What Cornell students get wrong about IC Students

Students from Ithaca College and Cornell University actually get along much better than it seems. For the most part, students from the neighboring schools get along or just don’t interact with each other.

We might get along, but both sides will try and be the first to tell you we sure aren’t the same. The relationship is more like a sibling one, and occasionally we bicker about our differences.

So here are some things that Cornell students get wrong about IC students:

Ithaca College has a bigger drug problem

Alright, it’s no secret that students at Ithaca College have admitted to drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana much more than the national average, and perhaps there is some truth to the decision by Princeton Review to labeled IC as being the #1 school on it’s “reefer madness” list. Ithaca College students may experiment with drugs, but Cornell’s little personal city “Collegetown” has had a a series of large drug busts since I’ve been here that are all far more serious than anything I’ve heard about happening at IC.

Last spring a sophomore from Cornell was found with almost 20 grams of cocaine along with baggies and a digital scale. Then of course there is the Cornell student who was found with $150k in uncut Heroin who served prison time and then wrote a book about her experience.

IC students may be guilty of over indulging with weed from time to time, but we aren’t making national headlines for any large scale “busts” with hard drugs.

IC Students Are Jealous of Cornell’s Greek Life

Ithaca College doesn’t have fraternities or sororities, and we are generally pretty content with that. IC students go to parties in Cornell’s “Collegetown” all the time, and yes, plenty of them are hosted at the University’s “frat houses”, but half of the appeal is that we don’t go to your school.

You see, students at IC get all the benefits of Cornell’s “frats” and almost none of the downsides. Students at Ithaca College get to be selective about how, where, when, and why we ever have to deal with greek life because we have a choice. This way when students feel like getting trashed and maybe doing something stupid, we can join in for a night and get it out of our system.

Some people from IC might complain to Cornell students that we want Greek Life, but they either haven’t been at IC long or they aren’t a very good representation of what students at IC are like. We don’t want allegations of a hazing related death, and we definitely don’t want people spray painting our housing. Cornell you can keep your frats, we’ll just crash your parties.

Photo: Clinton Steeds

We Wish We Were Going to Cornell

Ithaca College is most certainly not Ivy League, but then again we aren’t trying to be. IC’s academics may not be as prestigious, but for a small school Ithaca College sure seems to churn out successful alumni. While we may have given the world Giorgio from the History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens”, Ithaca College was also a spot of humble beginnings for many successful alumni like Bob Iger (CEO of Walt Disney) and David Muir (the anchor for ABC World News) to name a couple.

Ithaca College would rather be what it is, a well rounded liberal arts school with a lot of character, than try to be something it isn’t. I’m glad we aren’t in the Ivy League and we don’t boast about our academics so much — we’ll never be bummed out to continually be ranked the worst Ivy League school by various publications. Ithaca College students aren’t jealous in the slightest. We are happier, healthier, and far less likely to be the targets of paintball drive by’s.

We may push each other’s buttons, and occasionally things between the schools can get a bit tense, but Ithaca College and Cornell University share an awesome little city. We may have different styles, but when it comes down to it we both bring something different to the table… Our table just happens to be a little more welcoming.