The Ithacan, 2009-02-19
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Ithaca College Digital Commons @ IC The thI acan, 2008-09 The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 2-19-2009 The thI acan, 2009-02-19 Ithaca College Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2008-09 Recommended Citation Ithaca College, "The thI acan, 2009-02-19" (2009). The Ithacan, 2008-09. 14. http://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/ithacan_2008-09/14 This Newspaper is brought to you for free and open access by the The thI acan: 2000/01 to 2009/2010 at Digital Commons @ IC. It has been accepted for inclusion in The thI acan, 2008-09 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ IC. OPINION LISTENING SESSION REPORT LACKS PLAN, PAGE 12 MUSICAL SHIFTS SPORTS SENIOR WRESTLER OVERCOMES INJURIES, PAGE 25 Tracing changes in the local concert scene, page 15 PHOTO FINISH BOMBERS TAKE DOWN FISHER, PAGE 32 Thursday Ithaca, N.Y. February 19, 2009 The Ithacan Volume 76, Issue 19 Budget set for 2009-10 BY ERICA R. HENDRY SENIOR WRITER Ithaca College deans, vice presidents and other top- level administrators will spend the next few weeks cut- ting anywhere from 3.5 to 4.2 percent of their respective 2009-10 budgets in order to meet a $4.2 million perma- nent expenditure cut approved by the Board of Trustees last week. At its meeting in New York Read which faculty received tenure or pro- last Th ursday, the board also ap- motion at theithacan. proved a 4.75 percent increase org/go/09tenure. in tuition — a dollar increase of $1,454 based on last year’s tuition — and a 4.95 percent increase in the cost of attendance, bringing the amount for tuition, room, board and other fees to $44, 270. Th ese percent increases are the lowest the college has had in at President Tom Rochon addresses faculty about least seven years. his strategic vision Tuesday in Emerson Suites. Th e board also granted tenure and/or promotion to TJ GUNTHER/THE ITHACAN 12 faculty members. Th e permanent cut and fee increases are aspects of the plan created by administrators and approved by the board to compensate for an anticipated $2.6 million less in net revenue in next year’s budget. Th e approved plan Rochon presents draft of vision eliminates salary increments, other than those associ- ated with faculty and staff promotions. It also rolls back BY ERICA R. HENDRY a closed meeting Tuesday afternoon, dur- “It seemed like it was all boiled down to the nearly 1 percent contribution to TIAA-CREFF, the SENIOR WRITER ing which Rochon and Kathleen Rountree, integrative curriculum, but that term was faculty and staff benefi t plan, that the college has added Administrators began the next phase provost and vice president of academic af- not defi ned and there was no leadership during the past two years, which returns the college’s of the college’s strategic visioning process fairs, presented “common learning aspira- about ways in which it could be achieved,” contribution to 8 percent. Even with these reductions, as this week with the introduction of the tions” reached during the sessions, which said Susan Allen-Gil, associate professor of well as increases in the overall cost of attendance, the col- “Ithaca College Integrative Curriculum,” a included a desire for cross- and multidisci- biology, who attended the meeting. lege still faces a $2.5 million defi cit, which President Tom new model of learning conceptualized after plinary opportunities, better advising, more Th e specifi cs of this concept have yet to Rochon said the college will cover with surplus it has ac- months of gathering and analyzing feedback active learning, fl exibility and a global focus, be fi nalized, Rochon said, because he wants cumulated in previous years. from communitywide listening sessions. among other suggestions. the eff ort to take shape from initiatives put Th e $4.2 million in cuts will be spread among each of Th e visioning process is a year-long Th e model calls for “intentional com- forward by faculty and students who imag- the college’s schools and divisions, Rochon said, where commitment designed to help shape what munities” as well as interdisciplinary, inte- ine creative and effi cient ways to implement the deans and vice presidents, who have the greatest administrators call a renewed focus on aca- grative practice, according to the presenta- programs, research and experiences across familiarity with all departments and programs within demic excellence, one that began with the tion. Faculty, staff and students from across campus. Th ese initiatives will be supported each of those areas, can make informed decisions about approval of the Board of Trustees in Octo- schools and disciplines would be able to by a $200,000 fund already approved by the what can be most easily trimmed, instead of pursuing an ber and will end with a presentation of syn- combine multiple interests to create proj- Board of Trustees in next year’s budget. “across-the-board cutting mentality.” Th ose cuts, which thesized goals to the same board in May. ects, initiatives or coursework open to stu- “It is a concept, not a plan by any means,” are in addition to budget reductions made by deans and President Tom Rochon will hold an dents regardless of their major. Th e model Rochon said. “It is pointing in a very broad all-campus meeting about the visioning is intended to act like a “framework” rather See BUDGET, page 4 process today. About 80 faculty attended than a plan, Rochon said. See VISIONING, page 4 Article sparks community response BY KAYDI POIRIER ing her experiences and the alumni see other dimensions and complexi- ACCENT EDITOR magazine for publishing it. ties in the confl ict. President Tom Rochon’s response “Th is is information that rarely gets “It’s the impression readers came to an article by Emily McNeill ’08 in aired in our mainstream media,” Ade- away with, about an offi cial college the latest issue of IC View, the col- laide Park Gomer, a trustee of the Park position on violence in the West Bank, lege’s quarterly alumni magazine, has Foundation, said in comment. “Th ank that I so much regret,” he said. prompted alumni, students and facul- you, IC View for having the courage to Maura Stephens, editor of IC View ty to question free speech on campus. publish this article. I can rest assured since 1997, apologized on the maga- McNeill’s story, “Th e Violence that the Park School at Ithaca College zine’s Web site Feb. 11. Must End,” is a fi rst-person account is doing its job. It is truly an incubator “I not only didn’t exercise the best of her experiences last summer with for free speech, a platform from which editorial judgment, but I didn’t follow Israeli violence against Palestinians in educated views can be expressed.” editorial procedures,” she said. “In- the West Bank and appears in the “Fi- About fi ve days after comments stead I ran the story without having nal Word” column on the magazine’s started, Rochon responded with an anyone else on campus review it fi rst.” last page. She recounts the attacks she online letter to IC View readers, in Stephens was not available for witnessed in Hebron — a Palestinian which he said the magazine failed to comment at press time. From left, Christian Peacemaker Teams member Kelly Latimore and Emily territory — while working with Chris- discuss a controversial issue “in a fully Rochon said, in the past, Tom McNeill ’08 visit At-Tuwanni, a village in the southern West Bank. tian Peacemaker Teams, an ecumeni- balanced and unbiased manner.” Torello, executive director of mar- COURTESY OF EMILY MCNEILL cal organization that travels to confl ict In the letter, Rochon said the edi- keting communications, and Shelley areas to support nonviolent action and torial review process for articles in Semmler, vice president of institu- said. “She went through all the proper Journalism, said even if IC View is a protection of human rights. IC View was not followed and called tional advancement, have reviewed IC procedures of making sure in the con- public relations magazine, the college A fl ow of comments started with for both a stronger internal editorial View articles before publication. text of what I was writing about, which should be careful when talking about one alumna who called the story “ab- review policy and the creation of an McNeill said she was unaware was a specifi c town in the West Bank, establishing any kind of prior restraint, solutely maddening.” In the fi rst com- editorial board to review all relevant that typical procedures were not fol- that I was telling as complete a story which would confl ict with the prin- ment, Naomi Swerdlow ’03 said it was content of the magazine. lowed but said she feels confi dent in as I could.” ciple of freedom of expression. not what she wanted to read in an Rochon said while it’s not reason- Stephens’ editing. Both Rochon’s and Stephens’ re- “It would be creating more prob- alumni magazine. able to expect one story to entail the “[She] was very vigilant about sponses generated comments from lems for us as a department or even as a More than 40 alumni, students and greater complexities of the Middle making sure I had sources to back the college community about the role school of communications if we preach faculty have commented on the online East confl ict, he said the presentation up everything I said, that either I had of journalism in an alumni magazine.