The Miscellany News, Volume CXLVII, Issue 3 (Sept. 26, 2013)

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The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVII | Issue 3

September 26, 2013

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Food and festivities help connect Mazagwu voted in as campus with outside community Class of 2017 President Anna Iovine RepoRteR

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hops, student organizations and restaurants crowded Raymond Avenue last Saturday, September 21 as part of the 14th annual Arlington Street Fair. The fair also coincided with Vassar’s Freshmen Families weekend, giving parents and new students a glimpse at the neighbor-

announcement noted the food and entertainment that would populate Raymond Avenue, as well as what children’s activities the fair would offer. Meade also serves as Special Events Chair for the Arlington Business Improvement District, which represents the suburban zones of See FAIR on page 4

hood of Arlington, which surrounds Vassar. “The main purpose for this annual fair is to welcome new and current residents, merchants, students, and families to the Arlington neighborhood,” said Director of International Services Andrew Meade in the announcement of the fair on the college’s website several weeks ago. His

Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

Sophomore Cheikth Athj ’16 performs for a crowd of Vassar students and Arlington residents at this year’s Arlington Street Fair which took place on Saturday, September 21. The event showcased performances by several student groups.

Elections allow freshman candidates to engage Vassar community through campaign creativity, enthusiasm Maggie Jeffers & Debbie Altman

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Guest RepoRteRs

his year, voting for freshman elections began on Monday, September 23 at noon and ran until Wednesday September 25. After a week of door-to-door campaigning, designing posters and updating Facebook pages, Nnennia Mazagwu ’17 has been elected the new president for the freshmen class. “I believe one of the most important concerns many students have include communication and representation. I will be a voice for this class, and will strive every day to put the needs of the collective first,” Mazagwu wrote in her candidate statement. Other newely elected council members include Vice President Jonathan Nichols ’17, Secretary Matthew McCardwell ’17 and Treasurer Esteban Uribe Pinto ’17. The campaign process forced candidates to meet new peers and interact with a diverse group of contenders while vying for a position on the Vassar Student Association (VSA).

Serving on the VSA is a chance for students to act as the representative voice of their class amongst the college and administration. That said, being a part of the VSA means different things to different candidates; in emailed interviews, some of class of 2017 presidential candidates enumerated their reasons for running. Stephanie Jump ’17 and Drew Leventhal ’17 both expressed a desire to “make a difference,” Laura Wood and Cecil Carey separately announced their common goal of making the freshman class noticed, or in Wood’s words demonstrat[ing] to the school what she can do. Dan Fu Ruan explained, “I’ve felt so welcome and comfortable in the past three weeks at Vassar that representing my fellow Vassar students seems natural.” While the campaign experiences have been varied, there seem to be a few common denominators among the crowd’s campaign tales. The hanging of slogan-bearing posters had been a long-time classic, and many of this year’s candiSee ELECTIONS on page 4

ALANA welcomes Palmer Gallery to display Freed change, new leader exhibit on historic D.C. march Eloy Bleifuss Prados & Shannon Liao assistant FeatuRes editoR and Guest RepoRteR

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hen she was in third-grader, African American/Black, Latina/o, Asian/Asian American, and Native American (ALANA) Center Director Luz Burgos-López decided she no longer wanted to be part of the English-as-a-secondlanguage program at her school. So she and a friend, despite failing a test to transfer out, showed up one day to the English-speaking classroom. “The teacher said “‘You’re not

on my list,’ and we said, ‘We know, but we go to school here,’” Burgos-López explained. She didn’t budge, though, and kept showing up each day to the class. “We were told that we couldn’t move forward in English,” said Burgos-López, “but I was a rebel from day one. I learned very early on that I had to advocate and make space for myself.” Today, Burgos-López oversees Vassar’s ALANA Center as its new director. See ALANA on page 8

Frisbee tournament storms VC campus Chris Brown spoRts editoR

his past weekend, Vassar College’s Ultimate team held their annual tournament for other colleges and universities in the region, cleverly titled Huck for Red October. This year marks the sixth year that Vassar Ultimate has held this tournament. With a total of eight schools in attendance other than Vassar, this tournament is the culmination of a season of work by the Vassar Ultimate teams. As well as being the biggest Ul-

Inside this issue

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Health fair strives for awareness, safe FEATURES choices

aRts editoR

Fifty years ago, nearly 250,000 people from across the United States traveled to Washington, D.C. to march for civil rights. Students, clergymen, women, children, the young and the old all convened on the National Mall in stifling heat and humidity, holding up signs demanding equality for African-Americans. To celebrate the historic march’s anniversary, the President’s Office, American Studies Department, Africana Studies Department, History Department, Art Department and the Mellon Foundation have brought the renowned traveling photo exhibition “This is the Day: Leonard Freed’s Photographs of the 1963 March on Washington” to Vassar’s Palmer Gallery. The exhibit will run from Thursday, September 26 through Saturday, October 12. The photo series was previously shown at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC and the New York Public Library. The 1963 march is most famous for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, but visitors at the Palmer Gallery will gain a different perspective of the event. Rather than focus on the icons of the Civil Rights Movement, the late photographer (1929-2006) chose to snap shots of the marchers themselves—capturing their courage, solidarity and exhaustion under the beating sun. See FREED on page 15

13 HUMOR

Tips on coming up with the perfect paper topic

courtesy of Leonard Freed

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timate tournament put on by Vassar College, Huck for Red October is also a wonderful place for Ultimate teams from other schools to meet and make connections, according to women’s Ultimate co-captain and senior Anna Been. “HFRO has been going on for a while,” wrote Been. “It’s definitely a tradition and is accompanied by a BBQ as well as festivities with the other teams, so it’s a really fun event. Having alumni teams come back is also great, because these See HUCK on page 19

Jack Owen

The Palmer Gallery will feature an exhibition of the late photographer Leonard Freed’s famous images of the 1963 March on Washington through October 12.

18 SPORTS

Wheeler breaks school record for game-winners


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