 2025
Susan Bassett ’79, associate vice president and director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Campus Recreation at Ithaca College, announced her plans to retire at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.
Following an ICE arrest of an undocumented immigrant in Ithaca on Jan. 30, more than 100 members of the community gathered on The Commons on Feb. 2 in support of the county’s sanctuary status.

Local ICE presence prompts community action

By Noa Ran-Ressler, Managing Editor • February 6, 2025
On Jan. 30, reporters from the Ithaca Voice and the Ithaca Times shared information about the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Ithaca. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, ICE arrested Jesus Romero-Hernandez at Tompkins County Department of Social Services. 
Angela Davis –– an author, political activist and professor –– and Ithaca College President La Jerne Cornish spoke Feb. 4 in Ford Hall for a conversation event.

Angela Davis speaks to IC about social justice

By Kaeleigh Banda and Julian DeLucia • February 6, 2025
Angela Davis –– an author, political activist and professor –– spoke Feb. 4 in Ford Hall for a conversation event titled, “We Are Because They Were: An Evening with a Living Ancestor.” Over 600 people filled the concert hall and over 700 people watched the livestream. 
Ithaca community members gather on The Commons to protest the presence of ICE in Ithaca.

Blog: ICE conducts operations in Ithaca, community rallies in support of sanctuary status

By Julian DeLucia, Eamon Corbo, Kaeleigh Banda, and Noa Ran-Ressler • February 5, 2025
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted operations on Jan. 30 in Ithaca. One arrest was made of an individual recently released from the Tompkins County jail.
Cornell University students Emily Cavanaugh and Will Hooker started a petition to save the Museum of the Earth on Jan. 20. As of Feb. 5, it has 3,817 signatures.

Museum of the Earth faces closure

By Kaeleigh Banda, News Editor • February 5, 2025
The Paleontological Research Institution and its connected locations — the Museum of the Earth and the Cayuga Nature Center — are at risk of shutting down after the institution’s donors, who have not been revealed publicly, did not fulfill a large donation. In an effort to save the museum, Cornell University students, senior Emily Cavanaugh and doctoral candidate William Hooker started a petition and letter-writing campaign to gather support for the museum to get the attention of prospective donors. 
After accumulating over 4,000 hours of service work since 2019, sophomore Louis Pratt was awarded the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Q&A: Louis Pratt receives the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for service work

By Reese Schenkel, Proofreader • February 4, 2025
After accumulating over 4,000 hours of service work since 2019, sophomore Louis Pratt was awarded the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Pratt collected these hours through his local chamber of commerce and Students Against Destructive Driving, a student-run certifying organization that promotes safe driving decisions.
On Jan. 1, Cliff-Simon Vital became the interim director of the center. As part of his new promotion, Vital now oversees the MLK Scholar Program, First-Generation Program and Ithaca Achievement Program.

IC BIPOC Unity Center continues expanding services despite staffing changes

By Kaeleigh Banda, News Editor • February 4, 2025
Ithaca College’s BIPOC Unity Center shared its staff coverage plan for Spring 2025. Cliff-Simon Vital, former associate director of the BIPOC Unity Center, is now the interim director of the center after Shadayvia Wallace, former associate director of the BIPOC Unity Center and program director of the MLK Scholar program, left the college at the end of Fall 2024. 
Ithaca College has been gathering data and collecting feedback for a new schedule grid for several years. A new schedule grid developed by a faculty working group will be used to schedule Fall 2025 courses.

Ithaca College implements new scheduling grid for Fall 2025 classes

By Kai Lincke, Community Outreach Manager • February 1, 2025
Ithaca College has implemented a new course scheduling grid after several years of collecting data and feedback and considering revisions to the grid. Departments will use the new grid to plan their Fall 2025 course meeting times. The schedule grid provides common meeting times for all undergraduate classes. Melanie Stein, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said the old schedule grid did not effectively reduce time conflicts as intended because many departments scheduled course meetings outside of it.
Nearly 200 people filled the narrow seats of Muller Chapel to hear Holocaust survivor Ronald Hoffmann share his experiences as a young boy during the genocide.

Holocaust survivor speaks with students on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

By Jacquelyn Reaves, Staff Writer • February 1, 2025
In his talk, Hoffmann explained how he lived his life before the invasion. He talked about his life in Poland through different phases of occupation, from the Nazi regime to the Soviet Union. 
Letter from the Editor: Building on our commitment to community

Letter from the Editor: Building on our commitment to community

By Kai Lincke, Community Outreach Manager • January 31, 2025
In this new year, The Ithacan is building on our commitment to provide informative and innovative community journalism. We are introducing new initiatives to strengthen our relationships with our Ithaca College and broader Ithaca communities and understand how we can better serve our community members.
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