Year in Review 2026

YEAR IN REVIEW

2025 - 2026

A SPECIAL PUBLICATION OF THE ITHACAN

YEAR IN REVIEW 2025-26

EDITOR

Ray Milburn

DESIGN EDITOR

Chloe Habig

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Prakriti Panwar

MANAGING EDITOR

Reese Schenkel

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

MANAGER

Kai Lincke

OPINION EDITORS

Leah Ellenberg

Mei Dennison

NEWS EDITORS

Kaeleigh Banda

Eamon Corbo

ASST. NEWS EDITORS

Sydney Martin

Isabella Edghill

Julian DeLucia

Eamon Corbo

LIFE & CULTURE EDITORS

Parker Anne Devine

Meital Fried

Sheelagh Doe

ASST. LIFE & CULTURE

EDITOR

Eva Leon

PHOTO EDITOR

Lucia Iandolo

PROOFREADER

Kaeleigh Banda

COVER PHOTOS

Ray Milburn, Beatrice Mantel

THE ITHACAN

SPORTS EDITORS

Graham Goodman

Isabella McSweeney

ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

Graham Goodman

Lyla Doran

Billy Wood

Jonathan Falco

PHOTO EDITORS

Mei Dennison

James Simpson

ASST. PHOTO EDITORS

Marissa Moschella

Sofia Sterbenk

Joseph Bucher

Beatrice Mantel

VIDEO EDITORS

Julia Hargreaves

Ava Suffredini

Hannah Coulthurst

ASST. VIDEO EDITOR

Jacob Gelman

PODCAST EDITOR

Ethan Kaufman

ASST. PODCAST EDITORS

Hannah Coulthurst

Sully Fogel

CHIEF COPY EDITOR

Caroline Fennel

PROOFREADERS

Natalie Millham

Gillian Fletcher

Alanna Manning

DESIGN EDITORS

Kaiden Chandler

Raessler Guthrie

ASST. DESIGN EDITORS

Raessler Guthrie

Sofia Fitzgerald

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Tamar Wachi

NEWSLETTER EDITOR

Isabel Alasio

Naomi Martin

AD SALES MANAGER

Sydney Smith

ITHACAN ADVISOR

Casey Musarra

Faculty navigate expensive housing market

IC to discontinue the CSD major in Fall 2026

Department of Chemistry to expand scholarship program

Filmmaker and IC Dining Services employee perseveres

PPECS student hours reinstated due to budget issues

August

September

October

November

December

January

February

March

School of Business

Roy H Park School of Communications

School of Health Sciences and Human Performance

School of Humanities and Science

School of Music, Theatre, and Dance

RAs continue to advocate after planned cut canceled

Sexual violence at IC reveals issues within survivor justice systems

Lack of area coordinators leaves RAs unguided

Student organizations persevere amid $20K SGC budget cut and funding challenges

IC professor awarded for combining music with social justice

GREATER ITHACA

Millions rally against Trump in “No Kings” protests

IC students protest against crisis pregnancy centers

Community holds vigil for Charlie Kirk

Ithaca perseveres through Trump’s second term

TeraWulf plans to build AI data center on Cayuga Lake

TeraWulf attempts to gather community support

Ithaca continues to combat SNAP cuts

Museum of the Earth avoids foreclosure

Community book club showcases Indigenous stories

Hundreds in Ithaca rally against ICE

Presence of Flock cameras in Ithaca raises concerns

IC restructures amid budget deficit

Meal exchange program cause confusion

IC expands creative arts programs amid deficit

Students harassed at LGBTQ+ orientation event

Biology students win award despite budget cuts

Students hold vigils for victims of Oct. 7 attacks and the escalation of genocide in Palestine

Lack

Ithaca runs for funds in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Concert series raises legal aid money for immigrants

Student bands reunite to record new EPs

Ithaca community at inaugural Mural Jam festival

Curtain rises for new, equitable musical theater club

Holiday break drives tense political conversations

Q&A: Universal Pictures acquires script written by alum

Q&A: Theater professor reflects on work for ‘Wicked’

IC alum’s world premiere of ‘Milkweed’ explores intimacy of education and legacy

Students collaborate on performing arts project

Ithaca falls for queer Valentine’s Day Programming

Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ balances cringe, craft and cultural commentary

Ansari’s latest film needs more than ‘Good Fortune’ Bugonia’ invades with an out of this world production

Marty Supreme’ is a Christmas gift from Josh Safdie

No Other Choice’ leaves audiences dying (of laughter)

Emerald Fennell turns a new page for the ‘Wuthering Heights’ cinematic universe

How to Make a Killing’ Slaughters its own interesting concept

Bruno Mars strums heartstrings with ‘The Romantic’

Q&A: New volleyball coach brings fresh perspective

IC lacrosse players take talents to international level

Men’s soccer fights to draw with SUNY Cortland

Junior transfer trades cleats for running shoes

Women’s wrestling gears up for inaugural season

Deep connection shines through on football coaching staff

First-year student marks latest addition to multisport legacy

Ithaca derby scene rolls toward new horizons

A game for the ages: The Bombers win the 66th annual Cortaca Jug

Student work showcased at fourth annual Cornell Sports Research Conference

Q&A: Men’s basketball starts over with new head coach

Cortaca Can’ leverages legendary rivalry for good DICK’S Sporting Goods and IC athletics partner in corporate deal

IC diving duo adds to team in championship push

Men’s basketball presses for improved performance under new coaching system

Men’s wrestling regains hold on NCAA aspirations

Winter Liberty League Championships preview

Q&A: Brandon Maguire

Men’s basketball falls to St. Lawrence in Liberty League Tournament quarterfinal

Swim and dive teams celebrate historic unified win

Women’s basketball reflects on disappointing season

Community sponsorship helps students athletes fuel up for success

Football quarterbacks thrive in alternate positions

RAY MILBURN

FROM THE EDITORS Prakriti Panwar

Editor, Year in Review

Hi y’all! Thank you so much for picking up a copy of Year in Review. This magazine is meant to be a souvenir for every Ithaca College student to bring home and cherish for years to come. Someday, in some far-off place, I hope you all can use this to look back on your college years and remember this significant little pinpoint in your life.

To my friends at The Ithacan, I hope this serves as an award for your hard work. This magazine represents not only the most singnificant news of the year, but the highest quality journalism that came out of our newsroom. You all have so much to be proud of, and this book is just a fraction of your incredible work at Ithaca College. Eventually, I hope you all see this as a postcard from the beginning of your phenomenal careers. Use it to remember the work you did — but, more importantly — the people you did it with. Year in Review does not exist without all of you.

Making this magazine has been a labor of love, and I owe all the thanks and compliments in the world to the amazing team behind it. Each of you are at the top of your game, and this magazine would be a shoddy piece of work if I didn’t have the best darn team on campus helping me breathe life into it.

The Ithacan holds itself to an exceptional standard. Of all the newsrooms I’ve spent time in, I’ve never seen a group of journalists as dedicated, meticulous and reliable as these college students. I’ve had the incredible privilege to watch many of them grow as people and as journalists while working here, and the faith and trust I have in them is limitless. The future of journalism is bright and alive. Stop by Park 220 sometime and see for yourself.

To every member of the IC community, please enjoy this year’s edition of Year in Review. College is one heck of a gift and a privilege, and someday we’ll all need a bit of help remembering just how vivid and action-packed this year was. Bring this book home with you. Share it with your family and friends. Keep it handy. Like Odysseus or the mighty goose, we will all want to return to Ithaca someday. When that day comes, if you’re far away from Ithaca and you want to step back into your college years, crack this book open. Happy reading, and go Bombers!

Editor-in-Chief, The Ithacan

Editing Year in Review has been an immensely fulfilling experience. Over the past few weeks, I have been able to look back at all that we have published over the year and reflect on our coverage. I am not only proud of the work we did, but also grateful that we could serve our community as one, cohesive unit.

This past year, we branched out from our typical coverage, which we continue to uphold excellent standards for, and engaged in enterprise reporting. Being members of the student body and journalists at the same time enables us to gain unique perspectives and insight, and we made the most of it. We not only broke stories and prirotized speedy coverage, but also kept tabs on issues our community cared the most about and consistently held power to account.

In 2025-26, The Ithacan launched its first-ever video podcasts, published a local politics guide and adapted our sports preview for an online-first format. The Ithacan’s work this year reflects our will and enthusiasm to grow alongside a digital landscape, while maintaining our community-first approach.

This magazine is a compilation of one of the most exciting years that I personally experienced at The Ithacan. Editing it alongside the dedicated Year in Review team has been a celebration of our reporting and hard work. I am also extremely proud of the culture of learning and growth that The Ithacan fosters for students and it has truly been an honor to carry on this legacy.

I first joined The Ithacan as a first-year student, hoping to get some reporting experience under my belt. But along the way, I found a sense of belonging within a group of some of the most talented people I know, who have defined my time at Ithaca College. I was trusted to join the board as an assistant news editor in the spring of my first year, and every day since then, my peers, friends and editors have helped me unlock new skills I did not know I possessed.

Being editor-in-chief inspired me to build a community and constantly innovate. I am grateful for all the growth I experienced, and I am certain that this newsroom will continue to produce meaningful work while shaping journalists who want to spark important conversations.

KaEleigh Banda

Proofreader, Year in Review

Proofreading Year in Review has given me an entirely new perspective on The Ithacan. As a former photo editor and news editor, this was my first time being on the editorial board as a proofreader. This position allowed me to deeply explore content from sections I am less familiar with while helping to build the final product of Year in Review

When I arrived at Ithaca College, I knew I wanted to be involved with The Ithacan, but I had no idea then how many different ways I could be involved. I have made a design, copy edited stories, hosted a podcast and filmed a video. These are things I never imagined I would do, but The Ithacan pushed me outside of my comfort zone, and I am glad it did.

Working for The Ithacan has shown me the true value of collaboration. From roller derby to college finances, this magazine spans interests, creating something for a wide range of readers. And, do not forget to check out the featured multimedia content online. Year in Review is a collection of work that shows the power of journalism on our community, and I am grateful to have worked with the best team. Looking back on this year, I am amazed at what this publication has accomplished, and I cannot wait to support The Ithacan next year as the 2026-27 editor-in-chief.

Lucia Iandolo

Photo Editor, Year in Review

Photography has always been important to me as someone who loves storytelling. I started taking photos in middle school at my siblings soccer games, and that was when I learned about how much I enjoy documenting a moment through the camera. I find it fascinating that we can show so many perspectives through one series of images. Whether you’re taking photos at a performing arts event, a sports game or a protest, there is always a story to tell.

At Ithaca College, I knew I needed to be involved in photography in some way. I joined The Ithacan as a first-year student, and by my second semester, I was a part of the photo team. In my sophomore year, I took on the roles of assistant photo editor and photo editor, where I led an amazing group of photographers and gained a passion for photojournalism.

As the photo editor for the Year in Review, I was given a new perspective on how impactful photojournalism can be. This magazine is a way of documenting important moments in our history and what has happened in the world throughout our college experience. I am grateful to have been a part of this project as it has ignited my passion for photography so much further.

Chloe Habig

Design Editor, Year in Review

Embracing new experiences has always been a driving force in my life. When I arrived at Ithaca College, I felt confused and uncertain of what I wanted for my future. This uncertainty pushed me to explore uncharted territories both personally and professionally, leading to unexpected growth and self-discovery.

I have always had a passion for art, whether through photography, painting or drawing. Initially, I doubted my ability to express my creativity professionally. The thought of using graphic design as a medium for creative expression seemed inconceivable to me, especially since I had no experience with the necessary software and felt like I was falling behind my peers.

However, working as design editor for the Year in Review allowed me to channel my passion for art while deepening my understanding of graphic design in a professional context. This project offered me the opportunity to experiment with new ideas, collaborate with talented individuals and push the boundaries of visual storytelling. As a result, the Year in Review deepened my understanding of what it means to be a graphic designer and how to work as part of a team, inspiring me to continue pursuing my creative passions.

GLOBAL NEWS

AUGUST

AUGUST 11, 2025

AUGUST 16, 2025

AUGUST 26, 2025

Trump takes over DC’s Police Department

After a decade of threatening to take over the deeply Democratic District of Columbia, President Donald Trump announced he would exert more federal control over the capital city by taking command of its police department and declaring a public safety emergency. Trump used a late-morning press conference at the White House to announce he had signed orders and letters to place the Washington Metropolitan Police Department under his control by invoking Section 740 of the 1973 Home Rule Act. The president also announced he would activate hundreds of D.C. National Guard troops to assist local and federal law enforcement. Attorney General Pam Bondi now has direct control over MPD, with Terrance “Terry” Cole installed Monday as the interim MPD commissioner.

Hurricane Erin grows to Category 5 storm

Hurricane Erin, the first of the 2025 Atlantic season, strengthened into a dangerous Category 5 storm in the northeast Caribbean, rapidly intensifying from a tropical storm. National Hurricane Center officials said the storm’s maximum sustained winds more than doubled in a day, to 160 mph — officially hitting Category 5 intensity. A tropical storm watch, issued when storm conditions are possible within the next 12 hours, was in effect for St. Martin (including the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten) and St. Barthélemy, two of the northernmost islands in the eastern Caribbean, located about 250 miles northeast of Puerto Rico. According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, a hurricane is classified as a Category 5 when maximum sustained winds are 157 mph or higher.

Cracker Barrel scraps new logo

President Donald Trump pushed Cracker Barrel to scrap its controversial new logo amid right-wing protests over the sleeker more modern design. The president echoed complaints from some of his supporters that the casual restaurant chain is abandoning its conservative rural customer base by dumping the familiar old logo that appeared on all its signs. “Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate poll), and manage the company better than ever before,” Trump posted on his social media site. “Make Cracker Barrel a winner again.” Trump suggested the company, known for its folksy design and old-timey menu choices, should take advantage of the attention by backtracking on the entire rebranding effort.

SEPTEMBER

SEPTEMBER 3, 2025

SEPTEMBER 10, 2025

SEPTEMBER 22, 2025

Epstein victims push for accountability

After nearly three decades of silence, dozens of victims of Jeffrey Epstein and their supporters massed at the foot of the United States Capitol, demanding the release of all government records pertaining to Epstein as well as others involved in his sex trafficking crimes. The survivors tearfully recounted stories of sexual abuse at the hands of Epstein, his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, and the other powerful men they were trafficked to. They spoke despite their fears, trauma and anxieties. Some of them said they had been silenced by Epstein and Maxwell, who had in the past threatened them and their families. The survivors spoke for those who were too afraid to be there — and for those victims who could not be there, their lives cut short as a result of drug overdoses, suicide and trauma-related mental illness.

Charlie Kirk fatally shot on Utah campus

Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University, a shocking act of political violence that brought widespread condemnation. Videos shared on social media show Kirk sitting under a white canopy, speaking to hundreds of people through a microphone, when a loud pop is heard; he suddenly falls back, blood gushing from his neck. Before he was shot, he was asked about mass shootings. “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?” an audience member asks. “Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk responds. Almost immediately, Kirk is shot in the neck. As the crowd realizes what has taken place, people are heard screaming and running away.

Trump and officials link Tylenol to autism

President Donald Trump and White House officials announced that the administration will advise against taking acetaminophen, the medicine in Tylenol, during pregnancy, citing widely discredited concerns that it could cause autism. Top medical organizations and lawmakers have widely panned Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for promoting the theory as he looks to fulfill his promise to find the root causes of autism. “Taking Tylenol, it’s not good. I’ll say it — it’s not good,” the president said from the White House, flanked by Kennedy and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Mehmet Oz. He said pregnant women should only take Tylenol if they have a fever and cannot “tough it out.”

OCTOBER

OCTOBER 18, 2025

OCTOBER 19, 2025

OCTOBER 23, 2025

‘No Kings’ protests oppose Trump

Demonstrators across the United States turned out for what organizers said would be more than 2,600 “No Kings” protests to express their opposition to President Donald Trump’s agenda. Mass protests followed similar “No Kings” protests on June 14, timed to offset the military parade Trump hosted the same day in Washington for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and his birthday. Organizers estimated that 4 million to 6 million people attended the June demonstrations. In Washington, the protest stage was next to the U.S. Labor Department, whose facade is partly covered with a big banner displaying Trump’s face. The protesters showed public opposition to Trump’s push to send National Guard troops to U.S. cities, his immigration raids and his cuts to foreign aid and domestic programs favored by Democrats.

Louvre museum closed after theft

The Louvre museum in Paris was the site of a major heist during which jewelry of “invaluable cultural and historical significance” was stolen, according to the French culture and interior ministries. The thieves entered the museum at around 9:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) by breaking a window, the ministries stated. Inside, they stole jewelry from display cases before fleeing on motorbikes. Culture Minister Rachida Dati said the thieves needed just four minutes to secure their haul. “These are professionals,” she told broadcaster TF1 after viewing video surveillance material. “They do not attack anyone. They enter quite calmly. In four minutes, they wreck display cases, seize their haul and disappear without using any force,” Dati said.

NBA stars arrested in gambling investigation

A current NBA player, former player and current NBA head coach were arrested as part of the federal takedown of a pair of sweeping gambling conspiracies, including a mob plot that cheated players in rigged underground poker games out of millions of dollars. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former Cleveland Cavaliers player and coach Damon Jones were charged in Brooklyn Federal Court in a pair of indictments that netted 34 defendants, including members of La Cosa Nostra and a pair of Instagram gambling influencers. The poker scheme, as described in court documents and by federal authorities, played out like a Hollywood film — the mob ran high-stakes games in Manhattan, Las Vegas, the Hamptons and Miami.

NOVEMBER

NOVEMBER 4, 2025

NOVEMBER 10, 2025

NYC elects Mamdani as new mayor

Democrat Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City, becoming the youngest man picked to lead the five boroughs in modern history in what is widely seen as a watershed moment for his party’s surging left wing. Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist who will also be the city’s first-ever Muslim and South Asian mayor, was declared the winner of the 2025 race for City Hall by the Associated Press shortly after 9:30 p.m. The election was marked by massive turnout, with more than 2 million votes cast and Mamdani capturing more than a million of them himself, according to early Board of Elections tabulations. Mamdani’s victory was propelled by nearly record-setting levels of voter participation.

Longest government shutdown ends in US

The longest partial government shutdown in history ended when President Donald Trump signed into law a shortterm spending patch that funds federal agencies through January. Flanked by House GOP leaders around his desk in the Oval Office, Trump signed the bill as he repeated his call for abolishing the Senate filibuster to avoid the risk of another shutdown. “This is no way to run a country,” Trump said in signing the bill ending a 43-day partial shutdown. “I hope we can all agree the government should never be shut down again.” The House sent Trump the legislation just hours earlier, when it voted to clear the measure on a 222-209 vote that fell mostly along party lines.

Marjorie Taylor Greene resigns from congress

Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene announced she will be resigning her seat in the House of Representatives.Greene, a former long-time supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, said she would step down from her position January 5. “I’ve always represented the common American man and woman as a member of the House of Representatives which is why I’ve always been despised in Washington DC and never fit in,” Greene said in a statement outlining her decision. She said she had been loyal to her campaign promises and had only disagreed on a few issues. “Loyalty should be a two way street and we should be able to vote our conscience and represent our district’s interest, because our job title is literally ‘representative,’” Greene said.

DECEMBER

DECEMBER 14, 2025

DECEMBER 14, 2025

DECEMBER 19, 2025

Rob Reiner and wife killed in Los Angeles

Rob Reiner, 78, one of the most influential directors and producers in American cinema in recent decades (among his films “When Harry Met Sally” and “Misery”) was found dead Dec. 14, in his villa in Brentwood, an elegant residential neighborhood of Los Angeles, along with his wife Michele Singer, 70. According to United States media reports, the bodies showed injuries consistent with the use of a knife. The family, through a spokesperson, released a brief statement: “It is with deep sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner. We are devastated by this sudden loss and ask for respect and privacy during this extremely difficult time.” Rob Reiner’s death marks the passing of a central figure in American entertainment history.

Fifteen killed in Bondi Beach shooting

A mass shooting by two gunmen during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney left at least 11 people dead, in what Australian leaders declared a terrorist attack aimed at the Jewish community. At least 29 people were taken to hospital with injuries, with two police officers among them, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said. Over 1,000 people were on the famed beach in Sydney’s east when the attack took place shortly before 7 p.m., Lanyon told a press conference. Many were at the “Chanukah by the Sea 2025” event to mark the start of the eight-day Hanukkah festival. Witnesses described chaos erupting as dozens of gunshots rang out and people fled the beach in panic.

Students at Brown and MIT professor shot

Two were killed and nine others were wounded in the shooting at Brown University in Providence. The shooting occurred inside the Barus & Holley engineering building, where, according to the school’s academic calendar, finals were taking place. MIT professor Nuno Loureiro was shot multiple times inside his Gibbs Street home in Brookline, a Boston suburb about 50 miles north of Providence. The professor of nuclear science and engineering directed the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT since last year and has taught at the school since January 2016, according to his LinkedIn page. Authorities in Providence released video and still images from those videos of the shooting suspect, who can be seen wearing a dark jacket, mask and hat as he walked around campus hours before the shooting.

JANUARY

JANUARY 3, 2026

JANUARY 7, 2026

JANUARY 10, 2026

United States captures Venezuelan president

An overnight raid by elite United States forces that seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from his bedroom in Caracas plunged the country into turmoil, prompting international concern about Venezuela’s future and President Donald Trump’s attempt to take control of the sovereign nation. Trump justified the stunning attack by accusing Maduro, without evidence, of sending “monsters” into the U.S. from Venezuelan prisons, and by claiming Maduro’s involvement in the drug trade. Trump focused more on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, accusing its government of stealing U.S. oil infrastructure in the country decades prior and vowing that, under new U.S. government control, output would increase going forward.

ICE agents shoot Renee Good in Minneapolis

A federal immigration agent identified as Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good, 37, on the morning of Jan. 7, during an enforcement operation near E 34th Street and Portland Avenue in south Minneapolis, just blocks from where George Floyd was killed by police more than five years ago. Federal immigration agents were in south Minneapolis on the morning of Jan. 7 as part of a stepped-up enforcement presence that has drawn increasing scrutiny and anger in the Twin Cities. Good, a 37-year-old United States citizen, lived in south Minneapolis with her wife just blocks from where she was shot and killed. She was identified by her mother, Donna Ganger, who said the family was notified of her death later that morning.

Bobby Weir dies at age 78

Bobby Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead and one of the defining figures of psychedelic rock and the jam-band movement, died Jan. 10, his family announced. He was 78. News of Weir’s death was shared in a statement posted to his Facebook page by his daughter, Chloe Weir, and later on the musician’s website. She said he died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after battling cancer and later succumbing to lung complications. “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could,” the post reads. “Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.”

FEBRUARY

FEBRUARY 8, 2026

FEBRUARY 17, 2026

FEBRUARY 28, 2026

Seattle Seahawks win Super Bowl LX

The Seahawks captured the second Lombardi Trophy in the 50-year history of the franchise with a 29-13 win against the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium. That trophy will now join one the Legion of Boom team took home with a win over Denver in the 2013-14 season. “I was just so happy to battle with these guys,” Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon said. “We went through a lot, but we believed. And all y’all doubters out there who said all that other stuff, y’all don’t know what’s going on in this building. We’re one of one over here.” Just as the LOB team did, for most of the game the defense threatened to make history, shutting out the Patriots through the first three quarters, at which point the Seahawks had allowed just 78 yards, helping build a 19-0 lead.

Jesse Jackson dies at age 84

The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the Chicago-based Baptist minister, political figure and two-time presidential candidate whose soaring oratory and knack for capturing media attention made him a central figure in the Civil Rights Movement and national politics for more than six decades, died Tuesday. He was 84. Jackson battled Parkinson’s disease since 2017, and in April, he was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurological disorder. Known for his rhetorical flourishes and his short, catchy and sometimes-rhythmic and rhyming phrases — ideal as sound bites — Jackson sought to instill self-confidence in Black people with his trademark call-and-response celebration of the self that started with “I am somebody.” Another signature line was his anti-drug refrain, “Down with dope, up with hope.”

Iran’s supreme leader killed in attack

The United States and Israel pummeled Iran in an attack aimed at razing the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions and thwarting its efforts to influence the Middle East though proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the attack, according to President Donald Trump, who in a post on Truth Social wrote that “one of the most evil people in History, is dead. This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans.” More than 200 people were killed in Iran and hundreds more injured, according to Iran’s Red Crescent. The attacks spurred a furious Iranian retaliation, with multiple barrages striking Israel, a number of gulf nations and Jordan; and fulfilled long-standing fears that a confrontation with Iran would plunge the entire region into war.

MARCH

MARCH 3, 2026

MARCH 9, 2026

Kristi Noem fired by

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump announced that he was replacing embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Trump said on Truth Social that he will nominate Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to take over the job, two days after Noem was grilled on Capitol Hill by Democrats and some Republicans. Noem, the former South Dakota governor, is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term as president. Her departure comes amid intense scrutiny over immigration enforcement tactics since last year that intensified after the shooting deaths of two protesters in Minneapolis by immigration agents, which she called domestic terrorism without evidence. Noem was also criticized over how her department spent billions of dollars allocated by Congress.

Live Nation reaches tentative settlement

Live Nation has reached a settlement with the Justice Department in an antitrust case that put the entertainment giant at risk of being separated from Ticketmaster. Less than a week after the long-awaited trial began, the ticket vendor’s settlement offer was announced, per a court hearing. With pending approval from the judge, Live Nation will have to pay damages to the suing states. A 12-person jury was seated last Tuesday in a Manhattan federal courthouse and the trial had reached witness testimony by the end of last week. The complaint was filed in 2024, when the federal government, 39 states and the District of Columbia, alleged that Live Nation and Ticketmaster have monopolies in various aspects of the live music industry, such as concert promotion, venue operations, artist management and ticketing services.

Pilots killed in crash at Laguardia Airport

Two pilots were killed when the jet they were landing at LaGuardia Airport collided with a Port Authority fire truck. The dramatic seconds before and after the crash was captured on audio, with an air traffic controller saying he “messed up” by failing to prevent the collision. The Queens airport was shut down entirely as the crash was investigated by a raft of agencies. The plane’s nose was sheared off from the impact, leaving the pilot and co-pilot dead. Sources told the Daily News that one of the men was found dead on the ground after being ejected from the plane, still strapped into his seat. The other pilot was also found dead at the scene, though it was not immediately clear where. Another crew member, a flight attendant, was found alive strapped into her jumpseat, which had been ejected from the wreckage of the plane. MARCH 23, 2026

STUDENT PROFILES

PROFILE SUBJECTS WERE RECOMMENDED BY THE STUDENTS AND/OR DEAN’S OFFICE OF THEIR RESPECTIVE SCHOOLS.

BRENNA SCHOENFELD

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Business student excels across disciplines

BEATRICE MANTEL

During the fall, Brenna Schoenfeld leads the Ithaca College women’s field hockey team as its captain. During both the fall and spring semesters, she volunteers as a co-chair for the Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

During the summer months, she dedicated her time to business internships at the Professional Golfers’ Association and JPMorgan Chase. This resulted in her ultimately receiving the opportunity to be a full-time analyst with JPMorgan Chase after she graduates in the spring.

Despite everything Schoenfeld juggles, she manages to give 100% and more for each and every activity, and it shows.

Growing up in a business-centered family, with her dad, uncle and cousin all majoring in some form of business, Schoenfeld came to IC knowing she wanted to go a similar route.

After taking Introduction to Sports Management in her first year, she realized she could merge her love for sports and business into one. However, she was still deciding what kind of business major she should pursue.

Schoenfeld, a business analytics and sports management double major, believes the classes and opportunities she has found at IC benefited her with her previous internship and now future position with JPMorgan Chase.

Through IC, she was able to learn how to use Tableau, a visual analytics platform, which proved to stand her out amongst other interns.

“I found I love Tableau, and that’s what I did for the internship, which is a huge differentiator, and that’s kind of what I learned that I’m taking away [from IC],” Schoenfeld said. “They were shocked that I had that skill, and I was like, ‘that was from the business class here.’”

While balancing the workload that comes with a double major, Schoenfeld led the women’s field hockey team to a 12-7 season as its captain and a Liberty League All-Academic. She grew up in a sports family and ultimately found herself favoring field hockey over the rest.

“I played lacrosse up until freshman year,” Schoenfeld said. “That was probably my big sport. But then, growing up, I did everything. I picked [field hockey] up in seventh grade, and I just fell in

love with it, and then all the other sports kind of went on the back burner. I loved the environment.”

Schoenfeld is also active in the college’s SAAC. As co-chair, she helps spearhead activities with the local ReUse Center, a holiday fundraiser called the Cornell Elves Program and a Special Olympics polar plunge in the spring. However, the SAAC’s primary event is a Thanksgiving food drive during the fall.

“It’s a competition between all of our sports teams here who can get the most cans,” Schoenfeld said. “It’s always a fun competition. And then we drive to the Ithaca Kitchen Cupboard and donate, which is really cool.”

For her senior capstone class in the fall, Schoenfeld took Advanced Business Analytics. Dr. Narges Kasiri, professor in the Department of Management, served as her adviser.

Kasiri also had Schoenfeld for a baseline business course in her sophomore year, and while Kasiri saw her potential back then, her admiration for Schoenfeld only grew seeing Schoenfeld thrive in her capstone.

“When it gets to some capstone [course where] you can provide much more of yourself or show off what you can do within your talent, that’s where I was impressed with her capability,” Kasiri said. “She’s doing excellent, and excellent is not just academic excellence, it’s beyond that.”

Their admiration for each other goes both ways. Schoenfeld credits Kasiri’s advanced analytics course, along with her guidance as a professor, for why she fell more in love with analytics.

“That’s why I’m super excited to go into JPMorgan, because of her class,” Schoenfeld said. “She’s such an awesome professor and always looking out for all of her students.”

Juggling sports, academics and extracurriculars is difficult. Excelling in all of them is even harder. Schoenfeld puts her all into everything and makes it look easy, and it does not go unnoticed: especially by Kasiri.

“Anytime that she does something, it’s as if that’s the only thing she’s doing,” Kasiri said. “Even at the excellent level, she goes the extra mile to do the extra work, just because of doing the quality and vigor that can be done in any project.”

From IC to Milan, Park student paves way for women in sports

ANGELINA BERRY

From a young age, senior Nichole Allan always had a strong interest in sports. In the first grade, she began playing lacrosse, which sparked a passion for sports that has taken over her future not only as an interest, but also as a career.

Originally from Long Island, New York, Allan came to Ithaca College largely because of IC’s “hands-on from day one” learning philosophy, strong sports media program and club lacrosse team.

Allan got involved with co-curriculars in the Roy H. Park School of Communications within her first month on campus. Since then, she has done a little bit of everything in the basement of Roy H. Park Hall for both ICTV and WICB.

With ICTV, she has worked as a camera operator, sports analyst and producer on various different shows. With WICB, she has been a DJ, sportscaster, program director and talent coordinator. Although Allan said she loved working with WICB for four years, she said that she did it mostly for fun, and her future career lies in the behind the scenes work of sports television.

“I think long term, being a producer of a sports studio show or being a producer of a live game would be awesome,” Allan said.

Climbing the ladder to become a producer in the sports television industry is no light feat, but Ellen Staurowsky, retired professor in the Department of Media Arts, Sciences, and Studies, believes that Allan has what it takes to get there.

“She has big dreams about where she wants to go and she quests for them,” Staurowsky said. “For anyone who [takes on new challenges], there’s a certain threshold of uncertainty that you need to get past, and bravery to keep going. … When she leaves [IC], she’s going to have a strong foundation to rely on.”

Even before graduating from IC, Allan has already experienced opportunities that many sports media professionals would only dream of. This past winter, she worked as an intern with NBC Sports for the 2026 Winter Olympics as a production logger.

Working for the biggest stage in sports, Allan said that this was her first big industry internship, and it gave her a feel for what an entry-level position will look like.

“I kind of got a sense for what working in the

industry would be like, and the chain of command and how different roles interact with each other,” Allan said. “And I got to meet some amazing people. So it was a really, really cool experience.”

Working to cover the Olympics is the biggest experience that Allan has gotten. Prior to that, she worked with ESPN Ithaca and CBS Sports.

Staurowsky and Allan’s relationship began before Allan even began classes at IC. They met at an open house during Allan’s senior year of high school, and reconnected during Allan’s first-year orientation. Since then, Staurowsky has taught Allan in numerous classes and brought her onto numerous projects outside the classroom.

Many of these projects focused on equalizing opportunities for women in sports, a cause that Staurowsky is passionate about as a woman working in a male-dominated field.

“I think in Nichole’s case, we’ve had some very similar interests in terms of advancing the women — the interests of women — and the profession of sports media,” Staurowsky said. “[It] is changing and growing, but has historically not had the benefit of talented women serving in every capacity and in significant numbers. … [Allan] has been inspiring in that regard.”

Staurowsky found it helpful to have women like Allan who she could turn to for projects with clients outside IC. One of these projects was with the organization Accelerate Equity, a group that aims to equalize opportunities between male and female athletes. With this organization, she worked on two video projects. One explains Title IX, and one details a college athlete who returns to her high school to enact change in the athletics department. Allan was the co-director and producer on these videos.

“[Staurowsky] brought me on to a couple of projects this year, which I’m really grateful for,” Allan said. “She was always the person I could turn to. She would be there for me, and she would help me out and she would make sure that I was on the right path.”

Although Allan is unsure of where exactly her career will take her, one thing is for sure: it will be bright wherever she is headed.

“There’s an expression, ‘your future’s so bright I’ll have to wear shades,’” Staurowsky said. “I think of that when I think of Nichole.”

SCHOOL OF HEALTH SCIENCES AND HUMAN PERFORMANCE

Student athlete exceeds expectations in academics

JACK HARKINS

Driven by her passion for learning and helping others, senior Hope Oliveira said she has become 2026 Marshall for the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance and a star athlete on the women’s rowing team.

Oliveira came to Ithaca College in Fall 2022 as an exploratory major. After taking the class Introduction to Communication Disorders taught by Matt Zellner, assistant professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Hope developed an interest in SLP.

“Hope stood out right away [and] she was very engaged,” Zellner said, recalling his first memories of meeting Oliveira while teaching the class. “She is an incredibly strong writer, a really strong critical thinker, and someone … who would be a great catch if we can get her to go into the field of speech-language pathology.”

Zellner went on to sing Oliveira’s praises for getting a perfect score in his class. Soon after that, Zellner’s wish came true and Oliveira decided on speech-language pathology as a major, while also choosing a minor in neuroscience.

“I’ve kind of always been interested in the brain,” Oliveira said. “Going into it I thought [neuroscience] paired nicely with SLP because we do a lot of work with older adults involving stroke and [traumatic brain injury] rehabilitation and working on communication. I thought having the extra knowledge based on the brain could be helpful.”

During her first year of college, being ever outgoing, Oliveira walked onto the IC women’s rowing team.

“[During orientation] I was just checking in, and they had a tent,” Oliveira said.

Her mom suggested that she try it out, and a few weeks later she was on the water.

Being on the team not only offered Oliveira another way to improve herself and make new friends, it also brought the challenge of balancing a heavy academic schedule with a comparably rigorous practice schedule.

From consistent two-practice days in the fall and spring, to labs and classes, Oliveira became

exemplary when it comes to juggling everything life throws her way.

She makes it all look easy, but behind the scenes, the balancing act she performs so well is anything but a simple task.

“I think it’s definitely a challenge,” Oliveira said.

But over time, she developed her time management skills. “Ok, this is when I have practice so I either have to do my work before or afterwards.”

Mondays and Tuesdays are her most hectic days of the week because she has clinical placements: a program that sends students in their last semester of college out to treat clients from the Tompkins County area.

“I go out to the preschool in Newfield from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., and then I come back [to campus] and have neurobiology at 11 [a.m.] … and then I have a few hours until I’m in the clinic here at [IC] with our adult client,” Oliveira said.

Throughout her time at IC, Oliveira’s conviction and diligent attitude have resulted in her excelling both in the classroom and on the water.

In 2025, the NCAA awarded Oliveira the Elite 90 award for having the highest GPA at the Women’s 2025 Division III Rowing Championships.

As the end of Oliveira’s senior year at IC approaches, she has begun to think about where she will take her skills as she pursues a master’s degree in speech-language pathology.

“I’ve applied and gotten into five [graduate] schools, but I’m leaning towards staying at [IC] right now,” Oliveira said.

She thinks the relationships she built over the last four years with her classmates and professors will be helpful to her if she decides to stay.

“I am eagerly awaiting Hope’s decision on grad school,” Zellner said. “I know she’ll be incredibly successful wherever she goes. It would be a huge win if we could get her to stay. … Hope is someone who is really respected amongst her peers.”

Valued both in the boat and in the classroom, as graduation approaches, the next chapter of Oliveira’s life will not be a matter of if she will succeed, but where.

SASHA ROTER

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SCIENCES

Transfer student grows as leader and Stillwater editor

Ray Milburn

Soft-spoken senior writing major Sasha Roter sits in a freshly-painted office. The small, sparsely decorated room is the headquarters of Stillwater Magazine — Ithaca College’s art and literary magazine. Roter is the co-editor-in-chief of Stillwater, one of her many leadership roles at IC. After transferring from Emerson College her sophomore year, Roter joined Stillwater as a writer.

“Back then, [Stillwater] was a much bigger operation than it is right now,” Roter said. “We’re trying to regrow it.”

This year, she took on the role of co-editor-in-chief of the magazine alongside fellow senior writing major Alexandria Joaseus. Roter said she and Joaseus are leading the magazine through a period of regrowth.

“I was really interested in continuing to be involved with Stillwater,” Roter said. “I really loved, and continued to love, its mission of uplifting student voices around campus and being able to publish student work professionally.”

Roter is one half of a set of twins. This past December, her twin sister graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in zoology. Roter said she and her sister grew up with an “embedded identity,” but they found ways to distinguish themselves.

“It was decided very early on that I was the one good at history and English, and she was the one good at math and science,” Roter said.

Upon graduating high school, Roter committed to Emerson as a creative writing student. She said she realized Emerson had an intense atmosphere, and it was not what she expected.

“It wasn’t really the intensity that made me transfer,” Roter said. “I got totally good grades … I think it was just the pressure and the high professionalism and the high containment of the atmosphere there that really suffocated me.”

She transferred to IC at the beginning of her sophomore year. She said the natural beauty of Ithaca drew her to the college.

“I’m such a nature person,” Roter said. “I love trees and the outdoors, and I just really needed somewhere I can really breathe.”

When she arrived at IC in August 2023, she said she quickly involved herself on campus.

“Immediately, I was like, I need to do something fun and for me, so I joined the orchestra,” Roter said. “I was in the Sinfonietta — the non-music major orchestra.”

She said she participated in the Sinfonietta for one semester. Since then she has taken on leadership roles as the treasurer of the running club, the treasurer of IC Hillel and the president of Chabad at Ithaca College. She said she also works at the IC library and as a resident assistant for the transfer student Residential Learning Community.

“I really wanted to have that role, because I wanted to support students who [transferred to IC],” Roter said. “It was a really hard transition here at first for me, so I wanted to kind of ease that experience.”

Eleanor Henderson, professor in the Department of Writing, currently serves as the faculty adviser to Stillwater, and served as Roter’s supervisor for her internship at Saoirse Pastures — a local farm animal sanctuary. Henderson said she took notice of Roter when she was a student in her Editing and Publishing class.

“I was impressed with Sasha right away, but she was pretty quiet,” Henderson said. “I have been delighted to get to know that she has so much going on and so much to offer.”

Like Roter, Henderson is new to her position with Stillwater. She said she has seen Roter in action as a leader, and can imagine her teaching in a classroom.

“She is extremely capable, and I think she could probably publish this magazine herself, but she is great at getting a team excited,” Henderson said. “I think she has made the junior staff, who will eventually take over the magazine, feel really excited to be part of something.”

Roter previously studied abroad in Prague, a city she described as vibrant and colorful. She said she got “hooked on exploring” while abroad, and she wants to continue traveling after graduation.

“I want to go abroad and teach for a little while, and then I’ll come back eventually and get my teaching certificate and be a teacher here,” Roter said.

Henderson said she is very grateful to have worked with Roter.

“She’s the sort of student who makes you want to show up and do a good job,” Henderson said.

SCHOOL OF MUSIC, THEATRE, AND DANCE

Long-time passion for music drives student

GIANNA IZZO

Ten years ago, right before seventh grade, senior Amanda Haussmann, picked up the clarinet. She had already dabbled in violin and saxophone, but the clarinet stuck. Now, as a graduating music education major, she has evolved into a versatile multi-instrumentalist, navigating the complexities of five different instruments.

From clarinet and flute to oboe, saxophone and piano, Haussmann has spent her time in the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance becoming a true “woodwind doubler.” However, her path to graduation was not always a straight line.

Haussmann arrived at Ithaca College to pursue a Bachelor of Music with an outside field, initially eyeing a career in theater production. It took a first semester bassoon class, taken purely for the fun of learning something new, to change her trajectory.

“That was sort of my gateway into music [education], and then I switched,” Haussmann said. “The woodwinds have been super fun to learn. That’s always been my thing.”

The transition into the music education program required a formal interview and a leap of faith, but for Haussmann, it provided a sense of clarity.

“I felt a sense of security knowing that something would come of a career, just based on the fact that I was in [music education],” Haussmann said.

That sense of purpose defined Haussmann’s final year. As the fall semester president of the IC chapter of the National Association for Music Education, she was a driving force in revitalizing the club. Under her leadership, the organization moved toward more professional development, bringing in guest speakers from as far as Maryland and organizing a trip for 30 students to the New York State School Music Association conference.

Beyond her leadership roles, Haussmann’s musical identity was forged in the high-pressure environment of the Dillingham Center. She points to her sophomore year performance in the pit orchestra for “Newsies” as a pivotal moment in her pre-professional career.

“Everything in every Dillingham productions is professional quality,” Haussmann said. “That was a big moment for me, to realize: ‘this is what it’s like to be in a professional, working musical environment.’”

While she has performed in nearly every ensemble the college offers — from the Wind Ensemble

and Symphony Orchestra, to Jazz Lab Band and Sinfonietta — her growth as an artist was deeply influenced by her clarinet professor, Diego Vásquez. Together they worked on Gerald Finzi’s “Five Bagatelles,” a piece that shifted Haussmann’s perspective on performance.

The piece, written by Finzi in response to his father’s death, moves through the stages of grief.

“I took a very analytical approach to music in high school,” Haussmann said. “That [piece] was the bridge into realizing just how powerful music can be.”

Daniel Cook, director of bands and assistant professor of Music Performance at IC, said her emotional depth has translated into a command over her craft in the Wind Ensemble.

“As a musician, she always has a perspective and point of view to her playing,” Cook said via email. “This commitment is audible … and is a good model for the musicians around her to emulate.”

That level of mastery, he said, allows for moments of levity even in intense rehearsals.

“Every cycle there are excerpts of music that I really enjoy connecting with Amanda … in which [we] share a mutual giggle at something musical,” Cook said. “These kinds of things can only happen when a player is really advanced in their musicianship.”

Haussmann recently completed her seven-week student teaching placement at a high school in the suburbs of Philadelphia. It was a full-circle moment for the Allentown, Pennsylvania native, who has spent the spring applying for high school band director positions while simultaneously preparing for the next stage of her musical journey.

Haussmann is weighing two dreams: leading her own high school band or heading to graduate school to study multiple woodwind performance.

“I think high school band is my top thing,” Haussmann said. “But the dream is also woodwind doubling on Broadway. We’ll see where time takes me.”

As graduation approaches, Haussmann leaves behind a legacy of versatility and leadership within MTD. While she jokes about her struggles in a brass pedagogy class, “I’m really bad at tuba,” she admitted with a laugh, her ability to harmonize education, leadership and performance has made her one of the most recognizable faces in the James J. Whalen Center for Music this year.

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COLLEGE AFFAIRS

Ithaca College restructures amid budget deficit

Kai Lincke | August 28, 2025

Ithaca College concluded its administrative analysis study with the Huron Consulting Group in June. Though the study has ended, administrators are still working to reshape the college’s organizational structure and align the size of the faculty and staff workforces to meet a smaller target student body enrollment, as part of the work to close the college’s budget deficit by Fiscal Year 2028.

The college started working with Huron in October 2024 to understand realistic enrollment projections and identify opportunities to decrease costs and increase revenue.

After the college missed its enrollment target for Fall 2024 by 182 students, Huron helped administrators decrease the college’s first-year student enrollment target and overall target student body size to 4,500 students to make more accurate revenue projections.

During the Aug. 26 All-College Gathering, Rakin “Rock” Hall said that reducing the target allowed the college to meet its Fall 2025 new student enrollment goal.

Following insight from Huron, administrators also restructured the college into five divisional areas, effective July 1, to improve efficiency.

Each divisional area’s leader has been working to meet expense reduction targets for fiscal years 2026, 2027 and 2028 — which may include reducing their workforce.

Restructuring

President La Jerne Cornish said during the All-College Welcome that administrators are working to align the size of the faculty and staff with the student body size.

The college’s fall enrollment ranged from 6,266 to 6,949 students from 2010 to 2019, but enrollment decreased each year from 2020 to 2024 following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The college furloughed or laid off at least 264 staff members in 2020 and 2021 and cut 130 faculty positions in 2021 to cut $40 million in expenses.

While the number of faculty members has decreased each year from 2021 to 2024, the number of staff members increased in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Insight from Huron has helped the college change its organizational structure.

With the new structure, Melanie Stein, executive vice president and provost, leads the Division of Academic Affairs, Center for Student Success and the Center for Career Exploration.

Tim Downs, senior vice president and chief financial officer, now oversees the Divisions of Advancement, Enrollment, and Marketing Communications in addition to Finance and Administration.

David Weil, senior vice president for Strategic Services and Initiatives, now also oversees the Office of Human Resources.

In addition to serving as vice president, general counsel and secretary to the Board of Trustees, Emily Rockett now also supervises the Office for Government, Community, and Constituent Relations. Stanley Bazile, vice president for Student Affairs and Campus Life, now oversees the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Each divisional area leader’s direct reports and responsibilities increased with the restructuring, but their compensation remained the same, according to Cornish’s April email announcing the changes.

Stein told The Ithacan in April that the divisional restructuring will help the college combine similar areas to better support students and recognize any redundancies.

The college formed the new Academic Support Center by combining staff from the Center for Student Success and members of the deans’ offices who focus on student support, according to the Aug. 6 email announcing the new center.

Downs told The Ithacan in April that the new ASC will allow students to find advising and support in one centralized location and could decrease the number of staff members needed to support the volume of students.

Downs said each divisional area leader was given an expense reduction target for fiscal years 2026, 2027 and 2028. Downs declined to share each division’s expense reduction target.

“The divisional targets are not being publicly shared as the communication and roll-out, particularly where positions are being eliminated, are being managed by each division,” Downs said via email.

Downs said via email that divisional leaders will contribute to the overall target of reducing expenses by $11 million by FY 2028. He said the college will cover 60% of this target during FY 2026 and roughly split the remaining cost reduction between FY 2027 and 2028.

Divisional leaders may decrease costs by redirecting or eliminating positions that are not critical to the institution or by choosing not to fill a vacancy created by retirements or employees leaving the college. He said that spreading the total expense reduction target over three years instead of one allows division leaders to make more thoughtful changes.

“There’s more flexibility, given that there’s time [before the FY 2027 and FY 2028 targets must be met],” Downs said. “For example, if they knew, OK, we need this organization to get a little bit smaller and we’re going to make changes in that area, in FY 27, it could be that somebody retires, or somebody leaves, and they say, ‘Oh, perfect. I’m now going to take the opportunity. I was going to do this, but now I’m going to do that.’”

Weil said the college does not comment on specific positions eliminated through the administrative analysis study. Weil said the Division of Information Technology and Analytics has made recent staff changes that are unrelated to deficit reduction efforts, like restructuring the organization chart to have all staff members who manage and service campus computers report to the same director.

Weil said IT makes staffing changes as needed to improve efficiency and meet evolving needs. Weil said restructuring — whether related to the expense reduction targets or part of typical institutional re-organization — is challenging for leaders, who want to respect their employees while also being fiscally responsible.

“Across this institution, with the restructurings and some positions not being filled and all those changes, it does have a real impact on people and I think that’s something as an institution that we just need to be aware of as we continue to work to … provide our support for the campus community,” Weil said.

Cornish said during the All-College Gathering that she understands restructuring has been difficult for divisional leaders and their staff. Cornish said she had nine vice presidents when she started serving as interim president in 2021, but she has since decreased her executive council to seven vice presidents.

Cornish announced in an Aug. 18 email to staff and faculty that she will eliminate the position of Vice President for Marketing Communications, which has been held by Mark Eyerly since its creation, effective Aug. 31. Leadership from the Office of Marketing Communications will directly report to Downs.

Dave Maley, director of Public Relations, said via

email that the vice president for Human Resources position, which was last held by Hayley Harris, was eliminated from Cornish’s Executive Council in 2022. After Harris left the college, Cornish decided to name Kirra Franzese as Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer.

“I cannot ask any division of this college to do anything that I am not willing to do myself as your leader,” Cornish said during the All-College Gathering. “These things have been hard to do, but these are things that we must do. … We will reap that mandated financial sustainability goal given to us by the board by FY 28, and we will move forward together.”

Enrollment

Cornish announced that administrators changed the college’s total target enrollment from 5,300-5,400 students to 4,500 students in an April message to the campus community.

“This reduction in the desired size of the student body considers the demographic cliff, the national landscape, and institutional goals,” Cornish said in the email. “This step will alleviate the financial pressures attached to missing larger class-size targets.”

Downs said during the All-College Gathering that college administrators hoped to enroll 1,150 new students — 1,070 first-year students and 80 transfer students — for Fall 2025.

Hall said during the All-College Gathering that 1,197 new students had enrolled at the college for Fall 2025 as of Aug. 26.

“Right now, we are pacing in a very positive direction to land north of 1,150 and to maintain our goal and we’re already working on future

strategies,” Hall said.

The college received 12,374 first-time, first-year undergraduate student applications for Fall 2025, a 3.59% increase from the 12,293 applications received for Fall 2024, according to Hall’s slides.

Future fiscal goals

During the All-College Gathering, Downs said the numbers are still being finalized, but he projects that the college’s budget deficit increased from $4.1 million at the end of FY 2024 to $10.3 million by the end of FY 2025 because the college missed its Fall 2024 enrollment target.

Downs said he will share more definitive information during the Oct. 21 State of the College and Nov. 6 Dollars and Sense meetings.

Cornish said during the gathering that the college must meet its FY 2026 approved budget, which projects that the deficit will decrease from $10.5 million to $9.2 million by the end of the year.

Cornish said administrators have set a FY 2026 net revenue target of $200 million and they hope to receive 1,180 deposits from new students by May 1, 2026.

The college will also decrease the discount rate — the percentage of the cost of attendance marked down through institutional scholarships and financial aid — for first-year students from 64.5% to 60% by FY 2028, as announced during the May 29 Dollars and Sense presentation.

“As we look ahead to the 25-26 academic year, our foremost priority is ensuring financial stability,” Cornish said.

News Editor Kaeleigh Banda contributed reporting

Changes to meal exchange program cause confusion among Ithaca College students

Isabel Alasio | September 11, 2025

Changes to Ithaca College’s meal exchange program from the 2024-25 academic year to the 2025-26 academic year have surprised students and student employees. Many students are confused about what meal exchange options are currently available and what each cafe serves.

The meal exchange program was implemented in Fall 2023 to reduce foot traffic in both the Terraces Dining Hall and Campus Center Dining Hall. Since its arrival, meal exchanges have given students the option of using their meal swipes for anything from paninis to açai bowls. Students enjoyed the variety of meal options, with the convenience of not having to leave their academic buildings.

Currently, the college offers five meal exchange locations: Campus Center Cafe, which was previously South Hill Sweets; Scribe Cafe within the Gannett Center Library; Vida Cafe located in the Center for Health Sciences; Eleven Wall Cafe located in the Dorothy D. and Roy H. Park Center for Business and Sustainable Enterprise; and Towers Eatery located in the Towers Concourse.

In Fall 2025, each cafe still resides in its same

location; however, not all offer meal exchange options anymore. Some locations have transitioned to a retail-only cafe where students are able to use Bomber Bucks as opposed to meal exchanges, where students can use meal swipes to pay for their food.

Towers Eatery now only offers a retail dinner option, open from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. It was previously open from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday with the addition of a meal exchange dinner option from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Towers Eatery was the only late-night meal exchange option on campus. Meal exchange breakfast and lunch is still offered.

Reginald Briggs, senior director of dining services, said meal exchanges were introduced to decongest the dining halls, specifically the Campus Center Dining Hall. He said that before the addition of the meal exchange program, 60-68% of lunches were served in the Campus Center Dining Hall Monday through Friday. Currently, approximately 40-42% of lunches are served in Campus Center.

Briggs said the college will replace Towers Eatery’s late-night exchange service by transitioning Towers

Concourse Market, a space that previously held vending machines, to an additional meal exchange cafe. The Market will be operating from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. from Tuesday through Sunday. It will serve ice cream, sandwiches and other pre-packaged food.

“I like it because it gets us an extra two hours of service,” Briggs said. “In time, we will develop a retail menu at Towers [Eatery]. So, fingers crossed it will have more dinner options available for you to order.”

Briggs said via email that the college aims to open Towers Concourse Market after Fall Break. He said the college is waiting on equipment, and there is still mechanical, electrical and plumbing work to be done in the space to sustain a cafe-style dining facility.

Instead of meal exchange paninis and other baked goods, the Dailies Cafe now only serves baked goods for purchase from 8 a.m. to noon. Briggs said there will not be a meal exchange option at Dailies Cafe in the foreseeable future.

Briggs said many of these changes occurred to account for the lack of space and volume of noise within each school’s cafe. Dailies Cafe resides near classrooms within Roy H. Park Hall,

which can be distracting to students and professors during class time.

“The Park School was literally too busy,” Briggs said. “That lobby is not a very big space to begin with, and the school is always doing open houses and different meetings. … The volume was literally just too much.”

Briggs said there was an attempt to move the paninis that were offered at Dailies Cafe to the Campus Center Cafe. He said the Campus Center Cafe’s facilities could not support the electricity needed to operate the panini presses. Instead of paninis, Campus Center Cafe has been serving regular sandwiches and other baked goods. Campus Center Cafe is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Jeffrey Golden, associate vice president of auxiliary services, said the dining team is always trying to maintain a fresh dining program when discussing changes.

“We’re trying new ideas,” Golden said. “If a particular idea is working, we might try it in a different location. If a particular idea is not working, we may replace it with something else.”

Golden said Campus Center Cafe’s change from South Hill Sweets was implemented to accommodate the change at Dailies Cafe. Without the Park School meal exchange, there was one less exchange option on campus. Golden said the Campus Center Cafe provides a space for another exchange option.

“We didn’t want to just get rid of the paninis [in the Park School],” Golden said. “There had to be some outlet for that because obviously we realized, apart from just the total number of available exchange locations, it was also a popular concept.”

Golden said paninis will be sold at the cafe, while Briggs said that panini presses were not feasible in that space.

Eleven Wall Cafe, located in the Park Center for Business and Sustainable Enterprise, used to offer build-your-own sandwiches during the 2024-25 academic year. Starting Fall 2025, the cafe has transitioned to açai bowls, which were previously offered at Scribe Cafe within the Gannett Center.

Junior Jesus Luna has been an employee at Eleven Wall Cafe since Fall 2024. He said the changes were brought to his attention at the time of his first shift back in the fall.

He said there was no formal announcement communicated to student employees specifying the

changes to Eleven Wall Cafe, or any formal training on employees’ new positions.

“It was difficult trying to manage everything,” Luna said. “I was just frustrated that I wasn’t able to receive any formal training.”

Aneesa Williams, assistant manager of retail dining services,works closelywith student employees to oversee several retail and meal exchange cafes on campus.

She said student employees for Scribe Cafe were notified of the meal exchange changes with a welcome letter via email.

Williams said via email that employees at Eleven Wall Cafe did not receive a welcome letter because staffing for the cafe was not complete. Luna confirmed he received no communication.

“I think people were definitely a little surprised to see some of the changes,” Williams said. “We’ve had to work within a very small amount of time.”

Sophomore Eli Nashel said the changes to Eleven Wall Cafe have been frustrating for him and other students.

“I can’t get my sub anymore,” Nashel said. “It’s very upsetting, and I know a lot of other people in the business school are upset by it. I know all around campus people are upset, on YikYak and conversations I’ve overheard.”

Senior Madi Arpin, student manager of Scribe Cafe, is a third-year Scribe employee. Arpin said that the library environment has been calmer this semester because many students used to come to enjoy the açai bowls offered at Scribe.

“There’s less going on because we don’t have the açai bowls,” Arpin said. “There were a lot of expectations for us, and the staffing wasn’t matching that.”

Arpin said that moving açai bowls to the Business School made Scribe and the library less chaotic.

“The drinks and prepackaged food is much more manageable for us as a team,” Arpin said.

Luna said neither he nor his coworkers have made formal complaints about the lack of communication and training to the administration. He said many are unaware of who to express their concerns to, and if those complaints will lead to change.

Williams said there are lists of contacts in each cafe for students to ask for support and express concerns.

“That’s incredibly important to me to make sure that they know there’s plenty of support available,” Williams said. “We work very, very hard to just make sure that our student staff doesn’t feel stressed.”

IC expands creative arts programs amid deficit

Kaeleigh Banda | September 25, 2025

I

thaca College is expanding its palette of creative arts offerings through new majors and returning graduate programs amid college-wide cuts and restructuring.

On Aug. 31, the college announced the return of three Master’s in Music programs in composition, conducting and performance, in addition to a new Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance and choreography for musical theatre for the 2026-27 academic year.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the college had master’s programs in performance, conducting, composition, Suzuki Pedagogy and music education. The master’s programs in the School of Music were suspended by the Academic Program Prioritization Implementation Committee in 2021.

Steve TenEyck, dean of the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, said the graduate students will provide support for music students and faculty through accompanying, conducting ensembles and teaching secondary instruments.

“The Masters of Music programs are integral to our ecosystem,” TenEyck said. “[Graduate students] help the undergraduate student population in looking

up. … They really become part of the fabric of the operations of our entire curricular offerings.”

Tim Downs, senior vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer of IC, confirmed via email that MTD was an area identified for growth given the strong program demand in the research conducted by Hanover Research and Huron Consulting Group. Despite being the second smallest of the five schools at IC, MTD welcomed 10 new faculty members in Fall 2025, while the other schools only had two to six new faculty members each.

According to College Vine data from 2024, IC has a general acceptance rate of 69% while MTD has an acceptance rate of 20-30%. IC Admissions was not able to provide its statistics on acceptance rates by the time of publication.

MTD’s growth has also been seen through the addition of the new BFA program in dance and choreography for musical theatre. Daniel Gwirtzman, associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance Performance, said the dance faculty has been working on the new major for about six years because of the pandemic, planning and approval process,

and this major will be the first of its kind. He said students in the new dance program will be provided opportunities to be associate choreographers, assistant choreographers, dance captains and leaders in the creative team for mainstage musicals.

“It is impressive and exciting that we’re growing,” Gwirtzman said. “[It’s] a counternarrative to most of what we’re hearing in higher [education]. … It shows that we’re leveraging a strength and that we understand that even in difficult financial times, people seek entertainment, and the cultural offerings of theater and dance are nonnegotiable.”

The college’s creative program expansion is also continuing beyond MTD. At the Sept. 8 Faculty Council meeting, Melanie Stein, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said the new schedule grid is allowing for more cross-school initiatives, like the potential new creative industries major. The major is planned to combine assets from four of the five schools at IC: the School of Business; the School of Humanities and Sciences; the Roy H. Park School of Communications; and the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance.

In 2019, the college added a Master of Business Administration in entertainment and media management degree, which has similar goals to the creative industries major of combining business with creative arts. Michael Johnson-Cramer, dean of the School of Business, said the college’s goal is to have a creative industries major available within the next two years or so.

“A lot of schools that have this sort of major don’t have the robust art scene that we do, both on campus and within the Ithaca and Tompkins County community, Finger Lakes region,” Johnson-Cramer said. “It’s just such a rich ecosystem for the arts. … You can’t walk on this campus and not get excited about musical theater, excited about going to a recital pretty much every night, right?”

Johnson-Cramer said the deans of the four schools collaborated with each other and the faculty to plan out the major and create the coursework.

“I’ve now sat in on meetings with colleagues around this, where we just don’t stop laughing and imagining and thinking about what this could do for a student,” Johnson-Cramer said. “I think that it’s a really great environment and culture to bring this to pass.”

Stein said via email that as of Fall 2025, the creative industries major will almost entirely be made up of courses that already exist, so no new resources will be allocated to it.

“With any new program, we monitor as time goes on, and if enrollment warrants it, we shift resources where they are needed,” Stein said via email.

Gwirtzman said there is an expectation that by the third year of the program, the college will hire new dance faculty, but until then, faculty have to rearrange existing resources to accommodate the new major.

“The college green-lighted the degree with an understanding that, at least initially, we will not gain

any new resources,” Gwirtzman said. “Space is definitely a challenge … but we’re hopeful that it will [change] in the future once we demonstrate the need with these students coming in.”

TenEyck said he expects the master’s programs to total about 14 new students, but that may shift if the demand increases. Applications for the graduate programs and the BFA program in dance and choreography for musical theatre for the 2026-27 academic year are open through Dec. 1.

Khyle Wooten, assistant professor in the Department of Music Performance, said he plans to engage the conducting graduate students with his choral ensembles to give them practice working with ensembles in addition to their graduate seminar research. Wooten said the return of the graduate programs will bring light to the powerful legacies contained in the decades of history of master’s degree programs.

“It’s going to take a village to really give the best of ourselves and what IC represents to this incoming class of graduate students,” Wooten said. “Because the resources haven’t flowed like they have before, we will have to get creative, we will have to write more grants, we will have to do more faculty think-tanking. … So it is really going to take all of us putting our heads and our hands and our resources together to make sure that we have a good lift off.”

Sophomore Kaitlyn Campbell, a music education and vocal performance double major, said that having graduate students in the music program is something she has been hoping for.

“The competition is going to be a lot harder, because we have people who are going to have a lot more knowledge all around, so that’s a little tough,”

Campbell said. “But learning from someone who has such talents and such knowledge is also better. So I see it as more of a good thing than a bad [thing]. I think that it may be competition, but I think that competition is not always a bad thing.”

TenEyck said he admires that Stein and other college administrators found a way to offer new programs without spending a large amount of money.

“It’s not just about, let’s just cut, cut, cut,” TenEyck said. “It’s about ‘How do we use what we have in the most strategic way? Where can we invest? Where can we find efficiencies?’ There are things that make us great that I think that we’re investing in, which is awesome.”

Wooten said that while IC is not providing new resources for the program, the faculty will continue to create their own resources to be able to impact an entirely new generation of musicians.

“It’s not been lost on me that even a deficit doesn’t deter us from being our most creative selves,” Wooten said. “It really speaks to the resilience of our faculty and student community who have not stopped giving the very best of their teaching or their resources or their lives.”

While the new programs will not be sustainable without additional resources for long, Gwirtzman said the beginning stages of the programs have sparked excitement across the MTD community.

“We had a department-wide meeting … and the majority of questions that came from the students were about the dance degree,” Gwirtzman said. “There’s tremendous enthusiasm. … We know the legacy of excellence in the arts here at IC, so we’re just expanding our portfolio, but really building off of that history.”

IC students harassed during Fall semester LGBTQ+ orientation event at the fountains

Julian Delucia, Eamon Corbo | August 27, 2025

O

n Aug. 22, unidentified individuals threw water balloons and tomatoes at students attending Glow with Pride, also called the Glow Party, an orientation event. Glow with Pride was an LGBTQ+ focused orientation event sponsored by the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach and Services and the Office of New Student and Transition Programs.

According to Public Safety Logs, the incident occurred at around 9:24 p.m. on the quad beside the fountains. Thomas Dunn, director and deputy chief of the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management, said via email that the Office of Public Safety is actively investigating this event to identify those responsible and to understand their motive.

Stanley Bazile, vice president for Student Affairs and Campus Life, addressed the incident in an Aug. 25 email to the college. Bazile wrote in the email that while the intent of the offenders is unknown, the affected students believe they may have been targeted because it was an LGBTQ+ focused event.

“There is no place for demonstrations of hate, discrimination, or bigotry on our campus,” Bazile wrote in the email.

The email sent by Bazile states that the objects were thrown from bushes by the Center for Natural Sciences. However, according to multiple student accounts, the objects were thrown from bushes in front of the Hill Center, overlooking a barricade beside the fountains.

First-year student Jasper Wright attended Glow with Pride with a group of his friends. Wright said he and his friends were dancing in a small circle near the barricade when his friend was suddenly hit with a water balloon. He noticed shortly after that his friends were also being pelted with tomatoes. While not hit directly, Wright said water balloons hit his expensive electronics and almost broke his glasses.

First-year student Quentin Chick said they were hit by a water balloon on the side of the head, almost knocking off their glasses. Chick said they did not expect it to happen on IC’s campus.

“That’s kind of crazy that they’re going to be outwardly doing all that,” Chick said. “I feel like they have a false sense of [power] … just because of the current political climate of the world. Certain people think they can do whatever they want and that is awful to think about.”

Wright said he, Chick and their friends were then moved by an Orientation Leader inside Dillingham Center to clean up.

Wright said the shock and adrenaline rush of the situation caused him to have an absence seizure. Absence seizures are small lapses in

consciousness and attentiveness that can be caused by stress. Wright said these seizures are a symptom of a medical condition he lives with; this condition also requires him to use a mobility aid. He said he recovered consciousness and motor function in about five minutes but his arm remained stuck in a bent position for around an hour before he could move it comfortably again.

“I hadn’t had one in a while, so it was like ‘Whoa, this is a direct result,’” Wright said.

Both Wright and Chick said they were told by several people that the perpetrators were at least four individuals wearing tight black shirts.

The BestColleges list ranked Ithaca College as the most LGBTQ+ friendly college in the United States in 2024.

Wright is a queer student and said the college’s BestColleges LGBTQ+ rating was something he considered important when choosing to commit, but that the incident changed how he saw the college.

“That was a big draw-in factor for me … I can start being myself here,” Wright said. “[After the incident], I was like, ‘This is crazy, what if this becomes a common event?’ It just put a lot of anxiety on me again.”

The incident occurred on Wright’s second full day on campus, and it initially discouraged him from continuing at IC.

“I almost called my mom that night and was like, ‘Can you just come pick me up?’’’ Wright said. “I just didn’t know how to adjust and after experiencing that while still trying to adjust, I was like, ‘What am I even doing here?’’’

Wright and his friends met with staff at the LGBT Center and administrators about how they wanted to handle the situation. They said that they requested the Aug. 25 email that was sent out by Bazile.

“It felt like, ‘Wow, the school actually does want to help,’” Wright said. “The college is trying to do something. That’s new for me; I’ve never experienced that.”

Crissi Dalfonzo, director of the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach and Services, said orientation events are sponsored by different on-campus organizations to provide a space for students to find others who share similar identities or interests.

“I’m very much hoping that this is an outlier event [and] that this is not a precursor of things to come,” Dalfonzo said. “Because I don’t think that this is what the majority of our student body stands for.”

Dalfonzo said allyship is important and that cisgender and heterosexual students can still support and make an impact on campus and for LGBTQ+ students. She said micro-affirmations can help maintain and create an inclusive and safe environment.

“Micro-affirmations [are] the small, everyday actions that promote inclusivity for LGBTQ+ people,” Dalfonzo said. “Whether that’s using slightly more gender inclusive language, not assuming the gender of someone’s partner based on what you assume their gender to be and to asking for pronouns and sharing your own. … The more that cisgender and straight folks can continue to normalize that into their everyday [lives], it can help folks feel more comfortable.”

Biology students win award despite federal cuts to National Science Foundation funding

Isabella Edghill | September 25, 2025

ANational Science Foundation grant meant to increase the opportunities for minority students in STEM was cut in May for Ithaca College students. Part of the lost funds were set aside to help biology majors present at the 2025 International Worm Meeting over the summer. With financial support from the campus community, students in the Department of Biology were still able to present their award-winning research on an international stage.

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program provided funding to assist colleges in diversifying their science, technology, engineering and math programs. The grant intended to provide IC with approximately $1,999,741 over the course of five years, starting in August 2021. However, the grant’s termination in May 2025 resulted in approximately a $400,000 loss.

Junior biology major Casey Ellison said money from the grant was supposed to fund her trip to the 2025 International Worm Meeting and her summer research expenses as part of the Summer Scholars Program. When Ellison first heard about the grant cut, they said they began to panic, knowing there was no way to make up the money on their own.

“My life just blew up a little bit,” Ellison said. “I was just really disappointed and just accepting the fact that I wasn’t going to be able to go.”

According to Ellison, the total amount they would need to cover to fund the summer research and conference expenses was about $8,000.

The goal of the LSAMP program is to increase the number of students from underrepresented minority populations pursuing high-quality STEM degrees. IC was one of seven small colleges and universities in central New York to receive an LSAMP grant from NSF. On May 2, the grant was one of over 300 terminated by budget cuts at the federal agency.

Despite the funding cut, Ellison and fellow junior biology major Ava Remoll still made it to the conference, where they won the award for best undergraduate poster for research.

Te-Wen Lo, professor in the Department of Biology, reached out to multiple departments on campus to help pull together the necessary funds to ensure Ellison could attend the conference. The Center for Career Exploration and Development, the School of Humanities and Sciences Dean’s office and the Department of Biology all helped to cover the cost of Ellison’s trip. Lo said that, while stressful, the experience highlighted the sense of community at IC.

“You will often hear people say, at Ithaca College, the students are our ‘why,’ and this, I think, is a great example of that,” Lo said. “It really was wonderful to see the different pieces of this campus sort of pull together to support one of our students.”

Lo said that watching her students’ success at the conference amid the funding issues made it all the more meaningful.

“If anyone was wondering what the importance of NSF grants and those types of funding opportunities

are, I think this just sums it up,” Lo said.

Ellison and Remoll work with Lo in her genetics lab and traveled with her to Davis, California to present at the 2025 International Worm Meeting. The meeting is a bi-annual conference for scientists of all levels who work with “C. elegans,” a tiny worm that is often used as a model organism for humans because of similarities in their genes. Lo said the conference is organized by leaders in “C. elegan” research and is community-driven.

“It was kind of unbelievable because there [were] hundreds of undergraduates [at the conference],” Lo said. “[Ellison and Remoll] really must have done a spectacular job and really impressed the judges.”

Remoll said the conference represented the first time she has presented her research outside of a school setting.

“We had a lot of people come up and ask really great questions,” Remoll said. “It’s a great way to get feedback or ideas for how to proceed.”

Remoll said the Summer Scholars Program allowed her to focus her time and attention on the experiment without the pressures of school. The program allows students in H&S to participate in either independently designed projects or faculty-led research.

“If you really like what you’re working on, and you wish you had eight weeks to do it full time and get paid, that’s a really cool opportunity,” Remoll said.

While IC is not a large institution, Lo said they believe that it is to the students’ advantage. Lo said there are no graduate students in biology at IC, meaning undergraduate students can take the lead in the lab.

“Here they get to have a significant intellectual contribution to their projects, because there’s no one else,” Lo said. “So it’s their ideas. They help troubleshoot when things don’t work; they have to figure out how to fix it. When things do work, they have to figure out the next steps.”

Lo said she stresses that the research taking place in the labs in CNS is all novel and new, and students get to participate firsthand in the discovery.

“Everything they do is contributing new information to the scientific community, sometimes small little bits, but they’re still new,” Lo said. “Every little bit counts.”

Remoll and Ellison said they are continuing their research in Lo’s lab in Fall 2025, this time looking at dystrophin in combination with other proteins that may have an effect on social feeding.

“There’s pretty much unlimited science to be done all the time,” Remoll said. “You can work on the same project for decades and decades, and never run out of questions to ask about it.”

IC students hold vigils for victims of the Oct. 7 attacks and the genocide in Palestine

Eamon Corbo | October 9, 2025

I thacans for Israel held a memorial for the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, and Ithaca College Students for a Free Palestine held a vigil on the escalation of genocide of Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war Oct. 8.

President La Jerne Cornish briefly visited both events and told organizers that she could not stay because of the ongoing Fall 2025 Board of Trustees meetings. Officers from the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management were present outside of both events.

Memorial for Oct. 7 attacks

About 20 people attended the IFI memorial from 6-7 p.m. at Free Speech Rock outside of Phillips Hall. Junior Ben Epstein, president of Ithacans for Israel, opened the memorial by holding a moment of silence for the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks.

In the Oct. 7 attacks, 251 hostages were taken. 148 hostages have been released in exchanges or deals, including eight who were dead. Israeli forces have retrieved 51 bodies of hostages. Eight hostages have been rescued alive. As of Oct. 9, the Israeli military believes that there are still about 20 living hostages in captivity, and around 25 bodies that have yet to be recovered.

Rebecca Lesses, associate professor of Jewish studies in the Department of Philosophy, said she was in Ithaca during the Oct. 7 attacks and remembers watching the violence in horror. She said there are ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas taking place in Egypt.

“I pray that these negotiations succeed and that the hostages, living and dead go free,” Lesses said. “I pray that the war will end and begin to grow silent.”

United States President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas have agreed to a truce and exchange of hostages and prisoners Oct. 8.

The Anti-Defamation League recorded 9,354 antisemetic incidents across the U.S. in 2024, representing a 344% increase in antisemitic incidents over the past five years. Of the recorded incidents of antisemitism, 58% were incidents of anti-Zionism. In 2019, 8% of the 2,107 antisemitic incidents recorded by the ADL were incidents of anti-Zionism.

Epstein said that over the past two years following the Oct. 7 attacks, he has had to grapple with questions surrounding his beliefs, convictions, faith and the rise in antisemitism.

“We must keep our faith, and most importantly, we must keep our humanity,” Epstein said. “If we lose our humanity, what do we have? It is when a

culture loses its basic ability to hold compassion, that culture falls apart.”

The memorial ended with attendees standing up, singing in remembrance of the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks and placing rocks in front of a banner of the hostages — a Jewish tradition for paying respect for the deceased.

Vigil for escalation of genocide in Palestine

About 20 people attended ICSFP’s vigil for the escalation of genocide in Palestine from 7:30-8:30 p.m. on the quad between the Campus Center and the Fitness Center. The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, said Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in a Sept. 16 report.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health estimates that Israel has killed over 67,000 Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war. Senior Quincey Fireside, president of ICSFP, said that Israel represents colonialism and that the liberation of Palestinians is the destruction of colonialism.

“That grief is overwhelming,” Fireside said. “It is world shattering. It is heart stopping. It has changed, at least for me, how I go about my life every second of every single day and above that is my overwhelming

desire to liberate the living.”

Senior Marshall Long, co-vice president of ICSFP, said seeing videos of animals in Gaza makes him reflect on his love for his own cat and contemplate how many people in Gaza have lost their animals.

“Genocide is not just a destruction of people,” Long said. “It’s a destruction of life, culture, land and of all creatures, big and small. The State of Israel has deprived the world of the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and tens of thousands of animals. I ask tonight that we mourn not just the immense human factor, but also mourn the animals murdered.”

Fireside said that Oct. 7 is not the two-year anniversary of the start the genocide, saying that it began before then, but it is the anniversary of them first feeling ashamed of their Jewish identity.

“Zionists will say that to hate Israel is to hate Jews,” Fireside said. “It’s not the case, that’s not what it is. Israel has totally destroyed and bastardized what it means to be Jewish. Judaism is an inherently liberatory faith. We have named principles in our faith about repairing the world and liberating people.”

Sophomore Nolan Swinwood attended both the IFI memorial and the ICSFP vigil. He said the genocide in Gaza cannot be excused by the Oct. 7 attacks, but it is important to mourn what happened that day to the Israeli people.

“It’s important that we connect with each other as more than students, but rather as human beings,” Swinwood said.

IC faculty navigate expensive housing market

Kaeleigh Banda | October 16, 2025

As the cost of housing continues to increase in Ithaca, many Ithaca College faculty members are navigating the real estate market on lower wages than necessary to sustainably live in Ithaca. Through IC extended housing, extra classes, long commutes and working multiple jobs, some professors are trying to find ways to support themselves and their families.

Ithaca is in the top 21% of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, according to LivingCost.org. Brent Katzmann, Ithaca office manager for Warren Real Estate, said that the average sale price for single-family homes, condos and townhomes in Tompkins County has grown by over 35% in the last five years.

“It’s given people a lot of instant equity, which for homeowners is a good thing, but it’s also caused real issues with affordability because wages have not kept up at that pace,” Katzmann said.

Brendan Murday, associate provost for faculty affairs, said he works to identify salaries that make sense for each newly hired faculty member, but the cost of living in Ithaca is not a direct factor in determining salaries.

“We look at the salaries for the faculty in the department and try to make sure that there’s some equity with where that new hire would start and where current faculty are,” Murday said. “We will also take a look at some data nationwide for that discipline.”

Marcy Sutherland — an instructor in the Department of Education at IC and research and communications coordinator for the Park Center for Independent Media — said she has needed to have multiple jobs to live in

Ithaca when she was only working at PCIM, including substitute teaching and working at a center for adults with autism. Sutherland said she is limited in the number of hours she is allowed to work at the college.

“I just don’t think they should be controlling how much money I make,” Sutherland said. “I get that they have control over my salary, they have control over the amount I make working with PCIM, but how much I work? I find it really insulting. I think it’s infuriating to put a cap on my overall wealth. … They have no idea what I’m responsible for financially.”

In her position with PCIM, she is limited to only 13 hours a week, even though she could work up to 30 hours within the nature of it being a part-time position.

“I have been a really good instructor regardless of how many jobs I have,” Sutherland said. “No one asked about how working in both places could be beneficial. … There’s now more engagement between education and PCIM and media literacy. And the conversations I had were still only about hours a month, and that was disheartening.”

According to Indeed, the average annual salary for an instructor at IC is $61,299, which is lower than the recommended $73,392 per year needed to rent comfortably in Ithaca.

Sutherland said she makes around $60,000 as an instructor. She said she lives in Brooktondale, about 15 minutes from the IC campus, since she cannot afford to live in Ithaca.

For homeowners, Katzmann said the issue of affordability is with the amount of capital or cash that is required on top of the monthly payment.

“If you want to put 10% down on a $450,000 home, that’s $45,000,” Katzmann said. “And you’ve got closing costs on top of that, mortgage applications, appraisal fees, prepayments for taxes and insurance, so you could be out $60,000 just to get in the door.”

Even though college faculty members are impacted by the housing costs, the college town environment, combined with Cornell University, is part of what makes the real estate market competitive.

Mickey Huff, professor in the Department of Journalism and distinguished director of PCIM, said the colleges in Ithaca are the reason for its bustling, desirable culture.

“Go and find me another 30,000 population town anywhere within 50 miles of here,” Huff said. “Does it have what we have here? Nothing like it. … Those things are here because the colleges are here, and the colleges raise the standard of living, until the colleges decide that they don’t have to pay people to work there anymore, and then the very people that make a place what it is have to leave.”

Cornell’s presence in Ithaca impacts property taxes. Approximately 57% of the property in the City of Ithaca is tax-exempt property, mostly owned by Cornell. This impacts property owners in Ithaca because the median property tax rate is 2.86%, while the national median property tax rate is 1.02%.

Some faculty members have opted to commute to avoid the high costs of housing in Ithaca. Katzmann said he sees the prices drop the farther away from Ithaca in Chemung County and Seneca County.

“People who have a given housing budget because of their income have been looking further and further afield,” Katzmann said. “They’ve been accepting the idea that they may not be able to live right close to work.”

On campus, IC has extended housing that is available to faculty and staff. The extended housing program allows employees to live in a residence hall for $600 a month, which is lower than the average cost of $1,671 for a 428 square foot studio apartment. Terrace 12, Terrace 13 and Boothroyd Hall are the main locations where extended housing is provided.

Jeff Golden, associate vice president of auxiliary services at IC, oversees extended housing. The college began offering extended housing in 2022. Golden said IC wants to provide an inexpensive housing option open to everyone, regardless of income.

“I recognize that the pressures of the Ithaca area housing market are greater than this thing will have an opportunity to solve,” Golden said. “We are very aware of the fact that, at its best, it is simply us trying to offer a solution that hopefully will work for some people, but absolutely will surely not work for everyone.”

Ithaca College to discontinue communication, strategy and design major in Fall 2026

Sydney Martin | November 6, 2025

Ithaca College students in the communication strategy and design (CSD) major and minor received an email Oct. 20 explaining that the program would no longer be offered or accept new students starting Fall 2026. In the place of CSD, the school will offer a revised advertising, public relations and marketing communications (APRMC) major and minor.

Over 20 majors across the college have been “sunsetted” over the last five years, for a number of reasons, many relating to the college’s budget deficit, desire to increase enrollment and streamline student experience. The email to students said the department hopes that the new path will offer students a more streamlined program that incorporates many of the current CSD courses.

CSD Program cut

Amy Falkner, dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications, said the move had been in the works for over a year. Despite this, students found out with little warning, initially leaving them concerned about their futures. Sophomore Sarah Bontomase, who transferred to IC for the CSD major, said the announcement was a surprise to her.

“Because it’s already mid-October, you don’t really expect that your major is going to be completely flat out discontinued, especially because I just applied to this program,” Bontomase said. “So it’s kind of unnerving that they can just randomly take it away at one point.”

The initial announcement email was only sent out to current students enrolled in either the CSD major or minor. Falkner said this was done to prioritize current students, who she said deserved to be the first to know about the changes. The Park School will no longer list CSD as an option at its open houses.

Falkner said the main reason behind “sunsetting” the degree was a growing lack of distinction between CSD and APRMC programs. While the website for the department does distinguish CSD by its focus on

internal communications, the two degrees share many electives and required courses. She also said a lack of understanding among prospective students and their parents was a reason for the degree’s low enrollment numbers because under 10 first-year students joined in the Fall 2026 semester.

“It’s not that what was being taught was the issue,” Falkner said. “It is in terms of student recruitment. The enrollment kept going down because 16-year-olds don’t understand what [the program] means.”

Scott Hamula, professor and chair of the Department of Strategic Communications, said the new APRMC program will allow students to take foundational courses in both disciplines while allowing for a more expansive approach to upper-level courses across different disciplines in marketing, public relations and advertising. He also discussed the development of new courses, like a planned course in advanced visual design.

Though the new APRMC degree is still in the works, Hamula said there will be opportunities for students to take upper-level courses across different tracks in the major. This will give new students some of the same flexibility that the old CSD degree offers.

While other cuts to programs and staffing have been related to budget reasons, both Falkner and Dennis Charsky, professor in the Department of Strategic Communication and the director of the CSD program, said all current staff will remain through the current changes. Falkner said that if a professor retires, the department will have to submit a request through the college’s Teaching Resource Allocation Committee and prove that the department still has a need for that role.

“No faculty are being impacted by this,” Charsky said. “No faculty load is being impacted by this. I think that’s a strong point to make, that it’s not a downsizing at all.”

Changes to other programs at Ithaca College

The college cut several teaching majors in 2021 as a part of its Academic Prioritization Program, which was an effort by the college to resize and saw roughly 116 full-time equivalent faculty positions cut. In Spring 2025, the college announced that it would be cutting the deaf studies minor, this time as a part of an effort to help balance the college’s budget.

Michael Johnson-Cramer, dean of the School of Business, said via email that not all changes have been purely budget motivated; they have often been

made to boost enrollment numbers and potentially streamline the student experience. The School of Business redesigned its main degree in Fall 2024 to turn concentrations of its business administration major into several different programs — including finance, marketing and sports management — allowing for more student flexibility and combinations with various minors.

Johnson-Cramer said via email that enrollment data and anecdotal feedback have indicated an overall boost in student numbers and satisfaction within the school.

“Ongoing curricular change — keeping degrees relevant to a changing world, making sure students understand the value of what they’re learning — is a healthy sign in any department,” Johnson-Cramer said via email.

Claire Gleitman, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, said via email that the School of H&S also took a similar route when they merged individual language majors to create the world languages major. Gleitman said no faculty positions were cut as a result.

Additionally, Falkner said there are plans for a new minor in the strategic communications department focusing on social impact communications. While still in the development stage, rough drafts allow students to combine communications courses on advocacy with topics in the School of H&S.

Falkner said she hopes that another minor will draw in more students to the department, which will in turn allow her to potentially justify adding new staff positions.

Future for CSD students

Though concerned, students still have faith in the department, which immediately began working on “teach out” plans for students that would allow those currently enrolled in the major or minor to finish out by their intended graduation year.

In the initial email sent out to students, the department also offered one-on-one meetings with advisers and an information session, where any student in the major or minor could come to have questions answered by Charsky and other professors.

Bontomase said she had been told by her advisor that required courses would still be running, but may only run for one more semester before being moved to the APRMC degree.

“I just have to make sure to get the credits on time, which is stressful, but doable,” Bontomase said. “They wouldn’t do this if it wasn’t completely doable.”

The Department of Chemistry to expand scholarship program with new estate gift

Isabella Edghill | November 6, 2025

Ithaca College’s Department of Chemistry is expanding scholarship opportunities to incoming students. A $4.6 million estate gift was added to the Bill and Donna Bergmark Scholarship fund between February 2024 and March 2025, in one of the largest donations the school has received in about four years.

Named after the late professor and department chair Bill Bergmark and his wife Donna, the scholarship was established to honor chemistry and biochemistry majors with outstanding academic records. The scholarship and associated fund were established by Bergmark in 2017 and many faculty and alumni have contributed to the fund in Bergmark’s name over the years. Bergmark died Dec. 24 2023. The college announced Oct. 23 that the gift of his estate increased the fund’s amount by $4.56 million. Prior to this donation, the fund had $200,000.

Since 2018, one or two chemistry students have been selected by department faculty each year to be recipients of the scholarship. Andrew Torelli, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, said the donation will increase both the number of awards and the magnitude of assistance the scholarship provides.

“This new increase in the scholarship means that Ithaca College will be able to attract additional bright, motivated, interested students,” Torelli said. “We just hope that it gives chemistry and biochemistry and Ithaca College another opportunity to benefit new populations of students and bring some really talented individuals into our community.”

Mike Haaf ’94, professor in the Department of Chemistry, said it was Bergmark’s vision to create a cohort of scholars who are passionate about the sciences in every class. With the increased funds, the college will be able to offer incoming students a scholarship which they can carry with them all four years, as opposed to just offering the scholarship to current students.

“Going to any undergraduate school like Ithaca can be an expensive proposition, so the more funds we have to support it, the better,” Haaf said. “Incoming students who are really outstanding can be potentially offered these [scholarships] to help make coming to Ithaca more attractive.”

The estate gift will go into the college’s endowment. IC has an endowment of $437 million. During the Oct. 30 Dollars and Sense meeting, Tim Downs, senior vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer, said the endowment was at its highest point ever. Downs said the endowment is not a savings account, but rather an investment that lives on for perpetuity.

“Our goal is intergenerational equity,” Downs said. “It’s our responsibility to make sure we’re stewarding this asset, which is our largest asset, appropriately, which means we’re taking out enough to help today’s students, and we’re allowing it to grow to help tomorrow’s students.”

The value of the endowment is always in flux as donations accrue interest and market conditions

fluctuate. The amount the college withdraws from the endowment annually is based on a formula that averages the value of the endowment over the last five years. Downs said this means that donations like Bergmark’s are not distributed immediately.

“We need to let this appreciate so when we withdraw, the impact of that gift will always be to the full extent of the donor’s wishes,” Downs said. “That will likely take a couple of years before that gets fully implemented.”

The endowment is split into two parts, restricted and unrestricted. About 50% of the endowment is restricted, meaning the donor left specified instructions for how the funds should be spent. Bergmark’s gift is included in this category as the donation can only go towards the chemistry department. The college provides endowed scholarships for incoming and current students. Some are tied to a particular school or major, like the Bergmark scholarship, while others are more general.

“We have an obligation that the money from that gift is being used in the right spot,” Downs said.

Senior Rishabh Sen was a 2024 recipient of the Bill and Donna Bergmark Scholarship Award. He said when he first heard about the estate gift, he was excited about the recognition such a large donation could bring to the chemistry department.

“Showing students that they have this kind of financial support, that they have this kind of backing from the faculty and from alumni, really shows the robustness of our degree, the robustness of our alumni connections, and what a strong program we have for our students,” Sen said.

The Department of Chemistry celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2023, an event that both Sen and Torelli said showcased the supportive community environment of students and faculty. Donations from department alumni and former faculty have been used to help fund everything from student research opportunities to conference travel expenses.

“Education here at Ithaca College in chemistry has left a lasting impact for a lot of people that have continued to talk with our students and make opportunities available,” Torelli said.

For department students and faculty, the donation from Bergmark is another example of the way members of the IC chemistry community support one another.

“This scholarship is another example of how faculty members, even from the past, are still benefiting the students,” Sen said. “It really sets a precedent for this amazing culture we have in the chemistry department, and I’m glad that the entire campus community is able to see that and experience that history along with me.”

Filmmaker, activist and Ithaca College Dining Services employee Ira McKinley perseveres

Julian DeLucia | November 20, 2025

Ira McKinley, filmmaker, Ithaca College Dining Services employee and lifelong activist, says he has never been afraid to speak his mind. He stands tall, with a thin, graying goatee, a gravelly voice and glasses. The 61-year-old man was born in Ithaca and grew up in the Southside neighborhood.

On campus, McKinley works at Towers Eatery and is well known by students for his online presence on TikTok, where he often makes videos with them. McKinley’s page details his living situation and promotes his new film project, “A Tale of Two Journeys.”

A lifelong activist, McKinley was involved in the ACT UP Movement in Ithaca in the 80s, as well as the Occupy Wall Street movement in the late 2000s. McKinley describes himself as a socialist and has been very critical of President Donald Trump and his administration’s cuts to SNAP. He said attempts at cutting food assistance around Thanksgiving are cruel and that the policies of Project 2025 are meant to strip people of their independence and freedoms.

“Everybody needs food, clothes and shelter, that’s a basic human right,” McKinley said. “That’s the same thing they did to the slaves, bro. They’re trying to make everyone a slave.”

McKinley moved back to Ithaca from Albany two

years ago. He used to rent a room at 125 West Green St., but struggled to afford the rent and had to move out after his hours were cut at the Ithaca Alehouse.

McKinley is currently living in a tent behind the house of an old friend. He has his bags and clothes, an air mattress and a space heater among other items. He has a gym membership in order to access a shower. Items he was not able to fit in his tent were either sold or kept at friends’ houses. He said he has been unsuccessful with getting access to Code Blue services from the Tompkins County Department of Social Services. Code Blue, or Code Blue shelters are emergency shelters for unhoused individuals that open when temperatures are below freezing.

In 1979, when McKinley was 14 years old, he was told that his father had been shot and killed by police officers in Miami. Exactly 10 years later, after spending four years in the Air Force, he returned to Ithaca, where he was beaten by officers in the Ithaca Police Department. Following the event, McKinley spoke up at a Town Hall meeting, causing the Ithaca Journal to write about the situation.

“When they did something to me, I would rise up and start marches and demonstrations and become a pain in their ass,” McKinley said.

McKinley left Ithaca for Albany not long after, where he said he became addicted to crack and was arrested and convicted as a felon for attempted armed robbery. From 1999 to 2002, McKinley served at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility on Staten Island.

“Man, I was bad back then,” McKinley said. “I was a grimey dude.”

Following his release from prison, McKinley went to Northampton, Massachusetts and began working and learning about film at Northampton Open Media, formerly titled Northampton Community Television. While homeless, McKinley learned how to shoot and edit video.

“They wouldn’t give me a job so I had to create a job,” McKinley said. “This is what I did, I know how to film and edit.”

In the early 2010s, McKinley began working on his first feature film. He has directed two feature-length documentaries, “The Throwaways” (2013) and “Outta the Muck” (2022). His first, “The Throwaways,” won Best Feature Documentary at the Long Beach Indie Film Festival and the 2014 New York Hi Lights award at the Harlem International Film Festival. “Outta the Muck” won the Soul of Southern Film award at the Indy Memphis Film Festival.

“The Throwaways” is a film about the effects of police brutality and mass incarceration on the Black community in Albany, New York. Told through the lens of McKinley’s lived experiences, it explores the idea that certain communities and lives in the United States are seen as expendable by the government and society. “Outta the Muck” follows Alvin and Bridget Dean, members of McKinley’s tight-knit family from Pahokee, Florida and their tale of achievement, love and struggle through an undefeated season of high school football.

McKinley co-directed both films with Bhawin Suchak, filmmaker and co-founder of Youth FX. Suchak and McKinley met in Albany in 2011, while McKinley was beginning early production of “The Throwaways.” The films were executive produced by Sam Pollard, an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who McKinley views as his mentor. McKinley and Suchak have won awards for both films.

McKinley scrolled through his camera roll, showing pictures of himself on tour for his films. A picture in San Francisco, one in New Orleans and one in Memphis, Tennessee. He scrolls to a picture of himself at Sundance Film Festival.

“I didn’t like it, it felt fake and phoney to me,” McKinley said. “People just wanted to hear your pitch, you gotta have a three minute pitch and then you repeat it like 20 times.”

He scrolls to a selfie in a large conference room. His face in the bottom-right corner sports a plain and uninterested expression.

“I look bored as f—k,” McKinley said. “Like, ‘Man, when is this gonna be over?’’’

In May 2025, Trump signed an executive order cutting over $1 billion in funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting through 2027. The CPB is the main funding body of both public media organizations NPR and PBS.

“Outta the Muck” was produced by the Independent Television Service, a branch of PBS that focuses on documentaries made by underrepresented and diverse voices. As a result, McKinley has struggled to find funding for his new project, “A Tale of Two Journeys,” about the legacy of the Black Americans in Upstate New York through two major exoduses of the South: The Underground Railroad and the Great Migration.

McKinley said he views his current project as the end of a trilogy, alongside his other two films, covering different aspects of the Black American experience; in the North, in the South and in transit.

Suchak said the funding cuts to PBS have made it more difficult for independent filmmakers and that both the industry and the nation will suffer as a result.

“It’s just closed up a huge opportunity for a lot of filmmakers,” Suchak said. “Someone like Ira who’s got incredible storytelling skills but doesn’t come from a conventional background where he’s been to film school and has family money, he’s got to hustle.”

Despite a lack of industry funding, McKinley has

continued the production of his new film on his own through crowdfunding.

Each Tuesday and Thursday in the summer and fall, McKinley joins Charles Rhody, nutrition program director at Southside Community Center, in giving out fresh fruits and vegetables to the community. Rhody said the food comes from West Haven Farm in Northwest Ithaca. Rhody is an active member of the community, having volunteered at Southside for nearly 30 years and working four jobs.

McKinley has been going to Southside and spending time on Cleveland Avenue since he was a kid. The Southside neighborhood of Ithaca has historically been the heart of Ithaca’s Black community, anchored by the St. James AME Zion Church, one of the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches in the nation. Chartered in 1833, the church is believed to be the oldest in Ithaca and served as an important point for the Underground Railroad, having been visited by both Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.

McKinley said the neighborhood has changed since his youth, as rising prices, newer residents and the loss of community services like nearby schools have pushed Black residents out. McKinley’s mother was an elementary school teacher in the Southside.

“All this used to be African Americans,” McKinley

said. “We used to have our own doctors, our own teachers.”

A man comes up looking for food and McKinley helps him, directing him inside and telling him who to ask to access Southside’s food pantry. As the nutrition program director, Rhody runs the food pantry.

“See, I only hang out with winners that’s doing stuff for the community,” Rhody said. “Not the fake ones.”

While the tables are getting set up, McKinley brings out his laptop and speaker and plays music. He plays mostly funk and old R&B; Marvin Gaye, Slave, War and Earth, Wind, and Fire. Using YouTube tabs, he unmutes and fades up the volume on an instrumental while starting another song, mixing tracks on the fly. He said he has been DJing since the 80s.

“This is my little service I provide,” McKinley said. “This is what I do. I ain’t got the mixing board but I can count the beats.”

McKinley said he does not care about materialistic things and that he tries to give back what he can to his community despite his situation. He has been homeless before and knows how to survive and keep himself safe.

“I’m an activist,” McKinley said. “People say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna break him,’ and they’re surprised when I don’t break, you know? … You can’t make me shut up. I’m not going to shut up.”

PPECS student operating hours reinstated after Technical Operations went over budget

Eamon Corbo | November 20, 2025

thaca College’s Park Portable Equipment Center and Services (PPECS) had its paid student employment hours reinstated to 140 hours Nov. 17 after they were reduced to 100 hours in mid-October. The decision to reduce PPECS hours came after the college discovered in September that Technical Operations, which PPECS falls under, went over budget during fiscal year 2025, which ran from July 2024 to June 2025.

PPECS, located on the first floor of Roy H. Park Hall, is where communications students can check out professional media production equipment.

Amy Falkner, dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications, said the college could not tell that Technical Operations was over budget because some expenses in the Park School were attributed to incorrect budget lines. She said this created a discrepancy between what Technical Operations was spending and what was monitored.

“Some of PPECS’s hours got attributed to my budget in the Dean’s office,” Falkner said. “So it

didn’t look like they were off their budget, because it didn’t show up that they were off their budget.”

Senior Daisy Bolger, the PPECS Pro student manager, handles advanced cameras, lighting and audio gear. She said that during the reduced hours, PPECS — which typically has four student employees working at once — had three students working and replaced the fourth student position with a full-time Technical Operations staff employee.

“Our resources have been so depleted that there are days where we’re not even sure if we’re going to get all the equipment out to students,” Bolger said. “And that’s never something we have ever experienced before.”

Senior Rhiannon Strazisar, one of the PPECS regular student managers, said PPECS tries to have orders built at least one day in advance from when the order’s pick-up time is. She said it was difficult to prepare orders ahead of time while the hours were reduced.

“There was a point … where we were not even 15

minutes ahead of the time that people were coming to pick up orders,” Strazisar said.

In addition to PPECS, some students who worked in master control were laid off or had their hours reduced as a result of Technical Operations going over budget.

Master control is located on the first floor of the Park School and is where broadcast operations like Ithaca College Television are managed. Senior Madison Schriver, who worked as a key tech in master control, said she found out she was being let go in the middle of her last shift.

“I was planning on using that money for groceries and gas, and just living in [a Circle Apartment], but then also I was going to use that money to make my thesis film,” Schriver said. “So that kind of puts me in a tight situation looking for cash for the rest of the semester.”

Falkner said the Park School is bringing back every student employee in master control, but the volume of hours available will still be reduced.

Bolger said the reduced hours made it more difficult for her and other student managers to train new student employees because they did not have enough time to train them properly.

“It probably takes us like 45 minutes to check a camera and a wireless system and all those things, and we don’t have that,” Bolger said. “So we’re having to do faster, lazier inspections, because that’s what we have time for.”

Tim Downs, senior vice president and chief financial officer, said the college has spent around $6 million in student wages a year since at least when he arrived at the college in 2021. He said the $6 million spent on student wages is expected to continue through fiscal year 2030.

New York state’s minimum wage is $15.50, and has increased every year since the start of 2017, when it was $9.70. The state’s minimum wage is set to increase to $16 on Jan. 1, 2026. Downs said the increase in minimum wage has led to a reduction in student hours across campus because the budget for student wages has stayed flat.

“With the reduction in hours that comes from an increase in the minimum wage, students are likely going to see less than their paycheck as a result of that,” Downs said. “The hour reductions are likely going to be more than the increase in their hourly rate.”

Falkner said the increase in minimum wage was part of the reason Technical Operations went over

budget. Falkner said the number of requests PPECS receives and the number of items within each PPECS order have increased gradually since the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Park School’s non-salary operating budget has stayed relatively stagnant since she arrived at the college in 2021.

“[PPECS] is such a key part of the Park School,” Falkner said. “It’s an essential need for us, we can’t really operate and be the Park School without students having the ability to get equipment to do the great things that they do.”

Falkner declined to share specific information on the Park School’s non-salary operating budget since it is not publicly available.

Falkner said she worked with Melanie Stein, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, and the academic affairs budget team to reinstate PPECS’s hours.

“The academic affairs budget team supports all of the offices in academic affairs, including all of the schools,” Stein said via email. “I am aware that recently they have been working with the Park School to ensure that all expenses are attributed to the correct budget lines, which will help the school to effectively monitor their expenses.”

Falkner said PPECS’s reinstated hours are paid for using existing resources in the Park School’s budget. She said the Park School has enough money in its budget to finish the rest of the

2025-26 academic year.

“We’re taking a hard look at where maybe we spent money last year that we don’t need to,” Falkner said. “It’s two things, it’s, ‘OK, [we] might move some money around’ but we also need to monitor better what is actually happening on the ground.”

Falkner said both the Office of the Provost and the Office of Business and Finance are anticipating that Park will be requesting a larger budget for Technical Operations in fiscal year 27 than in previous fiscal years.

Bolger said the work that student employees in PPECS do is often specialized technician work that goes beyond what is taught in Park classes.

“Because [PPECS] requires so much skill and time and training, it should be a place where you can get adequate hours to pay for groceries,” Bolger said.

Strazisar said it was difficult to navigate the reduction because PPECS’s hours were reduced in the middle of the semester when there was an increase in the volume of orders that PPECS receives.

“We are sort of the backbone of the Park School,” Strazisar said. “A lot of our majors here are production-based. So you’re using that equipment outside of the classroom, but also you’re using it in the classroom to get things done. So if we don’t have enough labor to get all that equipment inspected and working properly, other stuff is going to start to shut down as well.”

Resident Assisstants continue to advocate after planned cut of board expenses canceled

Julian DeLucia, Eamon Corbo | December 9, 2025

Ithaca College canceled its planned cut of board expenses for resident and apartment assistants, following advocacy and critiques from the campus community. Board refers to the college’s meal plan and dining costs.

The Office of Residential Life informed RAs and AAs that they were no longer going to have their board expenses covered at a Dec. 4 meeting. After a Dec. 9 meeting with RAs and AAs, Stanley Bazile, vice president of student affairs and campus life, confirmed to The Ithacan that the proposed cuts to RA compensation would not be carried out, and board expenses would still be covered in the 2026-27 academic year.

Students living in on-campus residence halls are required to have the Residence Plan, which costs between $7,102 and $8,062 per student annually. RAs receive compensation solely through reductions in housing and meal plan costs.

The Ithacan spoke to three different RAs who said that at the Dec. 4 meeting, Beth O’Neill, director of Residential Life and Student Conduct and Community Standards, told the RAs she was directed to cut $600,000 from the $1.5 million RA budget. In an email sent to all RAs and AAs by O’Neill, she said Bazile would meet with the RA Advisory Board Dec. 8, and hold a session Dec. 9 alongside Marsha Johnson, dean of students.

Sophomore Virginia Bentley, an RA in the Terraces Residence Halls, said they called their mom immediately after the Dec. 4 meeting. RAs receive 80% of their room and board as compensation for their first and second semesters, before getting an increase to 100% by their third semester. Bentley, a first-year RA, said they were waiting to get their second-year compensation increase, but they were worried it would not matter after the cuts.

“I don’t know if it’s worth [the pay] with the amount of work I put into being an RA,” Bentley said. “I’m gonna have to figure out loans, I’m gonna have to figure out more scholarships … which is not something that I thought I would have to do.”

Junior Sawyer Sloane Simmons, an RA in the Towers Residence Halls, said the planned cuts to the RA budget felt intentional because RAs are a group of students who are typically in higher need of financial aid and therefore more likely to continue in their position despite compensation cuts. Simmons said the timing of the announcement has made it difficult for RAs to find off-campus housing for next semester or figure out additional ways to make money.

Simmons said being an RA is a massive time commitment. She said RAs are expected to be

available for their residents whenever they are in their rooms and must respond in a timely manner to all questions and messages they receive.

“Whenever you’re needed, you’re expected to be available,” Simmons said. “Especially if it’s something silly or small, you’re expected to respond within 24 hours and handle it and resolve it.”

In training, RAs are taught about the idea of “Life in a Fishbowl,” meaning they are being watched and inspected by both residents and college community members everywhere and must represent the community well. Additionally, in the RA/AA contract, they must have any other campus activities or jobs approved by their director and are expected to drop them if they get in the way of being an RA.

In an email sent to the RAs after the Dec. 9 meeting, Bazile said he acknowledged the negative impact of removing meal plans on RAs and that making decisions regarding the budget deficit is never easy.

“I want to acknowledge and sincerely appreciate the passionate advocacy our RAs have shown in response to this news,” Bazile said in the email. “Your commitment to supporting one another, elevating student concerns, and engaging as thoughtful partners in problem-solving reflects the very best of our campus community.”

In an interview with The Ithacan, Bazile said the planned cut of RA board expenses was canceled after he had conversations with students, received feedback from the RAs and looked at how cutting board expenses would impact the RAs.

“A number of the students who work in that

position are some of the students who are most disproportionately disadvantaged in terms of first-generation college students [and] low-income households,” Bazile said. “The impact of, ‘Would they be able to continue at the institution?’ And what was the impact going to be on them from a psychosocial standpoint?”

Bazile said the decision to cut the RA budget was part of the college’s goal of achieving a balanced budget by Fiscal Year 2028. Bazile said he will work with Tim Downs, senior vice president and chief financial officer, and Laine Norton, vice president for advancement, to find ways to make up the amount of money without reducing the number of RAs.

“We haven’t made any final decisions in terms of where the money is going to come from,” Bazile said. “But it will not be coming from the RA budget.”

Citing issues with communication, support and overwork, several RAs have begun an effort toward unionizing. Questionnaires were sent out to all of the RAs. Leaders of the initiative have contacted representatives at the Office and Professional Employees International Union.

Junior Grace Commisso, an AA in the Circle Apartments, said the decision to keep providing board expenses was a big step for Res Life in listening to student voices, however, there is still more work to be done.

“This was a win, but there won’t always be wins,” Commisso said. “We want to unionize so that they can’t do this again. So that every conversation like this isn’t a huge fight.”

Sexual violence at Ithaca College reveals problems within survivor justice systems

Kaeleigh Banda | December 11, 2025

Content warning: This story contains details about sexual violence. Anyone seeking help or support can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

In September 2024, a first-year student reported that two male students assaulted her in her on-campus residence hall: one who raped her and one who sexually assaulted her and assisted in the rape. What followed was a process that left her with frustration at the criminal legal system’s burden of proof, disappointment with the college’s Title IX process and long-term physical and mental health struggles. Over a year later, the primary perpetrators left the process without being convicted of a crime.

The student, who requested to remain anonymous due to concerns for her safety and privacy, said the acts of sexual violence both occurred during a party in her dorm room with alcohol and after the party while she was asleep. She did not want to disclose the names of the students to The Ithacan. Not long after, she went to the hospital to get a rape kit to begin collecting evidence of what happened. She reported the incident to the Office of Public Safety in the beginning of September 2024.

The timeline of her sexual assault case lines up with the Red Zone. Every fall semester, colleges enter the Red Zone, which is the time period from August through Thanksgiving break when over 50% of college cases of sexual assault occur, especially for first-year students.

In college, 26.4% of female and 6.8% of male undergraduate students in the United States experience rape or sexual assault, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN).

For almost the entire 2024-25 academic year, the student fought to tell her story and get the justice in court she felt she needed. Loretta Epthimiatos, operations lieutenant in the Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management at Ithaca College and the officer on the student’s case, said that when a student comes to OPS saying that someone raped them, they collect a detailed retelling of what happened. She said this collection is the first of many times that a victim has to tell their story throughout the criminal justice process.

“We’re gonna have to go through the whole thing again with the attorney,” Epthimiatos said. “That attorney might ask different questions than I ask. They might ask uncomfortable questions. So being a

victim in this sort of thing is very difficult.”

Burden of proof

Nearly 98% of perpetrators in sexual assault and rape cases are not convicted, according to RAINN. In the New York state criminal justice system, perpetrators must be found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that the jury of 12 people must all agree and be confident that the person is guilty.

If the perpetrator is convicted of rape in the first degree, they would face a minimum sentence of five years in prison, according to section 70.80 of the New York Penal Code. In the U.S., the definition of rape is different state-to-state. In New York, the definition was expanded in 2024 to include multiple forms of nonconsensual sexual contact besides penetration.

Matthew Van Houten, Tompkins County district attorney, said the burden of proof in criminal cases makes strong evidence collection, including forensic evidence, even more necessary.

“Beyond a reasonable doubt is a very high burden of proof,” Van Houten said. “It’s much better to have someone who is guilty of a crime be set free than to

convict an innocent person. Erring on the side of protecting the defendant’s rights is really how the system works.”

Evidence collection is difficult because most rapes occur without a third-party witness. Also, many victims do not report what happened right away or immediately start collecting evidence because of fear of retaliation or not being believed. That is also only accounting for the 40% of people who report their cases to law enforcement at all.

The delay in evidence collection can make the victim’s memory be questioned in trial, cause a delay in justice for the victim and make forensic evidence more difficult to collect.

Even 24 hours later, victims may have less forensic evidence that would show up in a rape kit, and the victim’s memory of what happened may fade with time. Van Houten said bringing cases to trial can be part of the healing process for victims.

“This kind of a case is very difficult to win, but it’s often very important to bring the case to trial,” Van Houten said. “Being able to tell their story in court and be heard is really important, and that’s not something we would just turn someone away because it wasn’t a slam dunk.”

However, after countless retellings and piles of evidence, the student said she still was not able to prosecute the perpetrator because an attorney did not find the evidence to be sufficient under legal standards and the high burden of proof. In her evidence collection, the student said 12 witnesses provided statements, the perpetrator did not deny the claims and a rape kit with forensic evidence and images with proof were all provided to OPS and the district attorney.

After multiple meetings with an attorney, the student said he told her that her case should not be taken to court, despite her large collection of evidence. The student said she was in communication with the district attorney’s office through OPS so she did not communicate with them directly except for in person meetings. There is no record of her case in the legal records system.

“He basically said because I was not blacked out from alcohol or tied down with rope, it does not count as a rape, even though I was asleep when it occurred, and that the court wouldn’t view it as such,” she said. “The court will favor the perpetrator in any situation.”

The burden of proof is difficult to match, but even murder trials have a much higher conviction rate under the same proof standard. According to RAINN, 90% of adult rapes occur against women. A 2016 article said that society values the sexual needs of men and tends to blame their instincts as excuses or dismissals for raping someone.

Research from the National Library of Medicine found that victim blaming is a pattern of sexual assault cases. In a 2016 case, a New Jersey judge told the victim to just close her legs.

Epthimiatos said she feels for the students who

are turned away after months of back and forths with retellings and evidence collection in pursuit of justice.

“It’s frustrating because you go and you do all this work … you believe that this happened, your evidence shows that it happened, but then, for whatever reason, there’s something there that somebody says, ‘Well, did it really happen?’” Epthimiatos said. “Sometimes people are back on the street before we even write our paperwork. The legal system is very frustrating.”

Van Houten said the system focuses on compassion and preparation for the victim, but it also recognizes that every crime has two sides to the story.

“We have to balance the fairness to someone who was accused of a crime with advocacy for a victim of a crime,” Van Houten said. “I don’t think I would change anything [about the system].”

Title IX

Pursuing justice through the IC Title IX system was the student’s next step to attempt to find a resolution. However, the Title IX system does not convict people in the same way that the criminal justice system does, and she felt the criminal prosecution is what he deserved.

“Title IX was the last resort because I wanted him to go to f---ing jail,” she said.

Linda Koenig, director of Title IX compliance at IC, said that when she is notified about a student who has been sexually assaulted, she reaches out to let the student know what resources are available, including confidential resources or mental health resources, from the Center for Counseling and Psychological Services.

“When they meet with me, I’m not trying to ask them a bunch of questions about what happened,” Koenig said. “I’m trying to understand what their needs are in that moment, what their wishes are, a general sense of what happened, but not detailed because we want to limit the number of people who ask them about those details.”

Title IX connects victims with a range of services aimed at helping them through their healing process, including schedule changes, housing changes and no-contact orders.

If a student chooses to pursue a rape case through the Title IX process, they can have the perpetrator suspended or expelled from the college. However, the process can take months to a year and is not a guarantee that the perpetrator will be expelled, even though there is a lower burden of proof.

When debating how she wanted to pursue justice, the student said she considered pursuing Title IX through its long process without a guarantee of her perpetrator leaving campus. Or she could go through the resolution process, in which Title IX speaks with the perpetrator and victim separately to reach an agreement about how to move forward.

She chose to work with the Title IX office to file

a request for removal through the resolution process and said the primary perpetrator left IC.

According to the student, the other male student who assaulted her is still on campus. She said she did not want to pursue Title IX against the other male student because she did not think she had enough evidence against him specifically, and she did not have a positive experience working with Title IX for the primary perpetrator. She also said she preferred to not make him even more aware of her existence than needed.

The student said this result impacted her in multiple ways because if the primary perpetrator stayed at the college, she would have left. She said she would have had to transfer to another college and start from scratch, which was not what she wanted to do. She also felt a level of responsibility to make sure the man who raped her was in jail.

“It left me with conscious guilt, because he could easily go to a different college and do this again,” she said. “Loretta and Linda argued that he wouldn’t do that … [because] this probably scared him. … But is that enough?”

Koenig said the Title IX office also works to provide training to faculty and staff and prevention education to students. For first-year students, there is a required Title IX session at orientation, online modules and optional bystander intervention training in the first-year seminar classes and the Student Leadership Institute.

Elyse Nepa, assistant director of Clery Act and prevention education, said that one of the most meaningful SLI trainings offered is “Red Flags, Real Talk” which is based on two real-life scenarios involving dating and sexual violence.

The programs specifically for first-year students are in place because of the Red Zone, Koenig said. However, resources at IC do not highlight the Red Zone specifically. A prompted Google Search only provides information about parking lots.

“Maybe we don’t say Red Zone, but … residential life or public safety would all say, yeah, there is a higher volume of reports and incidents that occur in the first month of a student’s experience at Ithaca College,” Koenig said.

Koenig also said the effectiveness of the training and prevention methods are not directly measured.

After getting raped on campus, the student said she reflected on the education provided by the college and feels that the brief orientation training and forgettable resources are not impactful enough. She said hearing from a survivor or being provided more accessible and consistent information would be beneficial.

“If I got raped again on campus, I wouldn’t speak up again after my experience,” she said. “Why would I go to the school when I got shut down? They said things and it hurt me and I had such a bad experience with them. Why would I go through that again?”

The Office of Public Safety, Title IX office and the Prevention Education Network did not provide any data that specifically look at monthly trends related to the Red Zone. Nepa shared monthly crime logs. Koenig said via email that collecting data for the on-campus incident reports she receives would take her “a lot of time to break the data down to monthly.”

Beth O’Neill, director of Residential Life and Student Conduct and Community Standards, said via email that resident assistants participate in Title IX training at the start of every semester. She said they do not specifically focus on Title IX prevention in RA training sessions, but focus on reviewing all campus policies, including Sexual Harassment and Assault Response Education resources. SHARE provides a consolidated list of frequently asked questions and resources for someone who was sexually assaulted or knows someone who was.

Providing education programs and training specifically on the Red Zone is something the student said she thinks would be helpful for Title IX, OPS and the Office of Residential Life. The RA on duty is responsible for shutting down parties with underage drinking in the residence halls, and the student said the party that led to her rape was loud and should have been shut down by the RA. The student did not want to

disclose the name of her RA.

“If my RA did her job, I wouldn’t have been assaulted that night,” she said. “It’s because she chose not to. … Don’t pretend to be the good guy, because, ‘Oh, they’re just having fun.’ No. Because then stuff like this can happen, especially when it’s that big of a [party].”

Beyond first-year student trainings, Nepa said that every year, faculty and staff receive online state-mandated training on sexual harassment, discrimination and bystander intervention, and IC hosts events including IC Runs Purple 5K for Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the Faces of Prevention: Connection & Resource.

O’Neill said the RA training also does not provide an extra layer of communication for RAs about the Red Zone.

“I am aware of this term and time frame on campus we don’t speak about it in this way specifically,” O’Neill said. “We work with the RAs more around general transition to college.”

Nepa confirmed that the term “Red Zone” is not used in training and prevention materials, but said she and her team acknowledge that the first weeks of the semester can be a vulnerable time for new students.

“I will be bringing Red Zone–related ideas to

the Prevention Education Network as we plan future programming,” Nepa said via email. “And while we may focus more intentionally on first-year students, our commitment is to all students because everyone deserves to be part of a safe, caring community.”

Lasting impact

In Fall 2025, over a year later, the student said she still feels the impact of the rape in her daily life. She said she has been having dreams of being held down or constricted. This response is common for survivors of sexual violence.

“I went to the ER twice this past month because I’ve been waking up from night terrors, shaking, sweating and all the symptoms of a heart attack,” she said. “I woke up feeling like I was dying. … I went into tachycardia, which means my heart rate has been consistently over 100.”

The student also said she needs additional medical support physically at doctor’s appointments since the rape caused a lasting impact on her body.

“It destroyed a part inside of me,” she said.

She said the legal system and collegiate structures did not support her in the way she needed. With a high burden of proof, lengthy processes, addressing trauma, navigating communication and ineffective resources, the student said she felt frustrated.

“At the beginning of my case, I was like, ‘How can women not speak up about this? This is horrible,’” she said. “After going through it for that entire year and nothing, it becomes worthless because nothing will happen to the guy. And that’s the hard part about it.”

Lack of area coordinators leaves RAs unguided

Sydney Martin | February 19, 2026

Alack of area coordinators has left resident assistants at Ithaca College with a lack of guidance and sparked concerns over points of contact and resident safety.

In Fall 2024, there were eight ACs, at the time referred to as residence and community directors, split across eight different clusters of housing. By Spring 2026, only one AC remained, with a second one added as recently as Feb. 16. During the Spring 2026 semester, RAs have been navigating a decrease in reliable communication and increased issues over duty coverage while continuing to carry out their duties to their residents.

The two ACs are currently responsible for Upper Quads and the new cluster of Lower Quads and Emerson Hall, which were combined in early January. Senior Elena High, who has been an RA since Fall 2023 and currently is an RA in Eastman Hall, said that while the Office of Residential Life has maintained that duties will continue uninterrupted, she has noticed a decline in her AC’s availability for questions and one-on-one meetings.

“They keep telling us that nothing is going to change on our end, and nothing’s going to change

in our roles,” High said. “Except, I think we just all never know who to go to, and we’re not getting information in a quick manner, like we should.”

In an email sent Feb. 6 by Katelynn Barr, interim assistant director of staff and programs in the Office of Residential Life and a former community director, RAs were informed that coverage of the cluster areas would be split across the single remaining AC at the time, in addition to members of the professional staff in the Residential Life central office, who are not typically responsible for cluster coverage. There are currently five clusters on campus: Towers, Terraces, Upper Quads, Lower Quads and Emerson Hall, and Garden Apartments and Circles Apartments. Each cluster can contain between 300 to 800 students.

The email said that when a member of the central office is on duty, response times for in-person emergencies may be slower, as they are not ACs and do not live on campus, though coverage will continue with no gaps. Multiple RAs interviewed by The Ithacan said that, despite this, they still had concerns about the chain of escalation in emergency situations.

Sophomore Ty Sayahi, who is in his first year as an RA in the Lower Quads, said he knew multiple RAs who had trouble getting a hold of higher-ups while on duty.

“We had a meeting where people were discussing their experiences on duty, and I think maybe 10 or 15 raised their hands to say that they had felt unsafe because they couldn’t get anyone’s help,” Sayahi said.

RAs have also brought up concerns surrounding maintenance issues that are not being fixed. While the initial reporting duties do not fall to the AC, RAs often rely on the AC to help them escalate issues to higher-ups when they are not being fixed in a timely manner.

Sayahi said that in his own dorm hall, there had been issues with mold and ice, that had led to a resident getting injured. He said workers in maintenance were struggling to get a hold of the cluster’s AC.

Grace Dosdall, the current AC for the Lower Quads and Emerson Hall, said via email that it is a basic requirement of the department to always have someone on staff available for RAs to call.

She also said she does not believe the change in the number of ACs has made her any less available for the RAs in her cluster. When Emerson Hall was combined with Lower Quads, the number of RAs in the cluster increased to 19 from 13.

While some RAs have struggled to get in contact with their respective higher ups, other RAs have only noticed a smaller dip in communication. Sophomore Virginia Bentley, who is in her first year of being an RA at Terraces, said that while the professional staff member overseeing Terraces has been slower to respond, she and other RAs in the cluster were informed of that fact.

“It makes sense to hear, obviously, and we don’t expect her to break her back,” Bentley said. “But it’s also disheartening to hear as an RA, because we came into this job, and being an RA anywhere, you kind of expect to have that [oversight]. We don’t right now, especially with the amount of moving around that’s happened.”

Since the start of the 2025-26 academic year, the Residential Life office worked to provide RAs with routine updates about coverage, including who to contact, as well as keeping them posted when ACs left. However, some departures have been sudden, leaving both Residential Life and RAs in the dark.

Departures in the staff at Terraces led to the combination of what was originally two clusters: Terraces 1-6 and 7-13, in Fall 2025. The Terraces AC left in October of 2025, requiring interim coverage. From November 2025 to January 2026, four additional ACs left, leaving one remaining in the Lower Quads.

Graduate student Matthew Stasiw is currently serving as an assistant residence director. He began the newly-offered position in January 2026, and is often one of the staff members covering Terraces in addition to professional staff. He said there has been a consistent effort to maintain weekly meetings for RAs to ensure that all staff are on the same page.

“I do think for the position that Residential Life is in, they are doing a great job,” Stasiw said. “Especially being behind the scenes, seeing all the work that they do every day that maybe sometimes RAs don’t see. Being in a more administrative position … I do think that they’re supporting RAs in the best possible way they can.”

Dean of students Marsha Johnson said via email that she is extremely thankful for the work that RAs have put into their roles.

“They have shown up with professionalism,

maturity, and commitment that goes well beyond what is asked of them,” Johnson said.

The relationship between Residential Life and RAs has been strained at different points during this academic year. In December 2025, Residential Life informed both RAs and AAs that the meal plans and dining costs would no longer be part of their compensation, sparking frustration from many who rely on the discount to afford living on-campus. While the proposed cuts were reversed shortly afterward, RAs have discussed the potential of unionizing to continue to advocate for themselves.

Sayahi said he noticed a dip in RAs trust after the announcement at a campus-wide RA meeting, which was the result of a proposed $600,000 cut from the $1.5 million RA budget.

“Knowing that they planned for a year and a half to make these cuts, and hadn’t even told our bosses [ACs], that kind of eroded our trust in [Residential Life],” Sayahi said.

When an AC is on duty, which occurs in week-long shifts at a time, they are expected to remain on campus and be on call 24/7. Johnson

said via email that it is important to understand that ACs are not an easily replaceable role.

“I’d encourage the campus community to resist the impulse to reduce this work to a title or a vacancy notice,” Johnson said. “Area Coordinators are master’s-level professionals grounded in student development theory, doing complex, high-stakes, 24/7 work that most people never see. They are, in the truest sense, unsung.”

As of Feb. 19, a search is still being conducted for the remaining positions after the new Upper Quads AC began Feb. 16. Barr said via email that the search process is nearing its end, and other assistant directors in Residential Life will continue to cover positions as needed.

Bentley said that though there have been frustrations, the Residential Life staff all have the same goal.

“I think everyone is trying really hard,” Bentley said. “No matter if we’re RAs or ACs or professional staff, we’re all working to keep residents safe. It’s important to remember that they’re going through what we’re going through at the same time.”

Student organizations persevere amid $20K SGC budget cut and funding challenges

Isabella Edghill

| March 3, 2026

I n a round of budget cuts directed in December 2025 from the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Life, the Student Governance Council Appropriations Committee’s budget for Spring 2026 was reduced by $20K. The cut, and gaps in communication between SGC and the student body, sparked frustration and confusion among student organizations planning events for the semester.

The $20K were cut from the appropriations budget with no warning. Senior Rishabh Sen, student body president, said the funds were returned to upper administration to help reduce the college’s budget deficit.

Sen said at the March 2 SGC meeting that the council did not know about the reduction in funds until the council returned in January, leaving little time to warn the campus community of the change.

“It is just an unfortunate circumstance of the budget deficit and maybe a miscommunication,” Sen said. “I think we should have been made aware of this budget cut way earlier than the money actually being taken out.”

Junior Juno Brooks, who serves as vice president of business and finance, said he was unable to speak to The Ithacan in his role with SGC, but confirmed via email that he was not notified of the budget cut until the funds were already removed from the account, a few weeks into the spring semester.

SGC is the primary way student organizations on campus receive funds for general club operations, travel and events. The Appropriations Committee had $234,312 to distribute at the start of the 2025-26 academic year to student organizations officially recognized through the Office of Student Engagement. After the budget cuts, Brooks reported at the Feb. 9 SGC meeting that only $6K remained to allocate for the semester.

In light of this cut in funds, the Appropriations Committee announced that as of Feb. 4, it is operating on a waitlist system, leaving many student organizations planning events for the semester frustrated by a lack of communication and having to search for alternative funding sources. Sen said the committee usually does not run out of funds until later in the semester.

“If students are concerned, frustrated, angry, they have every right to be, because this is an atypical year where we told them that we would have funds at this time, and we do not,” Sen said. “If students are coming up to you really frustrated, please assure them that this is not a mismanagement of funds.”

Brooks said via email that there are over 20 student organizations on the Appropriations Committee’s waitlist. Groups are persisting, ensuring their celebrations, showcases and events will come to fruition despite not having the money they anticipated.

Junior Eudmarly Letrois Gedeon, president of Island Fusion Dance Team, said the college’s Afro-Caribbean dance team submitted a budget proposal in mid January, before the official start of the semester, for its annual Spring showcase. The dance group’s original proposal was for $5K, but the Appropriations Committee denied the budget, citing that they were low on funds and wanted to spread the remaining money between more organizations. The team then revised its budget to be smaller, but this time, the committee tabled the decision.

Gedeon said the funds from SGC were supposed to help cover costumes, photographers and videographers to create promotional materials, and the fee to rent out Emerson Suites. She said the organization has received similar budgets from SGC in years prior.

Gedeon said that after three weeks of back and forth with appropriations, many members of Island Fusion came to the Feb. 9 SGC meeting to give a budget presentation and voice their frustrations about the appropriations process. Following the presentation, the team resubmitted its budget and it was added to the waitlist.

Gedeon said that when she found out that the budget was 17th on the waitlist, the club began looking for other funding sources. She said the team was able to secure enough funding to still hold its showcase through support from the Office of the President, the Unity Center and through fundraising.

When Gedeon heard about the Appropriations Committee budget cut, she said via email that the lack of funds does not make up for the poor communication the team received from SGC.

“I am very understanding of everyone who does their work, it is a hard job,” Gedeon said. “But the only thing we asked from them was transparency, an honest apology and improved communication skills.”

Katalyst, Ithaca College’s K-Pop dance group, also faced issues securing funding for its annual showcase. Senior Minhty Ha, treasurer of Katalyst, said she submitted the club’s budget proposal around Feb. 10. The proposal was for between $3K to $4K, for audio and visual services, printing, stage management, photography, snacks and costumes.

“We’ve been here for the last four years, we’ve requested similar amounts, just like every other dance group on campus, and it was never an issue,” Ha said.

This year, the budget was immediately added to the waitlist. Ha said her biggest frustration was the lack of forewarning that budgets may not be able to be fulfilled right away. Ha said the group starts planning for the spring showcase as early as

September under the assumption that they will have the support from SGC to put it on.

“We are completely understanding of the financial pressures,” Ha said. “[But] to be told this in our spring semester in February, where our showcase is two months away, was very, very stressful for us. It put us in a position where we had to scramble and figure out major financial logistics at the last minute, instead of focusing on the actual performance.”

The group is planning fundraisers throughout March, but Ha said if they had known sooner that they would not be receiving SGC money, they would have begun planning for ways to get alternative funding much sooner.

“What was really hard for us is we received zero funding at all for our showcase,” Ha said. “We couldn’t secure support for the one event that we work towards all year.”

The group needs to raise about $2K in the next two months to put on the showcase, but Ha says the event will happen.

“It will probably be a basic showcase, just like the fundamentals,” Ha said. “Our usual luxuries that we usually have just might not be included.”

Dan Rogers, adviser to SGC, confirmed the budget cut in an email to The Ithacan, but did not comment. Brittany Watros, adviser to the Appropriations Committee, directed The Ithacan to Brooks and said they were unable to comment because of their role at OSE.

Sophomore Abby Reppert, treasurer of Lighthouse Christian Fellowship, faced challenges trying to secure funds for the organization’s annual Easter egg hunt. Lighthouse has always relied on SGC funding to host the Easter egg hunt, its biggest campus-wide event of the year. This year, however, the club’s budget was waitlisted.

“I’m frustrated for not just myself, but everyone who’s kind of going to be let down a little bit because of this,” Reppert said.

Reppert said SGC reached out to the organization in late January, warning that funds were running low and recommending proposals be submitted as soon as possible. After collecting the necessary documentation, Reppert submitted a proposal for $2,500 by the first weekend of February. By that point, however, she said SGC had run out of funds.

“They were encouraging us to revise our budget,” Reppert said. “Try to do bare minimum essentials for

the event. But … we want to make this as great as possible, so it’s hard to make that really minimal.”

Reppert said over 150 people attend the Easter egg hunt each year and the organization works to have prizes available for as many of them as possible.

After the Appropriations Committee was unable to fulfill the original budget, the organization tried requesting just a couple hundred dollars to see if they could get any funding from appropriations, but this budget was added to the waitlist. Reppert said she had not heard an update from the committee in over two weeks.

“I don’t know what the waitlist means,” Reppert said. “I don’t know how they’re deciding who gets it and who doesn’t.”

Lighthouse has begun looking for alternative funding sources as well, utilizing some donations they have received and working with the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life. However, Reppert said they still only have half of what they need to put on the Easter egg hunt.

“We’re planning as if it’s happening, and we’re gonna do the best with the resources that we have,” Reppert said. “At least it’s a time that we can all be together, and it’ll still be a lot of fun either way.”

Ithaca College professor receives award for combining music with social justice work

Sydney Martin | March 10, 2026

Baruch Whitehead, a professor of music education in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance, was presented with a New York State Senate Commendation award from Sen. Lea Webb’s office Feb. 19. The awards, given in honor of Black History Month, celebrated the work of five local community leaders from the Southern Tier. Whitehead was honored for his work with the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, a choir named after civil rights activist Dorothy Cotton. Assistant News Editor Sydney Martin sat down with Whitehead to discuss the award, the choir and how his work combines social justice with music education.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sydney Martin: Could you speak a little bit about what winning the award from Senator Lea Webb’s office means to you, especially with it being during Black History Month?

Baruch Whitehead: I was absolutely humbled by the award from Senator Webb’s office. I was really thrilled, because you just never know the kind of impact one has on the community. I think the kind of work that I do is just something that I don’t really think about. It just pours out of me in terms of equitable access to good music and community building, social justice and human rights. Those are all part of my being. They’re part of my fabric. So when people notice it, I’m happy, but it’s not necessary that I get an

award for it. I don’t do it for the recognition. I do it because it needs to be done.

SM: How do you link your work in music education with your work in diversity and social justice?

BW: I try to, through the music, tell the stories of the enslaved people and how they overcame insurmountable odds. They did not see what they prayed and hoped for. I’m the beneficiary of that hope. I think with the music and the community building, mostly being at a predominantly White college, it’s challenging in the sense that I think students, White students in particular, have never experienced how it feels to be a minority, and they’ve never experienced how history has treated certain people. But we can all relate on a human level, so that puts us in the same playing field, if you will. If I have a lot and you have nothing, it [would] be very selfish of me not to share what I have with you. I think it just becomes a natural part of how I teach and how I interact with people and how I try to get people to understand what this is all about, that we’re not alone.

SM: You spoke a little bit about your work with the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers. Could you elaborate on what you do with that group?

BW: We use our music to try to bring people together, to heal those dividing walls, to bring joy to people, to talk about our humanity. We do all of that through the music and through the building of community. We perform at the college, and we also

do community activities. Our namesake, Dorothy Cotton, worked very closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was a good friend of mine. She passed away in 2018, but we spent many hours talking about the music of the Civil Rights Movement, and it was interesting to me that the music that they used was these spirituals, but they changed the lyrics to make it applicable to what they were dealing with in the Civil Rights Movement. They use those same songs that my ancestors and their ancestors used to combat and put courage into people, because when they went into the church, they would always sing. She told me that music was the movement. She said, “Without the music, there would not have been the movement.”

SM: You speak a lot about the work with the community and bringing people together. What do you really hope that, not just students, but also the community members get out of it?

BW: My hope is that people who attend our concerts will come away encouraged. They heard something they connected to, something that made them reflect on their own lives and what they can do to help other people. It’s kind of like running a marathon where you have the baton; you have a candle, but then you’re going to light somebody else’s candle. But in lighting that candle, it’s more than just symbolic. What can you do to help other people? And I reflect on Renee Good and Alex Pretti. They were interrupting injustices. My hope is that when we interrupt injustices, we can go home at night and not to a funeral home; we can go to our own home. So we need to stay alive to be able to combat all the things that are bombarding us each and every day.

SM: You mentioned how music can be a movement; it’s not just a soundtrack to a movement. How do you think that music can function as this connection to your ancestors and this cultural preservation tool for both now and further down the line for future generations?

BW: Well, music has been around since the beginning of time. I think there’s just been music. Music has the power to really prick the conscience of humans. One of the things that we do is that we usually close our concerts with this song called ”Anticipation,” and it talks about loved ones who have gone before us and the hope that we will reconnect with them on the other side. Every time we sing that song, people are crying in the audience. Because I think we all know the sting of death, and I think that’s the power of music, to really bring people a shared experience.

GREATER ITHACA

From Ithaca to DC, millions rally against Trump in nationwide “No Kings” protests

Julian DeLucia, Isabella Edghill, Ryan Johnson, Naomi Martin, Sydney Martin | October 19, 2025

Millions of people gathered across the United States for the Oct. 18 “No Kings” protests to rally against what demonstrators see as rising fascism under President Donald Trump’s administration.

This is the second set of “No Kings” protests since the start of Trump’s second term, with a previous one being held June 14, Trump’s birthday. It is estimated that between 2 and 4.8 million people participated in the June 14 “No Kings” protest.

Thousands gathered at Washington Park for the “No Kings” protest at a rally organized by Indivisible Tompkins. Indivisible Tompkins initially planned to end the rally with a march from Court Street to South Meadow Street but did not organize one because of permitting restrictions. Despite the permitting restrictions, many community members marched to South Meadow Street separately from Indivisible Tompkins.

Ken McKinney, membership committee chair of Indivisible Tompkins, took the stage to announce that the event would not have a march and would stay in Washington Park. He said the City of Ithaca told Indivisible Tompkins three weeks before the event was announced publicly that they needed to obtain insurance and a permit for the march. He said their permit and insurance were continually delayed

before being quoted for $10,000 by the city Oct. 16.

“That left us in discussion with our [insurance] partners … they were pretty sure that was an F-you price,” McKinney said. “Even if we could have produced $10,000 in a day, they would’ve found another reason.”

Assemblymember Anna Kelles spoke in front of the crowd to kick off the protest. In her speech, Kelles encouraged the community to support bills including the New York for All Act, Access to Representation Act and Dignity Not Detention Act that will help protect immigrants and their families.

“We need to demand that these bills are brought to the floor and voted on as a package so that they move and then we need the governor to sign them so that we are protecting immigrants in our communities, so that we are protecting the working class in our communities, so that we are protecting the environment in our communities,” Kelles said.

In place of a march, Indivisible Tompkins arranged for additional musical guests to perform at the event.

After the announcement, Ira McKinley, filmmaker and Ithaca College Dining Services staff member, stood up in opposition. McKinley said in an interview with The Ithacan the “No Kings” protest was more about gathering money and espousing corporatized beliefs than truly challenging the Trump administration.

“To me, this is bulls—t,” McKinley said. “What is this gonna lead to? It’s just like a bunch of White

people that want to feel good [and] like they’re doing something. You don’t see many African Americans here, do you? … This is like a fair, you know, it’s not really about protest.”

Senior Jonah Barresi said he was disappointed in Indivisible Tompkins for not marching. He said people were going to march regardless of insurance or a permit and that their decision did not represent the people attending the event.

Barresi said he came out to protest because he wanted to defend his way of living and stand by his values.

“I basically don’t understand why you would be anywhere else,” Barresi said. “To stand by is to agree with what’s going on.”

Brandishing a sign that said “Puppets Against Fascism” in one hand and a Kermit the Frog puppet in the other, playwright February Schneck ’25 said all forms of art, especially those made by queer artists, are currently under fire from the Trump administration. They said they believe artists have a role in dismantling broken political systems.

“It’s a staple of Nazism and fascism, the basic playbook of [shutting] down and [silencing] all voices, especially the artists,” Schneck said. “The artists are the people who provide hope and refuge and a space to express yourself.”

Police blocked off part of Clinton Street but left Meadow Street open to traffic. Some protesters went into the street blocking traffic but were asked to move by Indivisible Tompkins volunteers and other protesters. An Ithaca Police Department patrol car pulled through without honking, almost hitting protestors.

Sheila Payne, a security team member who was one of Indivisible’s police liaisons, said in an interview with The Ithacan that police presence was not previously needed at Indivisible Tompkins’s protests because the organization has its own security, but the permitting restrictions of the “No Kings” protest required police presence.

“I think we should be in the street too,” Payne said. “The whole point is, the world is shutting down, we need to shut down, inconvenience people [and] cause a stink. But that’s not the way Indivisible does it.”

The protest site in Washington Park was also an opportunity for people to learn about community-led initiatives in support of several causes central to the “No Kings” protests by visiting tables that hosted local activist groups and organizations. Laurie Konwinski, the coordinator of Catholic Charities’ Justice and Peace Ministry, tabled for a local immigrant solidarity group.

“We don’t benefit when there are groups that are marginalized and demonized and dehumanized; that makes all of us lesser,” Konwinski said. “So I think if this work helps remind us that we all have rights and that we should exercise those rights, I think it reinforces our democracy. … We have a lot more in common than we have that divides us.”

Amber Lia-Kloppel, a lecturer in the Department of Art, Art History, and Architecture at IC, was at the protest with SEIU Contingent Faculty Union. Lia-Kloppel is a steward of the union’s chapter at IC. SEIU tabled at the event, collecting signatures from protest attendees to show their support.

Lia-Kloppel said that by being present at the protest, SEIU is trying to garner solidarity with the greater Ithaca community ahead of the next round of negotiations with college administration.

“I feel supporting unions at this time is one of the ways that we can band together as individuals in order to have more power in this space,” Lia-Kloppel said. “We rejected the idea of having a king in this country, and we rejected that sort of absolute power. And I feel like unions are particularly good at fighting with power. That’s what they’re there for.”

Washington D.C.

Senior Writer Ryan Johnson was present in Washington D.C. for Media Fest and reported from the flagship protest.

On Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., thousands of protestors were dressed in yellow and donned inflatable costumes to protest President Donald Trump. The rally — organized by liberal advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Indivisible — hosted speakers for the crowd from 12-2 p.m., concluding with a speech from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Protestors began to gather around 11 a.m. on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Third Street. Local organizations like Free D.C., a nonprofit committed to advancing racial justice for Black and brown DC natives and the right to self-determination, handed out posters and information about the movement.

Local volunteers in bright vests were positioned across the event to set up barricades and hand out “No Kings Day”-branded yellow bandanas. Ruth Hamilton, a 69-year-old D.C. resident who has lived in the city for 30 years, said everything that has happened during the Trump administration has driven her to protest in the streets.

“I needed to sign up and volunteer and not just come down and show up,” Hamilton said. “I live ten blocks away and will be here all day. … I’m hoping that it is 10 million people nationwide instead of five million, and I don’t know what kind of difference [the protest] will make, but it can’t hurt.”

Hamilton said she has a history of protesting in D.C. and that she attended the 2017 Women’s March, an event that led over 500,000 people to Washington, D.C. to protest. Hamilton said the “No Kings” protest feels different because it is nationwide.

“The fact that [“No Kings”] is happening in small towns, medium-sized towns or wherever, people are just coming out,” Hamilton said. “People [are] self-organizing, that’s very different. … This is a movement that is happening across the country.”

Near the stage before the rally, Tara Hoot, a D.C.-based drag queen, held a sign that said “Less fascism, more fashion” while using a bubble gun. Hoot said she has come in drag to many protests in the area and protested Trump’s appearance during his first trip to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

“I stormed the Kennedy Center with some of my drag friends when he was there for the first time, so I thought it was important for me to show up today too,” Hoot said. “The amount of joy even just walking here. … It’s whimsy, it’s joyful and I wanted to bring some of that joy out here today.”

From 12-2 p.m., senators, liberal advocacy leaders and prominent media figures addressed the crowd.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy said Trump is the most corrupt president in the history of the United States.

“He is enacting a detailed step-by-step plan to try to destroy all of the things that protect our democracy: free speech, fair democracy and independent press,” Murphy said. “But the truth is also this, he has not won yet.”

Murphy said that even though the government is shut down, Trump does not have the power to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement into cities or use the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

“Let me speak for myself for a moment about this shutdown,” Murphy said. “I will not vote for a budget that throws millions of people off their healthcare just to pay for a tax cut.”

To close the rally, Sanders thanked everyone around the country for attending the “No Kings” protest.

“Thank you to the millions of Americans from our smallest towns to our largest cities in every state in our country who are gathering today at thousands of rallies,” Sanders said.

News Editor Kaeleigh Banda and Assistant News Editor Eamon Corbo contributed reporting to the Ithaca protest.

“No Kings” Protests

Ithaca College students protest against crisis pregnancy centers with End Abortion Stigma

Kaeleigh

Banda | September 15, 2025

End Abortion Stigma held a demonstration at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 14 on Green Street outside of Finger Lakes Pregnancy Care to protest against crisis pregnancy centers. About 15 Ithaca College students and members of EAS held signs on the street corner in favor of the right to an abortion as the sound of passing car horns filled the street in support.

Crisis pregnancy centers — also known as fake pregnancy centers or fake abortion clinics — provide abortion-rights messaging while presenting as reproductive health care clinics providing services for pregnant people.

The protestors claim these centers spread misinformation, and since they are technically nonmedical facilities, the staff are not legally subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) or client confidentiality laws. The City of Ithaca has two crisis pregnancy centers: Finger Lakes Pregnancy Care and Birthright of Ithaca.

Sophomore Bella Phelps, an intern at EAS, said the demonstration was held in alignment with the Reproductive Rights Film Festival. While not directly associated, the festival shares similar messaging of wanting to increase access to abortions.

“The thing that irked me was that these [fake pregnancy] centers do not have to keep your information private, and they can share it without you knowing,” Phelps said. “A lot of them promise parenting support services … free diapers, free ultrasounds and pregnancy tests, but they deliver pressure to continue

pregnancy without info on all options, false info about abortion and religious bias that stigmatizes sex outside of marriage.”

The Finger Lakes Pregnancy Care website states, “Finger Lakes Pregnancy Care offers free counseling regarding your decisions but does not refer for or perform abortions.” Birthright of Ithaca’s website does not use the word “abortion” but lists its services to include only referrals, information, pregnancy tests and baby or maternity items.

During the demonstration, Myra Kovary, EAS member and mentor, wrote “Warning: Religion practiced here, not medicine,” in chalk on the sidewalk outside of Finger Lakes Pregnancy Care. Finger Lakes Pregnancy Care did not respond to The Ithacan’s request for comment in time for publication. Kovary said she remembers a time before Roe v. Wade gave people the constitutional right to an abortion in 1973.

“I realized that the most important thing we can do is organize and get young women involved because most of [the EAS members] are old,” Kovary said. “We have had experiences, either ourselves or our friends and family, pre-Roe, so we know how bad things were and it is getting that way again.”

Phelps hosted a poster-making gathering in preparation for the demonstration Sept. 10 in Friends Hall. Sophomore Paige Currier, an intern at EAS, said she and about 10 other IC students made signs about reproductive rights and anti-abortion centers.

“We’re not [demonstrating] to promote the center

or give it attention,” Currier said. “We want people to know that these places are dangerous and that they are spreading misinformation. … I think it’s crazy that there are still so many of these centers, and that they’re just allowed to be here.”

Phelps and Currier are part of the EAS Generation Action Group, which is part of EAS’s initiative to create another generation of activist leaders. Currier said she did not expect to get involved in the activist space, but her first EAS event made her interested in volunteering and then interning.

“I feel that it is completely unfair that all these choices are being made about my future, and I don’t get to have a say in it,” Currier said. “I was completely inspired by the amount of activism I’ve seen here in Ithaca, and the only way that we can make changes is if we all come together and understand that all of us are angry and we all want change.”

Phelps said she chose to demonstrate in person because it helps people who may not attend an EAS event learn more about fake pregnancy centers just by driving by.

“We got a lot of inspiration from the events that have been happening this year, like the ‘No Kings’ protests,” Phelps said. “We saw how many people showed up for that, and we were like, ‘Hey, we should do the same thing.’’’

On June 14, “No Kings” protests were held across the United States in opposition to President Donald Trump. The day became one of the largest days of action in U.S. history, with over 5 million people participating nationwide.

Kovary said she wants to make the voices of EAS heard and ultimately expose the realities of the clinics to prevent deception. Additionally, she said she enjoys helping to motivate the youth and find ways for them to get involved.

“I’m thrilled that young people are finding a way to be actively involved,” Kovary said. “I just love them. I love working with them. The enthusiasm, the creativity, the passion. It just warms my heart.”

Community holds vigil on The Commons in remembrance of political figure Charlie Kirk

Kaeleigh Banda, Eamon Corbo | October 15, 2025

Residents of the greater Ithaca area held a vigil in remembrance of Charlie Kirk on the evening of Oct. 14 at the Bernie Milton Pavilion on The Commons. About 15 people attended the vigil that took place on what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday. Cars drove by throughout the evening, showing a variety of support and opposition.

Kirk was a prominent Christian right-wing media figure, political organizer and conservative activist. Kirk was fatally shot Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by United States President Donald Trump on Oct. 14 — the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Kirk was the founder and CEO of nonprofit organization Turning Point USA. According to the organization’s website, its mission is to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.” During Kirk’s funeral Sept. 21, Trump said Kirk played an integral role in helping him win the young male vote in the 2024 presidential election.

The vigil was organized by Rocco Lucente, a Tioga County resident and the former chair of the Town of Ulysses Republican Party, to honor Kirk’s life. He said he considers Kirk to be a martyr because he was killed while spreading Christianity.

“I believe that the man who did that was certainly demonically inspired to do it,” Lucente said. “I think that Satan saw what good Charlie was doing in the

world and wanted to stop his ministry. And this reflects Satan’s patterns throughout history, most notably with the murder of Jesus Christ on the cross.”

Ithaca is known for its progressive politics with local groups like Indivisible Tompkins organizing protests with thousands of attendees in the past year. Lucente said he feels like conservative voices have been silenced, threatened and attacked in Ithaca since Trump was elected in 2016.

“I look at the political culture of this area as being one that people like me feel like they can’t say what they think,” Lucente said. “I’m going to do whatever I can to push back against that and to stand against that and to try to help people believe that they can have a voice in Ithaca again, even if they don’t agree with the majority.”

Bill Ward, a community member at the vigil, said he has noticed a common use of violent rhetoric that Democrats and liberal activists have been using against conservatives.

“Honestly, the Republicans and the right, we don’t want violence,” Ward said. “If we wanted to, we would have stomped them. We are the party that probably has most of the guns ... but we don’t want to.”

Ward said he has been interested in politics since he was in college in the early 2010s. Since then, he said he has engaged in political activism, including attending the “No Kings” rally in June, where he claims he was harassed for outwardly supporting Trump. He said he plans to attend the Oct. 18 “No Kings II” rally

as well. Ward said that when he found out about Kirk’s assassination, he was heartbroken.

“He’s got two young kids that’ll never know him,” Ward said. “I have young kids. … Thank God he’s got so many hours of footage that they can see, but then there’s the one that he got shot on. Imagine seeing your dad [like that]?”

Lenny Sacco, a security guard at the vigil, said he thinks one of Kirk’s quotes, “When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence,” is a timely warning.

Instead of mourning in private, Ward said he was in support of a public vigil on The Commons because it brings attention to the cause, even if it is not a popular viewpoint in Ithaca.

“We may have been getting flipped off … but the people that were all beeping and giving me a thumbs-up, they’ve shown that there’s still a lot of people in this town that do believe in the same cause,” Ward said.

In addition to the supportive beeps, some cars blared their horns in opposition. One truck with large flags out the back, including a Palestinian flag, Black Lives Matter flag and transgender pride flag, drove in circles to continue to past the rally.

Vivian King, a community member at the vigil, said she also knows that Ithaca is generally liberal leaning, but that God called her to live in this area. She said she believes there was a spiritual warfare at play in the cause of Kirk’s death.

“You can definitely feel the spirit sometimes,” King said. “There’s a weight and a heaviness in Ithaca. … I believe there was some spiritual attack on his life.”

King said her religious views caused her to feel the pain of Kirk’s assassination because he was also an advocate for the Holy Bible, Jesus and the things that Jesus believed in.

“He was a conservative and he had a lot of views that were similar to me in the church as a Christian faith,” King said. “He was pro-life. He loved everyone, no matter what they believed in.”

Ithaca perseveres through the first year of Donald Trump’s second term as President

Eamon Corbo | January 22, 2026

Ithaca residents continue to find community while navigating the effects of United States President Donald Trump’s administration’s policies.

Trump was inaugurated to his second term of the U.S. presidency Jan. 20, 2025. In the year since Trump’s inauguration, his administration has made sweeping changes to federal funding, higher education and immigration enforcement.

the Ithaca Green New Deal

In June 2019, the City of Ithaca Common Council implemented the Ithaca Green New Deal — a commitment to achieving community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030. Federal funding makes up 85% of the Green New Deal’s budget. Pat Sewell, 3rd Ward alderperson on the Common Council, said Trump’s freezing of funds related to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 has made implementing the Green New Deal more challenging.

“The IRA had a lot of funds set aside to help localities put these things into place,” Sewell said. “That just can’t happen now.”

Congress passed the IRA in 2022, which was the largest piece of legislation passed to combat climate change in U.S. history. The IRA provided funding for local governments to implement green policies.

Trump signed an executive order, Unleashing American Energy, on the first day of his second term. “Unleashing American Energy” revoked executive orders signed by former President Joe Biden that focused on combating climate change like executive order, Implementation of the Energy and Infrastructure Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Through the executive order, Unleashing American Energy, the Trump administration froze the distribution of IRA funds for clean energy.

Fear of immigration crackdown

The Kaleidoscope House, an Ithaca organization that aims to minimize suffering through building community, led a walkout to protest the Trump administration’s first year on Jan. 20 at Dewitt Park. Maya Lake, a member of the Kaleidoscope House, sold artwork at the walkout to fundraise for Ithaca Welcomes Refugees.

The City of Ithaca has sanctuary status, meaning that city officials and police officers will not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in enforcing federal immigration law. Over the past year, the Trump administration has attempted to crack down on sanctuary cities by expanding ICE’s operations in

major cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, and by threatening to halt federal funds for sanctuary cities.

ICE conducted operations in Ithaca at the end of January 2025, which led to community protests and to the common council reaffirming the city’s sanctuary status. Lake said she fears that the City of Ithaca could become a target for the Trump administration and ICE.

“We have to stand up and talk to our Congress members,” Lake said. “Even if it’s just for them to lower the budget that’s going toward [The U.S. Department of Homeland Security] right now, that’s one thing that we could do.”

Sewell said local representatives like him have limited power in combating the impact of Trump administration policies like funding freezes and the expansion of ICE’s operations.

“I have great respect for the office of the president, but it feels like the current occupant simply hates us,” Sewell said. “Just really detests people like me, people in our community, certainly our state.”

Protests erupted across the country, including one in Ithaca, after Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed in her vehicle by an ICE officer Jan. 7. Ithaca community member Susan Pavody said Good’s killing motivated her to participate in the walkout.

“I can’t believe that this is the same country I lived in even two years ago,” Pavody said.

Community organizing

Indivisible Tompkins was created to facilitate

Tompkins County residents coming together to promote democracy after Trump was elected for his second term. The group helped organize marches in Ithaca that saw thousands of participants during national protests like “No Kings” and “Hands Off!”

Luc Bonnet, an organizer for Indivisible Tompkins, said the organization is centered around opposing ICE’s crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration’s economic policies like unilateral tariffs and actions against other countries like Venezuela.

Indivisible Tompkins holds a Weekly Honk and Wave to Protect Democracy from noon to 2 p.m. every Saturday at the Bernie Milton Pavilion on The Commons. Bonnet said he encourages Ithaca residents to get involved with activist groups, unions and local nonprofit organizations.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Bonnet said. “People need to have a continued, sustained commitment to taking action and get themselves ready to be out in the street at times when there is a big crisis.”

Ithaca community member Brian Caldwell — holding a sign that read, “save our democracy, have courage, it’s contagious” — waved at cars driving through East Seneca Street at the Jan. 17 honk and wave. He said he advocates for Ithaca residents to protest against the actions of the Trump administration’s policies in other parts of the country.

“We’re part of the U.S.,” Caldwell said. “We need to be thinking about everybody here in the country, not just ourselves.”

Maryland-based tech company TeraWulf plans to construct AI data center on Cayuga Lake

Ray Milburn

| October 3, 2025

An artificial intelligence data center may find a home on the bank of Cayuga Lake in the next two years, despite concerns about the proposed center’s environmental impact and the chance of a one-year pause on construction in Lansing.

Maryland-based company TeraWulf announced in an Aug. 14 press release that it secured an 80-year lease to the site of the decommissioned Cayuga power station in Lansing. TeraWulf, which operates bitcoin mining and AI data centers across the United States, plans to break ground on its 183-acre site in the next year. TeraWulf Chief Operating Officer Sean Farrell said the center would provide power to racks of high-performance computers using the New York State Energy and Gas grid. The racks of computers will be leased out to companies and used to run AI software. According to the press release, the center will be partially operational in 2026.

Lansing’s town board convened Sept. 24 to discuss a one-year moratorium on all major construction projects in its jurisdiction. This moratorium would halt all major construction projects in Lansing while the board rewrites its zoning laws. The board chambers reached capacity long before the meeting began.

Dozens of people from Lansing and beyond came to voice their thoughts on the data center — both for and against. Despite persistent opposition from hundreds of community members and the risk of a construction moratorium, TeraWulf still plans to break ground in Lansing.

“We are very bullish about the site,” Farrell said.

“It’s an incredible site. Something is going to happen at this site ... moratorium or not.”

Lansing Town Supervisor Ruth Groff clarified that the town of Lansing is about to undergo a major rezoning process, and it is common practice to pass a moratorium before such an undertaking.

“There’s a great misconception that the moratorium is against TeraWulf,” Groff said. “We were planning to do this moratorium before we ever knew that TeraWulf was going to be coming into the town.”

In the days leading up to the town board meeting, the board received a flood of written statements supporting the moratorium and opposing TeraWulf’s data center project.

In over 100 pages of written comments, residents called the data center irresponsible and shared concerns about its effect on the health of Cayuga Lake and the surrounding towns. Others expressed doubts about TeraWulf, calling the out-of-state company an unseen force.

One resident said, “Monetary gain should not be made at the expense of what natural and sacred lands and waters that we have left.”

Groff began the Sept. 24 meeting by announcing that the moratorium vote would be postponed to the board’s meeting Oct. 15. Groff said the outpour of statements from the community encouraged the board to delay the vote.

“We received well over 300 written comments just in a few days’ time,” Groff said. “The board needs to take time to read all those comments.”

Senior Audra Fitzgerald, one of several Ithaca College students to write a statement opposing the data center, said conversations between both sides of the issue are beneficial to everyone.

“I hope that more people are learning about this as it’s going on, and maybe show up next month too,” Fitzgerald said. “I think the last thing that we need in our community … is an AI data center.”

Farrell said the space within the center would be rented to companies that run their own AI programs.

“[The data center] is going to be infrastructure to support [computing power] from our tenants, for them to run artificial intelligence,” Farrell said. “We’re giving them water, fiber and power.”

The proposed center’s use of water has been a hot-button issue among Tompkins County residents. Data centers rely on circulated water to cool their racks of high-powered computers. Several Tompkins County residents speculated that the data center would cool its computers using lake water drawn from the old power plant’s intake system.

While the press release called the former plant’s water intake system critical for supporting the data center’s high workload, Farrell dismissed the idea of using the lake water intake system to cool the center’s computers.

“[The intake system] has already been gutted,” Farrell said. “That intake infrastructure doesn’t even work anymore.”

Bill Klepack — a volunteer member of the Lansing Advisory Committee on Power Plant Future — said noise pollution poses another grave threat to the quiet beauty of the lake.

“[Data centers] run the risk of generating noise. Across a body of water, noise travels for miles,” Klepack said. “All you have to do is be on the shore of the lake on a quiet night, and you can hear a fisherman talking a mile, two miles away.”

Farrell said noise will not be an issue. He claimed the fans would operate at around 55 decibels — the volume of a normal conversation.

Despite opposition to the data center, not all residents of Lansing want to keep TeraWulf out of Lansing. Many members of the Ithaca-based chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers showed their support for the construction project at the town board meeting. After the meeting, Farrell said unions are valuable resources and TeraWulf employs local electricians on its data center projects.

Farrell said he is confident in TeraWulf’s plans for the old Cayuga power station.

“[The site] has got an 80-year lease with TeraWulf,” Farrell said. “It is going to be developed.”

TeraWulf attempts to gather support amid community concerns, local group bites back

Ray Milburn

| December 9, 2025

The Lansing Town Board began its Nov. 19 meeting with a unanimous vote to withdraw the proposal for a one-year moratorium on construction projects within its jurisdiction. This swift vote is the conclusive outcome of two months of delays and deliberation. The moratorium threatened to delay the construction of TeraWulf’s divisive data center by at least a year, but this vote will allow TeraWulf to proceed with its plans for the center.

Many community members attended town board meetings to speak out in favor of the moratorium and against the proposed data center. After the moratorium proposal was withdrawn this evening, community members continued to share their thoughts about the data center — both for and against — with the board during the public forum.

As the future of the Cayuga Lake data center develops, TeraWulf is trying to connect with the Lansing community amid fierce conflict. Since the company’s plan for an artificial intelligence data center started attracting attention in September, TeraWulf and a local group called No Data Center FLX have battled to sway community members.

TeraWulf hosted information sessions Oct. 7 and Oct. 29 to engage directly with the community, while the Lansing Town Board deliberated on the now-defunct moratorium proposal.

Kerri Langlais, TeraWulf chief strategy officer, said via email that the company’s community outreach efforts were aimed at providing Lansing residents with accurate, up-to-date information.

“We’ve focused on showing up, answering questions, and being transparent,” Langlais said via email. “People care about their town, and we respect that — even when they disagree.”

Langlais said both information sessions were well attended and that Lansing residents asked thoughtful questions.

“What stood out was how many people from outside the community came with fixed viewpoints rather than a genuine interest in learning about the project,” Langlais said via email.

Shortly after the Lansing Town Board meeting Sept. 24, a number of Tompkins County locals began sharing independent research about TeraWulf and their proposal on social media under the group name No Data Center FLX.

Since September, both TeraWulf and No Data Center FLX have launched Facebook pages and websites dedicated to the issue.

A representative of No Data Center FLX, a Tompkins County resident who requested their name be kept anonymous for their safety and security,

said their organization and TeraWulf engaged in a back-and-forth on Facebook.

“We’re trying to have as much of a presence in the same space as [TeraWulf] as possible, and they seem to have definitely taken note of our presence online,” the organizer said.

The representative said they have concerns about TeraWulf’s conduct online. The company criticizes local officials in several Facebook posts.

“We found some of their posts to be quite slanderous towards our local officials,” they said. “It seemed like the intention was to sow division between the locals and the town board so they could position themselves as the good guys.”

In September, the Lansing Town Board received hundreds of written comments about the project. Public forums have been dominated by passionate statements both for and against TeraWulf’s proposal.

The representative of No Data Center FLX said that members of their group were subjected to coarse language and accusations of being paid protesters from local data center supporters.

“We’ve all faced harassment,” the representative said, describing an instance in which a Lansing resident used misogynist language during a TeraWulf information session. “It feels like intentional intimidation that is fueled by TeraWulf’s narrative that all these people who oppose [the data center] are outsiders.”

When asked about contention in the community, Langlais said misinformation caused tensions to rise. She said erroneous claims were made regarding the proposed center’s water use, emissions, permitting process and impact on energy prices.

“Even more concerning is when behavior crosses into harassment or threats; unfortunately, that has happened, including to some of our family members,” Langlais said. “That’s not Lansing. That’s outside groups feeding off conflict.”

Priya Sirohi, assistant professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College, attended the Sept. 24 meeting to speak out against the data center. She said the meeting was filled with attendees from both Lansing and the larger Tompkins County area, which caused tension in the crowd.

“There was some shouting,” Sirohi said. “There was a head-on confrontation with a lot of yelling. It was a little scary.”

The representative of No Data Center FLX said they felt similar tension at the town board meetings.

“It’s very stressful at times to be in those meetings, but we don’t want that sort of harassment to stop the movement,” the representative said.

According to The Ithaca Voice, a physical

altercation between two Lansing community members nearly took place at the Nov. 19 meeting. The Ithaca Voice reports that the two men involved were broken up by a third party.

On Nov. 19, an independent assessment of TeraWulf’s proposal was posted to the company’s Facebook page for the project.

Lansing resident Sarah Kreps, professor in the Department of Government at Cornell University and director of the Cornell Brooks School Tech Policy Institute, said she approached TeraWulf with the idea of an independent assessment after learning about the proposed center.

“I have a vested interest in cutting through the noise and figuring out what’s actually going on,” Kreps said.

She conducted the assessment alongside Christopher J. Earls, a civil and environmental engineering professor at Cornell. The assessment concluded that TeraWulf’s project “is expected to yield economic benefits with negligible environmental impacts relative to the former coal plant.”

Kreps said she and Earls acted independently but were financially compensated for their work by TeraWulf. She said TeraWulf did not influence their methods, data or results.

“Our report is out there,” Kreps said. “Our methods are out there. Our sources are out there, and they’re transparent.”

Langlais expressed her “full confidence” in Kreps and Earls. She said she knew Lansing residents might be skeptical of “information from ‘outside,’” and that finding a local voice in Kreps was important.

“We have full confidence in Sarah and Chris’s work and are grateful they shared their time and expertise with their neighbors,” Langlais said.

TeraWulf hosted a residents-only webinar Dec. 9 covering the assessment. Langlais said the webinar is a response to multiple requests from Lansing community members asking for a residents-only forum to discuss the project.

“The goal is to give Lansing residents focused access to the independent experts and our energy counsel,” Langlais said.

On Dec. 5, No Data Center FLX addressed the residents-only webinar via social media post. “By excluding non-Lansing residents TeraWulf is once again pushing a narrative that this data center won’t impact the entire region,” the post reads.

Langlais said TeraWulf is currently working through Lansing’s permitting and zoning process.

“We’re focused on moving forward as best we can based on facts and constructive dialogue, not outside noise,” Langlais said.

Ithaca community continues to combat food insecurity amid cuts to SNAP program

Kaeleigh Banda | November 20, 2025

The longest government shutdown in United States history resulted in 42 million recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits trying to find other sources of food. Amid barriers to equitable access to food across the nation, the Ithaca community continues to mobilize to provide food security through food pantries, meal swipe donations, community kitchens and transportation assistance.

In a Nov. 5 Intercom post, the Ithaca College Center for Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging posted a link to a page with consolidated resources to help people find meal support during the SNAP benefit pause. Omar Stoute ’18 — director of staff equity, inclusion and belonging — said he wanted to advertise the resources available as heavily as possible to increase awareness for those who were impacted by the shutdown.

“It’s important that we recognize that this is a much larger issue than what we’ve experienced the last couple of months,” Stoute said. “This is the moment right now that we need to be a community

more than ever if we’re going to get through this in as close to one piece as possible.”

The U.S. government shut down Oct. 1, pausing federal programs for the duration of it. The shutdown occurred after Democrats tried to negotiate in the House of Representatives on health insurance provisions being added to the spending deal. They wanted an extension of an enhanced tax credit that lowers the cost of health care obtained through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.

House Republicans did not want to negotiate on those terms before the spending deal was passed.

On Nov. 12, the House of Representatives approved the funding package that passed in the Senate, which did not include the Democratic health insurance provisions, and President Donald Trump signed the bill into law, ending the shutdown.

Junior Joshua Decamps — student employee at Ithaca College’s food pantry, Prunty’s Pantry — said he was scared when the government restricted SNAP because people need that money.

“[Trump] is trying to redirect that money,” Decamps said. “How are you as the president going to choose to spend that much money on fixing the White House while trying to [take] money from people who need it for food? How does that even make sense?”

In past shutdowns, SNAP benefits remained unaffected. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the SNAP program, has a fund to maintain SNAP in emergencies like the shutdown, but the Trump administration originally did not allow those funds to be used. States responded by suing the government for the suspension of funds being “contrary to law … and an abuse of discretion.” After two court orders, an agreement was reached to partially fund the November benefits.

Even though SNAP benefits have returned after the shutdown, new restrictions and cuts are still being implemented. As of Nov. 1, the eligibility rules for SNAP benefits are stricter for people aged 18 to 64 who are not living with a child under 14 and are able to work. The new restrictions are part of the “One Big

Beautiful Bill Act” signed by Trump on July 4.

One new initiative at IC that was added in response to the shutdown was the Employee Meal Swipe Fund. The existing student Swipe Out Hunger program began in 2018 to allow students to donate their extra guest meal swipes to other students who request them through Student Financial Services. Students can then use the swipes at the dining halls or cafes on campus. Now, there is a similar effort to support employees with access to the on-campus dining halls.

Beyond IC’s campus, local food pantries and community kitchens have stepped up to support those impacted by the SNAP cuts. Kelly Sauvé, executive director of Loaves & Fishes Tompkins County, said the community kitchen serves an average of 350 meals a day.

“All food providers were sort of bracing for the worst,” Sauvé said. “There was that immediate mobilization of ‘How are we going to get more food and get more donors?’ … We have seen a number of new donors stepping up.”

In the greater Tompkins County area, Matthew Rosenbloom-Jones, general manager of the Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, said the TCAT has provided free bus rides to Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card holders to help bring people to places where they can get food.

“We had to act fast; we didn’t have time to come up with some sort of elaborate system,” Rosenbloom-Jones said. “While we [could not] make the government reopen and we can’t necessarily fund EBT, we can make TCAT free so that people who are dependent on those programs can get across town to food banks or other social services that are trying to fill the gap during this period.”

In Tompkins County, 7,694 people are SNAP recipients. Rosenbloom-Jones said the government shutdown brought awareness about how many people in the Southern Tier utilize these federal benefit programs, so he hopes to find a way to continue the free ride program past the shutdown.

“We really have a lot of work we need to do as far as making sure these programs are sustainable,” Rosenbloom-Jones said. “I do think that there is a model, and we know the model works now for expanding this program in the future when some of the barriers have been addressed.”

Stoute said many of the services to help the IC community amid the SNAP cuts were already in place. According to Feeding America, millions of college students face food insecurity because of rising tuition and housing costs on top of having to buy groceries.

Prunty’s Pantry is a food pantry located on the first floor of the Campus Center. The pantry is funded

through donations from the community, and is not reliant on any government funding. Decamps said he has been working in the pantry since his first year on campus and also uses the pantry to get his food every week.

“I feel that nobody [should] feel ashamed of using the pantry because it’s just a smart thing to do,” Decamps said. “The pantry is not for a [specific] group of people; the pantry is for whoever needs things. … You should be proud of, ‘OK, I’m saving money.’ We are students. Our tuition is not cheap at all. So saving the most amount of money is the smartest choice to [make].”

Sybil Conrad, director of the Campus Center, said that in the 2025-26 academic year alone, the pantry has seen significant growth. She said that in August, 70-80 people visited the pantry a week, and in early November, there were 140-150 people a week.

“The commitment of our community and the generosity of our community have exceeded what we have needed,” Conrad said. “So we have been able to purchase what we feel like students and the visitors at the pantry need and not hold back because we can’t afford to get what they need. It’s just wonderful.”

Research from the National Library of Medicine found that an individual’s level of food security impacts their mental and emotional well-being. In addition to expanding resources, Conrad said one of the pantry’s goals is to make the space as welcoming as possible.

“An initiative that we’ve taken on this year is adding [food] puns wherever possible in the food pantry,” Conrad said. “We also play music and have a Bluetooth speaker where we can make the space feel comfortable and enjoyable so that folks feel like it’s a positive experience to visit the food pantry.”

In the U.S., prices of goods are increasing faster than wages. Decamps said the impact of inflation on the cost of groceries also contributes to food inaccessibility.

“Food is a resource to survive,” Decamps said. “The fact that this country is blowing prices up in an insane way, trying to take benefits away like SNAP and food stamps, is insane. … The system is built up for certain groups of people to fail.”

Stoute said the initiatives to decrease food insecurity rely on community support.

“If my neighbor’s starving, I should care about that,” Stoute said. “That’s my opinion. … And maybe I personally don’t have the resources or tools to solve that problem, but we, collectively as a community, can mitigate a lot of harm by just caring … about people the way we might care about ourselves and to treat our community like it is a family.”

Stoute said he and others at the CEIB recognize that food insecurity is not going away and they plan to sustain efforts to combat it.

“We have always, since I’ve been a student here, worked to support people with need, and so I don’t think that’s going away from IC,” Stoute said. “It’s part of the fabric of the community.”

The Museum of the Earth avoids foreclosure, saved by financial support from community

Sydney Martin | January 21, 2026

The Museum of the Earth in Ithaca has avoided a looming foreclosure after its parent organization, the Ithaca-based Paleontological Research Institute, raised millions of dollars in donations.

The museum had to pay a $3 million mortgage by Dec. 31, 2025, to remain open. The $3.7 million in donations came after the organization turned to media outlets to cover its situation and allowed the organization to avoid having to rely on unstable federal funding. Now, the organization is seeking ways to diversify funding and continue to serve both experts in the field and educate the local community.

The PRI and museum began to experience financial struggles in the fall of 2023, when a large single donor that the museum had depended on for over 20 years ceased to follow up on a promised $30 million donation. The money was set to fund the museum’s mortgage, the Cayuga Nature Center and various other initiatives.

The building remains open to visitors, often families, and has a strong volunteer force. Warren D. Allmon, director of the PRI since 1992, said donations came from around the country.

“They were people who care deeply about technical paleontology and there were people who care about collections,” Allmon said. “Several families said the same phrase, ‘you are a major part of our family.’ So we mattered for very different reasons to lots of different kinds of people.”

The PRI was originally founded in 1932 by a Cornell University professor as a place to house collections and publish high quality scientific research

journals. The PRI slowly built a reputation for providing extensive programs and journals, and in 2003, under Allmon’s leadership, established the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca.

Brian Bauer, the president of PRI’s board of trustees, said that early in the pandemic, the traffic for the free resources was so great that the museum’s website was recommended alongside institutions like the Louvre and the British Museum.

The organization initially kept the issues internal, not speaking to any media outlets and letting little information out to the public. In January 2024, half of the staff was laid off and the Cayuga Nature Center was closed to outside visitors in an effort to lower operating costs. But the money continued to not come and by the end of the year, the museum had not paid its mortgage, resulting in it getting bought by a company demanding higher interest.

With the prospect of being forced to completely shut down the museum, PRI and Allmon decided to bring more public attention to their plight, speaking with The Ithaca Voice for an article about their situation.

“Within 12 hours of that story being posted on [Jan. 13], the next morning, we got a phone call from a woman who said, ‘I’m sending you a million dollars,’” Allmon said. “That completely changed everything, because now we realized that the media was our friend, and if we embraced the media, then we could maybe get out of this.”

The Ithacan covered the museum and PRI in an article in February, alongside many other outlets. By May 2025, the PRI received multiple million-dollar

donations and the story broke into national media outlets like the New York Times by October.

“One eight-year-old wrote us a handwritten note in her handwriting that said, enclosed is $44 that I have saved,” Allmon said. “[Another] was from parents [of] a different [child], saying, ‘our 8-year-old daughter doesn’t want anything for Christmas, except for the museum not to close, here’s a gift.’”

Elinor Kops, who worked as an education intern at the museum and now helps run children’s programming on Sunday mornings, grew up in Ithaca and has been coming to the museum since she was a kid.

“I remember the fossil lab really distinctly, being able to actually get my hands on fossils,” Kops said. “I think, growing up and having this as such a profound resource really kind of ignited my affinity towards the earth sciences, and I came back here.”

As an adult, she said the PRI has given her a chance to get hands-on research experience and opportunities to interact with visitors that continue to travel to the museum.

Though the PRI has avoided foreclosure and has enough funding to remain open through summer 2026, Allmon said there are still challenges to face.

“We’re now pivoting to what’s next and trying to reinvent the institution at a smaller size,” Allmon said. “Still serving our basic audiences and trying to figure out how to meet all the other needs that the donor promised to fix. We’re looking for new sources of revenue and trying to take care of our staff who are exhausted … at the same time.”

Museums are also facing uncertainty surrounding federal funding grants under the administration of United States President Donald Trump. A report from the American Alliance of Museums found that a third of museums have had government contracts cancelled. Of those, only 8% were able to fully replace the lost federal funding. Allmon said that around 25% of the PRI’s current budget comes from federal funding, and that the museum could not function without it.

“If this whole catastrophe with our donor hadn’t happened, I would be intensely worried about the future of federal funding for PRI,” Allmon said. “We can’t run PRI without federal funding, and you can’t run any natural history museum in the United States without federal funding right now.”

Despite the potential challenges still on the horizon, Bauer said he and the PRI staff are extremely grateful for the support from every donor.

“This is an improbable place, and my involvement … the involvement of people that support [PRI], can make a tremendous difference,” Bauer said. “This is a small but impactful place.”

Community book club showcases stories by Indigenous authors at Buffalo Street Books

Isabella

Edghill | January 21, 2026

The Gayogohó:no’ Learning Project promotes visibility for Indigenous people in Ithaca through a variety of initiatives. Through groups like their book discussion club, they aim to center Indigenous voices in conversation.

The book discussion group met Jan. 18 at Buffalo Street Books. Stephen Henhawk, language and culture lead of the GLP, said community is the cornerstone of the book discussion group.

“We’re all in this together here,” Henhawk said. “We’re Indigenous and non-Indigenous, letting the community really take time to really digest and really think of these ideas.”

Monica Bosworth is on the GLP outreach committee and helps facilitate the discussion group. She said she was first drawn to the work of the GLP and the book discussion group because of a general interest in Indigenous culture and way of life.

“I’m trying to figure out how I can, not just how I can learn, how I can educate myself,” Bosworth said. “It’s really helpful to have people to talk with.”

According to United States Census data, 0.3% of City of Ithaca residents identify solely as American Indian or Alaska Native. The Gayogohó:no’ are part of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee and have roots in the Finger Lakes region dating back over 10,000 years. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington ordered a campaign that destroyed Gayogohó:no’ villages and crops, forcing the Indigenous people to relocate in Canada and the Western United States.

Part of the mission of the GLP is to connect with Gayogohó:no’ people across the United States and Canada to preserve this multi-millennium-year-old language and culture. The other key component of the GLP mission is to promote coexistence between Ithaca’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities through education and spreading awareness. The book discussion group is one of the ways the GLP works toward coexistence.

“A lot of the ideas with the coexistence is that we’re here together now,” Henhawk said. “We don’t really have a today in Ithaca. … We’re always spoken of in the past tense.”

Henhawk said many of the signs around the town are an example of the way the current presence of Gayogohó:no’ in Ithaca is overlooked. In 2023, The Tompkins County Historical Commission finished an initiative to add street signage in the Gayogohó:no’ language along Cayuga Street. The signs are meant to stand as a reminder that the town sits on the historical homeland of the Gayogohó:no’.

Henhawk said he hopes initiatives like the book discussion group can promote awareness about the vibrant presence of Indigenous people in Ithaca today in a more active way than the street signs can.

Michelle Seneca, project manager of the GLP, said she attends the book discussion group meetings to answer questions about her life and Gayogohó:no’ culture. Throughout the discussion, she shared stories of her childhood on the Cattaraugus Reservation, and insights into how the book compared to her own experience and culture.

At the Jan. 18 meeting, the book club discussed “The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo,” by Kent Nerburn. The book is the final installment of a trilogy which follows Nerburn as he learns from Native American elders in the lands of the Lakota and the Ojibwe.

The series blends fiction and nonfiction, leading the reader to question their preconceived ideas about what shapes reality. The third book explores themes like spirituality, the meaning of dreams and powerful connections with the animal world. During the meeting, participants discussed the nature of truth and how Indigenous ideas about harmony and balance differ from traditional western ideals.

The participants also discussed how important representation is in literature to break stereotypes and introduce readers to new worldviews they may not have access to otherwise. Many group members thought there were valuable lessons to be learned

from these Indigenous stories.

Bosworth said the books are powerful and expose her to new perspectives. Specifically in the Nerburn trilogy, she points to the character of Dan, an Indigenous elder, as a source of wisdom.

“A lot of the things that Dan says, to me almost seem, I don’t want to seem dramatic, but it’s almost like scripture,” Bosworth said. “They seem like these are words to reground us into how we need to be.”

The book discussion group started meeting in summer of 2025 after the GLP had success hosting a film screening series for community members. The group has shown a number of films featuring native stories and storytellers. Often, the GLP organizes panels following the film screenings to foster community discussion on the stories, the inspiration for the book discussion group. Nerburn spoke with the GLP in June after the group screened the film adaptation of his novel, “Neither Wolf Nor Dog.”

The size of the discussion group varies with 10 to 20 people attending each time. Henhawk is hopeful about the future and wants the GLP to continue to uplift native stories through books and film.

Seneca said the discussion group fosters powerful human to human connections.

“I’m really appreciative and grateful that we’ve found a community where we can share these ideas … and be able to coexist with community down here outside the reservation,” Seneca said.

Hundreds of protesters across Ithaca rally against ICE after crackdown in Minneapolis

Eamon Corbo, Isabella Edghill, Sydney Martin | January 31, 2026

Over the past week, Ithaca residents came together as a community to protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. From an anti-ICE rally on The Commons, to a general strike on the Ithaca College campus and fundraising programs by small businesses, Ithaca has been mobilizing.

Sparked by the Jan. 6 deployment of 2,000 federal agents to Minneapolis and the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, activist groups across the country have taken action, including an economic blackout, student walkouts and various protests.

Protest on the commons

Hundreds of protesters came together in single-digit degree weather at 4 p.m. Jan. 30 on The Commons to rally against ICE’s violence. The protest, organized by a coalition of 15 local organizations and advocacy groups, began with a series of speakers representing a variety of causes. Speakers from Communist Party USA, Cayuga United Nurses Union-CWA, Ithaca Teachers Association, Cornell Graduate Student Union and Ithaca Committee for Justice in Palestine voiced their frustrations with President Donald Trump’s administration.

Kathryn Cernera, president of the ITA, said the union is united under guiding values of respecting democracy and centering socially-just and anti-racist practices.

“As teachers, we recognize that the most powerful way to use our strengths, skills and talents to support our community through these intense days is to provide any caregiver inclined to take to the streets the peace of mind that their own children will be safe while they do so,” Cernera said.

María Bulla, a member of CGSU, brought up the November 2025 Cornell University deal made with the Trump administration to restore some federal funding to the school after the administration froze over $1 billion in April 2025. She said that despite the federal government’s crackdown on immigration, she has never felt safer in her five years of living in Ithaca because she knows that people in Ithaca will rally in support of its immigrant community.

“Thank you to all the people in Ithaca for standing up with the immigrant workers and for keeping us safe because Cornell is not keeping us safe,” Bulla said.

After around 45 minutes of speakers at the Bernie Milton Pavilion, organizers directed protestors to take to the streets, cutting off traffic and leading a march down Seneca Street through The Commons. Chants of “F--- ICE,” erupted from the crowd. Protesters waved American flags, union banners and homemade signs as cars honked in support.

IC students were some of the many protesters who took part in the march. First-year student Lily Kalb said she was moved to protest after hearing about the killings of Good and Pretti.

“I’m here to express my frustration with the system and what it’s been doing to our country and devastating the nation,” Kalb said. “Enough is enough. We don’t have to stand for this bullshit.”

The protest in Ithaca was one of many taking place across the nation throughout the day. Trump said Jan. 30 that protestors were paid, calling them “insurrectionists and agitators.” The protests have had significant impacts as lawmakers enter into discussions to avoid a potential government shutdown, with Democrats demanding various reforms to ICE activity.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul introduced legislation to prevent ICE from co-opting local law enforcement in its operations. ICE conducted operations in Ithaca in January 2025, which made the City of Ithaca Common Council reaffirm the city’s sanctuary status. The Department of Homeland Security removed Ithaca from its list of sanctuary cities on its website in June 2025.

First-year student Ariel Smith-Golub said that prior to the protest she had felt a disconnect not being in her hometown of New York City, a hub for political activism.

“I was a little bit worried that there wouldn’t be a bit of a scene here,” Smith-Golub said. “But this is a great turnout, and I’m feeling awesome. I’m feeling warm and fuzzy inside, even though it’s 14 degrees outside.”

Community member John Hill said that while the

U.S. is in a terrible state as a nation, he was inspired by the Ithaca community showing up to protest against ICE.

“It’s how many degrees below zero, and you got all these people in the streets screaming their brains out, all for the same thing, which is ‘for crying out loud, we got to stop this madness,’” Hill said.

Ithaca College Campus

On IC’s campus, some students participated in the national economic blackout and walked out of their classes. Some gathered on the academic quad and in the Campus Center building to discuss the importance of action and shared flyers with resources to support Minneapolis.

The walkout lasted from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. — having shifted inside Campus Center because of the cold weather — as students stopped by in between classes to share their thoughts. Students from an IC choir class also joined to sing in solidarity.

Senior Mette Aarsheim said the idea for a walkout came to her and fellow student, sophomore Juliet Mitchell, because they both felt that something needed to happen on campus during the day of national action.

Both students are from places where ICE activity has been prevalent, with Mitchell being from New York City and Aarsheim being from Minneapolis.

“It sucks because at home, you leave the house with f---ing whistles,” Aarsheim said. “It completely infiltrates every action, everything you do every day. It’s so surrounding that you can’t escape it.”

Both students said they knew people personally impacted by ICE’s actions. Mitchell said she hopes more students will connect with their local community to create meaningful change.

“What is happening in Minneapolis has been a blueprint of how to build community together and how to look after each other,” Mitchell said. “Especially with the whistle system, with rapid response groups and with food banks. So it’s just taking everything that we’re learning here and using it for genuine action.”

On Feb. 3, the college’s Office of International Programs held a conversation for international students with Emily Rockett — vice president, general counsel and secretary to the IC Board of Trustees — to discuss the college’s procedures for interacting with external law enforcement. Diana Dimitrova, director of international student and scholar services in the Office of International Programs, said via email that the college will support the international student community.

“The International Programs Office continues to support everyone in the international student community and to remind everyone of the IC protocol on how to respond if we encounter external law enforcement on campus so that we can keep our campus community safe,” Dimitrova said via email.

Local Community Action

Local businesses also took part in the wave of community action. Local tattoo studio Show Pony Studio hosted a community raffle until Feb. 14, featuring products from several local businesses and artisans, including ceramics and baked goods. All proceeds from the raffle will go toward the Immigrant Defense Network of Minnesota, which is a network of organizations working to protect immigrant communities throughout the state.

Show Pony Studio hosted an additional studio

sale and flash day Feb. 15, with all money made from sales going to Ithaca Welcomes Refugees, a local grassroots nonprofit designed to support local immigrants and refugees.

Beyond marching and walkouts, the Ithaca community found ways to hold on to hope through religion and spirituality. About 100 community members gathered in St. John’s Episcopal Church on Feb. 1 for the “Interfaith Rally of Prayer and Protest.”

The rally was structured like a traditional church service but featured a range of prayers, songs and meditations. Though their faiths differ, rabbis, reverends and other spiritual leaders and attendees condemned ICE’s actions.

Rabbi Caleb Brommer, rabbi at Temple Beth-El in Ithaca, lamented the government’s prioritization of its authority over the life and love of the people who were killed by ICE agents.

“May we gather by the thousands and lift our voices in the song of lament,” Brommer said. “And may we stand as a living monument to the lives lost, to the lives irreparably changed and to the future of justice, that we see together.”

Reverend David Kaden, senior minister of First Congregational Church of Ithaca, said it is hard to encourage the community to be hopeful under an administration that treats inhumanity as a policy.

“Dr. King, the great champion of hope, said, ‘It is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies,’” Kaden said. “If the motive is love, then we can’t lose. Love is the most powerful force in the universe. ... So if we start with love, the purest of motives, we will find hope.”

Staff Writer Kaeleigh Banda contributed reporting.

Flock cameras raise surveillance concerns

Eamon Corbo | March 4, 2026

Almost anyone driving off of Ithaca College’s campus by the corner of Coddington Road and Hudson Street has had their license plate captured and information on their vehicle’s description collected by a Flock Safety camera. The presence of Flock cameras in Ithaca has been raising concerns over increasing surveillance and fear of potential abuse of collected data for some Ithaca residents.

Flock Safety is an Atlanta-based security company that creates artificial intelligence-powered automated license plate readers, surveillance cameras, mobile security trailers and gunshot detectors. Flock’s products are used by over 5,000 law enforcement agencies, 6,000 communities and 1,000 businesses across the United States and in New York state in cities like Buffalo and Albany.

The Ithaca Police Department and the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office only use Flock cameras to detect license plates and vehicles. Both agencies report not detecting facial recognition, people, gender or race with Flock cameras.

The sheriff’s office has 26 Flock cameras across Tompkins County and the IPD has 22 cameras in the City of Ithaca. Both the IPD and the sheriff’s

office share data collected through Flock with other agencies in Tompkins County and with the New York State Crime Analysis Center Network. Neither agency shares data with the federal government.

The IPD and the sheriff’s office both prohibit using Flock cameras for immigration enforcement, traffic enforcement, harassment or intimidation, use based solely on protected class statutes like race, sex and religion, or personal use.

“[Gov. Kathy Hochul] and Letitia James, the attorney general, have been very adamant about protecting women’s reproductive rights, protecting immigration enforcement,” said Thomas Kelly, chief of the IPD. “We have those [guard] rails in place to ensure that it is used strictly for its intended usage.”

Kelly said the IPD uses Flock’s automated license plate readers for investigating violent crimes, finding missing persons, locating vehicles involved in property theft and hit-and-run accidents. The City of Ithaca’s contract with Flock also includes gunshot detectors.

A spokesperson for Flock said in an email to The Ithacan that the company does not work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or any sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland

Security. While Flock does not directly work with the federal government, some local and state agencies across the U.S. have made immigration-related searches of their Flock data at the behest of ICE to assist federal immigration enforcement. 404 Media reported on Flock accidentally leaving livestreams and control panels of some of its cameras available for anyone on the internet to view and access.

Will Owen works for the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, an organization that tracks and fights back against discriminatory surveillance across New York state. He said Flock is a potent tool for law enforcement, including ICE, to target immigrant communities and bypass sanctuary laws.

“Surveillance technologies are increasingly being deployed against the public to undermine our First Amendment rights and our right to call out the injustices of our government,” Owen said.

Ithaca is a sanctuary city for reproductive rights, immigrants and gender-affirming health care.

Kelly said Flock data is encrypted and that Flock adheres to the Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy. He said officers are required to put an incident number and a reason to search data.

“There’d be consequences if somebody abuses that,” Kelly said. “It’s an abuse of public trust. And that’s not something that we would take lightly.”

As of March 3, the sheriff’s office has had 4,118 hotlist hits in the past 30 days and the IPD has had 5,166 hotlist hits in the past 30 days. A hotlist refers to a list of license plates that have been flagged by law enforcement. Lance Salisbury, the supervising attorney of the Tompkins County assigned council, said data from Flock is starting to show up in discovery in some of the assigned council’s cases.

Salisbury said that while he trusts that the IPD and the sheriff’s office will abide by not sharing Flock data with the federal government, he questions if they would have the ability to block the federal government if they wanted the data.

“The well intentioned ideas invariably lead to problems down the road that you never conceived of,” Salisbury said. “Ill-use or applications of things you didn’t want or expect.”

The Common Council approved the contract with Flock in December 2023. Pat Sewell, alderperson for Ithaca’s 3rd Ward, said that while he trusts Ithaca’s local law enforcement to responsibly use Flock data, he does not trust the current federal government.

“The issue for Ithaca specifically is that we’re a sanctuary city,” Sewell said. “We reaffirmed that last year … and we saw immediately pressure from the federal government. They threatened to cut funding to us. They actually started … a lawsuit against [Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne], and that was for simply following our laws.”

One of the Tompkins County agencies that the IPD and the sheriff’s office share their data with is the Cornell University Police Department. Hannah Shvets, Cornell student and 5th Ward alderperson on the City’s Common Council, said she is concerned because ICE has targeted Cornell University students. CUPD is also not a municipal police department.

In March 2025, ICE told Momodou Taal, activist and former Cornell University graduate student, to turn himself in. ICE also issued a subpoena to Google that was fulfilled in February 2026 for the personal data, including credit card and bank numbers, of Amandla Thomas-Johnson, activist, journalist and former Cornell graduate student.

“I think any of our vulnerable members of our community are rightfully concerned about this kind of surveillance,” Shvets said.

Scott Garin, executive director and chief of IC’s Office of Public Safety and Emergency Management, said via email that the camera on the corner of Hudson and Coddington is not under the purview of IC. He said IC employs a multi-layered security system, which includes integrated license plate reader technology from Flock.

“We work collaboratively with local law enforcement and higher education partners to ensure a coordinated and responsible approach to community safety,” Garin said via email. “We also recognize and take seriously the public concerns being raised both locally and nationally about the potential misuse or overreach of emerging technologies, including license plate readers.”

Flock Off Ithaca, a local activist group that is opposed to Flock cameras in Ithaca, published a map of where some of the Flock cameras in Tompkins County are. Kelly said he was not involved in deciding the location of the Flock cameras, and that the cameras are largely placed at main travel points in and out of the city.

Salisbury said Flock cameras are concentrated

primarily in Ithaca’s West End, and at entry and exit points of the city. He said the placement of the cameras reflects historical policing activities in Ithaca, since Ithaca’s West End has historically been overpoliced for a variety of reasons, including trying to address drug use.

“It’s how you get systemic implicit biases built into the system,” Salisbury said. “If you use earlier policing activity and lists of people, and you had implicit biases built into those systems, the information that that’s producing is going to recreate the potential for ongoing systemic biases and over policing, even if the individuals aren’t racist or have bias.”

The Common Council is voting on a resolution to terminate the city’s relationship with Flock on March 4. If passed, Flock would be required to remove its equipment from the city within 14 days of the enactment of the resolution. Sewell said that other agencies in Tompkins County still have contracts with Flock.

“The city ending its contract with Flock is not going to be a magic bullet for stopping people’s concerns regarding Flock,” Sewell said.

Diversity report

We ask members of The Ithacan to share information about their race, gender, sexuality, religion and ability level, as well as answer questions to gauge their sense of belonging in the workplace, on a digital survey each year. We share the results in a report on our website at the end of the fall semester.

As a student-led media outlet, The Ithacan strives to represent the voices of students across campus and value students’ lived experiences and identities. We share demographic information so campus community members can understand how our editors’ and staff members’ identities compare to the broader student body, and consider how our identities may influence our coverage.

We also strive to be transparent about our workplace culture by sharing information about editors’ and staff members’ sense of belonging in our workspace.

Our Findings

The editorial board is primarily composed of upperclassmen, with 10% of survey respondents indicating that they are seniors and 50% of respondents indicating that they are juniors. This shows an increase in the number of juniors from 2023, when 38.1% of respondents were juniors and 19% of respondents were seniors. None of the survey respondents indicated that they were first-year students, compared to 4.8% in the 2023 and 2024 reports. The share of sophomore survey respondents, 40%, is similar to 2023 and 2024, when 38.1% of respondents were sophomores.

This report helps us identify gaps in representation and areas that we can better support and affirm our members’ identities. We will use these results to track our progress and develop goals and strategies to create an inclusive workspace.

Community Outreach Manager Kai Lincke created a Google Form with survey questions in consultation with Editor-in-Chief Prakriti Panwar. She used the same demographic questions as last year’s form to compare data and added several new questions to better measure respondents’ sense of belonging in our workspace. We used one form for editorial board respondents and one for staff respondents.

The college does not publicly report data about ability, so we cannot compare The Ithacan’s editorial board and staff responses to the broader student body. The share of disabled board members in 2025 was 10%, an increase from 0% in 2024 and 4.8% in 2023.

The Ithacan editorial board continues to be predominantly White, with 19 out of 20, or 95%, of respondents identifying as at least partially White. Three respondents identified as Asian and two identified as Hispanic-Latinx. Two survey respondents identified as mixed. No survey respondents identified as Black or African American; Native American or Alaska Native; or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander.

The share of survey respondents who identified as people of color was 25%. This is an increase from the 19.1% of survey respondents who identified as people of color in 2024.

The Ithacan board is still mostly composed of cisgender women. Cisgender women made up 70% of respondents in 2025, compared to 57.1% of respondents in 2024. The share of cisgender men on the board decreased from 33.3% in 2024 to 20% in 2025. The share of nonbinary board members, 10%, remains close to the 9.5% of respondents who identified as nonbinary in the 2024. None of the respondents identified as transgender or chose the “prefer not to say” option.

On our e-board survey, 35% of respondents identified as straight or heterosexual, compared to 33.3% of respondents in 2024. This year, 20% of respondents wrote “N/A,” meaning that they prefer not to share their sexuality. This remains close to the 19% of respondents who wrote N/A in 2024.

Additionally, 20% of respondents identify as bisexual, compared to 19% in 2024; 15% identify as queer, compared to 19% in 2024; 5% identify as lesbian, compared to 9.5% in 2024; and 5% identify as demisexual. No respondents identified as demisexual in 2024.

The college defines first-generation college students as “students (and their siblings) who are the first in their family to attend and graduate from a four-year residential college in the U.S.” According to the college’s 2025-26 Facts in Brief, 16.4% of undergraduate students identify as first-generation college students.

Our survey results show that the share of first-generation e-board survey respondents increased to 25% in 2025.

LIFE AND CULTURE

Is chasing a night out in Ithaca worth a shot?

Ryan Johnson | October 16, 2025

Editor’s Note: The student sources who are under 21 in this story are referred to using their initials to preserve their anonymity.

I thaca, New York — a city of about 33,000 — has the 9th most bars per capita out of every city in the United States. If a zest for exploration hit a resident, they could go to a new bar every night for a month and would still have more to discover.

Despite the wide variety of drinking options available throughout Ithaca, drinking rates at Ithaca College have decreased since 2022, according to results from a National College Health Assessment survey.

In 2022, 66.2% of students reported using alcohol in the past month. In 2025, only 54.1% of students reported using alcohol in the past month — trending less than a point above the national average.

Although alcohol consumption has decreased, many Ithaca College students still decide to go out on Fridays and Saturdays, hopping on the Route 11 bus around 10 p.m. for a free ride downtown. From

Aug. 17 to Sept. 21, between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m., the Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) route 11 bus recorded 1,400 riders.

As fewer people are going out and there are only a couple of bars on the commons that are less likely to catch fake IDs, I wondered what kept students going to the bars. On Sept. 26, I decided to see for myself what a night out in Ithaca looked like from the perspective of five 20-year-old Ithaca College roommates who do not shy away from a night out.

The Pregame

I met the group at about 9:45 p.m. at an upstairs Circle Apartment. NG, MB and CG were out on their balcony as I rang the bell. They let me inside and showed me to their regular spot. A small side table held MB’s mixed vodka Celsius, CG’s Simply Spiked Bold — 8% ABV —, a near-empty bottle of Recipe 21 Premium Vodka, NG’s Mike’s Harder Lemonade — also 8% — and a small bag of weed. CG said the plan for the night was to go to The

Commons, which meant either Moonies Bar and Nightclub or Lot 10.

When I asked CG what they usually did before going to the bar, he said that the group gets the cheapest mixer and liquor they can find. NG also said he makes sure he is cross-faded every time he goes out, as he continued to take hits out of his bong.

“It takes the anxiety out of going out,” NG said. “I need to be high before I’m drunk.”

NG said he has had his fake ID since he was 15 years old, but he said he has never gotten carded in Ithaca when buying liquor. Before going out, NG said he preferred Lot 10 before they made their smoking rules stricter on the patio. He also shared his vision of an ideal night out.

“Drink five drinks at Lot 10, go to the patio, smoke a couple joints and cigarettes,” NG said. “Everyone leaves Lot 10, goes to Moonies [and then] Marrakech, always Marrakech. … And a post-game, a post-game is the most important part of a good night out.”

NG also said he missed The Range, a bar on

The Commons that closed in August 2024 due to financial strain.

“When The Range was open, that was also a bar that you could go to when you were underage,” NG said. “It was a good vibe, it wasn’t a club, it was a bar. The Range closing messed stuff up.”

MB said the problem with Moonies is that no one goes anymore, and if there were a bigger crowd there, she would be there every night. A little later, roommates GR and KR came out of their rooms to meet the group outside.

The Bus

At 10:38 p.m., the roommates joined a group of about 15 at the TCAT bus stop. A full bus passed, but an empty one followed. Once they got on the bus, CG and NG opened their buzzballs and began drinking them.

The TCAT has been free for students to ride since Fall 2023. Students can log into the TFare app with their student ID to scan into the bus.

Trevor Jensen, service planning and scheduling manager for TCAT, said in an interview with The Ithacan that when he had to drive the Route 11 bus from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, it originally drove him nuts.

“I have a puritanical opinion on good public conduct,” Jensen said. “But at the same time, it’s a lot of fun because you feel productive. … You’re driving 60 to 70 people up the hill, saving them a lot of time, you’re taking potential drunk drivers off the road and you feel like you’re doing something good.”

Jeremiah Anderson, operations manager at TCAT, said that providing public transportation for students who are drinking during the evening is a public service to the students and the communities on Hudson Street.

Anderson said that if there was one thing he could remind students about is to be more considerate of pushing and shoving when boarding the bus.

“I’d [also] like to say the volume on the bus, but I don’t think we’ll ever control that,” Anderson said. “I’m not saying everyone [on the bus] is drunk, but [students] have been drinking and it dulls our senses and [they] tend to get louder and excited. Also, not running in front of a moving

bus … it’s very dangerous.”

After the Towers stop, the second TCAT on the route reached maximum capacity and skipped the Garden Apartments stop. At 11:03 p.m., about 70 passengers exited the TCAT at the Ithaca Commons Seneca Street stop.

On the commons, a manager at Lot 10 was giving out ½ off drink tickets to students. CG grabbed one on the walk to Moonies.

Moonies

CG told the roommates that the plan was to get off the bus and go to Moonies quickly to pee because there is never a line before going to Lot 10.

“They never have a cover anymore,” CG said. “I think Moonies is struggling. I would be shocked if they didn’t close down in the next year.”

Shakawat Hossain is the owner of Moonies, Level B and Hideaway in Ithaca. Hossain has owned Moonies since 2020 and said in an interview with The Ithacan that IC students have a lot of memories at Moonies.

“I always ask customers, especially Ithaca College students, what you guys want, because [Moonies] is your place,” Hossain said.

Hossain said students complained about the regular $5 cover and asked him to create “power hour deals”, which he said he did. On Fridays and Saturdays, Moonies typically runs promotions where students can come in at a certain time to purchase $2 beers and mixed drinks. Hossain said the power hours increased business among Ithaca College students during the weekend.

“With $10, [students] can get mixed drinks, a couple of beers and a couple of drinks; it’s a very good price no one can beat,” Hossain said.

Hossain said the drink promotions do not benefit sales at Moonies, but he still runs them because he cares about the college’s students. Hossain also said downtown life in Ithaca is notably less busy because of inflation.

“[The] downtown area used to be busy at night,” Hossain said. “Now it is kind of quiet, inflation is affecting every business.”

in line at Lot 10 at 11:18 p.m., and ordered four lemondrop shots, two Long Island Iced Teas and two strawberry Surfsides from the downstairs bar for $54. NG said they try to order as many drinks as possible early, before a bigger rush of students at the bar.

The roommates took their drinks up to the upstairs dancefloor, which was almost full. They danced for about 20 minutes as CG and NG alternated hitting the vape and sniffing poppers.

Senior Cassie Skeele was working at the upstairs bar at Lot 10 that night. Skeele said she has been working at Lot 10 for a little over a year and said her favorite part of the job is waking up with more money in her pocket and no hangover. Skeele said she makes about $150 a night as a bartender.

“I usually work every Friday and Saturday,” Skeele said. “I have seen a lot of fights, drunk people getting mad and throwing drinks at each other. There’s a huge age range at Lot 10 [too], seeing people interacting is always interesting.”

At 11:45 p.m., the roommates went down to the beer garden to sit outside. The Lot 10 bouncers — who were also IC students — dressed in neon orange t-shirts, would not let anyone else upstairs because the dancefloor was at full capacity.

KR said that just like other nights, she did not have fun because Lot 10 does not play good music. CG said you cannot even meet anyone new at Lot 10 because everyone goes to IC. On the walk to the 12:31 a.m. TCAT, CG smoked a cigarette and said she wished there were more options than Lot 10 or Moonies.

After the night ended, I met up with CG and NG again when they were sober. If the night ended in disappointment, I wondered what kept them going out week after week. CG said that since they are social people, going out is the best way to see everyone they want.

“Even though it’s an average night out, it’s OK,” CG said. “When are you gonna go out every single weekend twice a night?”

NG said that the best part of a night out is sharing moments with your friends and that before he starts to work, this is his last chance to let loose.

“It’s just about being around my friends,” NG said. “It gives us so many stories that we talk about. … A bad night out is still better than a good night in.”

Q&A: Jesse Eisenberg talks college career

Sheelagh Doe | September 10, 2025

J

esse Eisenberg came to Ithaca College on Sept. 15 as a Park Distinguished Visitor. The Ithacan spoke to the award-winning screenwriter, director, and Emmy and Oscar-nominated actor in an exclusive interview on the phone.

Along with his Oscar-nominated performance in “The Social Network” in 2011, Eisenberg wrote, directed and co-starred in Oscar-nominated Best Original Screenplay “A Real Pain.” He also played roles in “Zombieland” (2009), “Rio” (2011) and “Justice League” (2017), among others.

Life and Culture Editor Sheelagh Doe spoke with Eisenberg about his work on “A Real Pain” and how his experience in college impacted his award-winning career.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sheelagh Doe: In your movie “A Real Pain” you mentioned Ithaca briefly. Where did that come from?

Jesse Eisenberg: I wanted a city upstate … that could theoretically have cool artsy people. So that’s where Benji gets his good weed from … a cool barber in Ithaca.

SD: I read an interview between you and a reporter at The New Yorker before “A Real Pain” came out. You had said that you write assuming that no one’s going to see it … When do you get to the moment when you know what you’ve written is significant?

JE: About a third of the way through a play or a film, I’ll know if the thing is viable, or if it’s going to die on the vine. “A Real Pain” was originally set in Mongolia, and I was about a third of the way through with these two guys going to Mongolia, and I could tell it was not going to work. … So that script died and then became reanimated … but in terms of actually people watching something … you never know how people are going to react, and a lot of it has to do with timing and so many intangible factors that are impossible to predict.

SD: When you were in college, what did you write about? [Was] there a shift [in what you wrote about]?

JE: When I was younger, I wrote just like jokes, one-liners and comedy sketches. … When I went to college, I started majoring in anthropology, and then suddenly all of my writing was about Americans interacting with people from other places. So I have four plays that were produced in New York and England, and they’re all about Americans interacting with somebody from another culture. … “A Real Pain” is an exploration of Americans interacting with this foreign thing. … There’s an anthropological background behind the movie. How do these Americans go into another culture and interact with it?

SD: What is the impact, in your opinion, [that]

student filmmakers can have, and what makes a student perspective unique?

JE: I just know that I was more creative and engaged with my own ideas when I was younger. I look back on the stuff I wrote when I was college age … and it’s brimming with kind of an energy. But it’s messy … it’s unproducible stuff … its ideas are really exciting, but not fully realized yet. … I am 41 now, so I miss that excitement. … That’s why [the] student perspective is so important … and so exciting to me, because it often is coming from … the first time you really get to put your ideas down in a way that you know feels official, and so that excitement is still there. People aren’t as jaded. People have a sense of … trying to say important, big things in a way that feels fresh and pure and … undiplomatic.

SD: What are the benefits of having experience in multiple facets of the filmmaking process, such as being an actor, writer [and] director?

JE: It’s amazing. I cannot recommend being on sets, in any capacity, more. … I get so much from being on movie sets as an actor. The last movie I acted in [was], [“Now You See Me: Now You Don’t”]. It’s this big, Hollywood, splashy movie. And then the movie I did before that was a $1 million movie where I was playing a Sasquatch in a Sasquatch suit all day — the complete opposite of a big Hollywood movie. If I was just directing movies, I would [have] never [seen] … the sets of either one of those movies, because I don’t make big Hollywood movies, and I don’t make really obscure art films about Sasquatches. … And that’s just this wonderfully rare advantage I have from being an actor, getting to see how not only different directors work, but how different projects from all ends

of the filmmaking spectrum come together.

SD: I’ve been pretty nervous about this interview, so I was wondering if … there’s any moments throughout your career that you’ve had to deal with having bad nerves, and if there’s anything that helped you.

JE: Yes, yes, yes, all the time, always. I’m just a generally very nervous person and so being in an industry where there’s public scrutiny is not great for my anxiety and the only way I really process it … is trying to remember or understand that a lot of that anxiety comes from excitement and anticipation. … It’s not all necessarily terrible. … I just try to be involved with as many things as possible, and it allows me to be less nervous about each one … I don’t care if a lot of people see the things I do or hear about them, I just try to stay busy.

SD: Are there any pieces of advice … that you would give to college students pursuing movie-making or acting?

JE: My current assistant/associate producer is an Ithaca alum named Eli Bernstein [’20], and he is an inspiration to me. … This guy was first on set at 4:30 in the morning, last to leave … and just had this wonderful attitude. Very helpful, helped out with jobs that weren’t even his particular jobs and just a joy to be around, even when times were difficult. … It was really inspiring to see him. He speaks very highly of Ithaca, of course … The people that I’ve worked with, [who] assume that they’re better than the jobs that they have, don’t really succeed. It’s all the people who are kind of humble and grateful to be doing whatever job that they’re currently doing who really do well, so … that would be some advice, and it comes from one of your students.

Art of translation class spreads roots via poetry

Meital Fried | December 5, 2025

As trees across campus shed the last of their autumn leaves, a new species of tree blossomed in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Its trunk and branches were papier-mâché, and its colorful leaves displayed various versions of a single poem. Students created the tree as a part of Introduction to the Art of Translation, a class about the theory of translation taught by Marella Feltrin-Morris, professor in the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures.

The tree is an artistic representation of the Italian poem “Soldati,” or “Soldiers,” written by nobel-prize winning poet Giuseppe Ungaretti. The tree trunk contains the original poem, with students’ translations written on paper leaves hanging from the branches.

Though the tree initially consisted only of translations created in the class, Feltrin-Morris and her students hope to encourage community members to contribute to the project. On Nov. 14, students from the class set up a table in Textor Hall to promote the tree, inviting people passing by to marvel at its beauty and aid its growth. On Dec. 3, the tree was relocated to the Office of International Student and Scholar Services, where international students will be able to add their own translations.

For years, Feltrin-Morris dreamed of creating the tree, but said she felt daunted by her lack of artistic skill. This year, thanks to the enthusiasm of her students, she is finally bringing her vision to life. She enlisted senior Lio Grogan to assemble the model using twigs from real trees and old newspapers. Though Grogan said they never imagined being this involved in the process, they are pleased with their role in the project.

“Having a visual representation of multiculturalism and multilingualism is very rewarding,” Grogan said. “It’s always fun to see how people interpret things through art [and] language.”

The project aims to increase the visibility of translation, a field that Feltrin-Morris said is often taken for granted.

“The translator is not simply conveying information,” Feltrin-Morris said. “They’re also helping understand a different culture.”

Communicating the nuances of “Soldati” is particularly challenging. The four line, eight word poem is famous across Italy for its brevity and poignant message. Ungaretti wrote the piece in 1918 while fighting in World War I. The poem compares soldiers to autumn leaves, hanging to life precariously, waiting to drop one by one. The subject matter gave the Translation Tree seasonal relevance — its construction coincided with the height of Fall and Veterans Day. And though the constant imminence of death felt in wartime is a uniquely traumatic experience, the impermanence of mortality is universally relatable.

“I think that the reason why the poem has survived for so long is that it speaks to a sense that we all share at one time or the other,” Feltrin-Morris said. “Not that we think that we’re dying from one moment to the next, but that we feel this sense of insecurity. This certainly speaks to the political situation, the world situation, but even when we think of our own mental health. How do we give voice to that sense of insecurity?”

Feltrin-Morris said she also sees autumn leaves as a metaphor for translation itself. The layout of the tree represents the ephemerality of the medium.

“No translation is ever going to be final,” Feltrin-Morris said. “No translation is ever going to be the one. There’s always going to be something else. We appreciate a text, not just through one translation, but through many translations.”

One fundamental of the class is the understanding that so much of language can never truly be translated. The course devotes an entire project to “untranslatable words” — words that are so specific in their meaning and cultural context they cannot easily be transferred from one language to another. Students are often asked to translate documents charged with specific emotional significance; Grogan’s current assignment is to translate a death certificate.

Junior Chloé Pénot, a student in the class, said she appreciates the nuances of the discipline.

“In this class, you realize that there is no perfect translation,” Pénot said. “Nothing can be perfect because between languages, there’s no means of communicating exactly phrases, nuances, pictures, all of that.”

Each student enriches the class with their unique language knowledge. Students in the class speak Cantonese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili. Over the years, Feltrin-Morris estimates that the class has included 25 different languages.

This year, roughly half the class speaks Spanish, making it the most common language for translations on the tree. Of all the Spanish translations of “Soldati,” no two were exactly alike, varying based on dialect or interpretation of the poem.

Sophomore Xavier Newby, a Spanish major and one of the nine Spanish-speaking students in the class, said he was surprised and inspired by the diversity of Spanish translations.

“A lot of the time with poetry ... it’s up to your interpretation of what that poem means to you personally,” Newby said. “Capturing all of the different interpretations in a language other than the original when you aren’t the author yourself is really difficult.”

Each translation hanging from the tree alters the poem in a different way. Some students changed the order of the words for clarity, while others changed the placement of line breaks.

Though Grogan said they often feel daunted by the expansive task of translation, they said they have learned to see the beauty of its imperfection.

“When you’re translating poetry, you might as well become a poet yourself,” Grogan said. “Because you are essentially rewriting the poem … It’s very much an artistic medium.”

Deep Dive calls for support amid financial strain

Sheelagh Doe | November 19, 2025

J

ust off of Old Taughannock Boulevard, facing the Cayuga Inlet, the dimly lit windows of Deep Dive look in on how music dances and swerves its way through clusters of people enjoying drinks by the bar or grabbing hands to the dance floor. Ithaca locals and college students alike swing and sway to the sound of Deep Dive’s devotion to music cultivation. However, running a business so integral to the music scene is not going as smoothly as it may appear.

An Instagram post outlining a call to action from “Allies for Deep Dive” began circulating via social media in October. The post outlined a GoFundMe for Deep Dive with a goal of hitting $85,000 by Dec. 31. After a period of uncertainty and subsequent pause in booking, Deep Dive is in a period of financial strain because its operational costs have outweighed its income during the hiatus.

According to the Instagram caption, Deep Dive is the last space for entertainment and production of its caliber left in Ithaca. In 2024, music venues The Range and The Upstairs closed, while The Haunt closed in 2021 and The Nines in 2018.

According to the National Independent Venue Association, which represents independent venues to preserve live entertainment and of which Deep Dive is a member, 64% of stages were not profitable in 2024. TJ Schaper ’13, co-owner of Deep Dive, said via email that shows that might seem successful can sometimes still lose money because most of the ticket revenue goes to the artists, production and basic operating costs.

“We want our venues to be accessible and inclusive, which is why I believe they are vital spaces BUT these expectations (sometimes non-negotiables) don’t align with the realities of being able to pay the bills to keep the doors open,” Schaper said. “Balancing values with financial survival at Deep Dive has been and continues to be one of the most difficult challenges of my life.”

Not long after this rally for community support for Deep Dive, The Downstairs Ithaca announced its closing through an Instagram post Nov. 9.

Drew Martin ’23 is a musician in the Deep Dive Big Band on Jazz Nights and said that Ithaca cannot let another bar close.

“We need Deep Dive because all the other businesses right now [that] are music venues are starting to close, and Deep Dive is probably one of the last standing ones,” Martin said. “After that, we’re just going to have bars with music playing in the background, not solely dedicated to the music. And without that, it’s going to be very damaging to Ithaca.”

Mickie Quinn, manager in the Communications Department and adviser for Park Promotions at Ithaca College, worked on branding and

promotion for Deep Dive during its first year. She said she had a conversation with Schaper about some uncertainty regarding Deep Dive that had risen with the Cayuga Park development, which includes the construction of a medical office building and two residential buildings along the inlet.

Quinn then decided that she wanted to help support Schaper and make it clear to the public that Deep Dive was not closing, but that it was under financial stress.

“Really, it was more important to rally the community around this space and to let him know that he has our support,” Quinn said. “And help give him the strength and the wind in his sails to keep going, and that we care and that we need him to do this, and so we need the community to step up and help.”

Schaper said via email that sustainability for independent and locally owned venues like Deep Dive is a dream, not a given.

“Since 2022 I’ve worked 60-100 unpaid hours a week for Deep Dive, not including the now six figures that I have personally invested into the business,” Schaper said. “Additionally, I’ve had to take on additional work as a way to try to keep up with Deep Dive’s finances.”

Included in Deep Dive’s events are Deep Dive Jazz Nights every other Wednesday and Honky Tonk Sundays every second Sunday of the month.

At Honky Tonk Sundays, everyone is invited to the floor to follow along as country swing and line dance instructors shout directions aloud and lead a line dance to match the rhythm and roll of music performed by the Deep Dive Barn Haulers.

Margaret Harper ’24, the lead singer for Lost Mary’s and vocalist in the Cast Iron Cowboys on Honky Tonk Sundays, said that Ithaca’s unique sound comes out of independent music venues like Deep Dive.

Soon there were spins, back kicks and twisting hips flooding the floor while Harper sang with a country twang.

“Real music of all different kinds by live performers in a really cool spot,” Harper said. “It’s beautiful over here. … The importance of venues like this is [that] it speaks for the people. And it’s not always like a huge act, but it’s heartfelt, hardworking members of the community who love music.”

Though Deep Dive only officially opened in 2022, the space itself has been a staple in the Ithaca community for decades. It was formally a bar called The Dock, and before that, Castaways.

“[Deep Dive] has been a physical place in this community for over 50 years that so many people have a tie to,” Quinn said. “If we lose Deep Dive, so many of us are going to lose our home stage.”

Martin said that while the closing of The Downstairs is unfortunate and that he is sad about it, he hopes that it gives the community an extra push to keep Deep Dive open.

“We need music … regardless if you’re a musician or not, we run on it and people want to see their favorite bands, people want to be on stage,” Martin said. “Having a music venue that is … pretty much dedicated to music is extremely important. It brings in revenue. It brings in new people. It brings in new musicians. It keeps dreams alive.”

The Downstairs closes due to financial hardship

Parker Anne Devine | December 10, 2025

On Nov. 21, Ashley Cake, the owner and operator of The Watershed and The Downstairs Ithaca, released a statement on both establishments’ websites as well as on social media. Cake began by informing loyal patrons that both businesses would be closing before the end of the year. The final sentence of the opening paragraph delivered the devastating news: The Watershed and The Downstairs’ final day of operation will be Dec. 23.

The Watershed and The Downstairs are located within the same building on State Street, right off The Commons. In her statement, Cake said that she opened The Watershed in 2016 because she noticed a community desire for third spaces — somewhere welcoming that is not home or work. In 2020, she opened The Downstairs, expanding a beloved business to include live entertainment. Handwritten notes from patrons cover both The Watershed and The Downstairs’ walls, a testament to the personal nature of these spaces.

While The Watershed provides signature drinks and a conversational atmosphere, The Downstairs provides a diverse array of entertainment to Ithaca, with events like live music, stand up comedy and poetry open mic nights.

Senior music major Isabella Joyner said she knows The Downstairs best for their Poetry and Punk nights, a collaboration between local music scene bookers Practice At! and The Downstairs.

“I knew [The Downstairs] for [being] such a special place to be able to share your work, share your ideas, share your creations,” Joyner said.

Johnny Dowd, a professional musician and resident of Ithaca since the early 1970s, said that The Downstairs is one of the best venues he has played at over the course of his career.

“[Cake] has made something special out of it with the variety of stuff she has,” Dowd said. “The music, the poetry, all the stuff she does that takes a tremendous amount of work to keep something like that going in a bar. She’s really a local hero, and it’s a shame that the town is so … lame that they won’t support it enough for her to make a living out of it.”

The Downstairs is not the first music venue in Ithaca to face financial hardship in 2025. In October, Deep Dive, a live music venue and bar located on Old Taughannock Boulevard, posted on social media asking for financial assistance from the community to keep the venue in business.

IC students are also affected by the closing of The Downstairs. Though not as popular with the college students as other Ithaca venues, The Downstairs was one of the venues included in a campaign known as Scene & Heard created by Joyner, senior Alexandria Atencio, junior Lucia DeFilippo and

sophomore Anne Kane.

By using social media as a platform, Scene & Heard hopes to broaden students’ options for a night out by promoting local shows and bands by creating content for social media. DeFilippo said that while Scene & Heard originally started in the group’s Public Relations Theories and Practice class, the campaign has become more than just a class project to her.

“[When] we first started the Instagram page, they launched the GoFundMe for Deep Dive and I was like ‘Oh, we actually have something to work towards,’” DeFilippo said. “Right after that is when we found out that The Watershed and The Downstairs were closing. So, it became a lot more of a passion project because … I didn’t want to be silently rooting for [the venues]. This was a good excuse to really use my voice.”

Cake said that when she first opened The Watershed in 2016, the bar was the first in Tompkins County to be certified as a Living Wage Employer at the rate of $15 an hour. The living wage is the minimum hourly wage that an employee needs to earn to be able to afford necessities in their county. Now, the Living Wage is more than $24 an hour, $4 more than Cake can afford to pay her employees.

“After nine years in business, I can no longer afford this community’s decades-long divestment from affordability,” Cake said in the statement. “The people I serve are being abandoned and communities that I am accountable to are under siege. While this city, this county, this state, and this country continue to fail the people so utterly, I can no longer justify tying up my skills, resources,

and connections in a single building, hustling commodities for the luxury class. Care is the only thing that has ever transformed circumstances and people, in that order.”

According to the 2025 Tompkins County Living Wage Study, 47.7% of workers in Tompkins County make wages below the living wage.

Cake wrote that as the cost of living in Ithaca gets more expensive, many people are spending less of their income on nightlife and alcohol based entertainment. Cake said she is frequently asked how much money would need to be raised to save the businesses and said that she needs her customers’ needs of health care, child care, stable housing and income to be met before her businesses would be able to thrive.

To keep memories of The Watershed and The Downstairs alive, Cake said she will be collating all of the beloved drink recipes into a book. Additionally, while answering questions left on The Downstairs’ closing announcement Instagram post, Cake said a box of the handwritten notes that cover the walls of the venue will be donated to The History Center in Tompkins County.

In early 2026, K-House Karaoke will move into the historic building on State Street, bringing a different kind of musical night life onto The Commons.

Dowd said The Downstairs will always hold a special place in his and Ithaca’s heart.

“[Cake made The Downstairs] more than just a business … because you knew how much work she was putting into it,” Dowd said. “You can replace the venue, but people like her, you can’t really replace.”

Local indie bookstores create hubs for thought

Ally Dheeradhada | September 25, 2025

Bookstores have long been a place of inclusion, comfort and community, and the independent bookstores in Ithaca are no different. They are important spaces for the sharing of ideas, the connecting of communities and learning about the world.

The relationship between independent bookstores and the Ithaca community has been a long and symbiotic one. Buffalo Street Books, an independent bookstore in the Ithaca area, survived only due to the support of the community. Lisa Swayze, the executive director of Buffalo Street Books, said via email that after the bookstore almost shut down in 2011, the community came together and raised $250,000 to purchase the store from its previous owner. The store became a consumer cooperative, owned and managed by the members of the community it served. In Fall 2024, the store became a non-profit to further represent the mission of the bookstore.

“Buffalo Street Books only exists because of this community and everything we do is about serving the community through the books on our shelves, our partnerships with other schools, libraries, and organizations, book donations, and our comprehensive list of free programming and events,” Swayze said.

Ramsey Kanaan is a publisher for PM Press, an independent publisher that owns Autumn Leaves Books. Kanaan said the abundance of independent bookstores in Ithaca is due to the shared principles of promoting literacy and the spreading of information.

“What we all share in common is that ideas matter,” Kanaan said. “And not one single store, or not one single book, of course, can be the repository for all that is fantastic, wonderful and engaging, and those ideas.”

Bookstores are considered third spaces, which are places outside of work or home, where communities can gather and socialize. Bookstores are considered part of this category, which have been shutting down and declining rapidly over the years, according to an article from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research.

Megan Graham, assistant professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College, said third places, especially independent bookstores, are deeply important to a community like Ithaca.

“We need spaces that aren’t home, that aren’t work, where we can congregate and talk about things that matter to us,” Graham said. “Bookstores and libraries … create spaces for performers to gain audiences, for authors to find readers and just for everybody to bond over the things that matter to us

… The first step in having a healthy society is to have those kinds of spaces where people can connect

to each other.”

Laura Larson, owner of Odyssey Bookstore, said bookstores serve as a third place with less pressure to spend money while there. Unlike a coffee shop or a restaurant, bookstores can offer a low-to-no cost space for social connection.

“Bookstores are really gorgeous third spaces, spaces that people can go into where you actually do not have to buy anything,” Larson said. “You go into a coffee shop, you really feel like, ‘I need to at least buy a coffee to be sitting here.’ Whereas [with] a bookstore, there’s just a long tradition of having a space that you’re welcomed into to browse, to wander through, and those are really important spaces … people crave that kind of casual interaction that comes from being in those spaces together.”

Prices at independent bookstores also factor into their importance in a community. Junior Anusha Bhargava said that they prefer to spend money at independent bookstores, not only for the lower prices, but also because they feel more secure in knowing where their money is going.

“In Barnes & Noble, the main factor for me is, it’s mad expensive,” Bhargava said. “I feel like most of my money is not [going to] go toward the author, and it’s really not [going to] help them. … It’s a lot more feasible for me as a student as well, because I’m already spending so much money on textbooks, I might as well just buy … cheaper books.”

Chris Hallam is the coordinator of the Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library Booksale, where hundreds of donated books are put on sale for very

low prices, all under $5. Hallam said things like the booksale are meant to put books in the hands of everyone, regardless of financial status.

“We need these places because it gets books in the hands of people that can’t afford [it],” Hallam said.

Independent bookstores are not only beneficial in their lower prices, but also in their ability to have many different titles across stores. Different bookstores may have a different reach to house specific genres or authors, so it is essential to have many bookstores with a variety of collections, Bhargava said.

Graham said they love the serendipity of what they find at bookstores, how many things can be found at independent bookstores that would not be available at a chain such as Barnes & Noble.

“Those bookstores are run by people who love books and literature and authors, and they want everyone to get access to cool things, and that’s just sort of like a natural difference,” Graham said. “A corporation can never love reading, and people love reading.”

Independent bookstores are often places that are meant to be welcoming and safe, and Buffalo Street Books is no exception. In the middle of the bookstore, there is a sign stating its commitment to making sure everyone feels safe and welcomed, regardless of race, gender or sexuality. Swayze said the decision was meant to show all customers that they are supported and welcomed in the store.

“This is a community-owned store,” Swayze said. “I think any indie bookstore, the more it fills that role where everyone can feel welcome and see themselves on your shelves, the better job you’re doing.”

Ithaca College runs to raise funds in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Haley Meberg | October 26, 2025

On the brisk autumn morning of Oct. 18, the Ithaca College Community laced up its sneakers near the natural lands by Terrace 13 in the largest crowd yet for the annual IC Runs Purple 5k Run + Walk, hosted by the Office of Public Safety.

The air buzzed with anticipation as faculty members, community members and IC families prepared to take off for the annual event dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the Tompkins County Advocacy Center in honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Sergeant Bryan Verzosa, an officer at OPS and organizer of the IC Runs Purple 5k, said the event began as a campus initiative by OPS to revitalize the pathway between the Circle College Apartments and Terraces. Verzosa explained that the initial switch to placing their attention on Domestic Violence Awareness month began five years ago, around this time of year.

“Our first year started off light, people-wise, but we had about 20 participants,” Verzosa said. “Now, being our fourth year running it, it’s actually going to be our largest one. So we’ve got about 40 people signed up already.”

Verzosa said this growth helps bring the topic of domestic violence awareness to light and brings the community’s focus to an important issue that, at times, goes unspoken about.

The Tompkins County Advocacy Center, the primary beneficiary of the event, is a free and confidential resource to individuals affected by

abusive behaviors from all different backgrounds. The organization has a long-standing partnership with IC to bring education about prevention awareness to students and staff, offering different educational workshops and open conversations to help the campus identify and respond to domestic and dating violence.

A study from PubMed Central reports that the issue of dating violence impacts about 20-30% of college students in the United States. These statistics highlight the need for education and prevention efforts on college campuses.

Alex Kabat ’24, the campus educator of the Tompkins County Advocacy Center, is a local advocate who works closely with all college campuses throughout the Tompkins County area, spreading awareness around domestic and dating violence.

“When I’m coming in, I’m doing a lot of prevention education work, just letting people know about our agency, what we do, because we found that a lot of students don’t know that we exist,” Kabat said.

In addition to the Center’s prevention education, Kabat emphasised that the Advocacy Center functions as an institution separate from the college and is a resource open to students who may feel apprehensive when contacting campus resources.

Kabat said events like the IC Runs Purple 5k allow students to connect with the community on a heavy topic in a lighthearted day of fun, allowing them to place their real-life advocacy

work into action.

This year’s 5k run was not just about running; it was about visibility. Across from the finish line, a colorful clothesline displayed T-shirts bearing handwritten messages of strength, survival and hope. This display, which is a part of the national Clothesline Project, served as a powerful reminder of why these conversations matter.

Kristi Taylor, the director of Ithaca’s WenDo women’s self-defense chapter and longtime advocate for survivors, said that the Advocacy Center was first created in the 1970s as a way to support women who felt they had no way out of abusive situations.

“The whole big story is that our local suicide prevention hotline was receiving a number of calls from women specifically experiencing domestic violence who felt that they had no other options at the time,” Taylor said. “Some of the women from that organization got together and said, ‘We have to do something, women are feeling like their only way out is to die by suicide.’”

Taylor’s reflection on the center’s beginnings highlights the importance of community-driven action, the very idea at the heart of the IC Runs Purple event.

For many participants, this partnership was felt in every step. Among the runners was Amel Gerardi, a parent of a first-year student, who said events like this provide comfort to him as a parent sending their child away to college.

“I feel very good about sending my daughter here because I could tell that the school cares about safety and cares about the people and puts their students first,” Gerardi said.

As each runner crossed the finish line, students, parents and community members gathered near the display of shirts, cheering on each participant as they took their last stride in the race. The mood was empowering and connecting, a moment that captured the spirit of what organizers said they hoped to achieve.

“I don’t know exactly how much we’ve raised so far this year, but as of yesterday, we had over $600 raised, which is more than we have every other year in the past,” Verzosa said. “So it’s amazing, and I’m sure we’ve probably crossed over $1000 now.”

Following the end to the event, organizers from OPS confirmed they have raised a total of $1,114, which is over double what was raised in prior years.

As the morning wrapped up, participants gathered with their friends and families with smiles on their faces, comparing running times and carrying a sense of accomplishment and community.

Concert series raises aid money for immigrants

Eva Leon | September 10, 2025

I

n solidarity with immigrants in the area, a group of local volunteers hosted Busking for Justice, a series of concerts to fundraise for legal aid and bail for immigrants who have been wrongfully detained. They held their first event of the series Sept. 5.

Starting at 5:30 p.m., people began trickling into Café DeWitt, ordering food off the special Filipino Friday menu and settling into their seats to listen to the folk trio. As the audience listened and conversed, one of the event organizers, Jayne Demakos ’78, walked around with a basket collecting donations that will go to two immigrants and their families in need of legal assistance. The first Busking for Justice event featured local musicians Rick Manning, Naomi Sommers and Dave Davies.

Three other women also played key roles in organizing the event: Sheila Payne, Laurie Konwinski and Saoirse McClory. Demakos is a former adjunct professor from the School of Music at Ithaca College. She said that Busking for Justice came from Busking for Good, a concert series that began in March 2024, that she organized. The event focused on raising money for humanitarian aid for World Central Kitchen, an organization working to provide fresh meals to communities in crisis.

“During the Ukraine war, people were sad and horrified,” Demakos said. “And so it was a way to spiritually have a place that could get infused with something positive and good.”

Having lived in the area for four decades and being a musician herself, Demakos is well-connected in the music community in Ithaca. She said she reached out to local musicians and they did not hesitate to participate.

Both Manning and Demakos said that it made sense to have the concerts coincide with Ithaca Gallery Night, where galleries hold opening receptions on the first Friday of every month because pedestrians would already be walking around visiting various galleries on The Commons. Once in full swing, every seat was full of community members. The mayor of Ithaca, Robert Cantelmo, was also present and seated in the front row.

Konwinski, coordinator of the Justice and Peace Ministry at Catholic Charities of Tompkins and Tioga County, was another key organizer for the event. She said the musical and uplifting format of the fundraiser is a great way to draw people in who want to be supportive of the cause but would not necessarily attend a lecture or a rally.

“Music brings people together, and it’s so important for people who care about this cause

or any other important cause to know that other people do too,” Konwinski said.

Demakos said the combination of the event’s elements — food, music, community and supporting a cause — make the event work well. Joni Spielholz, an Ithaca local of 56 years, has attended various immigrant solidarity events in Ithaca.

“[Busking for Justice has] got everything; it’s friends, great music and the right thing to do,” Spielholz said.

Konwinski said Ithaca is a city that has welcomed immigrants from various countries across many different continents. According to the 2023 United States Census, foreign-born individuals make up about 19% of Ithaca’s population.

She said that as the government fails to give due process, the fear is that even immigrants who have legal status will face the threat of deportation.

In January, President Donald Trump’s administration issued an executive order cracking down on immigration, stating that all immigrants who are under suspicion of violating the law must be detained and removed from the country.

“We know that the federal government is in the process of hiring a lot more immigration agents, and we are trying to prepare for that eventuality that there would be more of a presence in our area,” Konwinski said.

U.S. Immigrations Customs and Enforcement plans to hire 10,000 new agents with its over $70 billion budget increase, over the next four years.

Manning is a retired landscape architect and a cherished local musician. He did a benefit for

Ithaca Welcomes Refugees in June 2025. They were raising money for a similar cause, legal aid for legal immigrants who had lost their work permits.

“The immigrant situation is a very human, important, relatable issue,” Manning said. “There are so many issues that seem so big and so out of control, but these are human beings and families.”

On top of the trauma, the financial stress of being wrongfully detained is a huge burden on immigrants and their families. Those affected might have to worry about the cost of bail or hiring a lawyer. Konwinski said legal representation is important and she hopes the money raised will help people in this situation afford to hire lawyers.

“The great genius with busking is [that] everybody can come and people can give according to their means and their interest,” Konwinski said.

After the trio played a handful of songs, Demakos and Konwinski took the stage to talk about the cause. Demakos thanked the community for showing up.

“We are disrupting the system,” Demakos said. “Who else is going to do it but us?”.

Konwinski then gave a short talk about knowing your rights as an immigrant, and shared a personal story of an immigrant, Heidi, and her family.

“We will get through this, this is our country, we are not giving up on it,” Konwinski said.

Demakos said that over 70 people attended throughout the night and they raised $1,400.

“It was everything we had dreamed of,” Demakos said.

Student bands record EPs over the summer

Parker Anne Devine | September 10, 2025

In Spring 2025, Ithaca College student bands awdam and All Nine Bite made a name for themselves as members of the IC music scene. awdam first played at a Prospect Street house party in March and All Nine Bite got their start at the IC Bureau of Concert’s Sound Off competition in April. In Fall 2025, each band returned to campus with something new to debut: studio recorded extended plays or EPs. An EP is a short album that usually contains 4-6 songs.

All Nine Bite’s EP, “Bordering States,” was released on all streaming platforms on Aug. 28. As of Sept. 8, “Bordering States” has 431 streams.

Awdam’s EP, “You Win!” is currently still in production with an expected release in November.

Awdam, made up of juniors Dan Boush, Wade Messier, Alex Siegelson and Sam Nejberger, recorded “You Win!” at Hidden Fortress, a recording studio in Philadelphia. Nejberger had a connection with one of the sound engineers, Kieran Ferris.

All Nine Bite, made up of sophomores Jackie Houghtaling, Jake Smith, Miles Terranova and Matt Argus, recorded “Bordering States” at Rock City Academy in Pine Bush, New York, where Smith teaches music lessons.

Messier explained that the band members knew this summer was the time to record their EP.

“I think for all of us, music never really stops,” Messier said. “In the summer, when we’re away from each other, [Boush]and I send each other probably like a million Garage Band demos a week. It’s nonstop. So to get beyond the Garage Band computer set-up and be with the band again and record was something we really wanted to do this summer.”

While the summer offered more free time and

flexibility for the bands, the band members still had to travel from their hometowns in different states.

Messier drove 12 hours each way from his home in Vermont, picking up Boush in Massachusetts and Siegelson in New York on the way to the studio in Philadelphia. Houghtaling took the 14 hour train ride from Chicago to New York in order to meet up with the rest of her band mates in Pine Bush, New York.

With that much travel time involved, the members of All Nine Bite decided to make a whole week out of their recording time, which they nicknamed “All Nine Bite Week 2025” in an Instagram post. In addition to recording in the studio, the group went bowling, played mini golf and created a music video for their song “Bridal Shop,” which was released July 25.

Terranova explained that not only was “Bridal Shop” the first song that the band had released a music video for, it was also the first song All Nine Bite had written as a group.

“It just kind of felt right,” Terranova said. “It was the song we played the most. … It’s the song that most people knew. So it just kind of felt right for [“Bridal Shop”] to be the first thing to actually hit the studio.”

Smith said that even during the summer, when the IC music community is spread out across the country, it is still an incredibly supportive group to be a part of. As All Nine Bite posted promotional content for “Bordering States,” they received excited comments from their peers at IC.

“Last semester, we [didn’t] really know everyone that well [because] we were just starting,” Smith said. “But it was so nice seeing these people that we kind of know comment and be like ‘Oh, we can’t wait.’”

awdam also felt the support from the community

at IC. The band was able to cover the recording cost with the money that they earned from playing shows as well as some of their personal funds, but Siegelson explained that on the way back from their recording session, the band realized that they would not have enough money to cover the $600 cost of mixing and mastering the recordings.

“I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw that all of these [student] films do GoFundMe [and thought] why don’t we just try it?” Siegelson said.

By 10 p.m. Aug. 5, seven hours after awdam posted their GoFundMe, the band had raised $1,115 in donations. Nejberger said he was surprised to find that almost all of the donations to the GoFundMe were from people that the band members knew from IC.

Awdam was blown away by the support and thanked the 37 people who donated to their GoFundMe in an Instagram post Aug. 9.

Terranova explained that the first three songs on “Bordering States” were original songs that All Nine Bite had been playing for a semester. But when it came to writing a fourth song, the band was not sure what they were going to do.

“It got down to the second to last night of All Nine Bite week so, [Houghtaling] had a train out two days from then,” Terranova said. “[Smith] showed us this riff he’d been working on and we kind of cranked out that last song in like 22 hours, pretty much a full day.”

Argus said this song is “Lavender,” the final track on the EP.

“I think that ended up being the most All Nine Bite sound we got,” Argus said. “That’s collectively our song.”

Siegelson explained awdam took advantage of their time at Hidden Fortress. Ferris made sure that the band would leave with a product that they were proud of. The band agreed that Ferris really “got” what they were trying to do with “You Win!”

“We got a lot of recording style freedom,” Siegelson said. “I sat at the board with Kieran and we were discussing ‘What are the different ways that we can record this?’”

Boush explained that because the songs on “You Win!” are some of the earliest that they wrote, awdam has become comfortable with the material and added details as they play. Listening back to the recording, Boush and Messier agree that these personal touches are what make each song great.

For Messier of awdam, this EP is a way to hold on to what he created with his bandmates.

“We really enjoy and cherish the art we make with each other,” Messier said. “awdam might not last forever, this might not be something after we graduate. I think it was really important for us to record that and have that and put it into the world. If at the very least we can have that, we can say ‘We did this and we’re proud of this’ I think that makes it all worth it.”

Artists leaves their mark at Mural Jam festival

Sofia Fitzgerald | October 12, 2025

On Oct. 4, 1966, lifelong Ithaca resident and new shipping hire Thomas Whittaker stepped onto the SouthWorks factory floor for the first time.

Whittaker returned to that same factory 59 years later, but it was no longer the industrial plant he had worked at for over 40 years. Instead of the metallic fumes and mechanical hum of machinery, the space was now filled with the sharp scent of fresh paint, the pumping bass of a nearby DJ and a community of creatives bringing color to the concrete. Tom Whittaker is no stranger to that community.

“I lived here all my life,” Whittaker said. “I was born right next door to where I live.”

And to this day, Whittaker continues to engage in his community’s events. Like many other enthusiastic locals, he attended Ithaca’s inaugural Mural Jam on Oct. 4 and 5 at the historic site where he once worked. The two-day festival, organized by SouthWorks and Ithaca Murals, invited 10 local, regional and national artists to adorn the abandoned factory walls with original designs. The muralists also presented artist talks, workshops and community paint sessions, encouraging all attendees to leave their mark. Their canvas? An 820,000 square-foot former industrial factory.

In Whittaker’s time as their delivery driver, SouthWorks was known as BorgWarner and specialized in manufacturing automotive engine components. Since the factory’s closure in 2011, the SouthWorks team has been planning to transform the idle space into a sprawling, mixed-use neighborhood housing various residents and businesses, the Mural Jam being an exciting step in that process.

Sarah Barden, community outreach and leasing coordinator at SouthWorks, said community involvement has been crucial in starting the project.

“We’re offering opportunities for the community to participate in the transformation of this factory all along the way,” Barden said, highlighting the team’s goal of making locals feel welcome and curious about the space.

The event also celebrated the first business established on the SouthWorks campus: Found in Ithaca, the beloved Cherry Street antique store set to open its new location later this fall. This development inspired Barden to spruce up the space before Found’s grand opening.

“How do we bring some art to the site right at the beginning?” Barden said. “How do we bring some life and some color and some energy to the campus?”

Ithaca Murals was their answer.

“We brought a couple artists up to the site to brainstorm with us, and they wanted to go big: they wanted to do a mural jam,” Barden said. “And serendipitously, there was some funding that came available to support that endeavor. So now we are able to go big.”

Murals are a cornerstone of Ithaca, a trademark of the community’s creative spirit and pro-social energy. Caleb Thomas, founder of Ithaca Murals and a well-known figure within the local arts scene, was eager to partner with SouthWorks and bring a diverse selection of artists to the event’s forefront.

“I want [the event] to be a decentralized vision of what our town looks like,” Thomas said. “An artist takeover that young people and people of color

and women and gender queer artists and people from marginalized backgrounds can have a say in what our city looks like.”

Audra Linsner, an Ithaca Murals board member and one of the 10 featured muralists, said how thrilled she was about the large-scale collaboration.

“It’s really sweet to have a group like this,” Linsner said. “I feel like it’s really special and unique, and something so perfectly Ithaca.”

Linsner led a community paint station all weekend alongside fellow artists Clove Flores, Eric Bussart, Kristin Dutcher, LaJon Miller, Margalo, Maya Murry, Sergio Arce, Tino Lopez and Wingchow. They were joined by performers of all mediums, including singer/ songwriter Jeremiah Craig and Tompkins County Poet Laureate nicole v. basta.

Lopez, a Utica-based artist making his Ithaca mural debut, said his creative journey opened new doors for him.

“[Art is] what saved my life,” Lopez said. “It’s my hyper-focus, it’s what keeps me here. I’m a Mexican trans man, I’ve dealt with a lot of different things, [and] every day that I’m creating is a day worth living.”

Lopez’s mural mirrors the boldness behind his story. Its striking purple strokes encircle goldfish and sunflowers are motifs of good fortune and inner radiance.

“[It’s important] to create in a time where so much is going on,” Lopez said. “We don’t realize how much our art can actually help others.”

Miami-based pop artist Sergio Arce, better known by his pseudonym “Registered Artist,” echoed Lopez’s sentiments about art’s expressive potential. Unlike Lopez, Arce had already collaborated with Ithaca Murals in the past. His passion for the natural world, illustrated by the blossoms and butterflies throughout his murals, made the collaboration a perfect fit.

“I would have never gone to Ithaca if it hadn’t been for [that opportunity],” Arce said. “and now I try to go back every year!”

Ithaca certainly has a magnetic quality to it, whether it be through its idyllic landscapes, masterclass murals or its inviting community. It’s a place that leaves a mark — in more ways than one.

Whittaker still remembered what the space was in the past, before SouthWorks closed its doors. His eyes traced the factory walls when he spoke of his past, recalling the distant time when it was Ithaca’s industrial powerhouse. On the same day he entered the site 59 years ago, Whittaker watched as the community painted a new picture of the town he has known all his life.

“They’ve got one big area down there,” Whittaker said, pondering the playfully colored concrete. “Hopefully they get something going again.”

Curtain rises for equitable musical theater club

Sadie Evans | November 6, 2025

Anew student-run organization is making its presence known on Ithaca College’s campus, providing theatre opportunities for the entire student body, regardless of major, year and experience. The Ithaca College Performing Arts Collective was established in Spring 2025 by sophomore Nicholas Kutzin as a way for students to be involved in theater without majoring in it.

Kutzin, a writing for film, television and emerging media and theatre studies double major, is the president and student director of the collective and started ICPAC because of his passion for the arts. He said his arrival at college sparked a realization of the lack of opportunity for student-led musical theater.

“When I came here, I was told how there were so many opportunities to do theater for non-theater majors,” Kutzin said. “And I figured out very quickly that there were a lot of opportunities for performance and music and acting and that sort of stuff, but there was nothing really musical theater. … And I [said], ‘Well, I want to change that.’”

Since ICPAC’s debut show, the “Pipe Dream Cabaret,” in Spring 2025, it has established itself as a solid space for performers, directors and leaders.

Sophomore Sabina Jungkeit, vocal performance major and vice president of the collective, explained how her goal was for ICPAC to feel like a sense of community, especially for students looking for a theatrical space. She said that ICPAC provides experience for not only performers, but for those interested in leadership roles as well.

“I feel … because of my major, [where I am] auditioning for things, I’ve never been like on the other

[end of] the audition table,” Jungkeit said. “It was just interesting to me to see the other side of doing a show.”

This year, Kutzin and the executive board have been working to put together the fall show, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” a musical comedy that includes singing, dancing and even bits of improv, with show dates planned for Nov. 6, 8 and 9 in the Hill Center room 104.

Zoe Link, a sophomore music major, said her fascination with Kutzin’s success led her to inquire and eventually become the music director of the Fall 2025 ICPAC production.

“This has been a good learning experience for me, and different because I’m usually a player,” Link said. “I don’t often conduct stuff like this, so, of course, it’s different with a track, but this has been [a good] way for me to learn more about pit music.”

ICPAC kicked off the fall semester by gaining nearly 200 sign-ups on the email list at the Student Organization and Employment Fair held in late August.

Auditions for the Fall 2025 show were sent via video in mid-September, as promoted on their Instagram. As music director, Link explained what she was eyeing during casting.

“I was mostly looking for people who had a distinct voice, like they could, of course, carry a tune and everything,” Link said. “I was looking for people … [who were] captivating to listen to. … We were mostly just looking … to see what each person brought to the part as a whole.”

ICPAC’s main goal is to provide students a chance to be heard, seen and considered, though that is not a guarantee of getting cast.

“It’s open to everyone,” Kutzin said. “Your major does not matter. That was something that was really important to me. …[On the audition form] I made sure not to include ‘major’ because I don’t want that to affect casting in any capacity, along with age. … I think freshmen and seniors deserve the same opportunity to be in a show.”

First-year film major Ben Oren is an example of how ICPAC is an organization for lovers of the craft. It could be seen as something done “just for fun,” but to college students who graduated high school and left a piece of their heart on a stage back home, it means so much more.

“I was overjoyed when I found this [organization], because I knew going into [college] that Ithaca was originally a conservatory,” Oren said. “So I was like, ‘Oh, my God, just goodbye theater.’ … It feels like a weight was lifted off my shoulders, that I was able to find these people in this club and just do this.”

Similarly, sophomore Kayla Fiore is working on the production as a cast member and is on the e-board as producing director. She explained that ICPAC has made it possible for her to pursue her passion outside of just her degree.

“Dillingham is so competitive, and so while I would love to audition for their shows, I don’t know that I have the same level of ability as some of the [musical theater] or acting majors,” Fiore said. “So what I really love about … ICPAC is that it is open for students of any and all majors, any and all skill levels.”

The School of MTD has audition guidelines that outline that auditions take place twice every year and are open to all students. However, students enrolled in the acting and musical theater degrees are required to audition every semester that they are on campus. Additionally, a block of slots is set aside in fall semester auditions for first-year and transfer students who are performance majors, so that faculty can see the entire works of the incoming class.

Considering ICPAC’s newly sprouted roots, the club made sure to connect with other theater groups on campus, such as Harmony Theatre Collective and Macabre Theatre Ensemble.

Seth Soulstein, lecturer in the Department of Theatre Production and Management, advocated for students taking the initiative in starting student organizations by utilizing some resources available right at their fingertips.

With the right kind of attitude, motivation and initiative, Soulstein said he believes the arts can continue to thrive for all students on campus.

“That is what the beauty of the setup here is that if students feel passionately about something, they can say, ‘I want to make a club about it’ and get some resources, and that’s available to everyone,” Soulstein said.

Tense political conversations arise between students and families during holiday break

Eva Leon,

Mackenzie

Hayes | December 11, 2025

As college students nationwide are heading home for the holidays and reuniting with their families, among the gifts and home-cooked meals waiting for them, they may also be confronted with a tense conversation about politics.

Students at Ithaca College say they are working to promote constructive communication at the dinner table to maintain relationships despite differences in views.

When sophomore Bella Phelps went home over Thanksgiving break, she found herself sucked into a group text debate with her extended family. The conflict began when her grandfather decided to send a photo of the president that started a flare up between members of her family who had opposing views.

“Why is this happening? On Thanksgiving Day?” Phelps said. “It’s a day we’re supposed to be thankful. … It does create a crack in a relationship with your family, and it sucks because it doesn’t have to be that way.”

During a time of immense political polarization,

heated political conversations are becoming more and more common among families.

Mickey Huff, professor in the Department of Journalism and director of the Park Center for Independent Media, has studied causes of this polarization. He and his colleague Nolan Higdon at Project Censored, a media watchdog organization, published an article in December 2024 called “The Revolution Starts at the Table.” The article suggests 12 tips on how to communication constructively when facing conflicting opinions.

“With mass media conglomeration [and] a lack of media literacy education, [society has] really created this perfect storm where people were encouraged to say nasty things and get in certain camps or tribes,” Huff said.

Phelps said this divisive behavior has become ingrained in our society and the media is so often polarizing. A trend toward negativity bias can lead to a growing feeling of desensitization in the public. Negativity bias refers to the media’s tendency to

report on and prioritize what people consider to be “bad news.”

Huff said that the media tends to feed into hyper-partisanship as a way to heighten people’s emotions and keep them engaged in the content. Phelps said she has seen polarization on the news and believes it gets worse every day.

“It’s not grabbing people’s attention, because it’s become such a normalized thing, which is scary to see,” Phelps said. “People are just like, ‘Oh, here we go again.’ … It’s kind of like going over their heads, how bad it is.”

Phelps has had experiences with family members on her dad’s side who are not accepting of her sexuality, and often feels she has to hide parts of her identity in order to fit in.

“It’s kind of like you’re walking on ice,” Phelps said. “It’s a sad truth that you kind of just have to deal with it … sometimes I’ll find myself going over to [my] family’s house and I don’t even mention anything. … I have to sort of pretend to just be like them.”

Situations like these are something that the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach and Services at IC is aware of, so they aim to provide a space where queer students can be their authentic selves. On Dec. 3, the center held an event called Queer for the Holidays. Crissi Dalfonzo, director of the LGBT Center, said via email that the event gives queer students the opportunity to celebrate the holidays on campus.

“Going home to family who do not believe that you or your community deserve basic human rights can be incredibly difficult and painful, which is why it’s so important for us to create spaces on campus for students to celebrate with their chosen family,” Dalfonzo said via email.

“It’s one thing to have different political views or opinions from your family — how taxes should be charged or used, for instance,” Dalfonzo said. “It’s another thing entirely for one’s family to not accept who you are as a person — that’s not a difference of political opinion, that’s a difference of values.”

Junior Will Coleman said that although he believes in keeping an open mind during political conversations with family, personal values often coincide with political ideologies and he leans toward sharing similar values with the people in his life.

“When it comes to family situations, finding out that people have values that you didn’t really think that they would have,” Coleman said. “It makes you look at people differently sometimes. … When our family friend said that she’s fine with all these families getting deported, then that makes me look at people differently. And I don’t think that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that.”

Keeping an open mind when engaging in political conversation with family is something that first-year student Angi Snyder suggested when describing ways they thought people could improve their communication.

“Just go into it with the feeling of, ‘I’m going to listen now,’” Snyder said. “Take it all in. Don’t take it personal. And then you can respond gracefully.”

“The Revolution Starts at the Table” explores how constructive dialogue is made possible when people are willing to take into consideration their own and others’ implicit biases and lived experiences without trying to influence or discount them.

“We kept seeing people on two different sides that were so extreme about what they were trying to promote and what they hated that they all talk past each other, not with each other,” Huff said.

He said that oftentimes, people did not even realize how much they may have had in common, they were instead focused on the one thing that they differed on.

Junior David Deer said he disagrees with

his parents on politics, but that he has met many like-minded people in school. He has come to accept that his parents do not experience the same things as him and therefore do not understand things the same way. He said a difference in views does not have to lead to the end of relationships.

“I don’t agree with [their beliefs,]” Deer said. “They’re my family. I love them. Hatred is such an exhausting thing to feel all the time. You kind of have to learn to … sit there and be like, ‘That’s not how I feel, that’s not the way I move through the world, but that’s just who they are and how they feel.’”

Coleman said college is a politically active environment where students are constantly engaging in open dialogue and conversation; however, he said he also realizes that IC is its own echo chamber of ideas.

“We’re in a huge bubble,” Coleman said. “And even I’m struggling. I have to learn that even some things that may be common knowledge here may not necessarily be the truth sometimes.”

First-year student Aidan Martellotta said his aunt and uncle have created an uncomfortable environment by creating divisive conversations about politics during family gatherings.

“I feel like they try, at times, to push [their] views, like they try to influence me to have those views, the same views as them,” Martellotta said. “When I always try to keep an open mind to all the issues.”

Martellotta said his aunt and uncle are not happy about their children’s sexualities. Conflicts like this

have become common talking points between older, more traditional relatives and their younger, more progressive children.

Junior Travis Conway said that when he disagrees with family he tries to dig further and figure out why they feel the way they do. Recently, he has begun to disagree with his parents more because he has become heavily critical of the Democratic party, whereas his dad identifies closely with the party. He said that older generations can at times think they have all the answers simply because they have more lived experience, but that education through research can be just as valuable to forming opinions.

“One thing I hate that people say is it’s not my job to educate somebody,” Conway said. “I don’t believe that that’s true. I think it’s everyone’s job to educate anybody, if you have the means … if you’re put in a position where you can educate them, I don’t see why you shouldn’t.”

Students like Conway, Deer, Coleman, Martoletta and Snyder are navigating conflict by keeping the dialogue open and acknowledging, accepting and working through differences for the sake of maintaining family relationships.

“I think that a relationship with politics should just be challenging, it shouldn’t be damaging,” Deer said. “I don’t think you should end your relationship with your family because they disagree with you politically. I think you only have one family. You have one short life. You should embrace it and love it as much as you can.”

Q&A: Universal Pictures acquires horror film script written by Ithaca College alum

Sheelagh Doe | December 21, 2025

“Portrait of God,” a short horror film written and directed by Dylan Clark ’23, was released on YouTube in 2022 and now its feature film script, by the same name and written by Clark, is hitting the big leagues.

On Dec. 1, Universal Pictures announced that it acquired the script and that Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi will be embarking on their first collaboration as producers to bring the adaptation to life. The film will be produced in conjunction with Peele’s company Monkeypaw Productions and Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures. Peele has most recently worked on the horror film “Him” (2025) as a producer and writer and is also well known for directing “Get Out” (2017), “Us” (2019) and “Nope” (2022). Raimi has most recently directed “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” (2022) and is well known for directing the trilogy of “Spider Man” (2002) with Toby Maguire as well as the horror franchise “Evil Dead”(1983).

The short “Portrait of God” was filmed in room 140 of Roy H. Park Hall while Clark was a senior film, photography and visual arts student at Ithaca College. The short has obtained 8.8 million views on YouTube since its first release. In an interview with The Ithacan, Clark said someone who saw the video online sent it to Ghost House Pictures, which is where it all began.

“Portrait of God” follows Mia Reilly (Sydney Brumfield), as she enters an empty and dimly lit classroom to practice her presentation with flashcards. On the pulled-down projector screen, Mia talks of a painting called “Portrait of God” that only some can

see but which most people cannot. The short has religious connotations with the opening shot being a quote from the Book of Exodus: “No man shall see me and live.” Mia cannot see the painting at the start of the short, but it soon becomes clear that seeing it may not be the blessing she thinks it is.

Life & Culture Editor Sheelagh Doe spoke with Clark about the production of the short story and subsequent script that has put his work in the hands of two of the most famous horror movie directors.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Sheelagh Doe: Why did you choose to do horror, why was that the genre you were compelled toward [when making Portrait of God]?

Dylan Clark: I remember watching horror movies like “The Blair Witch Project,” which showed off how much they could maximize their minimalism and how few resources they had. That became a realization that we could try to make horror films as a way to work within our very, very limited resources. It’s still a genre that’s very friendly to filmmakers I continued to fall deeper in love with the genre as I made more and more horror shorts. There was never anything else I was going to make at that point.

SD: Was there a specific reason you decided to incorporate religion into the story line?

DC: When I was mapping out what the film was about, I got to a place where I came up with the painting, but not with any religious context. [Giving

Mia] a reason to want to see it, became the goal. If that want for her was religious in nature, we can immediately understand [it], even though the thing she wants to see is clearly scary and intense. If it is mapped onto something like God, then we can kind of understand why she would be willing to risk it.

SD: How did you find out that it was going to be Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi working together? How did that feel?

DC: It’s insane. It’s still an insanely amazing situation. The moment that I learned that [Peele] wanted to do it was very surreal. I mean, that was incredible. And the fact that he helped us get it there with Universal was very, very exciting.

SD: Tying back to IC a little bit, how did the film department here [help] you?

DC: I think the biggest thing, as far as the line I can connect between Ithaca and “Portrait of God” right now is the network of peers that you make there. It was the specific recipe of being at IC, being with those friends and peers, being in that classroom. I’m pretty sure we wheeled stuff straight from [Park Portable Equipment Checkout and Services] to the classroom and then right back. The class that really has stood out to me is ACP Directing with Cathy Crane, [professor in the Department of Media Arts, Sciences and Studies]. That has definitely continued to be a helpful thing to reflect on as far as learning how to talk to actors. I think that’s a very specific skill that I never would have learned if I didn’t go to film school.

SD: Do you have any pieces of advice for students who want to get their foot in the door and are impressed by how you’ve done it?

DC: If you’re not taking a production class, take advantage of the classrooms. Take advantage of the equipment there, take advantage of friends who want to make stuff and make it. There’s something to be said for, in this situation especially, we made the film, we put it online right away, and then right away we got linked up with Ghost House [Pictures], and that’s what kicked the first domino down. So I think you don’t always have to wait once you finish your project to get it out there. Sometimes it’s okay to put it out there and let it be seen.

SD: Was there anything [else] that you feel is important or that you [wanted] to say?

DC: It’s also OK to make things really small. I think that when I was at school, especially with my thesis, I remember thinking “OK, this has to be the biggest thing I’ve ever done.” There are ways to make things feel big, but do them practically very, very, very small. Ask yourself if you can make your story simpler and smaller, because it’s almost always the right thing to do.

Q&A: Ithaca College professor reflects on motion capture work for ‘Wicked’ movies

Abbi

RPuckett | February 1, 2026

obin Guiver, assistant professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance Performance at Ithaca College, had his work showcased in the recent two-part movie, “Wicked.” He was the lead movement artist in the films, embodying the animal characters, specifically Chistery, the flying monkey.

Guiver has spent most of his life in London, involved in theater and movie productions, until he decided to come to Ithaca in October 2023. For over a decade, he has been a lead movement artist in projects and teaching others how to do puppetry. He joined the IC faculty in July to work on teaching these skills full time in an academic atmosphere.

“Wicked” is just one of the extensive projects that Guiver has been a part of in his career. His puppeteer movements have been featured in many other big films, including “Snow White” (2025), “The Little Mermaid” (2023), “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” (2018) and “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” (2018).

Staff Writer Abbi Puckett spoke with Guiver about his work on the “Wicked” sets and other productions and how his experience in the field is helping him grow as an educator.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Abbi Puckett: What caused your love for theater?

Robin Guiver: I grew up in London, which has an enormous theatrical heritage over hundreds of years. I was part of the youth theater when I was young. We did youth theater projects that were really about conflict resolution. I remain very passionate about the possibility for the arts, for theater, for cinema and storytelling devices to really impact people’s empathy. So I think just being exposed to amazing work early on really had a huge impact on me. And I loved the live performance, especially the human connection that you get with live performance; it’s unique.

AP: As far as “Wicked” goes with Chistery, in the last film, he had one line, so you had to show a lot of emotion and [communicate] through body movement. What does that look like? And is that difficult?

RG: As human beings, we are experts at understanding communication, even if we don’t study it academically. [The movement team is] looking at how to take those human understandings of physical behavior and body language, and put that into this animal body instead. We did a lot of studying of real animals. But with these animal interactions, we want to just create a movement vocabulary so we can interact and improvise with the actors, rather than giving them the same thing every time.

AP: As you’ve worked on so many projects before, “Wicked” being a very recent and very big one, what’s the biggest lesson you learned from just this project?

RG: [I] love to see how the real, authentic relationships are communicated on camera. So when you see Elphaba and Glinda on screen, we really believe that their relationship, the care they have for each other, their frustration, the empathy, and I think that is such a direct result of the real relationship that Ariana [Grande] and Cynthia [Erivo] were able to develop on set as well. Seeing them in real life together is equally moving, because their relationship is so authentic and open and genuine and the camera was really able to pick that up, and they were really able to invest that in their work.

AP: Looking at some other projects, I noticed that you worked on “The Little Mermaid.” I can imagine it’s kind of difficult bringing these once 2D characters onto the big screen. Was that difficult to navigate?

RG: Because [the characters are] not human, we’re so much bigger than them physically. We got puppets designed that could move in interesting ways, that could move in 3D spaces, underwater, or could be puppeted and performed on set, so that everyone could understand what was happening very clearly. So the actors like Halle [Bailey] would be able to see them and interact with them and understand that as well. But then the animators come in and do all of their beautiful work afterwards. [Director] Rob Marshall had a very clear vision. It was an interesting casting process as well, because we knew we wanted to have

puppeteers who were going to mimic the voices and the accents of the characters [and] whose heritage and background match them as well.

AP: While you teach theater students and [communications] students, how has that really helped make it kind of a full circle moment bringing in your experience?

RG: What I feel very excited about is having a lot of first hand experience, which is extremely current. The industry changes so fast. I think that perspective is very useful, because it means that there’s a lot I can share in terms of kind of real anecdotes and real experience of what I’ve seen in the film industry. It means also that I feel like I can talk with quite a lot of authority, certainly at the moment, about what’s happening in the film industry right now and what happens on set.

AP: What’s the best piece of advice you would like to give your theater students now, that you wish you had when you were a theater student in college?

RG: There’s a huge trend in the arts at the moment for genuine authenticity. Social media means that we feel like we know these celebrities, we get a real glimpse into their personal lives, into what they’re like off camera as well. And that’s what’s fueling this desire for people who appear like real, well-rounded human beings with flaws, with negative traits as well as positive traits. So really acknowledging who you are and accepting yourself for who you are and diving into that wholeheartedly, I think, is easier said than done, and it’s a lifetime of work, but start it now.

IC alum’s world premiere of play ‘Milkweed’ explores intimacy of education and legacy

Georgie Gassaro | March 5, 2026

The Kitchen Theatre Company’s Wi-Fi password, “intimate46,” is an apropos easter egg for the nonprofit’s approach to community theater, especially with its world premiere of the play “Milkweed.”

“Milkweed” is an introspective exploration of the commonalities between physics and theater, both as educational disciplines and bases for existential thought about mortality, purpose and human legacy. Evaluating the “charged space between students and teachers,” the plot follows two parallel dynamics: a renowned physicist receiving acting lessons from his graduate acting student, who is taking his class as an elective, and a theater professor mentoring a physics student with a growing passion for acting. As the boundaries between intellectual and personal connection blur, both pairs grapple with the ethics of their attractions alongside a longing to be known and remembered. Although boundaries are not completely broken, they are definitely tested. Emily Jackson, director of “Milkweed” and producing artistic director at the Kitchen, said during the talkback Feb. 25 that this play “asks you to wonder at the universe.”

Aside from its daring exploration of academia, “Milkweed” also breaks new ground with its lighting and sound design. Because the plot delves into scientific theory in great detail, the Kitchen focused on clarifying visual elements, including four new projectors and new speakers. These efforts

pay off as spectacular projected images, which range from the starry night sky to a whiteboard, corresponding with dialogue and choreography. This visual interplay extends the bounds of the stage and story into the expansiveness of the universe, and the audience’s imagination.

Performances for “Milkweed” began with previews and talkbacks Feb. 25-26 and opening night Feb. 27, with additional performances running March 1-15. Student tickets are $20, with additional discount categories available.

Wendy Dann ’93, a professor of directing in the School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, is the playwright of “Milkweed.” She came from a family of college professors and has taught at the college for 16 years. During her time as a student on South Hill, she was an intern with the Kitchen.

The Kitchen was founded in 1991 by two Ithaca College alumni, Matt Tauber ’94 and Tim O’Brien ’92.

Dann went on to work in theaters across the country, received the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Playwriting and Screenwriting and was invited to join The Writers Lab, a screenwriting program sponsored by Meryl Streep, geared toward voices of women and non-binary writers. Still, Dann found her way back to Ithaca and the Kitchen, where she said she feels like she grew up as an artist.

“A lot of theaters like this and other cities are

attached officially to a university where they’re on the payroll,” Dann said. “That’s not true here. You get college kids who are interning, but the Kitchen is floating on its own budget. They are doing the hard work of raising all the money. Coming here feels like all hands on deck, in a way that you feel like this is the really hard work.”

In the Kitchen’s lobby, an LED sign reads: “Important conversations happen in the Kitchen.”

Dann said the Kitchen is attached to its mission of having important conversations directly and intimately with community members, asking the harder questions other plays may not pose.

The idea for “Milkweed” came to Dann after a friend who, like her, is very interested in nature told Dann about the monarch butterfly migration. The lifespan of a monarch butterfly does not allow a single generation to complete the entire milkweed pollination journey. Dann and her friend questioned how the younger generations know where they are going.

“All of a sudden, the play clicked in my brain,” Dann said. “I looked at that question, and I was like, that’s what I’ve been thinking about as a teacher.”

Through The Professor and The Physicist (played by David McElwee), Dann demonstrates the phenomenon of time that those working in academia are subject to: as teachers get older each year, their students never age as they are given a new class. Instructors are left to accept their warped reality while being responsible for instilling as much knowledge as possible into their students.

“Milkweed” articulates educational environments as innately intimate. In the titular scene, the Physicist even references Plato’s philosophy of Eros: “Education is an erotic creation: a dialectic motion between ‘becoming’ and ‘being’.” Just like the monarchs have a responsibility to their successors, professors determine what gets passed on to the eager next generations.

Although Jackson does not have a formal background in academia, she works closely with eager college students and assumes an educator role in her directing and creative leadership. She pointed to a description The Professor uses to narrate this eagerness: hunger.

“[College students] want to lean in and they want to suck up all the knowledge in your brain,” Jackson said. “There’s a huge responsibility to that, and I think in a field like science and theater, where there are creative juices that are so much more personal [and] are founded on asking that question that you might not know the answer to.”

At the Kitchen, there is no such thing as too

many cooks, and the theater would not be able to fulfill its mission of exploring the unknown without its academic neighbor on South Hill. Dann said the connection between the college and the theater is visible on stage, especially with “Milkweed.”

The list of Ithaca College creatives involved in “Milkweed” speaks for itself. Bella Woody ’25 plays The Grad Student. Erica Steinhagen ’99 plays The Professor opposite junior Jeremiah Jobe, who plays The Undergrad. On the creative team, there is David Arsenault ’10, who is the scenic designer, and Tyler Perry ’12, the lighting and projection designer. Once upon a time, in Dann’s classes, Arsenault and Perry were real undergrads. Rachel Lampert, the former artistic director of 20 years, hired Arsenault directly out of college.

Ariana Cardoza ’22, the sound designer for “Milkweed,” is someone whom Dann said she wished she would have had in her class.

Dann said the Kitchen breeds a real tradition of mentorship. When she looks at Gwenyth Cole ’24, the arts administration associate and the assistant director of “Milkweed,” she said she sees herself 25 years ago.

Dann consulted Kelley Sullivan, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, to extend the scientific quality of “Milkweed” beyond what Dann described as her “pop science book reader” basis of understanding.

Jackson said the cross-pollination between the Kitchen and the college allows students to enter the industry in a beautiful way.

“You can’t replicate making professional theater and academic theater, it’s not the same,” Jackson said. “So there’s amazing training that happens up on the hill, and then those students have to get out into the real world and figure out what technique and work has worked for them up in their academic setting and apply it to a professional setting.”

As Dann and Jackson already look ahead to where “Milkweed” could grow, Jackson said they are pitching the play to similar academia-oriented cities like Cambridge, Massachusetts; Princeton, New Jersey; and Berkeley, California.

Ben Domenick-Urbansky, a junior theatre studies major, came to the world premiere Feb. 25 to support Dann, who is one of his professors.

Domenick-Urbansky, who also came to support Jobe, said it was really strange seeing the other side of things in this regard.

“It feels like, not to be ironic, a flip of the script,”

Domenick-Urbansky said. “I’m getting this point of view, like, ‘Whoa, my professor is human.’”

Because of “Milkweed”’s self-referential nature to the Ithaca academic community, the play presents students and faculty audience members with an interesting question: how does it feel to run into your professor at the grocery store? This question is explored both situationally on stage and, possibly, by virtue of the chances that a student will be seated near their professor during a performance.

Jackson, who was introduced to the community as a post-grad intern from Texas, partly attributes the start of her career to the peer group of college kids that she learned with. Jackson said Ithaca’s local theater community is built in a unique way, with people from both Ithaca and New York City, or other places around the country, coming together to make work that is meaningful and creatively fulfilling.

“We think it is so much of a dialogue between artists and audience, not only because you’re so close to people, but because we’re literally in the middle of downtown, and we want to make work that is stimulating and exciting to this audience,” Jackson said. “‘Milkweed,’ of course, is so for an Ithaca audience.”

The Kitchen is determined to nurture this bold

relationship between audience and performance. There are numerous upcoming events that allow people to get a closer look at the inner-workings of this story and its inspirations. On March 1, Anurag Agrawal, a professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, spoke with Dann on his expertise in the monarch’s treacherous milkweed journey. This session will be held again March 7, along with other types of conversations March 6-12. All are free and open to the public, even to those who may not be able to attend a performance.

The closeness of the cast and crew is important, but another kind of closeness also cultivates the Kitchen’s intimate nature: close proximity in the theater itself. The Kitchen has one 99-seat performance space.

Jackson said she discovered that her favorite kind of theater is where audiences feel like the show is in their laps. At the Kitchen, she said — as she sipped a hot cup of black tea that she brewed at the theater lobby bar — that it feels like going to a cafe, having a warm cup of coffee and having a conversation with a best friend.

“You can’t hide anything in there, which is also so hard for the actors,” Jackson said. “It’s hard for the creative team. You can’t fake it, and you have to make it magical and theatrical.”

Ithaca falls for queer Valentine’s Day events

Meital Fried | February 17, 2026

Junior Lizzie Adelman had not yet named her stuffed animal, but she had a feeling he would end up as a Gerald. She already had at least three items in her possession named Gerald. Still, she was ready to add her new stuffy, a rainbow cat with a unicorn horn, to the list.

Adelman created the Gerald-to-be at “Made With Love,” an event hosted by Ithaca College’s Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, & Services. In the lead-up to Valentine’s Day, a handful of queer organizations across Ithaca hosted programs to celebrate the many kinds of love the town has to offer. The range of activities matched the diversity of LGBTQ+ communities in Ithaca — from drag shows at local bars, night clubs and bookstores to on-campus craft nights. “Made With Love,” which took place Feb. 13, gave students the opportunity to stuff plush toys and connect with peers.

Historically, queer relationships have often been excluded from Valentine’s Day narratives. Criticism of the holiday often cites its heteronormativity, or the baseline assumption that couples celebrating must be heterosexual. Cefari Langford, IC’s LGBTQ Pride Fellow, said they designed “Made With Love” as an alternative to the narrow-minded Valentine’s Day marketing of their childhood.

“A program like this is important because it shows, ‘hey, you do have a space on this day,’” Langford said. “‘How you love, who you love is just as important as how everybody else does it.’”

Cornell University junior Mirella Berkowitz said Valentine’s Day can feel as burdensome as it is celebratory.

“The traditional idea of Valentine’s Day [for a

woman] is very rooted in a man showing up at your door, bringing you flowers,” Berkowitz said. “And that’s amazing, if that’s what you’re looking for. It’s very easy to feel isolated on Valentine’s Day. Adding an element of queerness to that equation, in whatever form that may arise, creates a different barrier.”

Berkowitz is a founding member of Keshet at Cornell, a newly recuperated organization for queer Jewish Cornellians and their allies. At Keshet’s first official meeting Feb. 10, students prepared for the holiday by arranging pipe cleaner flowers and assembling strings of colorful plastic beads. Berkowitz, who identifies as lesbian, said she was grateful for a space where her experience of Valentine’s Day did not feel like an anomaly.

“It was refreshing to walk in here, knowing that I wouldn’t have to explain myself,” Berkowitz said.

Langford said queer-centered Valentine’s Day programming should offer participants an escape from assumptions about their love-life: that they are dating someone, that they are only dating one person, that they are dating someone of the opposite sex.

“I feel like how we framed [Made with Love] makes it accessible to all identities and relationship statuses,” Langford said. “You don’t have to come in and stuff a bear for a person. You just come in and stuff a bear. And you can do that for yourself. You can do that for a friend. You can do that for a partner. You can do that for a sibling, a parent.”

At “Made With Love,” students lounged on the LGBT Center’s comfy couches, chatting and comparing their creations. Nearly 50 students attended. Supplies ran out almost instantly.

Langford said that they hoped the experience would help relieve students of the pressures of college life. Though the event was planned with queer students in mind, Langford stressed that all were welcome. Everyone, Langford said, could benefit from a low stakes, low stress activity.

“College is intense, right?” Langford said. “An event like this creates intentional gentleness, because you cannot rush and be rough and stuff a plush. I mean, you could, but it wouldn’t be a nice plushy.”

While Adelman said she finds many Valentine’s Day traditions either uninclusive or inauthentic, “Made With Love” stood out for its warm and genuine atmosphere.

“This is something for ourselves,” Adelman said. “This is our representation. It’s unique. Especially with everything going on right now in this nation, a lot of people are scared, understandably. And I think having these events and showing people, ‘you’re not alone in this,’ is really important.”

President Donald Trump’s onslaught of anti-queer legislation has led the Human Rights Campaign to declare a National State of Emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans. Glaad’s Trump Accountability Tracker tallies nearly 500 attacks on LGBTQ people from President Donald Trump, often reporting multiple discriminatory actions in a single week. The administration criticized gender-affirming healthcare Feb. 8, then removed a rainbow flag from the historic Stonewall National Monument on Feb. 9. Jenna Petrone, an IC admission counselor, said the political climate motivated her to find comfort in connection.

“It’s important to have community,” Petrone said. “Especially during these times, especially as a queer person.”

Tompkins County is well known for its inclusive environment. Last year, Ithaca received a perfect score on the Municipal Equality Index, a report comparing LGBTQ rights from city to city. In 2024, IC topped Best Colleges’ list of campuses for LGBTQ+ Students. The same year, the Ithaca College Campus Climate Survey reported that 55.7% of students identified as heterosexual. The remaining half often benefit from the LGBT Center’s services, from a free Gender Affirming Closet — where transgender and gender queer students can try on clothes that match their identity — to educational workshops and activities.

While Petrone enjoyed planning the meeting, she said she often avoids traditional Valentine’s day activities in her personal life. She said she and her wife would rather not tie their relationship to something so commercialized.

“We celebrate our love every day,” Petrone said. “We don’t need a day for it.”

Students collaborate on slapstick comedy play

Parker Anne Devine | February 18, 2026

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n a warmly lit rehearsal space just off the Cayuga Inlet, a group of Ithaca College students have gathered nightly since mid-January to prepare an original play. The show, “If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You,” written by junior Jaiden Moreno and directed by junior MJ Jacobs, will have four performances at The Cherry Arts on Feb. 21-22.

The play is a farcical slapstick comedy loosely based on “Pagliacci,” an Italian opera. Moreno said he began writing “If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You” while he was in high school, after watching the opera in his Italian class.

“The opera is very, very, very serious, and the plot of it is incredibly silly,” Moreno said. “I was imagining it being turned into something a little more comical or light hearted. … I was just writing it for fun, never really with the intention of doing anything with it.”

This play was Moreno’s first step into the theater world at IC. As a film major, Moreno has written and directed a series of short films with his frequent collaborator, senior Luke Horchler. Three of their films screened at Cinemapolis in Fall 2025 and featured many of the cast members of the play, including junior Jack Abba, who plays the role of Tony.

“On film, [Moreno and Horchler] are really good at telling the story visually, but reading this script, I think Jaiden did a great job of translating information,” Abba said. “[He intuitively] makes good slapstick moments. … He has a good sense of what works on a stage and how to fill air. Usually on their sets, I feel like I have to relax and play it very straight, whereas here I have to go as far as possible.”

“If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You” follows an eccentric group of actors at a community theater during the

opening night of their show. When the stage manager gets arrested, a stagehand has to step up to keep the show together as secrets are revealed, affairs are exposed and things literally fall apart on stage.

As Moreno and Horchler began to work on their most recent short film, Moreno found himself asking if the material would be better suited for stage than screen, inspiring him to consider working on something in the theater world.

In Spring 2025, Moreno approached Jacobs with an outline of the play and asked if she would be interested in helping him bring the script to stage. Jacobs, a theatre studies and education double major, agreed to direct and produce “If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You.” The pair were joined by two additional producers: junior Are Stein, who is also the dramaturg for the production, and Horchler.

Junior Jada Soltau, who plays Sam the stagehand, said that Jacobs approached many of the actors while they were studying abroad in London during the Fall 2025 semester.

“As [with] any form of student theater, it just started with a conversation,” Soltau said. “[Jacobs] was looking around for a cast. We were all in London at the time, and I had my audition in her flat, and I stood in her kitchen and just read some sides and had fun with it. Because just like with the rest of this process, it’s just been working with some of my best friends.”

The creative minds behind “If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You” are no strangers to working together. Junior Adamantia Hopko — intimacy captain, fight captain and member of the cast — explained that she has worked with several cast and crew members in other productions, classes, or on student film sets.

“I’ve worked with different theater companies where I [did not] know anybody before, and that can be a really scary experience at first,” Hopko said. “But walking into a room where you know everybody is just such an immediate added boost. I know that we’re going to create something awesome together, because I’ve seen their work multiple times before.

Junior Story Korkis said this show was the first straight-up comedy play that he had acted in. Despite his nerves, he was glad to have taken the opportunity to work on “If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You” with his peers.

“I’ve spent so much time with all of them, so it definitely takes the pressure off of [having] to perform to everyone,” Korkis said. “I can be myself in the room and know that everyone else around me is going to support me.”

“If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You” is a completely student-produced play. Jacobs said that she, Moreno, Stein and Horchler have invested in the project with the hopes of making it back through ticket sales. Tickets for the play were released online Feb. 4 and allowed purchasers to make a donation in addition to buying a ticket. As of Feb. 17, the play has earned over $1,700 from 69 backers. Stein said that while this group of people has collaborated frequently on productions within IC’s Dillingham Center, this is many of their first experiences working on a completely independent production.

“Dillingham is awesome, but there is a lot less freedom for how we work and when and where and why we work,” Stein said. “I enjoy working on shows affiliated with IC, but I think it’s a fun little foray into what the professional experience might be like going forward.”

Soltau said that despite the quick turnaround from the first rehearsal in January to opening night Feb. 21, the process of creating “If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You” has not been a major stressor. In fact, Soltau said that the rehearsal process has been a great release of creative energy.

“I come into these rehearsals every night just so inspired about the future of new works and about the future of new works in Ithaca,” Soltau said. “[It] makes me excited that a process that can be so stressful has been stress free from my perspective, and I think the audience is going to be able to see that.”

Abba said the cast and crew of “If You Don’t Clap, I’ll Stab You” have built a trusting relationship throughout the rehearsal process. He has no doubt that the audience will be able to see the group’s joy on stage.

“These people have taught me a lot,” Abba said. “This is probably one of the last times you’re going to have this many like minded people around you. So go out and make stuff as much as possible.”

Taylor Swift’s album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ offers cringe, craft and cultural commentary

Georgie Gassaro | October 11, 2025

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n just 12 tracks, Taylor Swift paints a theatrically vivid, autobiographical narration of her long-lived reputation as a spectacle on both the stage and in the tabloids with “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Her twelfth album was released Oct. 3 and is a dynamic callback to past and present lovers, friends and haters. It is also an interesting progression of melodic patterns uncharacteristic of her typical poeticism — but then again, nothing is typical of an artist who reinvents the aesthetic and auditory expectations with each new era. While reminiscent of some of her previous albums, “The Life of a Showgirl” is luxurious, blunt and carefree in a way Swift has never demonstrated before.

Completely tangential from her electro-pop work with Jack Antonoff, this album is co-produced by Max Martin and Shellback, who both are (known for hits on “Red,” “1989” and “Reputation”). This switch-up is refreshing with crisp vocals and instrumentals in songs like “Wi$h Li$t” and “Opalite” that emulate an ’80s pop sound rather than the stale, synthetic fatigued sound of “Midnights” and much of “The Tortured Poets Department.”

In her lyricism, Swift showcases that she is a Shakespeare nerd with “The Fate of Ophelia,” one of the greatest on the album, and has a phenomenally elaborate music video that was released Oct. 5. This song is melodically ethereal, and could not be more different from her other literary works like “Folklore” and “Evermore.” Interwoven with hints of Swift’s romantic happy ending is the Shakespearean legend

of Ophelia, the lover of Hamlet who was fatally driven mad. Swift recalls how meeting fiancé Travis Kelce changed her ill-fated prophecy with a “saved heart.”

In “Elizabeth Taylor,” however, Swift sounds less eloquent. Tonally, the arrangement comes off scattered and almost AI-sounding. It is a shame, because the acoustic CD version better showcases outstanding lines set to cultivated vocals, like “Be my NY when Hollywood hates me / You’re only as hot as your last hit baby.”

“Eldest Daughter” is also a letdown, not fulfilling the tradition of a Swift track five being the most beautifully devastating on the album. Even in the album’s lower moments, however, her seemingly inexhaustible wordplay is catchy nevertheless, — showing that there are methods to her madness.

The cringey millennial internet vocabulary may be distracting, but with a dedicated listening experience that trusts the process, Swift accomplishes something much more complex: satire. The dated online slang is a nod to the song’s theme of wanting to appear hip and trendy online and to younger generations. Swift is a millennial, so give her grace for using language like “savage,” “trolling” and “girlboss.”

“The Life of a Showgirl” is the manifesto for the real person who juggles the intangible facade of the blinding lights and sequins. With its similar premise of self-deconstruction, it would make sense if this new album sounded like “The Tortured Poets Department.” Conceptually, in the universe of her discography, however, this new version of Swift is crafted by the

3.5/5 Stars

version of herself that “Mirrorball” from “Folklore” spells out plain and simple — she is once again “on that trapeze … still trying everything … to keep you looking.” It is more sensible that the album reflects that all-engrossing hustle with its performative diction.

When the lights dim and the Louboutins come off, Swift has much more to say. She calls out the unattainable standards of the Hollywood machine and vulturous cancel culture in “CANCELLED!,” while “Ruin The Friendship” vulnerably admits to regretful insecurities and timidness that held her back during her youth. “Wi$h Li$t” serves as commentary on elitist culture. Even coming from a billionaire, who couldn’t be more biased on that subject, the message lands. Among the cheesy lyrics and tonally chaotic parts, Swift, as per usual, does well articulating serious concepts in an irresistibly catchy way.

Haters gonna hate, and hopefully the muse of “Actually Romantic” deserves it. Quickly after its release, the internet had no hesitation drawing lyrical comparisons to an apparent feud with Charli XCX from her songs “Everything is Romantic” and “Sympathy Is a Knife,” which hint at tension during Swift’s relationship with The 1975’s Matty Healy. Her unfiltered vulgarity in this track is awesomely off-brand for Miss Americana, who in albums past has resorted to lyrical double entendres like the “Reputation” track “So It Goes” and “Cruel Summer” from “Lover.” “Actually Romantic” is possibly the best song on the album when the questionable motives are set aside.

“Wood” reverts back to Swift’s love for hidden meanings, but she turns a new leaf by writing about pleasure unapologetically. At times she is euphemistic with, “The curse on me was broken by your magic wand,” and at other times, “His love was the key that opened my thighs.” Swift has quite possibly outdone herself with her lyrical sleight of hand in this track.

The title track, featuring the younger showgirl Sabrina Carpenter, wraps up the album with an alluring illustration of the mutually captivating and all-consuming opulence of Hollywood. The bridge is straight out of “The Greatest Showman,” and that’s what Swift is.

“The Life of a Showgirl” is contextualized by the career-spanning and career-defining feat of the Eras Tour, so fans had a lot of prewritten ideals about what it would be. This may not be her most cohesive album, but it is undeniably fun and completely new territory. Even those who absolutely dislike it will be talking about it for a while, and like Swift alluded to in “Actually Romantic”: attention is flattery.

Aziz Ansari’s latest comedy needs more than ‘Good Fortune’ to bless audiences

Nolan Sheehan | October 22, 2025 3/5 stars

It is hard to understate how difficult it is to create a movie in which Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen share screen time and manage to sound exactly the same. Through some uninspired writing and directing choices from Aziz Ansari, “Good Fortune” unfurled its angelic wings Oct. 17 only to find they were too small to handle the weight of its own expectations. Packed with a star-studded cast and fantastic visuals, this film falls short in too many categories to be considered a top contender for the year.

The story follows the lives of two men and an angel, whose plan is to swap their lives and show them perspectives they might have been missing. The angel Gabriel (Reeves) starts his journey as the angel who protects people from texting and driving accidents. He takes to his duties as any mortal would for their 9-5 job until he meets a man whom he considers to be a “lost soul.” Played by the film’s director, Arj (Ansari) is a man trying to make ends meet through small jobs around the Los Angeles area through a mobile app called “Task Sergeant.” He lives outside of his car, hoping for an opportunity to arise. He meets and works for a wealthy man named Jeff (Rogen), who ends up being involved in the life swap created by Gabriel.

The film’s trifecta of Jeff, Arj and Gabriel sounds great on paper: two flawed men who live on opposite sides of the financial scale with an angel to see the positive side of both lives. However, all three men do not seem to be different enough from the get-go. All three of them are written to talk and are directed to speak the exact same way, regardless of character backgrounds or story. As a viewer, movies with characters that conflict toward the beginning and grow to become more agreeable toward the end tend to be more interesting films because there is a sense of progression throughout the film. With “Good Fortune,” characters remain static in how they treat each other until the plot dictates them to act otherwise.

As a brief example: Arj makes a choice to use a company credit card given by Jeff to pay for a meal. Jeff — despite the fact that he has built a good relationship with Arj and understands the amount of work Arj puts into his company — fires Arj on the spot. Nothing was established about what to use and not use the card for before this moment. Jeff’s attitude flips due to the plot, not because of any meaningful moment in his character. He is written up to that point in the film to be a guy that trusts Arj to pay the money back, not someone who would remove him from the company. This is a consistent

problem throughout the film, where characters are only forced into moments because the plot tells them to. Characters should guide the plot, not the other way around.

Conversations between the characters are written exactly the same, from the movie’s start to finish. Rogen and Reeves are an interesting actor partnership as they bring two uniquely different skill sets to the table, but the film gives them the same assignment throughout. Instead of playing to the actors’ strengths, Reeves is forced into awkward comedy segments that do not land, and Rogen uses his signature cadence with clunky bits of comedy that feels forced. The cast all talk and sound the same, and for an audience, that can get grating after a while.

The same applies for Arj in this film. His more tender moments in the film sound exactly like the moments where he tries to apply comedy. The dialogue written and the directorial choices for our characters end up limiting the range of the film’s actors, leaving the film to feel inauthentic and sterile.

On a positive note, the film’s visuals are really solid. The cinematography and lighting department worked overtime to deliver sharp contrast throughout every shot, keeping the audience

engaged despite the characters on screen lacking in any real substance to them. The visuals tended to do much of the film’s heavy lifting in keeping audience engagement.

The set design for this film also demonstrated some real quality. Even though filming took place on location around Los Angeles, it is important to keep the scenes from feeling as stale as real life can be. Numerous restaurants throughout the film have their own unique atmospheres, demonstrating a strong attention to detail of the city’s constant cultural mesh of flavor and flair. The grimy jobs that Gabriel and Jeff are forced to undertake during the life swap feel just like that: grimy and full of the intensity that comes with surviving off of the bare minimum. The kitchens are packed, and the motels feel musty and stale.

Despite its flaws, “Good Fortune” tries to deliver a nice message toward the end. That no matter what your occupation or place in life, your life matters and should be fought for. While this may hit for some at the end of the movie, the characters have not arrived at this ending naturally. They have leaped across any sort of consistent development for the same couple of jokes over and over, and as a result, “Good Fortune” feels underdeveloped and, perhaps, in sore need for a pair of bigger wings.

‘Bugonia’ invades theaters with an out of this world production and a stellar cast

Riley Young | November 5, 2025 5/5 Stars

Despite having made three feature-length films in three years — “Poor Things” (2023), “Kinds of Kindness” (2024) and his latest “Bugonia,” released Oct. 31 — acclaimed filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’ talent has only sharpened and improved. A remake of the South Korean film “Save the Green Planet!” (2003) directed by Jang Joon-hwan, “Bugonia” is one of the best and most memorable films of the year.

“Bugonia” follows Teddy Gatz (Jesse Plemons), a beekeeper whose obsession with conspiracy theories has him convinced Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), the CEO of a pharmaceutical company Auxolith, is secretly an alien whose mission is to destroy Earth. He, along with his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), kidnaps Michelle and intends to hold her hostage in their basement for four days until the lunar eclipse, when Michelle will be able to contact her mothership due to it becoming undetected.

The film grabs the audience’s attention immediately, beginning with documentary-like footage of bees as they pollinate, and Teddy calmly explaining to Don how the “Andromedans” (the alien species) have killed their family and are intending to destroy all of humanity. The film proceeds to perfectly contrast their mundane, unhappy lives with Michelle’s.

While Michelle lives in a multimillion dollar mansion, Teddy and Don live in a beaten-down house in the middle of nowhere. While Michelle works with a trainer and runs on a treadmill in her gym with an oxygen mask, with not a single hair out

of place, Teddy and Don are all alone, using T-shirts as mats to stretch and looking like they have not showered in years. The subtle changes in tone and cinematography excellently highlight the differences not only for the characters, but for the two worlds the characters live in.

Once Michelle is kidnapped, Teddy and Don shave her head to prevent her from contacting her mothership. Stone’s performance shines as the viewers watch Michelle attempt many forms of escaping, from bargaining to “admitting” to being an alien, all to no avail. Don begins to question Teddy and his beliefs, feeling sympathy for Michelle, causing Teddy to prohibit Don from speaking to her.

Some of the greatest scenes in the film are set around the exchanges between Teddy and Michelle. While Teddy tries his best to remain calm, Michelle purposefully provokes him. Teddy finally cracks when Michelle brings up his mother Sandy (Alicia Silverstone).

It is revealed through black and white flashbacks that Sandy struggled with an undisclosed illness and Auxolith put her on experimental drugs that led to her going into a coma. One of the most powerful scenes in the film is when Sandy is shown with dozens of large needles injected into her skin, telling Teddy to never trust companies like Auxolith, all while Teddy, delicately and desperately, tries to take out the needles from her body.

Lanthimos is known for his grandiose directorial style, making absurdist and experimental films for

over 20 years. Some of his most acclaimed and popular work includes “Dogtooth” (2009), “The Lobster” (2015), “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” (2017), “The Favourite” (2018) and more. His sharp and precise direction, utilizing the tension and uncomfortable tone he sets to tell the story in the most unique way possible, is a common feature for all of these films, shown most impressively with “Bugonia.”

Stone — who has collaborated with Lanthimos since “The Favourite” — gives one of the best performances of her career thus far as Michelle, bringing a calm confidence to the character, highlighting her performative nature and her struggles with alienation. Plemons gives an outstanding and memorable performance as Teddy, a man whose trauma manifests itself into something that seeps under the audience’s skin.

Every member of the small ensemble has a moment to make its mark on the viewer. Delbis, in his feature film debut, brings a sensitivity to film that is shattered in his explosive final scene. Comedian Stavros Halkias plays local police officer Casey, who is more focused on being forgiven by Teddy for molesting him when they were younger than doing his job.

The cinematography by Robbie Ryan is one of the most impeccable aspects of the film. Contrasting its muted colors with a mixture of inventive wide angles and close-ups, the film’s visuals are among the most memorable of the year.

The score by Jerskin Fendrix — who previously worked with Lanthimos on “Poor Things” and “Kinds of Kindness” — is one of the best scores of the year. The music seamlessly transitions from orchestral wonders to ferocious crescendos when the tension itself explodes, leaving an impression in its wake.

“Bugonia” is written by Will Tracy, known for his work on the film “The Menu” (2022) and the television show “Succession” (2018-23). His writing is as intense and humorous as ever, writing a script fully fleshed out and leaving the audience in awe of what they just witnessed.

“Bugonia” is a powerful metaphor for capitalism because Teddy blames Michelle for the entirety of the world’s problems. Michelle herself represents greedy capitalists who take advantage of the poor and the struggling while disguising their actions as important and meaningful.

One of the best films of the year, “Bugonia” perfectly captures the erratic and tragic nature of those who struggle under the overwhelming weight of capitalism, as well as the nature of capitalists who are so greedy, they might not even be human.

‘Marty Supreme’ is a bizarre, inventive Christmas gift from director Josh Safdie

Brian Murray | January 22, 2026

AManhattan chase sequence, a canine ownership dispute turned deadly and a structurally unsound bathtub — can you believe these are featured in a movie about ping-pong? It is certainly unusual, but “Marty Supreme,” the outstanding new sports film from director Josh Safdie, defies the odds at every corner.

The film, set in 1950s New York, follows Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet), a pompous hustler aspiring to be the best table tennis player in the world. On his quest to defeat the Japanese champion, Marty faces countless trials that test how far he is willing to go to achieve greatness.

Chalamet’s central performance, the best of his career, handily satisfies the basic demands of the character: enormous amounts of screentime, verbose dialogue and believable command of a paddle. He is definitely “going for it” — his casting as an unapologetically driven newcomer feels cheekily intentional — but there is plenty of nuance to his performance beyond the obvious bravura.

Despite what the title may imply, Marty is a loser; he is arrogant, disloyal and hot-headed. Considering that he is on screen for almost the entire 150-minute runtime, the film would fall apart were the role in less capable hands. But Chalamet’s signature charisma makes it easy to loathe Marty yet impossible to give up on him, especially as his situation becomes more desperate. When he ruthlessly rejects his family and friends in the name of saving his flailing career, the audience’s frustration turns to curiosity: what if he does pull it off?

At its core, the film is about excellence and the ways it can be leveraged selfishly and selflessly. In a reflective interlude, a friend of Marty’s explains how he survived at Auschwitz due to his athletic renown, smuggling in honey on his chest for other prisoners to lick off. Marty’s interest in his friend’s story and in the triumphs of his own Jewish ancestors is a clue into how his enigmatic mind views greatness; even in the face of extreme hardship, skill can be a life-saving force. He believes he is delivering himself to success by obsessing over his sport, while others — triumphantly, in the end — challenge him to consider what “success” really is.

Among the phalanx of characters Marty interacts with is Rachel, a lifelong friend who is now pregnant with his child. In an effortless breakout performance, Odessa A’Zion winningly portrays Rachel’s tireless attempts to get Marty to settle down, without ever sacrificing the character’s independence and depth. She has great chemistry

4.5/5 Stars

with Chalamet, standing out against the leading man’s noisy performance.

Also noteworthy is Gwyneth Paltrow as Kay Stone, a retired actress attempting to revive her career. Paltrow, like Kay, is coming off a break from acting, and this role is a fitting return to the screen. She unsurprisingly nails the unbothered socialite schtick, but also is delightful in her scenes with Chalamet. The character itself is also an interesting foil to Marty — incredibly wealthy and deeply unhappy.

Rounding out the cast is a host of eclectic characters, many of whom are portrayed by non-professional actors. Seasoned actors like Fred Hechinger, Emory Cohen and Fran Drescher appear in small roles, and even playwright David Mametand and magician Penn Jillette make cameos. Tyler Okonma — best known as Tyler, the Creator — makes a terrific film debut as Marty’s hustling buddy. In another debut, “Shark Tank” mogul Kevin O’Leary is excellent as Kay’s antagonistic husband. He makes the most of his character’s comical hatred of Marty, allowing for a charming cat-and-mouse routine as Marty attempts to woo him professionally.

The lack of major stars, besides Chalamet and Paltrow, is crucial in building Safdie’s realistic

rendering of this world. The film is loosely based on the life of Marty Resiman, a table tennis player who found success in the 1950s, and Safdie is successful in lending a sense of verisimilitude to the occasionally zany plot points. Veteran production designer Jack Fisk’s famous eye for period set and costume design brings the film to the next level.

In addition to creating the snappy script, Ronald Bronstein and Safdie collaborated on editing the film, a job which they completed with vibrant grace. Despite a slight lull in the middle, the film feels airtight, leaving room for the audience to breathe without ever slowing down. The tennis scenes are masterfully tense, particularly the final showdown between Marty and Japanese superstar Koto Endo (played by real-life table tennis athlete Koto Kawaguchi, perfectly cast). Daniel Lopatin completes the puzzle with a synth-infused score that fits the film like a glove. Though anachronistic, like almost all of the featured songs, it adds to the film’s indelible, knowing energy.

With its inventive script, striking performances and electric energy, “Marty Supreme” is a film that must be seen to be believed. If Safdie’s mind is capable of more creations like this, I encourage him to follow his own advice: dream big.

Park Chan-wook’s dark comedy ‘No Other Choice’ leaves audiences dying (of laughter)

Sofia Fitzgerald | January 29, 2026

S acked. Dumped. Terminated. Axed. These are not just violent euphemisms for getting fired: they are also vivid descriptions of Park Chan-wook’s latest film, “No Other Choice.”

Following its limited U.S. release Dec. 25, Park’s highly anticipated dark comedy soon became an incredible success in South Korea and overseas — as well as a favorite in the awards circuit. Park is no stranger to international success: his filmography includes “Oldboy” (2003) and “The Handmaiden” (2016), acclaimed titles that both brought Korean cinema to the forefront of the entertainment industry and established Park’s standing as a director.

Park’s most recent feature closely resembles his past thematically rich melodramas. Based on Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 novel “The Ax” — adapted into a 2005 French film of the same name — “No Other Choice” exhibits Park’s signature precision, labyrinthine storylines and striking visual style. But with an added comedic twist, the film also debuts a new side to his directorial finesse.

The film’s first scene is perhaps the only time audiences see the leading characters happy. It is gratuitously picturesque: rays of sunlight catch cherry blossom petals as they flutter to the ground, framing Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), his wife Miri (Son Ye-jin), their two children and their two golden retrievers. Feasting on grilled eels in their sprawling garden, this nuclear family is the perfect paragon of the South Korean middle-class.

But this dreamlike reality is too good to be true.

Man-su quickly learns that happiness is a luxury, and pride is a privilege. Staff cuts plague his local paper factory, and he loses his job and his dignity. When group therapy and masculinity-affirming mantras fail to soften the blow, Man-su constructs an outrageous scheme to secure his place in the profession. He fabricates his own paper company, reels in other recently unemployed applicants and eliminates the top contenders.

In his portrayal of the down-on-his-luck Man-su, Lee (best known for his performance in “Squid Game”) takes on a more comedic role than his usual repertoire. In his first homicidal rodeo, it is clear Man-su is not cut out for the hitman life. He is awkward with a handgun and pathetically clumsy — not to mention his shot nerves and bleeding heart. But as his killing spree gains traction, he grows more confident in his increasingly macabre methods.

Lee portrays this well-intentioned yet foolhardy family man with hilarious physicality — but just as easily taps into his character’s emotional substance. Man-su sees parts of himself in each of his victims: a distant wife, a young daughter and alcoholic tendencies tether him to the responsible half of his double life. Lee’s performance is elevated alongside the equally talented Son, who plays his headstrong but morally waning wife, as Man-su grapples with his own battle of ethics. Though a one-man show at its core, this story would be lost without its eclectic ensemble.

4.5/5 Stars

While the whole ordeal already feels incredibly theatrical, the film’s expert use of mise-en-scène somehow makes it an even greater spectacle. Cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung controls the camera with playful flair, complementing Park’s eccentric vision. His style’s visual unpredictability accentuates the plot’s feverish disorientation with a staggering barrage of crossfades and superimpositions. Some of these flashy camera tricks add meaning, but some simply overwhelm and clutter.

Composer Cho Young-wuk’s string-led score is equally exhilarating. Combined with the elaborate sound design and striking imagery, it racks up the tension to a palpable forte.

A standout example of this audiovisual relationship is a deliriously entertaining three-way fight scene choreographed to the blaring tune of “Red Dragonfly” by Cho Yong-pil. In a series of sweeping handhelds, Man-su, his target Bummo (Lee Sung-min) and Bummo’s disloyal wife Ara (Yeom Hye-ran) scramble over a handgun in a claustrophobic parlor, giving way to hilarious shenanigans and compromising positions.

Though largely an action-packed gagfest, “No Other Choice” is not for the squeamish. Less laughable are the grotesque and searingly memorable images of violence throughout the film. Notably, Man-su’s passion for gardening acts as a parallel to his mental state; his beloved greenhouse becomes a personal slaughterhouse, where he prunes branches and limbs alike.

Park’s message, while delivered in a bizarre fashion, feels all too real. Through an objectively outlandish plot, he manages to tackle themes of toxic workplace culture, corporate dehumanization and the devaluation of individualism — no small feat for a film of its scope. Additionally, shifting familial roles, power dynamics and cultural traditions help form the film’s progressive undercurrent.

“No Other Choice” toes a thin line between cleverly caustic satire and heavy-handed slapstick. It is clear that Park’s intent is to stand up for the little guy, or at the very least comment on the misguided direction of today’s job market. He shows the dangers of a man at his breaking point, and condemns the system for its cold indifference. Still, the vast array of character subplots and prolonged expository sequences risks bloating the film. Nevertheless, the ending leaves the audience with something to ponder: is this grim picture the inevitable future of the working class? Or is there another choice?

Emerald Fennell turns a new page with a fresh take on Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’

Georgie Gassaro | February 17, 2026 3/5 Stars

Director Emerald Fennell brings modern audiences back to late 18th-century Yorkshire moorland with her adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1840s novel “Wuthering Heights.” Fennell’s take, which released in theaters Feb. 13, twists the narrative quite a bit and leaves the audience to decide if it is for better or worse.

The original story follows Catherine “Cathy” Earnshaw (Margot Robbie) from adolescence into adulthood. When she discovers her sexuality, she is released from the solitude of her rural atmosphere and finds the company of the wealthy boy next door, Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif). Edgar lives at the polished Thrushcross Grange estate. Heathcliff, played by Jacob Elordi, is a low-class, neglected boy whom Cathy’s father, Mr. Earnshaw, takes in and puts to work. Cathy and Heathcliff grow up together on the gothic Wuthering Heights estate and become close in more ways than one, bonded by their shared endurance of Mr. Earnshaw’s abusive care.

Fennell leans into the fun of introducing classic literature reimagined to younger generations with a surrealist set design, an original soundtrack by Charli XCX and an unexpected comedic flair that earns laughter in theaters.

Before the film was released, fans loyal to the novel pointed out the inclusion of quotation marks in Fennell’s title. In interviews, Fennell described this project as the depiction of how her 14-year-old self read the novel. There have been at least 35 other film and television adaptations of Brontë’s story, but no other pass has been as daringly divergent as Fennell’s.

“Wuthering Heights” is absolutely a spectacle worth watching. Sometimes, unfortunately, spectacles are too much for people to process, especially when you are missing the backstory. Fennell focuses more on uncharacteristic kitschy aesthetics than she does significant plot points — like Heathcliff’s possibly Romani ethnic identity. Elordi’s Heathcliff follows a long chain of whitewashing that betrays Brontë’s characterization of a “dark-skinned gypsy.”

Additionally, the film’s focus on a physical attraction between Cathy and Heathcliff comments on the dramatization — perhaps even desensitization — of intimacy in media. Fennell’s cinematic repertoire is a necessary contextual detail for digesting the film’s explicit nature. Her previous hit, “Saltburn,” which also featured Elordi as a male lead, received significant backlash for its unfiltered, unhinged approach to intimacy. Having a film like “Saltburn” under her belt is undoubtedly the best prerequisite for taking on an adaptation that

capitalizes on uncomfortably specific innuendos. Comparably, Brontë’s Cathy and Heathcliff are fueled by a “soul” connection that is never physically consummated.

Another compelling uniqueness to Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is the fate of Cathy. Brontë’s story is notorious for a vividly tragic narration of intense mental instability and the neglect of female mental health in this era. There are only two brief scenes dedicated to the fatal extent of Cathy’s mental decline; instead, Fennell alludes to a miscarriage as the more dominant factor. For audiences who do not have the literary background to interpret this particular change, the impact of those brief scenes is lost, and the meaning of Cathy’s narrative is changed.

Creative liberties must be expected when diving into an adaptation, but are still worth noting to understand the adaptation’s unprecedented territory.

Unfortunately, Fennell’s surrealist touch and expansive originality will send any Brontë purist into the same maddening fate as the classic’s leading lady. Without an awareness of these key differences, non-readers will be misinformed about the novel’s key themes: obsession, revenge, nature and generational abuse.

Between the soundtrack and quickly cut scenes emphasizing every stolen glance, the first 30 or so minutes can only evoke the same stimulation as scrolling on TikTok and watching fan-made edits. While compelling and digestible, it is tiresome, and

not the type of engagement movie-goers expect. On TikTok, Warner Bros. teased their modernized adaptation of the English classic “Wuthering Heights” by labeling it in various tropes (“for the friends to lovers fans,” “if you love close proximity,” “for the enemies to lovers fans,” “for the jealousy trope lovers,”) but this begs the question of whether marketing books and book-to-screen adaptations in tropes is lazy, especially when the majority of the film clearly intends to win audiences through shock value. Fennell wields overacting from the lead as a strategy for preserving a classical tone. However, the choice to cast modern A-listers in a period piece set to the music of a Gen Z chart-topper already forgoes the chances of being perceived as authentically vintage. Once the story reaches its climactic change of ownership of the Wuthering Heights estate, this ability-to-go-viral tone takes a turn for the better. This pick-up in momentum and quality improves the impact of Robbie’s acting because her whimsical runs across the moors come off more genuine than performative.

At this moment, Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” redeems itself as an entertaining spectacle, no matter how far removed from its blueprint. Luckily, it does not always take itself seriously at times, like the ridiculously tall mountain of empty beer bottles that surround Cathy’s father, who turns to alcohol in his isolation. This admission of dramatization welcomes laughs and critiques all the same. Clearly, Fennell was not looking to be conventional.

John Patton Ford’s dark comedy ‘How to Make a Killing’ slaughters its own premise

Action star Glen Powell forms a “get-rich-quick” scheme that’s likely more ethical than any money making methods of actual billionaires in John Patton Ford’s dark comedy “How to Make a Killing,” released Feb. 20.

The film follows Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell), a disowned heir to a family fortune worth billions. Raised by his mom, Becket grew up outside the family estate having no contact with his other relatives. Now an adult, he forms a plot to kill all seven remaining Redfellows in an attempt to take the riches as recompense for their abandonment.

Audiences have long believed in the potential of the ‘Pow-Town’ ever since his breakout role in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” There has been a lot of buzz about his possible future as the next big Hollywood star. Opportunities have followed this big start, like the 2023 romantic comedy “Anyone But You” and the 2024 blockbuster “Twisters,” but they all were received with fairly middling reception.

Ford’s macabre comedy didn’t do much to raise the hopes of Powell’s fans. While Powell retains a powerful presence on screen, his suave charisma isn’t enough to make up for Becket’s lack of depth. There needed to be more of a commitment to either making

him a lovable underdog or a ruthless killer.

The rest of the cast faces a similar issue.

Julia (Margaret Qualley), while fun, remained unconvincing because the film never quite knew when or how to use her until the very end of the third act. The Redfellows felt like a series of one-dimensional evil, rich people tropes. In a film focused on taking down this behemoth of a family, there must be a sense of individuality for each target. There must be some reason for the audience to either sympathize or despise them enough to get a reaction out of their death. As it stood, each murder felt extremely underwhelming.

“How to Make a Killing” feels afraid of its own concept. It never committed to wowing the audience with an elaborate game plan. There is no wild murder method that causes a wince or assassination that leaves the audience in awe, which leaves this killer comedy without any bite.

The editing and cinematography were certainly of quality, but there was so much underlying potential within the technical aspects that one couldn’t help but feel disheartened. While there were some stylish decisions made, more snappy cuts, zooms or pans would have gone a long way to raise the energy

of each scene. Without that extra touch, such a supposedly vibrant movie is left so pale.

The film cannot quite seem to decide what it wants to be. Is it a black comedy? It is not particularly funny, nor is the content particularly dark, despite the subject matter. Is it an “Ocean’s Eleven” style crime thriller? The methods never go beyond the surface level. When all is said and done, it really just leaves the audience with one question: what was that film supposed to give me?

Powell could take some advice from Ford’s script. In “How to Make a Killing,” Becket’s love interest, Ruth, states that “Nobody teaches you how to dream small.” That’s exactly what Powell needs to do. Take a step back from all the large action movies and take the time to try out new genres. Powell’s oddly dopey, expressive face would be primed for a comedy. Don’t let the cheekbones fool you, that man can get a chuckle.

Ending on a bad note is not necessarily warranted, as this is by no means a terrible movie. It is certainly watchable, and it manages to stick the landing in a surprising yet cathartic ending. It just leaves the viewer wishing that the film capitalized on the numerous interesting ideas it had.

Bruno Mars strums heartstrings with ‘The Romantic,’ his first solo album in a decade

Ava Suffredini | March 3, 2026 4/5 stars

The yearner himself made his grand return with the release of “The Romantic” on Feb. 27. This is Bruno Mars’ first solo album in 10 years, and it does not disappoint.

Mars has had his fair share of musical collaborations like “Fat, Juicy & Wet” featuring Sexyy Red, “Die With A Smile” featuring Lady Gaga and “APT.” featuring Rosé. He also released a collaborative album alongside Anderson .Paak, titled “An Evening With Silk Sonic” back in 2021. However, the singer has not released a solo album since the seven-time Grammy-winning “24K Magic” in 2016.

Despite waiting nearly a decade for the long-awaited album, fans were not left in the dark after Mars’ initial announcement of new music. His single “I Just Might” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Jan. 9. The pop song stayed true to Mars’ roots, bringing in staple retro sounds that populate his discography. Heavily inspired by ’70s disco funk, “I Just Might” blends upbeat rhythms with Mars’ soul-influenced vocals. The singer’s love for dance shines through in the music video as he showcases his iconic moves. He makes it known how important letting loose and having fun is: “But what good is beauty if your booty can’t find the beat?”

The single contrasts with the remainder of the album — especially songs like “Risk It All” and “Cha Cha Cha.” As the album openers, these introduce the

new era in a surprisingly slow fashion. “Risk It All” is a Latin-influenced ballad that features slow mariachi instrumentals. Similarly, “Cha Cha Cha” continues the genre with a Latin pop sound and funky dance puns. Regardless of the difference in pacing, these opening songs keep the ’70s dance floor theme on track.

It would not be a Bruno Mars album without a yearning tune, and this heartfelt, intimate album does not disappoint with those features. Songs like “God Was Showing Off,” “Why You Wanna Fight?” and “On My Soul” have the singer craving love. Listeners can feel his desperation for the women he sings to through each lyric: “(Say, baby) I really want ya / (Say, baby) I wanna give you my name / (Say, baby) I’ll forever be yours,” in “On My Soul.”

“The Romantic” takes its title quite seriously — and what is romance without a little heartbreak? While the beginning of the album brings joy, the back end brings tears.

“Nothing Left” is about falling out of love and losing passion for a partner. Mars tries to rekindle the love he once shared, and it pulls at the listener’s heartstrings. The lyrics on this track hold the most emotional weight. You can feel his pain through the way he sings.

The instrumentals on “Nothing Left” are just as emotional as the lyrics. Mars captured his heartbreak with an electric guitar solo that connects the chorus.

The Latin-rock-influenced song pairs well with the collective sound on the album.

Tears come in many forms, and unlike “Nothing Left,” “Dance With Me” brings a soft and tender type of love. This song serves as Mars’ last attempt to save his relationship. He uses dancing as a way to reconnect, “Hoping when the music ends / You and I (You and I) will fall in love (Fall in love).” “Dance With Me” closes the album in an incredibly romantic way.

The strong suit of “The Romantic” is how cohesive it is. Each song complements the others incredibly well. It told a story about how love begins and ends. Mars kept his signature sound — soulful pop — but also made it different from his previous records with the Latin instrumentals and ’70s disco beats.

“I Just Might” is the only song that does not sound like the rest. It lacks the Latin-pop backdrop that the other tracks possess. However, it is arguably the most Bruno Mars-sounding song on the album with its funky beats. It is understandable why the singer would want to introduce his comeback with this single. However, it is misleading when the listener turns on the rest of the album.

Beginning in April, Mars will make his return to the stage on “The Romantic Tour.” He announced the stadium tour a day after the album announcement. Just like fans, the singer seems eager to hit the road. And if the tour features any of these tracks, it’ll be a night to remember.

SPORTS

Q&A: New volleyball assistant coach brings fresh perspective from experience overseas

Jonathan Falco | August 27, 2025

The Ithaca College volleyball team added Mark Lucas to serve as assistant coach on June 16. Lucas brings decades worth of coaching experience to the Bombers, as they look to make another run in the NCAA tournament after making it to round three last season.

Lucas specializes in blocking, which is a crucial aspect of volleyball. He looks to help the Bombers in that aspect significantly.

Lucas previously served at Wells College as the head coach for men’s volleyball from 2016-2018 and women’s volleyball from 2016-2024 and at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford for women’s volleyball in 2024. Lucas was also head coach in Kyoto, Japan, leading the men’s volleyball team at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies to three regional championships in the process.

After coaching brought Lucas across the world, his next journey begins this season with the Bombers.

Sports editor Jonathan Falco sat down with Lucas to discuss his new role and strategy for the Bombers.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Jonathan Falco: What attracted you to

becoming an assistant coach at IC and how do you see yourself contributing to the program’s goals?

Mark Lucas: I was looking for a new position and it coincidentally opened up. I’ve known Johan [Dulfer, former volleyball head coach], for years, so I reached out to him and I knew Tara [Stilwell, current volleyball head coach], back when she was a player. I reached out to Johan about it, and he said, “You’re not the typical assistant coach,” but then he thought about it for a minute, and he said, “But I know you and Tara, and I think weirdly this could work.”

JF: How do you plan to build relationships with the current roster to help integrate your experience into your team’s culture?

ML: The easy part about that is the roster itself. When I was in the interview process … I got to meet the players and the team and it was the perfect team culture for what I was always looking for as a coach before. It’s just a team of competitive Care Bears, and they’re super welcoming. It’s been really easy connecting with everyone.

JF: What makes blocking your forte, and what’s the most fascinating part about it?

ML: I think having coached here in the States

and overseas in Japan, having played here and overseas and also coaching both the men’s and women’s sides. When I started coaching women’s, I was always a little bit frustrated that a lot of coaches would just use blocking on the women’s side as something to help your defense set up around. On the men’s side, that’s not the case, so I thought, “Why are we not taking full advantage of using blocking as a weapon and being really aggressive with it?”

JF: What cultural or strategic differences did you encounter while coaching in Japan and how will that influence your approach with the Bombers?

ML: Coaching and playing there changed me as a player and a coach tremendously. At the end of my career, I became a much better blocker because I was getting tooled by a lot of players who were a lot smaller and younger and I had to get better. Being there for 19 years, being part of the culture changes you. I appreciate the ethic of hard work and being respectful to your teammates and your opponents, which was something I needed to learn as a player. I like taking aspects of the Japanese game that are more common … there than they are here and vice versa and trying to pull that into a team in the U.S. and creating a little extra something that teams may not even be aware of.

JF: What is your coaching philosophy, and how do you plan to implement that with the volleyball team here?

ML: I’ve always been what is called a players’ coach. I generally always kept small rosters, got to know my players really well. I preferred the Division III model, where you can play high-level volleyball, but you’ve got players who are not beholden to an athletic scholarship, that generally are at high academic schools. I think that kind of setup led itself into tying into the things that I like as a coach. I’ve always loved to find ways to improve players, to help them find their better game and as a result, have a better team and have fun too.

JF: How do you adapt your coaching style with different team dynamics and program size?

ML: I’ve never adhered to a one-size-fits-all philosophy. For me, like I said earlier, I think this is the perfect kind of team culture that allows me to take full advantage of the things that I like to do and the things that I have the most experience at doing.

JF: Why should people want to follow your team this year?

ML: They enjoy playing volleyball and they’re good at it. If you watch them play, that will become apparent, and it will be an enjoyable experience for you.

IC lacrosse players take talents international

Isabella McSweeney | September 11, 2025

After falling short of the postseason, two members of the Ithaca College men’s lacrosse team decided to take their talents across the world to Seogwipo, South Korea to celebrate their heritage and compete in the 2025 World Lacrosse Men’s U20 Championship.

The championship brought together players from 19 countries and five continents, including first-year midfielder Jack Murphy on Team Ireland and junior goalkeeper Jameson Wong on Team China. Games were held from Aug. 15-24, with each team hosting brief camps for teammates to get to know each other’s style of play before the tournament.

Tom Prior, head coach of Team Ireland, has been involved with World Lacrosse since the 2002 World Lacrosse Championship in Perth, Australia. He began as an assistant coach under Kevin Moran, an Ithaca native who played lacrosse for Cornell University. Prior said the short training period presented a unique challenge when putting a team together.

“Getting them to play together and play lacrosse with a high IQ in a few days, and then to play on the world stage, is a real challenge as a professional,” Prior said. “I always found it rewarding, when it’s the fruits of your labor. … As a teacher, as a coach, I get to watch kids develop.”

For World Lacrosse, which held the first Men’s Championship in 1967, international competitions do more than showcase the top talent the sport has to offer. According to the organization’s website, its mission statement is to “positively impact the lives of participants and communities by leading, promoting and developing the sport of lacrosse globally.”

Wong experienced this community outreach firsthand during Team China’s training camp in Shanghai. Between attending team meetings and exploring the city, Team China head coach Brendan Mullin led the team in scrimmages with Shanghai Lacrosse, an up-and-coming sports league in the country. The team also had brief training with a youth lacrosse club called Shanghai Lynx, which Mullin described as a great event for all parties involved.

“I’ve been playing since second grade,” Wong said. “A lot of these kids were a little bit older, but for them, [they’re] first picking up a stick. It was great to go to local club teams and be able to help teach them and really grow the game that I love.”

Despite their jam-packed schedules, players found time to talk with members of other teams during the competition. Murphy said he was able to meet Wong, who he was introduced to while visiting IC during the spring, and his Team China teammates for meals.

“[Wong], being an upperclassman, he was telling me about some of the stuff that I might have

been missing [at IC],” Murphy said. “Being like, ‘You’re not missing much, no classes or anything.’ He was good help to have over there, made me feel more comfortable.”

Connecting his experience abroad with his time at IC, Wong said the championship was a great opportunity to prepare himself for the upcoming season.

“Even though lacrosse is a spring sport, we still have a pretty rigorous fall schedule,” Wong said. “Being able to be away and play lacrosse almost every day for the past three weeks helped me to be in the best lacrosse shape I could be in coming in for the school year.”

While Murphy is new to the Bombers, this summer was far from his first experience with World Lacrosse. He played with Team Ireland in the Men’s U20 European Championship, where Team Ireland took home gold after a tight final against Team England. For Murphy, the experience was more than a game.

“Winning gold was very, very special to me because of my dad,” Murphy said. “He was never really into lacrosse as much because he’s from Ireland, never grew up knowing anything about it. He had a lot more joy and pride and compassion about the sport than he ever has because I’m playing

for his country. And we actually got to beat England, which was a bit of a boost.”

Prior said the team’s 8-0 run in the European Championship has bigger implications for lacrosse in Ireland.

“To beat England in a tournament, in a European tournament, was a tremendous feed for our program,” Prior said. “We thank England for doing that because they got the best out of us that day.”

Mullin, who has lived in China since 2017 and served as head coach of the men’s national team since 2019, said that youth programs have grown exponentially since then. He said the number of players aged six to 15 has gone from less than 100 to around 3,500.

World Lacrosse encourages interaction across teams by providing players with pins and lanyards to exchange with opposing teams after games. Murphy said many players take this a step further and trade parts of their own uniforms.

“You get to trade T-shirts and shorts and jackets and whatever gear you get,” Murphy said. “In my opinion, the most important part is getting lacrosse out to other places so that people can experience what lacrosse is really about. At the end of the day, it’s a sport. It’s supposed to be fun.”

Men’s soccer team draws with SUNY Cortland

Graham Goodman | September 20, 2025

T

he No. 21 Ithaca College men’s soccer team travelled to face off against the No. 9 SUNY Cortland Red Dragons on Sept. 17 in a match that ended in a dramatically tense 0-0 draw. The energetic match put an end to a four-season period where the Bombers were unable to evade defeat from their rivals, going back to the 2019 season. The game was the Bombers’ only matchup against a ranked team for the remainder of regular season play.

The Bombers set the tone early in front of a crowd of over 500, posing a threatening attack just six minutes into the match.

Sophomore forward Emmett Enriquez picked up the ball in a dangerous position deep in the Cortland half and looked up as his eyes were met with Bomber attackers making runs into the box. With the laces of his boot, Enriquez floated his pass over the heads of the Red Dragon defenders.

Junior midfielder Liam Breslin brought the ball down on the left side of the box, and placed the ball in the bottom right corner with the inside of his right foot.

As quickly as they began, celebrations were halted by the raised flag of the linesman. Luckily for the Bombers, the offside goal was not nearly the last goal-scoring opportunity that would be produced.

Following the disallowed strike from Breslin, the Bombers settled into the game nicely. The next 20 minutes of the first half saw three Bomber shots on goal, the most dangerous of the bunch coming

from corner kicks.

Junior forward Jack Carney’s low header in the crowded box was not difficult for Cortland senior goalkeeper Jordan Ott to deal with. Senior defender Myles Ryan could not get enough power on his header to provide Ott with any trouble, despite placing it in the top left corner.

Scoring chances came few and far between for the remainder of the first half, despite the Bombers controlling the pace of play on and off of the ball and playing comfortably in the Cortland half. Graduate student midfielder Jack Longo contributed heavily to this cause, putting in a hard-working shift to ensure the South Hill squad stayed in control.

In addition to Longo’s efforts, the Bombers were a defensive wall. Set up in 4-2-3-1 when out of possession, head coach Gabe Kuhn’s side ensured that Red Dragon touches in the attacking half were rare.

Going into the break, the Bombers were playing with confidence, possessing everything they needed besides a goal. Kuhn felt optimistic heading into halftime.

“I just told them to relax,” Kuhn said. “If we win the second half, we beat the ninth best [Division III] team in the country.”

The Bombers used the second-half kickoff to pass the ball directly out of bounds in the Red Dragons’ half, allowing themselves to set up their press in the final third.

The second half began with the Red Dragons holding the advantage because they began to put more pressure on the Bomber back line. Cortland attacks almost exclusively came from wing play, resulting in many crosses into the box. As usual, senior goalkeeper Bryson Shaull was up for the task.

“Coming and getting balls out of the air is so huge,” Shaull said. “If you can be good at interrupting and preventing shots before they even develop into a shot, it makes it easier on our back line.”

Shaull faced continuous pressure throughout the match, gracefully leaping through the air to sniff out floating crosses, claiming overhit through balls and consistently putting an end to Cortland’s attacks.

The Bombers began to build momentum with 20 minutes remaining. With both teams’ benches on their feet for the entire match, the game’s energy and intensity was nearing its climax.

Junior midfielder Cameron Wooten’s signature flipping throw-in from the left side field soared through the brisk nighttime air, and over the reach of Ott. The ball’s path entered a crowded area of bodies at the back post, meeting the inside of graduate student midfielder Ikey Borden’s right foot. From inside the 6-yard box, the ball traveled towards the right corner of the goal’s netting, only to be met by a Red Dragon defender, clearing the ball away from danger.

The game’s cadence reached its maximum level of intensity entering its final minutes, with each side desperately searching for a late winner.

On a counter attack down the left wing, Enriquez found himself in a familiar position after weaving in and around Red Dragon defenders. Driving the ball toward the Cortland back line, Enriquez played a pass to Carney’s feet on the top of the box. Carney, cutting inside to his right, struck a finesse shot with the inside of his right foot, with the hopes of curling the ball just inside the far post. The ball flew by the post, and the Bombers’ last chance of the game had flown by.

Despite ending in a goalless draw, the game’s energy and tactical intrigue was hard to deny.

“We knew it would be a tough game coming here to Cortland,” Longo said. “We wanted to show them that we’re here and that we’re a new team.”

The result had implications of what is to come later in the season, according to Kuhn.

“If we’re in a good place against them, I think we’ll be in a good place in the Liberty League,” Kuhn said. “We know now that we can hang with anybody in the country.”

The Bombers return home at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 20 for their next match, where they take on the Moravian University Greyhounds at Carp Wood Field.

Junior transfer trades cleats for running shoes

Morgan Spriggs | September 24, 2025

Before the Fall 2025 semester, junior Lola Gitlin had never competed in a cross-country race.

That was until Sept. 6, when Gitlin finished in ninth place at the Tom Balon Alumni Classic 5K race in Brockport. Gitlin finished in second on her team, a remarkable feat for someone running their first cross-country race. For her performance, Gitlin won Liberty League Women’s Cross Country Rookie of the Week honors.

Gitlin was a lifelong soccer player, from high school to Division I Long Island University. Gitlin transferred to Ithaca College for the Spring 2025 semester. She came to South Hill to play for Mindy Quigg, head coach of the women’s soccer team. IC won the Liberty League Championship Tournament in the Fall 2024 season. Gitlin was thrilled to learn from Quigg and said she is a legendary teacher.

Despite her enthusiasm, Gitlin made a hard decision before her third year as a collegiate athlete: she was changing sports from soccer to cross-country. The sport she had learned, played and grew up with her whole life was not working for her anymore. The difficult choice stemmed from the physical toll the sport took on her.

“I have been dealing with injuries since high school,” Gitlin said, “When I was coming back, I think I convinced myself that I was still so in love with soccer … but the reality is … I kind of took a step back and … realized that, although there’s such incredible people here and the team is so incredible, soccer was no longer serving me.”

She missed her entire first-year campaign and redshirted the year. She had a cleaner bill of health in the 2024 schedule, playing defense for 11 out of 16 possible games in Fall 2024. However, Gitlin wanted a change.

Injuries led to a big shift in her athletic journey from soccer defender to cross-country runner.

Before switching sports, Gitlin swapped one New York institution for another, relocating from LIU to IC in the middle of her sophomore year. This change led to nervousness for Gitlin as she faced new challenges and adapted to a new school, classmates and teammates.

“The biggest challenge was trying to find a way to just get myself out there,” Gitlin said. “Getting rid of that fear of being cool and accepting that … everyone’s here to make friends, and being [OK] with not having as many in the beginning and continuing to grow my circle [helped].”

Gitlin tried to get involved in many clubs and extracurricular activities at IC, which made her college transition go smoother.

“[IC] has made it so incredibly easy to do that by just having amazing student organizations,

incredible resources, and I’ve taken advantage of almost all of them,” Gitlin said.

Furthermore, Gitlin was nervous about how she would interact with her team. All of those worries were dismissed once she met head coach Erin Dinan’s cross-country squad.

“This is my first time ever running cross-country, and so I have a lot of questions and a lot of different asks,” Gitlin said. “They’ve been so incredibly kind and welcoming and have treated me like family the second I walked in. … I feel like I’m finally exactly where I belong.”

Gitlin said she feels at home with her new team, leading to early individual and group success. From a coaching standpoint, Dinan said that this is not the first time former soccer players have run under her leadership.

“I love to get soccer players,” Dinan said. “They are great runners and have a lot of drive and competitiveness.”

Gitlin reached out to Dinan in Spring 2025 and got prepared over the summer for her new sport. Dinan said that the transition was smooth and that Gitlin got adjusted to the sport seamlessly. Despite the welcoming atmosphere and smooth transition, there are always challenges when shifting sports, but Dinan said that the team has incredible chemistry that will help with any further adjustments that need to be made.

It is also important for Gitlin to stay healthy

during the cross-country season. Dinan noted that the team’s schedule is spaced out in a way that avoids overworking a runner’s body to avoid wear and tear and unnecessary afflictions.

In her time at Ithaca, Gitlin has bonded with her teammates well, like with senior runner Jessica Goode. Goode finished seventh in the Tom Balon Alumni Classic 5K on Sept. 6 and has accumulated numerous accolades, including Liberty League Rookie of the Year in her first-year campaign.

Goode said the pair often go on long runs to practice for the season, which has led to them getting to know each other and bonding outside of running. She said Gitlin’s hard work and strong work ethic has led to improved team chemistry.

“She’s super dedicated, super motivated and she brings an energy to this team that we’ve been lacking,” Goode said. “She cares so much. I cannot emphasize enough how much she cares about this team and the betterment of the team. Having her only adds to our greatness as a team.”

Leading up to the first meet, Gitlin had mixed emotions. She said that while not knowing how she would perform in her inaugural cross-country venture, it was all worth it.

“I went in and took a risk, and it worked out in the end,” Gitlin said. “My teammates have been there every single step of the way, giving me guidance, so I just can’t wait to keep on getting faster and win more.”

Women’s wrestling begins inaugural season

Lyla Doran | September 25, 2025

I

n 2024, Ithaca College expanded its athletics program by introducing an NCAA varsity women’s wrestling team. With the 2025-26 inaugural season approaching, the team’s preparations are in full swing, including the hiring of head coach Ryan Ciotoli ’02 and the recruitment of the eight athletes.

After the announcement, getting a team built and coaches hired was a priority. Since his time on South Hill, Ciotoli, an IC Athletic Hall of Famer, has spent his time coaching men’s wrestling at the college, high school and club level, including assistant coaching the men’s team at IC from 2002-08.

Over the past year, Ciotoli was tasked with finding the first Bombers for the team. Ciotoli said many competing programs began scouting earlier, which presented a challenge when finding players interested in IC.

“I’ve been involved with wrestling for 30, 40 years, and I’ve made very good contacts with some of the top clubs and coaches,” Ciotoli said. “I started making those phone calls. ‘Who do you have available? Do you think they would be a good fit for Ithaca College?’ I just started hitting the pavement.”

Ciotoli traveled to tournaments around the country to find the perfect fits for the new squad. Soon after Ciotoli’s hiring, first-year student Sophia Torian from Menards, New York became the first athlete to announce her commitment. Torian said she was thrilled to find out the college was adding the sport.

“I knew about Ithaca and I knew it was a really

good school, but they didn’t have a [women’s wrestling team],” Torian said. “So when I found out they had one, I applied, got it and then I toured the school and I really liked it … so I just committed.”

During her high school senior season, Torian went 17-6 and placed first at the Kristie Stenglein-Davis High School Tournament. Torian said she is very excited about her college career and the seasons ahead of her.

“I don’t have any serious goals for this year, because I’m a freshman, but as I get older, I want to go to nationals,” Torian said. “I just can’t wait to wrestle with my team.”

Over the next few months, the team added first-year commits Delaney Bisaillon, Angie Berry, Arianna Leo, Melina Georgas, Emmie Moore and Faith Villanueva to the South Hill roster. Ciotoli said it was difficult fighting other schools for recruits, but he is happy with the team he assembled.

“Some of the other colleges had a leg up on us with the recruits, but we did really well,” Ciotoli said. “[Our recruits] are a great group.”

The team also had one more recruit become a pioneer member, senior Sammi Meyer. In middle school, Meyer wrestled but her high school did not offer a program. Meyer tried to create a wrestling club at IC, but it never got off the ground. Meyer said her dream was nearly lost.

“I kind of gave up on the dream and then I heard that we were having women’s wrestling,” Meyer said.

“I was really excited [so I] talked to Coach and he was all for [me joining the team.]”

Ciotoli said that although Meyer can only be on the team briefly, she could make a substantial mark on the future of the team.

“We’re pretty lucky to have her,” Ciotoli said. “She will only be on the team for a year, but she hopes to make a lasting impact.”

When the team roster was finalized, preparations started for the upcoming year. Ciotoli moved back north from his old home in Virginia and the wrestlers moved in for the school year.

On Sept. 3, Ithaca’s 28th varsity sport held its first-ever practice. On top of having to build chemistry with a brand new team, some of the athletes had to learn a new style of wrestling according to the guidelines of New York state. Meyer said New York high school athletes use freestyle techniques, but anyone coming from out of state had to learn it. Freestyle is a faster-paced style of wrestling that emphasizes explosiveness and quick scoring.

“[The coaches are] just kind of getting everyone really familiar with freestyle, for those who are out of state, and just getting everyone to a collegiate level,” Meyer said.

The athletes are also learning about each other off the mat. They spend time going to dinners, lifting, going to events together and hiking. Torian said the team has felt like they are able to build community quickly due to their small crew.

“Since we have such a small team, I feel like it’s a lot easier [to build relationships],” Torian said. “We all hang out … and it’s really fun.”

Ciotoli is also adjusting well to his new position on South Hill. Ciotoli said everyone in the athletics office is very excited to introduce the new sport.

“The athletic department has been great,” Ciotoli said. “The coaches are very helpful. … Everybody’s been great. [The athletes] are all positive, coachable people. [I’m] just excited to be a part of Ithaca College again.”

On football team, deep connection shines through between IC coaches and players

Billy Wood | September 25, 2025

One Beat. The motto of the Ithaca College football team emphasizes togetherness and an almost brotherly connection. This season, the Bombers have relied on three new coaches who all have deep roots with the program.

On March 24, the Bombers announced the hiring of assistant coaches Ben Mason, Will Margraff and Will Gladney ’20. Mason was brought in to coach both running backs and tight ends, while Gladney was brought in to coach wide receivers and Margraff to coach linebackers.

Linebackers coach Will Margraff

While both Mason and Gladney played college ball, Margraff grew up around football. The son of legendary Johns Hopkins University football coach Jim Margraff, Will was around football all his life. After graduating from the University of Maryland in 2022, Will took a defensive quality control job at the University of Pennsylvania. There, he worked with former IC coaches Sean Reeder and Dan Swanstrom. Later on, as an outside linebackers coach at Marist University, Will worked with former Bombers coach Tom Biscardi. He said his relationships are what led him to Ithaca.

“I think between those three guys, having been here before and the way they talked about how the school itself was and the culture of the team, I knew it was someplace I wanted to be,” Margraff said. “I have known [head coach Michael Toerper] since I was 10 years old, so once he gave me the phone call and told me that there may be an opportunity to come here, I said ‘If I get a chance to work with Coach Toerper at this place I’ve heard such great things about, I’d be an idiot to turn it down.’”

Before coming to Ithaca, Toerper coached receivers and defensive backs for Jim Margraff at Johns Hopkins. Not only did Will Margraff know Toerper from a young age, but he knew Swanstrom as well. Will said Swanstrom and Toerper were both key in crafting what his coaching philosophy was.

“Coach Swanstrom, we actually both went to Rhodes College and he got inducted into the Hall of Fame at Rhodes during the fall while he was coaching at Ithaca,” Margraff said. “My brother and I gave his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, so the ties run really deep. … I’ve called him to ask for advice and he has always been honest with me, helped me out. I know he’s always a phone call away.”

Sophomore linebacker Bobby Lombardo said Will Margraff mixes in a great combination of a serious and friendly relationship.

“[Margraff] is very upfront and honest,” Lombardo said. “He tells us what we need to do, he keeps it professional but also loose. It’s a very good player and coach relationship, but it’s also a good coach and friend relationship.”

Running backs and tight ends

coach Ben Mason

Mason coming to the program furthers what is a Bombers’ family line. Mason’s father Bob Mason, a two-time all-American, played defensive tackle for the Bombers from 1985-87 and Mason’s brother Dan, played running back and tight end for the Bombers from 2019-23. Mason did not go to Ithaca; instead, he played fullback, defensive line and tight end at the University of Michigan from 2017-20. Mason turned his success under Jim Harbaugh into a four-year NFL career where he spent time with the Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Chargers. Mason said he immediately pursued coaching after his NFL exit.

“I just love the game of football and really want to be around it,” Mason said. “I was always told as a player, play as long as you can and then coach as long as you can. Opportunity presented itself at [the United States Military Academy]. I knew a guy over there by the name of John Loose [’87]. He’s an Ithaca grad who graduated back in the ’80s and went

to school with my dad. I started volunteering in the middle of the year to get my foot in the door.”

With his experience of playing fullback, Mason started his career as an offensive analyst in a fullback’s dream offense, the triple option, at Army West Point. Mason said that longtime West Point head coach Jeff Monken taught him a lot about how to lead from the front.

As a player, Mason had the opportunity to play under both of the Harbaugh brothers and briefly Bill Belichick. Mason said while those names are some of his greatest mentors, he wants to take what he has learned from them and make his own story.

“I definitely try to take a little bit from everybody, but at the end of the day, you have to take the good bits and pieces from each and morph it into your own,” Mason said. “Those are some of the greatest mentors that I’ve had in my entire life and I’m super thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to be around some great coaches.”

Lombardo said Mason’s experience has shown in his knowledge of the game.

“[Mason] knows little details about special teams that you wouldn’t even think of and that hands-on experience he has is something that I would say very little, if no other team in the country has,” Lombardo said. “Not even just on special teams but in the tight end room and offense in general, the experience that he brings is tremendous.”

Local first-year athlete joins multisport legacy

John Frieders | October 15, 2025

For first-year student Raya Mount, joining the Ithaca College cross-country team was not part of the plan.

Growing up in nearby Trumansburg, New York, Mount never imagined herself pursuing running after high school. Track served as a spring sport that kept her in shape and provided her with another competitive outlet, but her athletic life had always centered around basketball and soccer. Running was a side activity and a means to an end for her.

When choosing schools, Mount said that sports were not a consideration at all.

“I actually didn’t apply to any other schools,” Mount said. “I wasn’t planning on running here either. It was just because of the OT [Occupational Therapy] program, and during my track season, my coach was like, ‘Hey, do you want me to reach out to the coach there?’”

That casual remark opened up an opportunity she did not know existed. Mount was getting ready to graduate by the late spring of her senior year, with occupational therapy education taking precedence over her athletic aspirations. However, she was referred to Erin Dinan, head coach of the IC women’s cross-country team, by her high school coach, Bryce DeSantis.

DeSantis set up a phone call between Mount and Dinan to test the waters. Mount said she was nervous for the conversation, sitting on the edge of her seat.

“I don’t like talking on the phone, it makes me nervous in general,” Mount said. “[Dinan] was like, ‘Is [track] something you’d want to try?’ And I kind of just said yes. I don’t think I even really thought about what

I said until a few weeks later.”

Dinan saw this as more than simply a chance to develop talent. She had previously witnessed individuals like Mount — multisport athletes with natural endurance, athleticism and a desire to learn — who had not dedicated years to cross-country.

“It’s very exciting for me to see somebody who is new at it,” Dinan said. “There’s untapped talent there.”

Mount gained recognition for her adaptability in Trumansburg, a small town about 15 miles north of Ithaca. Athletes are frequently relied upon by small high schools to cover various rosters, and Mount flourished there. Soccer was in the fall; basketball was in the winter. In spring, Mount started to discover she might be more of a runner than she thought. DeSantis had a front-row seat to her development.

“She had a great senior track season, and I thought, ‘You know what, she could run at IC,’” DeSantis said. “She’s determined. You put some miles on her, and all of a sudden she’s going to be a different runner.”

For DeSantis, the concept was about potential rather than marketing Mount as a completed product. Athletes who divide their time between different sports do not usually gain as much mileage as year-round runners since high school track seasons are brief. However, Mount’s perseverance and drive persuaded him that she could succeed with the correct curriculum.

That transition began in August, when Mount arrived on South Hill for preseason. IC athletes reported early, giving first-years like Mount a crash course in training before the rest of campus filled with students.

Running was not all there was to it. Early morning drills, lengthy runs on the Ithaca-area trails and group dinners in the dining hall were all part of the program. The adjustment was still a difficult one for a first-year student who never saw herself as a distance runner. Mount discovered that the feeling of belonging gave her a surge of energy and quiet confidence.

Dinan noticed it right away.

“She just loves it,” Dinan said. “You wouldn’t have ever known she had never run cross-country before. She fell right in, and that speaks a lot about her.”

Part of that ease came from her personality. Both coaches described Mount as grounded: someone who does not overthink but simply shows up ready to work. That outlook has helped her adapt to training loads that would have seemed impossible just a year ago.

For decades, the college’s cross-country program has thrived on athletes like Mount. Dinan, now in her 16th year with the team, has built a culture of consistency, leading the Bombers to six Eastern College Athletic Conference and 14 Empire 8 championships. Yet what makes her program unique is the balance between development and results.

Some runners arrive with state titles and mileage logs dating back to middle school. Others, like Mount, come with limited experience but a hunger to improve. The team’s structure, Dinan said, allows both types to flourish.

“It’s about seeing what they can become,” Dinan said. “With Raya, there’s excitement because we don’t know where her ceiling is yet.”

The team saw another similar addition this year with junior Lola Gitlin. Gitlin transferred in Spring 2024 from Long Island University, with plans to join the soccer team. After arriving at IC, however, she made the switch to track.

During the 2015-16 season, the Bombers made it to the NCAA Championships. Dinan said around half of her roster that year was composed of athletes who had not started running cross-country until college. She said that runners have had backgrounds in gymnastics, soccer and basketball. Parley Hannan ’21 played on the tennis team her sophomore year before switching to long-distance running. She was named the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter run national champion in 2021.

Where Mount’s career goes from here is uncertain, but the possibilities are intriguing. As she adjusts to the demands of a college training schedule and builds the mileage she lacked in high school, her potential expands. Dinan said she knows that patience will be key, but she is excited to see what unfolds.

“She has all the pieces,” Dinan said. “It’s just about putting them together.”

Ithaca derby scene rolls toward new horizons

Isabella McSweeney | October 16, 2025

To newcomers, Ithaca is known for Cayuga Lake, gorges and the annual Apple Harvest Festival. Few realize that it is a hotbed for the local roller derby scene, which will be expanding this winter with the start of practices for Rochester’s Flour City Fear.

The Ithaca League of Women Rollers (ILWR), which was established in 2008, is made up of two teams: the SufferJets and the BlueStockings. ILWR is a member of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA), which governs 443 leagues throughout 31 countries.

Other nearby teams are based in Rochester, Syracuse and Elmira. Western New York is also home to the Rust Cup, a competition hosted by Jamestown Skate Products for transgender, women and non-binary skaters.

Apart from the WFTDA, there are 55 active open-gender leagues throughout North America, Europe and Australia under the Men’s Roller Derby Association (MRDA). Rochester is home to Flour City Fear, which began holding events Oct. 1 to set up satellite practices in Ithaca.

The practices are being led by Juliana Garcia, who was introduced to Ithaca Roller Derby during her senior year at Cornell University. Garcia transferred to Rochester’s Roc City Roller Derby and joined Flour City Fear in 2024.

“I was feeling a little bit burned out from roller derby in general,” Garcia said. “Friends who have been doing derby for a long time were like, ‘You should try MRDA. … That helps reignite the roller derby passion.’”

Commutes are a driving force behind the satellite practices in Ithaca. Garcia said Flour City Fear has many members based outside of Rochester, with some driving as much as three and a half hours each way for practices twice a week. Beyond making practices more accessible for existing members, Garcia said it may have a positive impact on new membership.

“We were kind of in a rebuilding year at Flour City,” Garcia said. “We had lost some members, so we were brainstorming — how do we build up membership? It sucked, because I know so many people in Ithaca who want to play, but no one wants to drive that far. And I was like, ‘Wait, why haven’t I thought of this sooner, to do satellite practices?’”

Satellite practices also mean that the Ithaca group can lean on existing Flour City Fear programming and leadership.

“Starting a whole league is really challenging,” Garcia said. “It’s incredibly costly, and a huge time suck, so it’s nice to already have something that’s preestablished. [Flour City] has their board, so we’re gonna join up with them and hopefully help contribute to the league so it can continue to thrive and exist

in the MRDA realm.”

The ILWR sense of community is also strong. Sara Ryan, public relations chair for the ILWR, said that their league is very close with neighboring leagues. ILWR league members can join up to two WFTDA leagues and outside of bouts the teams encourage cross-communication.

“A lot of people will drop in on [Elmira and Syracuse’s] practices just to get more skate time,” Ryan said. “I recently played a game with Elmira because they needed extra skaters — it’s a community of helping each other out and playing a fun sport as much as we can.”

Finding a place to practice has been a challenge for both Flour City Fear and ILWR. The SufferJets and BlueStockings moved to The Shops in 2023, but a steep hike in rent forced them to find a new space when their lease was up.

Since then, the league has been splitting time between Ithaca and Watkins Glen.

“It gets a little complicated with managing all the different locations and coordinating that, but our training committee [has] a pretty good sign-up system now,” Ryan said. “We’re making it work.”

Ithaca College junior Jett Sofko said while it has been weird practicing with the ILWR in basketball gyms and outside of Ithaca, it has its advantages.

“The floor [at The Shops] was horrible, so I’m kind of happy to be out of that space,” Sofko said. “[I’m also] kind of upset because there were locker rooms and you could have your own private stall.”

In the summer, the ILWR hosts some practices at

Cass Park in Ithaca, but the venue gets iced over as soon as hockey season starts. Because of that, Ryan said the team has made previously optional CrossFit practices mandatory in place of regular skating drills.

“It’s newer-ish, but it’s been really good for us,” Ryan said. “We’ve seen a lot of overall strength gain from the team.”

The off-season also marks an essential time to train new members. ILWR encourages people of all skill levels to join their New Skaters Assembly, which is hosting skater orientation Oct. 16. Ryan said this is a major change from when she joined the league in 2022 during its post-COVID rebuild.

“When I started, it was just ‘show up and figure it out,’” Ryan said. “Now we do new skater assemblies twice a year. It’s a 12-week long program where we can take people from no previous skating history to playing roller derby by the end of it.”

Now, as PR chair, Ryan promotes New Skater Assembly through the league’s website, social media and word of mouth. Garcia has begun a similar process, posting about Flour City Fear’s meet and greet on Facebook and local websites like the Visit Ithaca website.

Derby is centered around community. Sofko said members of the ILWR often have team bonding events, including “soup nights” at Ryan’s home. After practices, members also congregate at Personal Best Brewing in downtown Ithaca.

“One of our roller derby players, Pound Dog, works there, so we have an in,” Sofko said. “Everyone is so nice and friendly. ... [There is] no awkwardness.”

A game for the ages: The Bombers claim victory at the 66th annual Cortaca Jug

Billy Wood | November 17, 2025

With a buzzing crowd and an environment sprinkled with showers, the Ithaca College football team avenged the last two seasons and took down its arch rival, the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons, by a score of 26-21 in one of the most thrilling Cortaca games of all time.

The Bombers started off the game with a fast offensive pace. Graduate student running back Tyrell Penalba burst up the left middle of the field on the return and was only taken down at the Bombers’ 42. With great starting field position and an energized crowd, the Bombers kept the momentum going.

After a scare on fourth-and-inches from inside the 10, the Bombers lined up and sophomore running back Chris Scully powered the ball through for the score. Scully flexed as he was mobbed by teammates as the collection of Bombers fans erupted in celebration. The point after touchdown was missed and the Bombers led 6-0 with 10:08 remaining in the first quarter.

With the Red Dragons rolling, sophomore quarterback Mike Rescigno launched the ball down the middle of the field, with a pass interference call

occurring during the collision. Showing his discontent with the call, Bombers’ head coach Michael Toerper got on the bad side of the referee and an unsportsmanlike conduct call brought the Red Dragons to the Bombers’ 24-yard line. Rescigno rolled left from the 6-yard line and fired one on the run to streaking junior receiver Joe Iadevaio for the score. The score would put the Bombers down 7-6 with 2:07 remaining in the first quarter.

The connection between junior quarterback Mike Reed and junior receiver Nicholas Lang would get going on the next drive with two straight targets. This connection would not be denied as Lang bursted down the right sideline from the Red Dragons’ 45, torching the corner. Reed, seeing this, launched a moon ball in his direction. The ball soared and hit Lang right in the bread basket for a home run score. The crowd erupted as Lang stared down the Cortland fans in the corner end zone. The Bombers could not convert the two point conversion and regained a 12-7 lead with 14:54 to go in the half.

Reed said the long ball to Lang was something

they had worked on preparing for the Red Dragons.

“They’re a big cover-three team,” Reed said. “We’ve had it planned this entire week and I just looked down the safety, stared him down to make sure he didn’t get over the top and Lang made a play.”

The Red Dragons were quick to respond. After inching into the red zone, the Red Dragons struck again. From the Bombers’ 1-yard line, junior running back Ethan Gallo bounced left and broke the plane to give the Red Dragons a 14-12 lead with 6:38 remaining in the half.

Looking for another response, the Bombers faced an unfortunate turn of events. On third-and-3 from their own 28, Scully took the ball to the left, but was corralled and stripped of the ball, which was recovered by the Red Dragons. The Bombers crowd went quiet.

On third-and-12 from the Bombers’ 33, Rescigno fired a ball into double coverage and junior receiver Sam Cotton made a dazzling play, reaching his right hand back OBJ-style and securing the ball as two Bombers defenders delivered blows on either side

of him. The 23-yard catch brought the Red Dragons to the Bombers’ 10-yard line. Despite this, the Red Dragons would have to settle for a field goal attempt. It would turn to disaster as the Bombers burst through the line and blocked the kick. The Bombers and Red Dragons would fight for the ball all the way to the Bombers’ 40, where they would start their next drive with 1:45 remaining in the half.

A screen play to Scully would drive the Bombers to the 20 with the clock staring them down with 38 seconds remaining. All would be for not when a high snap on the field goal attempt spelled disaster, as the kick was not attempted and the Red Dragons took over. The half would expire with the Bombers trailing 14-12.

After a sack backed the Bombers up, Reed executed. Reed hit sophomore receiver Tian Murray for a 12-yard gain and then on fourth-and-7. Reed, under pressure, improvised and found first-year receiver Nicholas Herskowitz uncovered for the first down. On second-and-7 Reed dropped back and threw a fade to Lang. Lang rose off the ground and pulled the ball from the corner’s hands, securing a touchdown that ignited the crowd and made the Bombers’ lead 19-14 with 3:48 left in the third quarter.

The momentum shifted even more when the Red Dragons return went awry. Red Dragons’ junior returner Ravi Dass Jr. went up the field and was met by a field of Bombers defenders.

The ball spurted out of Dass’ hands and Bombers’ first-year defensive back Caleb Casey recovered. The Bombers ran toward the sideline, amped up and

ready to build their lead.

During the next series, Reed took a read option left and sprung through an open lane for a 10-yard score. Reed simply ran out the back of the end zone and stared down the Cortland fans as the Bombers took a 26-14 lead with 1:46 remaining in the third quarter.

With their back against the wall, Rescigno answered. From their own 37, Rescigno launched a rocket down the middle of the field into the waiting hands of junior receiver Jacque LaPrarie who took it home for the 63-yard score. The Red Dragons fans were reignited as they only trailed 26-21 with 14:51 remaining.

After a long Bombers drive, the Red Dragons were forced to start from their own 8-yard line with just 5:47 remaining. On fourth-and-3 from the Bombers’ 37, Rescigno ignored the noise and found Gallo on the right sideline for the quick first down. With 1:56 remaining, Rescigno sent up a prayer that was caught by LaPrarie with junior defensive back Marcus Boyle in tight coverage for a miraculous 31-yard gain to the Bombers’ nine.

Toerper said that keeping Cortland off the field with long sustained drives was a big part of the win.

“That’s where [Cortland] gets a lot of teams, when they milk the clock and hold onto the rock and finish in the red zone,” Toerper said. “That was our goal, to find a way to stop them in the red zone, and [sophomore defensive back] Joe Spirra made a great call for [junior defensive back Cam] Paquette to set him up for success and Cam made the play.”

That play of the day occurred when Rescigno

rolled left looking for LaPrarie again. What Rescigno did not see though, was Paquette, who jumped the route and intercepted the ball in the end zone. Paquette was swarmed by his teammates and the crowd let out a deafening roar as shock filled the Red Dragons’ sideline.

Paquette said that in the moment he saw an opportunity to save the game.

“I was like ‘Oh sh*t, I can make a play with this ball,’” Paquette said. “I just hope I made the play and that was that.”

The Bombers could not secure glory on the ensuing drive and pooch punted the ball. The ball only rolled out at the Bombers’ 40-yard line. With 51 seconds and no timeouts, the Red Dragons had one more chance. On fourth-and-9 with 12 seconds remaining, Rescigno, with the crowd raining down chants of defense, locked in and completed to junior receiver Jayson Zeva for the first-down. After the spike, with seven seconds remaining, Rescigno put up a prayer, but the Bombers were there to shut it down. The sideline rushed the field and pandemonium ensued in the crowd as the Bombers recaptured the Cortaca Jug, their first win since their 2022 victory at Yankee Stadium.

With the Union Garnet Chargers winning the Liberty League, Toerper said the NCAA should look at the month the Bombers have had when considering the 13 at-large bids into the tournament.

“I think it’s how you play at the end of the year,” Toerper said. “We’ve had a hell of a November, so look at November.”

IC student projects showcased at fourth annual Cornell Sports Research Conference

Isabella McSweeney | October 27, 2025

Cornell University held the fourth Cornell Sports Research Conference on Oct. 23-25. The conference brought together students and experts from across the sports industry to promote recent findings and network with each other.

CSRC began in April 2023 as a way for Cornell students to share sports-related research. While research poster sessions are still a part of the conference, it expanded in April 2025 to include round-table discussions, panels and demonstrations. The most recent CSRC included talks from Cornell alumni Jen Choi, vice president of the Atlanta Hawks, and Howard Borkan, chairman of Team USA Lacrosse, as well as Ithaca College professors Mead Loop and Rachel Madsen.

CSRC student director Jeffrey Clausen said the goal of the conference is to bring together “hyper-specialized” sports-related research at Cornell to one place, such as the College of Human Ecology’s athletic wear and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Turfgrass Program.

Despite being held at Cornell, the conference has also amplified voices from Ithaca College. Junior marketing major Ryan Kane presented his work combining sports photography and graphic design at CSRC III, which was held April 25.

Kane’s photography presentation was unique from other students’ long-term research projects, which he said confused some attendees.

“I got a couple people to talk to me about my work and how it’s so different, just because it’s not even close to anything anybody else was doing,” Kane said.

Clausen, who had reached out to Kane because of his previous work, said he hopes to incorporate more sports photography and creative media into CSRC in the future.

“You don’t really see photography as a part of a sports research conference, but photography moves billions of dollars in merchandise,” Clausen said. “It’s a visceral reaction that you have to photography. … Photography doesn’t have enough of a place in these types of areas. You can’t unsee what you’ve seen.”

Clausen said he hopes involvement from IC students and faculty will not only promote knowledge exchange, but also the connection between academics and athletics.

“It speaks leaps and bounds to what the [Roy H. Park School of Communications] is doing, … but there are a ton of [Cornell] students that are doing research here for their professors, and they could be applying that work to their own Cornell team,” Clausen said.

Cornell students were represented in the technology demonstration, including members of Cornell Racing Formula Society of Automotive Engineers. Each year, the team designs and manufactures a car to compete against other students in Formula SAE.

On top of potential networking and sponsorship opportunities, Cornell senior business lead Jolene Gagliano said CSRC is great for showcasing the last car the team has worked on.

“[We want to] tell people what we do, and kind of show off,” Gagliano said. “It’s an objectively cool thing that we do. We’re really proud of our work.”

The team was also able to explain what upgrades and changes they have been making to prepare for the next Formula SAE race in June.

“Having all of these high-level changes was really hard for integration, so debugging and making sure that the car functions smoothly were definitely a challenge,” Gagliono said. “We’re happy to say that it is a drivable car, and we were able to make all of those changes within one year.”

CSRC is more than a research forum. The past two conferences have hosted an open discussion called Athlete’s Path to Industry, which Kane said was the most important part of his experience at the conference. Current and former athletes were able to connect on how sports set athletes up for success off the field and how to adjust to leaving high-level

college athletics behind.

“Being an athlete, you get things out of it, like good communication and teamwork and work ethic,” Kane said. “I don’t usually think about that when it comes to work. [The panel] highlighted that translates over to your work, and [employers] understand that, which was nice to hear.”

Going forward, Clausen said another goal of the conference is to strengthen alumni networks to raise funding for future research projects. Recent cuts to Cornell’s federal funding have shifted focus from government endowments to direct collaborations.

“We have this really rich alumni base that we need to tap into,” Clausen said. “And figure out how we get students working on projects, and hopefully they can be funded projects where folks are actually working together. [CSRC] helps educate the student populace that we have right now that may have to consider not coming here, because funding is an issue.”

Throughout the process of putting together the conference, Clausen said he found it easy to get people involved and promote research projects because of the quality of research being done.

“Fortunately for me, everyone is such an expert in their niche,” Clausen said. “The only problem is, none of these spokes are connected to a hub, and that hub is what I’m trying to create, to amplify the work that is sometimes sitting [and] collecting dust on a wall … and bring it out there.”

Q&A: Men’s basketball finds new head coach

Tate Mosher | November 20, 2025

The Ithaca College men’s basketball team hired its new head coach Mike McSloy on June 17, replacing Waleed Farid. McSloy is inheriting a program which just won its second-ever Liberty League Championship Tournament in February, their first being in February 2020.

McSloy was previously the head coach for the Drew University Rangers for three seasons. After an up and down 13-12 season in 2022-23, he led the Rangers to consecutive 20-win campaigns in 2023-24 and 2024-25. In the 2024-25 season, they went 24-4, including a 16-game winning streak and an NCAA tournament appearance where they were knocked out in the first round.

Now, McSloy attempts to keep the Bombers in contention for another Liberty League championship and perhaps something more. For the near future, the Bombers head to Western New England University for a game at 4 p.m. Nov. 22. After the break they will host University of Rochester at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2.

McSloy sat down with Contributing Writer Tate Mosher to discuss what it is like inheriting a winning team and what he brings to the program personally.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Tate Mosher: How is it different coming to a school like Ithaca that has a winning program in place already, versus having to rebuild the program like you did when you were at Drew?

Mike McSloy: Yeah, I don’t think they had a long history of success. They had never been to the

NCAA tournament. So everything we did last year at Drew was a first for the program. Here at Ithaca, I think ... it’s a challenge, but I think a challenge that you welcome, understanding that ... they’re coming off a great season. There are expectations within the program internally, but I think the best way to manage that is you just [have] to take it one day at a time ... last year is last year. Our next game is our next game, but we have to be super present and be focused on today and trying to get the most out of our guys come practice tonight.

TM: What’s the process been like as far as familiarizing yourself with your new players’ skill sets is concerned, and how you think that will translate on the court as the season goes on?

MM: First and foremost, [I’ve been] trying to build relationships with each of the guys ... being very mindful that ... they weren’t recruited by me. They had the idea of coming to Ithaca to play for somebody else. So I’m definitely empathetic to that. Trying to ... build relationships with those guys in terms of on-the-court skill sets. [I’m] trying to quickly understand ... where their strengths and weaknesses lie, and how we best can utilize [the players].

TM: What are your thoughts on being the underdog versus being the favorite?

MM: I don’t really, honestly, look too much into whether or not we’re an underdog or whether or not we’re the favorite. I definitely like to maintain ... an underdog mentality, to always think that ... we have to put our best foot forward, to always think we’re going to get the other team’s best shot. And I think if we do that, then I think the results can take

care of themselves.

TM: How do you think that you will make an impact on the program?

MM: My goal, God willing, is to be here for a long time. So ... trying to build a program that’s going to have sustained success over the course of my tenure [is the goal]. I think in the immediate ... I’m just trying to help alongside [assistant coach Mike] Sasso, trying to create an environment that the players want to be a part of. And that’s ... coming to practice every day, being excited, coming to games, ready to compete and then also, too, from a recruiting standpoint, trying to bring in quality players who are also really good people, who are really good students, who will be great representations of not only our basketball program, but more importantly, the Ithaca College community.

TM: The Bombers won their first Liberty League championship since 2020 [earlier this year]. How do you get back there?

MM: [I’m going] to be honest, I’m not even thinking about how we get back to a championship. I mean, that game is not going to be played until February. It’s November. It sounds simple and kind of understated, but ... we need to have a great film session tonight. Our guys need to have a good lift [before practice]. We need to have a really good practice. I kind of always say ... all we have is today’s practice, there’s nothing else that’s guaranteed. So, if we don’t take care of business today, then anything thinking of anything like a championship or anything down the road ... is kind of meaningless.

TM: What’s something that you want to improve on in your coaching this season, and then going forward at IC?

MM: I think the biggest thing is ... you never have all the answers. I don’t know everything about basketball. I don’t know everything about this school and the program. I don’t know everything about our guys individually. I’m just trying to constantly learn, trying to be a lifelong learner. And ... that’s an ever-evolving process, just trying to get better at my craft every day.

TM: Is there any kind of identity you can see with the team?

MM: That’s still a work in progress right now, but I think we’re going to be [intensive]. I think we’re going to be a team that shows a lot of fight, has a lot of character that plays together. [In the game against SUNY Brockport] we got punched in the face early. We were down [19-3 early, but] we were able to come back and take the lead in the second half. That shows our group has a lot of resolve and looking forward to building upon that.

‘Cortaca Can’ leverages rivalry for good

Isabella McSweeney | November 20, 2025

As the Ithaca College and SUNY Cortland football teams geared up for the 66th annual Cortaca Jug, the schools’ sustainability offices joined forces for the first time to add a new, environmental twist to the biggest little game in the nation.

The Cortaca Can Collection Competition ran from Nov. 7-14, with the aim of collecting the most 5-cent can deposits. All proceeds went to the Cortland and Finger Lakes ReUse Centers. IC Sustainability released updates throughout the week on Instagram, with the final results announced during halftime Nov. 15. The drive collected over 3,000 cans, with Cortland beating IC 1638-1554.

Talks about the collaboration began in 2024 when Scott Doyle, director of energy management and sustainability at IC, and Megan Swing, Cortland’s energy and sustainability engagement coordinator, met to discuss how to utilize Cortaca to raise awareness. Although they posted infographics on sustainable tailgating, Swing said time constraints limited their ideas. The topic was brought up again as the Bombers prepared to bring the Jug back to South Hill.

“I just had this idea of, ‘What if we did a can drive and [made] it a competition?’” Swing said. “That way, it’s encouraging sustainable behavior ... and it’s something that we can show the impact of working together but also still make it a competition to make it fun for the students. It came from just a couple conversations and a silly idea that I had that ended up raising a lot of money for the two charities.”

Swing and Doyle were joined by the IC EcoReps and Cortland Green Reps, tabled in residence halls, collected cans from donation areas and counted

EILE GUENEGO /

totals throughout the week.

“[The Green Reps] were definitely our boots on the ground for our student insight into implementing this,” Swing said. “I leaned on the Green Reps a lot, trying to find ways that maybe students would receive this a little better. … They were our eyes and ears.”

Cortaca Can is not the first time IC has blended athletics and sustainability. Doyle said he had conversations with retired athletic director Susan Bassett ’79 to improve signage at events and piloting a “Green Game” during Sustainability Week, with sustainability-themed trivia and snacks at Freeman Field as the baseball team took on Hobart College. Doyle said athletic director Aaron Bouyea, who was appointed May 27, is interested in further exploring that relationship.

“We talked about a lot of things, like signage around the Athletic and Event Center, but this other idea, too, of how we can do things like [Cortaca Can],” Doyle said. “‘What do you think about promoting something in combination with these bigger athletics events to raise awareness about it?’ And he was very open to that. I think [Bouyea] is going to be a strong partner as we think about how to formalize these things moving forward. He sees athletics as a platform for doing more than competing on the field and on the court.”

Athletes are already leveraging their teams to benefit the IC community. Soccer captain Rosie Bostian ’24 interned at IC’s Office of Energy Management and Sustainability under Doyle, focusing on research into the future of sustainable sports.

“There’s a whole collaborative effort around the country on this effort,” Doyle said. “Game day

operations at big football events, for instance, is this really interesting piece happening around the country, but then also these interesting small-scale efforts. That’s partially what we’re excited about … to show that you’re part of this greater collective. Hopefully it can help you develop some skills [within] your team, but also help you as a citizen, too.”

After presenting her findings in an on-campus event, Bostian connected with junior Naomi Clauhs, an environmental science major, volleyball captain and Student-Athlete Advisory Council representative. Bostian helped Clauhs get involved with the EcoReps. This year, Clauhs has promoted the EcoReps’ Terraces Food Donation nights at SAAC meetings to get more athletes involved.

“Having the Bombers as the general consensus for what the athletes are recognized as … and anything that we do represents athletics as a whole has helped [participation],” Clauhs said. She recently attended a meeting for Cornell Student Athletes for Sustainability, where she was able to connect with athletes with similar ideals.

CSAS was founded in September 2023 by Cornell University senior Emily Pape, after she attended a conference for the nonprofit EcoAthletes. CSAS’ two main initiatives are “green games,” where volunteers table and help direct the flow of trash, and volunteer days, where CSAS partners with other on-campus student-athlete organizations to volunteer at local nonprofits. Pape said that she encouraged Clauhs to join EcoAthletes, opening the door for future collaborations between CSAS and IC.

“[EcoAthletes] is just a great community of people to know,” Pape said. “That’s a good starting point for us, getting people. … We have 12 [members] from Cornell, and I think it’d be really cool to get some from IC, especially because we just had the founder of EcoAthletes come to talk to our class, and during his visit he had dinner with all the [members].”

When it comes to the future of sustainable athletics at IC, Doyle said he has talked with sports and sustainability expert Brian McCullough ’06 on how IC can integrate new methods into game day operations.

“It’s not just, ‘Hey, we have these one-off ideas,’ but ‘How can we do this day-to-day?’” Doyle said.

The challenge got the ball rolling on Cortland’s campus, where Swing said the department was able to get more recycling receptacles and better signage around campus that will last beyond the competition

Swing and Doyle agreed that they have plenty of ideas they would like to implement next year.

“Hopefully next year, especially with the game being at Yankee Stadium, we can find another fun way, whether it’s doing something similar or doing something even bigger, since the game’s at a much larger scale,” Swing said.

DICK’S Sporting Goods and Ithaca College Athletics partner in new corporate deal

Lyla

Doran | December 10, 2025

Ithaca College Athletics announced a corporate partnership with DICK’S Sporting Goods, which will give Bomber athletes the opportunity to connect with the community. All levels of athletics — varsity, club and intramural — can get discounts on sports equipment through “Shop with the Bombers” events.

The partnership was announced on the IC athletics website Nov. 4. It began after DICK’S Sporting Goods and IC athletics identified that they had similar organizational values. Tyler Heisey, associate director of athletics at IC, oversees business operations and corporate partnerships. He took responsibility for the partnership after a DICK’S representative initially reached out to Aaron Bouyea, director of intercollegiate athletics and campus recreation.

“[DICK’S] wants to help build a stronger community through sport, and that’s what we do in our department,” Heisey said. “We want people who are student-athletes at Ithaca College to have the best experience possible and to grow and learn and become successful humans, and DICK’S aligns with that.”

Other athletic corporate partners include Cayuga Health, Tompkins Community Bank and Beginnings Credit Union. DICK’S Sporting Goods is listed as a “varsity level” partner. There are eight other varsity partners listed on the website.

In the spring, the store in South Meadow Square will host “Shop with the Bombers” days. The events will include meet and greets with athletes and opportunities for members of the IC community

SOFIA FITZGERALD / THE ITHACAN

and local youth athletes to receive discounts on store goods.

Heisey said the events are still in the planning stages. Anna Whieldon, a field marketing manager of DICK’S Sporting Goods for central and western New York, is involved in the partnership, and she is working on finalizing the details for the events. She said via email that she is proud to help enhance the Bombers fan experience.

“The events are designed to bring local youth athletes together with Ithaca College student-athletes for a fun and interactive in-store shopping experience,” Whieldon said.

All levels of athletics at IC will be able to purchase more affordable gear to supplement their own funding. Club and intramural athletes often have to buy their own sports equipment like cleats, gloves and apparel. Club teams received an email Dec. 9 from Heisey via IMLeagues granting a $10 off a $50 purchase coupon to use before Dec. 31 at the South Meadow Square store.

Junior Brady Corson, the social media manager for the club hockey team, said hockey is an inherently expensive sport. Sticks cost about $250, helmets cost $200 and skates can add up to $1,200, he said.

“We have new players all the time,” Corson said. “[The partnership] is good for them because they can go and get a discount on skate, sticks, gloves, helmets and … protective gear, and they’re not having to drop a fortune on it.”

DICK’S Sporting Goods has sponsored other college athletic programs in the past. On Jan. 30, DICK’S announced it was the official sporting goods retailer of the University of Texas. Their partnership includes game sponsorships and activations and Name, Image and Likeness deals. DICK’S is also the official retail partner of the NCAA. IC is the only Liberty League college to be sponsored by DICK’S.

Although the partnership is student-athlete centered, NIL money is not involved. Heisey said the athletics department is working on an NIL strategy, but the partnership is currently more focused on branding and community.

After the former club sports director departed in July, the athletics department did not hire a replacement right away. Corson said he almost did not have a season because there was no one to sign off on the bills for the team.

When The Ithacan asked a varsity athlete to be interviewed about the partnership, they declined, stating they were advised by the athletic department not to speak about it.

IC Athletics will also promote DICK’S Sporting Goods through branding and advertising around the athletic facilities and games. Whieldon is involved in the marketing of DICK’S Sporting Goods.

“DICK’S will promote the partnership through a variety of channels throughout the academic year, including in-game visibility, select print materials and on-site store activations,” Whieldon said via email.

DICK’S Sporting Goods will also help connect student-athletes with service opportunities. Since being hired, Bouyea has expanded the framework for athletics and community outreach. In the future, Heisey hopes to expand to offer camps and clinics with the young athletes within the Ithaca community.

Sophomore Maddie Gill, a guard on the women’s basketball team, said via email that she is very excited about the new partnership and the journey of having a large company sponsor IC Athletics.

“I think this is a unique opportunity for the athletic programs on campus,” Gill said via email. “It will build our brand as a college and will be able to connect every team with such a large business on a local level which makes it more personal.”

Both Heisey and Whieldon were unable to comment on the financial details of the partnership.

“We are excited to work alongside Ithaca College to support and celebrate its incredible student-athletes,” Whieldon said via email. “This partnership reflects our ongoing commitment to strengthening the communities we serve and championing the power of sport.”

Diving duo adds to team in championship push

Isabella McSweeney | December 11, 2025

I

n an effort to be crowned league champions for the first time since 2012, the Ithaca College men’s swim and dive team has found an unusual diving duo in sophomore swimmer Ignacio Fernandez-Manzano and rower Andrew Cheely.

Senior diver Kian Long began the season as the teams’ sole diver, after Samuel Smith ’25 and Ethan Godfrey ’25 graduated in May. Diving coach Chris Griffin said his main goal during the offseason was figuring out how to fill the holes Smith and Godfrey left behind.

“It’s a small sport, so trying to find recruits … is difficult,” Griffin said. “We need numbers. The other side of it is, particularly in the Liberty League, for our championships, we don’t have that many athletes competing in diving. There are kind of free points on the table if somebody is willing to try and learn a new sport.”

The Bombers have been stuck in second in the Liberty League Championship Tournament since the 2021-22 season, behind the Rochester Institute of Technology. RIT has had between three and five rostered divers per year, but it entered 2024-25 with only two, leaving an opportunity for the Bombers to get closer to the crown.

Griffin’s answer came from two vastly different places. When Griffin returned from paternity leave at the start of the Fall 2025 semester with no incoming recruits, he sat down with the teams’ other coaches to discuss roster changes. Griffin decided to talk with Fernandez-Manzano, who he believed would be more valuable in scoring points for the team as a diver than a swimmer.

The other addition was Cheely, who met Griffin when he took his Basic Springboard Diving class in Spring 2025. While Griffin was actively looking for potential divers as he taught, he said he initially wrote Cheely off because of his involvement with the men’s rowing team.

Cheely said he joined the class because he was looking for an extra half credit, and it sounded fun. He enjoyed it enough that he approached Griffin when he heard that there were openings for divers. Cheely and Griffin worked closely to find a way for Cheely to become a two-sport athlete.

“He threw in extra practices for me, one-on-one, two or three times a week, so that I could keep going to rowing practice every day in the afternoon,” Cheely said. “As long as he could be flexible, and he knew that rowing was still my main priority, then why not?”

The team has benefitted from athletes switching sports before, including Benjamin Pesco ’20, who stopped pole vaulting after a hamstring injury, and Lindsey Duhamel ’21, who transferred from the women’s soccer team in her junior year. Griffin said it is

very common for athletes like gymnasts to join diving after an injury, but it is uncommon to participate in two sports at IC.

There is little overlap in the skills behind swimming and diving. Fernandez-Manzano said the only similarity is that they happen at a pool. Although he dove for the first time in September, he said he has noticed his skills improving.

“As I do more, [Griffin] is telling me more details I have to fix,” Fernandez-Manzano said. “You have to take it step-by-step — if you have too many things in your head, then you’re gonna smack.”

Cheely said the transition between sports has been mental as well as physical. He said there is more pressure in diving, where you throw six dives per meet, compared to the thousands of strokes in each regatta.

“[In rowing], if things aren’t going well or everything burns, you just gotta push through,” Cheely said. “Whereas at diving, I figured out really quickly that if your dives aren’t going well, and you just try to muscle through, they get worse. It doesn’t work the same.”

The duo has been aided through the process by Long and members of the women’s team.

“Our veteran divers are really good about taking them under their wing, taking a few extra minutes to help them through the extra drills and give them

encouragement where they need,” Griffin said. “[Long] understands the value for the men’s team, and how much it means to him to have somebody by his side competing. He’s been instrumental in helping them progress along.”

Cheely said that he and Fernandez-Manzano have had similar diving lists in recent meets, creating friendly competition between them that pushes them to do their best. He also values having someone learning the sport with him.

“Thank God [Fernandez-Manzano] is there, because we smack together, and we learn new dives together all the time,” Cheely said.

Both Cheely and Fernandez-Manzano are prepared to play their part in the team’s push toward the Liberty League championship. Their role was highlighted at the Ithaca College Bomber Invitational, where IC was the only school with three male divers. After championships, it is unclear where their interests will take them.

“It’s kind of a season thing this year,” Fernandez-Manzano said. “We’ve never won our Liberty League championship before. This year’s our biggest shot, we have to win, but we have that limitation on the diving side. This is what we’re willing to do to win. For now, that was the decision I took. Next year is a huge question.”

Men’s basketball team presses for improved performance under a new coaching system

Lyla Doran | January

21, 2026

After winning a Liberty League Championship in the 2024–25 season, the Ithaca College men’s basketball team has struggled to win games consistently. As of Jan. 22, the Bombers have compiled a 5-10 record and have failed to produce a winning streak under new head coach Mike McSloy.

Former head coach Waleed Farid departed IC in May to take the head coaching position at New York University. The Bombers hired McSloy, formerly the head coach at Drew University. McSloy brought over an abundance of winning experience and a new fast-paced pressing style of play.

In basketball, the press is a high-tempo style of play that emphasizes aggressive defense on the entire court. The press is designed to make opponents feel uncomfortable, disrupt their rhythm, force turnovers, mistakes and quick decisions with the ball.

McSloy used the press during his last two years at Drew, leading them to a 44-10 record. Farid often ran a “run and gun” playstyle, which focuses more on the offense and shooting.

“I think anytime you have a new coach, there’s going to be bumps in the road,” McSloy said. “Anytime you start playing a new system, there’s going to be a learning curve, and I think we’re experiencing that in a big way right now, but I think our guys have done a really good job of being positive about moving on to the next day.”

Press increases the speed of the game and increases changes in possessions, which creates more scoring opportunities for both teams. McSloy said the goal is to force a high turnover rate but decrease the opponents’ field goal percentage.

This season, the Bombers are averaging 81.0 points per game, first in the Liberty League, but allowing on average 81.4, the highest in the conference.

“We haven’t done a ton consistently,” McSloy said. “Our offense has been inconsistent, but by the pace of our play, we score more points. I think defensively, we’re just allowing too many easy baskets out of our press within the half court. … It’s not ideal, but it’s just kind of the nature of the way we play.”

In the 2024-25 season, the Bombers averaged 13.6 turnovers per game. This year, they increased the average to 15.9. However, they have allowed opponents a 48.5 field goal percentage this season, their highest in over 13 years.

The Bombers concluded their non-conference schedule Jan. 3 and finished 1–6. McSloy said the team struggled with the difficult matchups, including teams like Western New England University and SUNY Cortland, early in the season.

“We were kind of thrown into the fire with who we

had on the schedule, and I think the guys have grown tremendously in the press,” McSloy said. “I think in the areas of like, just knowing the positions, knowing what it takes, and the mentality that goes into it, it’s a huge [adjustment] and … there wasn’t a lot of grace period.”

Junior guard Jaylon O’Neal , one of the Bombers’ most productive players, said the team has been battle-tested, especially since losing two of their senior leaders from last year: Logan Wendell ’25 and Aidan Holmes ’25.

“At the beginning of the season, I’m not gonna lie, I think it was more of a mentality thing,” O’Neal said. “We knew what we did last year coming into the season, and I think we kind of carried that ego with us, and [did not] realize that we’re the underdogs again.”

Playing press is very physically demanding. Players must be well conditioned to be able to sustain a full game. Having depth is also crucial, since players get subbed in every 2 1/2 to four minutes versus the typically five to six minutes in more traditional rotations. Most teams are also comfortable having eight to nine players rotating in the game; McSloy aims to have 11 to 12.

“We think that having the depth in those … games over the course of time could become really fruitful for us in terms of the actual system,” McSloy said. “It’s all about pressure, high intensity, got to have a lot of energy, got to be in really good shape to do it. … We always want [our opponents] to feel our presence. We always want them to feel like they’re under pressure, under duress.”

Sophomore forward Chris Leysath, the 2024-25 Liberty League Rookie of the Year, has seen less court time this season despite being one of the team’s most productive players. In 2024-25, he averaged 23.8 minutes per game, in 2025-26, he averaged 16.1.

“We’re relying on each other to come in and pick us up whenever we need that break,” Leysath said. “Since we’re trustworthy [to] everybody, we know when somebody comes into the game like they’re gonna give it their all, their best effort, and they’re gonna work hard every time they step on the court.”

McSloy said his press scheme is unique in the Liberty League. Besides the Hobart College Statesmen, everyone has a more “controlled” style. The Bombers lost to the Statesmen 86-66 Dec. 9, then defeated them 88-85 Jan. 13.

“Our philosophy is — not just this year, but in the future — we want to bring a system that’s more up and down, a little bit more fast paced, to try to be a little bit different [than] our opponents,” McSloy said.

O’Neal said the team is committed to the process of learning the new system and everything will work itself out in the end.

“The only way that you can move at this point is forward,” O’Neal said. “I feel like that’s kind of the mentality that we’ve had. … We’ve gotten punched; we’ve given punches. It’s all about moving forward, sticking true to what we do, having trust in your brother and your teammates and the coaches and everything.”

Men’s wrestling regains hold on NCAA goals

Antonio Vengoechea | February 5, 2026

In the corner of the Ben Light Gymnasium, a digital clock serves as a relentless metronome, counting down the days, hours and minutes until regionals for the Ithaca College men’s wrestling team. While the red numbers tick toward zero, the atmosphere in the room shifted from the quiet frustration of December to a high-velocity intensity.

After a dominant start to the 2025-26 season with first-place team finishes in the Ithaca Invitational and NYS Collegiate Championships Open, the Bombers hit a wall at the end of the Fall 2025 semester that resulted in a losing streak.

After a loss to Vermont State University Castleton on Jan. 4, the Bombers were looking at a 0-4 start to the dual season and it threatened to derail their national championship aspirations, something that they have not accomplished since 1994.

Since then, the Bombers have gone 7-2 in their last nine meets, bringing their record to 7-6 on the season and re-earning a spot in the national rankings at No. 23 as of Jan. 23.

The turning point for the Bombers did not happen on the mat, but in the dorms and apartments on South Hill in late December, right after finals week.

What started as a dominant season with high expectations quickly dissolved during finals week. While the team was already managing the academic stress of the end of the semester, a widespread outbreak of the flu and pneumonia swept through the locker room.

The sickness hit the center of the lineup, knocking out half of the starters. In a room of 33 wrestlers where only 10 wrestlers get the nod each meet, having five key positions vacated overnight threatened to derail the season’s momentum entirely.

The timing was poor. The team was scheduled for the Chocolate Duals on Dec. 20, a critical early season test, just as the majority of the starting lineup became bedridden. Senior wrestler Isaias Torres said he was in quarantine with his teammates.

“Brian Bienus, Cosmo Damiani and I, three starters, were locked in quarantine, just in bed all day, DoorDashing food and soups,” Torres said. “It was really hard for us. You could just imagine that with almost the whole team.”

The physical toll was only half the battle. Dual meets remained on the schedule, and the sickened wrestlers had to find a way to make weight while their

bodies were failing them.

Graduate student wrestler Xavier Pommells said the most difficult part of the whole process was how close the team is.

“There was nothing that we could have done to better navigate or control an outbreak so big,” Pommells said. “You’re not going to sit down and tell your team to stop hanging out.”

In many ways, the outbreak was an unintended byproduct of the team’s greatest asset: its proximity. In a sport defined by individual combat, the Bombers operate with a family-oriented philosophy that rarely stops at the edge of the mat. Whether it is living together in off-campus apartments, eating together or staying up late watching football, the athletes spend an abundance of time together.

“You’re always with each other,” Pommells said. “You’re always right next to each other. A lot of guys live with each other, and even if we don’t live with each other, we all hang out together. It was more of a blessing that all of us didn’t get sick. It was something we could’ve never predicted.”

Assistant coach Eze Chukwuezi ’23, who spent five seasons on the team before joining the program

three years ago, said the team’s morale is one of its strongest possessions as a group.

“If you are taking care of your team, that probably means you’re taking care of your teammate beside you, and then that probably means that you’re being taken care of too,” Chukwuezi said. “Everyone’s looking out for each other. They’re making sure everyone’s good and picking up after each other.”

As the roster returned after winter break, that closeness transformed from a liability into a competitive edge. The team began to embrace a different kind of mentality, relying on the depth of the room to stabilize the lineup.

With the sick starters finally back on their feet, the Bombers set out to prove that their 0-4 start was a fluke of the calendar rather than a true measure of their potential.

“There was a switch after that,” Torres said. “We came to a realization that we need to improve more, whether we’re sick or whether we’re healthy. A couple of guys didn’t perform how they wanted to, it was a moment of realization for everyone.”

The proof of the recovery arrived during the Budd Whitehill National Duals on Jan. 9 and 10. For the first time since November, the team was able to send out a healthy, complete lineup, and the results were immediate. The Bombers rattled off four dominant wins over the weekend including a signature 33-14 victory over No. 22 Messiah University, the same program they lost to at the Chocolate Duals in December.

“We wrestled Messiah at those [Chocolate] Duals and they beat us up a good amount, then we wrestled them again and we got our money back,” Torres said. “I like where we are now and it shows that we are improving and staying healthy.”

Despite the win streak, the mid-season slide left its mark on the national rankings, dropping the Bombers from their early-season heights. Inside the locker room, the squad was able to channel the lack of national recognition and turn it into a psychological weapon.

“On paper, we are not a team to look out for,” Pommells said. “We are not a team that looks like a threat. We are not a team that has any super distinguishable wins in the eyes of the nation. And overall, I think that makes us so dangerous because teams aren’t expecting us.”

Pommells also said the subpar perception of the Bombers in their region allows the team to catch opponents off guard.

“I think everybody that steps in front of us does not take us as seriously as they should,” Pommells said. “I think that plays into our favor every time. Everybody gets a real big shock.”

The constant pressure has turned practices into match-like sessions.

“When you walk into the room and you see the clock go down, down and down and it just feels like it is never going to end,” Chukwuezi said. “Then randomly it is seven days before regionals. It’s just a good reminder for the guys, like,

‘Hey, I need to be ready to go, I need to make this day count.’”

The renewed intensity in the room is not just about morale; it is about a technical system designed to peak in February, with the first February meet approaching Feb. 7. Chukwuezi said the success of the South Hill squad is built on mastering the basics before the pressure of the postseason hits.

“It’s important that early in the season we focus on defense and on the bottom because that is usually the areas that people don’t focus on at all,” Chukwuezi said. “It allows us to focus on technique for a longer period of time, something that is big in our system. It takes time for these new guys that are coming in.”

For the seniors and graduate students like Torres and Pommells, the urgency of the ticking clock is personal. They are not just wrestling to fix a mid-season slide; they are wrestling for the program’s fourth national trophy.

“The seniors, we know where we’re at right now,” Torres said. “We know this is our last season, and this is the time to do it. We’ve been pushing really hard for a trophy and a national championship.”

As the red numbers on the countdown clock continue to drop, the frustration of December 2025 has been replaced by a singular, focused ambition. Inside the Ben Light Gymnasium the expectation has not changed since the first day of practice.

“Win or lose, we don’t care about the results now,” Torres said. “We care about it in [March].”

Ithaca College teams compete in the 2025-26 Liberty League Winter Championship Games

Graham Goodman | February 19, 2026

The ice is beginning to melt not only on the ground, but on the winter season Liberty League Championship trophies. With the championship season fast approaching in the final weeks of February, The Ithacan has you covered for what to know heading into the 2025-26 Winter Liberty League Championships.

Men’s swim and dive (8-2):

Although the men’s swim and dive team remains chasing its first Liberty League title, there is an added reason to believe that this year will be different. Since the 2021-22 season, the only thing standing between the team and a Liberty League title has been the Rochester Institute of Technology Tigers. For the first time since the Tigers’ reign over the Liberty League began, the Bombers beat them in their annual regular season matchup, 160-140. Heading into this year’s championships, the team is sure to use its early season victory as reason to

believe that it can overcome four consecutive years of second place.

The team hosts the Liberty League Championship Tournament from Feb. 18 to Feb. 21. at the Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium.

Women’s swim and dive (6-4):

The goal for the women’s swim and dive team is simple: To do what it has done at the Liberty League Championships for six consecutive years. This year, however, the stakes are a fraction raised. The reigning six-time Liberty League champion has a chance to etch its name in a short history book and become the second Ithaca College athletics program to win the league for a seventh time.

The Bombers will still have to be wary of regular title challengers Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Rochester Institute of Technology. The team fell to RPI 164-136 but handled RIT 217-80, both meets occurring back in November 2025.

The Bombers hosted the Liberty League Championships from Feb. 18 to Feb. 21 at the Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium.

Women’s wrestling (3-1):

A young and new women’s wrestling program has made a name for itself in its inaugural season. While the team has stumbled at invitationals, it found strong success at round robin competitions, which have made up a majority of the schedule.

The team sent four first-year wrestlers to the Quad Cities Division III Invitational from Feb. 7 to Feb. 8., finishing a combined 5-8 in 13 matches, placing 24th out of 31 schools. With no Liberty League Championships just yet, the team has a more direct path to the first ever women’s wrestling DIII championships.

The team competes at the NCAA Region II Tournament from Feb. 20 to Feb. 21 at the LECOM Event Center in Elmira, New York.

Men’s basketball (9-14, (8-8)):

Expectations were high for the men’s basketball team after the hiring of new head coach Mike McSloy and following a Liberty League title. Three months later, expectations are now a question mark. Under McSloy’s pressing system, the Bombers have only managed to compile a singular win streak, a two game one at that, but hold the last Liberty League spot heading into the final weekend of the regular season.

While the team could come out of the weekend hosting a playoff game, leading scorer and star player junior guard Evan Cabral has missed the past three games due to an ankle injury, making not only his future uncertain, but the team’s as well.

Should the team finish in a Liberty League playoff spot, it will play in the Liberty League Championship quarterfinal Feb. 24.

Women’s basketball (8-15, (5-11)):

The women’s basketball team could likely finish the season with its worst record in program history after 18 consecutive winning seasons. The team will miss the Liberty League Championship Tournament for the first time after winning the title three times in seven years. A subpar performance was not entirely unanticipated, with head coach Dan Raymond having to reconstruct the offense after losing four of five leading scorers from the 2024-25 season. The Bombers’ primary gameplan ran through their defense, but have the second worst defense in the Liberty League as of Feb. 19.

The team will miss out on the playoffs, but play their final two games this weekend, including its senior day game at 2 p.m. Feb. 21 versus Vassar College.

Men’s track and field:

Men’s track and field made its Liberty League Championship goals abundantly clear prior to the start of their 2025-26 outdoor season: place on the podium. The team is yet to race against a Liberty League opponent other than the University of Rochester prior to the championships, but have not exactly proved that their goal is within reach. In its two scored meets Jan. 17 and Feb. 7, the team placed third out of four schools and third out of three schools, respectively. Head coach Stargell Williams’ heavy first-year class of 20 athletes have performed well their first season, despite

accumulating only two Liberty League rookie of the week awards as of Feb. 19.

The team strides for a podium finish in the Liberty League Indoor Championships on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28 hosted by RIT.

Women’s track and field:

Despite a wide victory in the 2024-25 Liberty League Indoor Championships, the women’s track and field team was last left with a bad taste in its mouth, falling marginally to their rivals in the University of Rochester. The results of the previous championship, combined with not having the comfort of competing at home, brings an added pressure to this year’s Liberty League Championships. In the team’s two scored meets Jan. 17 and Feb. 7, it took first place by a cool 40 points in both, including a victory of the University of Rochester in the Feb. 7 meet.

The team travels to reclaim their throne Feb. 27 and Feb. 28 at RIT.

Men’s wrestling (12-6, (3-0)):

Following a slow start to the season due to a diseased locker room, the men’s wrestling team has dominated the heart of their regular season schedule. The team took down five nationally ranked opponents over a 12-2 stretch and finished third at

the SUNY Athletic Conference Championships on Jan. 24. Standouts senior wrestler Konrad Parker and graduate student wrestler Xavier Pommells continued their dominance from all season, taking first at 174 pounds and 184 pounds, respectively. Despite the team’s early season incident, everything has gone according to plan, staying a top 25 program in the nation since late January.

The Bombers host the NCAA Regional Tournament starting at 11 a.m. Feb. 27 to Feb. 28 in the Athletics and Events Center.

Gymnastics (3-4):

While the gymnastics team has had solid team scores on the season, it struggled to defeat some of its biggest rivals, SUNY Cortland and SUNY Brockport, who it will face in the NCGA East Championship, that could bid it a spot as a team in the NCGA Team Championship.

The Bombers must win in the East championship or place top six in the Division III rankings to qualify. The Bombers have had one of the best seasons on the floor exercise, breaking the all-time team score with a 48.950 Feb. 11 versus Cortland. Senior Grace Murray also tied the individual vault record with a 9.800 score Jan. 10 versus Brockport.

The team competes twice more before the NCGA East Championships at 1 p.m. March 7 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Q&A: Bombers’ football finds new head coach

Billy Wood | February 11, 2026

The Ithaca College football team hired offensive coordinator Brandon Maguire as the program’s next head coach Feb. 3. Maguire will take over for Michael Toerper, who left Dec. 14 to join Cornell University as its defensive coordinator.

Over the past two seasons, Maguire has coordinated the Bombers’ offense, which has placed first in the Liberty League in average yards per game twice, while averaging 27.35 points per game in the 2024 and 2025 seasons. While with the Bombers, Maguire has gone 14-6 and has managed to keep consistency in the offense, even with three different starting quarterbacks.

Prior to Maguire’s tenure in Ithaca, he had experience as a defensive line coach for the United States Football League Philadelphia Stars. He also has NCAA Division I experience, coaching with Toerper at College of the Holy Cross in assistant offensive roles from 2020-2022.

Maguire will attempt to keep the consistency the program has enjoyed recently. First on the agenda will be attempting to get another Liberty League title, something the Bombers have fallen short of since their last one in 2023.

Maguire sat down with Senior Writer Billy Wood to discuss the new role and what the future of Bombers’ football looks like.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Billy Wood: When did you first find out about Toerper’s departure, and what was the process like after he left?

Brandon Maguire: It was just a few days prior to when [Toerper] went and let the athletic director know. Then we met, and just kind of planned the next steps forward. It was a super quick turnaround. After that, the [athletic director] laid out the plan for the search and how long that was going to take. We had a team meeting [to discuss the changes]. I think the news went out on December 14. The meeting ended, and we started to walk out, and one of the [players], Nick Matos, jumped up and said, “Players stay.” They did a players-only meeting, and they left that in a really good place.

BW: When did you get the news that you were going to be the next head coach, and what was your reaction to that?

BM: I found out [Feb. 2] at about 10:30, and I just felt shock, disbelief [and it] still doesn’t seem super real. I think part of it is because we felt like we were the guys from day one, and that’s the approach we took. So it’s not like ‘Oh, now what?’ Now it’s a bunch of emails and phone calls and texts from alums and all positive people that are supportive of the program. So that is new, but that’s exciting. I couldn’t be in a better

place at age 34. Two years ago, when I came here as the [offensive coordinator], I would have never thought that this would be how it all transpired.

BW: Going into the coaching search, what was that like for you? How involved was the coaching staff, and how wide was the scope?

BM: My understanding is there were over 150 applicants, I heard ranges up to 180. That wasn’t something that [the coaching staff] were a part of. Early on, I said I wanted to have my name in the hat. [The administration] did a good job; they sat down, they knew what they wanted to target. They asked us what our thoughts were coming off an 8-2 season, and they talked to the players. They included a bunch of people to gather information to try and pair with what they were looking for.

BW: Toerper called the defense. Is the team searching for another defensive play caller, promoting someone, or what’s that kind of looking like, and what will you be looking for in a defensive coordinator?

BM: We’ll be searching for one. The defense was good. We don’t want to change anything too much. We want these guys to be able to go out there and still play ball. You won’t see us become something radically different from what we were. You didn’t see a lot of Cover 3 from our operation … mainly a four-down group, we’d like to stay that. We want to make sure it’s something that comes in and fits our players, fits this school, and understands how to recruit to a place like this. Then development, it will be critical in all this. That’s our little secret niche thing; we have to develop guys.

BW: What is your vision for the program moving

forward? What do you want the mentality of this team to be?

BM: We want to take this thing to the next level and compete nationally. You look at the history of this thing, Toerper won 70% of his games, which might be top winning percentage other than [Jim] Butterfield, Dan Swanstrom 68% of his games. Mike Welch, before that, 65 to 70%.

BW: How important was it for the players that they’re kind of getting this familiarity back and they’re not having this whole new regime coming in?

BM: From the beginning, we wanted it to be like “this is your guys’ program, regardless of what happens with who’s hired.” Whether this whole staff gets to stay or someone else comes in, they kept it together. Toerper announced he was leaving, 98 players stayed. No one went into the portal after Toerper announced. That says a lot about how they feel about each other and the work that they put in. It was pretty evident that this is their program. Familiarity is great because they don’t have to learn anything new, and they just have to keep forging ahead.

BW: What are your goals for your tenure overall? What do you want to achieve?

BM: Keep being a consistent power in the Liberty League and then nationally. Everyone should want to play Ithaca. The Ithaca brand should mean something. You know what you’re getting when you get them on the schedule. It should be a dogfight, and you’re going to feel it afterwards. I just want to make sure that this continues being a consistent force in the Division III landscape.

Men’s basketball defeated by St. Lawrence in Liberty League Tournament quarterfinal

Graham Goodman | February 27, 2026

The Ithaca College men’s basketball team saw its season come to an end Feb. 24 at the hands of the St. Lawrence University Saints, 72-64. In the first round of the Liberty League Championships, St. Lawrence’s 2-3 zone defense overwhelmed the Bombers, who never led in the game.

Junior guard Evan Cabral and junior forward Matthew Zenker combined for 43 of the 64 points, with 18 and 25, respectively. Cabral did not start once again because of injury, but played 27 minutes, the second most amongst his team. Cabral finishes his season just three points short of the 1,000 point milestone.

The St. Lawrence defense was a problem that IC never found a solution for. Throughout the second half, the Bombers never seemed to get the shot they wanted. Head coach Mike McSloy attributed the Bombers’ shortcomings to the Saints’ performance.

“I’m disappointed, but their zone was really good,” McSloy said. “A lot of times you question what could you have done, but it’s about the other team too. … We just [have to] be better going forward.”

While rhythm was hard to find as a team, Zenker and Cabral served as the Bombers’ lifelines. After the buzzer sounded, McSloy spoke privately with Zenker, who he brought with him from Drew University.

“I coach him the hardest out of anybody in our program,” McSloy said. “He always responds and I just wanted to let him know that I love him and we’re going to get this thing right here.”

In his final game of the season, Zenker recorded his second-highest point tally of the year. Zenker had previously admitted he does not let his emotions out in games as much as he would prefer. Tuesday night, this was not the case.

“What sucks is that I really don’t have much other than this basketball stuff,” Zenker said. “So I’m just thinking about how I’m not going to have practice every day or not have that same workout regimen because yeah, I’m going to be a little lost without it.”

With Cabral seemingly no longer on a minutes restriction, sophomore guard Thomas McKiernan stepped out of the scoring role and into the

“hard-working” role that McSloy preaches to the entirety of his team. With 8:59 left in the second half, McKiernan went down with a right ankle injury, but insisted on returning despite carrying a heavy limp.

McKiernan later left the locker room on crutches.

“Tommy’s a warrior,” Zenker said. “I remember when I saw him go down, he wasn’t going to stay out, so he’s one of the guys in his locker room [that I can look to]. He kind of inspires me in that regard of being more of a dawg.”

The Bombers fell behind quickly out of the gate, trailing 15-3 just five minutes into the game. In a timeout, McSloy was more vocal than he has been all season, yelling to his team, “It’s not about the score, it’s about the way we want to play.”

Out of the timeout, the tide changed. The Bombers re-employed their press with increased intensity and swung momentum back their way.

After their slow start, the Bombers managed to cut the lead to 35-31 by halftime, the closest they would get to catching the Saints. At the half, the Bombers had the momentum.

“The whole thing going into half was, it’s do or die,” Cabral said. “Leave no doubt. We’re playing for tomorrow. That’s pretty much what we were trying to emphasize in the halftime. And we came out in the second half with that mentality.”

The Bombers’ mentality was not enough. From beyond the arc, McSloy’s team shot 32.1% on a 9 for 28 night, which does not deviate far from its 32.9% season average, ranked third in the Liberty League.

For McSloy, it was “hard to win a basketball game” with the way the Bombers shot, combined with the 13 turnovers given away.

The Bombers were outmatched on the inside the entire night for the third consecutive game, getting outscored 46-30. Being without junior center David Luberoff, interior defensive responsibility fell on sophomore forward Chris Leysath, who could not do much about St. Lawrence senior forward Adam Dudzinski’s 18 points on the inside.

The team is in a favorable position heading into the 2026-27 season. Despite shortcomings in 2025-26 coming off of a Liberty League title, the team has now had time to properly adjust to McSloy’s pressing system and quick offense. While the team says goodbye to three seniors, McSloy will welcome his first full recruiting class for 2026-27, which is shaping up to be heavily guard oriented.

“This is not the outcome you want as a competitor,” Cabral said. “I mean, it’s going to sting for a little bit, but it’s definitely going to fuel us for next season.”

Swim and dive teams celebrate historic unified win at Liberty League Championship

Lyla Doran | March 5, 2026

O n the fourth day of the long and intense Liberty League Championships which ran from Feb. 18 to Feb. 21, the Ithaca College men’s and women’s swimming and diving head coach Mike Blakely-Armitage ’00 found himself in a pool, clothed in full business attire and a tie.

Blakely-Armitage got out of the pool dripping chlorine, shedding happy tears and admiring the grit of the swimmers who had just achieved something that had never been done before: winning the Liberty League Championship together. The men won their first title in conference history since joining the Liberty League in 2017 with 1,722 points, and the women claimed their seventh consecutive win with 1,820 points at Kelsey Partridge Bird Natatorium.

For the past four seasons, Blakely-Armitage watched the women’s team hold the trophy while he watched the men’s team place behind one of its biggest rivals, Rochester Institute of Technology.

Although the teams are always deeply connected and intertwined, this year was extra

special: everyone got to experience the feeling of jumping in the pool at the meet’s conclusion, the Bombers’ winning tradition.

“Seeing both teams in the pool [after we won] at the same time, celebrating the same accomplishment, for me as a coach, was just a really amazing moment,” Blakely-Armitage said. “I broke down a little bit. I was just overcome with the moment. I don’t know if [the swimmers] saw me or not [but I was] able to kind of step back, because sometimes coaches think about the next thing. … We were kind of basking in that glow.”

Despite competing for separate trophies, the men’s and the women’s teams fall under one umbrella with the coaching staff and schedule. They often practice together, eat meals together and overall share a presence and a thriving team culture. Junior Kathleen Papiernik, who won co-swimmer of the meet along with senior Matthew Mitros, already experienced winning the title twice, but said this year was particularly notable.

“It is something that I will never forget or never

take for granted, the fact that both teams won,” Papiernik said. “Both of the teams have such high respect for each other. … [the men’s team and coaches] started crying. … It was so wholesome. I’m so proud of them. Everyone is so proud of them.”

Mitros said he visualized the victory on the pool deck during each day of the meet and the days leading up to it. When he had a quiet moment in his day, he closed his eyes, imagined the sounds of the crowd, the splash of cold water when the buzzer would go off and every kick in the water. He said he is able to turn off his mind during the race itself to focus on the ultimate goal.

“Not wanting to be on the sidelines anymore, that’s a motivator,” Mitros said. “[Winning is where] I want to be in the midst when the training gets hard in January and February, even like October. … Sometimes that’s enough to just get the blood pumping a little bit, get the emotions going. … Sometimes it can be a little pick me up out of the mud and just get you through practice.”

The months of intense training leading up to the

meet were rigorous, but Blakely-Armitage said he balanced keeping the athletes physically challenged yet emotionally ready. Two weeks before the meet, the swimmers toned down the yardage, but kept the intensity up.

Throughout the season, he said he also met with athletes individually. Despite having 70 swimmers on his roster, he took the time to get to know them as people outside of the pool and looked out for them during the thick of the competition.

“The mental energy … wears on you too,” Blakely-Armitage said. “I think my goal is to kind of make sure that emotionally, they’re taken care of. For me as a coach, while I’m getting excited, I really have to take a back seat to what their needs are.”

Mitros said keeping the energy high and staying physically intact throughout a four-day long morning, afternoon and evening competition is extremely difficult, but the work made everything worthwhile in the end.

“It gets exponentially harder every session,” Mitros said. “Every morning is so much harder than the previous one. Day three, it feels like you get hit by a bus. Day four, it feels like you get hit by a bigger bus. It kills you. It’s difficult because you go to bed late, you get up early. There’s a ton of adrenaline, but when I leave the meet, [I try] to appreciate what I did, what happened, but take a breath.”

Papiernik said the experience of being a part of the championship was an experience she will never forget and thinks it is one of the best sporting events at IC all year.

“I remember saying on the last day, ‘I wish we had one more day,’ because the energy that we bring and just the greatness that’s happening around us is so intoxicating,” Papiernik said. “I don’t want it to ever end. … Liberty League Championships makes a boring sport less boring, that’s for sure.”

Mitros said winning their first conference championship will be valuable for the team in the future and will improve how the team gets ranked in the coaches polls and the dual meet rankings.

“We were completely undervalued,” Mitros said. “I think we were a better team than some of the teams that ranked above us every year, but because I don’t think we have that history, we’re not as known, I think they were just kind of glossing over us.”

Blakely-Armitage also said the championship win will be helpful when building the next first-year class of Bombers. He said that having momentum with the women’s team has helped him continue their long streak of titles.

“I would hope that it would legitimize my efforts in recruiting,” Blakely-Armitage said. “I’ve recruited some kids that make it possible for us to win the championship, but I also hope that it’ll pay off

in the future, and that kids want to be part of the winning team.”

Mitros and Papiernik, who both broke program records in the 100-yard butterfly races, were just some of the athletes who put up stellar performances. Sophomores Bennett Molitor-Kirsch, Elizabeth Bodie and senior Ryan Cooke also broke program records. According to Blakely-Armitage, over 40 swimmers broke personal best times.

Mitros, Papiernik and sophomore Sydney Koehler qualified for the NCAA Division III Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held from March 18 to 21 at the IU Natatorium in Indianapolis. Following the NCAA Division III Region 4 Diving Championships on Feb. 27-28, first-year diver Madison Morris and senior Eliza Salus also qualified for nationals, while sophomore Anastasia Albornoz and junior Emily Provost were named as diving alternates.

After basking in the moment of the victory, Blakely-Armitage will get back to work to prepare his swimmers for another chance to win a championship trophy and jump in the pool with his team. “Our season is still going on, and we have the luxury of kind of extending that, and that’s a really nice thing to kind of be able to enjoy the moment [of winning Liberty Leagues],” Blakely-Armitage said.

Ithaca College women’s basketball team reflects on disappointing season performance

Graham Goodman | March 5, 2026

On the final weekend of the regular season, the Ithaca College women’s basketball team concluded its worst season in program history, finishing its 2025-26 schedule 9-16 and No. 8 in the Liberty League.

The Bombers’ 9-16 finish is a testament to the program’s typical dominance since Raymond took over in 2000. Since then, the team has reached 20 wins on 18 occasions, including a Liberty League three-peat from 2020-2022.

When searching for the source of the Bombers’ shortcomings, there is no one place to look. From injuries to recruiting trouble and an inexperienced roster, head coach Dan Raymond repeatedly described the season’s events as a “perfect storm” for an unsuccessful campaign.

While several key players missed time on the court because of injury, Raymond missed four games and a number of practices because of personal health concerns. For Raymond and his coaching staff, this was a new challenge added to the list of issues in the middle of the team’s season.

“I, probably in the previous 25 years, could count the number of times that I missed practice on one hand and [had] never missed a game ever,” Raymond said.

Raymond was not alone in battling health issues. By the last weekend of the season Feb. 21, six Bombers were sidelined. Junior forward Libby Majka, who was a scheduled January return was highly

anticipated after tearing her ACL at the end of the 2024-25 regular season. Majka was set to be a key part of the returning team after starting 17 games and averaging nine points in the 2024-25 season. Two days before she was supposed to play in her first game of the season, she re-tore the same ACL she had spent a year rehabbing.

Majka is now medically retired from collegiate basketball. Her absence contributed to and highlighted a shift from a post-heavy, forward-reliant offense in the 2024-25 season to a guard-heavy, defensively reliant playstyle in 2025-26.

Because of the amount of talent the Bombers were able to put on the court, the offense was able to manage. However, the team lacked flow in possession at times, something that can be drawn back to a lack of a gameplan throughout the season. Raymond said the team was never able to find out who they were offensively.

“We knew we were going to be young in the sense of inexperienced,” Raymond said. “We really didn’t have anybody other than [senior guard Zoraida Icabalceta] who had played significant minutes. [Sophomore guard Maddie Gill] played some, [junior guard Tori Drevna] had played some, but not in the roles that they were expected to play this season.”

A lack of experience in the frontcourt put the Bombers in a difficult spot offensively. Drevna, the Bombers’ leading scorer, had only started three games prior to the 2025-26 season. Gill, the second

leading scorer, had only started five.

Co-captain Icabalceta missed five early-season games because of injury and did not re-join the starting lineup until the final eight games of the season, totaling nine starts her senior year after 26 her junior year.

“That was definitely rough,” Icabalceta said. “I feel like every year I’ve been injured in some capacity. That one sucked because I was in a boot and I wasn’t able to practice either, but luckily it wasn’t the whole season.”

For 2025-26, Raymond and his staff recruited three forwards and three guards. Raymond said that the players he was able to lure to IC were not the top targets in his recruiting class. Following their worst season in program history, Raymond said he has never had more trouble recruiting than for next season’s class of first-year players.

“I think for the most part, I do a pretty good job of building relationships with [recruits],” Raymond said. “But then the players that we really want, I wasn’t able to convince any of them that Ithaca was the right fit for them. … As far as our current first-year class that we had this season, it was kind of similar.”

With Raymond less confident in the current class of first-year players and next season’s class of recruits, responsibility remains on the shoulders of this season’s sophomore and junior class.

Icabalceta said one player she took under her wing in her final season was sophomore guard Natalie Tucker. Tucker’s minutes spiked significantly in 2025-26. She went from 66 total minutes in her first season to 549 in her sophomore season, the third most on the team.

Tucker said she is prepared to step into a larger role her junior season.

“I think this year has prepared me for that,” Tucker said. “Even learning from Zoraida, she’s given me so much insight into that kind of stuff. This year has given me a lot of experience and learned from my mistakes or what I did well this year and carry that through to next year.”

Eyes will be on players like Tucker to highlight next year’s guard-heavy team. Raymond said the “perfect storm” can be attributed to a number of reasons or people, but ultimately the responsibility falls on him.

“If you want to use the word blame, there’s plenty of it to go around, but because I am the head coach of this program and stuff like that, it falls on me,” Raymond said. “So I’m going to take it and figure out what I can do to make the changes that need to be made so that we can get this program back where we want it to be.”

Community sponsorship collaboration helps IC student athletes fuel up for success

Kaeleigh Banda | March 5, 2026

Through community connections, Ithaca College is collaborating with sponsors that support student athletes by providing food, nutrition education, discounts and other resources.

Wegmans Food Markets, a new sponsor, partnered with the college to create the Bomber Refueling Station, which opened Jan. 20. The station is located in the Athletics and Events Center and has drinks and healthy snacks, including trail mix and energy bars provided by Wegmans.

Student athletes receive four swipes a week, separate from a meal plan, to use at the station with a maximum of two per day. The Bomber Refueling Station is open from 7:30-9:30 a.m. and 3-5 p.m. every weekday.

Wegmans also leads nutrition-focused cooking classes on and off campus, and provides shopping demonstrations in Wegmans supermarkets to teach the athletes how to shop for healthy groceries.

Aaron Bouyea, director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Campus Recreation, said he has a deeper understanding of the varying levels of food needs for students after his experience working at Monroe Community College in Rochester from 2017-2025. He said the partnership with Wegmans was appealing because the company works in local communities to combat food insecurity.

“I’m sure many of our students are food insecure or have issues around that,” Bouyea said. “And so that was really the lens from which we approached it. How do we continue to get healthy nutritional options in front of them?”

According to 2021 research from the National Library of Medicine, 14.7% of Division III Athletes are food insecure. Not having proper nutrition can impact students physically and mentally, which can affect athletic performance.

Sophomore Tamia Silvera, a goalkeeper on the women’s soccer team, worked as a volunteer for the station with other members of her team. The station is fully run by student-athlete volunteers who are in their off-seasons. Silvera said she feels the sponsorships are more genuine when the companies are not just looking for a banner with their logo on the field for attention.

“It feels like they genuinely want athletes to understand the importance of nutrition and properly fueling yourself for workouts, so I value it as an athlete,” Silvera said. “I think it’s just a good representation of it doesn’t have to always be about the money.”

Bouyea said the resources from Wegmans are also helpful for students who are not used to cooking for themselves.

“They had a really good example of four different meals you can make with a rotisserie chicken,” Bouyea said. “As a young person, maybe you don’t know that, and you could add that to your toolkit when it comes to groceries and cooking.”

Tim Downs, senior vice president and chief financial officer, said the college looks for corporate sponsorships that will align with its values and have high engagement with the students, not which company can write the biggest check.

“Wegmans is a community partner,” Downs said. “A lot of our community partners are the ones that are local and that are going to be able to benefit from our students being in the community.”

Wegmans is one of many community partners with IC Athletics. In November 2025, IC Athletics partnered with DICK’S Sporting Goods. Other partnerships include Cayuga Health, Tompkins Community Bank and Beginnings Credit Union — all local companies. The companies do not receive financial compensation directly from the college, but the partnership allows for students to learn more about the services and support the company.

Downs said the smaller size of IC makes partnerships with sponsors easier to achieve because

he, Bouyea and other members of their teams are able to more easily have conversations with the sponsors to help build those relationships.

“It can’t be like we gain something you get nothing: it’s got to work for them,” Downs said. “When we say corporate sponsorship, it goes both ways, and I think we actually take that to heart.”

Silvera said the station is helpful for students who may not have time to grab food because many athletes have to rush back and forth between lifts, practices, work and classes throughout the day.

“A lot of us have faster metabolism, so we do need to have more snacks in between meals, just to replenish energy to go into those lifts or those workouts, which I think is very important,” Silvera said. “So I’m glad they are offering the refueling station so we can have snacks in between lifts or in between classes.”

Bouyea said he hopes to continue to build partnerships with sponsors if their values and their mission are in line with IC’s.

“The goal is to maximize our student athlete experience to make sure it is the best it can possibly be given the resources that we have,” Bouyea said. “That’s a big charge of mine, and this is a piece of that.”

Football quarterbacks thrive in new positions

Billy Wood | November 5, 2025

ver since three-year starting quarterback

A.J. Wingfield ’23 graduated from the Ithaca College football program, the team has brought in numerous quarterbacks to try to keep it moving forward. This has led to three starting quarterbacks in the past two seasons, all finding unique ways to contribute to wins on the field.

During week four of the 2024 season, junior starting quarterback Colin Schumm was benched for junior quarterback Matthew Parker. Parker continued being the starting quarterback for the rest of the season, as Schumm gradually made a shift into other roles. Schumm found himself lining up outside at wide receiver and on the line at tight end, but officially made the switch fully to tight end during the spring.

Offensive coordinator Brandon Maguire said Schumm put on 20 pounds to play the position, and that the team’s focus on athleticism has helped them use players in multiple facets of the offense.

“In the spring, we threw [Schumm] a jump ball and it was like his first day playing tight end,” Maguire said. “It wasn’t a great ball, but he made an adjustment and pulled it in. It’s why we recruit athletes. We like guys that have played defense, we like guys that are physical and seek contact. There’s always somewhere on the field for physical guys that love football and bring some sort of outstanding quality.”

Before suffering an injury in week three that has sidelined him until the week of Nov. 2, Schumm had taken the role of tight end in stride, recording four catches for 37 yards in an offense that only had 17 receptions from all tight ends last season and traditionally does not have much air involvement from

the position. Schumm said the move to tight end was a change but he has taken pride in it.

“I needed to lift differently, I needed to run differently, eat differently,” Schumm said. “It was really just like all the small things that a quarterback does to be a quarterback, you just switch it up a little bit with the weight on, a little bit more power. Catching wasn’t a big deal, I’ve played and caught stuff in different sports, but it was different.”

Junior quarterback Mike Reed has arguably made the biggest impact by a quarterback in other positions this season. Reed also started his exploration into other areas of the team during the 2024 season. Maguire said the team needed some extra reinforcements on special teams and Reed had the right fit.

“Mike is incredibly athletic, strong, tough, loves football and he’s got great hands,” Maguire said. “Mike’s value on the team started last year really with kickoff, because we needed some physical people on kickoff. He went in there and started hitting people.”

After Reed got his feet wet with experience on kickoff, Reed said he wanted more and approached Maguire after the year to bring up the possibility of juggling both quarterback and receiver.

“In my exit interview with Maguire, I talked to him about playing a little bit of receiver or anywhere really on the offense, maybe tight end, just get involved,” Reed said. “They liked me on special teams, they liked the athleticism I showed. I brought that idea to Maguire and he loved it. The spring was the first time that came to light and I started playing receiver, and I just got better and better from there.”

During the first seven games of the season, Reed

became a steady presence at receiver, finishing second in receptions during two of those games. All the while, Reed was still taking snaps at quarterback for special option plays, pass plays, or coming in for full halves like during the Johns Hopkins University, Rochester University and Union College games. Up to this point and now with the starting quarterback position under his belt after his first start against Buffalo State, Reed has totaled 585 passing yards, 323 rushing yards, 73 receiving yards and 12 total touchdowns.

Reed said that because of his play at both receiver and quarterback, practices have been very hectic, but he enjoys the challenge of it.

“It’s almost like every time I’m not at receiver, I’m at quarterback,” Reed said. “I get a ton of reps and I love doing that. It’s so much fun, I wouldn’t want anything else.”

The team’s focus on athletes and versatility has been echoed by the players. Reed said he believes his ability to do many things on the field can compromise defenses.

“It’s funny, [head coach Michael Toerper] said the other day, ‘Man, if I played defense against you, I wouldn’t know how to really guard you,’ because being versatile is a huge advantage,” Reed said. “Defenses don’t know if I’m going to come in at quarterback, if I’m going to run, throw or go to receiver. It’s super hard to guard for defenses and I think that’s super good.”

Prior to being named the starting quarterback against Buffalo State, Reed was enlisted to play the second half against Johns Hopkins, Union and Rochester. Parker said that despite the natural fire for competition, he supported Reed in his success against the Yellowjackets, a message Maguire also saw on the field.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, we want to win,” Parker said. “[Against Rochester] I had a bad game and Mike made the most of the opportunity, and I’m so happy for him. I really want to see him on the field, going out there and making plays. I love it when we call ‘QB power’ for Reed or we get a flat to Schumm. It’s so awesome.”

With many competitions in the quarterback room over the past two years and so much athletic talent, Reed said what keeps him on South Hill is not only the culture but the quest to win above all else.

“I love [the coaches] and I love the players,” Reed said. “I have a great friend group that keeps me here and Ithaca’s a top program. Everyone wants to be here. Everyone wants to win. I’d rather be part of a program like this, where I get in here and there and it’s a winning program, rather than going to a program that’s not as successful and playing a lot there.”

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Student organizations foster community

Maddy Kim | January 23, 2026

With a maximum capacity of 220 people, every Asian student at Ithaca College could sit comfortably within the Roy H. Park Hall Auditorium. Despite making up a seemingly small part of the college’s population, Asian and Asian American students at IC have unique experiences and challenges that should be acknowledged for them to feel supported within this community. Asian students represented only 3.9% of the IC student population in Fall 2025, according to IC’s Office of Institutional Research. That makes up less than 200 Asian students total.

For students of color at a predominantly white institution like IC, transitioning to college poses extra challenges. Asian American students may also face an additional pressure: the perpetual foreigner stereotype. This idea, based on systemic racism, states that Asian Americans are not truly American and will always be seen as foreigners or outsiders, regardless of where they were born or how long they have lived in the United States. Many students feel they constantly have to “prove” that they belong, which can be a very overwhelming experience on top of trying to navigate college life.

IC’s Asian American Alliance (AAA; pronounced “triple A”) is a group that strives to support Asian and Asian American students at IC and provide them a space to meet other students who share their culture, ethnicity, language and experiences. Although this club has had many iterations and changes since its inauguration over 30 years ago, our vision remains the same: to promote awareness of Asian and Asian American culture and experience at IC and in the Ithaca community; to serve as a venue for Asian, Asian American and other students interested in Asian and Asian American culture; and to interact with one another through educational, social, political and cultural events and activities. While student organizations like the AAA are vital in providing a space for students to gather and connect, it is important to remember that we should not place our expectations in student leaders to do all of the heavy lifting for these communities, and that colleges must continue to invest in departments, resources and programs that uplift underrepresented students.

Three years ago, I sat alone in my dorm room eating mooncakes by myself. This year, I got to help bring to life a Mid-Autumn Festival celebration with just under 50 faculty, staff and student attendees. That shift in experience, from isolation to community, is the result of increased attention and effort to provide spaces for students like myself. I am deeply honored to serve as this year’s president of the AAA and to be a part of a small but mighty community of students. If there is a space large enough on campus to hold all of us, then there is space to provide support to everyone.

Communication skills lacking with tech rise

Desiree Desir | February 12, 2026

Technology is an essential part of everyday life, offering us both convenience and efficiency. For students, it plays a major role not only in how they learn, but also in how they communicate with others. As its use continues to grow, there are major concerns about its impact on students’ communication skills.

Nearly all United States teens (96%) use the internet every day and 72% of students say they prefer online learning over traditional in-person instruction. These statistics demonstrate how deeply technology is integrated into both education and social life. While technology has made learning more accessible and flexible, it has also changed the way students interact with one another, often reducing opportunities for direct communication. The widespread use of devices like laptops and smartphones has increasingly replaced real-life interactions.

This shift is evident in classrooms and everyday face-to-face interactions. As students rely more on screens to communicate, they may struggle to develop essential skills such as active listening, verbal expression and confidence in face-to-face conversations. I observe students turning to their phones to avoid awkward moments rather than engaging in conversation. Speaking from experience, when I learned to put my phone down and be present in the moment, I felt a stronger urge to communicate with others. I realized putting down my device improved my focus as well as strengthened my ability to connect with people on a more meaningful level.

A global survey of young adults aged 18 to 34 found that 65% communicate with peers more frequently through texting or mobile messaging, with even higher percentages in English-speaking countries. While texting allows for quick and convenient communication, it often lacks tone, emotion and clarity. In-person communication has been valued for its immediacy and depth, allowing people to use nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, gestures and tone of voice. However, as digital communication grows, in-person communication skills such as including clear speaking, active listening and confidence in conversation continue to decline.

Although technology is an increasingly useful part of daily life, it is important to recognize that setting devices aside and engaging in face-to-face conversations may be far more beneficial in the long run than relying solely on digital communication.

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IC does not adequately support club sports

Marshall Long | March 5, 2026

I have been a member of the Ithaca College club softball team since my first semester of my first year at IC. The team has been my safe haven for as long as I have been on campus, and yet our “home” games are not even in the City of Ithaca.

There is an administrative barrier preventing the club team from using Kostrinsky Field, the softball field on campus. I understand why we cannot practice on the field. Maintaining a facility like that takes effort, time and money. But we are running out of places to go. I am not proposing we open Kostrinsky up to the public, I am asking for one day across an entire semester. Priority should always go to the varsity athletes, but what about when they are not using the field?

During the winter, we move inside to the Athletics and Events Center. While time slots are limited and winter practices have always been late at night, it has continuously gotten worse throughout the years. Club softball’s official practices for this semester run from 9:30-10:45 p.m. at night. On Feb. 16, there was an event earlier in the day and since no one communicated that with us, we ended up fielding ground balls in between rows of fold-up tables.

Nearly all of our shared equipment was donated by family members of the team, as well as by students on the team themselves. There are pieces of the lives of my teammates and me in every part of our organization.

My executive board members and I, both current and former, have poured our hearts and souls into this organization, but because this institution cannot keep an athletic director to save their lives, the burden of maintaining these clubs financially has fallen on the students and the families of students. Fundraisers that used to work are not working anymore. Dues used to be $50 for a whole academic year, they have since risen to $80.

Sports are an important part of culture, and with it, community. I do not have a sister by blood, but believe me when I say have had dozens of sisters spanning dozens of teams. The memories, lessons and love that softball has brought me have proven invaluable, and that is something worth protecting. IC has gone through three club athletic directors in the past four years and without their guidance and experience, club athletics have suffered.

This institution does not give us money and actively impedes on our ability to play. Access to Kostrinsky Field, even for one day a semester, would be a game-changer.

The impact of PFAS on comsumers’ products

Samantha Funk | December 11, 2025

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances are human-made chemicals used in product industries. PFAS leave a permanent mark on the environment due to their practically indestructible and persistent nature, which is why they are sometimes referred to as forever chemicals.

Exposure to PFAS has been linked to an extensive list of health issues, including higher risks of cancer, reproductive and developmental complications, and liver and thyroid defects. Because of inconsistencies in federal regulation and the little transparency required of corporations, consumers are unaware of the chemicals hidden in purchases. Unfortunately, these chemicals are hard to escape. They are found everywhere, like in hygiene, food and personal use products.

Water resistant merchandise use a layer of forever chemicals to make the product water resistant. This barrier disintegrates over time and can enter both the environment and the human body. Look to products labeled “PFAS-free” or “PFC-free” for less harmful alternatives. The coating on nonstick products that keeps your vegetables from sticking to a pan is essentially a blanket of forever chemicals that seep into food when cooking. Instead, opt for stainless steel, cast iron or glass kitchenware.

Products that contain fragrances are also products to look out for. According to the International Fragrance Association, the fragrance industry uses over 3,500 stock chemical ingredients. Among this list, many have been flagged as potential or known “chemicals of concern.” When buying personal care products, it is best to ditch the aromas and go fragrance-free.

PFAS in plastic products are the trickiest forever chemical category to steer clear from because it is found in virtually everything on the market. Instead, turn to alternatives when possible, like wood toys and bamboo toothbrushes. While it is important for our own health to avoid products with PFAS, it is imperative to consider why we must take precautions. Simply changing the way that we shop fails to grasp the root of the issue: that companies are not being held responsible for the chemicals they use in production.

The same companies go unreprimanded when using greenwashing tactics to lure customers into retail traps, avoid overused buzz-words like “eco-friendly” or “all-natural.” Corporate accountability is possible by supporting those who advocate for stricter legislation, like the PFAS Action Act, which would require the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a drinking water standard and demand manufacturers to identify toxins in products.

End User Samuel Rad cliffe

The danger of using AI in replacement of therapy

January 22, 2026

Countless American teenagers turn to artificial intelligence chatbots for conversation, emotional connection and mental health support. But chatbots cannot replace trained human therapists. Mental health counseling requires a human touch. Chatbots are unfit to provide this support because they simulate care without responsibility, validate their users with sycophantic responses and encourage dangerous behavior.

A survey by Common Sense Media found 72% of American teenagers said they used AI chatbots as companions. Teenagers and young adults are increasingly using chatbots, drawn to them for their accessibility and convenience, and for the 24/7 judgement free companionship that they offer. According to the New York Times Opinion, these “chatbots are becoming de facto digital therapists for many teenagers.” This should be alarming as AI is not equipped to support mental health.

Therapy administered by a trained human professional is a well-tested, effective approach to helping individuals with mental health challenges. A 2025 study from Stanford University explored the ways AI support differs from human therapy. Researchers produced a list of characteristics that made a good human therapist, including traits such as not stigmatizing mental health conditions” and “challenging the thinking of a patient when appropriate. AI does not possess these characteristics.

Since Chatbots are trained on data, they have a tendency toward sycophancy — repeatedly reinforcing and encouraging any kind of input. This method can lead to disastrous results. Zane Shamblin, a 23-year-old graduate of Texas A&M University, died by suicide after ChatGPT encouraged him as he discussed ending his life. The morning of his death Shamblin wrote repeatedly about having a gun. The chatbot mostly responded with affirmation, even writing “I’m not here to stop you.”

This trait renders AI chatbots unfit for mental health support. Nonjudgemental and sycophantic AI responses do not lead to meaningful action. Psychological research shows avoidance and reassurance lead to quick relief, but deepen long-term suffering. Realistically, some amount of judgement and confrontation is healthy, especially when it is provided by a trained professional.

There is potential for AI to assist human therapists in the future, helping to complete logistical tasks, redirecting clients to appropriately trained professionals and helping therapists in training develop their skills. These strategies allow AI to be a part of the solution, while simultaneously recognizing that these types of human problems still require a human touch to solve.

Filter bubbles’ negative impact on democracy

February 4, 2026

Search engines and social networks seemingly provide resources that connect individuals through accessible information and debate. But invisibly, algorithmic editing of the web increasingly isolates users, trapping them in “filter bubbles” through hyper-personalized results. Online platforms should seek users’ permission to personalize online content and provide a clear and easy way to opt in or out.

The internet is heavily personalized. According to Eli Pariser, search engines and their algorithms create a situation where users consume information that confirms their preexisting beliefs. A filter bubble refers to the ways which information is filtered before reaching an internet user. Search algorithms use browsing history, data from social networks, viewing habits and geography to present increasingly narrow information to individual users. The content becomes so personalized that it begins to limit perspectives.

In his 2011 TED Talk, “Beware Online ‘Filter Bubbles,’” Pariser argues that not only do filter bubbles intellectually isolate users, but they will ultimately erode democracy. Algorithms isolate individuals from any information or perspectives they have not already expressed an interest in. Because users no longer encounter anything new, they do not get exposed to information that could challenge or broaden their worldview. Ultimately this system impoverishes curiosity and leads to a surge in binary thinking. Filter bubbles are in part responsible for the particularly strong polarization of the political climate in the United States in recent years. Rather than examining both sides of an issue and coming to an informed decision, people are locked within their ideological bubbles.

Google results also vary depending on how the query is framed. It shows the results that best align with what it thinks the user wants to hear. According to Sarah Pokorná, tech industry professional and ethics advocate, Google has “pulled bits out of the text based on what people are searching for and fed them what they want to read.” The platform is “one big bias machine.”

The idea of one of the world’s richest companies making decisions on what the truth is should be a source of alarm and discomfort. Online platform users should have a greater say in whether the content they see on social networks or on the web is personalized. Accurate information should be accessible to everyone, and it should be made clear to users that the information they receive may be filtered.

Unexpected censorship on social platforms

March 6, 2026

As new technologies emerge, so do new and lesser known methods of censorship that silently strip users of their constitutionally-granted right to free speech. Social networks provide people with a platform to share original content, but they also have a tremendous amount of power to shift opinions. Through censoring practices like shadow banning, social media companies control how content spreads without the knowledge of users.

Most social media users recognize that platforms have the power to screen content, but they believe that social networks accomplish this only through the outright removal of select content or accounts. However, according to Tauhid Zaman, associate professor of operations management at Yale University, there is an even more effective tool social platforms employ to censor their users.

This method of censorship is called shadow banning. Social platforms select the content they show users. They can promote or demote anything algorithmically, changing the media users are exposed to. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, shadow banning occurs when a social media company limits who can see someone’s posts. The content is hidden from most, if not all people, except the original user who posted. Usually, the person who published the content has no knowledge of this. Users who notice a sudden drop in engagement with their account may be victims of shadowbanning.

Most social media users are not aware of the dangers of shadow banning. In theory, shadow banning is used by social media platforms to filter out accounts that do not comply with their terms, but nothing binds them to this. Shadow banning is hard to regulate because most social media companies do not recognize it as an official practice. Another result of this is that shadow banning is very hard to monitor.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began, many users have accused Instagram of censoring their posts supporting Palestine. The Human Rights Watch documented at least 1,050 takedowns and other examples of content suppression on Instagram and Facebook between October and November of 2023.

Corporations like Meta should permit protected expression on their platforms. Censoring practices need to be abolished, or at the very least, made transparent to users so they are aware the information they receive may be filtered. Users should take it upon themselves to learn more about the existence of censoring practices to avoid unknowingly becoming shadowbanned.

Social media produces discontent for users

February 19, 2026

According to a 2024 psychology paper by researchers at New York University and the Norwegian School of Economics, today almost 5 billion people worldwide use social media, with the average media user spending about 2.5 hours a day online. Online environment is not an accurate representation of the offline world. It acts as a funhouse mirror would, reflecting a warped version of reality back at users. Social networks manufacture discontent by showcasing extreme opinions, creating false norms and promoting curated identities.

Research from the University of Nevada suggests social media has created a new breed of influencers. These social network users with acclaimed credibility typically reach large audiences and can inaccurately portray social norms through their content. Online discussion is dominated by a surprisingly small, non-representative, but very vocal minority. They post only their most extreme opinions and do so dozens more times than others. Social media operates under an attention economy, incentivizing creators to make content that captures attention over content that reflects reality.

Research from New York University found only 3% of active “toxic” accounts produce 33% of social content, and 0.1% of users are responsible for sharing 80% of all fake news. By contrast, moderate or neutral opinions are algorithmically invisible online because they do not attract as much attention. The research also found that 90% of X, formerly Twitter, users’ political opinions are represented by less than 3% of tweets, while offline polling data suggests most people are ideologically moderate and have some crossover between viewpoints. Because the vast majority of what users see online is incredibly polarized, society seems much more divided. It becomes hard for users to turn down the volume when they encounter a disproportionate number of extreme opinions. This can lead to users developing the false perception that norms are much more extreme than they actually are.

Since online content is dominated by extremes, users’ feeds perpetuate and normalize these opinions. Extreme norms such as negativity, intergroup hostility, polarization, unrealistic beauty standards and outrageous benchmarks for success appear strikingly prevalent online. False norms are harmful and divisive because as users scroll through their feeds, and are exposed to them, they form inferences about the beliefs of members of specific groups, society, individuals and their own community. This creates a unique problem for users: how to differentiate what is normative versus what is popular. Users should be aware of this tendency toward extremes when engaging on social networks.

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