The Miscellany News
Vassar College’s student newspaper of record since 1866
September 16, 2021
miscellanynews.org
Volume 156 | Issue 3
Student launches COVID-19 testing petition Student stars on TikTok Annabelle Wang News Editor
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s the highly infectious delta variant continues to ravage the United States and cases of the novel mu variant begin to rise, many Vassar community members have expressed increasing concern about the potential spread of COVID-19 on campus (NBC Chicago, “Mu, Delta, Lambda: What We Know So Far About the Most Recent COVID Variants,” 09.07.2021). In response to these anxieties, Eleanor Massengill ’24 launched a petition that calls on the administration to institute regular COVID-19 testing on campus. As of the writing of this article, 331 students have signed the petition. As the policy stands now, the College provides regular testing only for unvaccinated students and employees (Vassar College, “Protocols for the Fall,” 07.28.2021). According to the VassarTogether COVID-19 Dashboard, about five percent of all students and employees on campus are unvaccinated (Vassar College, “COVID-19 Dashboard,” 09.14.2021). Symptomatic individuals, treated as persons unSee Petition on page 3
Yael Gelman
Guest reporter
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What if I went viral?” We’ve all thought about it. Whether you post on Snapchat every time you eat or show up once a year for the obligatory Instagram birthday shout out, social media has created a platform where anyone can become famous—sometimes for no reason. In fact, Vassar College is home to one of social media’s latest stars. This past week I got the chance to sit down with Violet Witchel ’22, the food content creator behind the popular account @violetcooks. With over 1.5 million followers and 56 million likes, @violetcooks is undoubtedly at the top of the food chain when it comes to TikTok fame at Vassar. She posts easy-to-follow recipes and other mouthwatering food-related content that leaves viewers craving more. Like many TikTok users, Witchel didn’t expect fame when she first created her account last year during the COVID-19 pandemic: “Originally I started my account for fun. I posted a few cooking See TikTok on page 7
Sandro Luis Lorenzo/The Miscellany News.
Previously remote students adjust to campus Jyotsna Naidu
Guest Reporter
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s the Class of 2025 gets lost, stumbles through awkward conversation and gains freedom from parental control, a new group joins their ranks: the virtual Class of 2024. These “unofficial first-years,” as some may call them, have arrived at campus as sophomores after spending their frosh year at home away from friends, away from the college experience and away from
a sense of belonging. Now, they are more than ready to discover college life as sophomores or more likely, as first-years. For Haoyue Qian ’24, coming to campus was high on her list of priorities after Zoom classes left her yearning for a sense of togetherness. “It feels weird to introduce yourself as a sophomore because everyone [thinks] you know your way around school and everything and I know nothing. I feel like I'm a freshman,”
Qian said. “But I love the sense of community and I kept telling [my friends] I needed to go [to campus].” Qian’s arrival to campus was as much a mental transition as it was physical, especially after studying for a semester in China followed by a gap semester spent traveling. Many students were in Qian’s position: several members of the Class of 2024 experienced social anxieties about returning to campus as they
sought to acclimate to the college social scene. One student who felt nervous about returning was Luna Schiller ’24. “It’s gotten better every day, [but] in a lot of ways I feel like I'm coming back for the first time because I've never experienced college opened up as it is right now academically and socially,” Schiller said. After spending the fall semester on campus taking classSee Students on page 8
Courtesy of @violet.cooks via TikTok.
Two new head coaches bring passion, experience Doug Cobb
Sports Editor
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ollege sports teams are always in flux. Every year, roughly one-fourth of the team graduates and first-years take their place, making coaching continuity critical for sustained success. The importance of a good college coach, not only for a program’s long-term success but also for supporting the wellbeing of the student-athletes, cannot be underestimated. This year, Vassar Athletics hired new head coaches for multiple sports, including Women’s Soccer and Men’s and Women’s Track and Field. I spoke to the two men
Vassar hired to fill these positions, hoping to get a sense of who they are as coaches and their goals for the coming years. When I asked new Head Women’s Soccer Coach Keith Simons why he was drawn to Vassar, he told me, “Vassar’s mission and core values and the principles really aligned with the way I'd like to coach...giving people the freedom to question and seek more answers is definitely how I like my players to play because our sport is one of the more free flowing, there's not as many set plays.” It was clear that Vassar aligned with his personal outlook. “My style is to create an environment where our players have
to solve problems on their own. We give them, I'll say, just enough information.” He continued, “They retain it better ... Really...it's just another class. I mean, some of us get credits for some of our varsity sports. But it's just another learning environment for them.” Coming from schools like Wesleyan and Skidmore, he was used to coaching where students were high achieving in both academics and athletics. “My job here...as a new coach, is to blend all these things together, what's made us successful, things we need to improve on, but not necessarily just come in and take it over...So I didn't
have to change or adjust my style.” Just as he is willing to blend what he knows with what Vassar’s program does best, he also keeps an open mind when it comes to fostering open dialogue with his players. “I really like open communication … So I'm okay when players make mistakes and make a decision, as long as they can tell me why. What did you see? What were you thinking? Because that at least tells me they're evaluating the situation” he said. Similarly, new Head Men’s and Women’s Track Coach Joe Reed sees himself as more of a teacher than a drill sergeant. “I'm a fairly laid back individual. I always See Coaches on page 15
Inside this issue
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ARTS
Are you a Drake fan? Read columnist Ganesh Pillai's album review of 'Certified Lover Boy.'
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Read about how the Vassar community reflected on the 20th anniversity of FEATURES the Sept. 11 attacks.
14 SPORTS
Are you wondering how studentathletes are adjusting to having spectators again? Read this article to find out!