The Miscellany News | Jan 28.

The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

January 28, 2010

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Volume CXLIII | Issue 12

College cancels summer abroad for 2010 season Matthew Brock

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Image courtesy of Jared Augenstein

Hatian men and women collect water in the town of Lespinasse, Haiti. Four Vassar students were volunteering in the town, when the region suffered severe damage from the Jan. 12 earthquake that led to death of approximately 200,000 people.

Vassar students witness Haiti Jillian Scharr News Editor

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n Jan. 12, Haiti suffered a magnitude 7.0 earthquake which occurred near its capital city Port-au-Prince. Approximately 200,000 people have lost their lives in the earthquake itself, or due to the lack of resources and aid in the days that followed; the International Red Cross estimated in a press release to the Associated Press that 3,000,000 people’s lives have been directly affected by the earthquake.

ident Jared Augenstein ’10, Vice President Nicole Krenitsky ’11, Kristyn Abreu ’11 and David Bridgman-Packer ’12—left for Haiti on Jan. 6 with the intention of performing basic health screenings, giving physicals, and handing out simple clothing and other supplies in the villages of Lespinasse and Timachen, explained Augenstein. They were in Lespinasse, a mountain town six miles east of Portau-Prince, working with the organization See EARTHQUAKE on page 4

Many Vassar College organizations have rushed to organize relief efforts for Haiti’s people. Two organizations in particular were involved with Haiti even before the earthquake: Pro-Health, an organization focused on global health issues, was in Haiti during the earthquake; and the Vassar Haiti Project, a partnership with Haitian artists that has supported a primary school in the town of Chemaitre since the Project’s inception in 2001.

Four members of Pro-Heath—Pres-

News Editor

fter a year of deliberation, the senior officers of the College have decided to cancel all Vassar-run summer study abroad programs starting this summer, all five of which are based in the language departments. The decision was spearheaded by Dean of the College Christopher Roellke, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger and Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette.

The three senior officers consulted the Committee on Curricular Policy (CCP) and the Advisory Group on the Allocation of Faculty Resources (AGAFR), but neither body was included in making the final decision.

Although CCP would usually have the final vote on issues such as this, the issue did not come to a vote because the summer semester falls outside of its jurisdiction.

“In discussions with AGAFR and CCP, the issue of equity arose as a significant concern,” wrote the three senior officers in a memo-

randum to the chairs of the language departments. “In reflecting on these decisions, the three of us felt that we could not, in the end, justify supporting the valuable experience of summer study abroad for language students without also offering support for other kinds of experiential learning in fields where those experiences would similarly enhance students’ academic programs at Vassar.”

“I know lots of people who have been in these programs and had wonderful experiences,” said Vassar Student Association (VSA) Vice President for Academics Stephanie Damon-Moore ’11, who sits on AGAFR. “I also know that they’re expensive,” she continued.

“The programs are wonderfully valuable,” said Director of International Services and Special Projects Andrew Meade. “It took a year to come to this decision because it was not easy to make.”

Originally, the College attempted to reduce costs by making the individual programs more cost efficient, See SUMMER on page 5

Deer culling Aramark to take over College’s liquor license elicits local A controversy Caitlin Clevenger Reporter

Vassar committee points to ecological reasons for deer population control

t the start of the new year, a stipulation in Vassar’s current contract the with dining service Aramark will put an Aramark employee at the entrance of the Mug in the place of Vassar Security Officer Elizabeth “Betty” Francis, meaning that students will

soon see a new face greeting them as they enter Matthew’s Mug. In the spring of 2007, the College explored various dining service options, hoping to improve the sustainability and quality of campus dining and also to transfer the College’s liquor license, which allows for sale of alcohol in the Mug, to a third party. The

Request for Proposal Committee selected the Aramark proposal, which included an “all-you-careto-eat” program in the ACDC, increased use of local foods and the elimination of trays. In April 2008, the College renewed its contract with Aramark for five years, with the provision that Vassar would transfer its liquor

license to Aramark in 2010.

When Vassar held the license, the College was legally responsible for upholding the New York State laws concerning the sale of alcohol. According to Article 8 of New York’s Alcohol and Beverage Control Laws, Vassar was subject to fines and its employees See ARAMARK on page 4

Elizabeth Jordan Online Editor

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Inside this issue

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FEATURES

Solidarity Working Group sees shift in methodology

Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News

t’s not surprising that the College’s announcement of its decision to cull over 50 deer on the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve this Winter Break elicited a wide variety of responses from the Vassar community and the surrounding Poughkeepsie community.

Culling is by definition a process of organized, large-scale elimination.

The Farm Oversight Committee—made up of 27 faculty and staff members—had the grueling task of finding a way to keep the large population of deer from decimating the natural shrubbery and wildlife of the Preserve, while also respecting the role of deer in the environment.

Associate Professor of Biology Margaret Ronsheim, who sits on the Farm Oversight See DEER on page 7

MODFEST Members of the Biava Quartet perform the music of Ginastera, Schoenberg and Wilson on Friday, Jan. 22, in the Skinner Hall of Music. The performance is part of the College’s ongoing celebration of Modfest, which runs from Jan. 21 to Feb. 7. PAGE 15

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FEATURES

Late Officer Noel Parry remembered by community

16 ARTS

FLLAC curator wins fellowship for polaroids

Page 2

The Miscellany News

January 28, 2010

Editor in Chief Ruby Cramer Senior Editor Molly Turpin

Contributing Editors Caitlin Halasz Chloe McConnell Elizabeth Pacheco

Jared Saunders/The Miscellany News

Photo of the Week: As part of the eighth annual Modfest celebration, Teen Visions, an exhibit highlighting teenage artwork, will occupy the James W. Palmer III Gallery in the College Center until the conclusion of the festival on Feb. 3.

Staff Editorial | Admins should have informed students of cut to summer abroad program T

he Miscellany News Editorial Board has consistently defended the College administration’s need to make difficult restrictions to Vassar’s budget in the face of the present economic crisis. We believe, however, that the administration’s decision to cancel all summer abroad programs for the 2010 season crosses the line between those cuts which we perceive as necessary and those that we believe could do serious damage to the quality of academics at Vassar, and to how our curriculum is perceived by both community and non-community members. Moreover, we regret that senior officers did not think it appropriate to openly share such a consequential decision with students when it was first made.

We would like to start by addressing the administration’s justification for cutting summer study abroad programs. According to a memorandum sent by Dean of the College Christopher Roellke, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger and Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette, “The issue of equity arose as a significant concern.

In reflecting on these decisions, the three of us felt that we could not, in the end, justify supporting the valuable experience of summer study abroad for language students without also offering support for other kinds of experiential learning in fields where those experiences would similarly enhance students’ academic programs at Vassar.”

Essentially, the senior officers argue that because the College does not provide comparable programs for hands-on learning for students in other departments, then it is unfair for language students to be given summer abroad programs. However, all other departments do offer experiential learning opportunities for their majors.

Field work is a form of experiential learning that students from most majors can partake in. These opportunities, however, are only available for some departments and they have not yet been cut. Political science majors might intern with a local elected official, art majors might work at a local gallery, English majors might write for The Poughkeepsie Journal. Beyond field work, students can work as research assistants for professors in their respective departments, thus gaining insight into the academic side of their field. These experiences, however, do not come with an increase in the College’s financial aid budget, so they are not on the chopping block.

Despite these opportunities that are provided to the majority of students at Vassar, language majors do not have the option to the same extent. While language students can engage in some foreign-language internships in the local community, they cannot achieve the same level of fluency and total immersion as they would if they traveled to another country. Furthermore, Vassar places a large emphasis on how junior

year abroad (JYA) is central to the Vassar experience: abroad programs are beneficial for all majors as they allow for cultural immersion and increased global understanding.

The administration contends that the elimination of summer abroad programs can be replaced by JYA programs and summer programs at other schools. In the former case, JYA is not available to all students, such as transfer students who are required to spend a set number of semesters at Vassar or students who wish to be part of student government or have any number of other conflicts. In the latter case, summer abroad programs at other schools do not offer comparable levels of financial aid, if any, so students on financial aid will not be given the same opportunity to study abroad. Therefore, removing summer study abroad programs in fact works against the senior officer’s goal to promote equity. Rather than cutting the program outright, the Editorial Board suggests that the College administration be more selective in regards to which programs are offered every year. If programs were offered every four years, there would be fewer of them but still an equitable rotation.

The worst part, though, of the administration’s decision to cancel summer abroad programs is its decision to keep the student body uninformed of the change. Not one all-campus e-mail has been sent out, and the Study Away Office’s website still contains information about Vassar’s summer programs. This is a detriment to students who may still be considering a summer abroad as part of their academic experience. Without the information about the change, they won’t be able to properly plan their academic careers. The administration has decided to leave the task of informing the student body of this decision to the chairs of the departments who ran the summer programs, who have sent e-mails to their respective majors.

During this financial crisis, the administration has always made unprecedented efforts to strive for transparency—see the website filled with information about Vassar’s economic status. Why, then, have they failed to alert the student body to this decision? By failing to notify the students, the administration is inviting criticism from those groups that wish to portray it as a closed body that makes decisions without sufficient student notification. Informing chairs of departments and programs is not enough. Reach out to your students, to your community; if this past semester has shown us all anything, it’s that Vassar students want desperately to be informed.

—The Staff Editorial reflects the opinion of at least two-thirds of the 20-member Editorial Board.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

News Matthew Brock Jillian Scharr Opinions Angela Aiuto Kelly Shortridge Features Kelly Stout Arts Carrie Hojnicki Erik Lorenzsonn Design Eric Estes Online Elizabeth Jordan Copy Katie Cornish Lila Teeters Photography Kathleen Mehocic Managing Eliza Hartley

Assistant Opinions Assistant Sports Assistant Online Assistant Copy Assistant Photo Crossword Editor Reporters

Columnists

Photographers

Joshua Rosen Andy Marmer Kara Voght Katharine Austin Sarah Marco Juliana Halpert Jonathan Garfinkel Thea Ballard Rachael Borné Caitlin Clevenger Esther Clowney Daniel Combs Mitchell Gilburne Wally Fisher Rose Hendricks David Lopez Christie Musket Danielle Nedivi Alexandra Sarrigorgiou Martin Bergman Steve Keller Nate Silver Nik Trkulja Jared Saunders

LETTERS POLICY The Miscellany News is Vassar College’s weekly open forum for discussion of campus, local and national issues, and welcomes letters and opinions submissions from all readers.

Letters to the Editor should not exceed 450 words, and they usually respond to a particular item or debate from the previous week’s issue. Opinions articles are longer pieces, up to 800 words, and take the form of a longer column. No letter or opinions article may be printed anonymously. If you are interested in contributing, e-mail misc@vassar.edu.

The Editorial Board holds weekly meetings every Sunday at 9 p.m. in the Rose Parlor. All members of the Vassar community interested in joining the newspaper’s staff or in a critique of the current issue are welcome. The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented in the Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board. The Miscellany News is published weekly by the students of Vassar College. The Miscellany News office is located in College Center Room 303, Vassar College.

January 28, 2010

NEWS

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Illegal downloading increases in 2009 Vassar to form student-run judicial panels

Aashim Usgaonkar Guest Reporter

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n Wednesday, Jan. 6, Dean of Students David “D.B.” Brown released an e-mail forewarning the Vassar community about an increase in punishment for the illegal downloading of copyrighted material.

The change, effective this semester, increases the penalties for a first offense for illegal downloading from 10 to 20 hours of sanctioned service and a $25 charge that will appear in the perpetrator’s student account as a copyright violation fine. For the second offense, the hours of service have increased to 40, and the fine to $50. Beyond the second offense, the case would be transferred to the Judicial Board, which would then decide the appropriate course of action. The fines collected will go into a special fund that the College will use to purchase new technology for use around the campus.

Clarifying the need for this toughening of rules, Vice President for Computing and Information Services (CIS) Bret Ingerman cited the increase in reported cases of illegal downloading this past semester. “Despite our best efforts to warn students, the number of copyright issues we’ve dealt with has increased over the prior fall,” said Ingerman.

“The thinking is, if you’re forced to pay 25 times the value of, say, a track that costs one dollar, you wouldn’t download it illegally,” said Ingerman, further explaining the rationale behind the regulation change. Additionally, Brown and Ingerman hope that putting the penalty on the student’s account as a copyright violation fine will build a dialogue between parents and students, thus establishing another means of addressing this ongoing problem.

In most cases, the aforementioned actions suffice. In accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the College would likely receive a takedown notice when a copyright owner learns of a violation occurring on Vassar’s network; following that, CIS would contact the concerned individuals and ask them to remove the offending material from their computers and impose the penalty. If, beyond that, the copyright owners decide that this act wasn’t stringent enough, they can take legal action against the individual. If this is the case, CIS is legally bound to

Jillian Scharr

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Over the course of the last two fall seasons, the number of illegal downloading cases on the Vassar network has increased. In response, CIS has revisited the College’s penalty policies for first offenses. provide the person’s contact information.

“If we receive a subpoena, we have to provide contact information. After that point, Vassar College is out of the loop, and the student would have to hire his or her own legal council,” said Ingerman. This is where perpetrators transcend $25 charges and service hours and enter into the murky arena of massive fines up to tens of thousands of dollars.

And the ill effects don’t stop there.

“The time we spend in trying to figure out exactly which hardware was responsible for the download is significant,” reports Ingerman, saying that this time “could be spent on doing better, more productive things.”

Aside from threatening students with fines, the College also hopes to understand and possibly change this growing ethic of what is legally considered theft. “Students must understand that each time they download illegally, the copyright owners do not receive payment for their intellectual property,” said Ingerman, referring to the moral implications of copyright violations. “It is wrong to assume that just because something is available on the Internet, it’s free.”

“It’s insane to me that people are willing to risk thousands of dollars for something which is legally available for just a buck,” said Ingerman, explaining his frustration about students who choose to take this “silly risk.”

Listing other ways students can enjoy their favorite music and movies, Ingerman spoke of popular online streaming and/or renting websites such as Hulu and Netflix, some of which pay for the videos by means of advertisements. “There’re so many legal ways out there to watch what you want, and the entire industry is really trying hard to make it easy for us to access their products,” said Ingerman.

“At some point, it would be nice if students understood that music and movies just are not free,” said Ingerman, who is optimistic that there will be a reduction of these incidents in the future as a result of the penalty hike and increased awareness.

Brown and Ingerman are interested in hearing feedback from students on this issue and their new policy, and can be e-mailed at brown@vassar.edu and ingerman@vassar. edu, respectively.

VSA drafts bylaws after heated letter endorsement Molly Turpin

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Senior Editor

he Vassar Student Association began the new semester by taking steps to change its governing documents with the addition of a new bylaw and a constitutional amendment to be voted on next week.

Vassar Student Association (VSA) Vice President for Operations Brian Farkas ’10 introduced the new amendment to the VSA Constitution at the VSA Council meeting on Jan. 24, which clarifies the Council’s policies regarding the endorsement of documents brought to them by members of the faculty, administration or the student body.

The amendment is, in part, a response to the Council’s endorsement of a letter written by several professors and introduced to the Council by a group of students last semester on Nov. 22.

The Council voted to endorse the letter despite qualms about the accuracy of its points of evidence. Many members of Council felt that their constituents would be in support of the overall sentiment of the letter and voted to endorse it under the pressure of a deadline which was later found out to be incorrect. In the following weeks, the Council wrote a letter of their own that explained their position and the nature of the vote.

The authors of the amendment, the VSA’s Constitutional Review Committee (CRC), hope that this motion will prevent such situations from occurring in the future by requiring one week between a document’s introduction and the Council’s vote. “I think it was a response to [the letter] in that when that happened we saw that we had no frame-

work for dealing with that,” said Farkas, who chairs CRC. One area that the amendment leaves unclear is the Council’s ability to change a document that is brought to them.

In the case of the Nov. 22 letter, the imposed time crunch and the fact that many petitioners had already signed the document left the Council unable to make significant changes despite some doubt as to the credibility of certain points. “We left it intentionally vague,” said Farkas of the amendment. He noted that in the past when the VSA has created amendments or bylaws in response to a situation, the resulting rules are tailored too specifically to the event.

“I wanted to make it possibly applicable to more situations,” he said. “I mean, in theory what will happen is a person or a group will bring something and they won’t have already had it signed by other people.” The amendment stipulates a mandatory week during which time representatives can communicate with their constituents and the authors can meet with VSA committees to make revisions. “The idea is that then there would be a little bit more give and take so that they could come and kind of get feedback, and, through that feedback, they would eventually change that letter that we would then vote to sign,” said Farkas.

The week is in part a response to the ultimatum situation that was presented with Nov. 22 letter, but it is also consistent with other VSA practices. For example, the Council can only vote on an amendment to the Constitution a week or more after the amendment’s introduction.

Though the circumstances of the introduction of the document last November and

the Council’s lack of precedent in such a situation were less than ideal, students are and have always been welcome to introduce documents to Council. According to Farkas, “One of the things I’ll be working on this semester is to try to clarify the very specific ways that an average student or an average group of students can bring an idea to Council.”

In accordance with the VSA’s constitution, the Council will wait until its meeting on Jan. 31 to vote on the amendment, allowing representatives the opportunity to reach out to their constituents.

At the same meeting, the Council passed a new bylaw on the appointment of unfilled house team positions after spring elections take place. Prior to the bylaw, the Appointments Committee did not meet after the election season, leaving open positions unfilled until the fall, potentially causing stress to new house teams.

This bylaw was spearheaded by President of Noyes House Hannah Groch-Begley ’12.

“After spring elections, Noyes experienced some difficulties because we had neither a secretary or treasurer that had been elected, and we were told that we would have to wait until September to fill those positions,” said Groch-Begley. “This was problematic because, as president, it meant that I had to take on the duties of those officers, and those two people missed fall training which meant that they were inadequately prepared for their positions and missed crucial house team bonding.”

The new bylaw will become effective in tandem with the upcoming 2010 spring elections.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

News Editor

eginning this spring, Vassar students will be entitled to a “jury of their peers.” As explained in an e-mail sent out by Dean of the Students David Brown, “some student conduct hearings will be handled by a Student Conduct Panel…composed of members of the [Vassar Student Association (VSA)] Judicial Panel.”

The student panels will not hear any cases pertaining to expulsion or suspension, focusing instead on “cases involving incidents which may have a particularly strong impact on the residential community,” wrote Brown in the email.

Associate Director of Residential Life Richard Horowitz agreed that community-related infractions are the ideal subject for student-run panels. In this way, Horowitz stated, students can “be involved in setting a tone in accountability, in addressing concerns within the community.”

VSA Vice President for Operations Brian Farkas ’10 elaborated that cases heard by a student panel will be limited to smaller, residence-related infractions. “Let’s say someone gets caught moving furniture around the house or keeping a chair in their room…if it’s a one-time offense and it’s not something that’s affecting a broader College policy, then it’s probably not something we need to use to take the time of an administrator.” He continued, “Students can have real governance over their residential life experience.”

The Student Conduct Panels will be similar to the College Regulations Panel, which is comprised of students, faculty members and administrators. According to the VSA’s website, the College Regulations Panel evaluates “cases in which students are accused of violating rules outlined in the Vassar College Regulations.”

However, Brown, Horowitz and members of the VSA—including Farkas and Judicial Board Chair Dan Salton ’10—wanted to increase student involvement in the judicial process. Although some of the details are still being decided, Horowitz hopes that the members of the student panels will go through the same training as the College Regulations Panel. “We’re trying to make sure everyone’s on the same page,” he said.

“This is not just about transparency and opening up…[it’s about] ensuring that students are part of this,” said Horowitz. He observed that, “to some degree students have…backed away from the table and have not wanted to have a very active role in holding each other accountable. This is suddenly coming back to the table. In my mind…this is a very good thing.”

According to Farkas, whether or not a student panel presides over a hearing will be decided on a case-to-case basis. He postulates that the Office of Residential Life or the house advisors, depending on who hears each case first, will make those decisions.

“I’m very much in favor of questioning authority,” said Horowitz. “When [students’] only interaction is the campus Security officer and the house advisor or me who address the issue with them and issues sanctions, it’s very easy to dismiss it.” After these student conduct panels are in place, “part of the people responsible for [judicial decisions] are your peers.”

“At Vassar we pride ourselves on having strong student leadership, and I think it would be great if we could extend that a little further into the residential experience,” said Farkas.

“It’s not a time-saving effort,” Horowitz said when asked if the Student Conduct Panels are intended to reduce the workload of the Office of Residential Life or precede further cuts. “It’s primarily to get the students involved….what we want to do is open things up…the time [saved] will be negligent.”

However, Farkas postulates that student panels “will take a burden off administrators and staff.”

He observes that, “We have fewer house advisors than we had before, first [because of] the recession and second [because of] voluntary leaves.”

Student-comprised conduct panels “used to exist on smaller levels within the houses,” Horowitz explained. “We haven’t had this for a while but the idea was …to get students back at the table.”

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NEWS

January 28, 2010

Vassar community responds to Hatian earthquake chance of us leaving …and we really wanted to stay a lot longer than we did because this is the reason we came here.”

However, it soon became evident that they would have to find a way to leave, due to the fact that they were not equipped to handle the situation. “It was really hard, but we also recognized that it…was getting pretty unsafe,” said Augenstein; because of the lack of resources and direction from the government, violent crime was an increasing concern in the cities. The four students got in touch with their families, the American Embassy and the College soon after the earthquake. They hired a driver to take them to the Dominican Republic border—a trip that took 13 hours instead of twoand-a-half because of gas shortages and severe traffic jams—and flew out from the Dominican Republic to the United States.

Pro-Health will continue to raise money for Haiti and for the organizations with which they have established a connection. “In the long run, we’re going to go back to Haiti,” said Augenstein. “We are all really dying to get back there… [but] we realize that going there now isn’t the best thing to do since it costs a lot of money.”

“I don’t think any of us will be away from Haiti for very long,” said Krenitsky.

Vassar Haiti Project The Vassar Haiti Project began to mobilize on the Vassar campus soon after news of the earthquake reached the United States.

Director of International Services and Special Projects and co-Founder of the Vassar Haiti Project Andrew Meade organized the members of the Project who were on campus during Winter Break; however, he and co-Founder Lila Meade soon had to leave campus on other business. “[Meade] called me into his office,” explained the Vassar Haiti Project Chair of the Art and Crafts Committee Anh Ngo ’10, “and said, ‘Okay, you have to handle this.’”

In the days immediately following the earthquake, the Project “did some collecting of supplies…got an article published in The Poughkeepsie Journal…and e-mailed faculty, students, departments…the response that came was so

Image courtesy of Jared Augenstein

EARTHQUAKE continued from page 1 Children in Need, when the earthquake hit. “It was like we were inside a box, and someone was just shaking the box,” Augenstein said.

“We think the earthquake lasted about 15 seconds,” estimated Bridgman-Packer. “It took us a little while to realize what was going on.”

The house they were in was undamaged, and the surrounding area “was not as bad,” said Krenitsky, “but there was a house [whose] roof was at ground level; it had just pancaked right down…luckily [the owner] got out in time.”

“The first thing was all cell phone communications went down,” said Krenitsky. “We had no idea where the rest of our [host] family was—no idea about the rest of the people we were working with.” Augenstein continued, “for at least a couple of hours we didn’t know the magnitude of the damage…reports were traveling by word of mouth [and] radio.”

The group camped outside that night with the rest of the village, as was advised over the radio for fear of aftershocks causing further buildings to collapse. The next day they “put together this ad hoc medical team” consisting of the four students, their hosts Jeanette and Christopher Felix—the former of whom is a nurse with Children in Need—and others, and walked down the hill towards Port-au-Prince.

The road was full of refugees walking out of the city, so the group ended up running a “roadside clinic,” said Bridgman-Packer. “Most of the ones who came to us were ones who could get up the hill, but there were injuries like I had never seen before.”

Abreu continued, “We would stop and there would be a whole crowd of people around us, tapping us, trying to get our attention. A lot of these people had pretty severe injuries, and we only had basic first aid supplies.”

The group did what they could with what equipment and knowledge were at their disposal. “It was frustrating,” Krenitsky agreed. “What they really needed were trauma surgeons and heavy machinery to dig [trapped] people out of the buildings.”

“The next day [after the earthquake] we knew we were staying,” said Augenstein. “The tower at the airport had fallen, so there was no

Hatian landscape surrounding Port-au-Prince remains damaged following the Jan. 12 magnitude 7.0 earthquake. Members of Vassar’s Pro-Health organization were in the town of Lespinasse during the quake. overwhelming,” said Ngo. Various other Vassar organizations have volunteered manpower to sort the donated items— which include food, clothing, tents, sleeping bags and first aid—and pack them into boxes.

The sorting was finished on Jan. 25, and all that remains is finding “sponsorship to cover the shipping cost,” Ngo verified.

“What we decided to do is: do everything we normally do and more,” said Meade, “so we asked everybody to step up a little bit.”

“The important thing is that while we have to send donations into Port-Au-Prince, we can’t neglect our village [of Chemaitre],” said Ngo,

reporting that, although the town was largely unharmed, 3,000 displaced peoples have moved into the area surrounding the town.

Two art sales organized by the Project will also take place this weekend: one at the Greenwich, Conn. YWCA every weekend from Jan. 31 to Feb. 26, and the other at the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester in Hartsdale, N.Y. Vassar students and other Project volunteers will be moving the art to the locales and staffing the sales.

“It’s crazy!” said Ngo. “You get like a hundred e-mails a day from people in the community so willing to help.”

This Week in Higher Ed

by Ruby Cramer, Editor in Chief Princeton raises tuition by 3.3. percent Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News

Matthew’s Mug opens its doors to students on Tuesday, Jan. 26, for ViCE’s Jazz Night. Stipulations in Vassar’s contract with Aramark mandate that an Aramark employee guard the Mug’s entrance.

‘Betty’ to nwo longer man the ARAMARK continued from page 1 subject to arrest if it failed to enforce these laws.

The gravity of the liability therein became clear to Director of Campus Dining Maureen King after an incident on Nov. 7, when the Mug was closed after a patron attempted to steal beer and broke the bar’s tap, resulting in legally punishable disorderliness. “Running a bar is serious business,” said King. “We have to follow the laws and keep people safe; sometimes that’s unpopular.”

Not only does Vassar need to have a liquor license to continue operating the bar at the Mug, but it also needs the license to serve liquor at alumnae/i events and other such gatherings.

The transfer of the liquor license frees the College of that liability, but also entails a “transfer of power,” according to King. Aramark now holds control over the Mug and will be hiring someone to oversee it soon. The new employee will

check student identification and refuse admittance to anyone who appears to be intoxicated, replacing Francis, who will keep her position as a Vassar Security officer. The ambiguity regarding who has the power to close the Mug, which caused some controversy after the incident in November, is now resolved, as the new Aramark employee, “has the authority to close [the Mug] if he deems it necessary,” according to King.

Vassar’s official statement on the transfer reads, “As the liquor license for Matthew’s Mug is transferred from Vassar College to Aramark please be aware that the laws of New York State as they relate to the sale and service of alcohol will continue to be followed. Aramark’s employees in Matthew’s Mug will have full authority to take any action with respect to the sale and service of alcohol as they deem necessary, in their sole discretion, to ensure compliance with the law.”

According to a press release issued on Monday, Jan. 25, Princeton University trustees approved a 3.3. percent increase in undergraduate tuition, room and board and some additional fees. Although the Princeton press release calls the raise “one of the lowest percentage increases in undergraduate tuition and fees since 1966,” Business Week points out in a Jan. 25 article that the increase exceeds the rate of inflation. In a statement to The Daily Princetonian, Provost Christopher Eisgruber explained that the University believes “the recommendation strikes a reasonable balance that recognizes both the University’s budgetary challenges and the need to avoid putting unnecessary burdens on tuition-paying families.”

The announcement makes the University the first of its Ivy League counterparts to authorize such a tuition increase.

impact on College resources, especially on the staff,” he said.

GW Student Association Senate approves gender-nuetral housing Following a years-long effort, the George Washington University Student Association Senate (SA) passed a bill to support gender-nuetral housing on campus in a 19-11 vote on Tuesday, Dec. 26. The bill was brought to the SA last week, after which point it was tabled for further consideration from Senate members.

According to The GW Hatchet, “The bill was amended in several places before the final vote took place, changing some of the most contentious language that senators had objected to during debate. The final bill no longer requires at least one gender-neutral residence hall per class, and does not call for genderneutral housing to be implemented for the 2010-2011 year.”

Middlebury cancels MiddView program At the start of the 2009-2010 academic year, the Middlebury Student Government Association pledged to reinstate the school’s defunct MiddView program, an outdoor orientation activity for incoming first-year students. The student-led initiative to reinstate the program failed when it was announced that the estimated cost of MiddView did not included wages paid to staff and the cost of opening buildings early. In a statement to The Middlebury Campus, President of the College Ronald D. Liebowitz said, “It became clear that the schedule for reinstating MiddView—opening the residence halls earler and having to provide daily service—would have a significant

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Wesleyan sues former Investment Officer Thomas Kannam, Wesleyan University’s former Vice President of Investments, is being sued by the University for alleged breach of fiduciary contract, fraud, statutory forgery and unjust enrichment. The Wesleyan Argus reported the charges first, and Kannan was dismissed from his position on Oct. 13. According to e-mails Wesleyan officials presented Kannam had apparently been engaging in outside ventures since 2001, all of which were designed to, as one e-mail read, “discreetly make millions through ... entrepreneurial ventures while simultaneously managing the Wesleyan portfolio.”

January 28, 2010

NEWS

College to cut 2010 summer abroad programs SUMMER continued from page 1 such as offering programs for shorter periods or limiting the number of semesters a student can spend abroad. “They did a great job making each program as efficient as it can possibly be,” said Meade.

“It costs ‘X’ amount to run the programs, and they generate ‘Y’ in revenue,” he said. The difference between the two figures, according to Meade, results in a six-figure deficit for the College. This deficit occurs due to the large amount of financial aid that the College offers students who wish to study abroad during the summer semester. Financial aid covers the same proportion of tuition as it would during the regular academic year.

Given the current financial crisis and the College’s commitment to financial aid for the regular academic year, “it is harder to justify running all five programs and having them lose six figures every summer,” said Meade. The amount of financial aid awarded to students is expected to increase in the future, according to the senior officers’ memorandum, because the Class of 2010 will be the last need-sensitive class to graduate—meaning that financial need was considered when they were admitted, so a smaller proportion of that class receives financial aid than those of the subsequent, needblind classes.

“I think we have to be realistic about the budget,” wrote Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Chinese and Japanese Language Department Bryan Van Norden, whose department lost two summer programs that it had used to help attract potential majors. “No one likes to cut anything, but I would much rather see a cut in something like summer programs rather than any threat to need-blind admissions or the loss of someone’s job.”

“Given the financial constraints brought about by the recession, we always need to balance our competing goals. Just as study abroad could be considered important to the Vassar experience, so too is generous financial aid, small class sizes and a robust curriculum,” explained VSA Vice President for Operations Brian Farkas ’10.

These summer abroad programs are particularly expensive, Damon-Moore explained, because “now students who can afford to pay [the full cost] go to programs at other schools because they’re cheaper,” leading to a disproportionately high number of financial aid students enrolled in the programs.

While not all programs result in the same level of deficit spending for the College, the senior officers decided that it would be unfair to only cancel some of the programs. “We do not feel that there is a rationale grounded in equity or academic need to offer some programs, while canceling others,” they wrote.

The senior officers clarified this stance in a written statement, writing that, “although some of the summer language programs required less of the College’s resources than others, because of differences in financial aid expenditures, we considered it neither right academically nor fair to students with different levels of financial resources to favor one program over another.”

Furthermore, the senior officers justified the decision to cut summer study abroad programs because these programs could be replaced with junior year abroad (JYA). “Because of the availability of the JYA experience to students in many different fields, we have concluded that we need to direct our financial aid dollars to the support of such academic-year international experiences,” they wrote.

Students who still wish to travel abroad during the summer have the option of applying to non-Vassar programs, many of which are actually cheaper than Vassar programs.

For instance, students who would have participated in the German Department’s trip to Münster can instead take Georgetown University’s program to Trier, which would still count for two credits.

Unfortunately, other institutions do not guarantee the same levels of financial aid as Vassar and will, in many cases, end up costing students more money despite the lower sticker price.

However, students can still apply for grants from Vassar, such as the Ann Cornelisen Fellowship, which awards $8,000 to students “for study of a current spoken language in any country outside the United States, preferably in conjunction with interest in sociology, diplomatic service or international law,” according to The Office for Fellowships and Pre-Health Advising website.

According to Roellke, the administration will not directly notify the student body at large about this decision. “These are departmentspecific programs and chairs are in the process of informing their constituents about programs available at less cost at other institutions, etc.,” he wrote in an e-mailed statement.

At present, this decision to cut summer programs is permanent unless the College can secure gifts specifically geared towards providing funding for summer programs, according to Roellke. In addition, the VSA, according to VSA President Caitlin Ly ’10, will continue to voice its support for restoring the programs.

Ly said, “I would love to see summer programs reinstated on a smaller scale or even with less financial aid for Vassar students.”

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News Briefs Hot on the case On Jan. 18, a student in Raymond House reported a stolen microwave. It has not been located.

—Caitlin Clevenger, Reporter

Right behind you On Jan. 20 at 11:58 p.m., Security officers responded to a student’s complaint that a non-student was following her. The individual was escorted off campus.

—C.C.

Two in a row A Security officer in Main Building smelled an odor of marijuana coming out of a room at 2:21 a.m. on Jan. 22. Security confiscated the marijuana, but four minutes later, an officer smelled marijuana in a different part of Main Building and discovered a student smoking.

—C.C.

Seven years’ bad luck When a Security officer broke up an illegal party in Cushing House on Jan. 23, a student who lives off campus assaulted the officer and broke his glasses. The student was escorted off the campus.

—C.C.

Burgled bike back Police in Poughkeepsie spotted a non-student riding a pink Vassar bike around town. The police returned the bicycle to the College.

—C.C.

FEATURES

Page 6

January 28, 2010

Working Group searches for new-semester objectives Ruby Cramer

T

Editor in Chief

Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News

hroughout the four-month history of the Campus Solidarity Working Group, its members have never let their presence on campus go unnoticed; from their first demonstration on Oct. 14—when a sea of students, staff and faculty clothed in red gathered around the entrance to Main Building before marching across campus—to the Dec. 9 “sing-in,” which filled the College Center with song for an afternoon, the Working Group has held frequent public “actions” throughout the academic year.

Now, however, a semester later, questions remain about the efficacy of the Group; indeed, the College has not retracted or modified its plans for faculty and non-faculty staffing, and, of the 13 demands the Group presented at its first rally, not one has been fulfilled by the administration.

“I always felt kind of conflicted about the Campus Solidarity Working Group,” noted Ferry House representative Briana Markoff ’11, “because at the same time that I was very much aligned with their mission, I honestly never felt that anything that we were doing was going to change anything.”

“I know that a lot of people,” Markoff continued, “felt that it was really important that we held those vigils and made those statements—and in retrospect I’m glad that those things happened so that we didn’t seem passive—but by the end it just seemed like there was nothing to be done.”

Markoff—a supporter of the Working Group since its founding in early October—went on to explain that while the group has ostensibly not made any changes to College policy, it has been “working towards a systematic cultural change” in the way that students, faculty, staff and administration regard the Vassar community.

While this attention to “community” has been a constant theme of the Working Group, member John Joyce ’12 explained that at some point in November, there was “a shift in approach” that changed the Group’s focus from more aggressive actions—such as the presentation of demands and the Oct. 14 and Nov. 19 rallies—to events that worked towards what he referred to as “community-building.”

Some members of the Working Group still believe in the sentiment behind their 13 demands, although it seems they no longer expect them all to come to fruition. “If nothing else,” said Joyce, “there was symbolic significance to the demands…I knew then and now that not all of the demands would be met, but the idea was that if we made that active first step, then conversations would take place in the future and we would have something to start from. It was important that we set the stage for the semester.”

“At least personally,” he continued, “I felt that as the semester when on we had a more complex view of the situation. So it wasn’t necessarily

On Oct. 1, members of the Working Group gather outside the College Center to protest the elimination of 13 non-faculty campus positions.The Group had its first meeting of the semester on Monday, Jan. 25. that we gave up on changing policy, it was that we realized that the administration was operating within constraints that weren’t obvious [to us at first].”

Joyce explained that in addition to the complexities of the financial situation, it also became apparent that the morale of the Vassar community was becoming dangerously low. “I think a lot of us thought that the direction the Group needed to take was more towards community-building,” explained Joyce. “Not only were employees fearful of losing jobs—and students fearful of losing parts of student life or the curriculum—but there was a lot of tension on campus. One of the big worries was that a more aggressive approach would fracture the community even more.” Joyce explained that November and parts of December were dedicated to “vigils, the sing-in, the teach-in in the Retreat and solidarity testimonies as a way to still have a presence in public spaces, but to include people in a more positive way,” said Joyce.

Working Group member and Visiting Associate Professor of English Karen Robertson explained “community-building”—a somewhat enigmatic term—in the following way: “The way that Vassar works is that everybody is focused on their own projects and has a group of friends that they connect to and support. I think community-building,” she continued, “means that the configuration of those groups shifts, so that people discover that they have interests in common that they didn’t know about. It breaks

some of these patterns and shapes them in different ways.”

Robertson went on to note that, if anything, the Working Group has engaged the campus in this kind of dialogue about the Vassar community. “I think that the overall questions raised by the Working Group are continuing questions,” she said, “What is the Vassar community? Who belongs to it? Who matters? And how are decisions made?”

While Markoff found these discussions “eyeopening,” she said she plans to focus most of her time this semester instead fundraising for the Senior Class Gift, an endowment to support scholarships and the College’s need-blind financial aid policy. “I’d rather focus on pragmatic solutions, and right now it seems to me that— whether Vassar’s endowment is as endangered as we’ve been led to believe or not—having [the Senior Class Gift’s] endowment specifically to protect need-blind financial aid is the best thing we can do for this College to ensure social justice.”

The seeming inevitability of staffing decisions has caused others to question the effectiveness of the Working Group’s brand of activism and community-building. William English ’12, said that he was unsure of what the Group hopes to accomplish, given that “the administration seems to have made their staffing decisions final,” he explained. “I suppose I just can’t identify what they’re working towards anymore.”

To discuss just that issue, approximately eight members of the Working Group gathered on Jan.

25 in Rockefeller Hall for their first meeting of the semester. Although the meeting was closed to The Miscellany News, the members agreed to a group interview following the meeting.

“We wanted to take this opportunity to regroup after Winter Break and collectively decide what our plan would be for the upcoming semester,” said Ivana Milic-Strkalj ’10 after the meeting. “We were trying to determine what our focus would be this semester, and we think that what broadly defines our group is that we’re against the corporatization of our education.”

Dorien Ediger-Seto ’10, also present for the interview, added that the Group wishes to focus on “ways that decisions are made and making that process more democratic,” she explained. “If a decision will affect multiple parts of the College, we want to make sure that those areas are included in the decision-making process.”

Students present remarked that in the week preceding winter break, members of the Group met with President of the College Catharine Bond Hill, Dean of the College Christopher Roellke, Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger and Vice President for Finance Elizabeth Eismeier.

“We talked about everything,” said Nathan Orians ’10. “More dialogue will happen—it wasn’t the end-all discussion, but it was nice.”

According to Roellke, while the meeting— attended by about 15 Working Group representatives including Orians—did feature valuable dialogue, it was ultimately difficult to ascertain the specific objectives of the students and faculty present.

“Although it was not contentious in any way,” said Roellke, “I did not find that the meeting had a clear objective or that it was particularly fruitful.

I think that the direction of our conversation was thinking about ‘voice’ more broadly and about how we can get more voices more heard on the campus. There were some frustrations with the governance, and I remember that the word ‘transparency’ kept getting thrown out. We just weren’t getting very far in my opinion,” said Roellke.

When asked whether the Working Group had any upcoming actions planned, Orians responded, saying that while they had not yet scheduled a specific event, the Group had been working with senior administrators on a survey which would gauge student perceptions of the College’s economy website.

While Group members were not able to speak specifically in regards to plans for the coming weeks, Orians did note that it’s still early in the semester. “I think if you look back at every action that we’ve planned,” said Orians, “there’s a great deal of thought behind each event. We don’t want to be a reactionary group and we don’t want to be a group that doesn’t think through its actions, so it’s still very early in the semester.”

Vassar community members claim domain in blogosphere Matthew Bock

T

Guest Reporter

o the disappointment of its close followers all over campus, Mads Vassar Blog, Vassar College’s “unofficial news and culture blog since 2007,” announced a one-semester hiatus on Jan. 18. “Mads,” as it’s known to regular readers, is arguably Vassar’s most read and talked about blog.

Despite its notoriety, Mads Vassar isn’t the sole Vassar voice in the “blogosphere.” Because most blogs kept by students, staff and faculty members are not officially sponsored by the College, it’s entirely possible for many of them to operate under the radar. As the blogosphere has grown exponentially in the past decade, members of the Vassar community are writing content that caters to Vassar life and the world outside the College. Even if Mads might be the only blog of its kind—a blog serving a similar purpose, Blog

9, was shut down by its writers for the second time last semester because it could not compete with Mads—it is not the only blog in the Vassar blogosphere. There are, in fact, a variety of blogs that currently cater to the Vassar community.

For some Vassar Student Association (VSA) organizations such as WVKR, which runs TalkTech, a companion blog for the WVKR show of the same name, blogging has been an instrumental tool for increasing popularity. The TalkTech blog addresses the newest developments in technology and provides links to relevant websites. It was launched at the beginning of the 2009-2010 academic year.

Another blog that has recently assumed a new significance is the Vassar Haiti Project’s new blog (blogs.vassar.edu/haitiproject) that, manager Emily Strasser ’10 remarked in an e-mail exchange, seems to be an increasingly popular and

important forum for the Project. It is “easier to update than the website,” said Strasser, “and can therefore keep up-to-date with ongoing events.

We want it to be a place where people can go to see what we’re doing, what we’ve done, see photos of our events and start a discussion by adding their own comments.” In the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti, the blog has begun offering suggestions about ways one can contribute to relief efforts.

Professors on campus are likewise using blogs to showcase their work and interests. Assistant Professor of English Kiese Laymon authors Cold Drank, a blog on which he posts essays and fiction that explore popular culture and politics. In an e-mailed statement, Laymon explained that he created the blog “just to get some work out.”

He elaborated: “You publish an essay in a [print] literary journal or even a decent magazine and

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

it’s read by between 4,000 and 5,000 people if you’re lucky. If you create an incredible essay that gets buzz [online], one essay can be read by 20,000 to 30,000 people in a week. Sad, but true. Cold Drank was far more successful than I ever thought it would be.” Laymon pointed out that the administration has never asked him to change what or how he writes on the blog, despite the controversial nature of the material.

Professor of Hispanic Studies Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert co-manages a blog called Repeating Islands, a site for information and commentary on Caribbean culture, literature and the arts.

In a recent post, Gebert talks about the Barge of Hope, a 250 feet long, 80 feet wide boat sent by the people of Puerto Rico (Gebert’s home island) to the people of Haiti.

Personal blogs that have no obvious purpose other than to serve as a forum for an author’s

January 28, 2010

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Beef Milanese and ditalini: Italian heritage not required Nate Silver

A

Columnist

Kelley Van Dilla/The Miscellany News

s a child, the first cuisine I learned how to cook was Italian. I’m not Italian, I have no Italian step-siblings, and, except for a general knowledge of pasta shapes, I cannot speak the language. I have no Italian grandmother whom I, as a child, stood next to on a stack of phonebooks while rolling out fresh pasta. And though I do have the world’s best spaghetti sauce recipe courtesy of my grandmother, we never made it together.

When I was 13 and given the (most wonderful) gift of cooking classes at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, R.I., I signed up for every Italian class they taught. I learned about the creamy cuisine of northern Italy and the freshripened-tomato cuisine of the south. I made crespelle, rolled braciole, stuffed ravioli and simmered risottos. There was something about the Italian food philosophy that spoke to me. The cuisine doesn’t rely on perfect knife skills, complicated recipes or trade secrets. Italian food is about fresh ingredients, big flavors and loving families. It recognizes the healing power of food and places cooking as an essential part of what it means to live. The lessons I learned as a 13-yearold remain with me in every kitchen I enter, and it is with that same love of food and appreciation for the art of cooking that I give you this week’s recipe.

In the recipe title, by beef Milanese, I really mean breaded, pan-fried beef cutlets. You could easily substitute pork, veal or chicken cutlets and prepare this dish the exact same way, but because of cost and availability, I chose to use beef. If you take one thing away from this recipe, please let it be the technique to bread something properly.

Fight the impulse to take a piece of meet and dredge it immediately with breadcrumbs. Fight also the impulse to first dip it in egg and then dredge it with breadcrumbs. Breading is a threestep process. First, take your thin piece of meat and dredge it in (seasoned) flour to absorb any existing moisture in the meat. This will allow the egg to bind better to the meat, thus allowing a more equal coating of breadcrumbs and a crispier crust. After applying the flour, dip the meat into the (seasoned) egg and, finally, into the (seasoned) breadcrumbs. Though you can buy breadcrumbs at the store (use panko or Japanese-style for texture,) it’s also a great way to use up stale bread that you won’t eat. Just toast it in the oven for a few minutes, and grind it in a food processor. The sauce for the beef Milanese is mushrooms and tomatoes, but once you have your nicely browned meat, the sauce could go in a million different directions: capers and lemon juice, mushrooms and Marsala, artichoke hearts and vegetable stock—you name it.

In my opinion, no Italian meal is complete without a pasta dish, and this week I decided to use ditalini (which sort of look like rigatoni or penne cut in half). For this recipe of onions and broccoli rabe, you’ll want to use a small, shaped pasta because it will blend better with the other ingredients. A great substitute for the ditalini would be orecchiette, but feel free to use bow-ties, rotini or virtually anything else. I chose broccoli rabe (or rapini) because it is yet another nutrient-packed green that goes too oft neglected. It’s absolutely delicious, and paring it with the sweet onions and salty cheese cuts right through broccoli rabe’s natural bitterness. The cheese in the dish, ricotta salata, is the pressed, salted version of the more commonly known soft ricotta.

My last word of advice for this recipe relates to both food cost and kitchen confidence. When I was shopping at Adam’s this week, I noticed that they had these absolutely beautiful beef cutlets, perfectly thin, staring at me. I believe they were in the neighborhood of $13 per pound. Sitting right next to them was an entire beef round roast, from which the cutlets originally came. It was $5 per pound. In grocery stores, you are paying for convenience. Had I decided to buy the pre-made cutlets, I would have far exceeded my weekly budget. Buying the whole roast, cutting steaks and pounding them out myself enabled me to make plenty of food for five within my $20. And it only took me about 10 minutes. I understand if you’re afraid (I once was, too,) but the satisfaction you’ll get from doing it yourself and saving money are well worth it. In case you’re really too nervous, I did happen to see a notice that Adam’s is having a “Meat Cutting 101” Class on Feb. 13 at 1 p.m. So, start there, and never look back.

Beef Milanese with Tomatoes and Mushrooms »» 5 beef cutlets, pounded very thin (you can also buy a beef round roast and slice it yourself to »» make cutlets) »» 1 c. all purpose flour »» 2 eggs »» 2 c. panko (Japanese-style) breadcrumbs »» 2 T Italian seasoning »» Salt and pepper to taste »» 1/4 c. olive oil »» 1 clove garlic, chopped »» 2 large portabella mushroom caps, thinly sliced »» 1 can diced tomatoes »» Juice from 2 lemons »» 2 T chopped fresh parsley 1. Set up your breading station: You’ll need three plates lined up. The first should

have your flour, the next should have the eggs, beaten with a tablespoon or so of water added, and the third should have your panko breadcrumbs 2. Season each of the breading components with salt and pepper. Add the Italian seasoning to the breadcrumbs and mix well to combine.

3. Dip each piece of beef in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Try to get as even a coating as possible and then shake gently to remove any excess.

4. Once all your beef is breaded, heat 2 T of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Place two beef cutlets in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, until the crust is golden brown and crispy and the beef is cooked to your liking. You can keep the beef warm in a 250

Broccoli Rabe, Caramelized Onion & Ricotta Salata Ditalini »» 1 bunch broccoli rabe, stems removed, cut into 1 inch pieces »» 2 cloves garlic, chopped »» 1 large onion, sliced thin »» 2 T olive oil »» Salt and pepper to taste »» 1 lb. ditalini or your favorite shaped pasta »» 2 T pine nuts (optional) »» 1 c. crumbled ricotta salata 1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil 2. Heat the olive oil in a medium sized pot over medium low heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté 15-20 minutes un-

til soft and golden brown. Add salt and pepper to taste 3. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook 6-8 minutes, until al dente.

4. Turn up the heat on the onions to medium and add the broccoli rabe. Add 1/2 c. of the pasta water to the pan and sauté 3-4 minutes until the broccoli rabe is bright green and tender.

5. Add the drained pasta to the broccoli rabe and onions. Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Add the ricotta salata and pine nutes and stir well to combine.

6. Serve alongside the beef Milanese.

degree oven while you make the sauce.

5. Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the pan and repeat, until all of your beef is cooked.

6. With the pan still hot, add the lemon juice and garlic to the pan. Stir to get all the browned on bits (the fond) loosened from the bottom of the pan.

7. Add the mushrooms and some salt and pepper and sauté for two minutes; you can add a little more olive oil if the pan seems to try.

8. Add the can of tomatoes and stir. Fill the can of tomatoes with one cup of water and add to the pan. Simmer for five minutes.

9. Stir in the chopped parsley and serve immediately over the beef.

Grocery List Ditalini Pasta Panko Breadcrumbs Canned Diced Tomatoes Lemons Portabella Mushrooms Broccoli Rabe Ricotta Salata Beef Round Roast

$1.99 $2.69 $1.69 $0.80 $0.94 $2.48 $2.48 $6.13

Total

$19.20

Sharpshooter culls 64 deer over break DEER continued from page 1 Committee, told The Miscellany News that the deer overpopulation has been a topic of discussion for over five years. Only recently has the College taken action to start controlling the population of deer—a process that will have to continue and be sustained for years.

“There were predators that as humans we have removed from the landscape,” Ronsheim explained. “So this is then a consequence of our own actions…we want deer on the ecological preserve; they’re an important part of the ecosystem. The challenge is that when you have this many deer, then you don’t have anything else.”

Laboratory Technician Keri VanCamp, also

a member of the Farm Oversight Committee, explained that when 10 different sites on the Farm were tested for wildlife, it was found that “there were no native trees growing.” Specifically, there were none in the lower level of the forest, indicating that no saplings were growing, or had been able to survive, because of deer overpopulation.

The lack of young trees to replace the old trees once they die “is a real concern to us,” continued VanCamp, “because we want to keep a forested habitat.” Ronsheim added,“The real mission of the Ecological Preserve is to preserve biodiversity, so we feel like we need to be good environmental stewards of the land.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Other side effects of the deer overpopulation include lack of wildlife diversity, partially based on deer’s tendency to eat baby birds out of nests, as well as the inability of other animals to find sufficient food sources after the deer have eaten almost everything that grows in that level of the forest. In their June 2009 Deer Management Memorandum, the Committee also cites car collisions and the spread of Lyme disease as other dangerous side effects that would be reduced with population control.

Culling the deer with a trained sharpshooter was not the only option considered by the Committee when deciding how to See CULLING on page 8

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January 28, 2010

Habitat too Vassar remembers late Officer Noel Parry fragile for T campus deer Kelly Stout

Features Editor

CULLING continued from page 7 handle the deer. Non-lethal methods such as fencing, fertility control, and trap and transfer were all debated and found to be insufficient or ineffective.

Fencing, besides costing the College over $100,000, would prevent the deer from entering the property, but would make it difficult for other wildlife and members of the Poughkeepsie and Vassar communities to use the Farm and Preserve.

Fertility control and trapping and transferring are both illegal in the state of New York.

Fertility control has not yet been perfected, and VanCamp pointed out that there is no way of knowing what psychological and sociological effects it will have on the female deer and herds as a whole. Trapping and transferring has a high mortality rate for the deer, and the practice increases the spread of diseases.

The option of allowing a select group of bow hunters onto the property to kill the deer was briefly considered but rejected by the College because of the dangers involved in hunting too close to suburban and urban areas.

The process of culling—once it was decided upon as the most appropriate method of control—was carried out during Winter Break by a single sharpshooter from White Buffalo Inc., described on its official website as “a nonprofit wildlife management and research organization dedicated to conserving native species and ecosystems through damage and population control.”

The culling process cost the College around $10,000, all of which came from The Swain Endowment, which allocates money for the maintenance of the ecological preserve as an educational resource. According to Associate Dean of the Faculty Marianne Begemann who co-chairs the Farm Oversight Committee, the shooter set up a base and lured the deer with bait. Ronsheim explained that killing the deer this way is actually one of the most humane options. According to Ronsheim, the sharpshooter only killed deer if he could kill an entire social group, leaving no fawns without their mothers and no one deer without the rest of its social group.

Once the deer were killed, an organization called Hunters Helping the Hungry transported the deer, butchered them, and donated the venison to local shelters or soup kitchens. The deer that were culled, approximately 64, provided 2,000 pounds of meat, which is equivalent to around 12,000 to 15,000 meals.

Begemann acknowledged that there has been significant outcry against Vassar’s choice to use culling as their population management. She explained to the Vassar Student Association (VSA) on Jan. 25 that although the Farm Oversight Committee received countless e-mails from animal rights groups, she “thinks we did the right thing in terms of the ecological preserve. People will disagree with it undoubtedly from a moral perspective and from other perspectives.”

Begemann also explained to the VSA that although it has not been declared publicly, Vassar and the Farm Oversight Committee has been in talks with Mayor John C. Tkazyik, who has offered the College his support in their efforts to solve the deer overpopulation problem.

VanCamp, joking that she was a vegetarian and still supported this method of management, reiterated that a lot of thought and expertise was put into the process of deciding how to handle the deer overpopulation. She and Ronsheim commented that perhaps people are attached to the deer because they see the deer, but they don’t see the ecological research and plant growth in the forest that has been suffering because of the overpopulation.

Control of the population will continue, possibly with controlled hunting, but Ronsheim assured The Miscellany News that a cull of this scale should not be necessary in the near future, and that it is the responsibility of the College to make sure of that.

o the many members of the Vassar community who called him a friend, late Vassar Security Officer Noel Parry will be remembered for his quick wit and kind spirit. “If you found yourself in trouble,” remarked Professor of Art Nicholas Adams, “the person you wanted with you was [Parry.]” In an all campus e-mail sent on Jan. 12, Director of Security Donald Marsala announced Officer Parry’s unexpected death.

Said Marsala in a later interview, “He’ll be really missed. We think of him every day.”

Parry is known to most students as one of the Security officers who worked the daytime shift at Vassar and could also frequently be found behind the desk at the Campus Response Center in Main Building. Prior to his passing, Parry was the senior ranking Security officer and had served the College for 25 years. “He knew a lot of people on campus.

He was sort of a fixture here,” said Marsala, “I was impressed that after he passed away I got so many calls from faculty members and staff members and even students.” Adams agreed, “It’s a great loss. It’s the College’s loss.”

Adams and Parry became friendly when Parry worked as a gallery guard at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center and as a security officer outside Taylor Hall. “What made him stand out was that he had an enormous sympathy for other people and a great interest in them,” said Adams. “He was a good friend.”

Professor of Art Brian Lukacher fondly recalled in an e-mailed statement that, “Not a day went by when I did not look for [Parry] in my comings and goings in the Department of Art.” They greeted each other every morning with a friendly conversation or a quick thumbs-up if the weather was bad. “On nicer days, we would share a chat about politics (on campus and in the world at large) and about the day’s passing absurdity,” said Lukacher, “We agreed on everything and nothing at all.”

Parry was known for his political beliefs and the grace and enthusiasm with which he articulated them. “There was something honorable and direct” that Adams identified in the way Parry listened attentively to others and expressed his own closely held opinions.

Always interested in a discussion, Adams remembers him for his right wing ideals: “It was nothing that I shared, but the human relationship was the most important to him.”

Associate Director of Security Kim Squillace remembered Parry’s involvement in politics both on campus and off. “He was involved a lot and cared a lot about political things,” she said, “You know, where the country was going and where our department was going.

And he would give you a good argument. He could see both sides, but he would give you a good argument. It was always a spirited conversation.” Marsala agreed, “He was very passionate about certain issues. I would call him a department leader in some ways.”

Although Parry is most remembered for warmth of spirit and understated kindness, his dedication to his job and strong instincts as a Security officer made him a standout on the College Security team. “He was here early every morning,” said Marsala, “And he always stayed a few minutes after [his shift finished]. He was here early and stayed late.”

Added Squillace, “One thing he did very well was if he saw something, he would immediately call [Marsala] or me about it. He really did take the lead on things like that.”

Parry’s dedication often extended far beyond his job description. Senior Catherine Fuller fondly remembers a time when he helped her rescue a bird trapped in Main Building. “I had just woken up and there was this bird kind of trapped between the outside windows and the storm windows in the hallway,” she said. “No one else was awake [in the hall] and I was convinced that this bird was suffering somehow, so I went downstairs in my pajamas to the security desk.”

Fuller and Parry went upstairs to assess the situation and quickly became casual friends.

“He could tell that I was pretty concerned that this bird was suffering,” said Fuller, “It was just one of those things. We’ve saved this bird together. That was when we started saying hello to each other. I always thought he was so nice.” Until his death, Fuller and Parry made an effort to always say hello to each other with a friendly wave around campus.

“He was always happy to help students. He was very good at taking his own initiative,” said Marsala. “If he saw anybody walking

down North Drive with packages he would pull the security car over and ask if anyone wanted a ride. He was always good with that.

All the officers are, but he was especially attentive to that.” Always in good spirits, Parry frequently “stepped up to plate” when Security was “in a pinch.” He often volunteered to work when others would not, and always did it with his notorious wit and sense of humor.

Marsala was among many who remember Parry’s sense of humor as a defining characteristic. “[Parry] had a wicked and sharply observant sense of humor. But an underlying warmth and sense of caring was always present, and I will always remember that quality in him,” said Lukacher. Adams echoed, “He loved to share a joke, sometimes of an ironic nature about his job or the students.” But Adams remembers him as “an absolute gentleman. [His humor was] sort of a boys-at-the-bar kind of thing. But women thought of him as a complete gentleman.”

Less known to the campus at large than his wit and kind spirit were his enthusiasm for the Second Amendment right to bear arms and his skills as a hunter. An outdoorsman, Parry was known to take several weeks of vacation at the beginning of every hunting season to pursue his hobby. Squillace recalled his love of animals as well, particularly of his Labrador retriever, AJ, that he once brought into work.

Parry resided in Red Hook, N.Y. and, according to a Jan. 12 article that appeared in The Poughkeepsie Journal, he was born in Youngstown, Ohio. Parry was deeply proud of his heritage. According to Marsala, Parry was part Mohawk Indian and felt closely connected to his roots.

It is clear that the Vassar campus will remember Officer Parry for the warmth and joy he brought the community, although for some his passing seems difficult to believe.

“We still have his picture on the shift bulletin board [in the Security office],” said Squillace.

Added Marsala, “I still expect him to walk into the office.” Officer Parry entered the lives of many more than perhaps he ever could have known, and is remembered with great admiration and affection. Said Lukacher, “It will be a very long time before I stop looking for Noel as I come and go to work.”

John Flowers a perennial community favorite Erica Licht

Guest Reporter

O

ne of the first things that Peter Leonard told me when I got to Poughkeepsie was that there was no point in trying to understand John Flowers. He said it simply was not possible and not worth my time to try to understand how 2,000 roses get delivered to mothers on Mother’s Day, 7,000 presents arrive at Vassar Brothers hospital on Christmas, 30,000 Easter eggs are hidden in Waryas Park every Easter Sunday, or many of the other thousands of things that John Flowers has done for Poughkeepsie. These are things less worth understanding, and time is better spent experiencing and feeling how Flowers has touched the hearts of so many people over the past 18 years.

Flowers has achieved local fame for his ambitious community-building projects and his morning radio show, Sunshine and Flowers on AM 950 WHVW Poughkeepsie. A former Dutchess Beat Poughkeepsian of the Year and recipient of the Family Partnership Center’s 2009 Spirit of Community Award, Flowers is a community organizer by some definitions, an activist by others and an important community member by all. But he is perhaps known best as a genuine person engaged with the people of Poughkeepsie. Although it might not be worth trying to understand how Flowers accomplishes all that he does as an organizer of people, goods and faith, it is worth exploring the tremendous ways he has affected our community.

When the Poughkeepsie Institute created their film project Finding Community in Poughkeepsie this past fall, the organization asked various residents of Poughkeepsie how

they would define community. At a November event honoring Flowers’ life and work in the spirit of the mission of the Family Partnership Center of downtown Poughkeepsie and its founder Latif Islam, Mayor of Poughkeepsie John C. Tkazyik remarked upon what Flowers meant to Poughkeepsie. Flowers received the Spirit of Community Award and the mayor stated on camera without hesitation, “John Flowers is the definition of Community. He is the City of Poughkeepsie.”

There’s something magnetic about Flowers, even if it’s hard to pin down exactly how he does what he does. On the eve of his acceptance of the aforementioned award for community organizing, there was an outpouring of support and admiration for his work. Flowers takes pride in the fact that he has “built bridges with everyone around him,” and the award ceremony served to illustrate the impact he has made on so many Poughkeepsie lives. Countless members of his extended community family came to the podium to the raise their glass to him in a way that made everyone in the audience feel as if they were in attendance at the celebration of a deep love between Flowers and his city.

Sitting in the audience were Flowers’ admirers: his family, those who had worked with him personally, those hoping to catch a glimpse of someone they had only heard of and many representing the legions of Flowers’ volunteer corps. All of his projects function through the strength of partnerships with sports teams, volunteer groups, kids, adults and Vassar students. Flowers admits, “All these things wouldn’t happen unless I had all the volunteers. They are what make me keep going.” The Vassar men’s basketball

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

team captains and coach sat proudly at the award evening representing all of the elves that have wrapped and delivered presents every Christmas for many years on his behalf.

The idea for the annual Easter Egg hunt came to Flowers because he saw, in his own words, “all this open land by the park.” And yet he said, “People thought I was crazy.” He maintains, “I only do it because I feel good about what I do.”

This is just how Flowers is. He sees a need in the community, and he finds a solution no matter what it takes. As his award properly reads, “This hereby presents John Flowers with the Spirit of Community Award”—a spirit that continues to unite all members of the Poughkeepsie community.

It is worth spending time with Flowers, whether in person or through the radio, and feeling the warmth that he exudes through his affirmed dedication to the community that he celebrates. This Christmas was a personally difficult one for Flowers, and the Vassar volunteers became even more important in facilitating his Christmas program. “I needed them there for me,” recounted Flowers. “They asked me, ‘What can we do for your Mr. Flowers?’ and I said, ‘You’ve already done it.’”

Watch Flowers at his Picnic Dedicated to God on Labor Day weekend and you will see him at his best as 18 churches of Poughkeepsie come together to celebrate God and community at Mansion Square Park. Better yet, listen to Flowers on his radio show every weekday at 9 a.m. as he greets, like a true veteran, “Hyde Park, Poughkeepsie and the rest of the world” with a proper “Hey hey hey.”

And that is what is most worth understanding of all.

January 28, 2010

OPINIONS

Give natural science students the credit that they deserve Aaron Grober

Guest Columnist

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ave you ever taken a lab science at Vassar? If not, I’ll bet you have a friend who has at some point. I’m sure you’re familiar with the whines, groans and pleas to the heavens that routinely accompany a science student’s journey through that three- to four-hour-perweek commitment called “lab.” You may think to yourself, “Self, these hardworking people have such incredible dedication to and persistence with their lab studies, surely this kind of commitment is recognized in some way by the College,” right? WRONG. Look at almost any other college or university in the United States. Most of them are on a credit-hour system, which is why you get funny looks from friends and relatives when you tell them you’re spending $50,000 a year for an education, but you’re only taking four or five units this semester. That’s because, at most other schools, classes are usually worth between three to four credits, depending on a number of factors, which usually translates into between 12 and 18 credits per semester. When trying to explain our course-unit system, and why five units is actually a very full load, I’m often asked the question, “Why does Vassar do it like that?” Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette offered a few explanations in an emailed statement. In one argument, Chenette posits that it focuses on “seat time” alone, and ignores other factors such as amount of time dedicated to writing papers, doing readings, etc. Focusing too intently on seat time risks undervaluing other ways in which people learn.

While I agree with Chenette that it is impossible to fully encapsulate the scope of a class numerically, I would argue that any system of credit, including ours, already reflects the approximate depth and time commitment required. For example, half-semester courses are worth a half credit and certain accelerated language courses a credit and a half. Full semester physical education courses, worth a half credit, meet for a few hours per week, do not assign work in the conventional sense, and are offered as ungraded pass/fail units only. For students involved in Drama Department productions— again not classes in the traditional sense—stu-

dents can obtain a half credit per a semester.

Furthermore, credits awarded for independent science research or field work are based upon the number of hours per week committed to the work. The purpose of this editorial, however, is not to advocate for either the credit or unit systems, as the distinction is ultimately semantic. I will however, explain some of the reasons why many science majors, myself included, feel that awarding some kind of additional credit for a lab science is not only appropriate, but indeed the only reasonably just course of action.

Let’s start with the obvious reasons. Any other school on the credit-hour system, Cornell University for example, will routinely award three credits for a vast majority of courses, with four credits being the standard for a lab science. Vassar frequently compares its policies to its peer institutions, making for a very fair assessment of where we stand on a number of factors, like the richness of our curriculum, diversity of our applicants and matriculates, size of our endowment, compensation for faculty and staff members and administrators, etc. Why is Vassar’s crediting of lab sciences among the few exceptions?

Vassar already exercises some latitude in its crediting of full-semester courses beyond the one-unit, one-course standard. In addition to earlier examples, numerous 300-level chemistry courses allow for students to elect to take an Integrated Laboratory course to complement their course work, for a shiny half credit per a semester. In contrast, sciences with mandatory labs are exempt from this kind of latitude.

Let’s consider some facets of the lab section of a science course, which can include separate readings, homework, projects and examinations from the lecture section. Lab meets for a longer period of time than the sum of lecture sections, as a three- or four-hour lab, compared with two-and-a-half hours of weekly lecture instruction. Students are routinely assigned separate homework, including readings, preparatory and analysis work, and separate projects, including lab reports and posters. Some courses even include separate lab-practical or lab-related examinations. All of this work is See SCIENCE on page 12

Hunger strike irresponsible and distracting to community Yi Tan

Guest Columnist

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t the end of last semester, a student group called “Hungry for Justice” stationed an 89-hour-long hunger strike in Main Building in response to the College’s decision to lay off 13 campus workers. The demonstration was intended to halt the termination of 13 labor contracts, but it eventually did not have any significant effects.

Although I strongly support the strikers’ enthusiasm, courage and social responsibility in achieving such an aim, I can hardly agree with the tactics of a “hunger strike” as an effective and appropriate way to push for changes through the College administration.

I am opposed to the action on several grounds. Firstly, I strongly doubt the legitimacy of a hunger strike as a way of protest.

A hunger strike, although non-violent, aims to achieve the goal of policy change by provoking feelings of guilt and embarrassment, thus forcing tremendous political pressure upon authority figures. Whether or not it could be characterized as extremist, the action is surely radical and threatening, if not irresponsible. Although the hunger strike brought the issue to the public’s attention, the strikers’ disregard for their own personal health is dangerous, and exposes a serious moral problem. If they care so much about the well-being of 13 laid-off campus workers, how could they justify their own tendency to devalue their own lives? In my opinion, self-sacrifice of life is in fact a brash disrespect for life, even for some greater good, not to mention that the perceived results from such acts are intangible.

The hunger strikers indeed wielded huge bargaining power by imperiling their lives.

They aim to open up a dialogue and negotiation, but any agreement reached from this kind of “negotiation” is not made based on rationality, but rather on emotions. The hunger strike is threatening in that it could be easily employed to push for any agenda or policy changes, as many as the strikers desire. It would result in power abuses where conflicts are not solved by rational discussion, but deepened by impulsiveness.

Student activists not only cause of campus divisions Angela Aiuto

T

Opinions Editor

oward the end of last semester, the ongoing campus debate on the economy reached a fever pitch. The Vassar Student Association (VSA) had endorsed a questionable letter circulated by the Campus Solidarity Working Group, sparking campus-wide debate. Later, a group of students declared that they would hunger strike until all layoffs were canceled.

In our final issue of the semester, my co-editor, Kelly Shortridge ’12, addressed the recent actions of student activist groups, writing: “ I would argue that [the Working Group] has driven an even larger and more tense divide between students, the VSA and administration” (“Campus Solidarity Working Group paternalistic and ineffectual,” 12.10.09). Other members of the community echoed this sentiment in comments on the Miscellany’s website and elsewhere.

Certainly there is some merit in these accusations. Both the Working Group and the hunger strikers have spread misinformation that compromised the credibility of their organizations and their causes. Throughout the hunger strike, strikers maintained a very combative and divisive tone in their discourse on the Miscellany’s website. Even more glaringly, the choice of a hunger strike as a form of protest was morally questionable at best, need-

lessly manipulative at worst.

However, attacks on these groups aren’t simply levied at their tactics, but rather at the very existence of the groups themselves. In a comment on the Miscellany’s website, Aaron Biberstein ’06 repeated a common criticism of student activist groups: “For a sophomore to imply that [he has] a better solution to a global recession than the PhD College President? That’s quite a bit of hubris.” The implication of such criticisms seems to be that these groups offend campus unity by merely existing.

However, for all this talk about dividing the community and threatening morale, there has been little focus on how the administration and the VSA have weakened the community in these trying times.

I cannot ignore, for example, the administration’s decision to exclude members of the rowing team from their decision to cut rowing as a varsity sport. Nor can I ignore the administration’s recent decision to cut summer study abroad programs without notifying the student body.

As students, these cuts affect our academic and extracurricular experiences at Vassar in very profound ways, and one would expect the administration to understand and respect that. I would argue that the secretive manner in which these decisions are made do more to divide the community and threaten morale

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than the presence of student activist groups.

Moreover, the VSA hasn’t been terribly effective at acting on behalf of students. While it seems that the Working Group was deceptive in obtaining the VSA’s endorsement of its letter, it was still ultimately the VSA’s decision to endorse it on such short notice. VSA representatives chose to vote without consulting their constituents, and they could not know with certainty that their constituents interpreted the letter in a similar fashion and supported its sentiments. In doing so, the VSA demonstrated a complete disregard for student opinion.

It would seem, then, that student activists are dividing a community that was never exactly unified to begin with. Can we really hold student activists accountable for pitting students against the VSA and the administration when it seems that both bodies are fully capable of alienating students on their own?

While I may disagree with student activists’ causes or tactics, I would certainly not argue that their very existence divides the community. We seem to tolerate the administration’s secrecy and the VSA’s disconnect from the student body. With that in mind, what is really so wrong about asking questions and standing by campus workers?

—Angela Aiuto ’11 is majoring in political science. She is the Opinions Editor.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Moreover, the appeal of emotion is so overwhelming that it distracts from real issues, preventing root problems from truly being solved. In the personal statements that the group issued following the 89-hourlong demonstration, one of the members, Brian Hioe ’13 wrote, “I am of the opinion that what the first consideration of the college decision-making process should be is not financial necessity or competitiveness, but the human cost of any and all actions.

Vassar, as an institution of higher learning with a history of social responsibility, should take measures to seek new and innovative solutions to financial problems.”

Although a hunger strike is a good PR strategy, it does not contribute to the whole problem-solving process, such as bringing alternative financial solutions to the table.

I understand that Vassar has certain responsibilities toward its human resources, and as part of the community I regret to see anyone and his family suffering from a job loss. But let’s face it: Our school is in a dire financial situation. Vassar’s total resources are obviously constrained by two ends: its customers, the students; and its employees, the professors, workers and administrators.

As long as money does not reproduce itself or other “innovative” financial solutions are not invented, any financial solution that can be made will be realistic.

That being said and understood in a very simple economic sense, either the school will cut the salary of its employees or decrease financial aid to its students.

We would all like to see workers not being fired and the numbers of professors in each department being restored, but are we, as students, ready to accept the potential financial compromise on our end? And if Vassar indeed raises tuition more than the usual rate or reduces financial aid to balance the budget, how many students of limited financial means would have to suffer?

How many would be forced out of school because of our “social responsibility” and be denied an education that could potentially change their lives? I think the hunger strikers did not provide a real solution, as they failed to see the core of the issue and more deeply consider it.

The Board of Trustees is in charge of managing the endowment, out of which comes a significant portion of the College’s operating income. The annual budget of the College should be maintained so that the total endowment could afford a sustainable growth for future Vassar generations. This is to ensure that future Vassar students can enjoy the same benefits as we currently do, whether in campus facilities or in teaching quality. When we are unwilling to make financial compromises and instead opt for a budget deficit, we must bear in mind that it is future Vassar students’ interest on which we are feeding. To this purpose, the Board has the responsibility to run a balanced budget, cutting expenses and raising income if necessary. The decision to lay off workers is not done out of elite thinking, but out of necessity to maintain a sustainable function of the school over a long term. Thus, the Board has the obligation to execute what it has been entrusted, even though certain sacrifices have to be made.

But how many students are willing to sacrifice need-blind financial aid so that there will be fewer campus workers laid off ? This, I think, is the center of the issue and where we should start to solve the problem. Instead of a fight between the workers and the administration, it is really in fact a conflict between the workers and the students. But in order to reach a balance between these two ends, we need to hear voices of interest from both. Although there have been sufficient voices representing the labor side, what we do lack is the opinion from the students as to how much they are willing to give up. Thus, instead of hunger strikes, student activists should focus on creating a mechanism where student voices are incorporated to form a more inclusive financial policy.

OPINIONS

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January 28, 2010

Lack of leadership the cause of Scott Brown’s victory

Conservatives misrepresent results of the Mass. election M I

t’s time to embrace it, America. We’ve been teabagged.

No, we’re not returning to the proven failure of conservative governance. But the teabaggers, their political arm (the Republican Party) and their public relations arm (FOX News) have managed to transform Scott Brown’s narrow victory in Massachusetts into something like the call of Boromir’s “Horn of Gondor,” beckoning the Fellowship to continue their march forward to Mordor, where they will steep their teabags into Mount Doom until Obama agrees to not provide health care to anyone. Pro tip: It’s a lot easier to teabag when you’re a hobbit.

Teabagging, after all, isn’t about reality. It’s about pretending something’s real when it’s not. President Obama is raising troop levels in Afghanistan and following President Bush’s timetable for withdrawal from Iraq? That doesn’t matter to today’s right-wing—he’s soft on terrorism! The Democrats’ healthcare bill includes no public option? No matter—it’s still socialized medicine! President Obama was born in the United States? No matter— he’s a Kenyan national! It doesn’t matter if it makes no sense. It doesn’t have to when you’re a teabagger.

Likewise, the Republican victory in Massachusetts last week shouldn’t proclaim a conservative resurgence, but the problem is, it will. Through a combination of the Obama administration’s inability to control public discourse and a less-than-stellar campaign run by Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, the right-wing’s dream of stopping President Obama’s agenda in its tracks may actually come true.

This country is now living in a fantasy world that is slowly becoming reality. We had a lot of practice with this under former President George W. Bush. His administration would repeat complete lies until, at least in their minds, they became reality. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, but to Dick Cheney and the neo-conservatives, there was a real threat to the United States. There were no ties between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaida, but the conservative mind conjured up a fantasy of mushroom clouds over New York and Washington, made in Baghdad and delivered by bin Laden’s henchmen. Global warming was real, but to the Bush administration it was still a myth propagated by those treehugging liberals.

But reality was stronger than the Republi-

can Party. Slowly we became adjusted to the real world, and we voted George W. Bush’s party out of office in November 2008. We all expected that as we went into the next decade, the Republican Party would keep on lying, but it would not affect what happened on this earth.

However, where teabaggers differ from the Republicans we knew and loved during the Bush era is that somehow, when they repeat lies over and over, they actually become true. They have somehow managed to teabag through the space-time continuum and warp reality to their own twisted devices.

See if you can follow where I’m going here.

In a normal world (sans-teabaggers), if a party won a seat in a special election where the other candidate, for example, refused to campaign (Martha Coakley actually mocked the idea of shaking hands with supporters), then that would not be viewed as a referendum on the President of the United States.

That would be viewed as a reaction to the fact that the other candidate refused to campaign.

But somehow, this is not only a reaction to the health care bill, it’s a reaction to President Obama—I’ve even heard it called a reaction to liberalism itself.

If you look at the truth as it stands today, and not the Republican talking points anyone can spin together, the facts tell a different story.

Two out of three voters in Massachusetts voted because they wanted to put the most qualified candidate into office, according to Hart Research. The same poll said that even Brown voters were more interested in seeing more change, rather than less. Research 2000 found that a plurality of those who voted for Obama in 2008 and Brown in 2010 think that Democrats aren’t fighting hard enough against the Republicans. Why then did they vote for the Republican in this election? I don’t know.

Not everyone actually pays attention to the national political implications of their votes.

But the truth as it stands is this: Martha Coakley was potentially the worst candidate to vie for Ted Kennedy’s seat. She literally refused to campaign for the seat for which she was running. She claimed that Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was a Yankee fan. Why? I don’t know. But she did. If the election didn’t mean the difference between a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and Republican stonewalling for the next year or more, I would probably See BROWN on page 13

Steven McCarthy Guest Columnist

any have rushed to blame Democratic senatorial candidate Martha Coakley to explain away Scott Brown’s victory in the recent special election in my home state of Massachusetts. While she did make a few blunders–calling Curt Schilling a Yankees fan, suggesting Roman Catholics be barred from working in emergency rooms and claiming there were no terrorists left in Afghanistan– she was the decisive winner of a hard fought primary with strong candidates. Although these gaffes were likely enough to encourage habitually Democratic voters to consider Brown, they can hardly explain his victory.

Scott Brown had his own disparities with majority opinion in Massachusetts; he favors civil unions as an alternative to gay marriage and does not consider water-boarding torture—tough pills to convince the Massachusetts electorate to swallow. So what made the medicine go down? The answer is not merely health care, but President Obama’s leadership.

Obama has not delivered the change he promised. His own most highly touted accomplishment, the improvement of America’s image abroad, was largely achieved even before his inauguration. That at his current rate of spending, he will add as much to the federal deficit in under two years as George W. Bush did in both his terms, might more fairly be attributed to Congress, but the free-reign Obama has given them ultimately reflects on his leadership. Nowhere has this manifested itself more gruesomely than in the congressional health care bill.

Obama appears to understand himself as salesman-in-chief, and congressional Democrats demonstrated their confidence in his skills by loading the bill with outrageous handouts and compromises. The result was preposterous provisions like those exempting Nebraska and Louisiana from many of the bill’s costs while levying onerous taxes on “Cadillac” healthcare plans, but waiving them for members of unions. Ultimately, both congressional Democrats and the President himself appear to have overestimated his ability to peddle such rotten wares, and his pitch so far, “never mind what you think about it now, you’ll thank me later” grows evermore feeble.

That left-leaning citizens should be consigned to such lackluster arguments reflects the president’s unwillingness to flex the muscle of his office on their behalf by threatening vetoes, as effective presidents of all parties have done.

Republicans, Independents and independent Democrats could rally around common distaste for the bill, particularly because Massachusetts already has a policy to ensure that nearly every citizen has health insurance, in-

troduced under Governor Romney and supported by State Senator Brown. The Democrats’ one-size-fits-all approach threatened to replace a locally-tailored system with a less attractive national one, while asking Massachusetts taxpayers to foot the bill for states that may stand to gain from the legislation.

Scott Brown’s victory is welcome news to those who desire a restoration of compromise and discussion in Congress. While Senator Brown may as the 41st Republican be able to rescue Senate Democrats from their own infighting, he can’t avert the disappointing Democratic electoral strategy revealed in the Coakley campaign, one fuelled by vicious identity politics and populist scapegoating, precisely of the sort Barack Obama ran as being above.

The pro-choice Brown was accused entirely fallaciously of denying evolution, and of wishing to deny contraceptives to all rape victims in the state. This claim was a wild distortion of his record, based on the fact that Brown had introduced an unsuccessful amendment allowing and requiring doctors to refer procedures against their religious beliefs to colleagues willing to perform them. The distortion was more egregious since he voted for the bill after his amendment failed, even voting to override Governor Romney’s veto.

The true irony is that it is the congressional health care bill Coakley supported which contains just such a measure. The power of Brown’s single vote was said to be capable of returning the country to “Bush-Cheney,” who, together with tea party activists, were used as phantoms to divert voters’ attention.

If Coakley felt she could not meet Brown on the issues, the fault lies not so much with her as with the President’s inability to give his party a strong message beyond blaming his predecessor.

If Barack Obama remains true to his campaign pledges to rise above such debilitating politics, his term may now be marked by the bipartisan legislative spirit he promised to cultivate, thanks largely to Scott Brown.

But if he fails he will face and deserve further defeat. The president appears to have veered in the same troubling populist direction, which failed to deliver Massachusetts to Coakley. His plans to increase taxes on our beleaguered financial sector would be a grave mistake as a matter of policy, as well as electoral strategy, because they run counter to his dignified and reasoned tone, which so many admire. While Obama and Brown were both elected in the hope of bipartisanship, it is Senator Brown who appears to be better positioned to provide it, if only because his office doesn’t offer the option of the regrettable hands-off approach Obama has exercised in the first quarter of his term.

Neo-conservatism thrives in Obama’s administration Joshua Rosen

Assistant Opinions Editor

D

uring the waning days of the Bush administration, some less-than-astute commentators might have surmised that the end of the Bush years constituted the death-knell of the neoconservative movement. However, the empirical reality suggests that rumors of the demise of neoconservatism have been premature, particularly when viewed in the context of American intervention abroad and the push for such intervention, even by liberals.

In 2006, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Wesley Clark co-authored an opinion piece in The Boston Globe urging the use of American military assets in the Darfur region of Sudan. He suggested that then-President George W. Bush “identify a capable nation to lead a UN-mandated stabilization force” and deploy United States “military assets...to respond quickly and aggressively to attacks against civilians.”

Gen. Clark, in years past, had come out against the so-called “Bush Doctrine” of preemptive conflict, as in his 2003 book Winning Modern Wars.

However, the lingering neoconservative—or, at least, interventionist—sensibilities in his view-

point remain. Clark was a true interventionist.

Gen. Clark’s arguments differ very little from those made in The Weekly Standard in 2006 by noted military historian Max Boot, who called for the use of private security firms as peacemakers in Darfur. On the face, the distinction between deployment of American forces and mercenaries is quite great. However, at the core of the issue is what then-Senator Obama suggested in a 2007 article in Foreign Affairs was the “mission” of the United States, which is “to provide global leadership grounded in the understanding that the world shares a common security and a common humanity.” At their core, Messrs.

Boot, Obama and Clark differ very little on the role of American power in the world—that it has been and must continue to be a force for good.

American intervention is well and good, but without sufficient military force to back the lofty goals of preventing or ending conflict, idealism grinds to a halt. The statements “A strong military is, more than anything, necessary to sustain peace” and “You [the military] are not wagers of wars, but keepers of the peace,” are quite similar, yet the individuals who uttered them are regarded as worlds apart. The former statement

was one made by President Obama, the latter, by former President Ronald Reagan in 1993. In fact, both Reagan and Obama favored considerable increases in the size of the Navy—during Mr. Obama’s administration, the Navy hopes to begin the first stages of growing from a force of 258 active ships to 313, and during Mr. Reagan’s tenure, the Navy grew to the unprecedented level of nearly 600 ships—and both looked towards missile defense as a realistic possibility.

One of the founding fathers of neoconservatism, Irving Kristol, is of the same philosophy as both of these presidents. He argued that it was in the national interest to protect freedom and peace throughout the world, and, as he wrote in a 2003 Weekly Standard article, maintaining the “incredible military superiority of the United States vis-à-vis the nations of the rest of the world” is necessary.

The “Bush Doctrine” of preemptive war to thwart attacks by enemy powers on the United States or its interests is one that had been attacked vehemently throughout the Bush years, and is still viewed as suspect by some. This neoconservative idea of a first strike to prevent hostile action by an enemy power, however, is en-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

dorsed by the current administration. The 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States endorses preemptive strikes and war, stating, “To forestall or prevent…hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act preemptively.” President Obama’s position differs very little, as he called for the use of “military force in circumstances beyond self-defense in order to...support friends, participate in stability and reconstruction operations, or confront mass atrocities.” As such, it might be apropos to rename the “Bush Doctrine,” since the doctrine of preemptive strikes is certainly not the preference of a single administration. Rather, it is part of a continuous train of pragmatic thought that still exists today and underlies American foreign policy, whether the public perception of the administration suggests it or not.

When the Democratic elite looks at the rest of the world, their perspectives remain largely the same as those of the Republican power structure whom they evicted in 2008. President Obama perhaps articulated it best: “America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, and the world cannot meet them without America.” If that is not neoconservative, not much else is.

OPINIONS

January 28, 2010

What would it mean to decriminalize prostitution?

Transhumanism advances increasingly relevant to all “Don’t be afraid of the future, least of all because, if you think for a second, you already live in it.”

Julian Mundy

Meghan Feldmeier

L

Guest Columnist

ast November, there was an initiative put on California’s ballot called Proposition K that, if passed, would have legalized prostitution in San Francisco. It didn’t pass, but it did secure 41 percent of the vote. Now, the grassroots Sex Professionals of Canada are bringing a complaint to Ontario’s Supreme Court saying that laws that criminalize prostitution are unconstitutional.

Many of us have an initial gut reaction that legalized prostitution is not right. Though we may support legalizing other practices that are considered immoral by some—such as abortion, gay marriage, lowering the drinking age or legalizing marijuana—somehow sanctioning the sale of sex feels different.

That reaction may come from accounts of individuals being forced into the sex trade. While this issue affects both women and men, this column will focus on female prostitutes.

Prostitution gives women without other options wages to support themselves. As prostitutes, however, they are breaking the law, and this puts them at greater risk of being abused by both their pimps and clients; because they work in secret, prostitutes face robbery, murder and rape on a regular basis. These women are put in a terrible situation because they put themselves at legal risk in turning to the law to protect themselves when they themselves are breaking it.

Legalized and regulated prostitution would protect women from these dangers. Furthermore, scheduled checkups and mandated condom use would help protect women from sexually transmitted diseases, law enforcement would protect their safety, and the government would get money from the tax on the client’s purchase, rather than from fining the prostitutes.

Some professional sex workers claim that they do the work voluntarily because they think it’s financially rewarding. These women claim that the government infringes on their liberty by criminalizing sex workers. Legalizing prostitution also makes room for these women to conduct their business legally and openly.

Two problems, however, arise from this “solution” of decriminalizing sex work. First, what do we do with that gut feeling that selling our bodies as a commodity is wrong? Is that reason enough to keep it illegal? Secondly, would legalized prostitution pressure women of limited financial means to participate in a profession that makes them uncomfortable? Is this a risk we are willing to take to protect women who are already in the trade? Protecting the women in the trade now seems to me to be the issue of greatest importance. Current prostitution laws disproportionately affect lowincome women, especially women of color. But with the legalization of prostitution, crimes against See PROSTITUTION on page 13

Page 11

Guest Columnist

S

ome people have an irrational fear of what the future holds, but I think it’s silly to be afraid of the future, plain and simple. My eagerness to see what the future holds can be boiled down to one magical word: transhumanism.

At this point, I can see the great majority of you looking very confused, and I sympathize.

Transhumanism and the technology emerging from it is probably the most interesting and most relevant subcategory of scientific study you’ve never heard of, or at least were never taught to recognize when you saw it.

Transhumanism is the term used to describe a massive ideological movement that seeks to redefine or improve upon what it means to be a human being, mostly through the application of emerging technology. At the pedagogical level, transhumanism is trying to literally go above humanity.

For instance, a man who lost his arm was given the opportunity to have electrodes surgically implanted into the stump, which are programmed to recognize electrical impulses that travel from the brain into the effector neurons in the arm, controlling movement of that limb. These are part of a robotic prosthesis system, and the subject was able to manipulate the robot arm using normal signals from his brain. He even succeeded in manipulating individual fingers on the robot arm and managed to grab and hold objects with little difficulty.

This is an example of transhumanism in action: the idea that we can not only replace what has been lost, but also improve upon it—the force the robot arm can exert is exponentially more than that of a human arm. You know the robot hand that Luke Skywalker gets after Darth Vader cuts his arm off ? Well, we have a prototype of that same thing functioning right now, and this is part of the reason why I love transhumanism so much: We are slowly but surely turning science fiction into outright science.

Transhumanism deals with a multitude of topics not simply devoted to the exploration of the human condition, but also to its specific aspects. In the democratic transhumanist arm of the H+ movement (a group of people devoted to transhumanist philosophy while employing a liberal viewpoint), there is a subset devoted to redefining gender identity. This should be of special interest to a Vassar student, especially those of us deeply involved

in LGBTQ and its affiliates. This postgenderism mindset has facets related to feminist transhumanism, body modification culture and “post-Darwinian leftism,” whatever that means to you. Should these movements reach the public eye, they would propel organizations like LGBTQ light-years ahead of where its level of discourse is now.

The transhumanism, or H+, movement is a hugely varied one, with doctrines branching out into hundreds of fields of scientific study such as singularitarianism, the search of “the human singularity,” in which scientific advances are made as fast as people update Facebook statuses and technogaianism, where scientists hope to create a world in which technology and the forces of nature work in equilibrium. Vast groups of scientists and public representatives are attempting to make the nature of their efforts known to the general public (i.e. potential consumers). The inherent drawback in having such a variety is the staggering amount of funding needed for research and development.

Of course, there are also critics of the H+ movement, and I would be remiss to leave them out. Some argue that members of the movement are only concerned with playing God, and others believe that a transhumanist future will trivialize what it means to be human. Still others insist that transhumanism will give way to de-humanization as opposed to the movement’s actual goals. I name these points of view so that if you disagree with what I’m saying, you will know you aren’t alone. If you’re looking for details, try Wikipedia or sites devoted to explaining the intricacies of the movement.

The point I’m trying to make is that no matter who you are, transhumanism and everything it brings with it is relevant to you.

If you have a human brain, your future may just depend on the advances made as a result of transhumanist science, and it is our duty not to discount its importance, nor to ignore its existence. Given time, we may be able to live forever by uploading our consciousnesses into computers. We are approaching a brave new world, but I believe it will be one with a brighter future than that of Huxley’s imagination. It will be real, vibrant and, most of all, it will be ours to do with what we feel is best.

Don’t be afraid of the future, least of all because, if you think for a second, you already live in it.

What is your New Year’s resolution for 2010?

“To be an enjoyable and affable person”

Jake Harris ’13

“To not ever have a New Year’s resolution again”

Anastasia Hardin ’10

“Conquer the world”

Alaric Chin ’13

“Try to become a student fellow”

Medha Sahi ’13

Brown’s election worrisome for Obama and his reelection David Keith

Guest Columnist

I

t is the night before Election Day 2008 and a family of two discusses how they plan to vote. This couple is a pair of retired union workers, living in the outskirts of the old milling town of Lowell, Mass. Since voting for Reagan, they have consistently voted Democrat, thinking that the Democratic Party holds their populist interests at heart. These are not social Democrats; rather they are socially conservative churchgoers who David are despised with the state of the economy and believe that the neo-conservatives have big business interests at heart. Barack Obama, while being a little too liberal, fits their bill.

One year and two months later, they vote for conservative Republican Scott Brown. The

fictional story of this couple is one that represents a major problem for Barack Obama. This has been a problem seen in favorability polling and more so, in the outcome of the 2009 offyear elections. While the Democratic insiders brushed off 2009’s results as the product of local interests, the few who saw this as a problem were correct.

Barack Obama has lost the independent voting block. Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, announced on Sunday morning that last Keith ’13 Tuesday’s election of Scott Brown to the United States Senate was not a referendum on the President. He is absolutely wrong.

Massachusetts’ special election, while producing a Republican Senator-Elect in arguably See OBAMA on page 13

“Many will say that this election don’t mean much for Obama and his reelection chances. They couldn’t be more wrong.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

“Become more involved on campus”

Jesse Greenberg ’13

“Not drinking and doing more work”

Katie Simpson ’11 —Kelly Shortridge, Opinions Editor Joshua Rosen, Assistant Opinions Editor

OPINIONS

Page 12

January 28, 2010 ADVERTISEMENT

Ford is corrupt, pawn of Wall St. Joe Hoffheimer Guest Columnist

“I

started church the old-fashioned way. I was forced to, and I’m better for it,” began a campaign commercial that bombarded my local media back in 2006. While this may have sounded like right-wing pandering from someone seeking local office, the next line proved entirely different: “I’m Harold Ford, Jr., and here, I learned the difference between right and wrong.”

“Fordie,” as George W. Bush called Ann Coulter’s favorite Democrat, was running to the Republicans for a Senate seat. In the church commercial, he strongly supported the Patriot Act and five trillion dollars in defense spending. Mixing right-wing policies and church, Ford clearly attempted to pander to social conservatives.

Flash forward to the present. Ford has left his Wall Street job to challenge New York Democratic Senate incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand. Now that he intends on running in a place where he has spent less time than most Vassar freshmen, Ford suddenly lacks his drawl and says he has always been pro-choice and supported gay marriage. This is a lie.

In 2006, Ford stated anti-choice views and supported the Defense of Marriage Act. Like he pandered to the religious right in his home state that year, his recent change in “ideology” is a similarly opportunistic attempt to grab New York voters.

Take a look at his political background, however, and it shows he is the exact same as any other soulless, self-centered politician.

Where Ford comes from, his name has a bipartisan association with machine politics. Look no further than his father, a powerful lobbyist, who served in Congress for decades before giving away his seat to his son. At the time, Junior was in his mid-20s and had no political experience.

In Congress, Ford consistently represented right-leaning views and, not coincidentally, believed that corporations should have unlimited power to buy politicians 10 years before the Supreme Court issued the same opinion. He was a solidly conservative Blue Dog Democrat and made a farcical splash into the national scene when he tried to become the party’s next House leader.

During Ford’s Tennessee Senate run, “Fordie” held Republican views on every significant issue,

and he even posed with a Confederate flag. Yes, this same man who crafts his views for New York voters can consciously pose next to our country’s worst symbol of racial oppression.

Another disturbing reality is that Ford’s “new” career has revolved entirely around Wall Street corporate interests. He has served as an executive at Merrill Lynch, now part of a government bailout target, Bank of America. He worked for Fox News and chaired the Democratic Leadership Council, the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. While there, he even endorsed Republicans for key Congressional seats.

In reality, Ford is simply a tool of Wall Street.

Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democrat currently in the seat, is a longtime resident of New York and the first “upstate” senator in decades. Ford has never visited most of New York City, likely never even seen the rest of the state, and is likely incapable of understanding the economic issues facing it. Gillibrand remains far from perfect, but has at least showed some progressive leadership on healthcare reform.

Ford, if elected, would do the same for the financial interests that Joe Lieberman has done for the health care lobby. He would be a consistent obstruction to any progress on financial reform, and would claim that his “moderate” positions gave him leverage to truly represent the American people. In reality, he would serve as just another addition to Wall Street’s growing political toolbox.

Ford’s financial background makes him a prime target for the sort of populist anger that dealt Democrats such a huge blow in Massachusetts. If Martha Coakley, the losing Massachusetts Democratic senatorial candidate who happened to have no direct Wall Street ties, suffered because she did not visit much of the state in her campaign and received ridicule for not knowing key facts about a beloved baseball team, imagine what could happen during a Ford run when the two factors intersect.

For Democratic voters in New York, the choice is clear. Ford has every right to run, but the Republican Party is where he belongs. Four years and many more flip-flops later, the infamous church commercial remains painfully relevant.

If it can help him achieve power, Ford’s perception of right and wrong is incredibly strong in its flexibility.

College must recognize hard work of its science students SCIENCE continued from page 9 graded. Somehow, the lab is exempt from being recognized as any kind of separate entity from the class.

Why does Vassar operate this way? I’ve heard a few arguments as to why this system exists. One theory suggests that assigned arts and humanities readings are somehow equivalent in time and scope to a science lab. Any student who has taken arts, humanities, and science courses, can readily testify that such an assertion is totally ridiculous. Science classes are usually assigned readings comparable in scope to those of equal-level arts and humanities classes, in addition to (in some cases) equivalent amounts of papers, and in many cases, problem-sets as well (which humanities classes usually lack).

Other arguments suggest that science students “know what they’re getting themselves into,” in a manner of speaking, and “if they aren’t prepared to make the credit sacrifice or take on a bigger work load, they shouldn’t be taking science courses.” While I understand the sentiment of this argument and am myself a big fan of taking responsibility for one’s decisions, I wholeheartedly disagree with the notion that science students should be expected to unfairly sacrifice the credits they deserve because they “know what they’re getting themselves into.” Being dissuaded from pursuing study in a field that one is passionate about due to credit injustice is totally ludicrous. I won’t (and I don’t) let my issues with lab credits preclude me from majoring in biochemistry. I will not, however, pretend to be okay about accepting this as the norm, when this institution preaches a commitment to justice, and teaches its students to believe that we have the power to create our own change.

Another argument purports that science majors, especially some of the more credit-heavy interdisciplinary ones like biochemistry or neuroscience and behavior, would exceed their maximum in-discipline credit allowances as defined by the distribution requirements for earning a Vassar degree. This perhaps bears the most weight of all.

I think it is worth questioning those seemingly sacred quotas and limits (or distribution requirements) placed on students, which require 50 percent of courses to be taken outside a stu-

dent’s major concentration and 25 percent to be taken outside the field of major concentration. Why are these numbers a hard and fast definition of a liberal arts education, and are they truly providing students with the optimal educational experience? Is there a SCRADMMCRRCLAI (Secret Committee on Random Assignment of Disciplinary Maximum/Minimum Course Requirements to Remain Classified as a Liberal Arts Institution)?

And another question, why is it okay for us to violate certain curricular policies (like the 17-credit cap on major requirements based on a 34-credit graduation requirement, though Biochemistry is an 18-credit major) and not others (like, more generally, exceeding the 50 percent maximum on in-major credits if you’re a natural science major)? The system of prioritizing curricular regulations and maintaining some while bending/breaking others as needed should be reexamined in light of what is most beneficial to students.

Here’s an interesting scenario to consider: I’m required to take a minimum of three-and-a-half credits to be a full-time VC student. Let’s say I’m a junior and a science major, and this semester I’m taking Organic Chemistry, Microbiology and Physics. These are all difficult courses which I know from personal experience require an exceptional amount of separate class and lab work.

Under our current system, with the workloads from lab and lecture of these courses, I’d be working as hard, if not harder than 90 percent of my non-science-major friends taking five non-science courses, (at least according to anecdotal evidence). More empirically, I would be spending 18.5 hours per week between class and lab compared with my five credit non-science friend’s 12.5. Ironically, despite the extra hours, I actually wouldn’t be considered a full time student and wouldn’t be eligible for housing, meal plan, etc.

It’s also worth considering that although students get one credit for a lab science course, the College can compensate instructors for up to TWO courses. Hey, if they’re getting paid to do twice the amount of work, why don’t I get credited twice for it? From an institutional perspective, current crediting of a lab science course, which can cost the college up to twice as much as any other, seems an extremely inefficient way to allocate fac-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ulty resources from a compensation/ credit ratio.

My belief is that Vassar students (and their GPAs, weighted by credit) deserve to be recognized for the extraordinary amount of extra work that is demanded of them by lab-science courses. I’m not calling for anything drastic here: if our standard one-semester course offering is one credit, and the notion of moving to a credit-hour system is simply unlikely to happen, I propose that we offer one-and-a-quarter credits to students enrolled in lab science courses. The most appropriate amount of credit would be one-and-one-third based on the credit-hour model, but this would wreak havoc on course unit computation. Imagine telling your friends you’re taking four-and-five-sixths (or 4.83) units! In my scenario pitched previously with three lab science courses, I would be soundly considered a full-time student enrolled in three-and-three-quarters credits (12 credits on the credit-hour system, equivalent to four non-lab courses; to me, it’s close enough). As for exceeding in-concentration credit requirements, for myself as a biochemistry major, one of the most lab-intensive ones, mine would turn from an 18-credit major, into, at maximum, a 21-credit major, exceeding the distribution requirement by four instead of one: Is that really such a big deal? I don’t think so, but it would definitely make me and my science comrades feel equitably valued and appreciated for our hard work in-class and in-lab, rather than undervalued and cheated, as many currently feel.

I implore students and faculty who want to address this injustice to talk to your departments and approach your Committee on Curricular Policy (CCP) representatives about their views.

That’s the committee where this kind of change is discussed.

To science students, I say don’t let the system continue to give us the short end of the stick (don’t let the thermal cycler continue to run short cycles yielding inadequately sized PCR product).

If you want to change curricular policy, say something (if you want your microbe to acquire antibiotic resistance, transform a vector)!

—Aaron Grober ’11 is a biochemistry major who is serving as the Vassar Student Association Vice President for Activities.

OPINIONS

January 28, 2010

Page 13

Prostitution Letter: CIE clarifies Miscellany article Brown’s win to regulation give new energy T to conservatives would keep women safe PROSTITUTION continued from page 10

prostitutes wouldn’t be kept secret, but will be prosecuted as they should be. Regulating the trade would serve to` protect these women before crimes were committed.

And, furthermore, it allows women who want to work in the trade voluntarily to do so.

But is it right for the government to sanction prostitution? On one hand, it’s not the government’s job to pass a moral judgment on adults who want to engage in prostitution.

Yet it doesn’t feel right to validate a trade that employs so many desperate women.

I believe that this issue highlights greater problems in our society and that it requires bottom-up change.

Impoverished individuals need to have a better support system so that they can find a job that supports themselves and their families without violating their rights to their own bodies. We have to have resources for these women, including education, free and universal health care (including abortion) and child care, and easier access to higher education, as well as rock-bottom support like welfare, low-cost housing, drug therapy and job counseling. We can make prostitution a viable option for those who engage in the trade voluntarily, and we need to have support for those who would turn to it out of necessity. While these problems’ solutions may seem huge and overwhelming, the truth of the matter is that we are dealing with most of them one by one. This health care debate counts, Stupak counts, because these are steps to alleviating the desperation of impoverished individuals.

he Committee on Inclusion and Excellence (CIE) Cultural Audit Team would like to make two quick corrections to the recent Miscellany News article “Committee concludes year-long audit of Vassar culture” (12.10.09).

First, we’d like to emphasize that the “What Would It Take For You To Thrive At Vassar?” audit of campus life and learning has not been concluded; it is still very much in process. The audit team is currently at work interpreting the preliminary findings based on the first set of focus group sessions that took place during spring semester 2009 and transcribing the most recent set of focus group sessions.

And, second, the basis of the audit is not a survey, but small, confidential, 90-minute focus group sessions led by trained student facilitators.

Members of the CIE Cultural Audit Team warmly appreciated the opportunity to share publicly, for the first time, some very preliminary audit findings at the Dec. 6, 2009 Vassar Student As-

sociation Council meeting. And we are greatly looking forward to sharing more of our findings— as well as providing opportunities for input and feedback—with all students starting early spring semester 2010. We are committed to fostering a campus where all students can thrive.

—The Committee on Inclusion and Excellence Cultural Audit Team (in alphabetical order): Associate Dean of Students and Director of Psychological Services Sylvia Balderrama, Assistant Director of Religious and Spiritual Life Rena Blumenthal, Professor of Art History and co-Chair of CIE Lisa Collins, Sara Fairchild ’10, Professor of Political Science and co-Chair of the CIE Katherine Hite, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa, Professor of English Kiese Laymon, Michael Mestitz ’12, Professor of Psychology Jannay Morrow, Associate Dean of the College for Campus Life Edward Pittman, Associate Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Thomas Porcello, and Syed Shehab ’11.

Republican win in Massachusettes disastrous for Obama’s reelection OBAMA continued from page 11 the most liberal state, actually wasn’t all that special. In fact, this election was much like many midterm elections: a repudiation of the failed policies and broken promises of the executive branch.

The equation that yielded Tuesday’s Democratic loss is not an uncommon one. It is the sum of two realities. For one, independent Democrats—Reagan Democrats—see Barack Obama as a turncoat on economic issues. They see bank bailouts, the appointment of Wall Street big shots like Tim Geithner and Larry Summers and a still-struggling economy as signs of a different direction than they had hoped for from Barack Obama. When he spent millions of dollars energizing independents from Virginia through Ohio, Barack Obama was able to convince these voters that they must put their social issues to rest and vote for a President who would work on their behalf of their economic interests. Now that he is actually in office, Barack Obama is viewed by Reagan Democrats in a different light.

The second part of this equation is the fact that liberals are becoming increasingly angered by their hero, President Obama. Most likely not so torn on economic issues, the liberal

base, after Obama’s decision to pursue an aggressive Afghanistan strategy, has been falling out from underneath the administration’s feet.

So how does this equation produce a Republican Senator in Massachusetts? It goes as follows.

The Reagan Democrats, primarily white voters in rural and union dominated areas far from Boston, Springfield or Worcester, take the first part of the equation to heart. They are mad, and no snowstorm will stop them from showing their anger by voting for Republican Scott Brown.

Then, extremely liberal Boston, Worcester and Springfield regions, to a large degree, stay home, giving the independent voice the deciding vote.

Many will say that this election, and even next year’s midterms, don’t mean much for Obama and his reelection chances. They will argue that if Bill Clinton could do it, so could Obama.

They couldn’t be more wrong. Bill Clinton had something Barack Obama doesn’t: a background as a centrist. President Obama has successfully alienated the right and center, and is well on his way to loosing large support from his base.

This is a disastrous, potentially fatal course for the Obama administration’s hopes of inspirational governance and reelection chances.

BROWN continued from page 10 support Scott Brown. Massachusetts Republicans simply fielded a better candidate.

Democrats, you still have an 18-vote majority in the Senate. President Obama, you still have an approval rating of 50 percent. More Americans identify as Democrats than Republicans. By the standard rules of democracy, you should be able to get almost anything you want done. I know you won’t, because you’re inept, but if you could, at least try your best to stave off the rising conservative tide that is now inevitable because of your complete lack of message control.

Here’s how it’s going to happen: Scott Brown wins in Massachusetts. His election sends the conservatives out with a new momentum. Teabaggers across the country are given legitimacy. The conservative media’s narrative of “Obama is a fading star” is bolstered, backed up by this evidence, which if construed a certain way, might make it seem like the American people are turning against Obama and are ready to go back to George Bush.

If the anti-Obama media narrative isn’t controlled or stopped, it will not be long before people start to bandwagon on this idea of opposing the president. Let’s be honest— a lot of Barack Obama’s support, and a lot of George W. Bush’s opposition, came from people jumping on the bandwagon. There’s even more of a danger of this happening in state elections, where information is less readily available. For example, everybody hates New York Governor David Paterson, but does anyone know why? I sure don’t, and I’ve routinely proclaimed that I’ll help vote him out of office.

Excitement about this president used to be the norm, but if the teabaggers get their way, he will become by default a pariah. This could very well affect the House and Senate elections in 2010, and, before you know it, the Democrats could be down to 52 or 53 seats in the Senate and saying hello to Speaker of the House John Boehner—and I promise you, once Boehner starts teabagging, he will never, ever stop.

Crossword by Jonathan Garfinkel ACROSS 1. “Right now!”, medically 5. “Rocky Mountain fresh” 10. Cartoonist Thomas ____ 14. Ones running en Pamplona 16. Main artery 17. Certain ray 18. In the works, say 19. Any ism 20. _____ alia 21. “The difference is drinkability” 23. Some steaks 25. Tee-shirt revolutionary 26. It may be electric 27. From whence one might be able to see Russia from one’s backyard 31. “___ Lay Dying” 34. ___ Lingus 36. Headless Anne 37. Bombay Sapphire, for one 38. Mil. rations 40. Mix

41. Regarding 44. Holy ___ (Vatican City) 46. Boot maker 47. What Pablo may be reading 48. Mouse’s home 49. ___-wolf, “mother” to Romulus and Remus 50. Hurricane in the pacific 52. Shakespearean villain 54. Scandalized former employer of Dennis Kozlowski 56. Mas’ partners 57. Some high perches 59. Alcoholics Anonymous enlistee 60. “Gimme ___!” (Philadelphia cheerleader’s cry, perhaps) 61. Take too far 62. Poe’s “The Masque of the ___ Death” 64. “I didn’t need to know that!”, briefly 65. Cool, calm, and collected 70. “Give yourself a good name”

75. French actor Delon 76. Outspoken 78. Commercial partner of “Barrel” 79. Madrid royal 80. “For good _____” 81. Singer/pianist John 82. Seine crossing 83. Whether it’s Light, Regular, or Ice, it’s always terrible 84. Sicilian spewer DOWN 1. Shank, say 2. Vegan staple 3. Yanks slugger 4. Implement 5. Stash 6. ____ Cloud 7. Miner’s product 8. US-1 and others 9. “Sexy ____” (Beatles tune) 10. Itty-bitty prefix 11. Against 12. British submachine gun 13. Does before feathering, perhaps 15. Adhesive

17. ______ High Life 22. African nation governed from Accra 24. Stacks of paper 27. They may be a “Situation” 28. Elise carmaker 29. Burning 30. Google founder Brin, and others 31. Major general and defense minister to Octavian 32. Girls given name from the emerald isle 33. Not versed, say 35. To inhale and exhale 39. US Navy ___, ___, Land Forces (commando corps) 42. Layer 43. Tic-tac-toe win 45. Crept 50. Some bags 51. Actress Watts 53. Bear, en Chile 55. “Miles away from ordinary” 58. Convey (an emotion) 63. Home of Exeter and Plymouth

64. The tube, to a Brit 65. Asian ones threaten the Great Lakes 66. It’s not butter 67. Common street name 68. 1/8 of a gallon

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

69. Certain explorer 70. Stop 71. Mystery author ____ Stanley Gardner 72. Comedian Williams 73. Elite school near

Windsor 74. 99 Luftballons singer 77. Briefly bankrupt finance company

HUMOR & SATIRE

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January 28, 2010

OPINIONS

We want Greek life at Vassar Mitchell Gilburne Guest Columnist

Molly Turpin/The Miscellany News

Bureaucracy at Vassar: an epic adventure of mythic proportions Michael Mestitz Guest Columnist

H

aving been back on campus for only one week, dear readers, I can already say that I’m exhausted. Is it because of my classes? No. Is it due to extracurricular activities? If only. It is due to paperwork. I’ve returned to find a veritable Everest of multicolored forms waiting for me to fill them out—from add/drop forms, to major and correlate declaration forms, to credit transfer forms, to (I can only assume) forms to request permission to submit forms.

I know I’m not alone in this bureaucratic quagmire because everyone has to deal with this at some point. So, in that spirit, I’ve decided to let my own experiences with this ink-spattered hell guide you through to the other side safely. I’ll be the Virgil to your Dante; “abandon hope, all you who sign here.”

To study abroad Go online and open up the application for permission to study abroad, and then fill it out as best you can. Your statement of purpose should be completed the night before it’s due with rushed half-truths that ineptly attempt to conceal the fact that the only reason you ever got interested in studying neoplasticist art in Amsterdam in the first place is because of the legalized hookers and cannabis.

Bribe your two faculty recommendations with promises to smuggle them back some pot and get ready to deal with a Mondrian painting while stoned out of your mind. (“It’s like … The colors, dude! By advocating universality by the pure abstraction and reduction of objects to form and color, they express a new utopian vision of non-objective order! Totally.”)

Special permission Retrieve one of the special permission forms from outside the Registrar’s office, and approach the professor whose class you’d like to add with your palms facing towards them, making no sudden movements. You must best them in single combat, and they can smell your fear. Fact: Bob Brigham is surprisingly strong and fast, and if Beth Darlington makes it to the sword in her office, that’s game over right there.

To declare a double major In order to declare a double major, get a yellow sheet and a pink sheet from the Dean of Studies office. Fill out the yellow sheet in duplicate in cuneiform, and then have your advisor in each department sign one copy, and get their signatures on the pink sheet. After that, get the signature of the department chairs of the departments in which you want to double major. Submit the pink sheet to the Committee on Leaves and Privileges, who will give you a piece of parchment in return.

Next, find Vasilisa the Beautiful, who will fly you to Siberia on a broom of silver birch. There, walk deep into the forest until you find a cottage supported by dancing chicken legs, surrounded by three riders; the rider in white is the Day, the rider in red is the Sun, and the rider in black is the Night. You do not need to fear them— simply turn your back and say “Turn your back to the forest, your front to me,” and the hut will reveal its doorway. Enter, and you will meet Baba Yaga, the Slavic witchqueen who rides through the night in a mortar, beating the side with her pestle to propel her through the sky in her ravenous hunt for lost children, whom she will devour.

W

hile I haven’t been keeping myself fully abreast of the subject, I have heard whispers of an apparent debate concerning the very real and official possibility of introducing Greek life to Vassar. After all, if you can’t trust Facebook, then whom can you trust? While I was aware that our fine institution of higher learning did not offer Greek life when I decided to enroll, and that it is regarded negatively by most, I feel the need to put my support in Greek life’s court. Now, before I incur the collective wrath of the hipster elite, I feel that I should explain myself. No need to ruffle unnecessary feathers, I always say! So just hear me out and then you can go back to smoking cigarettes on the steps of the All Campus Dining Center. I am a classics major. Although we are a minority on campus, we are a proud and learned people...even if the knowledge we acquire is slightly out of date.

The things that tickle our minds have long been lost to the shifting sands of time, and if there exists a daring group of students who wish to bring even a portion of that memory back to life, then I say, “HURRAH!” to them. Hurrah! Brave souls. If it were up to me, we’d have Greek life everywhere.

I am also a soon-to-be philosophy minor. Ever heard of Socrates? Aristotle? Plato? Yeah, didn’t think so. Otherwise, how could there even be the slightest glimmer of resistance to Greek life? Since the campus is clearly so grievously misinformed, I’ll just tell you that the aforementioned thinkers were pretty great, and if you don’t believe me, allow me to refer you to Wikipedia. And while you’re there, be generous. I hear they need a little money. You know as well as I do that about half of your GPA has Wikipedia to thank.

My first stop on my campaign will be fifth century Athens. The golden age, a time of philosophy and poetry and even a touch of pageantry. This is when you non-majors think of white marble and togas and democracy if you’re clever. Yes, I said it, democracy! Tired of the VSA? Longing for transparency? Why not try an absolute democracy? I know it sounds crazy, but that’s what you’d get under a system of Greek life. Every student would have a say in every decision made on the entire

Weekly Calendar: 1/28 - 2/3 THURSDAY, 1/28

11 a.m. Teen Visions. Like Kermit said, it’s not easy being teen. Palmer Gallery.

your Cro-Magnonlike buddies because it’s time for some DIVING!!!!!! Hell YEAH!!!! Field House Pool.

campus. To me, that sounds wonderful. If that doesn’t have you changing which Facebook group you belong to, then let’s examine the city-state of Sparta. Yes, Sparta, home to proud warriors and site of the world’s first theme park. If you don’t believe me, just ask Assistant Professor of Classics, Barbara Olsen, and she’ll fill you in. Sparta has the special significance of being home to two of my arguments championing the adoption of Greek life at Vassar College. First, women enjoyed the greatest agency in Sparta as compared to anywhere in the ancient world and, unfortunately, some of the modern world as well. Adopting a Greek system would ensure that all women at Vassar would have the freedom to indulge in all sorts of Sapphic madness, even the ones not living in Strong...provided the men of the campus were off at war, which is looking more and more likely these days. So, to recap, Greek life at Vassar is change we can believe in.

Ever complained about the ACDC? Let’s talk Greek food. Spoiler alert: It’s delicious! Ever tried feta cheese? Olives? Moussaka? Yum! We’ve all been disappointed by Dining Services at some point in our college careers. Well, Greek life will change that. Under a system of Greek life there will be Greek food all the Greek time. The current Mediterranean station will stop all of this pasta nonsense and live up to its name for a change. In fact, there won’t be need for a Mediterranean station any longer, for Vassar will become a Mediterranean campus! Anyone else just get the chills?

And there will be hummus for all! I know you like that, Vassar. Hummus is practically the lifeblood of the campus.

It seems that Greek life is destined to cure all of Vassar’s ailments. Maybe that’s why there has been so much resistance. I understand that you are all afraid. Change can be frightening, but when we examine the obstacles we have to overcome, we would be remiss to not realize that change is the answer. And with these problems, at this time Greek life is the change we need. With Greek life we can fix the loose screws in the VSA, save jobs without having to cut financial aid and give the Forum some food for thought. I believe I speak for the entire campus when I say “WE WANT GREEK LIFE AT VASSAR!!!”

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by Kelly Stout snakeskin blazer my hipster secret Santa gave me at our prebreak AMCL 380 gift exchange. Ugh. Thanks but no thanks, Marina. College Center North Atrium.

9 p.m. Indecent Exposure Pretty Pretty Princess Show.

It’s hard to make jokes about jokes. They’re never funny. It’s like multiplying two negatives to get a positive. For evidence of this phenomenon, see the preceding three sentences. UpCDC.

3 p.m. Tea. A Single Woman: A meditation on supply and demand in the Vassar dating world and one senior’s poignant resentment to being compared to a commodity. Rose Parlor.

3 p.m. Tea. An Inglorious Bastard: The sharply witty and crushingly heartfelt story of one bro’s struggle not to offend anyone in his Intro Women’s Studies class—and get the girl. Rose Parlor.

SUNDAY, 1/31

WEDNESDAY, 2/3

10 p.m. Class of 2011 Mug Night. Get reacquainted with your old friends after study abroad. Brag about how much the beautiful culture of southern Italy changed you, then scope out the skanky freshmen you missed in the fall. The Mug.

3 p.m. Modfest Art, Music, Poetry. You think this is cool?

Just wait ‘til Post-ModFest. It’ll be art, music, and poetry that questions art, music, and poetry, but it won’t really be art, music, and poetry, you know? Villard Room.

SATURDAY, 1/30

MONDAY, 2/1

5 p.m. Charles C. Griffin Memorial Lecture. You’re not the only one who had to Google Allen Wells. Sanders Auditorium.

TUESDAY, 2/2

5 p.m. Modfest Alumna Lecture. Dorothy Lamb Crawford ’54 discusses her recent book How I Stopped Complaining About My History Degree and Learned to Love Menial Desk Jobs that I Worked for Years Before Publishing This Book.

Skinner Hall, Thekla Hall.

3 p.m. Tea. And the nominees for best film based on a Vassar stereotype are… Rose Parlor.

FRIDAY, 1/29

11 a.m. Modfest Open Rehearsal. Not after Class of 2011 Mug Night. No way. Even if they’re rehearsing a piece called “Dark Interval.” Nothing but a bagel and fluids baby, fluids.

Skinner Hall.

1 p.m. Swimming and Diving v. NYU. Throw a few Bud Lites in the cooler and tell your wife not to bother you and

10 a.m. Vigil for Haiti. Literally the only decent excuse for not going to this event is if you were actually in the earthquake. Chapel Lawn.

3 p.m. Tea. Avatar: When a group of sophomores journey to the farm to get “really really high, dude,” they experience worlds they never dreamed existed. Their lives will never be the same. Rose Parlor.

10 a.m. Potpurri. I hope they do returns. I’m taking back that

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

3 p.m. Tea. It’s Complicated: When Facebook becomes selfaware and begins to feast on students’ time, it’s up to a crack team of unrealistically good-looking computer science majors and nerdy library dwellers to shut it down and save the world.

Rose Parlor.

January 28, 2010

ARTS

Page 15

Modfest celebrates contemporary arts

Local artist shows sketches in Van Ingen Art Library Eliza Hartley

Managing Editor

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Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

Adjunct Instructor in Music Peter McCulloch speaks before a piece on Friday, Jan. 22, in the Skinner Hall of Music. The performance is part of the College’s ongoing celebration of the eighth annual Modfest, a festival that pays tribute to 21st-century and 20th-century works of art and music.

Rachael Borné Reporter

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s a sophomore at Vassar, Adene Wilson ’69 went to a contemporary music concert. She was instantly fascinated by the sounds, as she had never heard of such music before. Looking back, she describes the experience as wonderful and perhaps her first inspiration for Modfest.

“I remember so clearly the concert and the impact it had on me,” said Wilson. “I had never heard contemporary music at that time, I didn’t even know it existed. I was fascinated by it and thought it wonderful. That turned out to be very lucky because I married the composer.”

This year marks the eighth anniversary of Modfest, Vassar’s contemporary arts festival founded and directed by Wilson and her husband Richard Wilson ’69. The events encompassing the festival highlight the talents of current students, faculty, alumnae/i and even members of the greater Poughkeepsie community in a celebration of modern music, dance, film, literature, poetry, visual arts and, for the first time, drama with a reading from Woodshed Theater Ensemble.

Two unifying themes tie all 30 events together. “One is the arts, and the other is the 20th and 21st centuries,” said Wilson. “Once you have those, the ideas come, and you’re able to keep branching to find connections in all the different disciplines,” she added.

Modfest has observed something of a ripple effect over the years, as more and more departments become involved. “The first year was just music, but very quickly we added dance, art and poetry. Every year it gets broader and broader,” she said.

Because Modfest showcases all artistic disciplines at Vassar, Wilson admits, “There’s not too much room to grow. I have all the elements that I think are really needed. Modfest is where I want it to be.”

As all events are free and open to the public, the festival offers opportunities that people might not have access to otherwise.

On Jan. 21, Modfest kicked off with Teen Visions, an exhibition of work from The Art Institute of Mill Street Loft. Parents, siblings, students and faculty alike gathered in the Palmer Gallery to admire hand-printed photographs, sculptures and paintings, all created by teenagers throughout the Hudson Valley.

According to the Mill Street Loft director Todd Poteet, artists studying at the studio are encouraged to consider what makes their pieces “art.” Students tackle theoretical questions of aesthetics and purpose in the art world. The multi-arts education fosters personal growth, self-expression and community collaboration.

After Teen Visions, the crowd congregated in the North Atrium of Main Building

for a concert with the Stringendo Vivace Ensemble and the Cappella Festiva Treble Choir, as well as a poetry slam with PASWORD (Program for Adolescent Student Women Of Real Direction) and Project AWARE (Adolescent Women Are Realizing Empowerment). Joan Henry, director of PASWORD and Project AWARE, emphasized the importance of art in the lives of budding adolescents. “We see a snapshot of what it’s like in words and feelings to be this age at this time. It’s a difficult time of changes,” she said. “These messages speak to the common experience of what it means to be human.”

Later that night, The Biava Quartet took the stage at Skinner Hall of Music to play a repertoire including “String Quartet No. 5,” a piece composed by Richard Wilson himself, as well as two other 20th century pieces. Each member moved in unison with the sounds with illuminated facial expressions. The performance was just as visual as it was musical.

The quartet finished the concert with a piece composed by Edvard Grieg entitled “String Quartet in G minor.” Mary Persin, a violinist in the group, described Grieg’s work as an “enormous sound,” adding that when first released, “the piece pushed against boundaries too much.” Although considered perhaps too modern for its own time, the piece mesmerized the Modfest audience with the sheer number of notes being played at any one moment.

Fitz Patton ’88, a sound designer and Department of Theatre Lecturer at Barnard College, visited Vassar’s campus on Saturday morning to lead a lecture entitled “Sound Design for Theater.” Patton discussed what he referred to as “sound architecture” in his talk. He reminisced about Coney Island’s Dreamland, comparing the theme park’s virtual spaces to the possibilities of innovative sound.

Patton’s lecture registered with Andrew Rovner ’13 and Mike Faba ’10, as both students work as light and sound designers for Vassar theater productions. “Mike and I were particularly fascinated by Patton’s view on timing,” said Rovner. “He said something like ‘wait until the last minute to make a decision; leave yourself as much flexibility as possible,’” he added. Faba and Rovner later had the opportunity to apply Patton’s ideas, as they both worked on light and sound design at the all-campus rave on Saturday night. Although the rave was not a part of Modfest, it still acted as a testament to the connections and experiences fostered by the festival’s events and collaborations.

“The very act of choosing to enter a theater space, whether it be for a play, a rave, a poetry reading or a dance performance, inherently accepts that you are entering a space

that is not real,” said Faba. Perfectly in line with what Patton asserted, Faba described the theater space as “transformative,” as most people who enter do so with the knowledge that they’re going into a virtual world.

Sound and light design are art forms equally as abstract as translation, another creative process showcased through Modfest. On Wednesday, Jan. 27, students gathered to read poems in their original tongues of Arabic, French, German, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. They then read their own individual translations of the poems. According to Chair of the Department of French and Francophone Studies Kathleen Hart, “In translation, something always gets lost and something always is gained.” Many of the translations were supervised by various foreign language and literature teachers, just one example of student-teacher collaborations in Modfest.

Translation has become increasingly recognized as an art form, as the 2009 annual Modern Language Association Convention was devoted to the theme of translation.

“Art is always a kind of translation. Literary translation requires a keen sensitivity to language combined with an ability to feel inspired while laboring over the smallest detail,” said Hart. Adene Wilson mentioned “making connections” as an overarching motif found throughout Modfest. Students celebrated the commonalities between each language and expressive mode, all the while respecting what makes the language unique.

Events like the Biava Quartet performance, the Fitz Patton ‘88 lecture and Translation as an Art gave Modfest a strong start out of the gate. But even though a week of modern art has passed by, the festival hasn’t come close to finishing. This Sunday, Jan. 31, students of the Music, English and Art Departments will celebrate Art, Music and Poetry in the Villard Room at 3 p.m., hosted by none other than Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette.

“The pieces—poetry, music, and art— have been prepared separately; however, audience members will discover surprising and serendipitous connections,” explained Chenette. He added, “To me, it’s thrilling to have student work presented at the same festival as faculty, alumnae/i, and visiting artists and performers. We experience the full continuum of creative growth.”

Another gallery opening on Friday, Jan. 29 at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC) won’t feature student work, but will instead display the fruits of faculty labor. On Thursday, Feb. 4, Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition Adrienne Elisha will play “Circle Voices,” a piece inspired by “Harry Roseman: Hole in the Wall,” a FLLAC See MODFEST on page 16

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

cheap wristband, baseball cap or bumper sticker. A grandparent’s beloved pen, a photo of a Bar Mitzvah or a leaf from a tree outside a childhood home. The word “souvenir” encompasses many things, and it’s a concept that local artist Travis Head puts to work in his art.

“There is a commemorative drive to my work that parallels the impulse someone might have to make a journal entry, take a photograph, or cross-stitch a picture celebrating a wedding or the Fourth of July.”

So speaks Head in the statement accompanying his exhibition on display in the Van Ingen Art Library entitled Artist’s Books and Drawings by Travis Head, which runs from Jan. 4 through Feb. 4 and culminates with an informal talk to be given by Head on Feb. 4 at 5 p.m.

Head is a personal artist’s assistant to Art Department Chair Harry Roseman. As a New Paltzbased artist, Head assists three other artists in the New Paltz and Poughkeepsie area, including photographer Catherine Murphy, Thomas Nozkowski and Joyce Robbins.

The exhibition comprises six Moleskine notebooks of Head’s and two larger sketches in a glassedin table at the center of the newly-renovated Art Library. “Art Librarian Tom Hill and the Art Department have been thinking that now that we have this newly, beautifully renovated Art Library, we should have exhibits and activities…make it a place where things are happening, a gathering place,” said Roseman. “The idea was to try to come up with good shows that could work well in limited exhibition areas that the Library affords. Travis does good work, works small, and it seemed to make sense in that small space.”

Head’s works are very autobiographical and meticulously organized. In his artist’s statement, he claims to have been working in Moleskine notebooks since the age of eight, when his father encouraged him to keep notebooks of their trips around the country. His statement reads, “Many of my drawings find their origin…in my present, or the personal mythology I’ve created for my past.”

His books range from one entitled Places I’ve Lived, to another entitled Road Lessons. His work has a very personal bent to it, making some images more difficult to interpret than others. However, Roseman and Head both believe that a viewer’s interaction and experience with a work of art is very intimate.

Head explained, “I don’t really have an agenda for what others take from these books.” He continued, “[Viewers] will respond to certain images more than others. They might be puzzled at times and wonder why things are so coded and what the codes might mean. Still other people will be shocked and embarrassed by the level of disclosure. In the best-case scenario, the viewer might take away an experience of intimacy.”

This phenomenon is captured well in his piece “Chelsea Snakes” from Road Lessons. When asked about the piece’s significance, Head relates a story of meeting up with a friend on a New York City street corner to go to an opening. When he got there, his friend showed him a rubber snake he’d found, and a few steps later, Head found one as well.

“That’s it,” he said. “Boring, huh? And maybe a little bit of a let down. For whatever reason, this event seemed meaningful for me and prompted me to make a drawing. And the drawing has so much more in its visual language than the story I just told you,” he continued. Head claims that in all senses, the drawings are a more refined and nuanced form of personal documentation than writing, and that this drawing serves as a good example of that.

Both Roseman and Head agree that it’s up to the viewer to make what he or she will of the intimate experience offered by the exhibition.

Roseman, however, did have this to offer: “I think the work is excellent, and I hope things will reverberate within the viewer.” He continued, explaining, “You look at something. You think about it. The hope is the thinking will multiply so that there are layers of response and thought that come from the initial interaction with the work. I think it’s very thoughtful work, so my assumption is that will happen.”

The exhibition continues through Feb. 4 in the Van Ingen Art Library in Taylor Hall. To learn more about Head and see more of his work, visit travishead.com.

ARTS

Page 16

Popular festival comes back for its eighth year

FLLAC curator honored with Warhol grant Carrie Hojnicki Arts Editor

P

oint. Click. View. The ability to capture and instantly view an image is a process wholly integral to a contemporary understanding of photography. Every day, we are bombarded with the omnipresence of digital images—the products of digital cameras, cell phones, even webcams.

Photography, a process formerly reserved for the practiced professional, now belongs not just to the artist, but also to the masses.

By no means was this transformation an overnight occurrence.

It is the cumulative product of years of technological advancement, beginning with Polaroid’s release of the SX-70 in 1972.

It was announced earlier this January that the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center’s (FLLAC) Emily Hargroves Fisher ’57 and Richard B. Fisher Curator MaryKay Lombino, was awarded a curatorial research fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts for her proposed exhibition, The Polaroid Years: Instant Photography and Experimentation. Lombino’s research is groundbreaking, as it marks one of the first comprehensive considerations of the instant Polaroid image as a work of art.

Lombino began thinking about this sort of cumulative exhibition when the Andy Warhol foundation presented the FLLAC, as well as various other collegiate art galleries and museums, with 50 Polaroids by the seminal pop artist himself.

“Suddenly, there was this influx into the permanent collections of museums of Polaroid works. I felt like there needed to be another way to validate those pieces as artwork. Now they are all objects in art museums, but the context has never been put into group works,” explained Lombino. “Interestingly, [photographer Robert] Maplethorpe had a show at the Whitney [Museum of American Art] a few years ago of just his Polaroids. So the door

has begun to creak open to begin to consider these Poloriods as artworks. But still the group show has never been done.”

Winning over the Andy Warhol Foundation is no easy task, as it is widely known for its limited and esteemed grants. It even took Lombino herself a few tries to catch the Foundation’s eye.

“The Warhol Foundation is very competitive, and I’ve actually applied to them before in past years for an exhibition I organized here. But I didn’t give up.

One thing that’s slightly different about this grant is that it’s a curatorial research grant. The Warhol Foundation also gives grants for actual exhibition funding. This is different because they’re getting behind the exhibition way before it’s even planned,” said Lombino.

There is an intriguing parallel between the pioneering nature of Lombino’s research and the innovation behind the Polaroid artists themselves. Just as the Polaroid revolutionized the way we consider photography, Lombino’s exhibition intends to revolutionize the way we consider the Polaroid as an art object.

“The Polaroid inspired artists to work in new ways. And that’s really what the show will be about. The show is about experimentation,” explained Lombino.

“It’s not so much about the medium itself because non-artists use the Polaroid as well. But it is the ways in which artists found their way to this technology.”

Perhaps what is most fascinating about Lombino’s curatorial research is its containment between two chronological bookends: the release of the Polaroid SX-70 in 1972 and Polaroid’s discontinuation and expiration of film in October 2009. Subsequently, the artists in the exhibition will range from modern masters such as Andy Warhol and André Kertész, to the yet undiscovered. In fact, Lombino is still searching for Polaroid artists. As for the film’s discontinuation, the curator finds this fascinating.

Image courtesy of Nancy Crampton

MODFEST continued from page 15 installation by the titular Chair of the Art Department. “There is a rhythmic musical aspect to ‘Hole in the Wall,’” said Roseman. “I very much admire the compositions of Adrienne Elisha and think we have overlapping symbiotic interests.”

Roseman’s piece exists directly on the walls of the Atrium Gallery. The space is long and narrow—accordingly, the installation accentuates the unique and airy architectural makeup of the gallery. The work should completely alter the experience of entering the FLLAC. Roseman describes contemporary art-making as “expansive.” “It’s about exploration, discovery, invention and reinvention in such a way as to lead one to be open to surprises and innovation from any possible camp or position,” he explains. To accompany the unveiling of the installation and composition, there will be a documentary film screening of Roseman’s Woven Walls: The Movie in Taylor Hall at 5:30 p.m. preceding the gallery opening.

Another event to mark on the calendars is Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre’s (VRDT) second Modfest performance on Friday, Feb. 5.

The program will feature selections from “The Griot Dance,” choreographed by Dance Department Chair Stephen Rooks. “Although the larger work is informed by aspects of African culture, the movement vocabulary and execution of the ideas are based on my background in American modern dance,” said Rooks.

VRDT dancer Dana Christy ’11 describes the movements as “fierce,” adding “I always imagine that I am a lioness in the jungle stalking my prey.” Christy finds “Griot” particularly interesting to watch because the movement is both edgy and requires a high level of classical technique.

Howard Kilick, composer and accompanist for the Dance Department, composed the score for the performance. “I think that Howard brilliantly captured the feeling of encountering a pride of lions in a Zambian Savannah,” said Rooks.

The inclusion of VRDT in Modfest for its second year shows that the festival highlights artistic disciplines across the board. At no other time will students be exposed to such variety in the arts, such interesting collaborations and such a welcoming environment to experience these things, not to mention—it’s all free.

For more information about the 30 Modfest events, see the calendar on page 18 of this issue.

January 28, 2010

Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center’s (FLLAC) Emily Hargroves Fisher ’57 and Richard B. Fisher Curator Mary-Kay Lombino poses in the FLLAC sculpture garden.

“There was this outcry on the part of artists and other users that [the Polaroid] was so important. How could you do this?

And that I think is an interesting idea—that even though the technology is obsolete, people don’t want to let it go.”

As far as Lombino’s favorite Polaroid artist?

“That’s so hard. I always get this question. I would say that since I’m talking about experimentation, that the most experimental of these artists is Lucas Samaras,” she answered. “He would alter the emulsion process by heating up the film, cooling it. He really went nuts with the material and took it to levels that no one had done before. It was so new and so different.”

The only unfortunate part about the exhibition is that Vas-

sar has to wait another two years for its 2012 completion. In the meantime, Lombino plans to use her grant to continue the research she has already begun.

“I know that certain collections of Polaroids reside in certain cities. As part of the grant, I will travel to those cities to research the collections and learn more,” explained Lombino. “Another component of this show will be more contemporary, emerging artists who are using Polaroid technology in their work. And those are sometimes harder to find because they’re not in museum collections yet.

Sometimes they’re not even in private collections yet. You need to go through the gallery, go to the artists’ studio and meet them personally. And that will take some digging.”

Social perception of industry captured in exhibition Thea Ballard

D

Reporter

ark, angular etchings of haunting smokestacks and coal mines hang next to posters depicting rosy-cheeked scenes of cheer, the factories no longer looming but instead blending into landscapes replete with blue skies. In one image, a man, drawn in shades of gray, is bound and struggling in front of an industrial background, while in others workers appear satisfied and hopeful.

The newest exhibition at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC), At the Heart of Progress: Coal, Iron, and Steam since 1750: Industrial Imagery from the John P. Eckblad Collection, showcases works in a variety of mediums depicting various facets of both American and European industry since the 18th century. The show is a traveling exhibition featuring works out of collector John P. Eckblad’s private collection, organized by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Ackland Art Museum.

The FLLAC selected the exhibition partially because of its multi-disciplinary academic appeal, as well as its relevance to today’s discussions of clean energy and the environment. Said FLLAC Curator Patricia Phagan, “We were really interested in having the show because we thought that the subject matter would touch so many sections of campus, so many different audiences— faculty in different disciplines. And too, with

so much emphasis on the environment, the exhibition really is an excellent way to look at the environment and the resources we’ve used—the natural resources.”

The works in the show cover a wide range of media, featuring largely prints and posters, including engravings and commercial prints, as well as several books and a toy coal mine. Though many of the images come from very different backgrounds—American, European, commercial, political—a unified narrative emerges as one travels through the exhibition. The same subject is approached in a number of different ways, with industrial subjects like coal and labor glorified and hopeful in one poster, while ominous in the engraving next to it.

These shifts in perspective trace European and American attitudes towards industry, as new technology goes from being the next great hope to a source of ecological gloom.

“It’s very interesting to see from an art historical or an artist’s viewpoint from, say, the earliest works, all the way up to the 1990s, and you see how artists have approached the landscape with the smokestack very differently,” said Phagan. “Very early on, the images were of beautiful agrarian picturesque landscapes with coalmines and smokestacks and trains.”

In the 1990s, American and European artists were still looking at and depicting smokestacks but in a very different light. A work by contemporary artist Craig McPher-

son, “Clairton,” embodies this shift. “He did it in an 18th-century print process called Mezzotint,” explained Phagan. “You start the exhibition with 18th-century engravings, and you end the exhibition with an 18th-century engraving process. So it’s very interesting to go from the first gallery all the way through this survey of the way the artists have approached this imagery, and also a survey of styles and moods, and then you get to the last gallery where the McPherson is. You’ve come kind of full circle in a way.”

FLLAC Director James Mundy also noted the differences between American and European portrayals of industry from the same time periods. “I think that after World War I in Europe, industry mechanization, the specter of what these industries could bring about, was pretty scary. And in America, it wasn’t felt the same way because we didn’t see the connection as clearly between the battleground and these industrial places. I think that’s why some of the later European material has more of an ominous feeling to it; it’s a little more spectral that way. You know, in this country right through the [1930s]… we just thought about building and making more steel and churning it out. You have a much more optimistic feeling here than you did in Europe. The resources are finite, and [Europeans] became aware of that much earlier than we did.” The exhibition reflects patterns throughout America’s recent industrial

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

history, giving an interesting visual window into old technologies that were, for so many, deeply embedded in a certain way of life.

But it also speaks to the American present and future, provoking thought about how we approach technology. “When you see the excitement with which new technology was heralded in the late 18th or the early 19th century, and how 100 years, 150 years later, views have changed so much,” said Mundy.

“It should temper our thinking about the next new thing, whether it’s solar power or wind power or what have you.”

“People were as excited about the steam engine as they were about atomic energy,” continued Mundy. “That’s the lesson of history. It’s that the more things change, the more they stay the same—that the conversation and excitement about new technology is an old conversation.”

The exhibition also gives a message of hope and potential for change. Continued Mundy, “It makes you realize, in spite of everybody’s worries about the planet…how far societies have come in cleaning up the sources of a lot of pollution when you think back. Witnessing the way things were in the late 19th century and early 20th century, when it came to steel production and the horrendous mess it left behind, makes you appreciate some of the forms. It makes you see how when you make an effort you can actually improve things.”

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January 28, 2010

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Noonan gives life to Vassar party scene as DJ Respire Wally Fisher Reporter

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Eric Schuman/The Miscellany News

ven when he’s not covered in blue body paint like at this past Saturday’s Shiva Rave, Paul Noonan ’10 is one of Vassar’s most visible DJs. It’s easy to see why, for Noonan possesses both a vast knowledge of the craft and an incredible passion for it.

Noonan described the act of DJing as, “When it really comes down to it, you’re mixing two songs together or three or four…and beyond.

And the art of DJing is in how you do the mix, how you get those two songs to work together.

You could cut it up, cross-fade between the two really quickly, have one vocal going on one speaker and the other vocal on the other speaker and they combine. Or just a simple smooth glide from one to the other. The art of DJing is the complexities of that transition.”

Students are probably more familiar with Noonan’s artistry than they may be aware. The director of Vassar Teknowledgy can recall DJing for seventeen different events since his freshman year, including Mug nights and Shiva Raves.

“I consider the Shiva Raves to be the most exciting because they’re unlike any other event on campus,” wrote Noonan in an e-mailed statement. “We completely transform the space of the Susan Stein Shiva Theater into VT’s (Vassar Teknowledgy) own venue for one night every semester. It’s huge, it’s loud, it’s colorful, and it’s the one event where the DJs can feel free to do almost anything they want.”

Noonan first began DJing at Vassar after receiving guidance from a DJing friend. “[Michael Pepe-Mooney ’07] just asked if I was interested,” Noonan explained. “He showed me how to beatmatch tracks, how to figure out where the

rhythm of the track, the song is, and how to tell the computer where that is…I was really interested in it. I just taught myself everything from there on, kept playing shows…kept working at it until I got comfortable enough. Before I got comfortable enough to even do a show Michael, booked me to play a party in the College Center and just said, ‘Go, you’ll be fine.’ It worked.”

Since then, Noonan has played at numerous events. Perhaps better known as Respire, Noonan chose his moniker after being admitted to the hospital his freshman year with a collapsed lung. Noonan recalled, “I spent 11 days there waiting for it to re-inflate. While there, I said, ‘You know, I’m really happy I can breathe.’ It’s part of who I am because a near-death experience changes you. Respire is unique, and it’s who I am.”

What Noonan most likes to listen to and mix is electro and its many quirky subgenres— including wonk, fidget, wobble, dubstep, grind and noise. But despite his personal preference, he knows how to perform well for a crowd’s particular tastes.

“A Vassar show wants a lot of sing-alongs, stuff people recognize,” said Noonan.

“Whereas when I’m playing an underground warehouse rave in Atlanta, I can just do crazy stuff. The kids there go nuts for noisy, loud stuff. So I can get really weird in those shows, whereas I can get fun with big, anthem, sing-a-long stuff at the Vassar shows.”

Noonan’s flair for the mixing board comes with technical finesse of his craft. While DJing, Noonan uses software called Ableton Live to mix his tracks. He arranges his music by key, so that he can mix harmonically. DJs like Noonan often use a variety of technology when performing

President of Vassar Teknowledgy Paul Noonan ’10, also known as DJ Respire, DJs the Shive Rave on Saturday, Jan. 22, in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater. Noonan plans to continue DJing after graduation. a set, including computer software, MIDI controllers that can remotely control music samples and beats, and vinyl records on turntables.

Noonan plays simply for the love of the music. This passion extends into his academic pursuits, as he is a media studies major in sound and is currently writing a thesis on music discovery. “I live music. I study music. It’s what I do,” said Noonan. “It’s the music and seeing people just dancing to something I’m performing,” he added. “It’s really a performance art. I

may not make the music, but I’m interpreting the music in new and interesting ways,” Creating music is Noonan’s focus in his final semester at Vassar, although he is undecided as to the kinds of songs he write. “I don’t particularly want to ground myself to any one particular style before I’ve even created anything,” wrote Noonan.

Does he plan on continuing his electronic artistry post-graduation? “Absolutely,” he said.

“I love this too much to stop after four years.”

IE integrates professional comedy with student material David Lopez

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Reporter

ake no mistake about it: Behind Indecent Exposure’s colorful anecdotes and witty expressions are funny women with an aim to make audiences laugh ’til it hurts. Indecent Exposure’s upcoming “Stand Up and Rock Out” will showcase three women who have taken their humor to the professional level.

Jenn Themelis, Chanelle Futrell and Claudia Cogan have all had their share of success and praise in the New York City comedy scene.

Themelis, for whom “Stand Up and Rock Out” will be her first college performance, frequently contributes to the popular political satire website Barely Political. Futrell has performed in the NYC Underground Comedy Festival. As for Cogan, she received Time Out New York’s “Joke of the Year” award in 2008.

Treasurer for Indecent Exposure Lorraine DeGraffenreidt ’10 wrote of the show’s program in an e-mailed statement: “I can’t really give too much away at this point. All I can tell

you is that there will be three professional comedians performing about 10 minutes of their own material.

Indecent Exposure women will be ‘emceeing’ the show and doing little interludes throughout the evening.”

“This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this. I hope it goes well. If it does, we’ll probably try something similar in the future,” she continued.

DeGraffenreidt cites attitude as one of the group’s defining attributes.

“If Vassar College were recess, Indecent Exposure would be that group of trouble-making girls notorious for making up nasty songs and choreographing dances that you wish they would teach you,” wrote DeGraffenreidt. In order to describe the group, each woman in the comedy troupe brings a special element necessary for comical success. “Indecent Exposure women happen to be really clever and passionate about learning, so sometimes what we come up with is a little more intense than people are expecting. If we have an edge at all, it’s just being smart. All comedi-

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ans write what they know, and, furthermore, they write what they feel passionate about,” she continued.

Indecent Exposure performs stand-up as well as sketches and other various forms of comedy, such as humorous songs. DeGraffenreidt explains, “Stand-up comedy is a funny thing. It’s different for everybody, but, for me, the hardest parts are writing and standing backstage before you’ve performed.” Apart from the nerves needed to do stand-up, DeGraffenreidt describes her reasons for doing it as, “You stand there waiting, asking yourself why you keep doing this to yourself. Once you get out there and start going, you remember, this is why I keep doing this to myself. It’s awesome!”

Another reason for the group’s large turnouts may not only be their daring stand-up routines, but also the inspiration for their material.

“The only way to write successful comedy is to be as honest as you can. The truth is, however, that in comedy you are always allowed to lie. You have to be honest about your

feelings and what you believe, but the facts hardly ever matter,” wrote DeGraffenreidt. “If the point of your story is that your mother suspects that you’ve been having unprotected sex and wants to intervene in the most subtle way possible (disclaimer: this example is a complete fabrication,) you need to decide how you feel about her actions but any other details of the story can be fake.”

The members of Indecent Exposure put comedy first at times.

“I’ve put Indecent Exposure before my own needs a million times, and I’m sure the rest of the girls in the group feel that they’ve done the same. We have been through a lot together over the past couple years,

so we’re very comfortable with each other and we’re as supportive of one another as we can be,” DeGraffenreidt commented. Indecent Exposure has grown to make the member feel like a family with common bonds to connect each other. “I guess we are kind of like a ‘family’ but for the most part we’re just really cool people that come up with great ideas,” wrote DeGraffenreidt.

Above all else, the sounds of laughter erupting from the rows in front of them keep the comedians and audiences coming back for more.

Indecent Exposure’s “Stand Up and Rock Out” show will be performed at Matthew’s Mug on Jan. 30 at 9 p.m.

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thecomedians.org

Claudia Cogan is performing at Vassar alongside fellow comedians Jenn Themelis and Chanelle Futrell as part of Indecent Exposure’s “Stand Up and Rock Out” event to be held on Saturday, Jan. 30, in Matthew’s Mug at 9 p.m.

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January 28, 2010

modfest Event Calendar Thursday, January 28 Modfest Vassar Bookstore Writers Circle 4:30 p.m., Vassar College Bookstore, Main Building, College Center

Modfest: Art and Music for Late Night at the Lehman Loeb 6:00 p.m., Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

Friday, January 29 Modfest Documentary Film Screening Woven Walls: The Movie, Katie Hickman ‘08.

5:30 p.m., Taylor Hall, Room 102

Modfest: Performance and Exhibition Opening Reception

“Circle Voices,” Adrienne Elisha. 6:30 p.m., Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

Saturday, January 30 Modfest Open Rehearsal: Mahagonny Ensemble “Dark Interval,” Nathan Hall ’04. 11:00 a.m., Skinner Hall of Music

Modfest Drama: Woodshed Theater Ensemble 3:00 p.m., Rose Parlor, Main Building

Modfest Concert: Orchestral and Vocal Ensembles 8:00 p.m., Skinner Hall of Music

Sunday, January 31 Modfest Presentation: Art, Music, and Poetry 3:00 p.m., Villard Room, Main Building

Monday, February 1

For your consideration: best of the decade “B

est of” lists are always a tricky enterprise, especially when it comes to music. Describing how a certain piece of music sounds is hard enough as it is. Ranking it on a numerical scale is a whole other can of worms. To be honest, it’s a futile endeavor, and it often detracts from the real goal of criticism: to explain the strengths and weaknesses of a certain record, and let readers make up their own mind. =This being said, a truly incredible decade of music has recently passed us by, and I would be remiss if I didn’t at least pick out a few records that I thought stood out from the rest. I know I’m missing a lot of exceptional, once-in-a-lifetime albums, but there’s only so much I can say in this small space. I skipped over obvious choices because, quite frankly, no one wants to hear for the millionth time why Kid A is the most groundbreaking musical statement of the decade (even though it probably is). So, without any further ado, here they are, in no particular order: four albums that I liked from the past 10 years.

Wolf Parade Apologies to the Queen Mary I’m going to start with an album that opened up a completely new world of music to me, at a time when I was exceedingly impressionable. When I first heard Wolf Parade’s Apologies to the Queen Mary in 2005, I didn’t know anything about “indie-rock” or the then-nascent Canadian music scene; I just knew that I liked it. Never before had I heard music that so elegantly combined orchestral grandeur with ramshackle exuberance. Every glorious, emotion-drenched crescendo was held together with a rickety drumbeat or a messy, analogue keyboard riff. With two dueling singer-songwriters—one who cops from David Byrne, and one who cops from Bruce Springsteen—Apologies to the Queen Mary effortlessly walked the line between cohesive beauty and schizophrenic mayhem. Album standout “I’ll Believe in Anything” is still my favorite song of all time, and that’s saying a lot in an Internet-driven culture that disposes of singles faster than it does recyclables. What Wolf Parade taught me was that it was okay to make heartfelt music as long as each song had enough combustible energy to power a small country.

The Hold Steady Separation Sunday Also from 2005 was The Hold Steady’s breakout record, Separation Sunday. Essentially a bar band—complete with chugging-power chords and the twinkling pianos from Bruce Springsteen’s “Thunder Road”—The Hold Steady’s secret weapon is their unlikely frontman, Craig Finn. A true lyricist in the classic sense of the word, Finn writes concept albums with seedy, wittily named characters and just enough narrative ambiguity to make the whole thing work. Separation Sunday is about a girl named Hallelujah (Holly for short) who finds heroin, a cast of less-than-admirable friends and then God—though not necessarily in that order. Alongside copious amounts of vintage organ and the occasional guitar solo, Finn drops the kind of lines that will make you want to rewind the song to hear them again, referencing Rod Stewart, Mary Tyler Moore and the book of Exodus—sometimes in the same song. In a decade in which lyrical genius was mostly reserved for a select group of rappers, Finn made rock and roll a storytelling medium once more.

Ghostface Killah Supreme Clientele Speaking of a select group of rappers, the most consistent and enlightening emcee of the decade was the one who most apparently bucked the trends of rap music in the 2000s.

In a decade in which the South and the Midwest ruled, auto-tune turned rappers into singers and hip-hop slid more towards party music and further away from social commentary, Ghostface Killah stood against the tides of time, arms crossed, wallabee shoes laced, a big smirk growing across his mouth. The best rap record of the 2000s, Ghost’s Supreme Clientele, is a throwback to the ’90s, a time when producers used samples from jazz songs and kung fu movies, and rappers told gritty stories about the dangerous lives their peers faced. Supreme Clientele is the perfect starting point for a surprisingly illustrious decade for the Wu Tang Clan, a decade in which Ghostface Killah was the clear leader of the pack.

Ghost and his ilk have always been hip-hop’s auteurs—crafting their songs with cinematic details and vision. On Supreme Clientele, Ghost brought his rhyming to a whole other latitude. Ghost is sometimes the consummate

gangster, escaping near death just in time to get home for a fat blunt and the evening news.

Other times he’s the remorseful ladies man, realizing that he should probably think with his head instead of his member. But no matter what he’s saying, Ghost’s nimble, multi-syllabic flow is always on point. This year Ghost will turn 40, and he’s still rhyming like no one else.

May the new decade bring many more Ghost records, and the continued supremacy of the Wu Tang Clan.

LCD Sound System Sound of Silver Rounding out my list of four is LCD Soundsystem’s 2007 release Sound of Silver. LCD is the musical brainchild of James Murphy, a longtime mainstay of the New York underground scene with a resume that could put any hipster to shame (he’s been a sought-after DJ, a member of countless bands, and he even turned down a writing gig for Seinfeld.)

After spending his 20s in cred-worthy obscurity, Murphy finally broke through with LCD’s self-titled 2005 album. But while the self-titled record was a well-crafted and engaging collection mostly consisting of previously released singles, Sound of Silver was what music snobs still refer to as an “album.” Stepping up both his lyricism and his production, Murphy made what is, in my mind at least, one of the few dance records of the past 10 years that works also as a complete set of songs. Murphy nails everything from the crisp pattering of drum sticks on a high-hat to the snarky, deadpan delivery of his talk-sing vocals. The real key to Sound Of Silver is that amongst all the slinky guitar lines, four on the floor beats, and clanking cowbell, there really is heart to the record.

Murphy’s vocals have the weary inflection of aging and keen eye for observation, leading to lyrics that honestly recount the joys and horrors of entering­—and possibly leaving— adulthood. Murphy succeeded in doing what all those younger bands who fetishized Gang of Four and Joy Division could not: write a record with a message that ran deeper than, “get your ass on the dance-floor.” And you know what, he still made you want to dance while doing it.

—Martin Bergman ’12 is a Jewish studies major writing a bi-weekly column on recently released albums.

Modfest Foreign Film Screening

Meghe Dhaka Tara / The Cloud-Capped Star, Ritwik Ghatak, director (1960). 8:00 p.m., Foreign Language Resource Center, Chicago Hall

Moustached history on display in Library Esther Clowney

Tuesday, February 2 Modfest at The Artful Dodger: A Lunchtime Lecture Series Jonathan Chenette, Dean of the Faculty.

12:00 p.m., Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center

Modfest Foreign Film Screening

Hangmen Also Die, Fritz Lang, director (1943).

7:30 p.m., Taylor Hall, Room 203

Wednesday, February 3 Modfest Alumna Author Talk

Dorothy Lamb Crawford ’54, A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler’s Émigrés and Exiles in Southern California. 5:00 p.m., Thekla Hall, Room 400, Skinner Hall of Music

For detailed event descriptions, visit

arts.vassar.edu

H

Reporter

as it really been 25 years already? I was but a glimmer in my mother’s eye when Vassar’s collection of Mark Twain artifacts last saw the light of day. Today they are on exhibit to celebrate two relevant and important anniversaries: It has been 100 years since Twain’s death and 125 since he published The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

But one hardly needs an excuse to remember with fondness Samuel Clemens, the man who called himself Mark Twain and deemed Vassar’s Founder’s Day “ghastly.”

Twice a year, rarities and artifacts are exhumed from Archives and Special Collections, dusted off and placed on display in a well-traveled hallway in Main Library.

Though easy to walk past en route to the Reserve Room or Art Library, the contents of this exhibition are hardly pedestrian.

A series of highly personal notebooks, letters, sketches, receipts and manuscripts provide the foundation for Vassar’s significant collection of Mark Twain materials. These items came to the College through the family of Jean Webster, Class of 1901, who was both a Vassar alumna and Twain’s great-niece. Other notable items in the exhibition include first editions of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the latter

of which features original art drawn by E. W. Kemble. The Twain exhibition, which will be up through May, displays but a small sample of the Special Collection’s holdings. The rest, including 400 additional manuscript pages, are available for perusal by appointment.

The exhibition begins with a yellowing photograph of Twain, who sports his enviable, bushy moustache. The moustache, which seems to be a defining characteristic of Twain’s personal brand, is mentioned in an article by former President of the College Alan Simpson that is included in the exhibition catalogue. Simpson provides a humorous account of Twain’s Vassar connection, which includes an unpleasant speaking appearance at Founder’s Day in 1885. It was raining, and Twain called President Samuel Caldwell a “dour old saint.” Twain loved the students, though in a creepy-uncle kind of way. According to Simpson, Twain later “appeared on a platform in New York to help a Vassar fund-drive and generously found room beneath his moustache for the kisses of some of the old girls whom he had met on his earlier visit, as well as for the more invigorating tributes of the new girls.”

Twain had a passion for the printing press, and he invented one of his own that could set type four times faster than by hand. Yet, what I found really interesting in the exhibition

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

were the handwritten letters of correspondence between Twain and his associates.

Cursive is expressive in a way that printed text cannot be, and I found I could read a lot about Twain’s mood through the way ink flowed out of his pen as he was writing.

In a letter to the Boston publishing firm Estes & Lauriat cordially notifying them of his intent to sue, Twain says of the alleged embezzlers, “They will have an immediate opportunity to explain, in court, & pay for the opportunity of explaining.” Underline.

Period. His strokes are clipped and full of intent, revealing a subtext of extreme frustration not evident in words alone.

Another letter, totally different in tone and texture, was written by Twain to his close friend and business partner Charles Webster. He writes in pencil, and his words have the looping qualities of a schoolchild’s. The note’s rambling content matches its form: “Is that artist’s name Kemmble? I cannot recall that man’s name. Is that it?”

The exhibition guide is impressive in itself; it is very nicely bound and features very pleasing graphics. I would recommend picking one up. It clocks in at a whopping 54 pages and raises important questions such as, “Would you make room beneath your moustache for Mark Twain?” and also, “Would you seek shelter under his?”

January 28, 2010

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For epeeist, love at first flourish Mitchell Gilburne Reporter

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NBA trend startling, ignored H

ave we entered the twilight of whiteAmerican basketball? While there have never been more ethnic minorities or foreigners playing in the NBA or NCAA, the numbers of white Americans seem to have steadily and startlingly decreased.

In fact, the announcement of the 2010 NBA All-Star game starters on Jan. 21 marked 13 years since a white American has started for either the East or West All-Star teams, the last being John Stockton in 1997. If, as is expected, a white American isn’t chosen by the coaches to complete the All-Star rosters, it will mark six years since a white American has even played, the last being Brad Miller in 2004.

At present, of the 30 NBA teams, only nine teams have at least one white American player in their starting rotations—that’s a total of 10 players. Though more white American players than this sit on the benches of NBA teams, this means that white Americans constitute just about seven percent of starters in the league, in a country where they constitute over 75 percent of the population. While there is clearly nothing wrong with these facts, after all only the best players get to play, what is interesting is how under-studied the trend really is.

A recent Outside the Lines report by ESPN only further highlighted that very point. Over that period, the presence of foreigners increased to about 15 percent of the NBA population, while that of white Americans declined to 10 percent and that of black Americans remained steady at around 74 percent. As the percentage of black American players has been constant, foreign-born players seem to be replacing only white American players. On the show, various NBA scouts and general managers were asked why this is. What were their responses? Well, nothing really. Most shrugged and said nothing, while others highlighted the fact that foreignborn players start playing earlier and somehow “work harder.” In other words, the community of basketball “experts” who evaluate talent have no idea why it is that white Ameri-

cans have somehow fallen out of the loop.

This sort of perception is in many ways what has led to what can only be described as a disgusting backlash in the form of the All-American Basketball Alliance (AABA), a 12-team semi-professional league set to start this summer with just one rule, stated in its official press release, “Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league.”

This racist league has rightfully received an extremely negative response from the media and public. Pressure from the media and the local communities where the teams have appeared has subsequently threatened to force the league to close. What the AABA has not spawned, however, is a levelheaded answer to the question of why such a league was even created.

Why are white Americans disappearing from professional basketball courts? Why is this topic so taboo? In a similar vein, AsianAmericans now only constitute 0.5 percent or less of all basketball players playing NCAA basketball, while none today play in the NBA. Such extreme under-representation doesn’t seem to make sense given the fact that, according to the law, there shouldn’t be discrimination shown towards a player at any point during their development and later playing careers.

People do not seem to be paying attention to this phenomenon. While we react negatively and furiously to the trend’s negative consequences like the AABA, we aren’t asking ourselves what is bringing about these reactions.

People have never been more interested in college and NBA basketball than they are today. Never has the media followed the stories surrounding the teams, coaches and players as keenly as they do now. However, never have we, as fans, also been so disinterested in the hidden aspects of the game and social intricacies that surround it and how those reverberate in our lives. And maybe while we enjoy the game as we do, we should also take a minute or two and think about what it is we’re seeing.

Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News

ine years ago, Sophie Courser ’11, expert épéeist, knelt to the earth, picked up a stick and jabbed it at her younger brother with the stoic grace of grey-eyed Athene.

With aspirations that lay in the dribbling realm of basketball, a young Courser was not yet aware that she had embarked on a journey that would lead her to don the snow white plastron and breeches of a fencer.

With the basketball club too far to travel to regularly, Courser opted for what might be considered an unlikely alternative. Proximity and a penchant for poking were the raw materials necessary for creating a star athlete.

“Fencing is really a mental game,” Courser explains. “It’s a game of timing and distance and strategy.” Luckily for the Brewers, Courser has proven again and again that she can access the intense focus necessary to mind her surroundings, read her opponent and propel her épée towards victory.

Interestingly, Courser has not always favored the épée, a weapon invented by 19thcentury schoolboys looking to add a bit of extra thrill and a touch of realism to their duels of sport. Originally dueling with the traditional foil, Courser’s high school coach, who she references as one of her greatest fencing inspirations, suggested that she try her hand at the more heavily-weighted and specialized épée.

It was love at first flourish. “I was hesitant at first, but I totally fell in love. I had been stuck at the foil, but accelerated with the épée!”

Courser’s voice is proud as she ruminates on her instrument.

Courser cites fencing at the 2009 New Eng-

land Championship as a defining moment in her career. Armed with her trusty épée and a fresh wave of athletic inspiration, Courser found herself launched out of the frying pan and into the fire. After a less-than-perfect start to the day, she was seeded dauntingly low in a direct elimination tableau—an unenviable position, indeed. Where lesser duelists would have lost their nerve, Courser succeeded.

Courser recalls one particular bout that she feels defines the mental, tense, acrobatic, courageous sport of fencing during which she fell behind. There’s no coming back from direct elimination, so Courser gathered all of her focus into a nearly-tangible force that made each blow hit harder, every footfall that much more precise and turned good timing into an impeccable rhythmic flurry of thrusting steel.

With laudable skill and flawless concentration on her side, Courser was able to win six consecutive bouts and finish among the top eight medalists.

Fencing, while individualistic in execution, is at its heart a social sport. Evolving from an after school hobby for the elite into a fully realized Olympic sport embellished with the greatest marvels of modern technology, the squad is always at the center of the action. Courser embraces the social origins of her sport and is thrilled to note a shift towards camaraderie within her current team. In the role of captain, Courser has been able to add tea parties and ice cream to the growing list of team rituals and activities. While not just anyone can be an excellent athlete, it takes someone that much more invested in her team and her sport to be an excellent captain, and Courser easily pars the course and then some in that department.

Sophomore co-Captain Brittany Parks shoots the ball in a game against College of New Rochelle on Jan. 25 in the Athletics and Fitness Center. The Brewers scored a major vicotry in a 79-20.

Women’s basketball begins impressive League season Elizabeth Pacheco

T

Contributing Editor

he new women’s basketball Head Coach Candice Brown has a piece of paper tacked on the outside of her office door. On it is the preseason coaches’ poll for the Liberty League. Vassar is listed as last. More importantly, though, scrawled next to Vassar it are the words: “It’s not where you start, but where you finish.” As a team that finished last season with a 4-21 record and only one league win, things haven’t ended so ideally in the past.

However, this season’s team has already shown that they’re better than their last place ranking. They started the season off with a huge win over Centenary College, who last year finished with a 17-9 record and was a leader in Division III play. More exciting, though, was the start of the Liberty League season a couple of weeks ago in which the Brewers won their first two games against Clarkson University and St. Lawrence College. Winning the first two league games was a program first and an ideal confidence boost. Although the Brewers dropped their next three league games, the competitions were close, with the team only losing by 11 points or less to the top Liberty League contenders, proving that Vassar is capable of playing with the best.

Getting the team to believe they can compete and win against the top teams has been the main challenge Brown has sought to overcome. Being mentally prepared early on in the season is more important than being physically prepared argued Brown, and it’s what will be critical for the team’s success this season. In the past, the team had been playing not to lose. Now, “We want to win more than we don’t want to lose,” explained Brown. She continued, “As long as we keep our sights on the end result, then the results will take care of themselves.”

This change in mentality has been something the players have recognized as well. “It has definitely been a mindset,” said three-year captain Emily Haeuser ’10. “[This season] we started operating like a team, talking regularly as a team, feeling like we already won the game, keeping that positive attitude and mindset really ingrained in us.”

Even the league games the team hasn’t won have proven to be successes. Last Wednesday, the team played Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which was ranked in the preseason poll to finish first in the League. The Brewers lost only by seven points. While a loss, Brown said that the outcome came with the knowledge that the team can compete. “Every Liberty League game is important because each one is close and any given night could be a win,” said Brown. She explained that, for the team, it’s coming down to preparing and really executing their skills.

Turning around a program isn’t something

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

new for Brown. She came to Vassar this fall after three years as head coach at Manhattanville College. During those three years, the team went from winning just nine games a season to 18 in 2008-2009. Brown knew Vassar would be a challenge, but she has high expectations. “Vassar has great facilities, excellent education, and I couldn’t see why we couldn’t compete in the Liberty League like everyone else,” she said. “[The players] work hard in the classroom, and we should settle for nothing but the best in excellence on the court.”

The confidence Brown has in making these statements is something her players believe and have taken to the court. “Coach Brown has really set expectations for us that we probably couldn’t [set ourselves],” said Captain Brittany Parks ’12. Another sophomore and Captain Kristyn Tempora echoes Parks, “As long as Coach Brown is sticking around, we’re on the path to be a top team in the Liberty League.”

While Brown believes a change in mindset is important, she has been pushing the team to physically improve in new ways as well.

“We’ve been in the gym since school started and up at 7:30 a.m. doing conditioning,” said Parks. “Coach Brown has been preparing us from the start, which wasn’t there last year.”

The team itself has changed a bit as well. With six freshmen on the squad and just one senior and junior, the Brewers might appear to be lacking some necessary veteran experience.

However, as Brown says, Parks and Tempora saw so much playing time as freshmen that they’re basically juniors. The freshmen have also shown to be a talented class, playing a lot of minutes already—especially Tori Chaltain, who was named a Liberty League Rookie of the Week after the team’s first league wins.

And then there’s Haeuser, who brings that veteran experience. She passed the 1,000-point mark earlier this season and has already been named Forward of the Week twice by the Liberty League. For Haeuser, though, having some underclassmen leadership has brought a welcome relief. “Last year was tough as the only captain,” she said. This year has “been different. Its been great. We are young, but very mature and talented.”

All three captains agreed that their goal was to make the Liberty League playoffs and go to the championship game. And all three have the confidence this can be achieved if the team continues to play like they have. “We established a goal to play our hardest at all times on the court,” explained Tempora, “and I think that’s something we have stuck to…We don’t want to let ourselves and our teammates down…We’re representing a lot more than the 10—or 12 including our coaches—of us.”

Haeuser said similarly, “It’s about making a statement for us. We’ve been down for a while. It’s not going to be gradual. This is our comeback right here.”

SPORTS

Page 20

January 28, 2010

Men’s volleyball has high hopes for season Andy Marmer

January 11 Women’s Basketball

Assistant Sports Editor

J

ust two years removed from an appearance in the National Championship game, the ninth nationally ranked Division III men’s volleyball team returned to the court recently, beginning their season on Jan. 20. In their initial contest, Vassar defeated Newbury College 3-0 (30-27, 30-20, 30-26), beginning a new era for the Brewers. In their following contest against no. 3 in the division, nationally ranked Springfield College, the Brewers dropped a competitive match 3-1 (30-16, 30-27, 27-30, 24-30).

VASSAR Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News

New era This year’s volleyball squad is the youngest in recent memory. The team features just three seniors and only one junior, while boasting five freshmen. In the team’s match against Newbury, three freshmen logged important contributions. Hitter Matt Elgin provided the team with 11 kills—second on the team—on 18 attempts, recording just one error. Patrick Donahue also turned in an impressive performance with seven kills and two errors on 11 attempts. Setter John Konow launched himself onto the scene, assisting on more than half the points won by the Brewers.

In the recent match against Springfield, the same three freshmen all turned in solid outings. Each of those freshmen has already played key roles for the Brewers and will continue to do so. Additionally, freshman libero Christian La Du will log significant playing time upon return from an injury.

The freshman class comes from a variety of backgrounds, with Elgin and La Du both racking up extensive club experience in New York, as did Konow in Chicago.

While this youth on the court is significant, the new, or rather “old,” face on the bench may be a more important addition. Antonia Sweet takes over as head coach this season after serving as an assistant coach from 1998-2007. Prior to joining Vassar, Sweet had coached at the University of Rochester from 1988 to 1995 and the University of South Dakota from 1996-1997. In addition to coaching the men’s team, Sweet is also an assistant with the women’s team. With Jonathan Penn, who coached the Men’s team for 12 years, now serving as Sweet’s assistant while also coaching the Women’s squad, the transition to a new coach will likely be minimal for Vassar. Noted Sweet in an e-mailed statement, “I expect this will be like every other season—hard, fun, scary, awful, wonderful; it’s about the process.” Senior Phil Tully echoed Sweet’s sentiment also in an e-mailed statement, “The experience and confidence that Coach Sweet has brought to the table has made us just as hungry to succeed as we have been in years past.”

SCOREBOARD

Senior libero Andres Posada plays Springfield College on Friday, Jan. 22, in Kenyon Hall. The Brewers lost the match 3-1 (30-16, 30-27, 27-30, 24-30) in the second game of their 2010 winter season.

Old faces

While the bulk of the team is fresh blood, two veterans pace the attack. Senior Phil Tully will be the star of the Brewers’ potent offense. Tully has been selected as an American Volleyball Coach’s Association first team All-American in each of the past two seasons, leading Vassar in kills both years. Tully finished last season ranked sixth nationally in Division III in kills per game with 4.68 and 36th nationally in digs per game with 2.37.

Sweet will be looking to Tully to lead the Vassar squad. She noted, “Phil Tully brings three years of experience and an enormous physical talent to the team, and his leadership both on the court and off is crucial.”

Tully wasted no time in getting off to a hot start for the Brewers. In the contest against Newbury, he recorded 18 kills and just one attack error in guiding Vassar to victory. Additionally, his reputation will serve the Brewers well. “He went to high school in the same county as me,” said La Du, “so I competed against him. It’s a lot better to be on the same side of the net as him.”

Joining Tully in returning to the front line is junior Evan Fredericksen. Fredericksen was honored as a second team All-North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) Metro Division selection, finishing 34th nationally in kills per game with 3.39 and 37th nationally with a .303 hitting percentage.

Like Tully, Fredericksen has also started the year off hot. Against Newbury, Fredericksen showed that he is a well-rounded player. The junior recorded nine kills with just two attack errors, while also adding two service aces, nine digs, a solo block and two

assisted blocks. In the following contest, he registered a team-high 17 kills.

Wrote Sweet, “Evan Fredericksen is the guy who brings a complete game to the floor.

His excellence can defray the load on Phil and open up the court for the rest of the boys” Meanwhile, Sweet is not the only “old” new face for Vassar. After taking his junior year off, senior Andres “Po” Posada has rejoined the volleyball team this year. Starting at libero in both matches this year, Posada has recorded 12 and 16 digs, respectively.

Scheduling changes This season will not be an easy one for the Brewers as they face both a tough non-conference and conference schedule. Vassar competes in the NECVA Metro division, one of the fiercest in Division III. In order to win their division, Vassar will have to outduel no.

4 nationally in Division III Stevens Institute of Technology, no. 12 Ramapo College and local rival SUNY New Paltz. Vassar last won the conference championship two seasons ago, which led to a National Championship appearance.

While those nationally-recognized schools within the division will provide a challenge, Vassar will also have to battle several other top Division III programs. This years’ schedule boasts a rematch with no. 3 nationally ranked Springfield and two contests with no.

5 New York University. Clearly the Brewers will have challenges ahead. The growth of the freshman class and the power of the veterans will determine to what extent Vassar can turn those tests into opportunities.

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JOHN JAY

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JANUARY 13 MEN’S SWIM & DIVE VASSAR

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TRINITY

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JANUARY 15 MEN’S BASKETBALL VASSAR

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CLARKSON

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JANUARY 19 MEN’S FENCING VASSAR

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Sports Briefs Men’s and women’s squash

Women’s swimming and diving

The no. 16 ranked women’s squash team defeated no. 18 ranked Franklin and Marshall College 5-4 on Jan. 23 at the 2010 Squash Invitational hosted by Mount Holyoke, Smith and Amherst Colleges. Vassar was also defeated 5-4 by no. 21 Colby College. The team now has a 5-3 record for the season. At the Invitational, the men’s squash team, currently ranked no. 42, was defeated 9-0 by both Franklin and Marshall and Colby Colleges. The squad fell to a 3-8 season record. Both teams will play Middlebury College at home on Jan. 30 at 10:30 a.m.

—Molly Turpin, Senior Editor

Despite placing fourth out of five teams at the Seven Sisters Meet hosted by Mount Holyoke College on Jan. 23 and 24, the Brewers won eight out of 20 events. Bringing just 15 athletes to the meet, the Brewers faced a challenge as a small team, a factor which made it difficult to accrue many points in each race. However, several swimmers still came out on top. Most notably, sophomore Caroline Shannon won three individual races. The women’s team will rejoin the men’s squad in their next competition against New York University on Jan. 30 at the Walker Field House Kresge Pool at 1 p.m. before going to the Sprint Invitational on Feb. 6 to be hosted by Skidmore College.

—M.T.

Courtesy of Sports Information

Senior co-Captain Hope Blinkoff wins the deciding match against Franklin and Marshall College on Saturday, Jan. 23.

The women’s fencing team stands at 9-13 for the season after an impressive show at the North East Fencing Meet hosted by Boston College. Most notably, the squad defeated Boston College for the first time in five years. On the men’s side, the Brewers gave an equally remarkable performance by defeating Tufts University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University. This was the first time the men’s squad defeated Brandeis in the history of Vassar fencing. The team now stands at 12-8. Both fencing squads will next face Columbia and New York Universities on Feb. 3 before heading to Tufts University on Feb. 6.

—M.T.

Christie Chea/The Miscellany News

Women’s fencing

Captain Sophie Courser ’11 plays in the women’s fencing Northeast Meet hosted

by Boston College on Saturday, Jan. 23.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Women’s basketball The women’s basketball team defeated The College of New Rochelle 79-20, continuing their impressive season of Liberty League play. With this game, the Brewers emerged from a short slump and now stand at a 6-8 season record with a 2-3 league record after some impressive Winter Break wins. They hope to keep improving as they play Skidmore College on Friday, Jan. 29 at 6 p.m. and Union College on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m.

Both games will be at home.

—M.T.