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by Maura Stephens When I first came to Ithaca College just before the beginning of this school year, I had a whole lot to learn about the campus, the programs, the people, the offices. I was hired to work in the Office of Publications and to edit this magazine, so I had to learn as much as possible about the College as quickly as possible. My boss handed me a stack of publications, which I lugged home and dutifully read at night. The admission brochures stressed the "hands-on learning experience," the "one-on-one cooperation and collaboration between faculty and students," the "friendly, nurturing environment," and the beauty of the campus. Other publications pointed out that the city of Ithaca is an open-minded, activist community with an interesting mix of intellectual, artistic, outdoorsy, and politically passionate residents and a liberal dose of liberalism. Sounded good to me. But what was it really like at IC, I wondered. As I wandered around campus in my first few weeks, introducing myself to everyone who’d meet my eye, I was struck by the number of people who wouldn’t. Meet my eye, that is. There were exactly zero. Everyone with whom I instigated a conversation was friendly, eager to share his or her feelings about Ithaca College, helpful in showing me around and introducing me to more new people, excited to be here --- generally exactly as it said in the brochures. Too good to be true. I joined a couple of committees and started attending lectures, figuring I’d get a better sense of the community and what motivated people here. Again, I was struck by the general spirit of cooperation. And what really bowled me over was the activism, the eagerness to improve things, the commitment to helping others. For the most part, colleges are by their very nature places of activism. Students are experiencing so many things for the first time. Their minds are being opened to whole new ways of looking at things; to critical thinking; to points of view other than those they’re most familiar with; to new cultures, new people --- indeed, completely new subjects. Faculty members, by the very definition of their jobs, are committed to helping others. The same is true with most of the staff at a college. The campus activity center, admissions, financial aid, residential life, academic computing, career planning, affirmative action, and scores of other offices are all set up with a single mission: to assist students in various aspects of their lives. Even the development officers raise money for one purpose: to give the students the best equipment, campus, teachers, internships, extracurricular activities --- the best possible education --- plus access to it in the form of scholarships. And when your already caring faculty members are also professionals in certain fields --- health care, sociology, philosophy, and religion come to mind quickly --- you tend to get people of double-duty conscience and caring. But that’s true of all colleges. Is Ithaca College as special in this regard as it seems to this newcomer? It is a question I have yet to answer, but in my future here I intend to con-tinue exploring the reasons. President Peggy R. Williams must have been struck by the special commitment to service at IC, too: she has made it clear how important community involvement is to her personally, and at her inauguration this March she’s sponsored a "day of service" to celebrate the Ithaca College community’s ongoing commitment to service on and off campus. She also recently circulated a questionnaire asking faculty, staff, and students about their volunteerism. We would very much like to hear from alumni and students about your own involvements and your thoughts on why Ithaca seems to be a more caring place than most. Does Ithaca College attract people who are more involved to begin with, or does Ithaca College nurture the compassionate, activist spirit that seems so prevalent here? There are literally hundreds of wonderful people on this campus who strive to make the world a better place, from accounting professor Alan Cohen’s tax-preparation volunteers to the Community Service Network students who collect and distribute food from campus dining halls to local food kitchens. Here we only have room to share the stories of four of them: senior Scott Quinn, alumna Sara Wyckoff LoMonaco ’92, assistant professor Jeff Klaus, and staffer Ben Hogben. --- Maura Stephens |
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Senior
cinema and photography major Scott Quinn is assembling the support
he needs to set out on 3,000 miles by bicycle in a benefit ride
for the American Lung Association