The Miscellany News, Volume CXLVII, Issue 10 (Dec. 5, 2013)

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The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVII | Issue 10

December 5, 2013

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Four dead Dones elected new VP for Student Life in MTA T derailment Emily Hoffman rEpOrtEr

Maggie Jeffers & Anna Iovine rEpOrtErs

Jacob Gorski/The Gorski/The Miscellany News

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n Sunday, Dec. 1, a Metro-North train from Poughkeepsie to Grand Central Terminal derailed in the Bronx. Many members of the Vassar community had trouble returning to campus after Thanksgiving break. Four people on board were killed while 63 others were injured. This is the first Metro-North accident with passenger fatalities in the rail’s 30-year history (The New York Times, “Focus Turns to Investigation in Fatal Bronx Train Crash.” 12.1.13). The train was moving too fast to safely perform a turn; preliminary reports show that the train was going around 82 mph when it should have slowed to 30 mph to round the curve. National Transportation Safety Board member Earl Weener said at a news conference, “This is raw data off the event recorders, so it tells us what happened. It doesn’t tell us why it happened” (CNN, “‘Extreme speed’ eyed in fatal Bronx crash,” 12.3.13). According to a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) official, the train operator reported that he had to perform an emergency braking maSee DERAILMENT on page 4

uesday, Nov. 19, former Vice President for Student Life Genesis Hernandez resigned from his position. In an emergency Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council meeting, the VSA voted to fill the open position through a special election. In order to have a new representative by Thanksgiving, the election featured a combined filing and campaigning period which resulted in Danny Dones ’16 being elected the new VP for Student Life. According to the President of the Class of 2014 and Board of Elections co-chair Connor Martini ’14, “The Board of Elections and the VP for Operations worked together to assess the situation and decided that holding a special election was the best solution.”

Martini continued, “It was definitely an imperfect system that we had to throw together all at once. Since there is no set process for special elections, it was all up to the Board of Elections.” President of Raymond House Ramy Abbady ’16 also weighed in on his views of the special election. “The Special Elections process was not nearly as smooth as it could’ve been, but given the circumstances, I think the Board of Elections did the best they could have. The problems arising made it clear that the VSA needs to look at special election procedure, which we will be doing in Operations Committee,” he wrote in an emailed statement. Abbady also spoke about his feelings for the future of the VSA and Student Life Committee. He said, See STUDENT LIFE on page 4

Danny Dones ‘16 was elected as the VP for Student Life to join the VSA Exec. Though Dones was a student fellow, he petitioned in order to run for office.

Smoking ban leaves questions unanswered Bethan Johnson EditOr in ChiEf

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fter half a decade of debating the implementation of a campus-wide smoking ban, the Administration announced just prior to Thanksgiving break that by July 2015 Vassar would be both a smoke-free and tobacco-free campus. President Hill wrote in a campus-wide email, “The time has come…By enacting

this initiative Vassar is underscoring its commitment to a healthy environment for all members of the college community.” Despite the Administration’s definitive declaration of the policy, aspects of the policy, such as the implementation process, remain somewhat unclear; administrators involved in the ban categorize this time as a transition period with new information being presented every

dayy. Moreover, despite the College’s assertions that this ban will foster a healthier campus due to the scientific studies linking smoking and inhaling second-hand smoke to a variety of ailments, not all members of the campus share the Administration’s enthusiasm. Although the new policy has commonly been referred to as the “smoking ban,” the stipulations of Vassar’s

new policy encompass more than smoke-producing products. According to Vassar Smoke Free, a website launched by the Administration along with the all-campus email, effective July 1, 2015 the College will apply “all tobacco and smoking products, including but not limited to cigarettes, cigars, snuff, chewing tobacco and non-FDA-approved nicotine delivery See SMOKING BAN on page 8

Women’s rugby to Student-curated exhibition brings compete in Final Four Native American art to forefront Chris Brown spOrts EditOr

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fter suffering a hard loss against Marist College 0-53 early in the semester, the women’s rugby team at Vassar College sought to fight back and perform well in the season. They recently ended their regular season after winning a spot in the Final Four to be held in Florida on December 7. The team ended up with a strong record of ten wins compared to two

loses, and looks to continue their success at the finals. The loss against Marist did not shake the team, according to senior Rachel Thompson. It only drove them to perform even better. “We started out slow, with a huge loss to one of our big rivals. That was a wake-up call for us,” explained Thompson in an emailed statement. “We knew we had to step up our game if we wantSee RUGBY on page 19

courtesy of Vassar College Admissions

Kenojuak “Ashevak’s Animals Out of Darkness,” shown above, is one of many Indigenous artworks that will be on display in the student-curated exhibit: Decolonzing the Exhibition. The show will be on view through Feb. 2, 2014. courtesy of Matthew Choe

The women’s rugby team has made it to the Final Four, and will travel to Florida to compete against Notre Dame College this Saturday and Sunday.

Inside this issue

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FEATURES

Biology department struggles to keep up with demand

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Margaret Yap Arts EditOr

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any scholars believe that Native American culture currently finds itself in a troubling situation: too many people think of it only in the past tense. Vassar’s new course Decolonizing the Exhibition: Contemporary Inuit Prints and Drawings from the Edward J. Guarino Collection seeks to rectify this.

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The course will culminate in an exhibition preceded by a panel presentation in Taylor Hall 102 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. today. The reception will be open until 9 p.m. in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, and the exhibition will be on view through Feb. 2, 2014. “One of the stereotypes is that all Native people are dead—that they no longer exist,” said Assistant Pro-

17 ARTS

fessor of English and Native American Studies Molly McGlennen, who teaches the course. Therefore, in an effort to deconstruct this stereotype, the exhibition focuses mainly on contemporary art. “When many people think about Indigenous art, they imagine displays of artifacts in cabinets of antiquated curiosities,” wrote Logan See DECOLONIZING on page 16

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The Miscellany News, Volume CXLVII, Issue 10 (Dec. 5, 2013) by The Miscellany News - Issuu