Over the past 24 hours, Darius Elmore and I have worked diligently to create a document that addresses the impassioned concerns of Ithaca College’s student body regarding the retrieval of our belongings, room and board refunds, etc... We ask that you place your intrinsic energy behind this petition by signing it, sharing it through social media with parents, friends, and family, and sending it to our administrative leaders. Through organized togetherness, collectivity, and unity, we, the customers of this educational institution, have the power to initiate the change that we want to see.

 

 

Ithaca College, 

953 Danby Road

Ithaca, New York 14850

 

March 18th, 2020 

Dear Administration,

On March 17, 2020, Rosanna Ferro, Ed.D., Vice President for Student Affairs & Campus Life, made a virtual address to the student body via email articulating many concerning viewpoints as to the protocol of evacuating the campus and local community:

(1) Effective Sunday, March 15, 2020 (without notification), all residence halls were closed, and applicable card access was terminated.

(2) All students were strongly encouraged to evacuate the premises (including those residing in the Ithaca community) process effective immediately, as well as, those that were previously granted access to their residential communities until Sunday, April 5, 2020.

(3) Students were notified that they would not be able to retrieve their belongings until the end of the Spring Semester. 

(4) Students were informed that they may be able to retrieve essential items according to Res Life's ability to locate said items and send them via UPS and charged to the student's account; instead of allowing students to retrieve items on their own in an organized wave.

When students departed for Spring Break, many returned and/or traveled to places with differing climates and a minimum of a week's worth (or less) of clothing for their anticipated round trip travel plans. These students came to Ithaca College with most, if not all, of their possessions and presently no longer have access to them. This practice has been instilled with an alleged objective of ensuring the safety and well-being of our students; meanwhile, students are also being charged prorated fees for room and board for the remaining half (50%) of the semester for spaces that they are no longer using and/or have access to. There is no ethical way to legitimize this practice. Let alone, students cannot legally be charged for services they aren’t using. The economic fallout shouldn’t be from a unilateral approach and students shouldn’t have to incur additional charges for an act of God occurrence. According to our federal government, small and medium-sized businesses, large corporations, and other institutions will receive various reimbursements and considerations that will counteract the economic loss of business interruption at this time. Hereby, students should not have to suffer and offer double incentives to an institution that is essentially benefitting with students as profit gain subjects. If Ithaca College is unwilling to specifically address where the usage of our monetary resources are being dispensed and isn’t willing to offer a comprehensive overview of how students will be protected during this crisis -- we cannot claim to lead with transparency. And, we certainly cannot claim to lead with a "commitment to excellence" or the prioritizing of the heartbeat of our community -- i.e. the student body.   

In accordance with our research, other privately funded institutions have not only reversed retroactive prorated charges, such as but not limited to, room and board for the duration of time students will not be in residence (50% of the semester), international initiation and applicable fees for sudden departures and interrupted academic planning, but have also offered free storage units, free shipment options, and applicable resources to aid in the needs of their students subsequent to their commitment and due diligence of prioritizing their agreement of student loyalty and institutional transparency. Our friendly neighbors across the field, Cornell University, a private and statutory Ivy League, has gracefully followed suit with all of these measures while giving students a timely manner to configure their next steps in the wake of this public health crisis. We articulate these comparisons to respectfully and responsibly hold our administration and institution accountable to comparative standards to that of said privately funded leading institutions. If we as community are truly dedicated to the prioritization of academic and artistic enrichment, then we must do so in our definitive action, and not solely in our words. 

Overarchingly, it is imperative to recognize that protecting student’s health and safety extends beyond dismissing them from campus and instituting remote instruction for the remainder of the academic term. 

Thus, we are requesting the following:

-Students will have access to their belongings in their restricted community in an organized wave within the coming weeks.

-Students are offered retroactive refunds and/or reverse account credits (50%) for prorated fees that were detailed as full semester charges. Correspondingly, these refunds will in no way be factored into future financial aid packages. 

-Students who studied abroad will have applicable resources to help with travel cost in full amount and are refunded for academic interruption and sudden departure.

-Students (including our international community) who are in strenuous situations are allowed to remain on campus with favorable, and, yet, limited campus resources, such as, but not limited to, food pantry, etc.

 -Students who rely on on-campus work-study positions and other campus jobs are provided stimulus checks to cover scheduled shifts in bi-weekly amounts until virtual job assessments are in place.

-Students should receive a 50% refund for parking permits and senior dues should be fully covered for the class of 2020. 

-Students who live off-campus and have been encouraged to return home should receive stipends to cover, at minimum, a month of rent (April to May).

-Students should receive meal rebates that transfer to the proceeding semester (ID & Bonus Bucks) at no additional cost.

Please kindly take the time to evaluate our concerns with an accompanied spreadsheet detailing how comparative institutions have responded to the global pandemic novel, COVID-19. We greatly appreciate your willingness to consider our proposed solutions.

A Comparative Spreadsheet of How Other Higher Education Institutions Are Handling COVID-19: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11b6H31ERDfC_gDnQswWNgYluV6H1vGc2H2JpX3sXhNw/edit?usp=sharing

Sincerely,

The Heartbeat of Our Community

 

Darius Elmore

BM.O, Vocal Performance ’21

delmore@ithaca.edu 

Logan Chaput

BM, Music Education ‘22

lchaput@ithaca.edu