FEATURES
Page 6
February 4, 2010
President names loan forgiveness as national goal Danielle Gensburg
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Guest Reporter
Christie Chea/The Miscellany News
ast Wednesday, President of the United States Barack Obama delivered his first State of the Union Address to members of the Senate and House of Representatives. He spoke about the current condition of the United States as well as his own legislative agenda and national priorities, including issues of healthcare, the economy, unemployment and job opportunities, clean energy and globalization. Among the many important issues, the one that will perhaps affect Vassar students the most is that concerning the federal government’s policy on promoting higher education. Half way through his speech, Obama addressed his concern with education in the United States, stating, “We need to invest in the skills and education of our people. In the 21st century, the best anti-poverty program in the world is a world-class education.” In the address, Obama discussed his initiative to “revitalize our community colleges,” recognizing the important role that community colleges play in providing educational and career opportunities for many middle class families. He likewise issues of student loan debt forgiveness, increasing Pell Grants and lowering the cost of tuition. With a statement that received bipartisan applause from the House chamber, Obama stated, “In the United States of America, no one should go broke because they chose to go to college.” Specifically, Obama addressed those individuals whose student loan debt payments exceed their income, calling for a modification of the Income-Based Repayment Program (IBR) created in 2007. The IBR program forgives unpaid student federal loans after 10 years for those individuals working in public service and, for those working in the private sector, after 25 years at certain income levels. The current program caps the required monthly payment on federal student loans based on an individual’s income, family size and loan amount, thereby making the payments more affordable. Obama’s bill would modify the IBR program by capping federal student loan payments at 10 percent of the individual’s income and forgive unpaid loans after 20 years of payment for those in the private sector and still after 10 years for those in public service positions. The President further called for a new bill to end taxpayer subsidies that go to banks for student loans. Instead, Obama’s plan seeks to use that money to give a $10,000 tax credit directly See OBAMA on page 9
Rachel Hui ’10 researches in the Thompson Memorial Library for her senior thesis project, tentatively titled “Political challenges to Roma integration programs.” Hui will investigate policies that have forced Roma orphans—or children who are not getting adequate care—into orphanages.
Hui worlds away from subjects close to home Senior thesis project investigates marginalized Roma ‘gypsy’ group in Czech Republic Kelly Stout
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Features Editor
achel Hui ’10 would move permanently to the Czech Republic without thinking twice, but first she has to finish the draft of her senior thesis due this week. She arrived at her interview with The Miscellany News gracefully flustered. She apologetically explained that she accidentally deleted 10 pages of her political science thesis several hours prior and was scrambling to make it up. Hui is in the throes of a thesis on the Roma people of the Czech Republic, an ethnic minority that has faced and continues to face discrimination and exclusion from public life in Prague and its surrounding areas. “The word ‘gypsy’ has a pejorative meaning,” she explains, “they self-identify as Roma.” But to most in the United States, the word “Roma” doesn’t summon much familiarity. To Hui, the lack of recognition by the rest of the world is part of what makes discrimination against the Roma people possible, and is propelling her thesis on integration projects for this group. Much of Hui’s research stems from work that began during her time in Prague in the fall of 2008. Originally from Singapore, Hui’s decision to study abroad was really one she
made in her final year of high school. Nevertheless, her decision to spend her junior semester studying abroad in Prague through a Council on International Educational Exchange program wasn’t an obvious one. She admits that she chose the program in part because it didn’t require prior knowledge of Czech. She had also briefly visited Prague as a tourist in her first year at Vassar, but was mostly unfamiliar with the social issues confronting the Roma. Upon her arrival in Prague, Hui sought out internship opportunities, but found herself pursuing volunteer work at an orphanage in the outskirts of Prague. “We were very close to the center of town,” she says, “so everything was very touristy and nice [where I was studying].” She saw the opportunity at the orphanage as “a chance to do something meaningful. So I got there, and I realized that all these children were not white. They were— all of them—gypsy children, Roma children.” According to Hui, the Roma experienced “a forgotten Holocaust” during World War II, in which “95 percent of [Europe’s Roma population] was massacred.” Hui found this information heartbreaking and highly relevant to the issues Roma people confront in the 2000s.
“No one doesn’t know about the Holocaust of the Jews,” says Hui, but for many around the world, the history of the extermination of the Roma people remains obscure. Hui became interested in the persecution of Roma people and the ways in which it continues into the present, particularly after the 1989 fall of communism during the Velvet Revolution in the Czech Republic. “In many ways, it’s not like things have changed [since before the fall of communism]” she says, “So many don’t know about how this history of persecution translates into exclusion and disadvantage for these people today. There are no longer signs [in storefronts] that say, ‘no dogs or gypsies,’” says Hui, but the attitude still pervades. “I was in disbelief about that,” she says. In her thesis, tentatively titled “Political Challenges to Roma Integration Programs,” Hui will investigate policies that have forced Roma orphans—many of whom are not actually orphans, but are rather children who, by the state’s designation, are not getting adequate care in their biological families—into orphanages. Hui sees the case of the orphans as an illustration of one of many problems See HUI on page 8
UNITE after-school program to empower Poughkeepsie girls Ellen Xie
Guest Reporter
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assar students and Poughkeepsie High School students share few similarities if any at all. But three Vassar students—Willa Conway ’10, Erica Licht ’10 and Stephanie Damon-Moore ’11—are quickly helping to blur the division. Inspired by their experiences at the prison internship program, in which Vassar students participated in an active dialogue with Otisville prisoners run by Professor of Religion and Africana Studies Lawrence Mamiya, the three have developed a program promoting similar discourse more locally. This time, the conversations between two seemingly unlikely groups will take place at Poughkeepsie High School. The topic? Issues of femininity and the voice of women. Liza Beth Urrico, a social worker at Poughkeepsie High School; Leslie Williams of the Urban Education Initiative; and Vassar’s Education Department faculty worked with Conway, Licht and Damon-Moore to establish this Poughkeepsie-Vassar link. The program’s witty acronym UNITE (You and I Teach Each Other) reflects the central theme— promoting understanding and conversation. The coordinators of the program imagine
UNITE as an after-school program free of academic and social burdens. According to Conway, “This is not academically orientated. We’re more interested in self-empowerment and self-expression”. The specifics of the curriculum remain indefinite, but the activities—including dance, art and music—revolve around a central theme of self-reflection and understanding. UNITE hopes to provide an “all-female space” for the 12 Poughkeepsie High School women and the 12 Vassar women to discuss topics ranging from sexuality and body image to community roles. The coordinators hope the program will serve as a venue for friendship and support, but also a space in which traditionally quiet voices might be heard. According to Damon-Moore, “I’m excited about the opportunity to be open and real about everything.” Conway, Licht and Damon-Moore’s participation in Otisville medium-security prison’s Bridging the Gap program deeply affected them. Conway described her interaction with the inmates, “The conversation that came up was really, really powerful for all of us.” Along with this shared experience, each leader contributes her own experiences and insights to the
program. Licht worked on the natural grounds of Wyoming with middle and high school students from Washington, D.C.; Damon-Moore participated in Alternative to Violence, a program that focuses on the methods of communication with prisoners; and Conway helped in Vassar after School Tutoring at Poughkeepsie Middle School, taught English for a summer and worked with a women’s recovery and empowerment organization. “Leslie Williams hooked us all together,” said Conway, but the similarity of their interests seems natural. The Vassar students’ interest in women’s issues, their “deep love for Poughkeepsie” and their desire to work outside the classroom led them to step off the Vassar campus and create such a program. Conway lauded, “It’s awesome to have a professor that emphasizes practice.” The coordinators stress the final two words of “You and I Teach Each Other,” emphasizing the importance of mutual learning. The young high school and college women share some similarities, but all possess varying outlooks, backgrounds and experiences. While the high school students gain insight from college students, the college students also get a chance to
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put their theoretical knowledge into practice. Perhaps this relationship will build a bridge linking Vassar to at least part of the Poughkeepsie community. But, according to the coordinators of UNITE, this gap is one that may not be easy to close, despite Poughkeepsie High School’s location a mere two blocks away from the College. Conway said, “There is a stigma about Poughkeepsie. [Vassar students] don’t even get to Main Street.” Conway hopes that through UNITE, individuals will form solid, meaningful relationships beyond the “community service projects.” A stronger link between Poughkeepsie and Vassar communities may follow. Whether the outcome satisfies all these expectations or not, one thing is clear: The program has huge potential. The leaders of the program can barely contain their excitement. After endless paperwork, e-mails and phone calls, UNITE is becoming reality. The program currently consists of a batch of passion with a dash of anticipatory nerves. Soon the Vassar students will meet the chosen Poughkeepsie High School students. With a fresh start comes unprecedented excitement, arousal of the spirit. You and I Teach Each Other; let’s get ready to learn.