The Ithacan Thursday, November 17, 20 11
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Volume 79, Is s u e 1 1
Sustainability efforts split across college by kacey deamer staff writer
Ithaca College promotes itself as sustainably conscious and is continuously listed as a top sustainable college. But colleges like Dartmouth and Oberlin surpass the college on campus sustainability lists. One factor may be that their efforts are concentrated in a centralized Office of Sustainability. At Ithaca, staff, student interns and other members of the college BROWN said one community who sustainability office work on sustain- would make efforts more visible. ability projects are dispersed across campus. Marian Brown, special assistant to the provost for sustainability, works with the administration on sustainability education and outreach on campus. She said there has been no movement to combine staff and projects across campus into one overarching Office of Sustainability, but an office could strengthen the campus' sustainability image. “It would be nice to be in a more visible location so if somebody from [the community] or a donor comes on campus for an event, or a student tour with prospective students were to come walking through they could see an Office of Sustainability,” Brown said. The college has continued to gain more employees dedicated to the expansion of sustainability on campus. In 2006, president emeritus Peggy Ryan Williams signed the Talloires Declaration, a pledge of commitment to a sustainable future. The Ithaca College Climate Action Plan was approved in the fall of 2009 and began the college’s 40-year plan to become carbon-neutral by 2050. “It’s becoming more of a question as we get, frankly, more sustainability folks working on this,” Brown said. “We’re now up to four that basically have a relatively full-time focus on sustainability efforts.” Brown said while there are four staff that officially focus on sustainability, there are other staff working on initiatives throughout campus. Oberlin College, a small private institution in Ohio with sustainability efforts similar to the college, has an established Office of Environmental Sustainability, and the University of Rochester has a Council on Sustainability to help guide the university’s initiatives. Brown said one aspect of the college’s expanding sustainability initiative is to
See sustainability, page 4
the dishon debt By ithacan staff For junior Brittan Binder, coming to Ithaca College meant making a conscious decision value experience over cost when it To watch a came to her education. video of Occupy Binder said she could the Mic, visit have attended Rutgers Uni- theithacan.org. versity in New Jersey, a short distance from her house, where she would have
graduated free of student loan debt. Instead, Binder decided to attend Ithaca College, where she has accrued about $40,000 in debt that she will carry with her after graduation. The decision was a no-brainer for her. She said she placed far more importance on a quality education than on its high cost. “I knew the academics here were really good," she said. "I knew that it was in a beautiful area, and I knew that I’d be paying far less than the stamp on the ticket.”
Binder spoke at Labor Initiative in Promoting Solidarity’s event, Occupy the Mic, on Tuesday. About 50 people attended the speak-out, where a group of students and faculty spoke candidly about their personal experiences with student loan debt — some of whom had debts totaling nearly $80,000. A few students said they felt student debt should be forgiven altogether. Though Binder had an optimistic outlook
See debt, page 4
Professors bridge learning with videoconferencing by taylor rao staff writer
Videoconferencing technology is becoming a popular teaching tool in departments across Ithaca College. Within the last year, videoconferencing has begun to play a role in connecting students on a global level to educate beyond the walls of the campus community. The Roy H. Park School of Communications and the Department of Modern Languages first launched videoconferencing programs in the spring and received praise from staff and students. Diane Gayeski, dean of the communications school, said she uses Skype as a main teaching tool in S’Park: Igniting Your Future in Communications, a one-credit course that electronically connects students to alumni and real-world professionals, such as ABC News Anchor David Muir ’95. During the S'Park session with
Melting pot International students experience a blending of cultures in school, page 13
Hayder Assad, lecturer in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, discusses the use of videoconferencing Tuesday in Job Hall. michelle boulé/the ithacan
Muir, a live Twitter feed was on the projection screen and then the call came in. It was received by 195 freshman, four instructors and one teaching assistant.
“It allows us to do things absolutely spontaneously,” Gayeski said. “It gives people a lot of new ideas that they didn’t have before, so having short presentations by a
big finisher
Wrestler remains atop national rankings with small frame and large passion, page 19 f ind m or e. onl ine. www.t heit hacan.org
lot of people really works.” Students participating in S’Park also have the opportunity to tweet questions to notable alumni while videoconferencing with them. Foreign language departments also take advantage of similar technology by connecting with Skype to people across the globe. Later they maintain the connection by emailing their homework assignments for peer review by an Iraqi student fluent in Arabic. In the Department of Modern Languages, lecturer Hayder Assad organized a series of online Skype sessions that integrate Arabic language studies between students at the college and students attending the University of Kufa in Iraq. Students voluntarily attended hour-long sessions
See skype, page 4
peace time American protests should continue using nonviolent strategies, page 15