Trustees Approve Planning Document, Discuss Issues

During its February meeting, the Ithaca College Board of Trustees put its final stamp of approval on the work of the All-College Planning and Priorities Committee, held an in-depth discussion on College financing, considered issues surrounding the College’s contract with food service provider Sodexho Marriott Services, and approved a major renovation project for the library.

With participation from throughout the campus community, the All-College Planning and Priorities Committee developed for the College a vision statement and mission statement; nine institutional priorities; and a set of goals, implementation strategies, and key performance indicators for those priorities. The priorities identified by the committee are academic program development, facilities, quality of work life, diversity, resource development, enrollment, experiential and performance-based learning, technology, and quality of student life.

"From the first planning retreat with faculty, staff, administrators, and students in January of 1999 to the final presentation to the board of trustees, this has been a constructive endeavor for all of us who are connected with Ithaca College and have an interest in its future," says provost and vice president for academic affairs Jim Malek, who chaired the committee. "As the board made clear, this is not a document to be placed on a shelf, but one that will be used time and again as we determine in which directions to move over the course of the coming years."

The planning and priorities document is available online to members of the Ithaca College community at www.ithaca.edu/ provost/plan. A printed version will be produced in the near future.

In conjunction with its deliberations over the College’s proposed 2001 budget, the board of trustees also held a comprehensive discussion on financing issues. The session featured consideration of both short- and long-term needs for academic, residential, and other facilities, including their rationale, the estimated costs for those capital projects, and how those costs might be covered.

The Executive Committee and the Campus Life and Community Committee, as well as the full board, included a discussion of concerns surrounding Sodexho Marriott Services in their meetings. President Peggy R. Williams presented board members with a statement from a group of students demanding that the College break its contract with Sodexho Marriott because of the company’s alleged connections with the private prison industry. Williams will make a final decision on the issue by March 19.

The board approved the use of year-end funds from the 2000–2001 budget for extensive renovations this summer to the Ithaca College library. The $3 million project is the second phase of a plan that was developed by the Presidential Task Force on the Library. The language, music listening, and multimedia laboratories will be moved from the fifth floor to the third floor, completing the link with the James J. Whalen Center for Music. All stacks will be moved to the fourth and fifth floors, bathrooms and exterior entrances will be made handicapped accessible, and the third, fourth, and fifth floors will receive new furniture, carpeting, and paint. The first phase included the replacement of all exterior windows and a renovation of the second floor, the library’s main circulation area.

The board also authorized the use of year-end funds for possible renovation work on Garden Apartment 25, which would serve as a pilot project for potential upgrades to all of the Garden Apartment residence halls. Further evaluation of alternatives to renovating the buildings will be considered before a final decision is made on the project.