IC News

Ithaca College President Shirley M. Collado appeared on MSNBC Friday morning, discussing the college’s plan to start the fall semester in October, which was announced earlier in the week.

In a live interview conducted remotely, Collado spoke with news anchor Ayman Mohyeldin about how the college made the decision to delay the start of the semester, and she reinforced that the college is aligned with New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo’s metrics- and science-based approach to keeping communities safe. The planned Oct. 5 opening date is later than what most other colleges and universities have so far announced.

“We are incredibly hopeful about opening up in October, but it’s important to underscore that that will only happen with the right guidelines and restrictions and approval in place by the state. We think it’s more responsible to get ready to roll out the kind of educational experience that a residential college stands by,” she said.

Collado listed some of the measures the college is taking to ensure the safety of its students and larger community, such as assembling a task force focused on all the emergency management aspects, including testing, tracking, preparing facilities, creating a flexible curriculum, ensuring the ability to quarantine, and developing the kind of norms students will need to follow, on campus and in the community.

“We’ve given ourselves a tremendous runway between now and Oct. 5 that would allow us to do the kind of contingency planning — including financial sustainability — around the delivery of instruction that can be nimble,” she said. “It’s incredibly difficult to change an entire academic structure and schedule, but our community is up to the task, and we’re doing it by giving ourselves the time we need to get this right.”