The Miscellany News | April 21, 2011

The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

April 21, 2011

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Volume CXLIV | Issue 21

VSA Elections Elections currently underway

Personal interaction key strategy

Joey Rearick

Erik Lorenzsonn

espite uncertainty in recent weeks about its structure and a delayed filing period, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) began its elections this week.

As a controversial amendment to the VSA Constitution that would create a senatorial structure ultimately came to depend on a Judicial Board ruling, students awaited a final verdict on the future of their governing body, and filing for elections was pushed until Wednesday, April 13. At 8 p.m. on Monday, April 18, filing closed and the field of candidates was set for all VSA and Joint Committee elections, including Executive Board and house leadership positions.

Presidential candidate and current VSA Vice President for Activities Tanay Tatum ‘12 has an extensive resume of VSA leadership. In her freshman and sophomore years, she served as Class of 2012 Vice-President and President respectively. Julia Eicher ‘11, who will graduate this spring, was listed briefly as her opponent. “A friend of mine filed that as a joke,” wrote Eicher See ELECTIONS on page 4

eth Warner ’14 knocked on the door of a third-floor residence in Lathrop on a Sunday afternoon, dressed in baggy jeans with an Easter-blue dress shirt and a black tie. When the door opened, the respondent was greeted enthusiastically by the smiling freshman: “Hey, how ‘ya doing! I’m Seth Warner, and I’m running for house president. Do you have a second?”

Warner was entering his second day of door-to-door campaigning as part of his bid for Lathrop house president. For those who did indeed have a second, Warner explained his goal to increase student involvement and transparency in the Vassar Student Association (VSA); to one sophomore who did not, he requested that they tell five friends about his campaign.

“It’s always good to give them a specific number,” explained Warner afterward. “It makes it easier to remember.”

In years past, Warner would not have been able to go door-to-door while the filing period for VSA spring elections was open, as they were last See CAMPAIGNS on page 3

D

Assistant News Editor

S

Senior Editor

Corey Cohn

Sports Editor

A

fter nine years and an 0-57 conference record, the Vassar College men’s lacrosse team won its first-ever Liberty League game, a thrilling 5-4 victory over St. Lawrence University last Saturday, April 16. This triumph not only improves the Brewers’ record to 5-6 overall but also leaves a significant mark on the careers of every player on the roster.

“It’s a huge relief,” midfielder Sam Seymour ’11 said. “[The losing streak] put a lot of strain on the season. This was well overdue.”

Freshman defenseman Ben Wills

added that every player was well aware of the extended drought. “It’s been the elephant in the corner throughout the program’s history,” he remarked.

Particularly after their game against Clarkson University two weeks prior, in which the Brewers squandered a 4-0 lead, the tension was mounting.

Still, Seymour said the team entered the match-up with St. Lawrence with a confident attitude. “Everybody knew we had to have that mindset if we wanted to win,” he recalled.

The game was a back-and-forth affair, one that started ominously for the See LACROSSE on page 20

Inside this issue

5

FEATURES

Meet Hill’s Advisory Council

6

FEATURES

Senior Survey indicates below average sense of campus safety Molly Turpin

Editor in Chief

I

n a light rain on April 18, a few members of the Safety and Security Advisory Committee gathered for a campus safety walk, a tour of the campus walkways with a focus on dark spots, lamps out and potentially unsafe areas. As it walked along, the committee addressed a list of unlit lamps, but

also a more general sense of security on campus.

The 2010 Senior Survey administered by the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE), which measured student satisfaction in a wide array of student services and experiences, found that Vassar seniors were on the whole less satisfied with “feelings of security on campus”

than the average among COFHE schools. However, Vassar students were generally slightly more satisfied with the Office of Safety and Security than average, leading to questions about how and from where feelings of safety arise.

“I’m very pleased that everybody seemed happy with security in general, but I’m See SAFETY on page 7

White Flags share common threads Rachael Borné

F

Arts Editor

ive years ago, Aaron Fein ’93 stood on a corner in his town of Charlottesville, Va., holding eight of his white flags, speaking with the public, trying to get people interested in his idea to highlight commonalities across the world by rendering each nation’s flags in the color white. Years later, after “White Flags” has grown and developed exponentially, Fein explained: “I can’t do it alone.” As Vassar’s 2010-2011 artist in residence, Fein has worked extensively with students and faculty alike to sew, embroider, iron and discuss the installation of the flags.

This Sunday, April 24, the project will reach its pinnacle when all 192 flags of United Nations member states hand-made in the color white will be installed over the Vassar College Chapel lawn.

Fein found the idea for “White Flags” after observing the comfort many individuals found in the American flag post Sept. 11, 2001, specifically American Flag bumper stickers. Though popularized

Students evaluate self-instructed language courses

Courtesy of Aaron Fein

Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

Ending a nine-year losing streak, the men’s lacrosse team won its first-ever Liberty League game last Saturday, April 16 in a 5-4 victory over St. Lawrence University.

Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

Lacrosse nabs program’s first conference victory

Above, a student walks through the Residential Quadrangle at night. Campus lighting is among physical features of the Vassar landscape that influences students’ senses of security at Vassar and is currently under consideration.

Vassar’s 2010/2011 Artist in Residence Aaron Fein’s (’93) installation renders each nation’s flag in white, highlighting commonalities around the world. after the attacks as a sign for constancy and patriotism, the stickers slowly but inevitably faded to white. At the whim of sunlight, wind and rain, an image meant to stabilize, strengthen and set apart

15 ARTS

a population loses its descriptive qualities. Thus, Fein’s project employs the color white as a unifying agent. Each flag is embroidered with its country’s insignia, but is See FEIN on page 16

Kaleidoscope puts tea time in perspective

Page 2

The Miscellany News

April 21, 2011

Editor in Chief Molly Turpin Senior Editors

Angela Aiuto Katharine Austin Erik Lorenzsonn Aashim Usgaonkar

Contributing Editors Matthew Brock Mitchell Gilburne Lila Teeters

News Features Opinions Humor & Satire Arts Sports Design Photography Social Media Managing

In 1940, The Miscellany News celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of Vassar College with a special issue printed that spring. The issue features a variety of images from teh history of the College up to that point as well as profiles of beloved members of the community and retrospective articles about the College’s past.

This Week in Vassar History 1878, April 26 Dancing was allowed for the first time after the literary exercises on Founder’s Day. “… lanciers, quadrille and Virginia reel. It took till 1896 to establish round dancing and it was opposed even then.” Frances A. Wood, Earliest Years at Vassar 1901, April 26 A 28-year-old mental patient from the Hudson River State Hospital was found on the campus, staring at the students. When questioned, he said that he had heard a good deal about Vassar students and was glad that he had lived to see them. Authorities said that he was not considered a dangerous patient. The New York Times 1909, April 24 After their largely polemical “discussion” in March, the campus suffragists were formally prohibited from holding further meetings. But they devised an event that, as The New York Times put it, while it “absolutely contravened the spirit of President Taylor’s prohibition, it obeyed to the letter.” Word had gone out during the day urging students to come to a certain room in Main Building that evening, and as it was the room of a suffragist leader, nearly three-quarters of the student body came.

There, they were invited to visit the “tableaux to answer the objections to suffrage,” which some 100 students set up in dozens of

By Dean Emeritus Colton Johnson

students’ rooms. Going from room to room and floor to floor, the viewers discovered no meetings, no speeches, but “wordless pictures,” students in tableaux vivants.” The New York Times 1912, April 22 With President Taylor’s permission, a mass suffrage meeting was held on campus.

1916, April 24 Commemorating the tercentenary of Shakespeare’s death, the Shakespeare Garden, suggested by President MacCracken, was laid out along the Fonteyn Kill by Shakespeare classes of Winifred Smith ‘04 and Emmeline Moore’s classes in botany. The original plantings were seeds of pansies and other flowers from Shakespeare’s gardens in Stratford-on-Avon.

1924, April 25 In a debate with Princeton on the question: “Resolved, That a Democratic Administration would be of benefit to the country,” seniors Harriet Kernan ‘24 and Maxine Goldmark ‘24, taking the affirmative, defeated William Webster Hall ’25 and Lawrence Hunt ’26, who, The New York Times noted, “struggled valiantly and went down fighting, but polite.”

Miss Kernan “wore a black gown and a corsage bouquet of orchids. Miss Goldmark was in blue with pink roses. The Princeton

men did not attempt floral competition even to the extent of a boutonniere.” Miss Kernan “recalled that during the national campaign of 1920 speakers from Princeton had been sent to Vassar to argue the issues of the election before the students. ‘I am glad to see the world has progressed far enough since then,’ she said, ‘so that we may now come here and return the compliment.’”

1937, April 25 The faculty abolished midyear examinations and probation status for upperclassmen, “affirming the desirability of conference between teacher and student…as a means of obtaining improvement in marks.” The New York Times 1946, April 23 Vassar’s first men students, the 36 veterans who enrolled at Vassar for c-term, were diversely prepared. Half of them had no college experience, and several of the 11 who had attended a college or university expected readmission to their former schools in the fall.

1962, April 27 President Blanding was one of nine people appointed to a state advisory committee to study the state’s minimum drinking age, currently 18.

The committee’s charge was to advise a joint legislative committee about raising the minimum drinking age to 21.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Caitlin Clevenger Jillian Scharr Joshua Rosen Alanna Okun Rachael Borné Corey Cohn Andy Marmer Eric Estes Juliana Halpert Marie Dugo Qian Xu

Assistant News Joey Rearick Dave Rosenkranz Assistant Features Matthew Bock Danielle Bukowski Mary Huber Assistant Opinions Hannah Blume Assistant Arts Adam Buchsbaum Connor O’Neill Assistant Copy Katie Cornish Alexandra King Stephen Loder Gretchen Maslin Assistant Photo Madeline Zappala Crossword Editor Jonathan Garfinkel Reporters Vee Benard Ruth Bolster Adam Buchsbaum Emma Daniels Laci Dent Shruti Manian Kristine Olson Connor O’Neill Jack Owen Chelsea Peterson- Salahuddin Jessica Tarantine Nathan Tauger Columnists Brittany Hunt Michael Mestitz Tom Renjilian Andy Sussman Nik Trkulja Christie Chea Katie de Heras Photographers Carlos Hernandez Jared Saunders Eric Schuman

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.

April 21, 2011

NEWS

ACT OUT! hosts “InQUEERies” Chelsea Petersen-Salahuddin Reporter

A

CT OUT!, Vassar’s LGBTQ activist organization, will host its first Social Justice and LGBTQ Rights conference in the College Center MPR on Saturday, April 23. Titled “InQUEERies into Activism: An Intercollegiate Conference on Sexuality, Identity and Community,” this event will have speakers, workshops and may lay the foundation for ACT OUT!’s future.

After a Vassar student protester was arrested in 2006 during a rally in protest of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell at The United States Military Academy at West Point, Vassar’s ACT OUT! was formed to raise awareness of issues that concern the LGBTQ community. According to the Vassar Student Association’s website, it “is a political advocacy group that promotes full legal equality for LGBTQ individuals ... Each year ACT OUT! chooses to address specific issues facing the LGBTQ community, which have included marriage equality, open service in the military and coming out issues.” ACT OUT! President Katie Atkins ‘11 explained that this year’s focus is on identifying which “issues are important to LGBTQ people of our generation” and finding the movement’s “next step.” She hopes that the conference will help them in their search.

The inaugural speakers for “InQUEERies” will be Victoria Ferrara and Nick Cooney. Ferrera is a Connecticut lawyer, who, among other things, defends gay and lesbian rights through the legal system. “The work that she does fits very well with the goals of the conference and she also deals with LGBTQ issues in a capacity that ACT OUT! does not usually get to explore,” wrote Atkins in an emailed statement, highlighting the new perspective she hopes Ferrara will bring to the conference. Cooney, a professional activist, will also speak to students this weekend about protesting strategies in general. Cooney is also founder of animal-

rights group The Humane League and author of Change of Heart: What Psychology Can Teach Us About Spreading Social Change. ACT OUT! hopes that his lecture will inspire new ideas for achieving social justice.

In addition to the two speakers, there will also be several workshops throughout the day.

“Beyond the L and G: Talking about Identity, Labels and Community,” for example, will address the beneficial and detrimental influences labels have on members of the LGBTQ community, as well as, wrote Atkins, the “different experiences that people with various identities have had within the LGBTQ movement.” “The Future of the LGBTQ Movement: Radicalization vs. Assimilation” will discuss the possibility of redefining the movements goals, while “Strategies For Activism: Brainstorming Strategies for Direct Action” will discuss creative ways of performing activism. Attendees will consider the merits of various forms of civil disobedience, lobbying and non-violent communication in ACT OUT!’s future.

This will be ACT OUT!’s first major conference at Vassar. It was proposed at the beginning of the semester and found support both within the organization, and with the Vassar community as a whole. They hope that this conference will lay a solid foundation for future ACT OUT! events and protests. Non-Vassar students are encouraged to attend, and Atkins believes that many attendees will be commuting here from Marist and Bard Colleges, the Culinary Institute of America and the State University of New York at New Paltz.

“ACT OUT! Is a political activist organization for LGBTQ rights ... [It] is very committed to fostering community among LGBTQ students and allies at Vassar, and with students at other schools, and this conference will be a perfect way to continue to do this,” wrote Atkins in an emailed statement.

Page 3

Class Activists’ work panel addresses class differences Matthew Brock

Contributing Editor

T

he Vassar Association of Class Activists (VACA), gathered prominent members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 200, Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) for a panel discussion in Sanders Hall’s Blanche Brumback Spitzer Auditorium on April 19.

The event was attended by a group of about 20 members of the student body, staff, faculty and administration.

VACA, formerly known as the Class Issues Alliance, is a student group devoted to promoting awareness of the existence of class difference on campus and in the greater community.

The main speakers were Chef’s Helper Cathy Bradford, Science Support Technician Otto Carl Bertche, who serves as the business director for Vassar’s CWA chapter, Vice President of the New York State Chapter of the SEIU Mike Lonigro, who acts as Vassar’s union representative, Adjunct Associate Professor of English Judith Nichols and Visiting Associate Professor of English Karen Robertson, president of Vassar’s chapter of AAUP. Bradford began the panel, telling the audience, “I see we have a job security threat along with no dignity here [at Vassar].”

In fall 2009, “[CWA at Vassar was] at 210 people and we were getting cranked down to 185,” said Bertche. In the end, six members of the CWA were let go. “If you combine their packages…you’re talking about $300,000,” he said. “Six people that had to go out of a $36 million budget. You tell me how $300,000 out of $36 million will make a difference,” Bertche asked. He concluded with a call to

action, saying, “We the people are sick and tired of the College’s abuses over the last few years. Students and professors, you all have the power to stop this madness and unfairness on this campus.”

“In the past, the hierarchical inequities at Vassar were masked by a veneer of civility,” said Robertson, turning to the faculty positions which were eliminated last year.

“In the last few years, what’s happened is the veneer of civility has splintered and the determination to protect the elite is clear,” Robertson explained. “A new attitude has developed towards one third of the faculty who are not developed along tenure lines,” she continued, referring to the visiting professors, who teach for a predetermined amount of time, and adjunct professors, who hold only part-time positions at the college.

According to Robertson, Vassar’s formerly civil system has been replaced by a “new regime of neoliberalism.” “The system of exploitation common to the system has invaded Vassar,” she said, adding, “If the College adopts a system of exploitation of the weakest, it becomes just one more institution that values money and power.”

Nichols concurred, citing ongoing changes to the faculty governance. “I can see in the faculty governance that it will make it very easy for the College to have exploitation contracts in place for future adjuncts,” said Robertson, referring to contracts that would keep adjuncts at fewer than three courses, thus denying them benefits such as health or life insurance.

She also expressed her concern about changes to the mission statement. “Even as we sleep the mission statement is being See PANEL on page 4

Candidates weigh in on their campaigning strategies CAMPAIGNS continued from page 1 Sunday. But thanks to recent bylaw changes that were proposed by Warner himself, doorto-door campaigning could begin the moment candidates submitted their statement of interest after filing opened on Thursday, April 14.

Only since Monday, April 18, the day that filing closed, have candidates been able to use posters, email, social-networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter, and other media. These changes were not introduced to overhaul the elections process, but merely to “fine-tune” them, according to Warner.

“Candidates that truly care about their position should go door-to-door early and frequently,” concluded Warner.

Lathrop House President Samantha Garcia ’13 supported the amendments when her constituent proposed them to VSA Council. She believes the new policy would have changed her approach in campaigning for her current position: “I think I would have been forced to engage in conversation more and be a real person, not just a poster.”

Warner and Garcia are not alone in their belief that door-to-door campaigning is a powerful tool in a student government election. A number of candidates tout the personal and substantive aspects of face-to-face visits with one’s electorate, as opposed to the impersonality of using media, especially Facebook. Charlie Dobb ’12 is such a candidate; the current student advisor for Jewett is running for the position of vice president of student life on the VSA Executive Board, and utilized the weekend to go door-to-door. “It’s been really positive,” said Dobb. “I’m really happy to see the extent to which students are engaged.”

Dobb believes that door-to-door encourages candidates to run campaigns in a way that media does not allow. “As I’m working with posters, I’m wondering if media-based campaigns work at all,” said Dobb. “Posters don’t provide much substance. Door-to-door, you’re there, answering the tough questions. Even if people don’t have time to talk, they usually say, ‘I really appreciate it that you’re at my door.’”

Dallas Brown ’14, the other candidate running for Lathrop house president, is particularly irked by the overabundance of student campaigning in social media, though she ac-

Seth Warner ’14, a candidate for Lathrop House President, has been knocking on the doors of Lathrop residents this week to discuss his goals for next year’s Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council. knowledges that speed and the networking capabilities of Facebook make it an advantageous tool.“I hate Facebook events for campaigns,” said Brown, “I made one last night because I thought it would help. But when I get them myself, I immediately delete them.”

Tiffany Shi ’12 is another advocate of the doorto-door technique versus relying on media: “Going door-to-door forces people to look you in the eye and realize you’re a real person. Bombarding them with Facebook and media makes them feel like they’re being spammed. It’s very impersonal.

They will be annoyed by your spamming them.”

But while some find Facebook to be impersonal, others such as Nick Blum ’12 find it to be the ideal means of campaigning. Blum is running against four other rising seniors to become chair of the Judicial Board, and personally finds door-to-door to be unappealing from the perspective of the voter. “I don’t plan on going door-to-door,” said Blum. “I find it a little offputting. I think that people who end up running have enough presence online or on social networking sites.” Blum is critical of Warner’s amendments to the VSA Bylaws, not only on the basis of the effectiveness of door-to-door as

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

a campaign tool but also as its ability to garner interest in VSA elections. “I don’t think it would make people more interested in the election than they already are,” said Blum. “The system is very controlled right now. These will just be more rules to follow. I think that elections should be run with a lighter heart and a morerelaxed fashion, instead of worrying about whether a poster is too big or too small.”

Blum is not alone in his criticism of the recent amendments; while Dobb may be an advocate for the superiority of door-to-door reporting, he also is skeptical of whether the changes will lead to a student body more involved in elections. He notes that the implementation of the reforms is only partial this year, due to the delays caused by Judicial Board hearings over the recent VSA referendum.

“This year, the changes are really minor; it leads to slightly more door-to-door time than you would otherwise have,” said Dobb. “Another negative is that it adds more pressure during the filing period. People filed a statement just to get going door-to-door, and haven’t thought out what they’re running about. So I’m not 100 percent convinced they were absolutely positive changes.”

For April Cha ’12, Zan Schmidt ’12 and Pam Vogel ’12, Warner’s amendments fail to help their campaigns simply because they are less able to go door-to-door. Cha is running for president of the Terrace Apartments, while Schmidt and Vogel are competing for presidency of the Class of 2012; each of these positions feature electorates that are spread out across campus, and are a challenge to visit door-to-door.

“I’m just going to visit the names that I recognize, or knock on doors and ask, ‘Are you a junior?’” said Schmidt of her campaign plans.

Vogel, who has further difficulty finding time for campaigning door-to-door due to her responsibilities as the current class president, said, “It’s especially difficult for people who are running for senior housing. It kind of sucks.”

But Vogel also acknowledges that while the changes brought about by Warner are divisive, they may have increased interest in the elections. “People are really interested in campaigning this year,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s because of the Bylaw changes, but surely at least part of it is.”

NEWS

Page 4

April 21, 2011

Voting to end at noon on Monday Panel included faculty, union representatives ELECTIONS continued from page 1 in an email before the listing had been removed.

When filing closed on Monday night, Eicher’s name had been removed from the list of candidates, leaving Tatum as the sole presidential candidate. Running unopposed, she will hold the position for the 2011-2012 year unless the majority of voters choose “No” on their online ballots in the presidential poll.

Tatum hopes to continue many of the current administration’s plans.

“A lot of the ideas the current Executive Board had were good, but a year is not enough to implement those changes,” she said.One of her first priorities is a continued revision of the VSA Constitution. Tatum’s candidate statement stressed the importance of issues that have been raised by the recent amendment controversy. Among her goals were to, “Restructure the VSA so that it is a more active, inclusive, efficient and effective body” and to “Eliminate contradictions in the constitution and by-laws.” Despite opposition to revising the Constitution within the student body, no opponent chose to run against her.

“It is bizarre that I’m running uncontested,” said Tatum, adding, “I’m sad I’m running unopposed because students should have more options.”

Though single-candidate election races are not unusual in recent history, the position of VSA president usually garners competition: in the 2010 Spring elections, three candidates opposed VSA President Mat Leonard ‘11. Tatum is not the only candidate running unopposed; several Executive Board and VSA Council positions have only one candidate.

President of Davison House Michael Thottam ’12 is the only student running for vice president for activities, and Jason Rubin ’13 is running for vice president for finance unop-

posed. Three other positions have two-horse races, and only the vice president for academics race involves three candidates.

“That means either one of two things,” said Tatum. “We’re crazy for wanting to do this because it’s too stressful, or students don’t know how to use the VSA so they don’t wan’t to be a part of it.”

As usual, however, those students that already sit on VSA Council have set their sights on the Executive Board. House Presidents Jenna Konstantine ’13 of Noyes, Kate Dolson ’13 of Ferry, Thottam of Davison and Mariah Minigan ’13 of Jewett are running for Executive Board positions, and almost every other Executive Board candidate has had some involvement with the VSA over the past year.

The race for vice president for student life pits Charlie Dobb ’12 against Sharon Onga ’13. Dobb highlights the importance of “a critical and thorough review of the meal plan” in his candidate’s statement, especially in a year when “Aramark’s contract is up for review.” Onga’s running under the acronym “PAR,” which stands for “Practical Alternatives and Revisions.” Her candidate’s statement articulated a concern for “leading and contributing to efforts that enable workers on this campus to get the benefits they deserve because I strongly believe that the Vassar community cannot thrive if the very people who sustain its day to day functions are not satisfied.” She also expressed an interest in revamping the Freshman Orientation program.

Konstantine and Michael Mestitz ’13 are competing for vice president for operations. Konstantine is focused on opening the VSA’s operations up to the Vassar community through improved communication and accessibility. While her position as Noyes president and as a member of the

Operations Committee furnishes her with experience, Mestitz can boast his own. He is one of the student chairs of the Sesquicentennial Committee, and has served on both the Committee on Student Inclusion and Excellence and the Campus Master Planning Committee for two years.

The candidates for VSA vice president of academics are Dolson, Minigan and Jordan Tower ’13. Dolson and Tower share an interest in establishing academic credit for labs, but Dolson’s statement also proposed several socially conscious changes, like improved support for students with disabilities. Tower instead focused on criticisms of academic processes, suggesting transparency in course offering changes that often frustrate confused students. Minigan made other institutional proposals, emphasizing “rejuvenating major committees” and suggesting a body be formed of representatives from each major committee to talk about academic issues.

Thottam, in his unopposed bid for vice president for activites, wrote that he hopes to improve resources for unregistered organizations, and to develop a capital loan system to allow organizations more flexible funding.

Rubin, running uncontested for vice president for finance, wrote in his statement that he wished to improve the efficiency of Vassar’s financial system by establishing the use of more credit cards, and directing funds to fewer events in order to ensure “Quality over Quantity.”

All these candidates will have the opportunity to campaign until 11:59 p.m. on April 22. Then the voting process will begin at 12 p.m. on the 23 and run until 12 p.m. on April 25.

However small the stable of candidates for VSA executive board positions, only a fraction of that number will emerge as winners when the votes are tallied.

PANEL continued from page 2 rewritten,” said Nichols. She proceeded to read from her favorite excerpt from the mission statement: “Vassar College is committed to working toward a more just, diverse, egalitarian and inclusive college community where all members feel valued and are fully empowered.”

“Who knows if it will be there when we wake up?” she asked of the passage.

However, as Associate Vice President for Human Resources Ruth Spencer pointed out, both of these changes were in fact mandated by the accreditation board, which recently conducted a review of Vassar.

Lonigro spoke last, and served as a moderating voice. “Going back to last autumn, when the stock market was in the tank, there was a tremendous loss of wealth in equity market,” he said. “You saw private not for profit entities…you saw people in those venues who don’t normally get concerned over equity market get concerned.”

“Back into February 2009, there were a series of town hall meetings held by [President Catharine Bond Hill] in the Villard room. Information was presented to demonstrate if current financial trends continued…the endowment was going to be spent down to zero,” continued Lonigro. “[Hill] was asked a couple questions: ‘What if there’s a turnaround?’ She said, ‘We can’t count on a turnaround that will make up for the loss.’”

Fortunately, said Lonigro, “Obama’s economic policies have been very beneficial to people on Wall Street. Corporate earnings are at an all-time high. The Dow Jones should finish at an all-time high.”

Lonigro then asked why the dramatic turnaround had not affected the workers. “We have to be honest with ourselves. Are we creating efficiencies that are self-damaging,” he said. “Are we creating a race to the bottom where we really don’t know what the bottom is?”

Beyond harming the individual workers, these staffing reductions have harmed the College as a whole, said Bertsche. “Everything we do is for the quality of your education.

When they take my group and the cut it from 210 to 185, you can’t say that that doesn’t affect your education,” he concluded.

“We weren’t taking care of the physical plant the way we should have been taking care of the physical plant,” he said. “One would think that if you don’t have the money for the big capital campaign, you need to put a lot of Band-Aids on everything, but at the same time they want less staff,” he said, pointing to an apparent contradiction.

They then turned to what Nichols referred to as “the question of silence at Vassar,” why no one is speaking out against these labor practices.

“You go to the faculty who aren’t tenured. You go to my members who escaped December 2009. You try to get them to go to a rally and they’re afraid to show their face, because they’re afraid that they’re the ones who we’ll get pointed at next,” said Bertche.

Bradford concluded by expressing the need for the Vassar community to start listening to the workers’ complaints. “The College needs to stop thinking that we’re against them,” she said. “We’re not against them, we just want to be treated with dignity and respect.”

News Briefs Fire in Terrace Apartments

Boiler Malfunction On Thursday, April 14, at 11:44 a.m., Vassar Security discovered that a power generator, located in the boiler house near Sunset Lake, had malfunctioned. The machine’s power lines had overheated, causing them to burn.

The Arlington Fire Department was contacted, and worked in conjunction with the Buildings and Grounds staff to ventilate the generator and extinguish the flames.

—JR

Strangers Trespass in Strong On Thursday, April 14, at 11 p.m., a student reported two suspicious males had followed her into Strong as she was entering the building. Vassar Security responded, and found two young men that matched the student’s description sitting in the Strong parlor. They were informed that they were trespassing, were removed from the campus and were told they could not return again. Subsequently, the two men contacted Associate Security Director Kim Squillace, explaining that they were State University of New York New Paltz students who had been looking for a party. She

reminded them that their actions were illegal, whatever their intentions.

—JR

Food Catches Fire in Main On Saturday, April 16, at 11:42 p.m., a fire in the oven in the kitchen on the 3rd floor of Main building triggered a fire alarm. Apparently, someone had attempted to re-heat a pizza, but had not removed the cardboard box around it before inserting it in the oven at a high-heat setting. Vassar Security contacted the Arlington Fire Department, and the flame was quickly extinguished. The oven, however, was damaged.

—JR

Courtesy of Vassar College Media Relations

On Wednesday, April 13, at 11:10 a.m., a Fire Safety officer reported an incident that occurred on February 26, in which students dealt with a small fire in the Terraces Apartments without contacting Security. On that earlier date, students discovered that a plastic container filled with cigarette butts had caught fire, sending up smoke that caused damage to the walls. Although they extinguished the flame with water, they failed to notify Safety & Security, in violation of Vassar’s safety protocols. Safety & Security policy requires that students contact them in the event of any fire, even if the fire has already been extinguished.

—Joseph Rearick, Assitant News Editor

Inappropriate Visitor on Farm On Saturday, April 16, at around 2 p.m., a student walking on the Vassar Farm was the subject of inappropriate remarks by a male nonstudent. The perpetrator appeared to be 20 to 30 years old, was riding a bike and had a dog running alongside him. He addressed the student with comments that made her uncomfortable, and she reported the incident to Security. Other students have observed similar transgressions from a perpetrator matching the description. Security wishes to remind the student body to report any instances of inappropriate behavior by visitors to Vassar grounds.

—JR

TONCA “Won’t Grow Up” Around 500 children, parents and students alike gathered in the College Center on Saturday, April 16 for the 31st annual “I Won’t Grow Up Day.” The event is sponsored by student organization Together Opposing Neglect and Child Abuse (TONCA).

Though the event was free, TONCA raised nearly $1,000 from donations and funds raised from sales of popcorn, cotton candy and Tshirts. This and additional money raised this year, which co-President of TONCA Holly Nor-

Together Opposing Neglect and Child Abuse (TONCA), a student organization devoted to raising awareness of child abuse, held its 31st annual “I Won’t Grow Up Day” in the College Center on April 16. gard ‘11 estimates will total between $1,500 and $2,000, will be donated to the Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse in Dutchess County.

The Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse in Dutchess County has had ties to Vassar since the first “I Won’t Grow Up Day”; its location on Hooker Avenue is just a mile from campus, and in 2004 and 2007, the Center was a recipient of the Vassar Community Works fund.

Children and adults ready to act like kids finger-painted, made pasta jewelry and paper flowers, and had their faces painted inside the College Center while being entertained by student performing groups, though maybe the most popular activities were food-oriented. “Everyone seems to make a cookie by the end,” wrote Norgard of the cookie-decora-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

tiong station in an emailed statement.

Despite wet weather, attendees enjoyed outdoor activities as well. The Vassar Butterbeer Brooers offered quidditch lessons not far from a bouncy castle and a petting zoo featuring baby goats, a miniature horse, ducks and chickens.

“I Won’t Grow Up Day” has a dual purpose.

While it raises money for the Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse in Dutchess County, it also educates and brings Vassar and the outside community together. “TONCA works to raise awareness for the prevention of child abuse through bringing local kids on campus in order to integrate the Vassar community and the larger Poughkeepsie/Arlington one,” wrote Norgard.

-Caitlin Clevenger, News Editor

April 21, 2011

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Vassar Debate a resurgent tour de force Jillian Scharr

Features Editor

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Mary Huber

Assistant Features Editor

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Laura Smith/The Miscellany News

ou have a switch in front of you. Flip it one way, and the United States becomes a communist democracy. Flip it the other way, and we become a capitalist dictatorship.

Which way will you flip the switch?

This is the Vassar College debate team’s favorite question to pose to opposing teams.

“We practice both sides,” explained President Ethan Madore ’12. “We let the other team decide which side to take and we debate the other one.”

And in the six or seven times they’ve run it, the Vassar team has lost only once.

As per American Parliamentary rules, each debate consists of two teams of two students that represent their respective colleges. One side, called the government, presents a case on any subject, and the other side, the opposition, gets to choose which side they’ll argue.

Then the government speaks first, for two minutes, and after that the opposition must immediately rise and offer a rebuttal.

“You just have to be good at being able to respond to any kind of argument,” said Madore.

“You kind of have to be a jack of all trades, from zany pop culture things to specific economic policies. Anything from ‘should we reinstitute the draft’ to ‘Harry Potter should have defeated Voldemort this way.’”

At tournaments like the one at Amherst College from which the team has just returned, each debater participates in at least five rounds: three on the first night and two the next morning. After that, the teams with the highest scores advance to final rounds, the scores for which are used to calculate qualification in the national competitions.

Madore reports that the team has generally had winning records this year. “Most recently, Nathan Tauger ’14 and Meg Mielke ’14 won third at Swarthmore, and before that Jessica Tarantine ’14 and Michael Greene ’13 won fourth at Wesleyan in their divisions.”

(Disclosure: Tauger and Tarantine are reporters for The Miscellany News) The team’s Executive Board agrees that a liberal arts education is conducive to debating skills, as the wide variety of classes and disciplines—as well as the emphasis on theory and individual inquiry—make for broad-

The Vassar College Debate Team, led by President Ethan Madore ’12, pictured center, hosts its own tournament on campus in addition to attending three or four outside tournaments each semester. minded and well-rounded debaters. “We’ve debated schools like [Massachusetts Institute of Technology] before, who are very good at debating technical concepts but if you talk about history they start to flounder,” said Vice President Alex Koren ’13.

Only a few years ago, the Vassar debate team was far less active than its current iteration. “We fell into this funk a few years ago,” explained Madore. Fearing that students wouldn’t want to attend long, frequent meetings. “It’d just be a 10- to 15-minute meeting and it didn’t feel very engaging.” Now, however, the team meets twice a week for one and a half to two hours at a time.

Members practice oratory and rhetoric at each of the meetings. “We usually debate at each of them or we do some sort of debaterelated drill,” Koren explained. “To hone the ability to think on your feet we have things like someone will throw out an argument and you have five seconds to think of three responses to it.” Other exercises that the team use include

“word economy drills,” in which a person is given a minute to make a point, and then must argue the same point with the same amount of supporting content in 45, 30 and 15 seconds.

“It’s almost counter-intuitive,” said Madore. “People come more frequently now that we do a lot more.” Along with an influx of freshmen and a successful intracollege tournament that attracted upperclassmen to the team, this has caused the organization’s size to more than triple in the past year.

In addition to hosting a tournament, the Vassar team attends between three and four debate tournaments per semester, although the members express a desire to increase this number. However, limited financial resources prevent them from participating in all the tournaments to which they are invited. “It’s a difficult position we’re in,” Madore said. “While we’re a [Vassar Student Association] club…our needs are more analogous to a sporting team, because we have to travel to tournaments See DEBATE on page 8

President’s Advisory Council encourages giving Molly Turpin

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Editor in Chief

s the student-led campaign for the AllSchool Gift continues this semester, the challenge gift of $150,000 remains a constant incentive for students to participate, but the group responsible for the challenge, the President’s Advisory Council (PAC), has remained largely out of the spotlight.

For co-Chairs of the PAC Beth Burnam and James Kloppenburg, both Class of ’77, the challenge gift is both a celebration of a significant moment for the College and part of a solution to recent trends in alumnae/i giving.

“Colleges have really begun looking at the distribution of alumnae/i giving across different classes and has finally become quite critical, self-reflectively critical, and there were some really notable gaps,” said Burnam.

One of these gaps, noted Burnam, is young alumnae/i. Kloppenburg and Burnam agreed, the best way to engage younger classes is to encourage giving even before graduation. “The background for it is that studies have shown that it doesn’t matter how much people start giving, but the largest and best donors over time, the most committed donors that really any college or university needs…are people who give consistently,” said Kloppenburg. “So the concept of PAC’s challenge grant to the students was to broaden participation and to broaden participation now. We understand that the total dollar amounts won’t make a huge difference today, but we hope that they will have a tremendous long-term impact, so we’re thinking over decades not just one year.”

This gift marks the first time that PAC has put its collective name on a gift. “This is the first time we’ve put our name on it,” said Burnam. “There have been individual gifts that have come out of PAC because problems

Vassar reacts to latest round of SUNY cuts

were presented to us and individuals chose to step up.” Burnam added that members of PAC already give to the College annually, so the money given to the challenge gift has been raised beyond their normal donations.

But giving to the College is only one area in which PAC is currently focusing its efforts. The Council is, in short, a sounding board for President Catharine Bond Hill, there to discuss campus issues and comment on ideas and projects in progress. About 40 alumnae/i, parents and other friends of the College comprise the Council. They serve by the invitation of the president and are chosen for their dedication to the College. The group gathers twice a year to hear from a variety of constituents on campus. PAC held a meeting on campus this past weekend, marking the completion of its 10th year in existence.

Established by President Fran Fergusson in 2001, PAC serves at the request of the president. After Fergusson’s retirement, the decision to continue with the group was up to new President Hill. “I met with the then co-chairs of PAC, Susan and Henry Johnson (both alumnae/i) [’87 and ’88, respectively] even before I started I think, or shortly thereafter,” wrote Hill in an emailed statement.

“They were great and I was confident that the group would be a helpful sounding board.”

To Hill, the fact that PAC has no decisionmaking responsibility makes them a unique and particularly useful group. “I’ve discussed returning to need blind admissions with them, as well as the science project, the reorganization of development and alumnae/i affairs, our communications strategy, as well as lots of other issue,” she wrote. “Because we aren’t asking them to make decisions about issues, we can bring ideas to them when they are still being developed. This has been re-

ally helpful.”

PAC thus enjoys discussing a wide range of the workings of the College. “There’s been no aspect of the College that we haven’t looked at—finances, curriculum, building projects, student relationships, the food—everything is discussed,” said Kloppenburg. However, PAC’s agenda is occasionally influenced by outside pressures or concerns, such as the recent financial crisis. “It also depends on the environment. When the economy turned out badly and employment went on a bend and getting jobs became harder, the committee took a stronger focus and asked for more attention on what we’re doing for career development and placement and counseling of students.”

The President of the College may also turn to PAC for additional insight into topics currently under consideration by the administration. “Cappy also comes to us with things that she sees and things that she’s struggling with to see what insights we have,” said Burnam. “She certainly did during the economic downturn and the need to scale back the operation of the College that was what we were focusing on, and there are a lot of people who sit around that table who have a lot of business experience and could give her a different perspective.”

Burnam compared their advisory role to the more clearly defined responsibilities of the Board of Trustees, whose major obligations to the financial operations of the College as well as its tight agendas preclude it from having the more open-ended, work-inprogress conversations in which PAC can be integral. The President’s Advisory Council brings together a variety of perspectives in its meetings with Hill, and with its challenge gift PAC is sharing one of its chief goals with students.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

total of $289 million has been cut from the State University of New York (SUNY) budget in the latest round of spending cuts from Albany. The significant reduction in government support for public universities sparked protests at the New York State Legislature that included Vassar students despite the fact that Vassar College had not been directly affected. This activism raises questions concerning the manner in which Vassar should interact with other, specifically public, institutions of higher learning.

The budget cuts have prompted public universities to discontinue entire degree programs, particularly those that do not immediately direct students along vocational paths.

In contemplating the ramifications of such bold curricular modifications, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger writes in an emailed statement, “The loss of humanities and language programs [in many public universities] endangers the kind of breadth that is fundamental not only to liberal arts colleges but to any form of higher education.” Kitzinger challenged the rationale for cutting funding to less “useful” programs at certain public universities. Further considering the far reaching and long term benefits of language proficiency Kitzinger continues, “As citizens of a country whose national interests are also global interests, we also must realize that the knowledge of languages other than one’s native tongue is an essential pathway to engagement in and understanding of the larger world.” She explains, “If creativity, imagination, understanding other people’s worlds, the ability to pay attention and see clearly the variety of possibilities around you, all capabilities the arts and humanities foster, are not useful, what is?”

President of the College Catharine Bond Hill was also disappointed by cuts to the liberal arts, but she emphasized that the SUNY schools were facing a difficult decision. “I think that institutions facing budget cuts—both universities and K [through] 12—are having to make very tough choices, and I’m somewhat uncomfortable criticizing their choices,” she said in an interview. “I don’t know what alternatives these institutions faced.” Hill focused more on the government’s failure to commit sufficient resources to education. “Unfortunately,” she said, “We as a country are cutting spending on education when we should be investing in it.”

Matthew Hammel ’13, who helped organize the recent protest in Albany, N.Y. against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget plan (which included deep spending cuts to education and healthcare), focused more on the political ramifications of budget cuts to higher education.

“It’s not necessarily about SUNY Albany or SUNY New Paltz, but about the general state of education in this country,” Hammel said in an interview. “[These cuts] are indicative of the continuing stratification of wealth in this country,” he said. Income inequality has, in fact been increasing since the 1980s; the top 10 percent income share in America owns almost 50 percent of the nation’s wealth, a rate comparable to pre-Depression America. “I think it’s important to stress that education is one of the only ways to move forward economically in our country and that taking this opportunity away from the lower classes [by cutting funding for public education] is an attack on the agency of the working class.”

Hill made it clear that not only working-class students relied on public universities. ”Public higher education is where most people [who receive degrees] are going to get their [Bachelors of Arts Degrees],” she said. “The number is 65 percent of graduates.” When seen in that context, poorly funded public universities affect Americans on a much wider scale.

Another of the Albany protest organizers, Nicholas Korody ’13, claimed Vassar ought to support public universities.

“At this school we are taught, and many of us espouse, a certain political viewpoint that requires concern for society at large,” he said. “In this action, we need See SUNY on page 6

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April 21, 2011

Activism in SILP classes inspire academic exploration Albany sparks contemplation D Danielle Bukowski

Assistant Features Editor

SUNY continued from page 5 to radicalize, by which I mean start acting in whatever way is necessary to affect the change we perceive as necessary. Those ways may be subversive and may be illegal. But when you live in a society that is in itself oppressive…then you have to re-imagine legality in general.”

Kitzinger suggested more traditional ways that Vassar’s administration could help other universities, like “making public statements about the importance of education in all its forms, and higher education in particular, for young people and for the future of the country, and by joining with public universities in lobbying for the protection of state and federally funded financial aid for low-income students,” she said. Hill was more cautious, and did not make a public statement on behal of Vassar. “That’s for all the thousands of employees to state their views and for students to do the same,” she said. Korody was doubtful of the Vassar administration’s ability to support other institutions. “Regarding Vassar as an institution, it’s rather difficult to imagine the administration actually helping out the SUNY or [City University of New York] schools,” he claimed. “It does have to run itself, and they say that they were hit by the financial crisis rather hard. So it falls on students to act.”

Korody and Hammel were cautiously optimistic about students’ potential to enact change. “I think a lot of students here really do care and are very passionate about local and global issues,” said Korody. “Unfortunately, we often tend to isolate them, instead of understanding how immensely inter-related all these things are. There is an immense need to politicize,” he concluded.

Hammel argued, “When students protest, they get attention that other groups don’t from the media and the government,”making them more effective agents. He urgently added, “We need numbers. We need people to email me and [Korody] so they can get involved. We need to start organizing.” Said Korody, “It’s our future, and we have to take it and shape it, otherwise there is little hope for the world.”

espite its small size, Vassar is able to make available languages typically only offered by giant universities to those students who desire to branch out linguistically in the form of the Self-Instructional Language Program (SILP).

Irish Gaelic, Hindi, Korean, Portuguese, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish and Yiddish are offered to those with self-motivated curiosities.

SILP classes are smaller than in traditional language courses, and native speakers of the language are brought in as tutors. “Students choose to take a SILP language for a number of reasons, including family background, needing it for JYA, friends, having been to the country, wanting to learn more about the culture or it might relate to their major,” SelfInstructional Language Program Coordinator Gunila Feroe wrote in an emailed statement.

SILP has been around since 1967 when it was called the Neglected Language Program. Feroe has been the coordinator of the program since 1990, and before that was a member of the faculty appointed as director for two years at a time. She wrote, “There is no clear trend in the popularity of the different languages. The number of students in the different languages is small and typically subject to considerable fluctuation from year to year.”

When SILP classes meet, the tutor (who is not technically a professor) answers any questions that the students have, and will go over workbook exercises. However, tutors are there only to offer assistance and and help with pronunciation. The work that students do on their own, then, makes up the “self-instructed” part and the bulk of the coursework. In that case, the students’ efforts largely determine the difficulty and efficacy of the course.

Laura Fisher ’12 is taking Portuguese because she would like to go abroad for one semester in Madrid and another in Brazil. Fisher said, “I already take Spanish, so I figured Portuguese wouldn’t be too hard to learn. We get a lot of individual attention, and the tutor [Milene DePaula Olmo] is great,” she said.

“Because we only meet twice a week, it’s not

as much of a time commitment [as other language courses]. We fly through grammar, and if nobody has questions we move on. We keep up a fast pace.” With only two classes a week, the program is set up to move quickly. Fisher opined that the program is not as hard as it was made out to be, but that could be due to her familiarity with Spanish.

Each year 50 to 60 students enroll in a SelfInstructed language. “It is pretty rewarding.

For students who want to take SILP, I would emphasize that it’s really great in that it is a low time commitment, but there are some weird things about it that make it atypical to other Vassar classes,” Fisher noted. Her Portuguese class is held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays, and all Self-Instructional Language exams (one midterm and one final) are held on Saturday mornings. An examiner is brought in to administer the test. Fisher said, “Self-instruct is greatly influenced by how much you want to learn … For people who want to go abroad to that place [where the language is spoken], it’s a great program.”

Niya Nicholson ’14 is also taking a SelfInstructional language because of a desire to study abroad. Nicholson is one of four students in beginning Swahili. She said, “I wanted to learn a language outside of the Western culture. I plan to travel throughout my lifetime, and I would rather know the language than be a tourist that relies on a translator. I plan to travel to Africa, so I chose Swahili,” Nicholson said.

Nicholson is also in a beginning-level course of Spanish. “I like the different dynamic of the class because you know a lot of people are not taking it, so there’s a freedom from that extra pressure, from doing busywork. It’s at your own pace, in a way. The students decide the schedule,” said Nicholson. She plans to continue with Swahili during her sophomore year. “I prefer Spanish classes because the focus is more so on grammar, speaking and writing,” Nicholson said.

Since many students who choose to pursue SILP are focused on going abroad or are already somewhat familiar with the language, the program takes a very practical approach.

Unlike traditional language classes, SILP programs are reported to stress oral proficiency

above all else.

Joseph Kim ’12, who is not motivated by prospects for a semester abroad, is in an advanced Korean class this semester to supplement his existing knowledge of the language.

“I’d heard about SILP from a friend, and I always wanted to be better in terms of reading and writing. My parents are from Korea, and I wanted to be able to get deeper into the culture, to better relate to my parents and family in Korea,” he said. “It’s a fun class and it’s a really small program. I didn’t know that going in. It’s been a much more intimate class [than others at Vassar]. There are three other students in my class, plus the instructor [Eoun Joo Shin].”

Like Fisher, Kim said that SILP is much more casual than other language courses.

“I’ve taken Beginning Chinese here at Vassar, and [Chinese is] definitely a lot more work. The beginning level was much more conversational-based,” Kim said. “In Korean, there is a practical approach to the language more so than grammatical…but I have learned a lot of new words and cultural things. It’s a good way to practice my Korean.” All three students pointed out that due to it being “selfinstructional,” how much work you put into the classes will determine what you get out of them.

There are potential drawbacks to taking a course that is not taught by Vassar professors.

Of the tutors, Nicholson said, “I don’t like the fact that they just get a tutor who speaks the language and not a trained teacher.” However, Kim had a different experience; his tutor hosted a dinner for the students in the class with various kinds of Korean foods. “It’s not really typical of the program, but that just shows [Shin’s] commitment to the campus.

She’s really generous,” Kim said.

For the students who chose to take one of the eight less commonly taught languages, the program can be a great advantage when going abroad. Feroe wrote, “SILP gives the students an opportunity to study a less commonly taught language which they otherwise wouldn’t be able to learn. For some students this can even contribute to choosing Vassar and it adds to Vassar’s language course selection and cultural experience.”

Giannini leaves legacy of technological advancement Ruth Bolster

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Reporter

Carlos Hernandez/The Miscellany News

s the man responsible for vital Vassar resources such as Ask Banner, the Vassar Fact Book, and computerized registration, Registrar Dan Giannini has played a crucial role in improving Vassar’s technological services and in bringing the College into the 21st century. Behind these accomplishments lie both a passion for what he does and a love for the institution for which he works. Set to retire this spring after 25 years of service to the College, Giannini has become an essential member of the Vassar community.

Giannini’s career began when he secured a position as the summer research assistant at Marquette University’s Registrar’s Office. Impressed with his work, the Marquette registrar, who at the time was also Giannini’s statistics professor, asked him to continue working in the office for the remainder of the year. It was then that Giannini decided to pursue working as a registrar, prompting him to attend a National Registrar’s meeting in hopes of pursuing a full-time job. He was eventually hired as an assistant registrar at the University of Guam, and with his newly-wedded wife in tow, Giannini moved from the American Midwest to the Pacific island in question.

“It was a fun experience,” said Giannini.

“We were out there for three years, and got to travel to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan. We went to Tinian, and this old man who was actually captured by the Japanese in WWII took us out in his pick-up truck to where the first atomic bomb was loaded onto the plane, Enola Gay. It was in the middle of nowhere, but it used to be a big air base. It was all grown over by the 1970s.”

After returning to the United States in 1973, Giannini worked at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and the New School for Social

Research, before seeing an advertisement for the registrar’s job at Vassar College. “I had just started brewing my own beer at the time, and I started reading about how Matthew Vassar made his fortune in brewing. I thought this was a match made in heaven, so I applied for the job,” Giannini stated.

While Matthew Vassar’s connection to brewing may have drawn Giannini to the College, it was Giannini’s link to Guam that attracted him to those searching for a new registrar.

“I was told later by the secretaries at the Dean of Faculty Office—they were the ones who were coordinating the search—that they had all these resumes and they were intrigued when mine happened to say ‘University of Guam.’ They all got into a big discussion about what Guam was and where it was and finally the Dean [of Faculty] said, ‘Let’s ask him.’ And they put me into the interview pile.”

Once hired, Giannini’s primary task became to pattern a fair method of assigning students registration numbers for classes. Prior to the system that is currently in place, students lined up outside of Kenyon Hall’s gym during preregistration, where inside representatives from each academic department would sit at separate tables. Each table held cards that would correspond to the number of allotted spots in different classes.

When the time came to register, students would swarm Kenyon in an attempt to scrawl their names on these cards and thus reserve their place in the class. Those who were the first to put their names down were guaranteed a spot, thus prompting some students to camp outside of Kenyon overnight. Giannini’s goal was to design a system that would neither favor the first person who signed up for a class nor penalize the last. The current system, which he developed, was modeled after one

After 25 years of service to the College, Registrar Dan Giannini will be retiring. During his time here, Giannini developed an online class registration system and pioneered the Vassar Fact Book. used by Wesleyan College, in which the data is collected, interpreted and fed back into the system, resulting in a fair, and far less exhausting, system through which students could craft their schedules.

In addition to this new method of registration, Giannini also pioneered the first Vassar Fact Book, which has been published annually since 1995.

“One thing I like about working at Vassar is that it is a small enough place where if you have interests in different areas, people will take advantage of that and ask you if you would mind

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

doing this or if you would mind doing that,” began Giannini.

“So I got into Institutional Research. We didn’t have a separate office back then, but we needed someone to represent the school at Institutional Research meetings and do some of the things what other schools were starting to do—survey students, survey [alumnae/i], survey faculty. The former Dean of the College, Colton Johnson, came to me one day and said, ‘What we need is a book with all the information that is spread out all over the campus.

See GIANNINI on page 8

April 21, 2011

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Tasty Tuesday variety provides spice of life Relay for Life strives for E more birthdays Nathan Tauger Reporter

very Tuesday, the north atrium of the College Center turns into a bustling marketplace, where food from Southeast Asia to Highland, N.Y. is sold to the Vassar community as an exciting alternative to typical campus fare. “Tasty Tuesdays” provides students with a medley of flavors in the 15 minutes between classes; however, deciding just what to indulge in can be a difficult task. At this point in the academic year, it is safe to assume that most Vassar students have a favorite Tasty Tuesday treat, but variety is the spice of life: Why not take an opportunity to explore the offerings of other stands?@I decided to survey Tasty Tuesday stand by stand and inteview the people serving up the sumptuous snacks.

Some may argue that the food should speak for itself, but the insight I was able to glean from the personalities that pamper our palettes also speak volumes.

I first talked to Niko Anemelos of Julie’s Restaurant, the Greek breakfast, lunch and dinner eatery on Raymond Avenue. Anemelos ran me through Julie’s average Tasty Tuesday repertoire: “We usually have rice pudding, Greek salad, lamb gyros, chicken gyros, roast beef wrap, eggplant wrap, pastichil (a spinach pie with pork instead of spinach) and spinach pie.” Anemelos continued by commenting on what he thought the best selling dishes at Tasty Tuesday were: “It’s a toss up between the gyros and the spinach pie. Back at the restaurant we get a lot of students for breakfast; we’ve got great pancakes.” Anemelos’s high opinion of Julie’s griddlecakes was verified by the results of Monday’s Pancake Eating Contest sponsored by Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE).

Julie’s has been in business for the past 16 years and has participated in Tasty Tuesday for the last three. Anemelos, the tall, friendly figure that acts as the face of Julie’s at Tasty Tuesdays, is in his sophomore year with the restaurant. He says that his favorite thing about Tasty Tuesday is getting to see busy college kids and engage in conversation about such topics as student theses, as well as provide them with great local food.

Normally I would make sure to try all the food offered at Tasty Tuesday to maintain journalistic integrity, but Passover regulations forbade me from enjoying any of Julie’s fine cuisine on this particular Tuesday. The memories of a warm eggplant wrap with feta cheese and red peppers on fresh soft bread on the way back from a Chemistry lab, however, hold a special place in my heart. I smelled the deep aroma of a flaky square of spinach pie as I walked to the next vendor and felt wonderful for the lucky students able to buy it later that day.

My next stop was the vendor of apples and plants, Wilklow Orchards, whose booth has been a steady presence at Tasty Tuesdays since its inception. Along with selling many varieties of delicious apples, including red delicious, empire and golden delicious, Wilklow Orchards sells herbs and vegetable plants including tomatoes, basil and cucumber.

“We’re located across the river, in Highland, N.Y.,” said the man standing behind the assortment of produce, who called himself Paul. “We grow all of the herbs and vegetable plants in our greenhouse then bring them here in case anyone wants to grow them on patios or elsewhere.” But for the Vassar student without a green thumb or appetite, Wilklow Orchards offers great dessert options as well. “We press our own apple cider for donuts and scones; the donuts seem popular,” said Paul. When asked what sold the best overall, Paul commented: “It really depends on the season. When peaches are in season we sell a lot of peaches, plums in season, plums sell well, raspberries, nectarines, it all works the same.”

He also reflected on the benefit of coming to Vassar to set up shop. “We do well. We like interacting with the students and we always feel welcome here—it’s a great feeling.”

Next on the menu for this Tuesday was Kismat, the closest outlet for Vassar students in search of Indian cuisine, which may soon transition exclusively to buffet style dining.

Kismat has been in business for seven years, though the owner has spent nearly 20 years catering. Chicken tikka masala, naan and samosas top Kismat’s Tasty Tuesday bestsellers list. The dishes were so popular that I

had to stop my interview with the employees of Kismat because of the long lines forming behind me.

Nearby the info desk of the College Center are the flaky brown empanadas, bright green fat straw, and the red tablecloth that mark the territory of Twisted Soul. Again, an already long line prevented me from interviewing the employees, but a satisfied Sonia Jacinto ’12 shared, “I don’t come [to Tasty Tuesday] that often, but when I do I get a bubble tea from Twisted Soul.”

Last on my list of community restaurants to survey was Janet’s Jerk Chicken, located on Main Street in the city of Poughkeepsie. Janet’s provides authentic Jamaican cuisine and American favorites like macaroni and cheese.

While the eponymous Janet was not there when I interviewed those at the table, her representative employees assured me that she occasionally comes to Tasty Tuesday to make sure that her restaurant’s booth lives up to the standards set by the veritable goddess of Jamaican cuisine. Though I abstained from indulging in Janet’s tempting creations this week, I can attest to the high quality of the plantains and rice and beans, whose simultaneously sweet and zesty flavors made me feel like I wasn’t missing out on anything.

Tasty Tuesday is now celebrating its second year on campus. It was instituted in February of 2009 by the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Executive Board of that year. “The program is a VSA initiative to promote restaurants in the Arlington Business District,” wrote VSA Vice President for Operations Ruby Cramer ’12 in an emailed statement.

There is no charge for vendors to set up their array of tantalizing products in the College Center; Cramer and the rest of the VSA coordinate the events through the Campus Activities Office.

Tasty Tuesday is a great opportunity for Vassar students and faculty to culinarily branch out without having to leave campus and a great chance for local businesses to sell delicious food. Office Specialist of Campus Activities, Ann Lynch said it best: “I enjoy the variety of foods in the North Atrium on Tuesday.”

Feelings of safety assessed on campus SAFETY continued from page 1 concerned with the fact that some say that they don’t feel safe on campus because we have a very low rate of crime on campus,” said Director of Safety and Security Don Marsala.

The Senior Survey data measures only perceptions and subjective feelings of satisfaction, and as a snapshot of the Class of 2010 it may capture the more extreme than average opinions of a class that witnessed an unusually tempestuous period in campus security from independent incidents such as an armed robbery outside of Chicago Hall to structural changes in the removal of fences from the perimeter of campus.

“We have a much stronger presence at the north end of campus. We’ve also asked the police to give us added patrol coverage as well, and they have done that,” said Marsala.

“That’s why you see more police cars around than you normally would in the past, so it’s odd for me some people still feel unsafe at times.”

“We are adjacent to the city of Poughkeepsie, which has its whole set of urban challenges,” said Dean of the College Chris Roellke, but he also added, “We want to be cautious about not overstating the notion that we live in the City of Poughkeepsie and therefore we feel unsafe.” The overall feeling of security points, perhaps, to how Vassar is situated in the community, but there are other factors in Vassar’s own culture that may have led to the results.

Unlike most other colleges, Roellke pointed out, Vassar allows students access to all dormitories and generally shuns the use of video surveillance. “Those are practices that are not practices at other institutions, and I’m interested to know whether or not there is any merit in thinking about that. I don’t think I would want to be an advocate for battening down the hatches…but I’m interested to hear from a variety of the constituents on campus

about what would make them feel more safe.”

“We also have the challenge of having a fairly sprawling campus,” said Roellke. “Our security force is spread across a fairly wide area including the farm.”

Lighting has frequently arisen in discussions of safety, and it comes as no surprise that some areas of campus are brighter than others at night. Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa brought along a light meter and gave quantifiable values to the darker spots, comparing them to standard recommendations for illumination on campuses. While the standard illumination for walkways is about 3.22 lux, the standard unit of illuminance, many spots on the walk fell below this qualification.

Notably, the area outside of Chicago Hall and approaching Raymond Ave. recorded 0.4 lux, and the measure of brightly lit Raymond Ave. (7.2 lux) fell almost immediately to approximately 1.1 as the group continued towards the path to the Town Houses.

“There are a few areas that have been historically problematic for us,” said Roellke.

“The TH path has caused a lot of concern.”

In the area of the Town Houses, the walkers counted at least 10 unlit lights—both lamps and lights affixed to the sides of the houses.

Director of Safety and Security Don Marsala noted that most lights had been reported in the last few days.

“The advantage of tof the security walk and the committee is that we can say we were there and actually observed possible safety issues that need attention,” said Marsala.

Light, or darkness as the case may have been, does not fully explain the reportedly low feelings of safety on the Vassar campus.

The issue becomes more complicated when broken down between men and women. Over 40 percent of men reported a high level of satisfaction with their sense of safety, while only 25 percent of women reported the same.

Professor of Psychology and Chair of the Safety and Security Advisory Committee Randy Cornelius was able to add his own classes’ research to the data from the Senior Survey.

In his research methods courses, Cornelius has made a practice of applying his students’ research skills to a study of the Vassar campus and its culture, including a study of the geography of emotions, which mapped students’ senses of safety in different parts of the campus.

“First thing, men and women were different,” said Cornelius. “Women felt less positive emotions and more negative emotions in general on campus than did men, and they felt them especially so at night, which makes sense.”

“It’s also the case that around the periphery of the campus there are also places where the features of the physical environment are more conducive to feeling not safe,” said Cornelius. “So there are places where people can hide, there are places where you can’t see a way to get away if somebody is following you…lighting is another one, the presence of emergency phones.”

In one project, Cornelius said his class asked students where they felt the most safe on campus. “They tended to say they felt the most safe in their rooms,” said Cornelius.

“Now, what’s ironic about that is if you look at the statistics on where students are most likely to be assaulted, it’s in their rooms. You look at forms of date rape and other forms of sexual assault, they tend to happen in dormitories.”

“It’s upsetting to me, and to everyone around us, that women report different responses than men,” said Roellke. “I think we need to step up our resources in making sure women feel safe on campus. I think this is also ripe for follow-up focus groups. It’s one thing to get bare-bones satisfaction by gender, it’s another thing to get behind those numbers and say, ‘Explain to me what your experience is on campus; what led you to this conclusion?’”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Mary Huber

Assistant Features Editor

O

n April 23, Vassar’s ProHealth and the American Cancer Society will conduct Vassar College’s Relay for Life, one of many such events in communities and colleges across the United States and 19 other countries meant to raise money for cancer research and support for cancer patients.

So far, 118 people have registered to participate in the Relay, and they have already raised $13,824. However, organizers expect upwards of 250 people to walk in the Relay and hope to raise $25,000. “Anyone interested can register up to the day of the event,” wrote Relay for Life Comittee Chair and ProHealth Vice President Kristyn Abreu ’11 and Co-Chair Steven Montera ’12 in a joint statement, “If you decide that day that you’d like to be involved, you can definitely walk in and register at the actual Relay.” The only requirement is a $10 registration fee that goes to the American Cancer Society. Aside from the money raised by participants, through a collaboration with Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) $1 from each ticket to the spring Of Montreal concert will go to the American Cancer Society.

This year’s theme is “Creating More Birthdays.” Participants are encouraged to don birthday hats and other similar attire for the Relay.

In a joint emailed statement, Abreu and Montera wrote, “Relay for Life is about spreading hope to those who have been affected by cancer both directly and indirectly. Relay for Life brings communities together to stand in solidarity and fight back against cancer, while celebrating, supporting and remembering all those whose lives have been changed by this disease … The overarching goal of Relay is to spread cancer awareness, celebrate the lives of survivors and remember those who lost their lives to cancer.”

The organizers emphasized the importance of creating a sense of community among those participating in the Relay. “Three years ago, ProHealth saw a need for action and an opportunity to rally around this important and often personal issue,” said President Nicole Krenitsky ’11. “Since then, Relay for Life has connected students and the Poughkeepsie community in the fight against cancer and the search for a cure, culminating on the day of the Relay.”

Abreu and Montera included Poughkeepsie residents along with Vassar students in their efforts to form this sense of community. “Community participation is always something we strive to have more of,” they wrote, “and this year we’re also tabling at the Galleria Mall alongsideViCE to increase our community participation.” Since the closest Relay for Life is in Rhinebeck, NY, in June. local middle school and high school students are particularly active in fundraising. “in the past and this year we have had, and will have, students from Spackenkill High School who have volunteered to help us with the event,” wrote Abreu and Montera.

“We’ve also had some middle school students and parents in the past create teams and enjoy the day on Vassar’s campus.”

The organizers explained their special attempts to keep the Relay open to all age groups.

“Our entertainment is also suitable and enjoyable for all ages, so everyone can spend the day enjoying our time together,” they wrote.

Local businesses also play a role in creating an enjoyable Relay. Their participation is both practical and philanthropic: some of the vendors have also volunteered to donate a portion of their profits to Relay for Life.

The sense of unity that Abreu and Montera try to foster is to encourage those affected by cancer as well as those walking in the Relay.

“The walk produces a strong community, and is a reminder to everyone involved that we are not alone in this battle against cancer,” they wrote.

“Relay for Life brings everyone together to stand and fight against a common cause,” concluded Abreu and Montera. “It always seems like everyone is more than happy to have the opportunity to meet new people and come together to make a difference in the global fight against cancer.”

FEATURES

Page 8

April 21, 2011

Slow Food sensationalizes standard fare with herbs Simple snacks straight from Vassar’s gourmet gardens Samantha Loewen Guest Columnist

A

fter a recent viewing of the documentary King Corn, in which two friends decide to move from Boston to Iowa to grow an acre of corn, I was feeling pretty down about the amount of non-food corn product that was likely in my body at that moment. The corn in question is not the on-the-cob variety.

It is used to make high fructose corn syrup, cornstarch, ethanol and other corn-based products. This is the kind of corn that has been genetically modified to survive a nuclear holocaust, the type that was developed to be grown on an industrial scale. The main advantage it has over its distant relative, sweet corn, is that the new plants can tolerate being grown very close together. The sardineesque fields produce huge amounts of food that, along with extensive government subsidies, allow agri-businesses to make significant profits.

This corn isn’t intended to become food. Those yellow and white staples of our barbeques, helpfully called sweet corn, are of a different breed altogether and does not come from these picturesque Iowa fields. King Corn chronicles the non-sweet-corn product’s extensive reach, which is quite astounding and possibly terrifying if you are an aficionado of Doritos and Twinkies.

There are the more obvious corn offenders, like the prevalence of high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks, snack foods and most bottled sauces in the grocery store. But what was really disturbing was the intense corniness of non-corn items. Take, for example, a McDonald’s Happy Meal, or any fast food restaurant’s burger combo meal, for that matter. Every item in the meal contains some form of corn. The little sesame seed bun contains high fructose corn syrup, the juicy patty is made from grain-fed beef and the French fries were likely fried in a corn-based oil.

But the point of this is not to make you feel bad about drinking Coke or eating a burger. Instead, it is to celebrate corn in its natural, edible form.

Though King Corn may bring you down, it also stresses the importance of real food and alternatives to our modern, corn-syrup-laden world. A great way to enjoy a purer--and tastier--form of corn is to make a batch of homemade, all-natural herbs de Provence popcorn.

And while you’re at it, why not wash it down with a glass of sugar sweetened basil lemonade? Think tart, refreshing lemonade infused with bright earthy basil. It is an excellent combination and a great complement to the herbed popcorn. The lemonade gets its sweetness from the basil simple syrup, which is just herbs, water and sugar boiled together. This recipe is also very flexible and can be made with any sort of herb.

If you are feeling daring try swapping out the basil for fresh rosemary and more herbs de Provence.

This popcorn was created out of lavender-lust. It can be made with any herbs really but my heart was set on lavender so herbs de Provence was it.

Herbs de Provence is a delicious mix of dried herbs traditional used in Provençal cooking. The blend used here came from Adams Supermarket and contains marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, lavender, sage and dried lemon peel. If you are a lemon fan, I think adding additional lemon zest to the hot popcorn would be wonderful. The herbs give the popcorn intensity and layers of flavor. It is buttery and salty like any good popcorn should be, but with a deep savory flavor that is still fresh and summery.

When salted to perfection, this popcorn will make you thirsty. You will probably want that basil lemonade.

Herbs de Provence Popcorn

Basil Lemonade

Basil Lemon Syrup

»» »» »» »» »»

(Recipe from Gourmet)

»» 2 cups packed fresh basil sprigs »» 2 cups water »» 1 cups sugar »» 5 1-inch strips lemon zest

2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 popcorn kernels 4 tbsp butter 1 tbsp Herbs de Provence Salt

»» »» »» »»

In a large heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat combine the olive oil and popcorn kernels. Cover with a lid. Cook until popping slows, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand covered until popping stops, 1 minute.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter on medium-low heat. Add the herbs while the butter is melting. Stir occasionally. When butter is melted, pour on top of the popcorn. Add salt and additional herbs to taste. Makes 8 to 10 cups.

2 cups basil lemon syrup 2 cups cold water 2 cups ice cubes 1 1/4 cups fresh lemon juice

Stir together all ingredients in a large pitcher, then pour into glasses half filled with ice.

Garnish with fresh basil leaves and candied lemon peel.

Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved.

Let stand at room temperature, covered, 1 hour. Strain syrup through a sieve into a bowl and discard solids. Makes 2.5 cups.

Giannini reflects on past, plans future

Debate competes with

GIANNINI continued from page 1 That would help us make decisions.’

So that is when I started compiling the first Fact Book.” Since then, Institutional Research has grown into its own department at Vassar, and is currently headed by Director David Davis-Van Atta.

In addition to these feats, Giannini cited the implementation of Ask Banner as his greatest accomplishment. The Banner system is used campus-wide not only by students, but also by Accounting Services and Human Resources, among others.

“The system that we brought up when I first came here was decent, but it had some bad drawbacks. So we made the decision to go to the new system. I chaired the invitational committee to bring that new system up and within 18 months, we brought the College up to date on the new Banner system,” said Giannini.

Giannini noted that, in terms of computing, the next step the College hopes to take is the implementation of an audit system. This would allow students and their advisors to check online which requirements remain to be fulfilled in order to complete a specific major.

Although he regrets that he will not be able to spearhead the application of this audit system himself,

DEBATE continued from page 5 and house people and get transportation.”

“We regularly debate the best speakers in the country,” he continued, claiming that Harvard and Yale Universities have triple the budget that Vassar’s team does. In fact, Madore said, the only teams at Vassar that compete at the highest level of their division are the debate team, the women’s rugby team, and the quidditch team.

According to the American Parliamentary Debate Association’s standings, no Vassar teams hold a position in the top 100 debaters. However, “We’re one of the top liberal arts colleges,” said Koren, explaining that they are usually evaluated separately from larger universities like Harvard and Yale.

Members don’t just debate to win. Koren recalled a match in which he was partnered with team captain Tom Enering ’12 against Rutgers University, the third-ranked team in the country. “They proposed a case that students in public schools that are impoverished should be paid if they got As,” Koren recounted.

“It was a super-heated debate, and we both got really into it. I was

he is confident that something like this will be available for student use within the near future.

Upon retiring, Giannini and his wife will move to Chapel Hill, N.C., where he plans on spending his time golfing and relaxing. As lifelong dog lovers, he and his wife also hope to find a new, furry addition to their family once they are settled in their new home.

“You make a lot of friends during 25 years,” began Giannini when speaking about his looming retirement. “Some of them are gone and some of them are still here. There is a lot of faculty that I have gotten to know and I will miss them. If you do anything for 25 years, it becomes a big part of your life. This is a great institution I’ve been lucky to work here. I’ve always been proud of the fact that when people ask where I work, I say Vassar College. I’ve worked at the University of Guam and at Marquette, and I can honestly say that this is the place I have been most proud to be associated with. That’s why I’ve stayed.”

As Vassar’s registrar for the past 25 years, Giannini has certainly proven to be an instrumental member of the administration. He has made his mark upon Vassar College and he will be missed by faculty and students alike.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

top regional colleges very invested in the argument because I went to a charter school in a low-income area...[and] we ended up winning that debate.”

Other times, questions linger in members’ minds long after the time limit has passed. Chenxi Cai ’11, who joined the team this semester, recalled one question which he was posed during a tournament: “Whether you would choose shallow happiness or very deep painfulness,” he said. “That kept me thinking.”

Most of the members agreed that the debate team provides them with useful skills for the classroom, the workplace and friendly conversations. Several members pointed out that debate gives them the confidence and ability to participate in class.

“It also helps a lot writing English papers,” added Koren.

“If you think of your essay as if you’re giving a speech, it is easier to write and turns out a lot clearer.”

Pressed further, they argued instead that employing debate skills in everyday life only irritates their peers and friends.

“People say ‘why are you treating this like a debate,’” said Madore. “It alienates people,” he added wryly.

OPINIONS

April 21, 2011

Page 9

Miscellany News Staff Editorial

Unpaid internships deserve further scrutiny W

hat are you doing this summer?

And, perhaps more importantly, are you being paid for it?

Unpaid college internships are largely viewed as the only way to break into an industry after graduation, and round out your resume during you collegiate tenure.

In that sense, they can be seen as an investment in our future. However, an unpaid internship necessitates that students provide for their food, shelter and recreational expenses for the duration of their assignment.

The financial burden complicit in unpaid work puts internships out of reach for students with less financial support.

Colleges and universities widely provide financial aid for students to achieve a college education based on their academic qualifications rather than their families’ ability to pay. No true equivalent exists for summer internships, yet in this difficult economy they become more and more important as tools for networking and securing jobs. Unpaid internships create an inequity between students who are better positioned to take high profile positions in urban locations without compensation due to either geographical or financial advantages. Furthermore, the current economic climate precludes many well-intentioned companies from offering paid internship opportunities.

This imbalance of opportunity is no stranger to the discourse of students and their advocates, with students, educators and employers debating the justice of unpaid internships in a variety of forums. Last year, the Department of Labor put forth six criteria for a legal unpaid internship. These include the stipulations that “the internship…is similar to training which would be given in an educational

environment,” and “the internship experience is for the benefit of the intern.” They further stipulate that unpaid interns must not perform in roles that will directly benefit or provide income for the companies for which they work, in other words, work that might be done by a paid employee.

In response to recent critiques of the current internship system, thirteen presidents of colleges and universities—Vassar not among them—wrote an open letter to the Department of Labor discouraging it from pursuing a course that would deter companies from offering unpaid summer positions, writing “The Department’s public statements could significantly erode employers’ willingness to provide valuable and sought-after opportunities for American college students.”

The thirteen undersigned college presidents of the aforementioned document “urge great caution in changing an approach to learning.” However we feel that this stance is detrimental to the philosophies that are claimed to govern higher education. How can we evaluate our current pedagogical processes if we are unwilling to critique an imbalanced system purely because we can see no other option? Thus, we encourage the Department of Labor to reevaluate the laws concerning unpaid internships.

Instead of stifling this debate for fear of scaring off prospective employers from offering internships, we encourage and implore college presidents, administrators, professors, students and employers alike to enter into this conversation.

We recognize that Vassar alone is not complicit in creating an unjust environment. Additionally, the URSI, Exploring Transfer and Ford Scholars programs offer subsidized alternatives that provide

students with hands-on research experience as well as housing and a small stipend. Furthermore, many our extensive and encouraging alumnae/i network and the funding made available through The Internship Grant Fund work towards closing the gaps between all students hoping to create meaningful summer experiences.

While it is impractical to believe that institutions of higher learning can or should be held responsible for funding students’ extracurricular pursuits, the importance placed on summer experiences in particular in the resume building process calls for some manner of assistance. This conundrum is most pressing at liberal arts colleges such as Vassar, which are by definition not pre-vocational. Thus, if value is to be placed on job-specific training we must further explore the relationship between students’ academic and vocational aspirations. Many students feel pressure to choose between acquiring vocational experience or financial security with the two often being mutually exclusive.

Unfortunately, though it is easy to recognize the inequality inherent in the process of procuring summer internships, individuals with means will continue to pursue prestigious, unpaid summer positions. The only way we could breach this inequity is by applying the same principles of diversity that govern our tremendous allocations of financial aid to the discourse surrounding the pursuit of vocational experience.

Eliza Gercke

T

he Vassar Student Association (VSA) has been through a lot lately. Fortunately, one decision they will be making in upcoming weeks should be fairly easy. Tap That, a campaign within the Vassar Greens working to raise awareness about bottled versus tap water, will be asking the VSA to make a decision on whether or not to fund the purchase of bottled water—and here’s why.

Let’s look at some of the facts about bottled water. Each year, 17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of bottled water, which is enough to fuel 1 million cars for a year. Unfortunately, only one in five bottles are recycled, which translates to three billion pounds of unnecessary waste in our landfills.

Water is a basic human necessity yet bottled water companies buy water rights in communities and essentially suck their supplies dry. In fact, 40 percent of bottled water is simply tap water in a bottle, with fewer regulations. Since bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it is subject to virtually no safety standards. The Environmental Protection Agency monitors tap water, and requires regular reports on quality, source and tests for bacteria and other contaminants. None of this is required by the FDA.

Plus, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, the plastic bottles used for bottled water contain potentially carcinogenic chemicals that can all too easily leach into the water. So you never really know what sickness you could get from your Aquafina.

Just last year, a group of Vassar students and faculty did a study comparing bottled water from the Retreat with Vassar’s tap water. Neither type of water was found to contain anything terribly dangerous, which is great news. But the minute details count for a lot, and these showed the bottled water to contain trace amounts of dangerous chemicals, whereas the tap water had more healthy minerals. These results constitute scientific proof that Vassar’s tap water is better than bottled water, which is pretty fantastic and convincing information to have.

In short, bottled water is produced using more than a gallon of gas per unit, contributes substantially to climate change and waste pollution, and robs its source communities of a basic human right. Tap water, on the other hand, has more vitamins and minerals, is better regulated and is available on just about every floor of every building on campus.

Oh, and there’s the fact that tap water is free, whereas bottled water can cost up to $300 a school year if you purchase one

“English.

The Green Lantern—it’s a nice adjective/noun combination.”

Joanna Hamer ’12 “English/Drama.

Mighty Mouse, because only someone mighty could handle two majors in one division.”

Becca Shulbank ’13

“History.

Donatello, from TMNT.”

—The Staff Editorial represents the opinion of at least two thirds of the 18-member Miscellany News Editorial Board.

Student activities fee must not fund bottled water Guest Columnist

Which superhero would have your major?

from the Retreat every day. The bottled water industry has done an impressive job of billing its product as a luxury, a convenient and superior way of drinking water. Yet at Vassar we are constantly asked to think critically, and in this case doing so reveals that these companies are just selling us a product that is 1,000 times more expensive than necessary. Pretty genius, really. But certainly we college students have better drinks on which to spend our money.

Fortunately, we can make the choice against bottled water this Earth Week. On April 24, the Greens will be proposing a new bylaw to the VSA that would disallow VSA organizations from spending our student fee money on bottled water for events or any other purposes. Ignoring the extravagant costs, the health risks and research

by Vassar students and faculty as well as many other professionals seems irresponsible; it’s time for the student body to act on its own behalf and require student funds to go toward more conscientious purchases. And with the major water fountain improvements that will be happening very soon across campus, it will be easier than ever to get delicious, fresh tap water.

It’s always great to be able to say the phrase “I’m tapping that.” Why not apply it to water? ­—Eliza Gercke ’13 is a student at Vassar College.

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Michael Renner ’14 “Women’s Studies. Wonder Woman, but ‘womyn’ spelled with a y.”

Mickey Mahar ’12

“Poli Sci/Drama double. The Joker. Duh.”

Aidan Kahn ’14 —Juliana Halpert, Photography Editor Alanna Okun, Humor & Satire Editor

Word on the JoshuaMulter

Joshua Multer ’14

Aquaman also Undecided, because we both haven’t done anything useful for anyone yet, but we look GREAT in tights.

17 Apr via web

—Marie Dugo, Social Media Editor

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

OPINIONS

Page 10

April 21, 2011

Bookstore Author Series Pundits should reassess motivates young students “seriousness” of right wing Sue Vinette

D

Guest Columnist

ear Vassar Community, On Thursday, April 21 at 5:00 p.m., the Vassar College Bookstore Author Series will host its 13th and final lecture for the season featuring Mark C. Taylor, chair of the Department of Religion at Columbia and former professor at Williams. His book, Crisis on Campus: A Bold Plan for Reforming Our Colleges and Universities, a work that was born of his widely read and hugely controversial 2009 New York Times op-ed article, fortuitously introduced me to a phrase that captures the intent of the Bookstores Author Series: “[to] distribute intellectual and cultural capital among the rich and the poor,” among the urban youth and our on-campus community.

I have felt from the outset that the Series has been embraced on campus by the sheer fact that Vassar professors have so generously agreed to present; they asked for nothing. And I am so pleased to know that while the pool of presenters for the fall semester is being chosen, those who have presented will happily return. So I would like to extend my sincere gratitude here to the almost 20 Vassar professors who have contributed in making the Series what it is: a living reflection of the rich-

ness of thought and productivity around us.

The Series began two years ago with our first speaker, author Jaimie Hope, of all names.

Disabled from birth and in a wheelchair, she presented her book The Adventures of Baby Jaimie to the fourth graders at Arthur S. May Elementary School on Raymond Avenue. I remember Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Mihai Grunfeld driving us over there because the icy conditions prevented the kids from walking over to the Bookstore. (He eventually presented his moving work, Leaving, at a later bookstore event.)

When we were in the classroom at Arthur S. May, the teacher, Cheryl Hodaba, who has become a wonderful collaborator, asked her class to re-enact the scene at the moment they learned that the outing was not cancelled, and that we were coming to them despite the snow.

Suddenly, 35 kids bolted in animated yelping, arms waving high amidst voluble screams of delight. Cathy Black-Benson, the then store manager, and I smiled across the room at one another—with fingers in our ears due to the noise—knowing we were on the right track, that this thing must be developed.

During the initial stages of our outreach, I met with and wrote to local school officials See BOOKSTORE on page 12

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Steve Keller

Guest Columnist

L

ately, all the buzz in Washington D.C. has been about “seriousness.” The Paul Ryan plan for reducing the deficit: serious. Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy: not serious.

Why the difference? Why is bankrupt businessman Donald Trump widely panned as a lunatic, while GOP up-and-comer Paul Ryan is often described with glowing terms? Why, though both are equally farcical, does Paul Ryan get afforded the luxury of being called “serious”?

Now, of course, calling a plan “serious” means nothing if its not of substance. Neither does calling it “courageous” because it isn’t “afraid” to challenge serious issues. I wouldn’t use “adult”, “pragmatic”, or “audacious” either to describe Ryan’s plan. But “seriousness” is what seems to have floated to the surface here.

Others have pointed out the “serious” fallacy out before me, the preeminent Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman among them. On the other hand, journalist Fareed Zakaria, someone I usually respect for his critical thinking skills, praised the plan for being bold and serious, but then criticized it for being flawed in that it will not work. Yet he still called it serious.

Let’s be clear: A plan that won’t work, won’t work. You don’t get points for effort once you get out of middle school. You don’t get a gold star for trying. Representative Paul Ryan, the chair of the House Budget Committee tried.

But Paul Ryan failed. But what is the Paul Ryan plan? Let me explain quickly, and hopefully in doing so I’ll make more sense than the first serious film adaptation of Atlas Shrugged.

Ryan authored the House Republican deficit reduction plan. And given the fantastic Republican record on the deficit in recent decades, should we rightly assume that it is a solid plan for getting us out of our fiscal hole, and quickly? Wrong. It actually adds to the deficit in the next 10 years.

Wait, what? I thought that the debt was going to crush us immediately! When does the deficit go away for good? In 2060. That’s right. By 2060, when most of those in Congress will be dead. By 2060, when robots will rule us in a post-apocalyptic hellscape dominated by cyborg-libertarian principles of objectivism (read: selfishness). They’ll have learned well from their creators, being made in our image.

So why does the Paul Ryan plan—according to Paul Ryan’s own plan—fail to even start cutting the deficit for 10 years ? Well, for starters, it hands out $125,000 to those making over $1,000,000 a year. But wait, doesn’t this pamphlet I got from the Heritage Foundation say that the rich already need a tax cut because they pay so much already? Actually, the effective tax rate on the upper 400 Americans (who own as much as the bottom 155 million Americans) has dropped to 17 percent due to loopholes and offshore accounts. I guess we should know why most of the debt has been accumulated under Republican presidencies.

If the numbers above have confused you, here’s what you need to remember, because these are the most damning numbers contained within Ryan’s plan. The plan cuts $4.3 trillion in spending over the next 10 years. It also reduces taxes by $4.2 trillion, but mostly on the super-wealthy. It also raises defense spending, something that has increased 81 percent in the last decade. The only “serious”

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cut contained within Ryan’s plan is a dismantling of Medicare as we know it, replacing it with a smoke-and-mirrors voucher program, harming the elderly, the sick and the poor.

Simply put, this is a redistribution of wealth out of regular Americans’ pockets, and it is a joke of a plan.

No matter how seriously you say that a piece of garbage is going to solve the deficit, it doesn’t make you serious. It makes you disingenuous. The Paul Ryan plan does not cut the deficit until after when all of those in Congress are dead. It is based in fiction.

What people need to realize, though, is that this tendency to ground ideas in non-reality is not exactly uncommon among Republicans. In fact, Donald Trump figured it out pretty quickly.

Meet the Donald, self-proclaimed birther, and your future GOP presidential nominee.

If you think I’m kidding, he’s actually consistently polling ahead of Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich, and in a recent survey

by Public Policy Polling, was the first choice of GOP voters. Given his vast resources, name recognition and the fact that 48 percent of Iowa Republicans believe that the president was not born in the United States, it’s not too out of the question to say that Trump actually has a shot at winning the Republican nod.

This is despite (or a perhaps a direct result of) Trump’s candidacy being based on his lying to the American people on national television about Obama’s citizenship.

Trump has based his candidacy on something that has been proven false and is thus invalid if we’re talking about the real world: the discredited theory that Barack Obama is not an American citizen. The media laughs at him, but he’s not really doing anything different than what we can typically expect from the GOP. Remember how Obamacare contained death panels? Remember how we thought there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Remember how tax cuts create jobs? These have been the core principles of the Republican platform, though they are false. Yet the media reserves its criticism for birtherism alone, despite it being on equally shaky conceptual ground as the Paul Ryan plan.

What I want to know is this: Why does the mainstream media not consider Donald Trump “serious” like Paul Ryan, and thus worthy of praise? He comes across as fairly adamant in his doubts about Obama’s citizenship.

Like Ryan, he is not afraid to tackle controversial topics. Like Ryan, when faced with hard evidence like “your numbers don’t add up” or “the birth certificate is publicly viewable,” the Donald continues to look in the camera and say absurd things.

So to the media, and to anyone who claims the Ryan Plan is “serious” yet laughs at Donald Trump, please apply the same standard to each of them. And recognize that the major difference between Trump and Ryan is that Trump’s ambitions are likelier to come to fruition, whereas the Ryan plan will probably never come to pass. If the media fails to recognize the lack of seriousness among right-wingers, perhaps we should not take them seriously.

And should we continue to follow Ryan’s philosophy, we will undoubtedly end up in a Ayn Rand-inspired train wreck, not much unlike anything Objectivists put their hands on. And on that point, I am quite serious.

—Steve Keller ’11 is a political science major.

April 21, 2011

OPINIONS

Page 11

Food deserts warrant further consideration U.S. should back Syrian F protesters Hannah Blume

Assistant Features Editor

our years ago, when Detroit’s Farmer Jack Market closed its doors, it left the entire city—a sprawling 138 square miles— without a single national chain supermarket.

It meant that roughly half of the city’s 916,00 residents were stranded in a city without public transportation with little access to affordable and nutritious food retailers.

This was when I learned the meaning of a “food desert.”

I remember it clearly; to a young Detroit suburbanite like me, the right to food seemed so simple and basic. My whole life, Detroit had been famous for its sensational displays of urban decay: the abandoned factories, forgotten skyscrapers and burnt out houses always served as reminders of the city’s golden past. So to me—and for the rest of the country—the lack of a single grocery store within the city limits just seemed like another tragic step in the city’s pending collapse.

And I wasn’t the only one to take notice: Detroit quickly captured the nation’s imagination. Time magazine ran a feature story about food deserts in Chicago and Detroit.

Detroit even became the subject of a groundbreaking study on food deserts by the Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group.

There was a perverted fascination surrounding this disturbing fact—that the city lacked a single grocery store—that came with Detroit’s iconic urban wreckage.

So when Associated Supermarket—the first grocery store to open within the City of Poughkeepsie in nearly two decades—quietly opened for business last week on Main Street last week, I wondered why the news had been taken so lightly.

Though Poughkeepsie did not have the same iconic status, it had been a food desert for 15 years before Detroit, since the Grand Union market left Main Street in 1992.

“That’s a very long time,” said Professor

of Sociology Leonard Nevarez, supervisor of household surveying for Building Bridges Community Food Assessment. He continued, “Kids who have gone through school here cannot remember when there was a grocery store in the City of Poughkeepsie.

This is long overdue.”

This begs the question: Why has it taken two decades for Poughkeepsie residents to be granted a human right as simple as access to healthy food?

In recent years, the city has made huge efforts to bring a supermarket back to the city. Mayor John Tkazyik recently told the Poughkeepsie Journal, “[the] lack of a place for residents to shop” has been a “very important issue” to his administration for the past 18 months. Unfortunately, most of the potential projects have fallen through the cracks. According to the mayor, many store owners demanded expensive tax breaks or preferred highway locations.

As a result, City of Poughkeepsie residents have been forced out to the suburbs for food, imposing tremendous hardships on the quarter of Poughkeepsie residents who do not own a vehicle.

This problem is not unique to Poughkeepsie. The USDA’s 2009 report to Congress revealed that 2.3 million households—or 2.2 percent of all households in the United States—live more than a mile away from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle. Moreover, 3.4 million families without a car—3.2 percent of the population—live between one-half to one mile away. That’s 5.4 percent of all U.S. households that live without easy access to affordable food. Time reported that, on average, African–Americans travel twice as far to get food.

But the new store may be taking advantage of the fact that they’re the only game in town. During a recent trip, I found that Poughkeepsie residents might have to pay a premium on convenience on some staple items. Compared to Stop and Shop, a gallon

of two percent milk costs 20 cents more, orange juice was 50 cents more, potatoes were 96 cents more, Total cereal was 40 cents more, canned chicken soup was 39 cents more and a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese was 40 cents more. Most of the produce and meats, however, were priced equivalently or cheaper at Associated Market.

Still, Nevarez notes that this is a huge improvement, saying that it “addresses the probably the greatest problem in the city’s economic development.” He added, “rich or poor aside, if you don’t have the opportunity to get the full range of products to chose from—not just convenience foods, but also healthy products to buy in bigger quantities that are generally more cost effective—that significantly impairs your quality of life. So this is a major step forward.”

I would contend that food deserts are more than a “quality of life” issue. They are a matter of basic human rights, not a failure of capitalism.

The way that we talk about food deserts is inherently flawed. When the country saw the case of Detroit, they saw it in terms of the fall of a former metropolis. We talked about Detroit’s glory days and lamented the fact that crime and theft have driven business out of the city center, reducing land value. We equated the lack of a grocery store to the fall of a city, not the endangered health of human beings.

Instead of thinking about how a city that was once so beautiful could lack something as simple as a supermarket, why don’t we think about how so many individual people could be left without access to a supermarket?

If we don’t change our thinking, then more middle-sized city like Poughkeepsie will be excluded from the discussion of food deserts.

—Hannah Blume ’13 is assistant opinions editor of The Miscellany News.

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Juan Dominguez Guest Columnist

O

n Monday, April 18, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, said, “A new Middle East will emerge without the presence of the United States and the Zionist regime [Israel], and their allies in the near future.”

Ahmadinejad made this claim during a parade featuring Iran’s military forces. His militaristic gesture should not be taken lightly.

Iran has increasingly rebuked our meddling in the affairs of Egypt and Libya. It has also pointed out the United States’ hypocritical call for democratic ideals coupled with its support of authoritarian regimes like those controlling Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. After all, the United States’ larger aim in intervening in these waves of uprisings and revolutions that have swept the Middle East in recent months is to keep the balance of power in its favor. However, things have not been going the United States’ way and Iran could turn out the winner if President Barack Obama doesn’t think fast enough.

In regards to Libya, a senior adviser to President Obama, Benjamin Rhodes, said, the “ability to apply this kind of force in the region this quickly—even as we deal with other military deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan—combined with the nature of this broad coalition sends a very strong message to Iran about our capabilities, militarily and diplomatically.” Rhodes is right: We can multi-task. But it seems as if we have recently been dropping the ball more often than not.

Libya was never going to be an easy job and now it seems like it was a useless mission.

Libyan rebel leaders are rarely if ever well coordinated and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The committed—albeit poorly trained and See MIDDLE EAST on page 12

OPINIONS

Page 12

April 21, 2011

Series encourages literacy, U.S. involvement in Syria may stresses value of education tip the scales in Iran struggle BOOKSTORE continued from page 10 with this mantra: “Children become what they see, children become what they hear, and exposure is priceless.” Growing up in the Bronx where the choices for women were three—nun, secretary or nurse— I could not imagine beyond what I saw.

Imagine the power of being on a college campus; imagine how that exposure will help set a college-bound self-image; imagine how “normalizing” it would be when our urban youth engage with authors and “big kid” college students, and discover that they too have lives, adversity, struggle and, yes, a writing process. And they even buy tape.

With a background in education, I am very familiar with the research that shows that at around middle-school age, a young student is either “in” or “not in” concerning his or her college aspirations. And not surprisingly, according to research from Teachers College of Columbia University, the figure that represents what our government would be collecting in income taxes if the high school drop out rate was, well, different, is huge, billions of dollars.

This figure doesn’t consider the young talent and intellect that has gone missing, and is still at large. Absentia ad nauseum.

When I taught high school English, we would have routine meetings with the College Board in the interest of aligning a curriculum that is mindful of the student transitioning from middle school to high school. The goal was to combat the high attrition rates at colleges. Albeit a worthy tack on the part of the College Board, I became more interested in “why Jane won’t read” as opposed to “why Johnny can’t.” The Bookstore Author Series is emergent of this sentiment, and our programs seek to pull the curtain so one can see the backstage of the writing process by a real person who has brought a work to completion. Powerful!

When I read something spectacular, stimulating, challenging and artistic, mind-bending, historical, helpful and worthy, my tendency is to want everyone I come into contact with, especially the non-reader, as well as the voracious reader, to also feel smarter and better for having engaged with that text. The Author Series is the natural repository for all of my passion for social change, personal development and real community building. Sometimes I call it the “Smarting Up” Series because I think we know what its implied opposite produces.

The most unlikely of people would promote and advocate for these events: people who clean the bookstore, students buying gum and professors taking a stash of fliers to post on websites, offices and churches, handing me names of campus and community folk that could assist in the program’s advocacy, a program that is really about literacy, the great equalizer.

After producing over 20 events in a two-year period, I marvel at the magic and collegial support that finds its way to the Bookstore’s podium. My gratitude for the advice and advocacy from various departments and individuals here at Vassar who have helped us advance the College’s academic mission is far-reaching.

Does the Series have its many-layered challenges? Absolutely. Is it rife with convivial, intricate and relevant content?

Absolutely!

Everyone’s tired at this time of year, and while time to rest may still be in the wings, we bring the second season of the Bookstore Author Series to a close, a Series whose success is imbued with what feels to me like our common interest in the living value of literacy and higher education.

–Sue Vinette is assistant manager of the Vassar College Bookstore.

MIDDLE EAST continued from page 11 undisciplined—rebel fighters are constantly gaining ground in the morning hours only to retreat once the sun comes down, forced back by barrages of mortars and missiles from Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s well-equipped loyalist and mercenary forces. World leaders have called for the stalemate to end, proposing peace solutions and cease-fires, only to get rejected by the unyielding rebels who call for the unequivocal removal of Qaddafi and his family from power.

On top of the failure to remove Qaddafi, the United States’ humanitarian mission in Libya has virtually failed. Although Obama kept his word about preventing the slaughter of the people of Benghazi, the provisional capital of the rebellion’s government, Qaddafi has still been able to wreak havoc on opposition forces and civilians in Misrata. Just this week, it was officially confirmed that the colonel’s troops have been using cluster bombs on the people of this western city of Libya. The use of cluster bombs, which more than 100 countries have committed not to use, has been coupled with the use of snipers and Soviet-designed Grad rocket systems on residential areas during the assault against this opposition citadel, according to the BBC. Predictions are pessimistic for these stranded folk in Misrata, as rebel reinforcements are scarce and the port is not easily accessible by foreign humanitarian ships. Unless the Allied forces act quickly, the terrible sight of mass graves and massacres seems a sure thing.

Of course we can’t expect things not to be messy in Libya after only a few weeks, considering that our affair in Afghanistan started over nine years ago and things are only getting uglier. In the past few weeks, there have been an increased number of anti-Western attacks. On April 1, a United Nations compound in Mazar-iSharif was taken over, leaving at least 12 people dead, including seven UN employees, according to the Associated Press. The violence was in response to a Koran burning conducted in Florida

by Pastor Terry Jones. Also, this month has seen numerous Taliban suicide bombings and armed

attacks, a majority being carried out by Taliban members disguised in Afghan army or police uniforms. The spike in the Taliban’s deadly maneuvers comes shortly after the U.S. announced the withdrawal of forces from remote valleys and mountains.

In spite of these failings in the greater Middle East, the United States still can tip things in its favor. Syria has always complicated dealings in the Middle East for the United States because of Syria’s close ties with Iran. The uprisings against the government of Syria, run by the minority Alawites, adherents to an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam have been largely a call for the end of an emergency law in place since the Syrian Ba’ath Party seized power in 1963, according to The New York Times. The several weeks of unrest have seen President Bashar al-Assad offering the opposition carrots in one hand while holding a stick in the other. On April 20, al-Assad announced a series of sweeping reforms including the lifting of the emergency law, which should legally grant more political freedom. Not many are hopeful, though, for as the BBC conservatively reported, “about 200 Syrians have died in weeks of unrest challenging the rule of President Assad.”

The situation in Syria gives the United States a chance to regain momentum in an already tumultuous region. If it supports the cries for reform and regime change in Syria, the United States could help give rise to a Sunni-ruled country that may not fall in cahoots with Iran, further isolating Ahmadenijad and the mullahs. New York Times reporter David E. Sanger stated, “in recent weeks the White House has concluded that it has much less to lose than the Iranians do if Mr. Assad is swept away ... some in Mr. Obama’s war council have noted, if protesters succeed in Syria, Iran could be next.”

However, Iran doesn’t seem to be backing down from the United States’ show of political and military might. Nothing, as of yet, has been lost—or gained—in the United States’ balance of power game with Iran.

—Juan Dominguez ’13 is a political science major.

Crossword by Jonathan Garfinkel ACROSS 1. Morse code “dash” 4. “By car, plane, train, _____” 9. Bit 11. *Wine 14. Bubble 15. *Love and Lust 17. Step after “lather” 18. Baby’s cry 20. Eau 21. “Run ___” (“It’s Tricky” group) 22. Chinese philosopher Lao and others 24. Also-___(insignificant loser)

26. Mother sheep 27. Eyjafjallajokull output 28. Relaxed 30. An original sinner 31. Directional suffix 32. Burning bit 34. Russian mountain range 37. *Light, music, the arts 40. Partner of vigor 43. *King 44. Swiss peak 45. Ugandan rebels (briefly) 47. *Queen 48. Gerund ending

Answers to last week’s puzzle

49. *Wisdom 51. Plow pullers 52. Pretentious, perhaps 54. “The Chronic” genre 56. Regret 57. Comedian Richard _____ 60. What Greece’s bond rating is NOT 63. Date-rape drug, briefly 66. Paths (abbr.)

67. Bridge (Fr.) 68. Gun-toters unite! (abbr.)

69. Certain upper chambers 71. British cash, slangily 73. _____ v. Vitale (Prayer in schools case) 75. Home of the answers to the starred clues (and the name formed by properly arranging the circled letters) 78. Mr. Fudd and others 80. *The sea 81. Common folk 82. “____ a hatter” 83.

HELP!!! (briefly) DOWN 1. *Harvest 2. Number one 3. *Messenger (and

handbags) 4. Partner of “ahh” 5. Vaca. activity, say 6. “For sale _______” (sign) 7. Meat grader 8. Flat 9. (Just a) tiny bit 10. FBChat msgs.

11. Hoover for one 12. Certain beer type, briefly 13. Hearty soup 14. “The ____” (highly addictive RPG) 16. Poet’s before 17. Nutrition facts datum, briefly 19. Enzyme ending 23. Yemeni capital 24. Like some Christians 25. N-S NYC thoroughfare 29. Ctrl+Alt+___ 31. Trains over your head, briefly 33. Parisian “Ms.” 34. Israeli submachine gun 35. Stimpy’s pal 36. Mo. No. 8 38. Metal sheets 39. Chooses 40. Puzzle

41. Rage 42. Blue ___ Group 46. Actor Eckhart 47. Jump 50. “Big Three” inits.

52. Laid out 53. Where one may be stuck 55. *The hunt 58. Troy sch.

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59. Sings in the Alps (or convenience store pastries) 60. Livid 61. *War 62. “Up in the Air” carrier, briefly 63. Leg 64. URL starting string 65. Witch’s whip, say

70. Rick’s love interest 71. Status ___ 72. Annapolis academy org.

74. Fishing implement 76. Lost, briefly 77. Law enforcement agcys.

79. One living next to Vietnam

April 21, 2011

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 13

OPINIONS Dear Netflix Instant Watch, knew I could have I won’t lie, we got intimate way back over Spring Break. I always screen just 13-inch measly laptop’s my about ng somethi but you whenever I wanted, a 42-inch to access have I didn’t do it for me at school. Back home, however, where kept me that surgery tooth wisdom the in Toss game. ball plasma, it was a whole new go. couch-bound for a whole weekend, and you and I were good to to furnish me with We had some good moments; I really liked how you were willing recent addition of surprise your and er, Airbend Last the Avatar: of ever episode every (Oh, you rememhours. ing tantaliz ever-soMoulin Rouge! made for two-and-a-half that you don’t clear y painfull become it’s and Netflix, me, knew you ber.) But I thought mean I doesn’t woman a I’m because have any clue as to what I’m looking for. Just Lead, Female Strong a g Featurin Series TV imed ly-Accla Critical only want to watch ntal Sentime suggest dly repeate you okay?! And I don’t like what you’re implying when freezer idge MicroFr my in zing crystalli Hubby Chubby That Romantic Dramas, mister. has nothing to do with you. isn’t entirely I understand that your total lack of understanding of my true desires (a CPA, a klezmer people other four with you share I since Netflix; fault, own your girlfriend number drummer, a 17-year-old girl and an eighth-grade boy already dating d. But in what muddle tad a are ns endatio recomm your that reason to stands four), it ’s Wallace brother my plus Lights Night Friday universe does my mother’s penchant for WHICH THAT’S RSE, UNIVE NO IN Artist? p Break-U The equal habit and Grommit ONE. ever in this lifeGet your ass in gear and start directing me towards movies I would DVDs from renting , Demand On time* consider watching, or I might just start going book. n the library or reading a goddam Cerebral-Foreign-Documentarily yours, Alanna *That was a free hint: Lifetime Original Movies are always the right

choice.

Dear Laundry Room, I understand that you’re a complicated, multi-faceted entity, so I’ll do this piece by piece: Your washing machines suck. Your dryers suck. The people who frequent you who are not me (okay, me too) are literally the biggest bunch of deadbeat assholes I have ever had the displeasure of sharing a space with. In short, if it weren’t for the fact that I wear the same Target-brand pants every single day, I would never descend into the bowels of the Joss basement for the rest of my natural life.

That was super cute when you playfully decided not to dry my jeans last Tuesday—I was just kidding when I said I wanted pants that weren’t covered in soapy water! And that time freshman year when you ate one of my lucky argyle socks?

You should have taken the other one, too, big guy! It’s not like one lucky sock is EVEN LUCKY ANYMORE once it’s been separated from its mate! #!#%#%*(!#&%^!

You bring out the worst in people, Laundry Room. Otherwise-ratio nal friends and classmates of mine have been known to turn to raving beasts inside your walls, dumping their cohorts’ unmentionables onto your dirty floor and sometim es (I shudder to even mention it) taking other peoples’ clothes out of the good dryer before THE TIME IS EVEN UP. I know about survival of the fittest and all that; all I’m asking for is an ounce of humanity. Get a little warmer, a little cuddlier, a little more accommodating when I misread LaundryView and am late to get my brights by like four minutes, or else I’ll have no choice but to start going to that totally weird Laundro mat on Raymond Ave. With not one but two hypoallergenic Bounce dryer sheets, Alanna

This columnist’s birthday somewhat less than happy Tom Renjilian Columnist

W

ell kids, the day that we’ve all been waiting for is finally here: my motherfucking 21st birthday.* After all these years of anticipation, I can finally register to vote and buy alcohol for minors! I was going to “live blog” my day of drunken revelry so you could all experience it with me, but it didn’t work out so well: »» 12 a.m. - I go to a bar. »» 12:10 a.m. - The first sip of alcohol touches my virginal lips. »» 12:11 a.m. - I become SO FUCKIN WASTEDDDDD and need to go home. »» 12:13 a.m. - I call the Vassar College Office of Health Education’s “Wellness Wagon” for a ride. »» 12:34 a.m. - “Wellness Wagon! Wellness Wago! Weeeness Way-gooo-in!” I scream into my cell phone. »» 12:35 a.m. - “Come pick me up at Billy Boobs!!!” I add. »» 12:36 a.m. - “How did you get my home phone number?” Renee Pabst inquires. »» 12:36 a.m. - “I’m sorry, Ms. Pabst.” I say.** »» 7 a.m. - I wake up naked and covered in vomit on the steps of the Dreaming Goddess. I smell like incense and dragon’s blood. »» 7:01 a.m. - I notice a pentagram has been branded onto my forehead. »» 7:02 a.m. - I feel that someone has taken my soul, but I can’t be sure. »» 7:03 a.m. - “Not again!” I shout.

Given my relatively consistent record of terrible birthdays, I don’t know why I thought this one would be any better. My original “BDay” was ruined because first of all, I was born. And then God decided that thrusting my emotionally fragile little soul into a world of sorrow and hardship that would do anything in its power to keep me down wasn’t harsh enough, so He also gave me jaundice. I think we can all agree that no one wants to spend their birthday in an incubator looking like their face is covered in urine stains.

Which brings me to my sixth birthday party, when I learned that spending a birthday in the ball pit at Chuck-e-Cheese with your face actually covered in urine isn’t very much fun either. Then on my seventh birthday, also at

Weekly Calendar: 4/21 - 4/27

Chuck-e-Cheese, a five-year-old girl from another party held my head under the ball pit until I nearly suffocated. No one could hear me screaming.

Perhaps the lowest*** point of all was my eighth birthday when my parents, mistaking me for an orphaned child laborer from 1899, decided to throw my birthday party at the Scranton Coal Mine Tour. Needless to say, attendance at that party was pretty scant, and the friends that did come ended up dying of black lung before third grade. I really can’t blame my parents though. How could they have known that I wouldn’t want to spend my birthday immersed in the unrelenting squalor of turn-of-the-century industrialization?

I’ll always remember it as the birthday that I got a certificate declaring me an official coal miner, a real piece of coal, a newfound fascination with the history of American labor and an unquenchable sexual fetish for dirty men wearing hardhats and headlamps.

OK, so, now that I’ve spent 561 words earning your sympathy, I guess it’s time that I get to the point, cut to the chase, if you will.

You all—my friends, family, acquaintances, Cappy— have the power to make this my first good birthday EVER. How? Buy me presents!

(Don’t pretend you don’t have enough money; I know at least one of you has approx. $1.98 million lying around somewhere.) So here’s my official wish list. (Note: I’m also registered at Pottery Barn, JCPenney and Taco Bell.)

1. 1. A donation in my name to the Christian Children’s Fund (Just 80 cents a day!)

2. 2. The 2010 winter Olympics U.S. men’s figure skating team 3. 3. 1,000 happy birthday Facebook notifications 4. 4. Two iPads And I guess that’s it—talk about guys who are easy to shop for! Don’t disappoint me, friends. *Technically, by the time you’re reading this, my birthday is probably over. But there’s still time to say happy birthday on my Facebook wall! Pretend you’re abroad in a different time zone! I won’t care!! **Dear Vassar College Office of Health Education, I love you and everything you do. Please don’t hate me. *** Both emotionally and topographically.

by Alanna Okun, Humor & Satire Editor

Thursday, 4/21

Saturday, 4/23

3 p.m. Tea. Lessons for a successful springtime at Vassar.

12 p.m. Relay for Life. PRO TIP: This would be way better

10 p.m. Triva Night. Question #61: What’s the New York State legal limit for drinking while Moodle posting? Faculty Commons.

Rose Parlor.

attended if the American Cancer Society officially changed the name to “Relay 4 Lyfe.” Noyes Circle.

Tuesday, 4/26

6 p.m. Davison Spring Soiree. “Soiree” is French for “Sorry

about that whole luau thing last year, we really hope you’ve all forgotten about it by now.” Sunset Lake.

7 p.m. Bondage 101. “Okay, class, ‘Cappy’ really isn’t the best safe word. Next question?” Rocky 200.

Friday, 4/22 3 p.m. Tea. If it is 48 degrees out and raining and there is a frigid breeze and people have started to build igloos on the quad, you should probably save your booty shorts for tomorrow. Rose Parlor.

5 p.m. Throwback Jam. But please only throwforward pea-

nut butter. Quad.

8 p.m. FlyPeople Final Show. The incomparable smoothie-

making skillz of Matt Ortile ’14 are reason enough to get a ticket. Kenyon.

7 p.m. “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.” And by

“dead” I mean “passed out among a pile of peach schnapps bottles and Q-Tips in Guildenstern’s friend-with-benefits’ suite in Main.” Rocky 200.

8 p.m. Of Montreal. We tried to get Inside Moscow, Within Flint and Upon Poughkeepsie, but they were all too expensive. Walker.

Sunday, 4/24 12 p.m. Easter Sunday Mass. The morning after the ViCE Spring Concert? More like Easter Sunday MESS. No offense, Jesus. Chapel.

Monday, 4/25 3 p.m. Tea. Skipping class to loll around outside isn’t quite as fun when your professor can see you out the window of the classroom. Bonus points if you’re taking hits out of an apple you stole from the DC. Rose Parlor.

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3 p.m. Tea. Start planning your Founders Day theme suggestions for next year right now, because the competition is fierce. I refuse to graduate without seeing Flounders Day* take place. Rose Parlor. *THINK ABOUT IT. 7:30 p.m. VJU Post-Passover Pizza Party and Elections. “Okay you guys, we’ve unanimously voted that Natty Light counts as kosher for Passover for all future generations.” Bayit.

Wednesday, 4/27 3 p.m. Tea. It’s great that you’re such a diligent student that you dragged yourself to Art History despite your raging allergies to grass/air/happiness, but the next time you let loose a 30-second-long coughing spree, we’re all going Van Gogh on your ass. Rose Parlor.

3:30 p.m. Spring Convocation. It’s downright absurd that it’s

already time for Convocation. I demand an appeal. Chapel.

ARTS

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April 21, 2011

FlyPeople soars to top with diverse choreographic repertoire Charlacia Dent

F

Reporter

Christie Chea/The Miscellany News

lyPeople, the student-run dance group on campus, is back stronger than ever for its final show that will take place on April 22 at 8 p.m. and April 23 at 7 p.m. in the Frances Daly Fergusson Dance Theater. According to Stephanie Alimena ’11, a member of FlyPeople, this year there is a record high of 19 total pieces for the show, nine of which are entirely new this semester.

For FlyPeople, a lot has transpired from its Works in Progress show that took place in December. “We have a number of first-time choreographers this semester, and we’re also featuring the work of guest choreographer Blake Seidel, a former Vassar student,” Alimena shared. “He choreographed a hard-hitting hip-hop piece for us, incorporating elements of house dance style in his piece, which is set to ‘The Time (Dirty Bit)’ by Black Eyed Peas and ‘S&M’

by Rihanna. Our dancers learned the whole piece in one intensive rehearsal in only five hours.” Alimena also commented, “It’s a super hot number with a lot of really fun solos.”

As is clear in the upbeat hip-hop piece, FlyPeople has worked hard to include a number of different styles within the specific performances and show as a whole. There will be a more theatrical number in which creepy dolls come to life and terrorize their owners, and another piece will showcase stylized ’80s hip-hop moves, and of course, the performance wouldn’t be complete without its medley of Britney Spears songs, old and new.

Meghann King ’13 has choreo-

FlyPeople will be hosting its final event of the year, Final Showings, on April 22 and 23 at 8 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, in the Frances Daly Fergusson Dance Theater. This year’s show features a record high of 19 pieces, including 9 new ones. graphed a piece where each dancer catches the bird flu and chaotically reacts and transforms at the whim of their ailment. Alimena explained, “We’re all dancing like crazy, and by the end we are all tribal birds,” Alimena explained. Dana Cass ’11 choreographed a high-energy jazz dance to “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen, a piece truly defined by the spirit of the song. “It’s so much fun to dance in because the song is all about having fun and not letting anyone get in the way of that. We come offstage huffing and puffing because it’s just

such an energetic, exciting dance,” Alimena explained.

Alimena feels she has never had a dull moment working with her fellow talented students, and finds the event provides a little bit of something for everyone. Each performance will bring a completely different attitude to the stage.

As one of the larger student run dance groups, FlyPeople’s goal has been to give dancers and performers a fun environment where they can express themselves through movement. Many pieces are collaborative

and are the product of student work from the ground up. “Dancing is something that should, above all, be shared with others. And in FlyPeople, I’d say that we really try to dance for others and not just for ourselves,” Alimena explained.

This semester, the group has been working harder than ever before to give back to the community through dance. It performed five pieces at the Pines at Poughkeepsie Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation inFebruary with the hope of making it an annual event. “We got so much

positive feedback from our performance at the nursing home, and it’s great to know that our dancing can help make someone’s day,” Alimena said. FlyPeople also converted the annual Valentine’s Day fundraiser Pour Some Sugar on Me into a benefit for the Grace Smith House, a center for survivors of domestic abuse in Poughkeepsie. Finally, FlyPeople organized a small dance clinic for the children of Poughkeepsie Middle School to attend free of charge.

In addition to existing as the culmination of many community outreach efforts, the FlyPeople final show is meaningful as the last opportunity for everyone in the group to dance together. For seniors, this rings especially true: “It’s a celebration of the last four years. The whole time we were all a very close family.

As a freshman we looked up to the older members who mentored us, and now we have become what they were to us,” Cass explained.

There is a lot to look forward to in this upcoming event. FlyPeople will be featuring a tap number in the final show, along with the first ever “senior piece,” which was choreographed by all of the senior members of FlyPeople. “It’s our final good-bye to dancing with this amazing group of people; our shows are all about showcasing the hard work and creativity of our choreographers and dancers who work all year long to produce an epic show,” Alimena commented. Also, to keep in the spirit of giving to the world through dance, FlyPeople will be hosting a fundraiser at the final show to benefit the cancer-fighting event Relay for Life.

Chic Street Man brings bluesy ballads to Vassar stage Jack Owen Reporter

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Courtesy of Vassar College Media Relations

hic Street Man, a renowned musician and educator, will grace Vassar’s campus with some of his most poignant pieces, including acoustic bluesy ballads, funky rhythms and jazzy upbeat originals--all of which strike a chord with themes of racial harmony. According to Joan Gerardi, the Martel Theater Front of House Manager, “We’re trying to unite all the departments on campus as part of the Vassar arts, and what [Chic] represents is very special. When you speak with him you have this inviting sensation—he’s very engaging.” The performance will take place in the Martel Theater on Thursday, April 21 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Shona Tucker, Adjunct Instructor of Drama, decided to bring Chic to Vassar because of his ability to creat humanistic harmonies just as much as melodic harmony. She explained, “Chic is an urban blues artist with a great deal of humanitarian fire behind it.” Performing at colleges and universities is hardly new for Chic. “I’ve done a lot of performances at colleges and I love it because the kids really listen,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to coming to Vassar and want to do a lot of audience interaction.” Several students in the Drama Department will even help with the production of Chic’s show, working on the lighting and audio technical aspects.

Chic, a faculty member of the Seattle Conservatory of Music and Heifetz International School of Music, is an avid artist, performing for theaters, colleges, clubs and at many events all over the world, ranging from San Francisco all the way to Switzerland. While living in Santa Barbara, Calif. he also founded the Chic Street Man School of Performing Arts. “I don’t usually describe my musical style,” Chic said. “It is rooted in the blues but it goes in a lot of different directions.”

Though his style exists outside defined musical boundaries, Chic’s writing and music is inspired largely by a compassion for others and his strong interest in human emotion. Man discussed a few songs that he will be performing that are especially meaningful to him: “‘Beautiful’ is an original composition that I do that is impor-

tant to me because it has to do with how we each see ourselves. It deals with building bridges and diversity.” Chic will also perform a song called “Selena.” He explained, “‘Selena’ was written about a young 16-year-old girl from El Salvador who was killed along with her mother. I wrote it as a tribute to her.” In addition, Chic will perform “Doing the Best I Can,” a song that recognizes the need to reach out to others.

In 1975 Chic recorded his first album in Paris, an experience that allowed him to have a greater perspective on the world and better develop his musical style. “When I look back at all of that, I realized that I’ve always had a concern for reaching out to others, and music is that outlet for me,” he said. “After you’ve played in enough clubs— that’s exciting—but what’s really exciting for me is doing a service for people.”

When he fully realized that he wanted to use the healing power of music as a tool to help and inspire others, Chic developed the program Hearts Care. “Hearts Care is something I really want to build up and promote. I want to have other performers that will reach out because it is such a special thing to do,” Chic explained.

Through his school of performing arts in Santa Barbara, Chic had students perform at psychiatric institutions, hospitals, senior citizen assisted living homes and many other places as a part of Hearts Care.

In addition to attending his performance, students will have the chance to work with Chic one-on-one and in the classroom. “I’ll be going to a few classrooms and will be looking at work of the blues in the Harlem Renaissance in a class,” he said. “I will be sure to make myself available for what the needs are.” Chic will visit with the English and Africana Studies course Blues and Black Literature to discuss the role of blues within a contemporary framework and its connection to other art forms.

Whether you’re looking to pick up pointers from an experienced musician, to see the humanitarian possibilities of musical expression or to just unwind by listening to some relaxing bluesy ballads on a Thursday evening, Chic’s concert will have something for everybody.

Musician and educator Chic Street Man will be performing on campus tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Martel Theater. Chic will also be visiting with classes in the English and Africana Studies Departments.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

April 21, 2011

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Strother to highlight issues in African art Alums return to share film I experiences Shruti Manian Reporter

Adam Buchsbaum

Assistant Arts Editor

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Courtesy of barnesandnoble.com

n an attempt to shed more light on African Art, Vassar’s Art Department is hosting an art lecture titled “The Iconoclastic Impulse: Between Destruction and Preservation in Africa.” The lecturer is Zöe S. Strother, the eminent art historian and expert on the history of art in Western and Central Africa, and is funded by the Mellon Foundation as part of the “New Wave Lecture Series in African Art” begun by Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art Isolde Brielmaier.

“I hope to create greater visibility for African art on campus and to generate more interest in the field on the part of students,” said Brielmaier. Strother has been published in various journals and is the author of the award-winning book Inventing Masks: Agency and History in the Art of the Central Pende that delves into understanding the role that “power objects” like masks have within African society and their place in creating a power hierarchy. “It will be great for students and faculty to hear one of the most prominent and respected voices in the field of African art history,” said Brielmaier.

The lecture will highlight the numerous but lesser known conflicts related to the ways many Africans interpret and perceive their art. “People still like to imagine that Africans live in thrall to ‘tradition.’ Instead, this lecture shows how many Africans throughout history have been ambivalent towards images and have had fiery debates about what they should look like or what role they should have in people’s lives,” wrote Strother in an emailed statement.

Strother will focus on how numerous African artifacts are a prominent part of Western art collections, and will also emphasize the significance of iconoclastic movements steered by Africans.

Apart from being a noted academic, Strother’s personal experiences in Africa enrich the perspective that she brings to analyzing African art. Strother has studied art in remote locations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mali and Senegal.

She maintains that the key to exploring African art is to find a connection with the artists themselves. Understanding the artists gives one unique insight into their body

Zöe S. Strother, an art historian and expert on the history of art in Western and Central Africa, will be delivering a lecture next Tuesday. Above is a photo from the cover of Strother’s book, Inventing Masks. of work and adds depth to its meaning. “In my experience, the best research in Africa is fostered through human relationships. When I was doing field work for my dissertation in Zaïre, two friends took me aside and told me that I was going about my project the wrong way,” Strother explained, adding that her field-work experience helped to build an appropriate framework for cultural inquiry.

“They started making appointments for me with dancers and fundamentally changed the way that I understood the creativity of masquerades,” she said.

“Although I am trained as an art historian, these dialogues have changed what I do and open the window to changing methodologies in the discipline.” wrote Strother.

A distinct feature of Western and Central African art is their fluid and performative nature. “They move easily from one context to another and teach people to accept that there’s more than one way to look at something,” wrote Strother.

Brielmaier hopes that the lecture will appeal to all students and faculty who wish to glean a unique and detailed insight into African art. “Hopefully the audience will be comprised of students and faculty from a range of disciplines,” said Brielmaier. In the collegiate setting where non-Western art has largely been ignored, the lecture serves as a way to generate a lively interest in African art and arouse the curiosity of students and faculty alike on an intriguing, complex, but seldom discussed topic.

“We don’t hear much discussion of African art on campus, so the hope is that Strother’s talk may ignite a greater dialogue,” said Brielmaier. Strother herself looks forward to coming to Vassar and engaging with a closely knit and intellectually curious student body.

“I went to a liberal arts college myself and appreciate the intensity and camaraderie that the students and faculty enjoy,” she wrote.

The lecture will take place on Tuesday, April 26 at 6 p.m. in Taylor 203.

hree Vassar students founded Vassar Filmmakers when Grace Statwick ’11 was only a freshman. And now, years later as Vassar alumni, founders Brian Paccione ’09, Ben Rutkowski ’09 and Woodrow Travers ’09 will return to the campus to deliver lectures, host workshops and otherwise teach students the techniques and approaches that go into making a film.

“These three are larger-than-life personalities. They really inspire passion in people,” said Statwick, now the current Filmmakers club president. “I know I did Filmmakers partially because of them and seeing what it was possible for them to do.” Paccione, Rutowski and Travers were not only highly productive during their time at Vassar, but have accomplished careers in the real world film industry.

Almost every semester, the three return to conduct lectures and workshops. The topic varies for each talk, depending on what students want and what projects the three are working on at the time. For example, the film students asked Rutkowski to cover the very technical topic of lighting.

“People learn so much from them. I have eight pages of notes from when [Paccione] came last time that are just fantastic,” Statwick said emphasizing the unique learning environment the lectures facilitate. “And people have asked me for those notes just because it was the first time anybody has really clearly articulated what a director’s position is.” The three alumni are still developing their careers but certainly are not newcomers. As they learn and grow, they impart their knowledge to current Vassar students.

Rutkowski studies cinematography at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, has shot dozens of college- and graduate-level films, and worked as camera operator and gaffer—the head electrician in charge of lighting— on shorts and commercials.

Meanwhile, Paccione is pursuing his Masters of Fine Arts at Columbia University and has directed and screened many short films nationally.

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Latest Kaleidoscope a look at art, culture of tea ceremony Emma Daniels Reporter

“I

Courtesy of the FLLAC

magine hosting a dinner party with a bunch of professors. If they were all to look at the painting in your dining room, how would they all differ in their opinions about what the painting is about?” prompted Diane Butler, the Andrew W. Mellon Coordinator of Academic Affairs at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC). Such a scenario is exactly what will be created through the upcoming lecture “Kaleidoscope: Interdisciplinary Views on Art: The Ways of Tea” that will take place on Wednesday, April 27 in Taylor 203 at 5 p.m.

The event marks the third Kaleidoscope presentation and functions as an outlet for professors from various departments to come together and offer unique perspectives on an art object and the practices surrounding that object. This semester, professors from the Art History, Sociology, Japanese and Religion Departments will consider the form and function of tea bowls from the FLLAC’s permanent collection. The talk will cover five tea bowls, many of which were donated by Charles M. Pratt, an alumni particularly interested in Asian art pieces.

Each professor will give a short presentation on their interpretation of the piece and accept questions from members of the audience. Following the lecture, there will be a reception in the FLLAC in which the tea bowl collection will be on display for all to view.

The idea for the event series came to Butler last year, when several professors were coincidentally interested in the same painting. “We thought rather than have a group class, which would be kind of unwieldy, let’s invite a few

more professors and make it an event,” said Butler. The collaborative nature of the Kaleidoscope event speaks directly to Butler’s role as coordinator, a relatively new position at the FLLAC. She works to ensure that not only the art historians on campus are engaged with the College’s permanent collection, but also that students and faculty in all different disciplines have the opportunity to take advantage of the FLLAC’s many offerings.

The first event, held in Spring 2010, was centered on an early 19th century French painting in the permanent collection: “Portrait of the Artist’s Family in front of the Chateau de Juilly, Isle de France,” by Adele Romany. During that event, a music professor, a history professor, a drama professor and Butler herself all spoke about different elements in the painting.

The second event, which took place this fall, was centered on a 13th-century Spanish Madonna and Child. Because the FLLAC was closed for renovations, the event took place in the Vassar Chapel, where viewers were able to see a reproduction of the sculpture created by Adjunct Assistant Professor of Art Tyler Rowland and one of his students, Rhys Bambrick ’11.

The topics each professor will discuss widely vary. Associate Professor of Religion and Chair of Religion Department Michael Walsh, will discuss the many ways Chinese Buddhists contributed to and shaped tea culture in China, specifically during the Tang Dynasty. Assistant Professor of Art Karen Hwang-Gold will talk about the aesthetics of a particular Chinese tea bowl in the collection. She will also detail the hare’s fur technique, in which the tea bowl is glazed and then fired at high temperatures, creating a thickening of the glaze at the bottom

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC) will be displaying its collection of tea bowls to accompany the upcoming lecture, “Kaleidoscope: Interdisciplinary View on Art: The Ways to Tea.” of the vessel. In particular, she’ll focus on why this glazing method that resembles the fur of a hare became so popular.

Professor of Sociology Seungsook Moon teaches a course called the Sociology of Food, so she will make the connection between food practices and the tea bowls being discussed.

She will also talk about the relationship between Chinese jade, a material commonly used to make these bowls, and Korean celadon, a material made to imitate jade. According to Butler, “The event provides a great opportunity for professors other than humanities professors to provide their perspectives on the art in the Loeb,” adding “In this case, it’s very nice to have a sociologist on board.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Visiting Instructor in Chinese and Japanese Studies Yuko Matsubara will discuss her experiences taking tea ceremony lessons for many years in New York City. Japanese tea ceremonies center on preparation, serving and drinking of matcha tea, a whipped, very intense Japanese green tea made from a powder. As an added bonus, following her presentation she will provide samples of the tea.

The Kaleidoscope events are not only beneficial for Vassar and the surrounding community, but help emphasize the reason Vassar has such an extensive art collection. “The purpose of the art collection is not just for art and art historians, it’s a resource for the whole campus,” said Butler.

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Alums coach filmmakers in their craft

Etzine determined to act in Big Apple Ellen Xie

Guest Reporter

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hen Olivia Etzine ’11 went to the Woodshed Theater Ensemble’s production of Anton Checkov’s “Seagull” her freshman year at Vassar, she knew she had to be a part of the group. Now ringing in her final year strong with Woodshed, Etzine describes the experience: “It has become one of the defining aspects of my four years here, absolutely.”

Before coming to Vassar, Etzine acted in several of her high school’s plays, but hardly knew what was in store for her in college.

Now, with many years of late-night rehearsals under her belt and knowledge of nearly every aspect of theater, Etzine said confidently, “[Drama] is the only thing that makes me incredibly happy, and it’s the one thing that I can devote all my time and energy to and not be the slightest bit bitter or twisty.”

Though there are no doubt a bevy of acting and drama troupes present on campus, Etzine cited the collaborative nature of the Woodshed Theater Ensemble as what sets it apart from all the rest. The group is completely student-run, non-hierarchal and supportive. “Everyone does everything,” she said.

Because of this, Etzine has worked on everything from designing to directing to acting to lighting to everything in between.

This semester, she acted in Wooshed’s production of “Tartuffe,” a social comedy by French playwright Molière. As her last play with the group, she also described it as her favorite, simply because she felt so much pride in the product, and saw it as her last hurrah as a senior, or finale, if you will. “Every single night, I looked forward to practice. The play has a really soft spot in my heart,” she said.

In addition to her involvement with Woodshed, Etzine has been a part of three Drama Department shows, and worked on two independent studies. This past weekend, Etzine directed the production of William Shakespeare’s lost play “Double Falsehood,” which took place on the academic quad.

After graduation, Etzine plans to take a leap of faith and pursue acting in New York City. She knows good and well the difficulty of making it work in the big apple, but said reassuringly, “I think what you need is desper-

Carlos Hernandez/The Miscellany News

FILM continued from page 15 He also recently wrote and produced the short film “Big Muddy,” which is currently in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Cinefondation.

Travers was an assistant to director Ron Howard for Angels and Demons, has worked on commercials, television, and film and will soon join the Directors Guild of America, a labor union which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry. “[I] am currently, as I write this,” wrote Travers in an emailed statement, “on a van to the set of Men In Black 3.”

For this particular lecture series, the three will each discuss a film they collaborated on together, entitled Not Dark Yet, a narrative filmed in Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley. Each worked on it within his respective position of expertise—Paccione as director, Rutkowski as cinematographer and Travers as the producer and assistant director.

Each will discuss their specific slice in the industry, using Not Dark Yet to help anchor the discussion and provide demonstration.

Rutkowski will begin the series and lecture first at 12 p.m. in Rockefeller Hall 301. “I will probably show several scenes from the film, and go through shot by shot, discussing the ideas behind the angles and lighting, the technical challenges we faced, and possibly showing the preliminary lighting diagrams,” he wrote in an emailed statement.

Then at 2 p.m. Travers will lecture. He explained of his talk: “In the seminar I will take everyone through the script, showing them how I approach a script as a producer,” adding, “I will show scenes from the film and talk about common problems short films and especially student films run into and ways to avoid them.”

Travers will also discuss any scripts students bring forth, giving them special insight into tackling challenging aspects of writing and editing as they apply to their particular work. He will also answer any questions about having and pursuing a film career post-college.

Paccione will lecture on directing next at 5 p.m. He hopes to give a more concrete definition of directing based on his first hand experience in the position: “I plan on discussing exactly what ‘directing’ is and why and how certain directors use certain shots, how the compositions, orders and shapes of these shots can speak to an audience, how to direct actors, and my own work,” Paccione wrote in an emailed statement.

He also added, of the slightly philosophical nature of his discussion, “My lecture will be organized around the principle that as filmmakers, we have a responsibility to articulate drama, to structure an experience for an audience, to excite and to seduce our viewers,” Paccione wrote, testifying to the carefully tuned skill film making mandates. “It’s easier said than done, and it takes longer than a lifetime to master, but there is a way to begin to understand the fundamentals surrounding this craft—because I believe that 90 percent of it is craft.”

Lastly, at 7 p.m. Travers and Paccione will host a joint discussion and lecture. When that ends, the two will conduct one-on-one critiques of material presented by any interested audience members. Students who would like this opportunity should contact Statwick ahead of time.

The lectures and workshops will be relaxed and informal, the aim being that a conversation-like discussion will make way for the most learning and constructive criticism. In fact, that is precisely why the alumni chose to place the event in room 301.“They requested a more intimate, casual atmosphere,” Statwick said. “They really want to be on par with us.”

The event will provide students with valuable knowledge from Vassar alumni with extensive and increasing experience in the film industry. In addition, the three alumni serve as a testament to the fact that there are opportunities for film students outside of the academic framework. “It’s really reassuring to see that Vassar grads have this knowhow,” Statwick said.

Shw believes the event will be beneficial for all students in attendance. “They’ll be entertained.

They’ll be informed. And hopefully, they’ll be inspired,” she concluded.

April 21, 2011

Senior Olivia Etzine, a member of the Woodshed Theater Ensemble who appeared in this semester’s production of “Tartuffe,” hopes to pursue acting and directing in New York City after graduation. ate desire, and if you have that, you’ll make it happen.”

Etzine is thrilled to jump head first into such an ambitious endeavor, as she sees her career in theater as more of a journey than anything else; she’s ready to take things as they come. In fact, when asked why she gravitates towards drama so intensely, Etzine explained, “I haven’t figured out specifics yet.

I kind of feel like the day I put my finger on why I like making theater is the day it’ll stop being interesting for me.”

Unlike many individuals who look to theater for big success and bright lights, Etzine is only interested in the experience of acting and directing on an intrinsic level. She’s content living modestly as long as acting is a big

part of her life. Etzine explained, “I just want someone to pay me enough so I can eat a can of baked beans, sleep a little, then perform all night long.”

Looking back to her first year working on drama at Vassar, Etzine described, “Back then, I thought that if they didn’t teach me what I wanted to hear, it wasn’t worth learning.” Now, Etzine approaches theater with an extremely open mind. She has explored all aspects of the production process and is determined to develop this passion in the real world.

She may not be able to define what draws her to drama, but one thing is for sure, she said, “I have dogged determination, buckets of it, and I’m never letting it go.”

Fein’s Flags to make mark on Chapel Lawn FEIN continued from page 1 devoid of differentiating color.

To expand on the concept that flags are highly susceptible to change, Fein worked with Professor of Earth Science Jill Schneiderman’s Earth, Environment and Humanity class, hand sewing flags and discussing the idea of nature as an equalizing, un-discriminatory factor. Fein explained, “When I look at the environmental state of the world, I see nature looking back at us, and it does not see national boundaries. If it sees us at all, it sees the human race.” “White Flags” is obviously a creative endeavor that communicates a political message; however, it clearly also contains environmental undertones. Just as the American flag cannot necessarily stand the test of time, vast spans of geologic time change and weather space until they’re unrecognizable.

In addition, Fein’s project reflects the cyclical nature of the environment by virtue of the fact that he will be installing his flags on the same campus where his artistic vision was originally manifested. “What’s funny is that a lot of the ideas I used to explore at Vassar, I’ve come back to,” he said. During college, Fein was similarly interested in visions of interconnectivity and ideas conceptually united: “I used to be inspired by architectural scaffolding. The idea that a type of structure metaphorically unites these large urban areas, but when pulled down, all the parts are reshuffled,” he explained.

Thus, Fein really brought it all back home when he worked intimately with students and faculty in the College Center. He was stationed

there with several sewing machines in September and then again in late March discussing the project with passers by and getting people involved with the production process. His goal has been to get as many individuals on board with the project as possible, to “actually get people to work hands on in all the different capacities that involves,” he said. Mariclare Dasigenis ’12, an art history and religion major, has worked with studio art major Sam Shin ’12 to help Fein determine the layout and execution of “White Flags.” Dasigenis explained, “The flags become a confused jumble of stripes, stars and crests, instead of politicized and colorfully charged symbols,” adding, “I think this project is important for Vassar’s campus, not just for the political implications, but also because it involves a working artist and Vassar grad, in a way that engages students.”

Now that all 192 flags are completed, Fein plans to continue facilitating bonds between the flags and Vassar’s community through the physical installation. “I’ll keep with this idea of letting people make marks on the project,” he explained. “People can interact with the flags, take one down and sew with white thread their own unique design.” From this Sunday, April 24 until Friday, April 29, Fein will put the flags up and take them down each day on the Chapel lawn.

The central and open nature of the location will allow people to interact with the installation on a personal level. “You can walk through them and see them very close up,” said Fein.

Dahlia Lithwick, Fein’s wife and another artist in residence during the 2010-2011 school year, is a media commentator and journalist

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

for Slate Magazine who has spoken with political science and media studies classes about the status of the United States’ legal system after Sept. 11, 2001. Lithwick’s very outspoken approach to social justice and expression is much of what inspired Fein to bring his flags into the public sphere. He said, “Without her being pretty brave about what she does, I wouldn’t be either.” On Friday, April 29, Fein and Lithwick will participate in a panel discussion about their residency, entitled “Creative expression and free speech—what are the boundaries today?” that will take place in Taylor Hall 103 at 1 p.m. Following the talk, there will be a closing reception for the “White Flags” installation on the Chapel lawn.

Perhaps what is most exciting about the large-scale installation is the fact that the flags will finally be displayed how Fein has always intended. “They’re really meant to live outside and be in the light and be constantly changing,” said Fein. Up until this point, the process has been one of production; however, now the flags are complete and will be exposed to the public. According to Fein, “This will mark a new beginning for the life of the project.” “White Flags” not only showcases the transformative power of environmental factors over humanity, but also gives us an opportunity to make connections from our own perspective as citizens of the world.

“Nature transforms it and is always imbuing it with different meaning by emphasizing the symbols or taking them away depending on light,” Fein explained, adding, “to see that will be pretty powerful to me.”

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April 21, 2011

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Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, Ultra self-released Nostalgia, Ultra Frank Ocean [Self-Released]

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Campus Canvas

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

“Delta Wedding

by Eudora Welty.”

Courtesy of donewaiting.com

rank Ocean has been detonating the R&B tag on his music since he, with the collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (or OFWGKTA for the pacifists) started making blog splashes last summer. As he told Los Angeles Times writer Jeff Weiss in a recent interview, “I just think it’s inaccurate when you’re making music inspired by so many different things. I have a broad sonic palette and I mix everything together. It’s just not the same thing.” And his recent mixtape, released via the OFWGKTA Tumblr site, catalogs these evasive bombs that Ocean keeps in the shelter.

On the 14-track tape, he vacillates from the twee (the Coldplay interpolation “Strawberry Swing”) to the classic (a revisionist cut of the Eagles’ classic “Hotel California” now “American Wedding”), but one thing remains relatively constant: Frank Ocean is at his best when he is crooning. So he’s using the primary means of R&B decadence; however, by funneling it through his diverse and diverging palette, Ocean literalizes both his nostalgic impulses and the odd future of which he is a part.

It is from this polarity that the songs get their charge to cling to the cassette tape whose tracking starts the album. And he sustains the conceit throughout. The skit before the tightly wound bass line of “Songs for Women” tells the story of two girls arguing over what music should be played. They are asking for ’90s R&B throb Jodeci while a Radiohead song plays in the background.

It seems like a sort of externalization of the interior battle raging in him. But the song that follows doesn’t belie any hesitation in pursuing a pastiche. “Songs for Women” is a chirping, cheeky song about using his singing to seduce women. “We can kick in the living room, look through my whole vinyl collection/And you can teach me how to slow dance or something/And I’m a give

you chills harmonizing to Otis, Isley, Marvin,” he sings, nearing a falsetto of remembrance while at the same time sizing himself up to his contemporaries. “She stay blastin Trey and his songs all damn day long like she never heard of me.” Unwilling to let his antiquarian impulses override, he seems to consider (with good reason) his hybridity as something that can push him past the relatively tame artists of contemporary crooners. “But you ain’t listening, never. But if you were, you might fuck with it.”

So he resorts to more overt vehicles to get his point across, as on “American Wedding.”

And its here that we might get a little peek into the psychology of the man shirking the foremost genre for love songs: He doesn’t believe in love. At least not in the United States. While leaving the instrumental of the Eagles’ twang as is, Ocean signs off: “but if you stay/girl if you stay/you’ll probably leave later anyway/it’s love made in the U.S.A.” It’s not a totally unexpected ending for a song told as a flashback.

At seven minutes it feels odd to call the song concise, but he manages to include everything from the discoloration on his finger from a ring to what his teenage bride wrote her thesis on, and all with time for the guitar solo. And it is really this impeccable storytelling that gets this song to stick together and to the inside of your ears. You humor his lifting of MGMT’s “Electric Feel” just to hear where he goes from his starting point: “I’ve been meaning to fuck you in the garden.”

Overtly unabashed, he still seems to be the gloss on a decidedly unpolished collective.

While leader Tyler the Creator eats a cockroach and hangs himself in the video for his first single “Yonkers,” and second banana Earl Sweatshirt pulls out his teeth and drinks a cocktail of pills, Ballentine, and cough syrup, the most transgressive Ocean gets is to say that he doesn’t believe our country’s flag is on the moon, his telling a woozy story about a bender he went on with a would-be dental student he met at Coachella (she was there for Z Trip, he for Jay Z) on the patina shimmer of “Novacane.”

No doubt Ocean has sublimated all the

From twee to classic R&B, Frank Ocean shines in his latest mixtape, Nostalgia, Ultra, which was self-released in February of 2011. surface schizophrenia of OFWGKTA into his music, and to great effect. And the album certainly does a lot to toss off the at times asphyxiating pillow of genre tags that journalists like to rest their heads on, but he can’t stray too far from his polished warble. See the first minute of “There Will Be Tears”: before the handclaps and the thundering bass hit he is flat over a hyperactive 808. Not until his voice stretches out, filling out vertically with his dynamic range and horizontally with his subtle shifts in tone, does he hit his stride.

And on the album’s first proper song, the Coldplay revamp “Strawberry Swing,” there is so much atmosphere you almost melt into it, and he spreads you over an apocalyptic swan song. “I’ve loved the good times here” is the refrain he calls before an alarm clock wakes him up. Nostalgia, Ultra is quite a convincing argument to stick around and hear what Ocean puts together after he gets out of bed.

submit to misc@vassar.edu

Maddy Boesche ’13 “I just discovered Eduardo Galleano. That Book of Embraces.”

Emma Coates-Finke ’11

“The flyer on the Retreat table.”

Ruthie Botolin ’13

“Eroticism: Death and Sensuality by Georges Bataille.”

Callie Beusman ’12

`“American Theater Magazine.”

Drew Murray ’14

“Dead Men do Tell Tales by William Maples.”

Throughout the mid-west, the Jeffersonian Grid divides the rolling flatland’s into plots of land a square mile each in size.

It brings an order to the vast expanses and rolling fields, and rises off the land into a third dimension, marking our presence.

Yet within the confines of the grid survives the natural pattern

of the earth. And it is in the tension of the natural and man made that abstraction forms, creating a new landscape that will long outlast those who brought it to bear.

-Noah Lourie Mosher

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Chiara Kuryan ’11 —Rachael Borné Arts Editor

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Page 18

April 21, 2011

Athlete of the Week Scott Allen emerging in junior year Kristine Olson Reporter

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Alex Schlesinger/The Miscellany News

assar baseball starting pitcher Scott Allen ’12, has one goal this season: to help his team reach the playoffs. Head Coach Jon Martin shares Allen’s team-oriented attitude, expressing that his focus—and that of his team’s—is not on any one particular player, but on “progress as a whole, as a team.”

Even so, the Brewers will rely on their top pitcher’s ability to lead them through a difficult Liberty League schedule. Allen currently leads Vassar with a 3.41 earned run average and a .211 batting average against and maintains a 1-1 record.

According to Allen and Martin, the main challenge for the pitcher will be to improve his overall control. “I just need to keep my composure,” he said. “I have great pitches to work with, and if I can harness those, I can be the best pitcher in the Liberty League,” asserted Allen.

Allen’s confidence in his abilities is likely due to the fact that he’s been playing since from before he can even remember. His parents, whom he described as “huge baseball fans,” introduced him to the game at a young age, and he started playing in Little League Baseball when he was eight. Allen started pitching when he was 12. So far, the most memorable game of Allen’s life, he shares, “was a no-hitter I threw in the summer of my sophomore year in high school.”

The highlights for Allen did not stop after high school. He describes his best Vassar memory as “a complete game win I threw

against [State University of New York at] New Paltz my freshman year because it showed me in a dismal year what I was capable of.” Ever since then, Allen has continued to focus his efforts on improving his ability to handle difficult situations on the mound.

Allen still admits that he’s had difficulty controlling his pitches in the past. However, it is a weakness in which Allen has also seen the most improvement. He also recognizes progress in his ability to work out of situations with men on base.

To help Allen continue improving, Martin explains that the team simulates game situations in practice “to make sure [Allen’s] confident and physically prepared to go on the mound every weekend.” When dealing with pressure situations, Martin notes that Allen has made significant changes to his pitching.

“He doesn’t need to overthrow, and he’s made adjustments in knowing when to throw a certain pitch, and when to just get an out somewhere,” said Martin.

Sometimes it is the simple solution and the dependence on others that leads to success. Martin points out that Allen has worked on discerning that “he doesn’t always need a strikeout, and can let the defense make plays behind him instead.”

Martin’s expectations for Allen are high but straightforward: “We expect him to go out and go deep [in games]. He makes big pitches and gives us a chance to win.” Martin continued, “[Allen] is a baseball player through and through. He knows the situations. And he just needs to stay in his zone.”

Athlete of the Week Scott Allen ’12, starting pitcher for Vassar’s baseball team, has been pitching since he was 12. This season, he is working with Head Coach Jon Martin to gain greater control over his pitches.

NCAA needs more academic focus Top nine storylines in the major leagues Nik Trkulja

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Columnist

emba Walker has read a book.

You read that right: Walker, the University of Connecticut (UConn) star guard and NCAA Men’s Basketball National Champion, Walker has just admitted to finishing his first book “cover-to-cover,” in an interview for Sports Illustrated. While for many that is in fact an achievement, for a junior in college who will be graduating this May, who undoubtedly should have read quite a few texts over the years, it is an embarrassment. The incident once again illustrates the fantasy that is the life of a superstar Division I student-athlete.

The ideal student-athlete is one that magically balances his or her time between sports and academia, never missing a beat and never falling behind in either realm. They are meant to excel at everything they do and do it willingly, with a smile on their faces. Those lucky enough to earn scholarships for the sports they compete in are under even more pressure because their scholarships are only guaranteed for one year, meaning that if they lose their spot on the team they may not be able to complete their education. While I certainly admire the student-athletes who more than successfully manage both aspects of their lives, I am tired of the gag-rule the media has instituted on the academic standards of stars of Division I sports.

Kemba Walker’s statements to Sports Illustrated marks a rare case of one of these athletes openly flaunting his indifference to academia. In the interview, Walker admitted that William C. Rhoden’s Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete was the first book he ever read in its entirety.

“That’s true,” Walker said. “You can write that. It is the first book I’ve ever read.” There’s nothing wrong with not finishing every

book you read, or really even any book you read. But what I do take issue with is publicly flaunting it as if it is something of which you should be proud, especially when you know that as a college student you likely had quite a few books assigned.

UConn’s men’s basketball team’s academic standards are an embarrassment and Walker’s attitude is a perfect picture of that. Despite being part of a prestigious and highly selective school, the team has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country at just 31 percent. That number compares to UConn’s general six-year graduation rates of 51 percent at its regional campuses and 78 percent at the Storrs campus where the team plays. The fact that nearly seven out of every 10 basketball players that step onto UConn’s court do not graduate is unacceptable. Arguments that the numbers are distorted because so many players turn pro before they graduate are just as intolerable. Seven out of every 10 UConn players do not turn pro every year, and before they are supposed to graduate; in fact, the number is likely closer to one. Similarly, the argument that the team is not responsible for the player’s personal responsibilities, one of which is academic success, is just as wrong, since the player is encouraged to spend far more time playing basketball than studying. Faced with the prospect of losing his scholarship if he does not compete, and with the additional fact that he has practice and games all over the country all year, a player is forced to prioritize, leaving academics in the dust.

Obviously this isn’t true for all student-athletes, but it seems to be more true now than ever for the faces of NCAA sports. Players such as Walker and former Auburn University quarterback Cam Newton represent an unsettling trend in college sports. We associate these stars with college sports, so why

should we turn away if they don’t pull their weight in the classroom?

The academic argument has always been used for college sports.

Student-athletes aren’t paid because they get to receive a fine education for free. Athletics teaches time management so athletes are more likely to be successful academically and, as the NCAA official adverts suggest, are also more likely to graduate. The NCAA and schools actively promote the idea that sports and education go hand in hand. For many they do, but for some they don’t. The question is, why do we pretend like the latter isn’t true?

Superstar athletes aren’t always appreciative of the academic opportunities given to them and their teams aren’t always helpful in making them understand the error of their ways. It’s a loaded statement but it’s also true. ESPN is always willing to run a report on an athlete that succeeds, against all odds, on the field and in the classroom. It’s a fantastic story and one that everyone wants to hear. But I feel it’s just as important for these reporters to break down the root causes of academic failure. Why does UConn only graduate 31 percent of its players? Why do some players not care about school?

And finally, how does a schedule involving trips all over the country impact the academic performance of a team? These are questions we need to ask if we are to really understand what college sports are all about.

Walker’s interview is a glimpse into a world that doesn’t treat academics with enough importance, but is still more than willing to pile praise onto itself for those that succeed, despite the odds. We need to understand how academics figure into the college superstar’s life, and we then need to have an honest discussion of what needs to be done so that other college juniors aren’t proud of having read just one book in their lives.

Corey Cohn

Sports Editor

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e’re three weeks into April, meaning it’s prime time to start donning shorts and tank tops, daydreaming about summer vacation and…overreacting to the first 17 games of the baseball season. (For those of you keeping score at home, there are 145 more to go.) Here are what bloggers, talking heads and die-hard fans with nothing better to do (sigh) are buzzing about*: 1. Boston Red Sox in the AL East Cellar: The biggest culprit so far has been off-season acquisition Carl Crawford, he of the $142 million contract. With Crawford hitting well under .200, former Red Sox leftfielder Manny Ramirez (20012008) retiring after his third failed drug test and former Red Sox leftfielder Jason Bay (2008-2009) solidifying his role on the New York Mets’ disabled list, maybe we should start wondering if a new curse is abound in Beantown.

2. Cleveland and Kansas City Atop the AL Central: Cleveland, behind rejuvenated slugger Travis Hafner, is currently fighting for the best record in baseball.

But the real story is Royals relief pitcher Tim Collins, a fivefoot-seven fireballer who is giving short guys everywhere the opportunity to carry out their big-league dreams vicariously through him. (Sigh.)

3. The Mets Continue to Disappoint: This season had all the makings of a future Disney classic: A once-beloved franchise, 25 years after one of the most memorable championships ever, rallies behind a new manager, overcomes the loss of their ace starting pitcher and comes out triumphant in the face of overwhelming doubt and potential bankruptcy. Unfortunately, seven-game losing streaks are rarely an ingredient for success.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

4. Closers Imploding Left and Right: Really, this is only a storyline if you happened to have Minnesota Twins pitcher Joe Nathan and St. Louis Cardinals “pitcher” Ryan Franklin on your fantasy team. (Sigh.)

5. Phillies’ Starting Rotation (Sort of) Meeting Expectations: Sure, Philadelphia leads the NL East right now, but weren’t Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels (a.k.a. R2C2) supposed to all pitch perfect games every time out, strike out 27 per outing and keep Philly safe from crime during rain-outs and offdays? They’re obviously not in mid-season form just yet.

6. Weight Loss Wonders: New York Yankees ace CC Sabathia and San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval both showed up noticeably slimmer in the dawn of the 2011 season. Sabathia is sporting a sub-3.00 earned run average while “Kung Fu Panda” has blasted five home runs so far in the young season. One can only hope Sabathia’s teammate, Bartolo Colon, gets the hint one of these days.

7. Florida Marlins Rank 26th in Home Attendance: But, really, this is just because all the devoted Miamians are too busy going to Heat’s NBA playoff games, right? Right?

8. Things are Looking O-blique: 14 players have gone on the disabled list so far due to oblique injuries, whereas only four players at this point last year had suffered such fates. I’m not sure, but I think somehow Barry Bonds is at fault for this, too.

9. Maicer Izturis is Hitting .388; Albert Pujols is Hitting .239: For those of you who are gamblers, I’ve heard from insiders that these trends are likely to reverse themselves by season’s end. *All statistics recorded as of April 19, 2011.

SPORTS

April 21, 2011

Page 19

An editor’s day out: A full day of baseball in NY, NY Andy Marmer Sports Editor

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Courtesy of Bronx Brass Tacks (bronxbrasstacks.com)

ast Thursday, I embarked on the ultimate baseball experience: three baseball games, two stadiums, one day.

2 p.m. Wednesday: Sitting in a lecture, I do what any passionate sports fan would do: check my fantasy baseball team. At this point, I noticed that the Colorado Rockies were playing a doubleheader the next day at Citi Field against the New York Mets. After realizing I already had tickets to see my beloved Baltimore Orioles face the New York Yankees that evening, the dream was born. I made arrangements to stay the night with a friend at Barnard College and the plan was set into motion.

10 a.m. Wake up, get ready, out the door and on the subway. Here goes nothing!

11:45 a.m. Arrive at Citi Field 25 minutes before the start of the first game. After buying my ticket—Section 525--all the way in the upper deck, like I’m going to sit all the way up there— I enter the ballpark via the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. I’m surprised to see the stadium’s most prominent monument is honoring a player that never played for the franchise.

12:05 p.m. After a bit of walking around I settle into a seat. I had planned on sitting in the lower deck but the presence of ushers at every aisle intimidated me, scaring me into the uppder deck. I eventually settled on a seat in the third row of the upper deck, behind home plate, where I could enjoy the sun on the 65-degrees weather and also spread out. While not ideal, this proved more than suitable.

12:20 p.m. In just a few minutes I’ve noticed that Mets fans have a depressing outlook about their team. I guess this shouldn’t surprise me and as an Orioles fan I’m no stranger to losing baseball, but this is extreme even to me. After Daniel Murphy makes a base-running blunder, the fan behind me unleashes a tirade to no one in particular about how poorly coached the team is. This is a recurrent theme, as the slightest miscues seem to trigger depressing thoughts about the team’s state.

2 p.m. Mets’ right fielder Scott Hariston misplays a ball, leading to two Rockies runs and

Sports Editor Andy Marmer ’12 headed to New York City last Thursday with tickets in hand for a MetsRockies doubleheader at Citi Field and an Orioles-Yankees Game at Yankees Stadium, pictured above. unleashing a chorus of boos. This just reaffirms my belief that Mets fans are just waiting for something to go wrong, and then overreact when their fears are realized.

3:30 p.m. The Mets lose the first game in the bottom of the ninth, 6-5. They scored two runs in the inning and had the bases loaded with two outs, but third-baseman David Wright, unquestionably their best power hitter, flew out to the warning track to end the game.

3:35 p.m. I call an on-the-fly audible. I had originally planned to stay for as much of the second game as possible, but knowing the second game won’t start until after 4 and that it’ll take me 45 minutes to get to Yankee Stadium, I forego the second contest. I spend about 40 minutes exploring the stadium before embarking on part two of my adventure. I’ve also realized that I’ll only get to witness 18 innings instead of the originally hoped for 27.

5:15 p.m. Arrive at Yankee Stadium. I consider

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myself good with directions, really a bit of an expert actually, but that doesn’t prevent me from mis-navigating the New York subway. I let an N train pass me by when it would have taken me where I needed to go, this costs me a few minutes but in the grand scheme of things, not bad.

5:20 p.m. I’m cornered by three overly enthusiastic photographers working for the team, trying to get me to “commemorate the experience.” They coerce me into posing for photographs around the stadium—what can I say, my friend from Barnard (who decided to join me for the final game) and I probably looked like easy prey in our orange Orioles shirts. Eventually, though, I escape and make my way to the hallowed ground of Monument Park--the stadium’s homage to past Yankee greats.

7 p.m. Batting practice, dinner and finally to the upper-deck. I’m thankful to see a few orange shirts around. The seats are much better than I expected and the stadium definitely has

a wow-factor. Personally, I’m impressed with the video board behind centerfield and the stadium’s resemblance to its predecessor.

7:40 p.m. Nick Markakis hits a home run, giving the Orioles a 3-0 lead and bringing me to my feet. This is greeted by an enthusiastic round of boos, which I take as a personal affront. I am pretty sure something thrown from above me (a peanut shell?) just hit my foot.

8:30 p.m. The Orioles have a 5-0 lead, their starting pitcher, Jake Arrieta, is shutting down the Yankees offense and I’m 14 innings deep.

Life is good.

9 p.m. until Arrieta falls apart and the Yankees pull within two. Did I mention I hate the Yankees?

10 p.m. With a 5-4 lead entering the bottom of the ninth the O’s bring in closer Kevin Gregg to try to shut the door. They probably should have scored a few more runs and the pitching hasn’t been great, but they still managed a lead entering the ninth. Gregg has a tendency to give up hits, but usually is able to avoid letting in runs.

We should be fine.

10:02 p.m. Never mind. Jorge Posada. Home run. Crap. Tie score. 5-5.

10:08 p.m. Gregg gets out of the inning, with the score tied at 5. I guess I’m seeing more than 18 after all since this is heading to extra innings.

10:09 p.m. “Say your prayers little one.” Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” playing at Yankee Stadium means only one thing—here comes Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera. I literally tip my cap to the greatest closer of all time.

10:15 p.m. Rivera retires the Orioles in the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the inning, Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira walks, bringing up third baseman Alex Rodriguez with no outs and a runner on first. A-Rod has killed the Orioles so many times that I text my dad, “Game over.”

His response: “Start packing your bags.” While he only doubles, with men on second and third and no outs I know we’re on borrowed time.

10:17 p.m. And: “The Yankees Win…Theeeee Yankeeeeees Win.” At least I didn’t have to listen to John Sterling to find out that Nick Swisher hit a game-winning sacrifice fly.

Sports Briefs Women’s Rugby The women’s rugby team earned the Beast of the East tournament title this past weekend, shutting out the University of Connecticut 12-0 in the championship game. Vassar barely advanced to the semifinals, going 1-1 on the first day, beating Yale University 1714, but losing to Connecticut 7-5. Vassar’s differential put them one point ahead of Connecticut (who lost 7-5 to Yale) and two ahead of Yale.

In the semifinals on Sunday, Vassar annihilated Union College 39-0, setting up the championship showdown against Connecticut. The two teams battled to a scoreless draw in the first half, but a pair of Vassar tries, one each by Margaret Kwateng ’14 and Patty Walton ’13, proved the difference.

Men’s Rugby The men’s rugby team defeated Babson College 12-10 and Massachusetts Maritime Academy 27-0, going 2-0 on the first day of the Beast of the East, but was ultimately upended 7-0 by Boston University in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Women’s Track This past weekend, the women’s track team traveled to St. Lawrence University for the annual Liberty League Championship. As a team, the squad placed third with 78 total points. Laura van Eerde ’13 won the javelin with a 34.71-meter throw and also earned a point for her sixth-place finish in the 100-meter dash. Chloe Williams ’14 earned eight points for a second place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase. Aubree Piepmeier ’14 recorded the other Vassar eight-point result, finishing second to NCAA Champion Wendy Pavlus in the 5000-meter race.

Men’s Track The men’s track team finished fourth at the Liberty League Championship meet with 67 points. Sam Wagner ’13 led the Brewers, fin-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ishing second in the 1500-meter run, second in the 400-meter dash, second as a member of the 4x800-meter relay team and first as a member of the 4x400-meter relay team. In total, Wagner factored in 34 of the team’s 67 points. Joining Wagner on the 4x400-meter team, which also set a school record, was Justin Rupert ’12, Zach Williams ’12 and Jon Erickson ’11. Erickson earned a solo championship for Vassar, edging second-place finisher Williams in the 800-meter race.

Women’s Lacrosse The women’s lacrosse team dropped an 18-7 league contest to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last Saturday, but bounced back with a 13-10 win over Western Connecticut State University on Tuesday. In the latter contest, Sarah Warner ’11 scored five goals, with six assists, while classmate Moe Byrne ’11 also added five goals.

Baseball The baseball team was set to play two doubleheaders at St. Lawrence University on Saturday and Sunday; however, the series was shortened to three games due to rain.

Vassar dropped all three contests, the first two by one run each.

Women’s Golf The women’s golf team finished in sixth place at the Jack Leaman Golf Tournament, hosted by Amherst College, with a team score of 704, just one stroke behind Middlebury College, despite three golfers—Nicole Bronson ’13, Alex Bello ’12 and Celynne Balatbat ’13—finishing in the top 20.

Women’s Tennis The No. 22-ranked women’s tennis team dropped an 8-1 match to No. 27 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Natalie Santiago ’13 and Lindsay Kantor ’14 earned the lone Vassar point with their victory at No. 3 doubles.

—Andy Marmer, Sports Editor

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April 21, 2011

Vassar’s Broooers host third annual Butterbeer Classic Nicolette Harley

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Guest Reporter

Alex Schlesinger/The Miscellany News

s the temperature has slowly begun to increase, more students have taken the opportunity to walk about the campus. And if people happened to have ventured outside last Sunday and found themselves in the vicinity of Noyes Circle, they undoubtedly would have heard the roar of five squads—Vassar, State University of New York at Geneseo, University of Massachusetts, Stony Brook University and Villanova University—competing for quidditch glory at the third annual Butterbeer Classic.

Quidditch, for those who don’t frequent Joss Beach on Sundays or Wednesdays, is essentially a combination of handball, dodgeball and capture the flag. Three chasers from each team try to throw the quaffle (a volleyball) through three suspended hoops guarded by a keeper. In the meantime, the chasers are also seeking to evade bludgers (kickballs, three in total) being thrown by the two opposing beaters. If a player is hit by a bludger, he or she must run back to his or her own hoops before reentering the fray. While all of this is going on, a seeker from each team is chasing the snitch, the most soughtafter ball in the quidditch world. The snitch is a runner donning an allyellow suit with a sock-covered tennis ball hanging from the rear, which the seekers will try to snatch. At the beginning of each game, the seeker exits the field for the first 10 minutes only to return with the dual goals of evading capture and taunting the seekers with its maneuverability and crowd appeal.

Think this sounds challenging and complicated? Now imagine doing all of it with a broom between your legs.

While the game originally came from J.K. Rowling’s famed series, quidditch isn’t just for the die-hard

Vassar’s Quidditch team, the Butterbeer Broooers, hosted its third annual Butterbeer Classic last Sunday, April 17 on Noyes Circle. In its fourth year, the team has become increasingly popular with Vassar students and Poughkeepsie residents.

Harry Potter fans. Captain Nathan Hoston ’13 became more of a fan through playing the game “mostly to keep up with everyone else,” he said. “[It’s] great bonding.”

For Captain Sandy Wood ’13, quidditch is a “way to get out of the stress and daily grind [of college].” She continued, “It’s really fun and silly and you don’t have to take it too seriously,” said Wood. “It allows so many to participate.”

In its fourth year, the quidditch team has a huge following of students just looking for a fun way to spend their free time. Its followers even include a 13-year-old kid from

the Poughkeepsie area. Wood had noticed the boy before, and one day the observer finally asked how to play the game. Wood invited him to play with the team, expecting him to take some time to pick it up. Within three or four minutes he had it down, and “he was awesome!” she recalled. “[The rules are] pretty easy to pick up,” she said.

What’s unique about the Vassar Broooers is there is a lot of passing between players. “[It’s] something we’re known for. It allows us to play a cleaner game,” said Captain Molly Cohen ‘13. “We’ve been encouraging a lot of communication [about]

knowing where you are and your teammates.”

After games, the team sits down for family time. This is where the team gathers to talk about what they did well and what they need to work on. The bond between the team is very strong. They’ve even created new words to talk about this growing passion. “Part of what we do is add a q to the beginning of words to quidditch-ize it,” Captain Camila Delgado-Montes ‘13 said. These words include quove, quinner and quinjury, the latter really only applying to Delgado-Montes, who fractured a knee once in a match.

Brewers defeat St. Lawrence lacrosse LACROSSE continued from page 1 Brewers after St. Lawrence’s Tucker Garfield scored the first goal of the game 55 seconds into the first quarter. Two goals on the Vassar side, the first by Seymour and the second

by Max Herman ’14, allowed the Brewers to rest a little more comfortably at halftime with a 2-1 lead.

The third quarter began with the momentum continuing to shift in Vassar’s favor, as Christopher Toffoli ’12 scored 3:38 into the period to increase the margin to two goals.

But things quickly unraveled from there. St. Lawrence scored three unanswered goals, leaving the Saints on top 4-3 with about 10-and-a-half minutes left to play in the fourth quarter.

“That was a huge blow to our confidence,” Seymour said. “We had sort of a ‘deer-inheadlights’ feeling.”

Seymour, though, initiated what was arguably the turning point of the game not even a minute and a half later. With 8:58 left in the final period and Vassar driving, Seymour launched an errant pass that ricocheted off of a St. Lawrence player and past the Saints’ goalie for the equalizing score. In retrospect, Seymour said he has trouble taking credit for the flukey goal, but defenseman Jeremy Gottlieb ’12 acknowledged how critical the play was.

“His goal stopped the bleeding,” he said.

He added with a laugh. “If [that] goal went in, we knew we were going to win.”

This became a bit more apparent with 2:31 left in the game, when midfielder Ryan McCarthy ’13 scored on a shot inside the near post, giving Vassar the lead they would ultimately maintain. McCarthy said the moment the goal went in was “surreal,” but he didn’t have much time to think about it with the game still in progress. Afterwards, when

it had time to sink in, he said he was happy to contribute as he did, but insisted that this victory transcended any individual glory.

“This was an entire team effort,” he said.

“I happened to get the last goal, but everyone on that team on the field gave 200 percent.”

Another key contributor was freshman goalie Andrew Nicol. Nicol had 11 saves for the game, including eight in the second half.

Nicol currently leads the Liberty League with a .676 save percentage.

“We can’t emphasize enough how important it was for him to have that kind of game,” Seymour said. “He was our backbone. [The defense] played incredibly well, but [Nicol]—I can’t even explain how big that was.” McCarthy shared this sentiment, adding, “[There is] no doubt in my mind that, without him, we wouldn’t have won.”

In an emailed statement Nicol wrote, “It feels good to finally get [the Liberty League win], and I’m just happy to contribute to the team in any way I can.”

In continuing to speak about the defense, Seymour mentioned defenseman Rob Rooney ’11, who was absent from this game to participate in Reserve Officers’ Training Corps field training. “I feel badly that he wasn’t there to enjoy this victory,” Seymour said. “Part of the reason the rest of the defense stepped up was because they knew he wasn’t there.”

As for the rest of the Brewers, once the clock ran out, they finally let loose. “We all went nuts,” McCarthy said. “We were all jumping around, screaming—it was the best feeling we had ever had after a win.”

They were celebrating not only the victory that day but the end of a losing streak that had plagued them as well as their predecessors. McCarthy said, “Seeing how deeply it

affected the upperclassmen…made it more special.”

Gottlieb called the win a “huge monkey off our back.” Wills quickly added, “More like a gorilla.”

Still, even with this momentous accomplishment, not one of the Brewers expects complacency from here on out. Although McCarthy said this victory alone ensured that this season would be considered the most successful in program history, he made sure to add, “We’re hungry for more.” The team would need to win their two remaining Liberty League matchups to keep their playoff hopes alive, a daunting task to say the least. But Nicol is confident, writing, “I think we have more left in us than people think.”

Seymour would also cherish the opportunity to make more program history, but at the same time this victory brings a welcome sense of satisfaction for the seniors who have committed so much time and effort only to be continually frustrated in Liberty League play. “It makes the last three years worth it,” he said. “It validated the last three years.”

McCarthy and Seymour agreed that nothing really started to hit them until the very end of the game. “During the last minute of the fourth quarter, that’s when it set in,” McCarthy recalled. “Then we thought, ‘We think we have this.’” Seymour remembered looking up at the clock with 13 seconds left and the Brewers with the ball. “I realized then we were going to win,” he said. This, the lasting image he said he will take away most from this special day, “gives [him] chills.”

The Brewers will continue their playoff push at 1:00 p.m. this Saturday at home against Skidmore College.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

While the Broooers have clearly embraced quidditch, they have also left a lasting impact on the sport.

Vassar competed in the first intercollegiate quidditch match, against Middlebury College in 2007, which is also remembered as the first annual Quidditch World Cup. Since then, the team has played in each of the four World Cups, including the most recent one, in which they finished fourth. Additionally, the team hosted the first intercontinental match against Finland’s Vaasa University this past February, Although the Broooers are without a doubt one of quidditch’s top teams, it is their less serious side that has won them acclaim. This was on full display last World Cup in their match against the University of Pittsburgh, which saw the Broooers throw “jinxes” at opponents, while skipping around the field.

They continued to demonstrate this attitude last Sunday at the Butterbeer Classic. Senior Michelle Cantos explained in an emailed statement, “[Our] love for the game really shined through in the third annual Butterbeer Classic. Rather than get ensnared in the trappings of wins and losses, teams had fun, made new friends and enjoyed playing a sport that we have all come to know and love during our time at college.”

In the short time since quidditch was invented, the sport has grown by leaps and bounds. Four years ago, just two teams played in the World Cup; at the 2010 tournament, 46 teams competed. Next year, the International Quidditch Association expects to cap the tournament at 80 teams while also introducing multiple divisions.

Successful this year, the Butterbeer Broooers plan to keep striving for success and fly as far as their brooms can take them next year.

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