The Miscellany News
miscellanynews.org
April 28, 2022
Vassar College’s student newspaper of record since 1866 Volume 157 | Issue 11
Concert creates controversy Mysterious illness bugs campus Jacques Abou-Rizk News Editor
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n April 22, singer-songwriter Indigo De Souza opened for Flo Milli during Vassar College Entertainment’s (ViCE) annual Spring Concert. De Souza later posted on her Instagram story to voice her disappointment and discomfort in many students for yelling explicit catcalls and talking over her performance. De Souza’s Instagram story featured a video of students dancing and singing to Flo Milli’s opening song, while she and her crew drove away. The statement said they decided to randomly open for Flo Milli, but the crowd made them uncomfortable and sad. She said, “I wanted to stop playing but I didn’t because a handful of the students were being super nice and were excited that we were there (thank you—I appreciated that energy).” De Souza added, “Playing colleges is sometimes a really sweet experience and sometimes really horrendous.” ViCE issued a statement Sunday on Instagram apologizing to Indigo De Souza and her team for the experiences they shared with students on Friday. “We are deeply dismayed and truly regretful for this treatment. As the org who has the honor of bringing artists to campus, it is always our goal that those artists feel welcome, heard, and valued while they are here,” ViCE’s statement read. “We would like to maintain that same level of respect that past student bodies have shown before us.”
De Souza’s sentiments were spread via Instagram stories, with many students condemning the behavior and hoping for reflection and change. “I saw the Instagram story they posted... through several Vassar students [who reposted] it,” said Chloe Gjoka ’23, who attended the concert. [Disclaimer: Gjoka is Webmaster of The Miscellany News.] She added, “I would want Indigo to know that a lot of people respect [her] for being open with [her] experience. Despite how welcoming the Vassar community likes to see themselves, I really believe there are a lot of people on this campus who need to keep themselves accountable for making people uncomfortable and not just check others on it.” Another concert-goer, Margot Gordinier ’24, said the bad behavior from the crowd was apparent. She recalled, “I was at the event and thought the behavior was consistently inappropriate. It was perhaps the worst crowd I have ever been in, which is saying a lot as I used to go to punk shows in Brooklyn as a young teen.” Gordinier added, “Some people in the front row were turning their backs to the stage to talk with their friends, and when they weren’t, they were yelling catcalls and rude jokes directed at Indigo’s guitarist. The worst part for me was seeing the exhausted look on Indigo’s face as the crowd was again and again not reciprocating her energy.” ViCE hopes for an improvement in the future from the student body as a whole. “While we can’t control individual actions See Indigo on page 3
Rum raisin rules College ast week, a war broke out in the Misc office. The conflict started with an unprovoked attack on rum raisin ice cream by Senior Editor Monika Sweeney. In her article, “The Scoop”, she rallied an army of rum raisin haters with the slanderous line, “Start scooping before the Deece runs out of mint chocolate chip ice cream again and tries to pass off rum raisin as an acceptable ice cream option.” This declaration of war appeared in last week’s issue despite the protest of many rum raisin defense groups. In the office, my initial defense of the flavor was met with general derision. I, however, will not stand for the debasement of such a historical, culturally-rich ice cream flavor. Thus, even if I am alone in this fight, I write as rum raisin’s noble defender. Okay, first things first, my humanitarian-defense-aid to rum raisin ice cream is only done out of pity for the flavor. Basically, it is by no means my favorite flavor. Listen, I’m not crazy, I’d take coffee, mint, cookie dough and even plain chocolate over rum raisin. Nonetheless, don’t let those lifeless raisins hear me, I still think they are at least worthy of the title “acceptable See Rum Raisin on page 8
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fter being wrenched awake by stomach pain in the early hours of April 25, Henryk Kessel ’25 found himself vomiting in the bathrooms of Josselyn House. Feeling light-headed, he went to a friend’s room and asked her to call Vassar Emergency Medical Services (EMS). “I was losing my sight and hearing, and was incredibly confused and scared,” he recalled. Kessel would be the fourth to report symptoms related to nausea, vomiting and diarrhea that night on campus. Later that day, at 12:28 p.m. Associate Dean of the College Luis Inoa announced in an email to the student body that Vassar College had experienced a cluster of possible gastroenteritis cases since the Campus Response Center (CRC) had responded to the first report just after midnight. “The cause of this illness has not been precisely determined at this time but could be infectious and shortlived,” the email explained. As of April 27, there have been a total of 62 cases, mostly among students, according to an email released by Director of Health Service Margot Schinella. “The DOH has interviewed some of the cases that went to the emergency room and do not feel that this is food poisoning based on the way the illness has presented and the transmission pattern they are seeing,” the email stated. “While the exact cause of this illness has not been determined at this time the illness appears to be infectious and generally resolves in less than 72 hours.”
Choir
impresses
Common symptoms around campus have included nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. “My diagnosis came to me when I was throwing up and heard that other people were doing the same,” said Ila Kumar ’25. “[I] heard other people on my floor actually throwing up.” Another student, David Roos ’25 said he began feeling symptoms such as vomiting, chills, dizziness and a lack of consciousness. In a written correspondence, he said, “The next morning I collapsed against my desk trying to get water and asked my roommate to call an ambulance. I went to the hospital for a couple of hours, was put on an IV, [and] was told I was dangerously dehydrated. If I kept puking for another 9 hours (twice as long as I was), it would have been incredibly serious.” Roos said he has no idea where he contracted the illness. He noted, “All I know is the night I was puking in the bathroom, there were at least 2 others going in and out puking, too.” In response to a request for updates and clarification on the outbreak, Schinella stated, “The cause of the illness is not known at this time as there is no commonality that has been identified among the cases. The local Health Department is investigating further.” The lack of knowledge over the source of the outbreak, as well as Vassar’s responses, has left students like Kessel frustrated. In particular, he expressed dissatisfaction with EMS’ response to his medical situation. “After explaining my situation—the dizziness, the vomiting, the disorientation—I was met See Illness on page 3
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performance
Ganesh Pillai
Kai Speirs
Arts Editor
Features Editor
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Janet Song, Sawyer Bush
Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor
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s the crowd gathered into Skinner Hall at golden hour on April 22, friends and family alike collectively engaged in the excited murmur typically preceding a performance such as this one. For the next hour, those who made the trip to Vassar’s Mary Anna Fox Martel Recital Hall would see the Vassar College Choir’s final performance of the year. As the setting sun cast long patches of shade along the aisles, the atmosphere of a spring evening felt perfectly befitting the elegance of the performance to come. A roaring applause echoed throughout the hall as the 45 singers and director Christine Howlett took the stage. Dressed in all black, the choir’s outfits were representative of the orchestral, saintly theme of many of the evening’s songs. The choir began with Claudio Monteverdi’s “Beatus Vir,” a rousing early Baroque setting of Psalm 112. From the very first piece, it was evident how well the four voice parts worked with one another, both within their own respective sections and broadly as a choir. All performers were in sync, demonstrating the great amount of practice that went into the final product. However, I would say that the most moving parts were when all sections were singing
Madi Donat/The Miscellany News. their own respective melodies simultaneously, filling the audience with an undeniably chill-producing sound. After a performance of two Chinese folk songs, Howlett provided an interlude and introduction to the group’s fourth piece, named “A Silence Haunts Me,” centered
around a letter written by Beethoven describing his struggle with gradually losing his hearing, interplayed with perhaps his most famous composition ever, “Moonlight Sonata.” The director provided context for the piece’s inclusion before the performance, See choir on page 6
Inside this issue
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ARTS
Meet this year’s line-up for our upcoming Misc Music festival on May 3, the last day of classes!
In this week’s nature report Assistant Humor Editor Nicholas Tillinghast does HUMOR shrooms. Kind of.
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14 SPORTS
See how Sports Editor Jackie Molloy and other athletes get their pregame mode on with her pregame playlist.