A Sense of the World

Giving Back At the time, Salleh says, despite sharing her mother’s faith in the importance of college, she didn’t fully realize how much the College offered her. Now, though, she appreciates the career preparation, the friendships, the opportunity to work and play with people from very different backgrounds. To give something back, she has returned three times (in 1992, ’93, and ’97) to participate in the Professionals Symposium, which brings alumni in various fields back to campus to discuss career options with students. Talking with current students more than 25 years after her own graduation, she formed one "disheartening" impression. "The issues we talked about in EOP" in the late 1960s --- "the challenges of diversity --- are still being discussed. It’s the same conversation." People still talk about wanting more minorities on campus, she says, but she sees real progress: in her college days "there were 20 EOP students. Now it’s more like 200." (There are 146 students this year in IOP and 61 in the Higher Education Opportunity Program.) Despite the persistence of some issues, she has "no doubt that Ithaca College supports diversity." In fact, she encouraged her own daughter to apply to IC. "She wanted a small school with some diversity," says Salleh, "and I knew she needed a guiding hand." Aisha Lope de Haro-Salleh ’99 entered IOP and is majoring in sociology. And, says her mother, "IC is perfect for her. She loves it."