Full-time contingent faculty members at Ithaca College have voted to form a union with Service Employees International Union Local 200United, according to a press release issued May 24. They elected to unionize in a 23–13 vote out of 47 eligible voters, said Zeke Perkins, organizer for SEIU Local 200United.
As the Shared Governance Task Force prepares to meet with the Ithaca College Board of Trustees this month to provide an update on its progress, key individuals involved in this process say there are still issues that need to be resolved and communicated to the campus community.
The Ithaca College leadership has narrowed its areas of focus for the last 17 months of President Tom Rochon’s tenure. The college will focus on enhancing academics, strengthening engagement and growing the financial health of the college, while also continuing work on shared governance and diversity and inclusion.
Making IC more diverse and inclusive does not need to manifest solely within the bubble laid out for us by the broken structures that caused the issues in the first place.
In meetings held the week of Feb. 8, the Ithaca College Board of Trustees met to discussed the selection of a new president, efforts to further the initiative of developing a new shared governance system at the college and measures to improve diversity and inclusion.
The current problem on campus is structural, and Shared Governance is how it can and should be addressed.
The Ithaca College Board of Trustees asked the Faculty Council to pick two faculty members to serve on a task force evaluating the governance structure at the college.
Two large pieces of legislation — a Shared Governance bill and the Student Bill of Rights and Responsibilities — were passed at the Nov. 30 Student Government Association meeting.
Rochon seems to be digging himself deeper into a hole of contradictions and continues to avoid the very issues that put him on the defensive.
The Ithacan sat down with Dominick Recckio, Student Government Association president, to discuss the student no confidence vote.
The fact the vote is happening shows that power is beginning to fall into new hands.
“I think that these accomplishments demonstrate that we have a great president.”
