Ithaca College

Posted on behalf of Gerald L. Hector, Vice President for Finance and Administration

Dear IC Family:

On Friday afternoon, directly after the demands walk-out led by the POC@IC movement, I stayed behind at the Free Speech Rock and had an impromptu conversation with about 50 to 60 students, some of who were part of the movement and some who were not. It was an incredibly powerful dialogue.

I would first like to say thank you to the students who I had an opportunity to engage with for over three and a half hours that day. It was cold and windy, and by your willingness to stay in that space and have constructive dialogue and debate on a host of issues confronting our community, speak volumes. We did not agree on everything, but where there were disagreements, we agreed to disagree in a respectful and collegial manner. We learned some things together, and that was very insightful for everyone in attendance.

As I said to all of you who were there, sometimes we choose moments, but there are those rare occasions when important and impactful moments choose us. I think our community has been chosen for such a time as this in our nation's history. We have a wonderful opportunity to lead the nation on how to appropriately tackle the issue of race, diversity, and inclusion at higher education institutions. This is especially true since after the year 2025 it is estimated that college and university campuses across the nation are going to be more diverse by the very nature of the future high school graduating classes coming to university and college. 

During our conversation, we took an impromptu poll of ourselves around whether or not the opportunity for forgiveness and reconciliation is off table. We were almost unanimous in feeling that it is not. In my opinion, that is a start to get back to constructive and meaningful dialogue. Some of you pointed out that the issues at hand in many ways preceded my arrival at the college, but I see our discussion on Friday as a way to reboot and recalibrate all our efforts to work together as a strong, vibrant, and truly inclusive community.

To that end, I would like to follow through on an agreement we made while standing at Free Speech Rock. Later this week, we will host a viewing of the YouTube clips, "The Color of Fear," after which we will have an open, honest, and respectful dialogue about its topic and its relevance for us here at IC today and beyond.  

The viewing will be hosted in Klingenstein Lounge on Wednesday, December 16, 2015, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.  

We agreed that it would be a good starting point for a renewed and constructive dialogue. If you recall, the most powerful segment of our time spent together was when we started talking about perceptions and realities around our communications, involvement, empathy, and unfamiliarity with how to purposefully engage among different races and lived experiences. Let us keep that dialogue going to see how we can manifest true and lasting change on our campus on this very important topic. As students, you can be the true agents of change that we need.

We are also going to invite our local alumni to attend.  The young alumni have played a role in having your voices resonate in the past several months, and we believe engaging them will be just as necessary to get a different perspective on what this issue is about after graduation. We will be reaching out to these alumni and alumni groups leading up to Wednesday’s meeting. We are hoping they can attend.

Finally, for Ms. Kayla Brathwaite and her classmates who participated in the classroom production of "Students Vs," I will be following up with the appropriate departments and stakeholders to see if your classroom production is something we can have done on a campus-wide level, and be used as another discussion session in the spring semester. I first learned of this production while reading the December 10 edition of The Ithacan. I would like to personally thank all the students who participated in that production and stayed until the end of our conversation Friday, and also for coming up to me afterwards to share this wonderful idea. Aligning that with the MLK weekend activities seems plausible, but we will have to engage others to see if that can be a reality for January upon your return.

Thanks a million to the young adults of all races, religions and lived experiences who are leading by engaging. Thanks a million for taking the courage to spend three and a half hours in an uncomfortable space to say that we want better for the IC community and family. Thanks a million for those of you who had the bravery to speak from the heart to say you want to engage with each other but don’t know how to do so. Thanks a million for your respectful and thoughtful presence. You are the reason why this institution exists, and I am confident that you will play a major role in the extension of the legacy of this great institution for many years to come.  For those of you who followed through with emails over the weekend, let us continue to check in and share ideas around how we can reshape perceptions and to make these four years at Ithaca College the best four years of your life. As I try to tell as many young adults as I encounter, it is now to sacrifice four years of your life for the rest of your life.  We all want it to be a memorable one for all students.

I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our first campus wide discussion on this upcoming Wednesday. Seating will be limited, so get there early. We are starting this effort with the intentions of holding this screening and dialogue regularly in the future. Our hope and desire is that as it grows, the space and accommodations for more participants will grow accordingly.  However, the final anticipated outcome is that our discussions will move us as a family to the point where we will start effecting changes to practices, policies, and procedures that will support and under gird our commitment to live, learn, and love at our growing edge.

Go Bombers!

Sincerely,
Gerald L. Hector
Vice President for Finance and Administration

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Carly Hills at chills@ithaca.edu or 607-274-3118.