The Miscellany News October 1, 2009
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com
Volume CXLIII | Issue 4
Late-night Libary hours to be reinstated Oct. 4
MMiP links two artistic communities
Matthew Brock
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Erik Lorenzsonn Arts Editor
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FEATURES
A rainy-day burger for less than 20 dollars
Cleaner Jenea Settles replaces a trash bag in a New England Building classroom. Trash is removed from classrooms and hallways each day.
Custodial staff adapts to new schedule, workday Molly Turpin
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Senior Editor
ustodial Supervisor Simone Alvarez’s custodial team begins their day at 5 a.m. and continues cleaning buildings around campus until 1:30 p.m. The team is responsible for cleaning Lathrop and Noyes Houses, Mudd Chemistry, New England, Sanders Classroom and Sanders Physics Buildings, Olmsted Hall, the Skinner Hall of Music and the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film. The team splits into smaller
groups that will each travel among four buildings to accomplish daily cleaning tasks. “I don’t need to tell [the team members] what to do because they already know,” Alvarez said. He travels from site to site through the day, listens to his staff and acts as a liaison between them and the Department of Buildings and Grounds. His is one of four teams, which break down similarly to clean small clusters of buildings. One of the sub-groups of See CUSTODIAL on page 6
News Editor
n response to concerns among the student body, the Thompson Memorial Library will once again keep its doors open until 1:30 a.m. Sunday through Thursday starting next Sunday, Oct. 4. The reinstatement of the original Library hours was announced in a Sept. 24 message from Director of the Libraries Sabrina Pape, forwarded to the student body by Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger. “[The Library] is a building that students feel ownership over,” said Pape. “It’s good that students said they were concerned right away.” Although Pape said that some administrators were skeptical about the need for the Library as a late-night study area, Pape said she understands its appeal. Students, she said, feel that they work better in the presence of others, even when studying is an individual activity. “[Studying at the Library] is not a group activity, but it is,” she said. “This facility caters to that very well.” According to Pape, student workers have been hired to work the circulation desk from midnight to 1:30 a.m. Unfortunately, “a student can’t do what a staff member does,” such as closing the Library, ringing the bells and other behind-the-scenes actions. “The situation’s not perfect, but it works,” said Pape. “It’s going to be really lean,” said Pape. The student workers will only be able to check books in and out of the Library and check laptops back in. There will also be a student working at the reserve desk. According to Pape, making sure that the student worker can check laptops in and out is a top priority. “If I was a student doing a paper and
I had to return the laptop an hourand-a-half before the Library closes, I would be upset,” she said. In addition to the student workers, a member of the Library staff will stay until 1:30 a.m. to close down the building. Security will patrol the Library more frequently and aid the staff member in closing, explained Pape, because multiple people are needed to close off entrances and to ensure that everyone leaves on time. Unfortunately, the new system is contingent on the ability of one staff member being able to stay until 1:30 a.m., explained Pape. “We’re concerned about staff illness,” she said, noting that the Library may have to close at midnight on days when the staff member is unable to stay later. In this event, Pape said that she will do her best to notify the student body, either by an e-mail or by posting signs around the building, depending on how far in advance she receives notification. Only one staff member is available to stay until 1:30, so it would not be possible to find a replacement. The change in hours was achieved not by adding any additional work hours, but rather by restructuring students’ work schedules, so it will not add to the Library’s budget. At the Sept. 6 Vassar Student Association (VSA) meeting, Kitzinger explained that the Library could not restructure its staff’s hours in the same way as the student workers’ because the staff is unionized. The VSA Executive Board was a major proponent for extending the Library hours. “With so many student voices being raised, it was only natural for [the Executive Board] to get involved,” said VSA President Caitlin Ly ’10. The Board met with See LIBRARY on page 4
Poet Laureate Billy Collins advises young poets Emma Carmichael and Kelly Stout Features Editors
Billy Collins says he wrote 700 bad poems before he wrote a good one. As an emotionally-torn high school student Collins believed he had to write down his emotional meanderings because they were so unique that if he didn’t, they would be forever lost to human history. He wrote reams upon reams of poems about himself until he came to the difficult realization that nobody cared. “That’s a hard thing to swallow when you’re writing about you,” Collins told a small, but engaged crowd at UpCDC last Wednesday, Sept. 23. Collins was at Vassar last week to speak at the annual William Starr Lecture for first-year students. Prior to a packed lecture in the Villard Room, Collins took students’ questions alongside moderator Amy Seslowsky ’10 on the second floor of the Students’ Building. He was also kind enough to sit down with The Miscellany News to talk about his experience as a young, aspiring poet. “I had pretensions,” said Collins, “I was very smitten with the whole romantic idea
14 ARTS
of being a poet. It seemed something to do with my confusion at the time— something noble.” Most Americans know Billy Collins not as a struggling young poet, but as the former U.S. Poet Laureate appointed by former President George W. Bush in 2001. Collins served as the Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003. Before publishing his first book of poetry, Pokerface, in 1977, Collins worked as a professor. “I kind of morphed into a poet,” said Collins. He was somewhat surprised by his own fame because, as he explained, it came years after he started writing poetry. “I never thought I’d ever have a book published, let alone have several published,” he said, modestly failing to mention his time as Poet Laureate. “I never envisioned coming to Vassar College and talking to students. That was all strange gravy that came much later.” In the all-campus lecture, Collins spoke dismissively of the literary necessity of listing one’s “influences.” Instead, he commented on the role jealousy and imitation play in shaping a poet’s voice. He had the audience
Exhibit depicts Rights Movement abroad, in Germany
Victoria Gemme for College Relations
Inside this issue
Molly Turpin/The Miscellany News
very spring, something special happens at the 1869 Bardavon Theater. Like clockwork, Vassar Reparatory Dance Theatre (VRDT) holds its annual Gala there, giving Vassar dancers the opportunity to perform in the revered opera house. The extravaganza features a diverse set of performances that have been choreographed and perfected over the course of a year. But what is considered unique about the Annual Gala is not the event per se. Rather, the ritual has become one of the strongest artistic links between Vassar College and the Poughkeepsie community, something VRDT prides itself on. “The entire campus goes to downtown Poughkeepsie in buses and cars,” said Assistant Director of VRDT Kathy Wildberger. “And a lot of community members go. Local schools go at a reduced ticket price. In the past we’ve even had a children’s home come to the performance. It brings everyone out.” Unfortunately, the “strongest” artistic link has become somewhat interchangeable with the “only” artistic link. Vassar and Poughkeepsie’s art scenes have noticeably sparse relations. Student artists rarely venture beyond the Arlington Business District to see art performances, and Poughkeepsie artists rarely approach Vassar campus. The artistic disconnect is seen as part of the larger problem of limited relations between Poughkeepsie and Vassar students on the whole. Students rarely see the need to travel into the city, even though the Community Shuttle provides easy access, Students more often than not use the shuttle to go to the Poughkeepsie Galleria, a location hardly representative of the Poughkeepsie community or the local art scene. “Everyone at Vassar works hard at what they do,” said Wildberger about the Vassar-Poughkeepsie arts relationship. “So it’s slow going, creating a relationship. There are sparkles here and there, but there’s no time. For people from VRDT, it definitely takes a massive amount of time.” There are a few commonly-cited reasons why students opt to not leave Vassar. The “Vassar bubble” is the popular idea that the prevalence of activities and resources on campus as compared to Poughkeepsie keeps students here. Another factor is perceived safety. Incidents such as the mugging of three students in November 2008 and the recent assault by non-students on Sept. 27 serve as reminders that the city can be a dangerous place. According to statistics collected by the FBI, Poughkeepsie had 568.4 robberies per one thousand people in 2006, compared to 287.9 in New York, N.Y. and 205.8 nationally. “I don’t feel particularly safe going around Poughkeepsie,” said Wildberger. “I don’t want to wander around, as I don’t know where the See MMiP on page 15
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
William Starr Lecturer and former Poet Laureate of the United States Billy Collins talks with Andrew Gaines ’12 following the poet’s remarks. laughing when he called jealousy of other poets, “the little boat under the water that is driving creativity.” “That’s what your professors call ‘literary influence,’” Collins added. But he became more serious when he spoke about the poets he has, in his
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words, “imitated,” in his writing. Collins recalled seeing a photograph of Edgar Allan Poe in high school and thinking he looked “pretty cool.” “No adult I had ever seen before looked like Edgar Allen Poe,” Collins See COLLINS on page 6
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