Miscellany News 4.09.09

The Miscellany News

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Molly Turpin Online Editor

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VSA forum focuses on academics

Data courtesy of the Office of the Registrar

Council creates new org rules

Volume CXLII | Issue 19

APRIL 9, 2009

he Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council unanimously approved new bylaws regarding the certification and funding of new student organizations at the meeting on April 5.

The bylaws, which had been introduced at the previous meeting on March 29, passed quickly.

The new bylaws stipulate that newly certified organizations will not be eligible to apply for any of the VSA’s Special Purpose Funds “for the semester during which they are certified and for one full semester after their certification, with the exception of the New Organizations Fund,” as stated now in Article III, Section 6 D. The New Organizations Fund is another addition to the bylaws. This fund will be set aside to cover some of the costs of events and materials for newly certified student organizations, as they are now not eligible for other funding.

The new rule also restricts the amount these organizations can receive. According to Article III, Section 13 B, “Moneys from this fund may cover up to 100 percent of costs, not to exceed $2,000.” The rules now also require new organizations to submit a budget proposal before they may be certified and to meet with the Finance Committee within three weeks of being certified.

“We really think that this will be a good way to sort of monitor the Continued on page 3

Julianne Herts

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Over the past two decades, the average grade point averge of Vassar’s graduating class has crept upward from about 3.13 to about 3.48. This rise is comparable to grade inflation across Vassar’s peer institutions.

Vassar sees rises in grade inflation Ruby Cramer

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Features Editor

n the 1960s, colleges and universities began to see a rise in grades.

Since then, the trend has become a phenomenon, affecting top institutions all across the country.

In 2003, Princeton University found that 47 percent of its awarded grades were A-minuses; Harvard found two years earlier that 91 percent of its students graduated with honors; and a Princeton study found that A-range grades represented 44 to 55 percent of grades given at 11 of the top colleges in the country— Stanford University, University of Chicago, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the eight Ivy League schools.

And like almost all of its peer insti-

tutions, Vassar, too, suffers from the effects of grade inflation. The grade point average (GPA) of the graduating class was 3.12 in 1990; last year it was 3.48—showing a rise in 0.36 points. Reports also show that last year, nearly 50 percent of grades were As and, overall, 96 percent of all letter grades were comprised of As and Bs. Some have suggested that the rise in grades is only appropriate at Vassar, since the College has deepened its applicant pool—which has almost doubled in the past 10 years—and has thus accepted more qualified students. Therefore, some argue, students should indeed be showing a higher level of academic competency and getting better grades.

According to Dean of Admissions

and Financial Aid David Borus, in the past 12 years, the average GPA of Vassar applicants has risen from about a B-plus to an A-minus or A. The average Reading and Math combined SAT score has risen from a 1300 to a 1390, and applicants are typically taking two to three more advanced courses in high school. “All of these academic indices that we look at in Admissions as part of the decision-making process have gone up,” said Borus.

“If one wants to say that that equates to an increase in academic quality—certainly it equates to an increase demonstrated academic ability,” continued Borus. “Now, whether that leads to the fact that therefore they are more competent, therefore Continued on page 10

Despite NECVA defeat, men’s volleyball finishes 19-8 Lillian Reuman Sports Editor

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the double digits and Leserman added 17 digs to the mix.

“It was great that the team really picked it up and started playing well at the right time, and the wins over MIT and Ramapo especially were really nice,” commented Head Coach Jonathan Penn in an e-mailed statement.

“The match against Ramapo was incredible,” Leserman said. “We were clicking on all cylinders; everyone was contributing and playing well.”

Later in the day, the men’s volleyball team encountered Nazareth in a quarterfinal match. “Unfortunately, we ran into a team that was playing extremely well and they executed Continued on page 18

Photo courtesy of Sports Information

ntering the 2009 North East Collegiate Volleyball Association Tournament as the sixth seeded team and 2008 NECVA defending champions, the Vassar men’s volleyball team played a series of games in which they defeated the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ramapo College before falling to Nazareth College.

Though the Brewers hoped to sweep the tournament and earn a bid to the Molten Division III Final Four, their chances were cut short on Saturday afternoon after four competitive matches against Nazareth, seeded second.

On Friday evening, the Brewers

dominated the MIT Engineers, ranked 11th, in three swift matches. Seniors Steve Micucci and Brian Bacchi, along with junior Phil Tully, nailed a combined 42 kills. Furthermore, the nation’s leader in digs, Vassar’s own libero Scott Leserman ’09, had 18 digs. After a close first set (31-29) the Brewers maintained a consistent lead in the remaining two sets.

The Brewers brought their intensity to the court the following day to defeat Ramapo in three matches. Though the first set was tight with nine ties during the game, the team gained momentum and crushed Ramapo in the second and third matches, 30-24 and 30-23, respectively. Four players had kills in

The volleyball team’s record was an impressive 19-8 this season.

News Editor

panel of administrators attended the April 5 Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council meeting to discuss the state of the College’s academic programs.

The panel was comprised of Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger, Chair of the Faculty Appointments and Salary Committee (FASC) Professor of History Miriam Cohen and Chair of the Faculty Policy and Conference Committee (FPCC) Professor of Political Science Steve Rock.

After introducing themselves, the panelists answered questions from the VSA Council and other students present at the meeting. The first issue discussed was the College’s advising system. Class of 2009 President Luis Hoyos introduced the topic by asking if the quality of a faculty member’s advising is considered when staff cuts are made.

“Advising at Vassar is very uneven,” said Hoyos. “Some kids can get really amazing advising from the get-go, and other kids have more bumpy experiences.”

Chenette, who himself acted as an adviser when he taught music at Grinell College, explained that the College administration is committed to reforming the advising system.

“Vassar is a place that puts a lot of responsibility on you students to make academic choices,” said Chenette. “So to me, good advising is in fact the key to getting a curriculum like Vassar’s to really work. I don’t think that we do enough, either, to train people to be good advisors or to show in our evaluation processes that we value [advising].”

Though Chenette cautioned that the advising system cannot be changed quickly, he explained that the financial crisis provides an opportunity to discuss the advising process.

“My hope is that out of those discussions we get a better sense of what we want advising to do,” he said.

Rock agreed, and assured the Council that faculty cuts will not diminish the quality of advising that students receive. He explained that, as it stands now, some faculty members have many more advisees than others. Rock is Continued on page 4

Inside this issue

Vassar College celebrates 40 years of full coeducation

Metropolitan Museum of Art curator to discuss goddess Demeter

Madrigal Singers present seasonal compositions

Page 11

Page 13

Page 15

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The Miscellany News

Staff Editorial: Faculty must engage in grade inflation discussion

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Beyond graduate and fellowships, we want to remind professors that giving inflated grades does a disservice to students. Giving a B-plus to a mediocre paper cheats students out of a fair, accurate evaluation of their performance. If a student is given an A-range grade for an average performance, there is no incentive for the student to increase their effort or learn from their mistakes—or even understand that they made mistakes at all. Sometimes, students genuinely benefit from receiving a lower grade.

We understand and empathize with professors, as we know that they constantly feel the pressure to inflate their grades. After all, this rising trend is national; bucking such a significant trend can be difficult. Professors across the country have expressed concerns that if they develop a reputation for giving low grades, fewer students will enroll in their future classes, or their students might rate them lower on course evaluations. Throughout academia, this is especially a concern for junior professors seeking tenure. Negative student evaluations can injure their chances of tenure in an increasingly competitive environment.

Many critics have suggested that professors may opt to give a student a better grade merely because giving a bad grade requires greater justification. During a fiscal crisis, professors may feel these anxieties even more strongly.

At Vassar, we are fortunate to have a faculty who cares deeply for the life of the mind. We want to remind the faculty, however, that such motives for grade inflation are antithetical to the honest evaluation of students’ coursework. The College should always place the academic progress of its students at the very forefront of its mission. Professors inflating grades for these reasons are harming students’ education—and the image of the College.

We are not suggesting that grade inflation is a problem that can be remedied overnight; almost all of our peers are struggling in vain with the same issues. Rather, we want to urge the Dean of the Faculty to raise this issue with the Committee on Curricular Policies (CCP), and present collected data to faculty across departments so that professors can begin to discuss possible and collective solutions to grade inflation.

Logan Dyke Stagnitto/The Miscellany News

rade inflation is a national trend affecting every institution of higher education across the country—including Vassar College. Eighteen years ago, the average grade point average (GPA) of Vassar’s graduating class was 3.12. Today, it has risen to 3.48. The article “Vassar sees rise in grade inflation” on page 1 of this issue of The Miscellany News details the rise in the percentages of As and Bs received by students each year.

While, for many students, high grades are well deserved, it is important for students to remember that grade inflation has serious drawbacks and is ultimately detrimental to the educational experience.

Grade inflation inevitably creates grade compression. Excluding pass or fail courses, there are 10 possible grades a student can receive— ranging from an A down to an F. According to GPA statistics, however, over 96 percent of letter grades fall within the A and B range at Vassar. This smaller compressed scale inaccurately assesses the range of performance within a class. Lower grades are not a punishment; rather, they should be viewed as a way to give accurate feedback based on a student’s overall progress. Without wider variability in the grading process, students will be left without a truthful idea of their own academic performance.

While boasting a higher GPA may seem ideal for most students applying for postcollegiate opportunities, there are some serious disadvantages for fellowships and graduate programs. When every applicant shares a GPA within the compressed range of, say, 3.7 to 3.8, it becomes nearly impossible to discern excellent students from one another based on their academic achievements. It is impossible to discern those students who earned a high GPA because of stellar work from those whose GPAs were a product of grade inflation. This lack of nuance weakens the evaluative rubric and perhaps gives students who have more impressive extracurricular résumés an unmerited advantage. It also puts those on the Fellowship Committee, the group that decides whom the College will nominate for fellowships, in a difficult position.

If Vassar develops a reputation for having “soft” grades, this will only hurt graduates and the institution in the long run. Some peer institutions, notably Swarthmore College, pride themselves on their near-total absence of grade inflation. Thus, a student with an excellent GPA from such an institution is more likely to be accepted into a selective graduate program than a student with comparable skills and achievements from a college known for rampant grade inflation.

—The Staff Editorial reflects the opinion of at least two-thirds of the 19-member Editorial Board.

Staff Editorial: VSA elections present crucial opportunity for leadership

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iling for Vassar Student Association (VSA) elections begins next Thursday, April 16. Students of all class years, dormitories and majors will be eligible to run for student government leadership positions.

And there has never been a more crucial time for student voice.

In late 2008, when the world economy began to crumble, Vassar administrators were forced to take swift action to reduce expenses. But as decision-making unfolds over the coming year, Vassar will be able to use the current financial crisis as an opportunity to reassess the school’s values, streamline its curriculum, and reduce bureaucracy. The outcomes of these cutbacks have the potential to dramatically improve or seriously injure all aspects of Vassar life.

This year, Vassar has only seen the beginning of the restructuring that the College will need to undergo. These discussions can be painful and divisive, as we saw with the English Department’s budget cuts in December and January.

Next year, financial cutbacks will undoubtedly weigh on the mind of virtually every committee, member of the VSA Council, and member of the Executive Board. Vassar will really determine which aspects of the College’s life can see reductions, and it is vitally important that student input play a role in these decisions.

Some members of the VSA Council will play particularly pivotal roles next year as the Council is responsible for making policy decisions and issues statements on behalf of the entire student body. After much discussion, the Vice President for Academics now sits on the Advisory Group on the Allocation of Faculty Recourses (AGAFR), a new committee that examines places where faculty and curriculum could be trimmed. The President will represent the student body on the Board of Trustees, and next year will continue the fight for a vote within that group.

The representatives chosen in this election will serve on behalf of all

Vassar students, past, present and future. They will have to try to ensure that the student voice is heard as the College—in some ways—forges new direction in response to the global crisis.

Even beyond these immediate budgetary concerns, The Miscellany News strongly encourages student engagement in the VSA. At Vassar, we are fortunate to have an inclusive and increasingly respected student government. We encourage all students to make their voices heard in these elections. Students have the chance to elect a VSA Council that is truly representative of the Vassar student body, one that is diverse and that will have the drive and power to ensure that student voices are heard.

The current VSA Council has already done a great deal of work to this end. They secured a student seat on AGAFR and worked tirelessly to increase respect for students’ place in the College’s shared governance, recently passing the referenda amendment, which allows students to bring individual issues of concern to the attention of the Council with a reduction in bureaucracy. But it is the 2009-10 Council that will hold crucial influence over so many important financial decisions. The student body should choose these representatives carefully.

“We must participate, all of us, in our student government for the betterment of our institution,” wrote The Miscellany News before the Spring 1909 elections. “Students who shy away from being a part of the collective solution should not feel remorse when their voices remain ignored and their opinions remain unconsidered. Now is the time to become a representative, express your views, and participate in governance.” A century later, the Editorial Board could not agree more.

—The Staff Editorial reflects the opinion of at least two-thirds of the 19-member Editorial Board.

4.9.09 Editor in Chief Brian Farkas Senior Editors

Alexandra Matthews Emma Mitchell

Contributing Editors Juliana Kiyan Elizabeth Pacheco Lauren Sutherland

News Julianne Herts Opinions Jeremy Bright Features Mike Alberti Ruby Cramer Arts Chloe McConnell Jackson Reeves Sports Kelly Capehart Lillian Reuman Backpage Eliza Thompson Copy Caitlin Halasz Design Eric Estes Photography Kathleen Mehocic Online Molly Turpin Managing Allison Good Assistant News Assistant Arts Assistant Copy Assistant Online Assistant Managing Columnists

Reporters

Matthew Brock Gülfem Demiray Erik Lorenzsonn Sarah Hughes Lila Teeters Elizabeth Jordan Yasmina Raiani Martin Bergman, Yael Leibovitch, Michael Mestitz, Kyle Nelson, Nikola Trkulja Jason Adler, Carrie Hojnicki, Andy Marmer, Chelsea Mitamura, Steve Reilly, Jillian Scharr, Eric Schuman, Kara Voght, Lauren Wyner

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, please e-mail misc@vassar.edu or submit it online at miscellanynews.com.

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 joining in a critique of the current issue are welcome. The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.

The Miscellany News (USPS-657-120) is published weekly by the students of Vassar College. The Miscellany News office is located in College Center Room 303, Vassar College.

News

4.9.09

3

Hill, Chenette, Roellke answer questions during Parents Weekend Jillian Scharr

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Reporter

flexible; Hill observed that at Vassar “You can get an exception to almost anything if you make a strong enough case.”

Next, a parent asked if Vassar offered stress management programs to students. Hill replied, “Yes, but they don’t have time to take them,” evoking laughter from the crowd.

Hill went on to explain that the Office of Residential Life regularly offers stress reduction workshops and that student concern groups exist on campus. “It’s absolutely an issue,” Hill said. “Stress is the The Dean of the College, the President and the Dean of the Faculty main complaint at the fielded parents’ questions on academics, master planning, the meal plan and other aspects of College life at a Parents Weekend forum. health center.”

Asked about senior job placement, Roellke observed that Vassar construction. The landscapers hired by Vassar to students are concerned about finding jobs after look into such a project also came up with various graduation; the Career Development Office has other sites on campus that could be landscaped to been receiving more requests for assistance and improve “access, roads and signs.” has seen an increased number of alumnae/i return Hill said that the landscapers brought up “some with requests for job placement assistance. incredibly interesting, challenging concepts,” Hill then responded to a question about the such as eventually removing cars from campus to College Bookstore. She said that the school is go- make it more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly. ing through with its plans to relocate the Vassar Most parents seemed very pleased with the bookstore, part of the Barnes and Noble chain, to panel. Although most requested anonymity, prethe Juliet Café building off campus, a property sumably to protect their children from embarrassthat Vassar has owned since 2001. “It’s not a very ment, they expressed relief and satisfaction, one exciting bookstore,” Hill said of the current site, mother saying approvingly, “All my questions expressing her desire to expand it in the Juliet were answered.” building. Discussions about what to do with the However, one couple did express dissatisfacspace that the Bookstore currently occupies are tion concerning security. “Our daughter’s lapongoing; one possibility that Roellke mentioned top was stolen from her room,” the mother said. was a 24-hour study space.

“We’ve heard that there have been several laptop Finally, Hill fielded a question about the thefts.” These parents wished that security had planned master landscaping project. The issue been addressed during the panel, as it is a percame up in discussion with the architects hired ceived problem at Vassar. to plan the new science building; landscaping near the academic quad will be necessary for its Stephanie Song/The Miscellany News

n honor of Parents Weekend, President Catharine Bond Hill, Dean of the College Christopher Roellke and Dean of Faculty Jonathan Chenette held an open question and answer session on April 4.

About 50 Vassar parents and about five students were in attendance at the hour-long session. After a question from a concerned mother about the Music Department’s paucity of courses dealing with music and culture—she was urged to have her son seek out ethnomusicologist Tom Porcello of the Anthropology Department—questions quickly turned to the economy.

Hill began an overview of the budgeting process currently underway at Vassar. One-third of the College’s revenue is based on the endowment, she explained. In the economic downturn, 20 percent of the endowment was lost; this will be 30 percent by June 30. There will be no more classes of two to three students; “[The staff] will be doing things differently, in a more cost-effective way,” Hill said.

Chenette added that the budget issues are forcing Vassar to consider its priorities.

To a question about whether the economy has affected the applicant pool, Hill responded that “This year was a historical high,” but added that “We won’t know the full impact until matriculation in May,” when the College analyzes financial aid packages.

Many other private institutions, Hill said, have seen applications decrease, whereas public college and university applications have risen considerably.

Hill then answered a question about Vassar’s ongoing capital expenditure projects, saying that most of them have been put on hold, including the College’s plans to renovate a quad dorm every other year.

Although the College will continue to do maintenance work this summer, projects on par with this year’s Davison House renovation have been put on hold. Future construction projects, however, including a new science building on the Academic Quad, are still being planned and organized, though construction will be delayed until a more financially opportune time.

When questioned about student focus groups on campus, Roellke explained the Vassar Student Association’s role in coordinating discussion groups on a wide variety of issues. As an example, Hill mentioned the Committee on Inclusion and Excellence, which has recently focused on the issue of professors not releasing their syllabi in time for students to find their required texts for reduced or used prices.

To a question about Vassar’s green initiatives and involvement in the local community, Roellke spoke about student focus groups that have been working with the Buildings and Grounds staff to forward initiatives such as green lightbulbs, cogeneration, recycling, composting and avoiding certain gardening chemicals. Concerning this last initiative, Hill added, “I’m not sure if we have that one solved—the lawns look pretty awful sometimes.” The presenters continued by assuring that future buildings will be as green as possible.

Regarding involvement in the community, Hill said that Vassar received 10 applications for the Class of 2013 from Poughkeepsie High School students—a record high. She went on to briefly mention community involvement programs such as the College tutoring programs in Poughkeepsie schools and student volunteering at the Family Partnership Center, as well as a future plan to organize summer intensive college preparatory courses on the Vassar campus for local students.

Chenette then took a question from a parent concerned with course choices and the meal plan.

“Being the mother of a 100-pound female,” she said, “we’re wasting a lot of money the way things stand now,” pointing to the fact that her daughter does not eat enough to make an all-you-can-eat dining hall cost effective. Chenette spoke about how the All-Campus Dining Center is an important student space, but that it is now “prohibitively expensive.” The school plans to remedy this by creating a better balance between meals and points, and creating, instead of 10 “guest meals,” 25 “flex meals” that can be used as guest meals or for catering purposes.

The next questions concerned the academic opportunities available to Vassar students, such as Junior Year Abroad (JYA).

Chenette explained that Vassar has over 275 approved JYA programs, and that the program is

Activities, Finance committees hope new structure will be more efficient Continued from page 1 activity of new organizations to make sure that they are really strong and worthy of being approved,” said Vice President for Activities Alexandria Dempsey ’09.

The Activities and Finance Committees, led

by Dempsey and Vice President for Finance Marcelo Buitron ’09, respectively, collaborated to create these bylaws, which they hope will solve some of the recurring issues of the year regarding the certification and financing of organizations.

Last semester, the VSA Council engaged in a heated discussion over whether or not it should continue to certify organizations, after Buitron declared that as a matter of principle he would not be voting to certify any more for fear of spreading funds too thin. He said that, at least in the short term, the new bylaws relieve some of his concerns.

The new bylaws allow the Council to certify organizations without dipping into the Special Purpose Funds, which, Buitron explained, are budgeted annually and are allocated funds specifically based on the expected needs and requests

of existing organizations.

“If a new org gets certified in the middle of the year and they apply to Special Purpose Funds, in many ways they are taking away the money that was budgeted for other orgs,” said Buitron. With the changes, however, “A new org is a financial burden on us, but that will not be [taken into account] until next year, so I think that’s good.

When we do the budget next year we will already incorporate them.”

Though the creation of a new fund is an additional expenditure for the VSA, the new bylaws are mostly in place to combat the unforeseen costs that are common with new organizations.

The student activities fee increased the same percent amount as tuition for next year, which means that the VSA will gain about an additional $30,000, according to Buitron. However, when inflation is taken into account, he explained, there is virtually zero net gain.

The New Organizations Fund will be relatively small. “There’s probably going to be $5,000 there, or something like that, similar to the amount that is in the residences fund right now,”

said Buitron. “Yes, it’s a small impact, though, on the larger scale of things.”

One suggestion frequently posited last semester as an alternative to an organization freeze was a return to a system in which organizations would be recognized before being certified. Under this system, recognized organizations would be able to plan events and book spaces on campus, but they would not be entitled to much VSA funding.

This option was seriously considered, though it was put down by some for being too bureaucratic. According to VSA President Jimmy Kelly ’09 in a Nov. 12 article in The Miscellany News, the previous system was “laborious and tedious.”

The new changes merge both positions. New organizations are fully certified and simply have to go through a waiting period before becoming eligible for funding. “We didn’t want to use a two-tiered system. We didn’t want to have two classes of organizations,” said Dempsey. “But considering the fact that the VSA does not have unlimited funding, we wanted to do something to sort of restrict the ways that the organizations receive funding.”

“In theory, you could have been recognized six [or] seven years without being certified, but in this case you just need to wait until you have full access to money,” said Buitron. “In essence, the new orgs are at a disadvantage, I guess, but it’s just a matter of time.”

This solution to the Council’s debates over new organizations and funding does not mean that the Council will begin certifying organizations on a lark. The burden of a new organization is not purely financial. “Taking on a new organization is not just risky because of funding,” said Dempsey.

“We need to think about over-programming. We also felt that this would be sort of another step for new organizations to have to take before they can do full-scale programming.”

“This was the best compromise because we’re not creating a different system,” said Buitron. ”It’s just a matter of the new orgs having to wait a little in order to get the money because otherwise it’s just a mess.”

news

4 News Briefs Stolen clubs Security received a report on April 2 that a student had left golf clubs under the steps of their Terrace Apartment and returned to find them missing.

—Matthew Brock, Assistant News Editor

FAST brings faculty, administrators, students, together in Matthew’s Mug On Wednesday, April 1, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Executive Board and Campus Dining co-sponsored FAST (Faculty, Administrators, Students/Staff Together) Times in Matthew’s Mug. FAST Times in the Mug was modeled on Happy Hour, a previous event held on Feb. 19, and featured local beer from the Brooklyn Brewery, local wine from Dr. Constantine wines, free cheese and music.

“We wanted to provide an informal setting to break down barriers,” said VSA Vice President for Student Life Nate Silver ’10.

“We’re looking to promote interactions between faculty, students and administrators outside the classroom while demonstrating a model for responsible drinking.”

The first event, Happy Hour, had a turnout of about 30 to 40 people, but FAST Times in the Mug only had 10 to 15 people present at a given time.

“It’s a great concept that hasn’t fully played out yet,” said Silver. “It’s hard to start something in mid-April when peoples’ minds are everywhere. We’re hoping to make it a regular event starting in the fall.”

“If people get on board, it could be very beneficial,” said Chris Root ’10, who attended Happy Hour. “The gap between students and administration hasn’t been bridged.”

Most of the attendees were students as well as administrators, including members of the Campus Activities Office and Dean of the College Christopher Roellke.

“There’s a lot of work to be done with publicity and developing a culture where it’s okay for students and faculty to spend time together,” said Silver.

“I applaud the objective,” said Roellke.

“It’s time to debunk the notion that to drink you need to drink heavily. I think [the Executive Board is] struggling to make it fly. It has to be a routine.”

The VSA Executive Board plans to hold another similar event before the end of the semester.

“We want people to think, ‘Oh, it’s Wednesday, let’s go to the Mug and have a glass of wine or just hang out,’” said VSA Vice President for Activities Alexandria Dempsey ’09. “We’re trying to put the Mug in a different context as a relaxing environment.”

“Intelligent social interactions are what make Vassar what it is,” said Roellke. “Let’s make [the Mug] a space that is socially vibrant.”

—Dev Darshan Khalsa, Guest Reporter

Deans try to preserve curriculum amid staff cuts Continued from page 1 confident that after some faculty cuts, students will be more evenly distributed to available advisers. “I think that advising could get better, and it’s probably going to get better,” he said.

Kitzinger explained that the administration is developing new tools to help advisors recommend classes to students. “One thing I know that we don’t do adequately is find a way to really instruct faculty about other faculty’s courses,” she said. “We did start a couple of years ago, an exercise where faculty were instructed to list educational goals for each of the courses they were teaching, and we hope over time that we can attach those goals to the Course Catalogue.”

The next topic that the panel discussed was the Course Evaluation Questionnaires (CEQ) that students fill out at the end of each course.

Class of 2011 President Joseph RedwoodMartinez expressed concern that the CEQ forms are not helpful to professors. “What is really stopping us from changing the part [of the CEQ] that professors get right now?” he asked.

Redwood-Martinez suggested that the page of comments that students write for professors contain specific questions about ways in which the course was successful and ways in which it could be improved. That part of the CEQ currently consists of a blank page for students to reflect on the course.

Most of the panelists disagreed with RedwoodMartinez’s assertion that the CEQs should be more specific. “The blank-page CEQs, in my 25 years of teaching here, have been by far the most helpful feedback I’ve gotten in terms of faculty development,” said Kitzinger. “I think the idea of the blank page is really to invite students to say whatever they want to.”

There was a consensus, however, that the CEQs should be somehow reformed. Chenette explained that the CEQ forms are being reviewed by various committees, and changes may be made to them before next year.

“I think we owe it to ourselves, given how much weight the CEQs play in faculty reviews, to really do some statistical analysis of them and see how reliable they are,” said Chenette.

Some Council members suggested that the course evaluations be administered online so that students can spend more time completing them.

Panelists, however, feared that few students will fill out evaluations if the forms are not given out during class. As a potential solution to this problem, Andrew Bennett ’10 suggested that students be unable to see their grades until they have completed course evaluations.

After CEQs were discussed, the conversation turned to final exams. Redwood-Martinez asked that students be permitted to receive their graded final exams after the end of the semester.

The panelists explained that making comments on papers is difficult because of the Registrar’s deadline for grades 72 hours after the final exam; professors find it difficult to make detailed com-

Molly Turpin/The Miscellany News

Suspicious individuals A student saw someone peeking into windows in the South Commons on April 2.

Security has since increased patrols in the area. On April 4, officers were advised that there was an individual south of Cushing House who was acting strangely. Security contacted the Town of Poughkeepsie Police, who removed the interloper from campus.

—M.B.

4.9.09

Council hosted (right to left) Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette, Chair of the Faculty Appointments and Salary Committee (FASC) Miriam Cohen, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger, and Chair of the Faculty Policy and Conference Committee (FPCC) Steve Rock for a forum on academics. ments in such a limited time frame. This deadline is stipulated in the Faculty Handbook.

Kitzinger and Cohen added that when professors do make detailed comments on students’ final exams and papers, the students rarely take the time to pick up the graded exams or discuss them with professors.

Redwood-Martinez also asked if faculty members could post their office hours on an online database that all students could access, and Chenette explained that such a program is currently being developed. “We are actually rolling out gradually a new content management system for departmental databases,” he said. “The new system will allow departments, on a local basis, to allow either individual faculty members or the administrative assistants to update faculty biographies with office hour information and announcements.”

Another issue discussed at the Council meeting was the quality of Freshman Writing Seminars. Anne Hill ’12 expressed frustration with the quality of some of the seminars.

“I don’t feel that the majority of the seminars actually fulfill their goal in helping to hone students writing ability and communication abilities,” Hill said. “[Students should be] given analysis not only on the professor’s subject but on their writing style. I really think that the lack of fulfilling the writing seminars’ goal is to the detriment of Vassar students.”

Chenette explained that the seminars are cur-

rently being reviewed. “Right now our assessment committee is working very hard on writing at Vassar and how we can measure how successful we are,” he said. “I think that what is needed is for those conversations that are happening in various places on campus to come before the floor of the faculty for a fuller discussion, and perhaps endorsement of guidelines that the steering committee is coming up with for Freshman Writing Seminars.”

President of the Class of 2010 Scott Pascal then asked how the administration is deciding which faculty positions to reduce to faculty budgeting cuts during the economic recession. Chenette explained that the rapidly falling economy forced administrators to quickly decide which faculty members would be cut before Fall 2009.

“For next year, we have more time. We’re looking at basically three things: [course] enrollment questions, the places where it was possible to make cuts because there were contracts coming up for renewal, and our sense of curricular need.” Chenette explained that the number of courses required for each major was used to assess the curricular need of each course.

“That had to be done very quickly [this fall and winter] because the financial crisis came on very quickly, and we had to get the curriculum planned for next year. At this point, we have a lot more lay time,” continued Chenette. He assured the Council that more time will be put into future decisions concerning staff cuts.

DOT to install new Town House path lighting view with The Miscellany News.

According to the e-mail that Marsala sent to he New York State Department of Transpor- the student body, Security recommended that tation (DOT) plans to install new streetlights DOT install the new lights in order to improve on the path between the Town Houses (THs) and visibility for students crossing the street at night.

Chicago Hall, according to an e-mail sent out by The lamp posts were to be erected by the DOT Director of Security Don Marsala on April 1. on April 7, according to DOT Spokesperson San“The new lights will enhance lighting in the dra Jobson. “We have to work with the power area and make it safer as you negotiate Raymond company to get them turned on,” she said, “but Avenue,” wrote Marsala in the e-mail that he sent they should be functioning by next week.” to the student body.

The TH path is monitored regularly by Campus “We asked DOT to look at lighting [there] be- Patrol. “One of the paths that we have to be called cause it’s a major thoroughfare, and they chose to in every half hour is the TH path. I think that new accept our recommendation,” he said in an inter- lighting there is definitely a good idea, as far as Matthew Brock

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Assistant News Editor

safety is concerned,” said Chelsea Dahl ’09, Associate Director of Campus Patrol.

“We also patrol the pine path (the area north and west of the tennis courts) and the eastern shore of Sunset Lake, because there are no lights there,” Dahl continued, pointing out other locations on campus where additional lighting would be helpful.

Town Houses President Lorrette Fisher ’09 is unsure as to whether or not the new lighting will be effective in reducing safety concerns. “At night, there are areas of the path you can’t see,” she said. Security hopes that additional night lighting will reduce students’ fears.

opinions

4.9.09

5

Vassar should reject requirements and embrace open curriculum Emil Ostrovski

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Guest Columnist

here’s been some talk about reinforcing and clarifying Vassar’s graduation requirements, namely the quantitative analysis and foreign language courses, which prompts me to ask: Why do we need these requirements in place at all?

I’m here at Vassar for two reasons. Number one, without at least a bachelor’s degree, I’m not going to get very far in this world. Number two, to learn, have fun and take advantage of what is often regarded as the best four years of one’s life.

Here’s my point: After these college years are gone, we will probably never again have this kind of opportunity to sample and take everything and anything that genuinely interests us.

For some students, there will be various forms of graduate schools, many of which have pretty stringent requirements. There is a possibility, I admit, that I just haven’t been speaking to the right people, but of the doctors that I do know, none ever mentioned taking Greek history in medical school.

And then there will be work, of course. Sure, we can take a class or two part-time from a local college, but how many of us actually going to do that when we’re worrying about our careers and our kids and our mortgage and, yes, paying off that massive undergraduate debt given to us courtesy of Vassar?

So why burden us with requirements at, per-

haps, the freest time for intellectual development that we will ever have in our lives? I know, I’m being a bit melodramatic. After all, the quantitative and foreign language requirements, together, amount to a mere two or three courses. Is it a particularly big deal? Not really. But I just don’t see the point.

There’s the “well-rounded” argument we hear so much about, but let’s get real: Taking a language for a year and a quantitative class for a semester is not going to make students “well-rounded.” I took French for four years, two in middle school and two in high school; the only thing that’s stuck with me after all this time is how to tell someone that they’re stupid like cabbage.

As for the quantitative requirement, yes, we live in a technologically driven society; statistics are constantly being thrown at us; the economy can’t ever make up its damn mind; we have to do our taxes and so forth. But as much as I hate being the bearer of bad news, solving a few simple math problems for Introduction to Psychology is not going to make your life all that much easier in the long run.

Statistics might indeed be useful for, well, understanding statistics, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have any handle on how the economy works or how to do taxes. And realistically, the very students who would probably have the most to gain from the quantitative requirement are also probably the most likely to take psychology over

calculus or earth science over statistics.

And besides, the very notion of a “well-rounded” individual is highly subjective. While Vassar seems of the opinion that all “well-rounded” individuals should have, at least, a cursory grasp of

should be a general requirement. A political science major—ah, you get my point. So who is to say which of us is right and which is wrong?

Perhaps we’re all right. Truth is, all the courses here at Vassar have something unique and important to teach us; but it’s physically impossible for us to explore everything out there. So then, is it so wrong to be free to pick the classes we’re most interested in? I don’t think so. And I don’t think we should be limited by a couple of very half-hearted requirements.

In fairness, I believe Vassar’s comparatively open curriculum is on the right track. So why not go all the way? We wouldn’t be the first to— Brown University, Amherst College and Hamilton College all have no core curriculum. You only live once, you’re generally only an undergraduate once, and you only have about 34 courses to get the most of it all. Why not put those two to three courses completely in students’ hands?

There will be those who say that I’m being impractical, that the requirements should be rethought, perhaps even bulked up, rather than simply removed. To them I say, I have the whole rest a foreign language and the muscular dexterity to of my life for practicality. I have the whole rest of use a calculator, I might say that all prospective my life to pursue a “practical” profession. So if “well-rounded” individuals should take a Russian I want to take a course on writing poetry instead literature class and should be acquainted with of one on quantitative reasoning, why should I be the works of Dostoevsky, Nabokov and Bulga- stopped? kov, among others; conversely, an English major might feel a course on the works of Shakespeare

Why burden us with requirements at the freest time for intellectual development that we will ever have in our lives?

2011 Council makes academic recommendations Joseph Redwood-Martinez

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Guest Columnist

n Sunday, April 5, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council hosted the Academic Forum, part of an ongoing VSA Forum Series. Guests included Jonathan Chenette, Dean of the Faculty; Rachel Kitzinger, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs; Miriam Cohen, Professor of History; and Steve Rock, Professor of Political Science.

I wanted to follow up on the comments I made during the VSA Council meeting—these suggestions were informed by recent conversations with the Sophomore Class Council regarding the academic concerns of many students here at Vassar.

First, I requested that the College consider the creation of a comprehensive online database of professor office hours. This is already in place at several institutions across the nation and would prove to be an incredible advantage to all members of the Vassar community.

For example, as students were trying to decide which courses to pre-register for this past week, they could have used this resource to meet briefly with professors, discuss their academic trajectory and determine if the course would be a good fit for them.

Beyond pre-registration, I am confident that this resource would encourage students to engage in academic conversations with professors across departments throughout the year. While there are several academic departments on campus that already list professor office hours on their Web sites, the large majority do not. The College should really push to have an accessible, comprehensive and up-to-date database of professor office hours.

In addition to the online database of

office hours, I suggested that the College consider recommending that professors return final coursework to students with at least the grade assigned. I am not implying that professors should be expected to write extensive comments on the final coursework; what is really important here is that students know what grade they are getting on the paper, project or exam that they have been, in most cases, working toward the entire semester.

I was incredibly surprised to learn that between the four guests at the VSA Council’s Academic Forum, there was no consensus on any College policy regarding the return of final coursework.

I think this is an opportunity to assess why there is such hesitance and uncertainty on the part of the administration.

Students get final grades that end up on their transcripts, and they just want to have a better idea of how the professor arrived at that grade.

Finally, I realize that Course Evaluation Questionnaires (CEQs) are far more problematic than we even began to discuss at the VSA Council on Sunday, but I do think that we need to revisit them seriously and insist that changes are made. It is rather odd to me that we have been using the same version for over a decade now; I have not met one person who is a fan.

While the portion of the CEQ that is returned to the Registrar and factors into conversations on compensation and tenure is very complicated (I understand it will take a long time to make any changes), I do not see why we cannot push for a much needed revision to the informal section that is returned to the professor. I have consulted extensively with students and professors, and the consensus seems to be that there should be some structure

on this part of the CEQ. Handing a blank sheet of paper to a student on the last day of classes does not seem like a pragmatic way to encourage constructive feedback. I’m suggesting we change this section of the CEQ to read: What aspects of this course worked well? What did not?

What specific improvements could the professor make to this course?

Would you recommend this course or professor to another student? Why or why not?

This would preserve the open-ended nature of this section while offering students an opportunity to reflect seriously on the course. From here, we can start to assess the problems with the “scantron” part of the CEQ and perhaps incorporate suggestions that were brought up by members of the VSA Council: consider transitioning to an electronic version to expand flexibility and save resources, revise the current rating scale and so forth.

These are just a few of the conversations that have surfaced in the Sophomore Class Council regarding academic concerns. We also think that pre-major advising is extremely limited, the major declaration process is far too troublesome, getting into classes as a declared major is still a crapshoot, every class we need for our major happens to be scheduled at the same time, and wait-list policies seem to be non-existent. But we figured creating a comprehensive database of professor office hours, encouraging professors to return final coursework and seriously revisiting the CEQ seemed like a good place to start.

—Joseph Redwood-Martinez is President of the Class of 2011.

opinions

6 Mini-course was intended to teach multiculturalism

Campus Activities was misled by mini-course Unfortunately, that is not the course that the cern about. student instructor chose to facilitate last week.

I think that it is important to note that there he Campus Activities Office facilitates The Facebook group and subsequent informa- is not one individual or office completely to mini-courses at least once a year for the tion regarding what happened during his ses- blame for this entire scenario, but rather an acbenefit of the campus community. These ceptance of inappropriate behavior. It is true courses are designed to be non-credit classes that the course was approved with the utmost that give our community members an opporfaith that the student instructor and the partunity to share ideas, talents and skills. Past ticipants would go into the subject matter with courses have included knitting, wine tasting maturity and sensitivity, and perhaps that was and software training. This semester a student wrong. proposed a course that would help his fellow It is also true that both the registered instruccommunity members be more comfortable tor and the guest instructor presented inappromeeting people abroad. priate information, and regardless of intention, While there were reservations, the Camthat was wrong. pus Activities Office decided to approve the However, after meeting with concerned stucourse The Language of Ladies because we dents, I feel that the problem is part of a bigger felt that there were redeeming qualities to the issue. It is my sincere hope that this situation idea behind the course. will spark discussions among students, faculty When the student applied to teach the and staff to create a more positive and open course, I and a few other community members environment. There are several avenues availhad some concerns. I met with the student inable for community members to have these structor and shared the concerns about sending discussions in a better environment than what sexist and racist messages, and he assured me the mini-course structure can provide, and I that was not his intention. We mutually agreed hope that individuals will take advantage of that the format, while focusing on dating culthese. While what has happened cannot be reture, would also be about how to make friends sion were brought to my attention the morning tracted, we can all learn from this—I know I with people from the countries that students following his first class by some students and certainly have. reside in while participating in Junior Year administrators.

I have always been, and will continue to Abroad.

Once I was made aware of the situation, I be, an advocate for students and ideas. It was He told me that he was going to get pro- immediately canceled his course. The cancel- my hope that these students, who might not fessors and members of the Vassar commu- lation was not only because of the offensive normally be comfortable asking these types nity who had ample experiences with these nature of the content, but also because we had of questions, could get together with campus cultures, such as being from these countries set parameters together, and he chose to disre- experts and truly learn about the world. or having an academic background with a par- gard them.

As a College administrator, it is important ticular culture, to act as his guest instructors.

Since the canceling of the course, I have to support all students and to have faith that Based on this discussion, I defended the stu- met with concerned students, including some they are here to learn. While I am extremely dent and the course, as our Office advocates individuals who were present during the class. disappointed in the results of this course, I for what we think will offer the best services Most of the feedback that I have received in- remain hopeful that all of those involved will for our students. I thought that this format dicates that the instructor was exercising ex- learn from this experience. would give students information that they may tremely poor judgment but did not intend to not have otherwise had exposure to and would be offensive. In fact, it was the behavior of the —Megan Habermann is the Assistant Direcbe a good developmental opportunity. participants that I have received the most con- tor of Campus Activities.

Megan Habermann

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Daniel Abramson

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4.9.09

Guest Columnist

created The Language of Ladies mini-course in order to open up a space for straight males at Vassar to engage in dialogue about their issues in relation to pursuing members of the opposite sex through a curriculum that could teach both multiculturalism and self-confidence.

The course had its first class a few weeks ago with 25 attendees: 15 men and 10 women, of whom 10 were international students. After the first class, those in attendance reported that they found the space to be positive and enjoyable. Regrettably, a portion of the campus did not second such reviews.

My intentions for the mini-course never included offending numerous groups at Vassar. Subsequently, The Language of Ladies was canceled when students did take offense to its content. I do not want to continue this tit for tat back and forth about the semantics of my class, a class that no longer exists—canceled by the democratic will of some students at Vassar. Rather, I think the more pertinent discussion to have is one regarding the issues that surround the role that the class has in the larger community of Vassar College. For that reason, I would choose to concede that the class proved to be insulting; we need to move on with real talk about the issues that have arisen in its absence. This class did not birth these longstanding issues; rather, it brought attention to them.

I am ready to start a worthwhile discussion and ask that all readers do the same. Additionally, my opinion on race and sex is not newsworthy and still ill-conceived. I never intended to engage in the perpetuation of racism or sexism. Also, I do not understand what it is like to be the subject of the terms in question. I hope that I can learn to some degree how my fellow Vassar students do feel so that such a situation won’t occur in the future. Ultimately, I would wish that The Miscellany News would report on the dialogue that is going to be taking place rather than publishing more polarizing content.

Guest Columnist

The cancellation was not only because of the offensive nature of the content, but also because we had set parameters together, which he chose to disregard.

Canceled mini-course was crucial safe environment for male students ment, a couple shots and a minute later you take a deep breath, and walk over. Oh. My. God. Oh my llow me to start by thanking Daniel Abram- God. What am I going to say? The closer you get, son ’12 for the courage and initiative to host the faster thoughts bounce left to right between the former mini-course The Language of Ladies. the walls of your mind.

For men to gather in a judgment-free forum and You make it over, awkwardly introduce yourpool their knowledge of, and experience with, the dynamics of sexuality is invaluable. However, this type of forum is commonly misunderstood.

I agree that it is wrong for men to gather and discuss techniques and tools for manipulating women into bed. But it’s not about men discussing techniques to gain power over women and trick them into doing something they don’t want to do. To learn a more accurate picture of the focus of a forum such as The Language of Ladies, read on.

Men everywhere are baffled by sexual dynamics. For all my boys out there, you know the feeling of hanging out in a bar with your buddies, talking about how badly you want to get laid, when all of a sudden you glance around the room and make eye contact with a woman you find at- self and the interaction progresses. If I stand here tractive. A woman whom you would like to walk pretending to listen, maybe I’ll get lucky. How are up to, speak with and possibly take to bed. But things going? I need to act like a guy she would instead of standing up and walking over, you look like. Am I acting enough like him? Shit, I’m probdown, as a pang of fear fills your chest. She would ably blowing it. She’s going to realize any minute never hook up with a guy like me. She’s too hot that I’m not actually the guy she would like. She’s for me. What would I say, anyway? going to see the real me.

Most don’t make it past eye contact. They proInstead of experiencing the moment with the crastinate, grabbing at any excuse or reason to not woman—as himself—the man projects an image talk to the woman who, as confusing as it is, they of himself that he thinks the woman would be want to talk to. Some muster the courage to ac- attracted to. For our slower minded readers, it’s tually stand up and walk over. You see her, look a mask—the man thinks of the real him as not down, then up at your buddies and contemplate worthy enough to be with the girl he’s attracted whether to approach. Some friendly encourage- to. Instead of approaching a woman with lack of Alexander Holodny

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Guest Columnist

Forums such as The Language of Ladies serve not as secretive manipulation schools, but rather as safe environments for men.

attachment to an end (i.e. getting laid so he can think better of myself), a man will go over with the agenda of “conquering” or “subverting” the woman. And if this goal is not achieved, the man feels he has failed. He feels rejected. He feels like he cannot think better of himself because he failed to perform. What the man doesn’t realize is that even before he walks up to the woman, he has rejected himself.

Feelings of rejection perpetuate the negativity that ultimately leads to rejection, which—as vicious cycles go—leads to that needless, negative self-image. Women are not interested in men who need a woman’s validation to feel content with their lives. It is those men who feel whole in life independently of a woman’s substantiation who allure women. For these men lose themselves in their interactions with women. They tune in and listen to the woman because they are genuinely interested. They know the beauty of sharing an energy with a woman without hopes or considerations of an outcome.

Forums such as The Language of Ladies serve not as secretive manipulation schools, but rather as safe environments for men to discuss strategies to find substance in their lives. There is nothing wrong with being interested in your sexuality, despite the proverbially forbidden nature of sex.

Especially if, in taking interest, men create a positive environment that enables them to internalize the essence of sexual interaction.

Now, to the question of stereotypes in the first class. The problem, again, stems from unrealistic projection. It is important to remember that the purpose of Abramson’s class was primarily aimed at familiarizing listeners with certain Asian cul-

tural norms that differed from their own. This was not done with the intention of negatively stereotyping or degrading Asian women! This was done to empower listeners with an understanding of the fact that Asian culture is, in fact, different from their own.

A listener who learned a thing or two about Asian culture could bring a deeper sense of rapport to an interaction with an Asian woman who would appreciate his understanding and consideration for her cultural difference. The fact that Japanese women, in the general sense, tend toward shyness and generosity should not be interpreted as an offensive assertion—it’s a mere observation.

The existence of cultural differences does not render this type of discussion offensive. To take offense to a forum that illuminates an understanding of a different culture is to project negative connotations onto that forum. It is to assume, without apt consideration, an offensive tone. I urge those who felt insulted to meditate, and consider what was being accomplished that night.

Even if there were, among listeners, those who infantilized the discussion in their approach, remember—it was but the first night. Learning to drop shields and speak sincerely is not learned instantaneously, but I assure you—through this forum we, as sexual men of Vassar College, stand only to grow and mature.

Hell, there will be more sexy, confident guys on campus from which to choose! Ladies, listen up; all I hear is you complaining about the lack of guys on campus. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to meet guys who feel grounded, confident, lively and playful? Guys with swagger?

4.9.09

opinions

Reducing Baldwin health service hours raises serious concerns for student EMTs A

s an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), I was shocked to learn from The Miscellany News that Vassar was considering eliminating its 24-hour health service (“To reduce spending, Vassar and peers consider eliminating costly late-night health services,” 4.2.09). Even more disturbing was that this was the first time many EMTs, including our captains, learned of the proposed cut.

It is interesting that Vassar would spend time and resources polling peer institutions on their health services while ignoring an integral part of their own. I am well aware of the impact of the current recession and sympathetic to the College’s financial situation, but I find both this proposal and the administration’s handling of the situation troubling.

First of all, the attack on the care provided by the overnight staff at Baldwin Hall is unjustified and insulting. If the “quality of care” was truly unsatisfactory, the issue should have been addressed long before this financial crisis.

Furthermore, the quotes of President Catharine Bond Hill and Dean of the College Christopher Roellke suggest that the administration does not understand the role of the overnight health service. The notion that Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is already sending the majority of students to local hospitals is completely unfounded. Last semester, only 27 percent of the 115 patients treated were sent to local hospitals compared to 43 percent treated by Baldwin and 30 percent refusing medical treatment.

In the article, Roellke suggested that other resources could take the place of Baldwin.

“We would certainly still have our EMTs and Security officers on campus. We also have our

house advisors, student fellows and deans living on campus. We have enough resources here 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

What Roellke fails to acknowledge in his lengthy list of 24/7 resources is that only the EMTs have medical training. In addition, as EMTs, we do not provide definitive care. Our job is to assess and stabilize patients and then make transport decisions. Baldwin is vital both as a resource for EMS and for providing quality medical care to students. The night nurses’ experience and training make certain that both intoxicated and non-intoxicated patients receive highest standard of care.

There are many problems with the administration’s argument, but most troubling is their disregard for student safety. The College maintains a very lax policy on drug and alcohol use, and the assertion that taking away essential health services will cause students to “rethink their choices” is the very definition of logical fallacy.

The elimination of Baldwin’s overnight service would completely undermine the Good Samaritan policy that the College has worked so hard to promote. Currently there is a great amount of trust from the student body on the transport decisions made by EMS. However, without Baldwin, all intoxicated students would have to be sent to local hospitals. This would place an incredible burden on Vassar Brothers Medical Center and St. Francis Hospital, as well as the Arlington Fire Department (AFD).

AFD does not receive consistent financial support from Vassar due to its tax-exempt status. It would be unfair for the College to ask AFD to shift their limited resources away from

the Poughkeepsie community to increase its service to Vassar, especially when many of these students would be receiving those resources as a result of their irresponsible behavior.

The late-night service at Baldwin is central to the safety of the student body. Students know that if they call EMS and if they or a friend go to Baldwin for intoxication, they will not be reprimanded. However, if students learn that calling EMS for an intoxicated student will most likely lead to a hospital visit, which inevitably will involve a large bill and involvement of parents or even the police, this fear of repercussions may discourage students from using EMS. Vassar administrators may counter with their argument that the threat of a hospitalization will foster greater responsibility. However, it will only take one instance of students not calling EMS to lead to an irrevocable tragedy for everyone to see the folly of that logic.

Baldwin is fundamental to assuring the medical needs of the Vassar student body, especially at night. To suppress the nighttime hours would surely be penny-wise and pound-foolish. It is unsettling that the administration would be so quick to make a cut that would compromise student safety.

Budget cuts are inevitable in this tough economy, but it should be remembered that this recession extends beyond the walls of Vassar and that it is incredibly unethical for Vassar to shift the economic burden to students’ families and the Poughkeepsie community.

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What has been the most significant contribution of men to Vassar?

“A winning baseball team.”

Austin Saddlemire ’10

“After 100 years, we have ballroom dancing partners!”

Kira Stein ’09

“Obviously not a Men’s Studies Department, unless you count History.”

—Nathalie duRivage ’10, Emergency Medical Technician

Core requirements must expand to improve effectiveness

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ccording to Vassar’s Course Catalogue, the quantitative requirement is designed to foster “facility in quantitative reasoning.”

This includes the “ability to understand and evaluate arguments framed in quantitative numerical terms,” as well as the capability to “construct and evaluate quantitative arguments of one’s own.” These are pretty broad requirements, which leads me to wonder: How appropriate are the classes that currently fulfill the quantitative reasoning requirement? Must we strengthen the classes or make a change to the requirement itself?

While a number of the courses that fulfill this requirement aren’t necessarily mathematically rigorous, they do address the requirement in that their coursework is based on a quantitative framework. For example, many students who have taken an introductory economics course at Vassar would agree that it does not require much advanced computation, but rather relies on the use of graphs and the like to demonstrate basic theory. While this class certainly wouldn’t be effective in providing students with mathematical literacy above a certain level, it does have a different benefit: It forces students to view the subject from a quantitative state of mind.

For example, I know of students whom, prior to taking an economics class, only considered politics from its social aspect. A more thorough understanding of economics completely transformed the way they view politics. It provided a new prism through which they could consider

questions that they weren’t previously equipped to answer: Why is there poverty? Why is there such a large income disparity in many countries? While economics is only one subject to consider, it demonstrates that the courses that provide this quantitative framework can radically change students’ views on topics of interest to them, even if such courses aren’t as mathematically involved.

However, these courses don’t necessarily address the question of mathematical literacy, which is important in a world where one is constantly bombarded with numbers. Independent adults are forced to number crunch all the time. For example, they must budget their earnings, which could require an understanding of interest rates and terms of repayment (skills in which, judging by the current housing crisis, many people are obviously lacking). They must also evaluate the statistics that are presented to them on the news every night, which would require a basic understanding of statistical methodology.

There are, in short, many reasons why Vassar should require its students to complete a more mathematically rigorous coursework.

Aside from just providing students with a wellrounded education, such courses could provide them with much needed skills, as well. For this reason, the quantitative requirement should be expanded to two courses: one to assist students in developing a broader quantitative framework from which to view issues, and another

to address the need for mathematical literacy.

Of course, many students have completed substantial mathematical work throughout high school, and exceptions should be put in place to address this.

Skills simply must be adequately developed in order to be useful. This lack of development is not only evident in Vassar’s quantitative requirement, but in its language requirement, as well. Unfortunately, the Course Catalogue isn’t nearly as detailed in explaining the reasoning for the language requirement as it is for the quantitative requirement; it simply states that the study of foreign languages has a “unique importance in undergraduate education.” While I don’t particularly dispute this claim, I question the effectiveness of only requiring one year of a foreign language. One year isn’t long enough to adequately develop one’s language skills, especially to the point of fluency; in fact, once the requirement is completed, the language will likely be largely forgotten.

If these course requirements are to have the desired effect on students and their educations, they must be more adequately developed and expanded. Without this development, course requirements will increasingly be seen as annoying, unnecessary and ineffective roadblocks to education, not necessary skills to be cultivated.

Matt Baron ’10

“They make eating competitions worth going to.”

Emily Maier ’12

“Satisfying the straight women.”

Kyle Epstein ’10

—Angela Aiuto ’11

— Jeremy Bright, Opinions Editor

opinions

8

4.9.09

Writing seminars must be strengthened to develop vital skills Anne Hill

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Guest Columnist

t Sunday’s Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council forum on academics, I raised a concern that some of my peers and I have been harboring about the College’s required writing seminars. Though I value the information I learned this past semester in my course, I feel that the seminars as a whole give neither adequate focus to writing process nor to the writing quality expected of Vassar students.

Vassar prides itself on its students’ diversity.

But more than different ethic, economic and social backgrounds, its students bring to the College a wide array of educational experiences. We pull from both the highest and lowest school systems.

But Vassar, and colleges across the nation, are finding their incoming freshmen less able to cope with the requirements of college writing and research. In a survey by Peter Hart and Associates, professors estimated that 50 percent of their students are not up to par in their writing abilities.

Paradoxically, high schools are working more than ever to raise state and national standardized testing scores.

These tests, though, are rarely valid in assessing students writing and communication skills.

Thus, in a scramble to continuously raise scores, schools are often sacrifice the teaching of critical thinking and communication skills for the preparation of state tests. While, ideally, these two goals of pedagogy would be one in the same, the latter goal often falls quite short of reliable testing assessment because of inadequate standards and grading.

In my experience as a student in a Kentucky state public school, I often saw administrators pressuring instructors to teach basic test preparation skills and “tricks”—as opposed to deeper analytical skills—in order for us to more efficiently perform on our state standardized tests. In

my AP English Language and Composition class, for example, my teacher was required to stall the instruction of more comprehensive writing and expository style in favor of the contradictory and more elementary rubric recommended for CATS Open Responses (our “writing portion” of the exam).

In an even more striking example, the teachers in a particular Lexington elementary school were told to bypass sentence structure (subject and predicate, verb and noun) with their first graders

grading for effective skill, but basic content; if the grader can find an answer somewhere in the text, it is passable, if not even distinguished (depending on how the state decides to “curve” the grades that particular year).

Other factors also underlie students’ lack of preparedness for college writing. Highly successful teacher and author Michael Degen addresses one such reason in his book Crafting Expository Argument, in which he provides a pedagogical guide for high school English teachers, as well as exercises for their students. One of the main issues Degen addresses is that many high school teachers assume that their students are already familiar with writing and grammar. With most state curricula, that should be a safe guarantee, but because of situations like those faced by teachers in Kentucky, in which the curriculum is bypassed for inadequate test preparation, teachers are receiving students with little or no grammatical instruction.

Thus students are never guided through the more subtle and complex processes of writing.

In order to address this problem, Vassar mandated the Freshman Writing Seminar for all incoming students. They offer an array of subject selections for students to chose from in order to meet their requirement. But do these classes accomplish their goal (as stated in the Faculty Handbook) “to improve skills in writing and oral in favor of Kentucky Open Response “structure,” presentation, analysis of texts, and thoughtful dewhich, for all intents, means merely a block of velopment of ideas?” writing. How a six-year-old could possibly hope No doubt many students would say “yes”— to construct a “paragraph” without proper knowl- that their professors aided in their writing a thouedge of a sentence is still beyond comprehension. sand-fold, as well as intellectually challenged and But this is what the principle expects the teachers stretched their mind. Vassar is full of amazing to do. professors, many of whom teach widely successThese policies jeopardize students’ foundations ful seminars. for critical thinking and communication skills.

However, not all of these seminars accomplish How are students to internalize the logic inherent the goals stated above. While all are highly inforin writing when it isn’t even allowed to be intro- mative in their general subject area, many stray so duced? These CATS open responses are not even far from the process of writing that it is hardly ad-

In a writing seminar, revisions should not just be suggested, but mandated. The grammatical process suggested by the professor should even be modeled.

Hipster aesthetic, attitude, sub-culture show unflattering side of many students Matthew Rosenthal

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Guest Columnist

efore coming to Vassar, I knew very little about the hipster subculture that is slowly but surely taking over the white middle to upper class suburbanites of the Y generation.

Now that I have been here for four months, I still have yet to solve the puzzle that is the hipster.

Ever since the times of the caveman, there have been rebellious teenagers. (In those times, I imagine the rebellious teenagers used Geico car insurance.) Rebellion is good. In our teenage years the rebellious spirit helps us to develop our voice through useless arguments with our parents.

From my observation, the hipster is the result of adolescent angst. What may have begun as a social movement by youth against the socially accepted norms of dress has developed into an annoying trend. Before we explore the role of hipsters on the Vassar Campus, it is important to differentiate the various different types of hipsters that can be found roaming the campus in their faux-hobo garb.

First, there are the true hipsters, the kids that feel more comfortable walking around barefoot and haven’t eaten anything with a shadow in four years. These people might actually have a legitimate cause, such as standing up to the corrupt United States meat industry or a life of excess (though they may just be afraid of the darkness of shadows). Though I would never dress as these hipsters do, I am not angry with them. This first type of hipster has adopted the hippie lifestyle because they believe that simplicity in life is ideal.

But what about the rebels without a cause, the kids that wear jackets that they bought off of a homeless person named Reggie? They look the look, but don’t walk the walk. The hipsters that bother me are the ones that wear clothing for the purpose of standing out. For anyone who has read The Game:

Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by former Vassar student Neil Strauss ‘91, they understand that wearing “loud” or different clothing is called the “peacock theory.”

This theory states that by wearing something to make you stand out, such as a large pink bowtie, you will attract the attention of the fairer sex. Type-two hipsters seem to run their lives by the code of the peacock theory. The irony is that the hipster trend has gotten to be so popular that in order to be a peacock one only has to dress casually.

I am not saying that you should dress to certain societal standards; in fact, I am saying the opposite. Following a trend like hipsterism is equivalent to dressing to meet the standards of society. The difference being that these standards were set by the daring trendsetters who stood up to societal norms by wearing garbage bags to their senior proms.

Over the weekend, I went to my grandfather’s birthday party. At 90, my grandpa is fully self-sufficient, as he has been for his whole life. Every time I see him, I am astonished by his sense of style and filled with pride at the presence he commands. (His rapport with the ladies is truly a sight to be seen.)

For me, dressing like a hipster would mean changing who I am by nature. I feel like I’m not alone; knowing you’re the best-dressed person in the room makes you feel a strong sense of accomplishment.

At Vassar the tally of type-two hipsters seems to grow every day. Maybe I’m alone with my views about these kids or maybe I’m being too harsh, but I just don’t understand the need to grab people’s attention with strange clothing. I’m personally much more impressed by classy clothing. So what is my advice for the hipster? Be yourself, and don’t mindlessly follow the trends of your peers and stop ruining plaid shirts for everyone else.

dressed, if at all. Again, professors are assuming that all of their students are familiar with the logistics of writing; and while this should be a safe assumption—while students should be taught this process in grade school—it is not the case, and that was the purpose in creating these seminars.

In many seminars, papers are assigned, collected, graded and annotated, then returned before proceeding to the next lesson. But this is not enough. In a writing seminar, revisions should not just be suggested, but mandated. The grammatical processes suggested by the professor should even be modeled. While that may initially sound drastic, if not simpleton, modeling in this environment does more than merely provide a syntactical structure for students to copy and paste: The logical thought processes underlying, say, the implementation of active voice as opposed to passive, or perhaps the introduction of a more efficient clause, as opposed to a redundant sentence, all illustrate more effective forms of communication and style. Students have both ideas and potential; these tools help us use and develop them to our greatest capacity.

These reasons are why the process of writing is far more than a written form of speech. When talking, for example, you can use more of yourself to convey meaning: Tone and body language all help to communicate a message. However, when writing, you must find ways to not only effectively transfer meaning, but do so in the most meaningful way to your audience—a process that again enhances critical analysis by causing you to question to whom and how you can most productively communicate.

These recommendations for teaching the “rules” of writing do not have to stifle students’ creativity. In fact, if students are familiar enough with “proper” structure, they can more adeptly bend the rules to illustrate their meaning. Break, change and question things with knowledge.

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4.9.09

opinions

Academic obligations detract from Parents Weekend B udding flowers, green grass and warming temperatures combine to make the beginning of April an ideal time for parents to come visit their children at Vassar, except for one annual problem: Many students have no free time to spend with their parents.

Parents Weekend is a big occasion, and rightfully so; besides alumnae/i, parents are the ones who directly support this institution by paying their children’s tuition. Yet, what does the administration give them when they come once a year to see their children away at college? Informational tours, lectures, events, et cetera. Whereas what is the one thing that most parents would like to do? Interact one-on-one with their kids, and perhaps meet their friends or significant others.

Unfortunately, they often wind up attending these events only because their children are so laden down with homework that they do not have much free time to spend with them—perhaps they will get to see them on a tour of the Library.

Of course, not every parent can afford to travel to Poughkeepsie; the journey’s cost and obligations at home can complicate travel plans. Some students may not want their parents to visit for personal reasons. But what about those who miss their families and the relatives who are able to come?

While students whose parents do not come could use the time to catch up on their homework or simply enjoy a break—it’s not like we get holidays off, anyway—a true break could in fact encourage more parents to visit campus.

Although Vassar assures parents of the “richness and diversity of events” to partake of, the programming does not change much from year to year, which leaves parents from far flung places

with little incentive to return, only to attend the same lectures and tours and go out for a rushed dinner. And oftentimes the activities that are most remembered are those designed for students and parents to genuinely enjoy together, and usually put on by students themselves, such as the Barefoot Monkeys’ Fire Show—something that the administration should keep in mind and foster if possible.

and students like her might get a worse grade just because they want to spend time with their parents on this special occasion.

What is the solution? Should her dad not have come? That’s not fair. Should students get less homework? No, not in general—I am not complaining that Vassar is too rigorous of a school. I simply propose that if the College wishes to dedicate a weekend to parents as they have, and seriously expects them to visit and enjoy themselves, the administration should alter the academic calendar to give students Parents Weekend off.

Students should not have to sacrifice this weekend for tests. Classes on the following Monday and Tuesday ought to be canceled to ensure that students have a free weekend; the missing days could be appended to either the beginning or end of the semester, so that no class time is lost.

Our early years are not only about academics; they are about family, too. Having a child leave home for college is often difficult for parents, given that college is a quintessential transition from adolescence to adulthood. Similarly, many students, especially first-years, miss their families This year, I spoke with dozens of parents who and appreciate the few days that they can spend either came to campus from out of town or out of together. Accordingly, as long as the College state to visit their children, virtually all of whom proudly offers Parents Weekend, parents, who in expressed similar sentiments. a very real sense are paying to host these festiviOne father, in particular, who flew halfway ties in addition to much more, deserve an actual across the country, said that it was a “constant weekend with their kids. Despite the efforts of the struggle” for his daughter to find time to spend Campus Activities Office, it would beat any prowith him while also trying to be a good student, gramming that the College could offer. since presently during Parents Weekend those things have to remain separate. This student, a —Jeremy Bright ’11 is a political science major sophomore female, is a biochemistry major who editorializing on issues that affect Vassar and the had an important exam that Monday to study for; world. He is Opinions Editor and President of the though she tried do both, it is unfortunate that she Moderate, Independent, Conservative Alliance.

If the College seriously expects parents to enjoy themselves, the administration should give students Parents Weekend off.

Dialogue could benefit from Minnesota spirit

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wo interesting things happened on campus last week: A vociferous debate on The Miscellany News Web site about an article from last week’s issue about the canceled Language of Ladies mini-course—and Parents Weekend. The former was sparked by a rational and carefully written article (“Mini-course raises issues of sexism and racism,” 4.2.09), and culminated in commenters getting hot under the collar at what they perceived as direct insults—and indeed, some were. The latter mostly just got me thinking about home.

As a native Minnesotan, there are some things I occasionally miss about home. I do not miss, for example, the fact that at the beginning of this week it was 30 degrees and snowing. What I do miss occasionally is that cozy, polite cultural convention known as “Minnesota nice,” something from which I think a campus as politically active and vibrantly opinionated could at times benefit. Some people say that, really, it’s nothing but Minnesota passive-aggressive: Of course, I have nothing to say to them. And perhaps it’s more of a Midwestern ethos as a whole than exclusively Minnesotan. But as a proud member of that snowy state, it comes time for me to put a snow-shoed foot down (albeit gently) and say, “I’d appreciate it if you could spare a moment to listen to me, please. No worries if you can’t

though; it’s no trouble.”

For those unfamiliar with the concept, “Minnesota nice” is a sort of militant friendliness; it’s the social quirk that makes me smile at pretty much everyone I walk by, try to make idle conversation in waiting rooms with complete strangers, and generally make a fool of myself in the greater New York metropolitan area.

It’s the stereotypical friendliness and fanatical politeness characteristic of Minnesotans in A Prairie Home Companion-esque media that suggests that Minnesotans are a bunch of pretty decent farm people who make darn good hot dish, don’cha know. Now, that’s not true, of course, and not everyone in Minnesota is particularly nice all the time, but I think there’s a certain mindset of non-confrontation that bites both ways.

On one hand, confrontation is sometimes important in promoting social change; on the other hand, there’s no reason it has to get too hostile.

I’m not talking about the unhappy extreme of Minnesota nice that enforces conformity and stagnation by forbidding vocal disagreement; I’m talking about simple, culturally-mandated politeness. While I was doing some casual research for this article I came across the concept of Jante law, an idea sort of similar to the humility that comes with the Minnesota nice in the 1933 novel A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks by Norwegian

author Aksel Sandemose. It has 10 precepts but, according to the highly reputable source of Wikipedia, boils down to “Don’t think you’re anyone special, or that you’re better than us.”

See, I sort of like that. It seems very conducive to a debate in which people don’t yell at each other. I don’t know enough about The Language of Ladies course to say whether that was justified or not, so I think I’ll exercise “the better part of valor” on this one. It’s not that people shouldn’t be discussing these issues; far from it!

But the entire thing falls when debates get personal, and people respond with hurt feelings and say things that they otherwise wouldn’t. Maybe it’s the Midwesterner in me, but I can’t help but think that a little politeness might do everyone good: Don’t bottle up your emotions, ya know, but give a thought to the sober, Scandinavian Lutherans of Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon, who smile at each other over their corn on the cob and decide that, no matter who’s done what, they’re going to have a perfectly civil time of things because that’s just what they do.

Do I believe a community as smart as Vassar’s can balance that type of deep-seated humility and, at the same time, manage to speak out about the things that matter in a reasoned, civil way?

You betcha.

9 Fair elections are crucial to our democracy Andrea Worby

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Guest Columnist

top. Don’t read this article if you think it’s okay that last November—in the midst of an economic meltdown—we spent almost $5 billion (yes, that’s billion) on election campaigns. Or if you think it’s fine that the candidates who spent the most money won over 90 percent of the races for Congress. Or if you think it’s cool that one of the top contributors to Congressional campaigns last year—$62.5 million—was the securities and investment industry, now asking for bailouts from the federal government. But if, like me, you think that lobbyists and big donors shouldn’t be replacing ordinary citizens in making policy, and that huge campaign contributions have created shameful pay-to-pay political scandals and undermined the ideals of American democracy, then read on! There’s hope!

In six states—including Connecticut, Maine and Arizona—this shameful situation has been changed by a new way to finance campaigns.

In these states, both Republican and Democratic candidates can mount competitive campaigns without raising big bucks and without spending most of their time dialing for dollars.

And when elected, they don’t owe anything to anyone but their constituents.

Beginning this month, we have a chance to get that same kind of option for Congressional candidates, as well. A new bill, with broad bipartisan support, the Fair Elections Now Act, allows candidates to spend their time focusing on the difficult issues of the day. The Act frees politicians from the question that members of Congress now have to ask themselves every day: How much time do I spend working to get the country back on track and how much time do I spend fundraising the thousands of dollars I need for my next campaign?

The recent exposure that the American International Group (AIG) lobbied with hundreds of thousands of dollars solely to the politicians who would vote for their $170 billion federal bailout adds to the necessity of this reform act, introduced on March 31. The Fair Elections Now Act is a compilation of bipartisan bills that Senators Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter fiercely sponsor, along with Representatives John Larson and Walter Jones.

“Today the amount of money spent in top-10 competitive Senate races averages $34 million per campaign—double what it was just four years ago,” Durbin said in the Senate press gallery last Tuesday. Congressional elections heavily favors incumbents and special interest groups. The creators of The Fair Elections Now Act modeled this Congressional Bill after the immensely successful state programs.

It gives Congressional candidates the option to run for office without relying on lobbyist donors. Instead, qualified candidates can fund their campaigns with a blend of individual contributions and public financing, thus allowing the candidates to talk to their constituents and work on policy instead of raising millions of dollars in contributions from lobbyists.

The introduction of this bill is just the first step. We need to act swiftly and strongly and let our Congressmen know why we want them to support this bill. So what can you do? If you are as excited as I am about changing our pay-to-play political system, you can write to your own members of Congress, or call them up and tell them that they should support fair elections.

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FEATURES

4.9.09 Vassar, peers have faced losing battle against grade inflation Continued from page 1 they are earning higher grades because they are students—maybe.”

Registrar Dan Giannini explained that, although applicants’ statistics have risen, those factors alone cannot account for the level of grade inflation at the College. “In conversations about this, the question comes up, ‘Well, are the students just better now than they were 20 years ago?’ We can show through test scores that we have become more selective and therefore student grading should go up. But whether they do that much better—it is debatable,” said Giannini.

“Grade inflation isn’t just happening at schools like Vassar—it is at schools where test scores have not gone up. It’s a nationwide issue. Faculty are just not grading as tough as they used to,” Giannini continued.

Some believe that professors have gradually become so lenient over the years that the Course Catalogue’s description of each letter grade is essentially no longer applicable. In the Catalogue, while an A “indicates achievement of distinction” and “involved conspicuous excellence in several aspects of the work,” a C indicates “the acceptable standard for graduation from Vassar College. It involves such work as may fairly be expected of any Vassar student of normal ability who gives the course a reasonable amount of time, effort and attention.” Meanwhile, for students to obtain a B, they must demonstrate “excellence in some aspects of the work.”

Even students feel that these descriptions are no longer accurate and that, in some classes, they can get by just fine without much time or effort.

“This semester in my psychology class,” said Jasper Boyle ’12, “I missed and slept through many classes, and I crammed for all the tests—which consisted of sentences we had to memorize from the textbook—and yet I just talked to the teacher politely, made sure I crammed well, and I came away with a decent grade.”

Professor of Political Science Richard Born explained that today students would never consider a C grade to be representative of acceptable work. “The Catalogue has a description of what each letter grade means—it is antiquated,” said Born. “I go over it on occasion, and it does not relate to the way people grade or they way I grade now. Cs are meant to be acceptable, but a C essentially does not exist at Vassar.”

According to professors like Born who view grade inflation as a problem at the College, there are several issues that may be motivating professors to give higher grades. For example, faculty may give better grades to gain popularity or to secure high enrollment levels in their classes. Some report a fear that, if they were to grade a student more harshly, that student may give the professor a worse evaluation on his or her Course Evaluation Questionnaire (CEQ)—the survey taken by students at the end of a course that plays a central role in salary and tenure decisions.

“The CEQs are very important—more, I think, than students believe,” said Born. “Probably, in my own mind, an important reason why inflation has gone on is because you do not know whether the grades that you give are going to relate to your CEQs. You don’t know whether easy graders get evaluated more highly. A lot of [professors] think this is the case. So you say to yourself, ‘I’m not going to risk it. It’s just not worth it—I’m going to give easier grades to play it safe.’ In junior faculty who are looking to get tenure, that kind of calculation is quite pronounced.”

Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette explained that there is literature showing a correlation between CEQs and level of grades. “There have been studies showing that there is a correla-

tion between grades and evaluations of faculty members. It is not a perfect correlation by any means, but there is a degree of correlation, and that could be applying some of the pressure since we use these CEQs.” Professor of Psychology Ken Livingston explained that other, less understandable motives might exist for faculty members. “In the years of these discussions, I actually had a member of the faculty who confessed that his grade inflation was intentional precisely because it took less time. ‘Because,’ he said, ‘I don’t have to write long comments if I give an A,’” Livingston said.

“So in that case, if you just look at the superficial syntax of the paper—‘Does it look like it’s in decent English? Does it have the proper reference format?—then I give an A and I’m done.’ That person’s conscientious colleague may spend 45 minutes to an hour on that paper, and this person spends four or five minutes with that paper,” Livingston continued.

Livingston began studying grade inflation in 2002 when he was Director of the Office of Teaching Development and served as part of an ad hoc committee on grade inflation. In 2003, his committee sent a survey out to the faculty that addressed the issue. “As I remember, those who responded to this survey,” said Born, “thought it was quite serious—they were very bothered by the grade inflation in a lot of regards.”

Professors concerned with grade inflation insist that ultimately undeserved high grades will only hurt a student. “The reason I’m very concerned about it is—to be perfectly honest—it is a cheat for students. I can guarantee that students are not getting the value for [their] time and other resources than a student 20 or 30 years ago did.

They’re not being pushed as hard or challenged as much,” said Livingston.

Associate Professor of English Wendy Graham explained that grades are a tool of instruction for students—and without grading accurately and honestly, professors are not giving students an idea of when or how to improve. “I think grades can be instructive. I want students to understand that every paper can be revised—every work, no matter how good it is, can be improved. Consequently, I think I do tend to use grades and be more critical,” continued Graham, “because if

you say, ‘I have problems with your work, but here is an A anyway,’ it defeats the purpose of suggesting a higher bar to people. I do not want to say that I use grades punitively, but for encouragement and to establish a bar. Students will learn more, but they have to do more.”

One concern with grade inflation is that it leads to grade compression, which results in a smaller scale on which students can be evaluated. By using mostly As and Bs and not the full 10-point grade scale, it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish between students from one another based on academic achievement.

“I worry that we lose nuance,” said Chenette, “but if you are comfortable with only five levels—B-minus, B, B-plus, A-minus and A—then, okay. I don’t think it is a serious problem that we need to immediately attend to, but I do think that it is a phenomenon that we need to be aware of.”

Students in particular may worry that clamping down on grade inflation would put Vassar graduates at a disadvantage when applying for jobs and to graduate schools. Director of the Career Development Office Mary Raymond explained that while GPAs are less of a factor when applying for jobs, they can be a crucial component of graduate school decisions.

“Lower GPAs will always impact outcomes— and for graduate study, and particularly law school, GPAs are a critical component of the application,” said Raymond. Despite these concerns, the ad hoc committee put forth several proposals in 2003—none of which, as Born explained, were acted upon. “They spanned the spectrum,” he said. “Some of them were kind of silly. There was one proposal to put in a new grade above an A. It was ridiculous as far as I’m concerned. My feeling is, you’ve got five letter grades and you use them—a ‘super A’—I do not know what you would call it—is essentially just kicking the can down the road.”

Another possibility recently put forth by Princeton University to stymie grade inflation attempts to ensure that not more than 35 percent of grades are As and A-minuses. Others suggested that on a transcript, next to a person’s grade in a class, the College put another number indicating the class average—a method currently employed

by Dartmouth College in order to give graduate

schools and employers an accurate sense of their grading scale.

Livingston explained that Wellesley College saw a drop in grade inflation after they voted that their faculty not allow the mean GPA for any given course to exceed a 3.3. “They took a very specific, proactive step. They had some exceptions built in—if a class had fewer than 10 people in it, then you could make a special case. In theory, you were supposed to send a request to the dean’s offices to make your exception and say, ‘I can’t hit the 3.3 mark fairly.’ Apparently that actually happened very seldomly.”

Research, however, shows that grade inflation might ultimately be difficult to control. Director of Institutional Research David Davis-Van Atta completed research this year that showed that for the number of As to increase as they have in the past 20 years, each professor would only have to give 1.348 additional As per year. “The average faculty member gives about 75 grades each year,” said Davis-Van Atta. “Can someone reliably detect an additional one-point-something additional As per year out of all the courses taught? I think probably not.”

Despite the almost imperceptible nature of grade inflation, however, concerned professors still want to explore the issue. This year, the Dean of the Faculty has yet to bring up grade inflation at a Committee on Curricular Policy (CCP) meeting. “This is not my top priority,” said Chenette, who is currently dealing with the ramifications of the financial crisis on faculty compensation and resources. “But I think it is worth talking about— and we may have a conversation about it at the CCP before the end of the year just to ask if anybody thinks this is something that that the faculty more generally should be talking about.”

Livingston believes that the College should stimulate this kind of discussion as soon as it can, as grade inflation is becoming an increasingly urgent problem. “This upward curve in As is in danger of going hyperbolic here. Pretty soon, there is not going to be any point in reading anything from a grading standpoint,” he said.

“I think most people here honestly want to do a good job by our students, and if we ask ourselves to be reflective about this—even that would be a good first step.”

FEATURES

4.9.09

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How have men affected Vassar’s heritage, culture and extracurricular life?

Brian Farkas

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Editor in Chief

This data, compiled from the archives of The Miscellany News and The Vassarion, shows that student body presidents have been fairly evenly split between male and female students between 1970 and 2008. Indeed, because women outnumber men at Vassar (and most liberal arts colleges), men have served as president at a disproportionately high level. However, when one looks at a lower-level leadership position—student body vice president—a very different trend emerges. This tendency is similar when comparing student organization presidents versus vice presidents, secretaries, and treasurers. In the early 1970s, as well as today, some students and administrators worry that women might feel discouraged from pursuing top leadership positions across campus.

Over one-third of these men applied to transfer to Vassar at the end of the semester, and by March 1969, Vassar had amended its constitution to include the education of men.

But as alumnae/i and current students will quickly admit, the mere decision to admit men was only the beginning of the story of coeducation. Coeducation for Vassar meant more than just a change on paper; it meant a change to the school’s core identity. Questions immediately arose about Vassar men: Would they change the dynamic of the College? Would women feel less empowered to take on roles of leadership? Would Vassar men, as one student feared on the pages of the Miscellany, “be merely foxes in a cage of intelligent women, eating those who try to better themselves through knowledge”?

Stereotypes over the nature of Vassar men— debated far beyond the gates of the College by journalists and commentators—seemed to breakdown into two categories. First, there was the “fox” model described above. Many feared that the presence of men would destroy the benefits of single-sex education, distracting girls with relationships and other social concerns. In a column in The Miscellany News, one English professor worried that men would “force women from positions on campus groups, returning to a [structure] whereby men are dominant both inside and outside of the academic sphere.”

The second model for the Vassar man was the polar opposite. Many alumnae were less than pleased with rumors they heard of “the antics of the first onslaught of men,” according to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lucinda Franks ’68 in a 1979 New York Times essay. “Their ranks were peppered with characters who swung through the campus like bespangled high-wire artists at a three-ring circus. The most noticeable was a group that flounced about in glittery shirts, highheeled boots, and rainbow-colored afros.” The implication was clear—that Vassar men were effeminate, blending in “all too well” with the women around them. This model of the Vassar man was concerning not only to the College’s socially conservative alumnae, but also to those who worried that Vassar’s reputation for excellence would suffer.

Ironically, neither of these common stereotypes for the “early Vassar man”—and, some would argue, today’s “Vassar man”—was quite accurate. Alumnae/i from the first coeducational classes do not recall either the “foxes” or the “three-ring circus” students of legend. “The men that I knew were very straight-laced,” said Jason Isaacson ’74, the first male Editor in Chief of The Miscellany News. “The rumors of men being flamboyant were entirely exaggerated. Some of the guys I knew became police officers, lawyers, doctors, and really no one was overly countercultural. They were just regular students, like ones you would find anywhere else.”

Nevertheless, these myths were powerful in the minds of observers. Many of the concerns that were debated in the late 1960s and early 1970s continue to linger four decades later. In particular, some worry that male students are eclipsing female students in positions of leadership. “Since we went coed, I think Vassar has lost some of its history,” said Mary Catherine Halfpenny ’09, President of Strong House. “Walking around here and observing the culture, no one would ever know that we were once an all-women’s College.” Halfpenny is the only female house president elected this year—a presidency that is de facto filled by a woman. Male majorities extend beyond just the house presidents; of the

Logan Dyke Stagnitto/The Miscellany News

hen the revolutionary Vassar Female College was incorporated on January 18, 1861, even the name of the school proved contentious. Matthew Vassar immediately received a terse letter from Sarah Josepha Hale, famed editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book—the most popular American women’s journal of the mid-19th century. The use of “female” was Darwinian, Hale argued, undermining the notion that Vassar would be a place where women could receive an education equal to the men at Harvard and Yale.

After much debate among the College’s Board of Trustees, the change in name was officially adopted in 1866.

The marble slab with the word “female” was literally chiseled off of “Vassar Female College” on the front of Main Building, leaving 15 discolored feet of exposed brick. The space looks as unfinished now as it did nearly 150 years ago.

The removal of “female,” many have since observed, foreshadowed a much deeper shift away from the College’s heritage: coeducation. Spring 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of full coeducation—a long, tumultuous process for the first endowed liberal arts college for women.

Members of the Vassar community first began to consider coeducation in the early 1950s. The College’s single-sex environment had become “increasingly unattractive to active and socially conscious young women,” according to the Vassar Encyclopedia. American culture in the immediate postwar period placed a premium on early

marriage, and many women increasingly entered colleges with the hope of finding husbands and beginning families. Additionally, coeducation was increasingly becoming the norm at high schools across the country. Vassar’s single-sex model, once viewed as progressive, was suddenly becoming outmoded.

“Our student body should consist of 50 percent men and 50 percent women, drawn from as wide a geographical area as possible, by identical standards of admission,” declared The Miscellany News in a May 1950 editorial. “There is a strong element of inevitability in our feeling. We not only advocate, we predict.” But the Editorial Board was ahead of its time. The administration would not begin formally exploring coeducation until the 1966 creation of the appropriately-titled Committee on New Dimensions. Vassar President Alan Simpson began meeting regularly with Kingman Brewster, President of Yale, about the possibility of merging the two schools. Yale, an all-male school at the time, was itself considering moving to coeducation. But student and alumnae opinion on the merger was decidedly mixed; many wrote letters of concern to The Miscellany News that Vassar’s unique identity might simply be absorbed into the larger university.

In October 1968, the College pursued a different route. Simpson began negotiating with Bowdoin, Amherst, Dartmouth, Williams, Colgate, and Trinity, forming an exchange program for male students interested in entering Vassar for the second semester of 1968-69. Sure enough, 77 male students enrolled in the College that spring.

23 student representatives on the VSA Council, only nine are female. “It can be really discouraging,” said Halfpenny. “Last month when we were discussing campus drinking, and [Terrace Apartment President Riane Harper ’09] brought up sexual assault, the topic was quickly brushed over. The next week, there was a sexual assault on campus. I just began to wonder, whose interests were really being represented in that room?”

Vassar is certainly not the only school with disproportionate numbers of men in leadership roles. More than two-thirds of Amherst College’s student senators are male, despite the fact that women constitute a slight majority of the student body. Amherst’s Executive Board is even more imbalanced—only one out of five members is female. According to Student Body President Nick Pastan, there is a very discernable decline in women running for office over their college years. Interestingly, Amherst women tend to hold many leadership positions over men in student clubs, but not in student government. “I wonder if it has to do with the fact that student government is deeply institutionalized and clubs aren’t, or if student government somehow dampens women’s voices rather than privileges,” said Pastan.

A similar situation, some claim, exists at Vassar. Women are well-represented on house teams, and as treasurers, secretaries and vice presidents.

“But it’s those top-level positions where we feel the difference,” said Halfpenny. “Men are in so many positions of power across campus.” Along with Strong and Raymond House Advisor Jessica Bennett, Strong’s house team established womenleadersatvassar.blogspot.com—a forum to generate discussion on the absence of and barriers to women’s leadership.

Coeducation at Vassar is not so much a historical event—a date cemented in the past—as it is a living part of the College’s legacy. Like the discolored marble slab on the front of Main, coeducation is unfinished. Vassar’s heritage as a pioneering liberal arts college continues to shape the institution’s identity. Long after coeducation on paper, students remain conscious of gender issues, pushing not for a return to single-sex education—but rather for true coeducation. “It may take months,” wrote The Miscellany News in 1968, “It may take years, or even decades. Full coeducation is not something that Vassar can achieve overnight. Nowhere in this world is there true coeducation between the sexes. But if any institution can achieve such intellectual equality, we are confident that Vassar can.”

—This is the first in a two-part series of articles on the 40th anniversary of coeducation.

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G20 blues: London sees protests, heated discussion on economy

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his week, London hosts the G20 summit, an annual meeting of the world’s 20 economic heavyweights: 19 countries and the European Union. Setting aside the fact that it’s the ultimate shaft to the developing world—“Sorry, African Union, only one of you guys is on the list, and it’s not you, Mozambique”—the summit is a pretty good idea. Just about every economy in the developed world is rapidly spiraling down the tubes and someone needs to figure out how to stop it.

Enter the G20.

Not everyone in London, however, is keen on the idea of the world’s hottest bankers and economic leaders showing up for afternoon tea. A slew of ne’er do wells have promised to show up to “Financial Fool’s Day,” as it’s been dubbed, in steel-toed boots and ironic bowler hats—a traditional symbol of the London banking community—wielding clubs. One anarchist group has a mass street party planned.

The chaos has even turned academic. A University of East London (UEL) professor has been suspended indefinitely from his lectures at UEL

because of controversial statements he made about how protesters should react to the summit.

(It appears Vassar isn’t the only institution that hands out pink slips when times get rough.) He promised that effigies of bankers would “hang” on Wednesday, and he hopes the whole of the banking community will “join in the fun.” Yikes.

In observation of the summit, discussion in the kitchen of my flat has rapidly turned from the final four to how best to oppose economic decisions that aren’t to one’s liking. Unlike the London anarchists, we threw out street party straight away. (No concrete demands or goals. And where would we get music, anyway?) Ultimately it was out with burning people in effigy (just plain mean), and likewise with beating up cops (they hit back). In the end, we even nixed the idea of a march from Parliament to the ExCel center, the site of the G20 meeting.

My English flatmate, Will, was at the fore of the anti-march side. He found it stupid that students should be complaining. His attitude was every man for himself. Dog-eat-dog. Almost—dare

I say it?—Republican. “Look, it’s a greasy pole,” he said. “Climb it.” Ouch.

It was so American of him. The government, he thought, doesn’t need to spoon-feed their constituents with jobs or lob salaries at them from across the billiards table. It wasn’t at all the attitude I had expected from a resident of the continent who brought us socialized medicine, (nearly) free higher education and excellent public transportation. Will contended that all this economy needs is a little elbow grease. He was speaking like Ragged Dick, yet he didn’t know who Horatio Alger was—or, for that matter, Jay Gatsby.

Will was critical of France’s tendency toward disruptive protest. (“What do they think this is?

Paris in 1968?”) He’s more of a rags-to-riches man, advocating pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps.

The problem is, the pole seems pretty loaded with grease these days. With the American International Group (AIG)’s bonus calamity in the nottoo-distant past and a culture of corporate greed that won’t quit, the pole is, at the very least, slimy.

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In this climate, England finds itself crammed between Continental Europe’s tendency toward the almost maniacally socialized and an American government that doesn’t always want to govern.

For this reason, I am trying to put aside the disruption to my morning commute and the annoyingly ubiquitous presence of London policemen, to embrace the G20’s presence in London this week. Maybe London represents a happy medium in global financial outlooks. There’s a bit of this and a bit of that. And what could possibly be better than a little international give and take in this economic crisis? Economic ideas might just have to meet in the middle, even if the middle falls somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

And as for Vassar, if the G20 can do it, think what we can do.

—Kelly Stout ’10 is a double major in English and political science studying abroad this semester at University College London.

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“Blue Room” intimately frames theatrics, sexuality Chloe McConnell

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Arts Editor

Sarah Rebell

Guest Reporter

Dylan Entelis/The Miscellany News

xperimental and edgy plays populate the Vassar stage, but only “The Blue Room” by David Hare has been christened “pure theatrical Viagra.” British journalist and drama critic Charles Spencer coined this phrase when the play first had its debut in London 10 years ago. Woodshed Theatre Ensemble will stage this unorthodox and venereal play on Thursday, April 9 and Friday, April 10 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, April 11 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater.

“The Blue Room,” which originally starred Nicole Kidman and Iain Glen, was famous for the actors’ brief onstage nudity. Woodshed has created its own unique production with six actors— a few of whom will appear partially nude.

Hare adapted the play from Arthur Schnitzler’s 1897 sexually explicit “Round Dance.” Originally meant to expose the decadence of the Austrian society, Hare’s 1998 adaptation transfers the action to a nameless modern metropolis.

The play consists of 10 two-person scenes that expose the twisted and sinuous sexual connections between a series of idiosyncratic characters. “[The play] is composed of a series of closely related vignettes,” noted Marissa Venturi ’11, who plays the Model and the Au Pair. “Brief but illuminating encounters strung together in a kind of systematic daisy chain.”

One character from the first scene has been with one character from the second scene, who has been with another one from the third scene and so forth. Although they are not necessarily aware of the connections, every character in the play is linked to everyone else through sexual encounters.

“The characters are all archetypal; they are listed as their roles in society,” Kate Thulin ’11, who plays the Girl, explained. Other vocational character names include the Actress, the Aristocrat, the Cab Driver, the Playwright and the Student.

Head of Woodshed Max Sturm ’09, who is

co-directing scene work with Nijae Draine ’11 and playing the role of the Politician, explained why Woodshed chooses to stage certain works. “It is essential that we find significant and relevant reasons to produce this play at Vassar and at this particular time,” he explained.

The themes of “The Blue Room,” as described

by Dramaturge Sasha Steinberg ’09, correspond with current philosophical issues and cultural implications that surround Vassar Woodshed Theatre Ensemble will stage an unconventional play students. In his interpretive that explores sexual connections starting Thursday, April 9. notes, Steinberg writes that the play evokes the problematic modern concep- disjunction. tions of memory, sex and death.

“In ‘The Blue Room,’ the audience must expeThe play’s vignettes enforce the idea that rience precisely such uncanny disruptions of the memory involves idle reiteration. Analogously, taken-for-granted and familiar,” Steinberg noted. in our modern society, students quickly forget “Objects are replaced by words, opposites are retheir identities. “We cannot remember what the placed by infinite repetitions, and human bodies economy looked like a year ago; we cannot re- are shrouded in dust cloths and spectral white.” member (in the structural sense) the white patriThe stage initially displays a dollhouse-like archy that is continually reinforced; we cannot square room, delineated by the lighting, with the remember (in the authentic-self sense) an identity audiences on three sides and large picture frame separate from media-constructed desires,” Stein- on the other side. “This play, in fact, argues that berg explained. society is one such dollhouse,” Steinberg said, Sexual relationships in the play underscore the “in which domestic scenes are structured with a socially constructed binaries of modern society. game-like logic, as if presented for a voyeuristic “Sexuality, ‘The Blue Room’ reveals, is an ego- other.” tistical venture,” Steinberg wrote, “utilized not as As the play progresses, the lighting subsides to an escape (or transgression) of social subjectiv- highlight the world beyond this fabricated room. ity, but as a reification of it.”

This emphasizes the frame, which evokes the noThe show’s set mimics these notions of an tion that society treats experiences like a series of inauthentic society. Inspired by the works of two-dimensional photographs.

Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte, who “This play, in fact,” explained Steinberg, “prespresents common objects in unusual contexts to ents society as one big theater, for society shines problematize art as an exact replication of real- its spotlight on these rehearsed, recycled, distortity, the experimental theater group will forefront ed and ultimately ideological performances.”

Punx invades Vassar with dynamic rhythms Erik Lorenzsonn

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Assistant Arts Editor

assar’s music scene is rife with soulful strummings from acoustic guitars, slick electric mixes from emcees’ turntables and colorful vocal serenades sung by a cappella groups. But until this year, the heavy shredding of a deafening electric guitar has had surprisingly little representation on campus.

The creation of VCPunx last semester changed that paradigm. The new organization provides a home for the punk, metal and hardcore music scenes on campus and provides venues and opportunities for live music performances.

With its fourth show on Saturday, April 10, VCPunx will showcase rock bands from Vassar and elsewhere associated with the “extreme music” genre. The concert will take place in Main Building’s third-floor parlor and will last from 8 p.m. until 11 p.m.

VCPunx was founded during the Fall 2008 semester by Vassar students Hassan Sakhtah ’10, Andres Gutierrez ’10 and Reed Dunlea ’09. All three were fans of extreme music, but noticed that their brand of music had largely been swept underneath the rug.

“There is stuff like Hip Hop 101, which represents hip-hop and rap, and stuff like [Vassar College Entertainment], which provides sort of a styled alternative,” said Sakhtah, who became the co-President of VCPunx after Dunlea gradu-

ated early at the end of the Fall 2008 semester.

“But we felt that there is an unrepresented musical community on campus.” The group not only represents punk, metal and hardcore music scenes on campus but also has a mission to increase the amount of live music at Vassar.

“The whole realm of live bands has died down,” said Gutierrez, the other co-President of VCPunx.

“There is a prevalence of DJs and laptops. We needed to expand on that.”

Despite its youth, VCPunx has already made impressive bounds as an organization. Its debut concert on Feb. 13 is considered a success by both co-Presidents thanks to a large turnout. Professional bands from Poughkeepsie, New York City and elsewhere in the tri-state region have contacted the group en masse to ask about performing at Vassar. Equally impressive is VCPunx’s no-holds-barred spring semester lineup. Once they complete an upcoming concert scheduled for April 18, they will have had four full-fledged shows in less than a month.

Four bands will lend their axes and amps to the upcoming Saturday night concert. PowerPoint is a non-Vassar band known for its signature corporate stage persona and its fast-paced punk sound.

Their antics include PowerPoint software presentations in the background of shows, playing songs with names like “Microsoft Outlook” and “Corporate Consulting” and dressing like blue-collar office workers in business-casual attire.

The band is even divided into two sections as part of its corporate personality: an “east coast branch” and a “central branch.” The former will play at Vassar, while the latter is gearing up for a concert in Denver.

Dead Channels will hail from Monroe, N.Y. to provide a contrast to the lunacy of PowerPoint.

Their music is decidedly more serious and somber, both in terms of instrumentation and lyrics.

According to a statement left by vocalist Angelo Mosca on the band’s MySpace page, “We’re just trying to make some rock and roll music, minus the ego.”

Stormking is the first of two student-formed bands from Vassar to play at the concert. The band, which features Sakhtah on drums, derives its sound from European metal sub-genres and boasts a very loose and feedback-heavy sound.

“We primarily play black metal, which is basically sloppy and fast punk,” said Sakhtah.

“There’s a very big Scandinavian metal band scene and that’s where we draw influence from.”

The other student band playing on Saturday is Black Wing, a punk group from Westchester County. The group only got together last fall but compensates for its youth with frenetic intensity encapsulated in songs that often last no more than a minute or two. The concert, as with all VCPunx concerts, will feature a minimalist presentation to retain focus on the performance.

Milleker unveils goddess Demeter’s head Morgan Namian

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Guest Reporter

emeter is generally known to be the Greek goddess of grain and fertility, and as we creep into the month of April and see the weather warming up and the trees losing their barren, wintery look, her influence seems to be at work. That springy feeling is beginning to overwhelm our minds with fresh ideas and a thirst for knowledge, as well as the need for a break from this last eight months of work.

What better way to forget today’s academic worries than by taking a critical eye to the ancient past?

On Tuesday, April 14 at 6 p.m. in Taylor Hall 203, Elizabeth Milleker, the current Curator of the Greek and Roman Collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, will discuss the history, myths and implications of a recently excavated head of a sculpture of Demeter from Corinth, Greece. Milleker explained to The Miscellany News in a phone interview that the lecture will shed light on a head of Demeter found at the sanctuary of Demeter and her daughter Persephone at Corinth, Greece through descriptions of Demeter, the practices in the Archaic period and the sculpture’s current condition.

In Fall 2009, Milleker taught the Belle Ribicoff Seminar in the History of Art, a six-week course on marble sculpture in the new Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum, which she finished reinstalling in 2007.

The galleries opened in four phases that took 15 years to complete and include art of mixed media arranged in chronological order.

“I enjoyed teaching that course immensely,” Milleker said. The seminar covered a brief overview of Greek works of the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods, also focusing on Roman art, Roman copies of Greek bronzes, and how the marble statues were restored in the 18th and 19th century. “Most statues in museums of Europe and here are Roman works that no longer look aesthetically pleasing, so one needs to mentally reconstruct them, if you will,” Milleker said.

Milleker addressed her interest in the layout and labeling of the Greek and Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum. “It’s a way of telling a story to the way you position the objects in relation to one another,” she said, and added, “It’s a mise-en-scène; it’s a visual organization of material that can express things about the art itself without words, so that a visitor going through these galleries that doesn’t necessarily know anything can get a feeling for the art of the period just by even casually walking through. It’s visual as opposed to only intellectual activity, and I enjoy that.”

In 2004, she presented her own watercolor exhibition of abstract pieces based on Persephone, the Greek mythological embodiment of fertility and queen of the underworld, at Shepherd Gallery New York. Out of these works she created a book combining her images with the myth. Currently, she is working on a catalogue of the Metropolitan Museum’s acquisition of marble sculptures since 1950.

Speaking to what students will gain from the lecture, Milleker expressed that she hopes to build an enthusiasm for Ancient Greece. “I want to expand horizons, really,” she said, “including myth, history and archaeology.”

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“Sun” exposes complications of summer relationships and love Sarah Rebell

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Guest Reporter

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ergetic, laughter-filled game of volleyball as a warm up, it was clear that everyone was enthusiastic and glad to be there. Cast-member Amanda Giglio ’11 considers rehearsals to be “something to look forward to every day.”

In rehearsal, when actors were having trouble connecting to difficult character moments, Wilson-Cohen did not tell them what to do. Instead she worked with them individually, analyzing the situation in the context of the play and then using real-life analogies to give them a better understanding of what the character was going through.

Liz Cole ’09, who “Finding the Sun,” presented by Philaletheis, follows people throughplays the role of Fer- out their lives as they explore their relationships with one another. gus’ mother Edmee, has found Wilson-Cohen’s directing process to added, “The best way to make a play look and be “meditative” because, for her, exploring a feel realistic is to have the actors improving their character is not solely an intellectual activity but movement based on character decisions they it is also emotional and instinctual, unlike many make internally and whether a movement or acpursuits at Vassar. tion feels correct to them. Bad choices are just as “I direct from the philosophy that everything important as good choices, as they help shape the in life is improv,” explained Wilson-Cohen. She actor’s experience with the character.”

Dylan Entelis/The Miscellany News

ost people go to the beach to relax and enjoy the sunshine, but in Edward Albee’s play “Finding the Sun,” sun-filled holidays evoke other connotations. “Finding the Sun,” a Philaletheis-sponsored show, will go up in Rocky 200 on Thursday, April 9 at 9 p.m. and Saturday, April 11 at 3 and 8 p.m.

The plot of the play follows three married couples, one elderly and two young, as well as a mother and son. “The play follows these characters as they all meet on the beach one day—some of them know each other already and others are strangers—and continually affect, interrupt and complicate each others’ lives,” explained Director Jenny Wilson-Cohen ’09 in an e-mailed statement.

“Finding the Sun” addresses such major issues as gay marriage, family interactions and the definition of love. However, Wilson-Cohen did not try to confine the play to any specific theme or message. “I would like Vassar students to take away whatever part of the show is most meaningful to them,” she said.

One of the most exciting and challenging aspects of the play is the playwright’s “intelligent dialogue,” in Wilson-Cohen’s words. Actor Ben Palacios ’11 plays Daniel, a gay man who is in a sexually active marriage with a woman. Unlike most other characters in the play, Daniel is unsure of what he wants. Palacios said that Albee’s dialogue is able to capture the character’s internal confusion in lines that are sometimes expressed like “tongue twisters.”

The dialogue is not the only unconventional

part of “Finding the Sun”; the structure of the play is equally unusual. Stage Manager Amanda Giglio ’11 described the piece as “a one-act play treated as a full-length show.” It consists of 21 scenes, each about two or three minutes long.

“Being grounded in our characters has helped to keep the potentially fragmented show flow smoothly,” said Mallory Bram ’10. Bram plays Abigail in the production, a woman who refuses to recognize that her husband Benjamin is in love with Daniel.

Although the play was written in the 1980s, Vassar’s production of “Finding the Sun” is set in the 1950s. “It would be fun to work with ’50s-style swimsuits,” Wilson-Cohen admitted, explaining one of her reasons for choosing that time period. The cultural atmosphere of the time increases the level of tension in the play, as well.

Wilson-Cohen said that she thoroughly researched the 1950s, studying up on “the gay community, the stereotypical life of a New England boy, the swingers’ scene and the importance and symbolism of New Hampshire,” so that she would be able to give her cast a clearer picture of the world in which the play is set.

The cast was full of praise for Wilson-Cohen’s directing style. John Wojcik ’11, who plays Fergus, a socially awkward 16-year-old, had never been in a student-directed show before this one.

He said that he has found the experience incredibly exciting and that he appreciated that Wilson-Cohen does not give the cast line readings.

“She’s not giving you the answers because she wants you to find them,” Wojcik said.

From the moment the cast and creative team stepped into the rehearsal room and began an en-

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4.9.09

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Madrigal Singers vocalize the Easter spirit Eric Schuman

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Reporter

Eric Schuman/The Miscellany News

hat is a madrigal, anyway? In a denotative sense, it is a complex polyphonic vocal composition from the 16th or 17th centuries that preceded the cantata and the opera.

When contextualized with Madrigal Singers, such an explanation of the challenging musical form elucidates why the group is one of the most competitive ensembles on campus.

The Madrigal Singers will give a concert on Saturday, April 11 at 8 p.m. in Skinner Hall.

The concert program will feature pieces that are associated with Christian themes that are specifically about Easter Sunday. “[The concert] is all music that was written specifically to be performed during the so-called Triduum of Holy Week—that is to say, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday,” Lecturer in Music and the group’s Director Drew Minter explained. “There have been specific liturgies in place for centuries in the Catholic Church for these days and the texts that follow the specific lessons are taken from the Lamentations of Jeremiah the prophet and various responsory texts to the Passion The Madrigal Singers will present music that encapsulates the beauty and emotion of the story and Crucifixion.”

Minter, who also teaches voice lessons season, including pieces by Carlo Gesualdo, Thomas Tallis and Tomás Luis da Victoria. and directs the Vassar Opera Workshop, explainedthat these texts originated as Gregorian “The Lamentations of Jeremiah” by Eng- “They’re really beautiful,” she reflected on chants. They were consequently set by a ma- lish composer Thomas Tallis are also included the Tallis lamentations. Jacob Finker ’12 said, jority of the famous Catholic composers of the in the program. Tallis’ lamentations translate “Geswaldo makes me cry,” while Nick Hebert Renaissance and the Baroque. The group will the experiences of war expressively and they ’09 commented that although the Geswaldo sing from all three time periods in Saturday’s are played during Holy Saturday because the was “hard to learn,” it is his favorite among the show. theme is linked metaphorically to the suffering other pieces in the program.

The concert program features “O vos om- of Christ and his betrayal by Judas.

In the past, the group has done “Messiah” nes,” “Ecce Quomodo” and “Astiterunt RegThe ensemble will also perform “Amicus in 2004, Bach’s “St. John’s Passion” in 2006, es,” three late-Renaissance madrigal pieces meus,” “Judas Mercator,” “Unus ex discuipuli and last year, the performed Purcell’s “Dido

by Italian composer Carlo Gesualdo, that are meis” and “In monte Oliveti” by Spanish com- and Aeneas” in collaboration with the Opera taken all together considered the “Tenebrae poser Tomás Luis da Victoria. Minter explained Workshop.

Responsoria.” These pieces underline and that these chants are noted for their concision.

Rocha said “We’re putting on a concert that heighten the emotions reflected in the text with The members of the group agreed on the just has really beautiful music,” inviting everya technique referred to as “word-painting.” For beauty and emotional nature of the pieces that one to the concert. Minter noted that “If [peoinstance, when Christ is suffering, the music they will be perfoming. Alter expressed her ple] want to have a meditation on the Passion, I sounds strikingly modern, featuring sharp dis- excitement to perform the Gesualdo pieces can’t think of a better musical place to do so.” sonances. and the Tallis’ “Lamentations of Jeremiah.”

Artists swap environmentally inspired works Carrie Hojnicki

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Reporter

he rules are simple: create, display and swap. The rewards are plenty: art, new friends and lots of fun. After its one-year hiatus, ArtSwap is being reinstated by seniors Samantha Stein and Noah Fowler. Installed in the Faculty Commons this Sunday, April 5, works from ArtSwap2009 will continue to be on display until the culminating swap and reception at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 10.

Unlike other visual arts experiences at Vassar, the only ArtSwap prerequisite is interest. Using the phrase “calling all artists,” the campus-wide e-mail invitation for the event emphasized the accessibility of the swap for anyone at Vassar who is interested in the arts.

Art is certainly an omnipresent aspect of the Vassar experience and ArtSwap adds an entirely new and interactive aspect to this. “Vassar is really a community that breeds a love of art and a lot of creative people” said Schmidt. “I am always amazed.” ArtSwap gives these interested community members a non-judgmental opportunity to partake in a cooperative and rewarding experience often unaccessible to nonart majors.

“There are 30 participants this year, all coming from different parts of the Vassar community. There is even a professor from the Physics and Astronomy Department,” said Stein. Each participant was asked to create a piece under various media and size restrictions that repre-

sented their interpretation of the theme “Environment.”

“This isn’t about the Rockies or the Amazon or the melting ice caps (though it could be): This is about you and the places that you care about,” wrote environmental studies major Fowler in an e-mailed statement. “What places on this planet do you actually care about? What places would you want to share with a stranger?”

The environmental spin seems only fitting considering the environmental fervor found on the Vassar Campus. Although the idea of “being green” was initially a more prominent part of the theme, Stein claims the new theme will allow for more diverse interpretations. “From what I have seen so far, the interpretations are really cool. We have a lot more sculpture this year than in 2007,” Stein said.

“You can really take it as you will,” reflected Stein on the theme. “I think the pieces are going to be a little more out there than we originally thought.”

Perhaps the greatest feat for the participating artists is to find the compromise between a piece that they would be willing to swap and a piece that is worth swapping. “We asked everyone to create something good enough to show off in a gallery, but not their best, so that they can give it away. We don’t want paper napkin doodles, but we also don’t want masterpieces.

It’s cool to see what people will produce under these circumstances,” explained Stein.

ArtSwap participant Zan Schmidt ’12 echoed

this dilemma. “I’m a little bit nervous because the photos aren’t my best; I wanted to keep those! But otherwise I am excited to see all of the different interpretations of the theme. It’s like in drawing class when you see 20 totally different variations of the same subject.”

Schmidt will be swapping black and white photographs. “I like to take pictures of different people. My pieces are about people in their environments. I could have taken the theme to mean landscape or trees or something like that, but I am more interested in looking at the connection between people and their personal environments,” explained Schmidt. “It’s nothing crazy but it shows what I really like to do.”

The culmination of the event, the swap itself, will occur at the end of the reception on Friday evening. Stein, Fowler and Schmidt all noted the excitement of taking home a new piece of art and the anticipation that comes with it.

“You might get really lucky and get something from a teacher,” said Stein. “In 2007 I got back this beautiful piece by [Visiting Assistant Professor of Art] Gina Ruggeri. Or, you might need to push the boundaries of what you like as art,” she continued.

Stein and Fowler urge members of the Vassar community to check out the art this week and to come to the final reception. “It is really an experience to engender the arts at Vassar,” said Stein. “Oh, and DJ Olmec will be spinning some beats at the reception.”

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Bartók’s rare recordings Gülfem Demiray

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Assistant Arts Editor

igned by numerous musicians, the 122-year-old guest book at the Skinner Hall of Music is a priceless gem for anyone who’s fascinated by classical music. It provides a physical connection to musicians who have visited Vassar College. Among the signatures in the book, one belongs to the Hungarian composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist and teacher Béla Bartók, who gave a recital at Vassar in 1940.

The Music Library in Skinner Hall holds an ample amount of Bartók’s compositions in its sound recordings collection, including the famous “Mikrokosmos,” “Concerto for Orchestra” and various sonatas and folk songs.

“I think what is interesting about his music is that he incorporates Hungarian folk music into his original music,” said Professor of Music Todd Crow, who is also the author of the volume Bartók Studies and many other articles on Bartók and his music.

Bartók felt compelled to quit Europe under Nazi pressure after the outbreak of World War II and move to the United States.

“He was actually helped by famous musicians in his last years, who commissioned him to write music,” said Crow. Among these commissioned pieces are “Concerto for Orchestra,” commissioned in 1943 by Russian conductor Serge Koussevitsky’s Boston Symphony Orchestra, and “Sonata for Solo Violin,” commissioned in 1944 by violinist Yehudi Menuhin.

Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra,” has a contradictory title, as a concerto is a musical form that is written for the entire orchestra but conventionally features a solo instrument. Combining classical elements of Western European harmony and Eastern European folk melodies, the piece depicts Bartók’s ethnic musical style. The elaborately composed orchestral score for each of the instruments matches the title of of the piece; each score demands a level of virtuosity.

A composition for piano that consists of 153 progressive pieces, Bartók composed “Mikrokosmos” for his own son’s piano lessons. Covering a wide range of different levels of technique, the pieces are widely used today in piano education. Incorporation of folk rhythms with a contemporary harmonic language is what distinguishes “Mikrokosmos” from other educative music collections.

In addition to writing music, Bartók was a very famous performer. A Vassar recital at Skinner Recital Hall on November 14, 1940 was one of the recitals he gave across the country. The concert program featured one- to two-minute pieces, including some from “Mikrokosmos.”

“Sonata for Solo Violin” is another piece that requires great virtuosity. Consisting of four contrasting movements, it mirrors Bartók’s eclectic music.

While the first movement, “Tempo di ciaccona,” follows the Baroque heritage with colorful variations, the second movement, “Fuga,” also features chords, indicated by stylistic violin-playing directions such as pizzicato. In contrast, the third and fourth movements feature more lyrical melodies.

“There are different kinds of sounds in Bartók,” commented Crow. “It can be very percussive and barbaric sounding. It can also be very lyrical.”

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4.9.09

Faculty refresh classical music Esther Clowney

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Guest Reporter

Ingber molds landscape art

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Richard Wilson and Blanca Uribe will perform the compositions of Brahms, Debussy and Bach.

fully written three movements. The three nocturnes, composed by Debussy and arranged by Ravel, will replace the audience into a dreamy impressionistic world of mellifluous, incessant piano melodies, after Bach’s clashing Baroque counterpoints.

The Brahms piece, “Piano Quintet in F Minor,” is an energetic work containing four movements. While it loses some of the depth of its emotional texture in the transition from string quintet to piano duet in Brahm’s own rearrangement, the piece is still able to generate an uplifting mode and a mischievous atmosphere.

Arts Briefs

Safe, silly fun for cause Music Dept. notes art ONCA (Together Opposing Neglect and Child Abuse) will hold the 29th Annual “I Won’t Grow Up Day” (IWGUD) on Saturday, April 11 from 12 to 4 p.m. With performances in the Villard Room, activity tables in the College Center, and further fun events outside, IWGUD will create a carnival atmosphere around Main Building.

Melanie Lin ’10 and David Prentice ’10, coChairs of TONCA, explained their motivation in an e-mailed statement. “People are always really excited to see all of the kids running around, and all of the activities; they’ll often take time to ask us about it. So it’s a great way to encourage people to take initiative to find out what sort of programs that the Poughkeepsie Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect offers, and why we put in the energy and time to support them.”

Student a cappella ensembles, including the Nights Owls and Matthew’s Minstrels, the Barefoot Monkeys and Afro-Beat group My Own Don Betta will perform in the Villard Room from 12:30 to 3 p.m.

“The kids were really impressed by their performance,” said Lin of the Barefoot Monkeys’ storybook-themed performance at last year’s festivities.

Lin and Prentice expect wide attendance from the Vassar Community and students from nearby schools. Although IWGUD will be free and open to the public, any donations received at the event will go to the great cause that is the Poughkeepsie Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect.

—Wally Fisher, Guest Reporter

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assar will showcase both Music Department student and faculty performers and the generous Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC) collection each Wednesday at noon in April in a program entitled “Notes on Art: Noontime Concerts at the Art Center.” Inspired by an idea conceived by Associate Professor of Music Kathryn Libin, the series is run by Nicole Roylance, Coordinator of Public Education and Information for the FLLAC. Musical coordination is provided by Eduardo Navega, Director of Orchestral Activities for the Music Department.

“You can sit in beautiful surroundings and hear beautiful music,” Libin said, reflecting on the series. “It’s really an ideal situation.”

During these sessions, members of the Vassar community can get an engaging lunch break by walking into the FLLAC. As always, admittance to the FLLAC will be free.

“It’s the most appropriate space,” Navega said, citing the museum’s ability to showcase small groups from Vassar’s chamber music program playing whole works. The program features primary student musicians. In fact, it includes six groups of the chamber music program. “The administration and faculty really want to see you guys,” Roylance explained.

Starting Wednesday, April 1, with a performance by mezzo-soprano Mary Nessigner, Adjunct Artist in the Music Department and famed piano and keyboard player Eric Moe, the series will conclude on April 29 with a Vassar student string quartet playing music by impressionist composer Ravel. —W.F.

Reporter

Photo courtesy of Sacha Ingber

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door senior show space and I wanted them to be seen in their original forms and not just through t’s spring semester, and, like most seniors, photographic documentation,” Ingber said. “I Sacha Ingber ’09 is busy working—painting think that the space is equally as important as individual blades of grass. As a studio art major the piece itself.” with focuses in sculpture and installation, Ingber Some of her pieces involve mud, some glitter. will present an outdoor piece in May, as well as One is a “weird surreal version of a landscape” a senior project featuring prints and photography that uses cement to represent cross-sections of during the Senior Studio Major’s Exhibition at the earth that depict the different levels of soil.

3739 Academy Street in Poughkeepsie on May Another is a wall of grass that she dug up from 16, 17 and 23. the earth and painted with both artificial and Born in Rio de Janeiro, Ingber moved to natural colors, “so you don’t really know what Washington, D.C. with her family when she was it is,” she said. one year old. She started drawing at an early age Ingber used to consider herself a conceptual and continued to study visual arts through high artist, someone who sat down and thought about school. She came to Vassar with hopes of major- what she wanted to make. Now, she works more ing in biology, but after taking Sculpture with intuitively. “The best ideas you come up with Professor of Art Harry Roseman, she realized come from starting to do things, not sitting and that she wanted to stick with art. thinking about it,” she said. “You stumble onto “[Ingber] is a terrific student,” said Roseman. things that turn out really good.”

“Some students are like a slow burn. They start While she can’t say what she’ll be doing in a slow and it builds and evolves. [Ingber] started year, let alone a month, she knows she wants to fast and furious, doing good work right away, keep on making art, outdoors and inside gallereven before she realized it.” ies. “I’m constantly looking at shows, looking Constantly looking to the landscape for inspi- at things outside, looking for things that inspire ration, Ingber has been heavily influenced by the me,” she said.

Earthworks, a contemporary artistic movement that uses materials from nature, and land artists, including Robert Smithson, Richard Long and Maya Lin. She believes the viewer’s experience informs the piece itself, and making art in unexpected places allows her work to come alive.

“A huge part of the satisfaction I get from making art is having other people see it,” Ingber said, when asked if she viewed herself as a public artist. “Maybe that’s the reason why doing outdoor pieces has always appealed to me. Because people can come across it and see it without seeking it out. It’s different looking at art in a gallery space because the viewer knows that they are about to see art when they go there.”

During her sophomore year in Fall 2006, Ingber—who does not title her work—created her favorite piece to date. Ingber dug huge chunks out of the earth, and stapled 20 zippers into the ground, to give the effect of stitching in the earth between Cushing House and Blodgett Hall.

“It wasn’t a man-made thing outside,” she explained. “I was able to transform the landscape.

It really became part of it.”

Ingber is currently working on ways of iso- One of Ingber’s outdoor art pieces features lating the landscape into interior installations. “I zippers dug into chunks of earth between knew [my work] would ultimately be in the in- Cushing House and Blodgett Hall.

Lauren Wyner

Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News

hile the performers and the songs may be familiar to the majority of their Vassar audience, the upcoming Faculty Recital will alter preconceived perceptions. Professor of Music Richard Wilson and Professor Emeritus of Music Blanca Uribe will breathe fresh life into compositions by Brahms, Debussy and Bach. Uribe and Wilson will perform together at a faculty recital on April 10, continuing a tradition that stretches back nearly half a century. The recital will commence at 8 p.m. in the Martel Recital Hall in Skinner Hall. “[Uribe] and I have been giving annual twopiano recitals at Vassar for almost 40 years,” said Wilson. The two met while working together at Vassar. Wilson, who joined the faculty in 1966, is currently Chair of the Music Department and teaches theory and composition classes as the Mary Conover Mellon Professor of Music.

Uribe, who joined the faculty in 1969 as a piano teacher, moved back to her birthplace Colombia after retiring in 2005.

Uribe has also gained local and international acclaim for her musicianship. In 1986, she received the Order of Saint Charles from the President of Colombia and she won the first Dutchess County Artist Award. “Even though she lives in South America, [Uribe] comes up every year to keep the tradition going,” said Wilson. Though he has composed over 70 works, many for piano, Wilson called Uribe the “real pianist” of the duo.

“I try to keep up with her,” he said.

Uribe and Wilson will play Max Reger’s arrangement of J. S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major,” which was originally scored to feature violas. J. S. Bach’s Sixth Brandenburg Concerto is among the famous Baroque composer’s finest compositions with its beauti-

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arts

4.9.09

Adventureland Greg Mottola [Miramax Films]

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emember Superbad, that hit from Summer 2007 that tapped into what it’s like to be a socially awkward adolescent? Wouldn’t it be great if its director, Greg Mottola, did another movie like that? Only this time set in the 1980s and about the difficulty of making one’s way in life after college’s meaningless meanderings? I suppose the pitch for Mottola’s latest flick with another compound as its title went something like that. Well, Adventureland can’t compete with Superbad.

Set during the ’87 recession, the movie speaks to our current economic woes. Focusing on a pretentious college student with a non-vocational major, it speaks to Vassar College students’ upcoming predicaments. Our naïve protagonist James, played by Jesse Eisenberg from The Squid and the Whale, graduates from college. He finds he cannot find a job, not even doing menial labor (oy, this will be me in two months’ time). A theme park called Adventureland is the only place where he can gain a steady pay check. There, he meets some other socially awkward individuals and Em, a beautiful but disturbed individual for whom he falls after she saves him from a knife fight. Let’s talk about Em.

She’s played by the starlet from Twilight.

Kristen Stewart’s only acting skills seem to be blinking her eyes in annoyed (and annoying) perplexion and fiddling with her hair as if it were some sort of foreign agent that she needed to quell (appropriate, since her hair color changes sporadically throughout the film—maybe it’s the lighting?). I may love mannerisms, but she needs more than just two in her repertoire. Furthermore, mannerisms need to go somewhere; they’re the starting point for something deeper. Trust me, Stewart has no depth. I cannot understand why there is so much hype surrounding this actress.

Her character annoys the hell out of me on three folds. To start with, Stewart is a horrible actress. (I would use less sexist terms to describe her, but the movie constructs her character and the movie industry has constructed her to make it clear that Em and Stewart welcome such sexism.)

Then, there’s the fact that Em’s only purpose in the movie is to add a melodramatic undertone— or overtone, as it were. Everything bad that could happen to her has happened to her: dead mom, evil stepmother, indifferent father, shallow friends, unavailable and callous lover, and the list goes on. What’s worse, however, is that she cannot possibly find her way out of the situation on her own: She needs a knight in shining armor. An inordinate amount of narrative time is dedicated to her bumbling attempt to find such a man.

I would say that the movie finds trouble deciding which genre to be: comedy or drama. However, there are a few problems with

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that argument. To start with, generic divisions are overrated and outdated; no modern maker of movies completely abides by those classic categories. Next, comedy and drama aren’t genres so much as modes. And finally, the entire movie seems fully humorous because the dramatic moments play just as humorously as the comedic ones. Stewart just can’t help but crack me up.

James majored in comparative literature at Oberlin College. He is quite the reader. Unfortunately for him, and the audience, he cannot read anyone in the narrative with whom he interacts.

I’m not entirely sure why, but I guess it’s the logical result when the character is socially retarded.

How can any socially adept person not “hear” Stewart’s screaming eye lashes?

The movie does not seem to have a strong grasp on certain logical features. James thinks that a little over $1,000 can help him pay for graduate school at Columbia University. It’s only 20 years ago, not 120; $1,000 will barely put a dent in the tuition bill. Sometimes, the illogical actions are really just examples of hyperbole, and they work hilariously. James’ friend comes back from the glories of the Old World with the new resolve that he prefers the New World and wishes to worship at its altar of commercialism. As a result, he decides to enroll at Harvard University’s business school, which he immediately gets into by pulling a few strings.

There are also some annoying anachronisms.

Lisa P. does the “Macarena,” a dance that was not a worldwide hit until 1996, for a moment at a dance club. And Em actually wears an American Apparel hooded, sleeveless sweatshirt in the final scene. We’re in such an ’80s retro stage right now that we can barely tell the difference between their world and ours. One of my housemates, based on the trailer, actually thought that the movie was set in the present day.

Although the movie contains many problems, it does have some great moments. Lisa P. comprises many such moments. She’s the ditzy minor character who dances to a remix of Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus” whenever it’s played with outrageously sultry dance moves that seem so perfectly out of place at a theme park. Her outfits and her superfluous dancing make up for all of Em’s annoying eye twitching.

Saturday Night Live star Kristen Wiig is a great addition to the cast as the theme park manager’s wife, Paulette. Every scene with her is unforgettable, from mouthing her husband’s words as he plays announcer for a mock horse race to her gluing a pirate patch on a stuffed banana when she runs out of boogly eyes. In contrast, every scene with Stewart makes you want that medical lab working on that drug to help you remove certain memories finally finish its task. Unfortunately, Wiig is only a bit player. I would have loved to have seen her role expanded, but only because I enjoy laughing at comedies.

The movie ends with James and Em getting naked and having sex in her New York apartment after she takes his homeless ass out of the city’s torrential rain.

Apparently, he’s moved there to make a career for himself in the big city (“the best city in the world!”). She trots out some trope about being too troubled to function; he trots out some other trope about second chances. To re-purpose John Mayer, her body is his adventureland. Sexist and illogical till the very end. Gag. Thank god for Lisa P’s and Wiig’s few moments of levity.

—Jackson Reeves ’09 is a media studies major writing a bi-weekly column on movies and their meanings. He is the Arts Editor.

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“Lost, every single Wednesday. It redefined the way drama is done on television.”

Claire Walsh ’09

“The flatscreen TV in the College Center. I’ve always been especially fond of publicity for events that are two weeks old”

Ian Relihan ’11

“Audrey Hepburn movies.

I really like old movies, and she is fabulous in general.”

Stephanie Elise Presser ’09

“Lost, because I like watching it with my friend Sarah in Ferry House. Television is much more fun in the company of others.”

Grant Miller ’11

“Scrubs. It’s such a funny show.

I watch it religiously.”

Anne Cai ’12 —Erik Lorenzsonn, Assistant Arts Editor

sports

18 Men’s volleyball team optimistic for next year

Engelhardt racks up double-digit highlights Grace Sokolow Guest Reporter

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ollowing the graduation of All-Liberty League lacrosse goalkeeper Ariel Nelson ’08, Nicole Engelhardt ’11 had some very big shoes to fill. Women’s Lacrosse Coach Judy Fingherty joked that Engelhardt has not only filled those shoes, but made her own footprint.

Said Engelhardt, “I learned so much from watching [Nelson]. She was really supportive, and an incredible mentor.”

Engelhardt began playing with a plastic stick in eighth grade. She started out in the field, as most players do, and then decided to fill a vacant goalie position at the George School in Longhorn, Pa. in ninth grade. “I fell in love with the excitement of it and never left the crease,” Engelhardt said.

Last weekend, Engelhardt posted 22 saves against No. 18 William Smith College. The day before, against defending national champion Hamilton College, she grabbed 12 saves in 38 minutes. Engelhardt considers her double-digit saves the highlight of her career, “unless you also want to count the time I had a square foot of bruises on my right knee,” she said.

Engelhardt continues to improve every day.

“Our Assistant Coach Cara Dunn does a really excellent job of motivating us giving us pointers for improvement,” Engelhardt said.

Engelhardt also does visualization work on her own and works with fellow goalie Heather Kesselman ’12 to decrease reaction time and simulate game-like situations.

“[Engelhardt has] been huge for us,” commented Fingherty. “She continues to surprise us and continues to improve.” As if facing two nationally-ranked programs did not pose challenge enough, Engelhardt also overcame a bout with pink eye. “She wasn’t even able to put her contacts in until Friday,” said Finerghty. “She was playing with her glasses on under her helmet all week.” After finally setting her vision straight, Engelhardt established herself with 14 saves in the first half alone against William Smith. “She has a calm, collected demeanor. She makes good decisions,” said Fingherty.

This is clear in her .748 clear percentage and .468 save percentage.

Engelhardt’s teammates, too, show great faith and confidence in their young goalie. In an e-mailed statement, co-Captain Ashley Rey ’09 wrote, “I’ve never met someone who works harder than her. Day in and day out, she continues to push herself to be her best.” Fellow defender Sasha Klimczak ’09 echoed Rey, saying, As the goalie for the women’s lacrosse team, Nicole “[Engelhardt] is a selfless, hardwork- Engelhardt ’11 has found a successful niche this ing athlete. She’s constantly improving season. and one of the most reliable defensive weapons we have.”

On her very tough weekend, Engelhardt said, This weekend, the Brewers took on national- “I treat all the games the same. The only thing ly-ranked Union College and a Skidmore Col- that’s important is that I stop the ball from going lege squad that boasted several impact recruits. in the goal.”

Sports Briefs

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Rugby teams gear up for major matches

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his weekend, the Vassar men’s and women’s rugby teams will host what have historically been thrilling contests for both squads. On April 11, the men’s team will face off against Brown University and the women will compete against Navy in what promise to be two of the hottest matches of the season.

On April 6, 2008—the last regular season match in which Brown and Vassar met—the Brewers walked away with a decisive 34-17 victory, thanks to some tough defense and persistent offense.

Only one of the scoring players from the game—Connor O’Neill ’11—will return to face the Bears on Saturday. This season, the men’s team is 2-0 and comes off a 5-4 fall schedule.

The women’s team last faced long-time rival Navy at the USA National Championship in April of last year. Unfortunately, the Brewers fell to Navy 21-5 in a match marked by a highly-organized Navy defense. The women’s squad is 2-0 this spring and maintained a 6-5 record in the fall. The Midshipmen have won two of four games this spring and finished third in the Cherry Blossom Tournament in Washington, D.C. The men’s team will face off against the Bears at 11:30 on Saturday at Vassar Farm; the women’s squad begins play at 2:30 p.m., also at the Vassar Farm..

—Kelly Capehart, Sports Editor

Men’s, women’s rowing see early success

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he men’s and women’s rowing teams both enjoyed successful opening weekends in competition against Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The men’s varsity eight finished second in the 2,000-meter race in 7:50, and the novice eight came in first with a time of 8:20. The varsity men’s four also finished first in their race in a swift 9:08.

The women also enjoyed two victories: The junior varsity eight beat Union with a time of 11:12, and the varsity eight also defeated a Union boat in 8:53. The novice women’s eight came in second in 10:43 behind a very speedy Union.

The men’s and women’s rowing teams return to competition on April 18 against Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts.

—K.C.

Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News

Continued from page 1 flawlessly at the critical points of the match, and simply beat us,” Leserman said.

“We played very well against Nazareth, but they played even better,” noted Penn. Nazareth did have the advantage of familiarity with the court and also had more rest time before the match as a result of their higher seeding. “It came down to a couple of plays here and there that we just didn’t quite execute, and you can’t do that and expect to win against a team as good as Naz,” Penn concluded.

Tully had 20 kills, and Maier and Micucci each added 11. Vassar had previously defeated Nazareth 3-1 in February in the Vassar Men’s Volleyball Invitational. “While it is never easy to lose, knowing how well we played and all we accomplished this season makes this loss easier to digest,” Leserman said.

The team finished the season with an impressive record of 19-8. The loss signaled not only a closure to competition, but also an end to daily practice.

“No longer having that consistent camaraderie we experience in the gym every day together will be something I will miss,” Leserman, a graduating senior, said.

Moving on without the senior class will be difficult. “It is going to be hard next year without such a great group, but part of their legacy is how well they have led this team and set great examples of commitment and dedication,” said Penn. The outlook for the Vassar men’s volleyball program is bright, Penn asserted. “Their success also helped attract a strong recruiting class, so there is plenty of optimism moving forward,” he said.

4.9.09

SCOREBOARD APRIL 4: MEN’S LACROSSE

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APRIL 4: WOMEN’S RUGBY MARIST

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4.9.09

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Shocking salaries add insult to financial injury A

s we scrape around trying to find every last penny to pay for the increasing costs of higher education, actions like those of the University of Kentucky’s administration seem like not only a slap to the face, but a direct beating to the skull. Despite its current economic situation, the University of Kentucky has recently hired a new men’s basketball coach, John Calipari, to a NCAA record eight-year $31.65 million contract.

As many sports fans already know, the University of Kentucky (UK) is a public higher education institution with nearly 26,000 students, famous for its research department and, of course, its Division I Athletics Program. It is this basketball program for which UK is perhaps most famous; it enjoys an almost religious following in Kentucky, and it has been the center of massive media attention during the past few weeks.

Following UK’s exclusion from March Madness for the first time in 15 years, the University did what any true higher education institution committed to academics would do: It fired its head coach after only two years on the job. In his place, they hired Calipari from Memphis, after, of course, creating just enough media hoopla to attract attention to the University. And as all the media stations clamored to UK’s campus to ask truly deep and insightful questions—like why he chose Kentucky—just about everyone forgot how disgusting his $31.65 million contract is in light of both the amateur status of college sports and, much more importantly, the current economic situation at the University.

In the past year, the University of Kentucky has announced budget cuts not once, not twice, not even three times—but four, yes, four times!

In June 2008, after raising its president’s salary to $550,000 per year and giving him a $95,000 bonus, the University announced a set of budget cuts. In fact, it stated that it had lost $20 million in state aid and that it would move forward to approve a salary freeze for faculty and staff members. At the same time, its board of trustees voted to lay off 15 staff members and cut 170 unfilled jobs.

In January 2009, UK President Lee Todd announced a hiring freeze and a $10 million budget cut in a campus-wide e-mail. Then, in February, a report by the Center of Budget and Policy Priorities revealed that the University of Kentucky was allowed to increase its in-state tuition by nine percent by the Council on Postsecondary Education.

The report also stated that UK had announced that 188 positions in faculty and staff would be eliminated.

Finally, on April 2, just a day or so after the hiring of Calipari, Todd announced further budget cuts to the University of Kentucky. In a campuswide e-mail, Todd described how the University had experienced a two percent drop in its budget this year, down by $6.3 million, while it saw costs increase by $16 million. Although he did not release details on how the problems would be addressed centrally, Todd did state that employee salaries would not go up and that he hoped a five percent increase in in-state tuition would somewhat remedy the problem in the coming year.

Thus, as ESPN, Sports Illustrated and every other major sports media outlet debates whether Calipari will bring national championships to UK this year and whether he’s a good fit for the players, UK’s students and staff get to pay the price.

To understand just how “rosy” the economic situation at UK has been, you need look no further than their in-state tuition fees.

Over the last 13 years, in-state tuition fees— the cure-all to every one of the University’s budgetary lapses—have risen by 210 percent from the 1996-97 to the 2007-08 academic years, with a 113.29 percent rise from just 2001-02 to 200708. At the same time, staff at the University of Kentucky, as Relations Officer Leigh Powers described, haven’t received any form of a raise in over two years, with the median faculty salary in 2006 being $85,300 (the average was $76,065), a whole 545 percent less than Todd’s base salary, excluding his intricate lace of bonuses and incentives.

Therefore, as students have been treated to the luxury of paying more for the same University, and as faculty members have seen how their su-

periors skew salaries, we sit back and eagerly await another UK Wildcats season without a care in our minds. After all, we say, the basketball program earns so much money for the school that it doesn’t even matter that the coach gets paid that high, right? Wrong.

It is simply horrible to look at this gross injustice toward the academic side of UK. The University’s annual athletics budget is a staggering $41 million. Its basketball program alone costs well over $8.5 million a year (exact figures vary depending on sources), but its amateur athletes bring in revenue of over $14.9 million a year.

With, therefore, a supposed profit of over $6 million, one would expect that basketball creates a lot of money for the academic side, but, in reality, the Athletic Department as a whole gives only about $1 million a year for scholarships and academic programs, less than one-third of Calipari’s yearly wage alone and less than 2.5 percent of their own operating budget.

Yet the biggest disappointment to come out of all of this is not that academics have suffered, nor that other athletic teams have been put on the back-burner for basketball to prosper, but rather that the student body and staff have been unable to speak out against the move. While we all sit back silently, afraid to say anything against the justified and unquestionable “religion” that UK basketball has become, men like Calipari, Todd and Director of Athletics Mike Berhardt continue to abuse a system for their own interests and profits.

But then again, why complain? Calipari is only getting a guaranteed $3.7 million the first year.

Oh, but there’s the $3 million in retention bonuses. Plus $3 million a year for every year left on his contract if he’s fired. On second thought, also add to that hundreds of thousands for various milestones reached. Don’t forget perks like two new cars plus mileage, membership at a country club of his choosing with money provided for monthly and initiation fees, 20 prime season tickets for UK Wildcat basketball games, eight season tickets for UK football games, and the right to income from conducting summer basketball camps.

Quidditch brings new magic to collegiate sports Andy Marmer

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Reporter

assar has 25 varsity sports, and while various teams have had success over the years, none of them have been magical. Yet there is one sport on campus that is quite enchanting, even though it is played by a bunch of Muggles. One of the major questions surrounding the event on campus is: Is quidditch a sport?

Co-Captain Michelle Cantos ’11 said, “I wouldn’t call it a sport the way rugby is a sport or the way baseball is a sport. It’s more of just playing for the sake of having fun.” Co-Captain Laura Riley ’11 agreed with Cantos, but she also clarified that “It is as physically demanding [as the other sports].”

The sport, which was invented by J.K. Rowling in her famed Harry Potter series, has been adopted for Muggles (non-magical people) in the past few years. In Rowling’s novels, the game is the most popular sport in the wizarding world and enthusiastically played by the students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the fourth book of the series, Ireland and Bulgaria compete in the Quidditch World Cup. The sport

has taken hold in our world, too.

The game, which was appropriated for humans by students at Middlebury College, quickly spread to Vassar. In the first-ever Intercollegiate Quidditch World Cup, Middlebury defeated Vassar; the two schools were the only competitors.

In the past year, the number of schools fielding quidditch teams has grown considerably, but that hasn’t changed the World Cup results. This past fall, Vassar lost in the finals to Middlebury once again. This time, the Brewers were victorious in four matches, defeating schools such as Princeton and Green Mountain College. Vassar has a 4-3 overall record, with all three losses to Middlebury, and wins over every other opponent.

The team practices on Joss Beach twice a week, and about 20 people participate regularly.

Players are split into one of four positions: chaser, beater, keeper and seeker. Each position has different responsibilities, and can even be described as playing almost a separate game.

The goal of the chasers is to throw the quaffle— a volleyball—through one of the three hoops, which are defended by the keeper. The golden hula hoops are mounted on tires.

The beaters try to hit the chasers with the bludgers—slightly deflated kickballs. If a player is hit, they must stop where they are and run a lap around the field before rejoining play.

Meanwhile, the seekers try to catch the snitch—a ball in a sock, hanging from a crosscountry runner. The game is only over when one team catches the snitch.

All the while, players must run with brooms between their legs. While in Harry Potter the players fly around the field, Cantos said that “Until Vassar gives us enough funds to properly invest in jetpacks, it’s as real as it can be right now.”

While only 12 teams competed in the last Quidditch World Cup, the game is growing. The team only competes once a year interscholastically. “It’s a very new game, so as it develops, there will be more tournaments,” said Riley. Still, the future of the game is uncertain.

While many Middlebury students play quidditch, at other institutions, the long-term success may be in question. Regardless, the self-named Butterbeer Brewers will continue to practice on Joss Beach in the hopes of finally beating Middlebury in next year’s Quidditch World Cup.

APRIL 9 - 15 Friday, April 10 Baseball at St. Lawrence (2 PM) Men’s Tennis at Tufts (2:20 PM)

Saturday, April 11 Men’s and WOmen’s Track at Liberty Leagues (10 am) Men’s Rugby Vs. Brown (11:30 AM) WOmen’s Rugby Vs. Navy (2:30 PM)

Saturday, April 11 Women’s Tennis vs.

Skidmore (12 PM) Women’s Lacrosse vs Clarkston (2 PM)

Monday, April 13 Baseball vs. Suny New Paltz (4 PM)

Wednesday, April 15 Baseball At Suny New Paltz (4 PM)

the

BACKPAGE The Passion of the Misc

Thursday, 10 p.m. Jesus attends Last Supper at the Dutch Cabin Restaurant, because what else is there to do on a Thursday? Jesus, because he can turn water into wine, imbibes a little too much drank. Judas’ girlfriend flirts with him, because if you found out that someone’s father was God, you would, too.

Friday, 11:30 a.m. Jesus tells the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene about Pilates’ verdict. The two Marys argue about STEP ONE whose fault this is. The Virgin Mary calls Mary Magdalene a promiscuous girl, to which Mary Magdalene replies, “Why should I listen to you anyway? You’re a virgin who can’t drive.”

$71 million on opening weekend? I’m as surprised as anyone that I’m still famous!

In the beginning (of this week), we didn’t know what to write for the Backpage. But lo, we found an apocryphal text lurking in the file cabinets of the Miscellany office: The Book of Brangelina. Verily, we have reprinted it for you here.

Friday, 1 a.m. Judas, angry that his lady was flirting with someone else, decides to turn him in to Vassar Security for abusing Retreat points, because Jesus routinely buys five hamburgers to feed 5,000 people. As a reward, Judas receives liquor and a $200 iTunes gift card.

Friday, 12-5 p.m. You know how the rest of it goes.

The editors of the Misc, on the other hand, think you STEP TWO can’t handle art history and religion jokes. Looks like that correlate was a waste of time! We hope this picture doesn’t offend any pieces of marble on campus.

Weekly Calendar: 4/9-4/15

THURSDAY, 4/9 3 p.m. Tea. Because we are often heavily censored and realize that the above story may offend members of certain religions, we would like to take this moment to explain our reinterpretation of religious archetypes. Rose Parlor.

8 p.m. Squirm Fetish Night. Oh, I don’t think they’ll ever be able to find enough pancakes, latex business suits and overweight flight attendants to satisfy my fetish. Rocky 312.

against me is still in effect until 2013. We shall be together in my dreams, A.C. Slater. Villard Room.

10 p.m. Cushing Dance Party. This event is an Arabian Nightsthemed Prom. Nice choice on the theme, guys. Nothing like completely ignoring everything you learned in Critical Race Theory and offending half the student body. UpCDC.

10 p.m. Woodshed Theatre Ensemble. “The Blue Room.”

How much clothing would Woodshed shed before Woodshed could sprout wood? Shiva Theater.

SATURDAY, 4/11 12 p.m. I Won’t Grow Up Day. I’m trying to grow up, but it’s really hard when society keeps carding me for R-rated movies.

Seriously, what 16-year-old is trying to sneak into the 4-hour Che biopic? College Center.

FRIDAY, 4/10 3 p.m. Tea. As someone who was raised Pentecostal, I think 10 years of listening to old people speak in tongues while handling highly poisonous snakes has earned me the right to discuss my feelings on religion in a public forum. Rose Parlor.

SUNDAY, 4/12 7 p.m. Intramurals. What’s with the Vassar hipster brigade taking over Intramural softball? Do they really need to purchase all the rompers at Goodwill to relive painful high school sports memories? Noyes Circle.

8 p.m. Vassar’s Best Dance Crew. I am pretty sure I can’t attend this event, as the restraining order that Mario Lopez took out

Friday, 2 a.m. Security brings Jesus to Walker Gym to await sentencing from the honorable judge Pontius Pilates. Pilates castigates Jesus for his wrongdoings and undeveloped core muscles. Pilates sentences him to death and screams, “I wash my mats of you!” before squirting them down with environmentally-friendly detergent.

Sunday, 6 p.m. The Easter Bunny rides to Earth on his fiery motorcycle, slays Pontius Pilates, resurrects Jesus and they drive off into the sunset. His flaming motorcycle lays Easter eggs, beginning the tradition of hunting for Jesus by following the trail of brightly colored eggs.

MONDAY, 4/13 3 p.m. Tea. Our other writer would like to point out that sarcasm and irony are the main doctrines of his religion: secular Judaism. Rose Parlor.

TUESDAY, 4/14 3 p.m. Tea. And Shelley, our freelance contributor, worships in the Church of Hard Knocks. Although since those implants went sour, it’s more like the Church of Hard Knockers. Rose Parlor.

6 p.m. Elizabeth Milleker. “Roman Sculture in Context: Some Marble heads from the Sanctuary of Demeter.” What do you mean “some marble heads”? What kind of apathetic lecture is this gonna be? “Well here we have some, like, ruins and stuff.

And this is a picture of, some shit. And uhhh, here’s like some temples. I don’t know anymore, man.” Taylor 203.

WEDNESDAY, 4/15 3 p.m. Tea. So whether you’re eating your religious friends’ chocolate bunnies or stealing their matzo, we would like to wish everyone a happy pastel-tacular spring holidays. Rose Parlor.