The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com
September 8, 2011
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CXLV | Issue 1
Need-blind Transitions policy in its program fourth year continues Molly Turpin
Mary Huber
Editor in Chief
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ow in its second year, Vassar College Transitions, a preorientation program for low income and first generation college students, has become widely regarded as a success. It owes much of its positive reputation to its leaders, both in the administration and, especially, the student body. “This wasn’t just a bunch of administrators cooking up a program based on their opinion of what they think students need,” said Dean of Freshman Benjamin Lotto. “This is something students essentially demanded for years.” The program’s goals are to help students adjust to academic expectations, alleviate culture shock, promote awareness of resources available to students on campus and foster community relationships. Each year, Transitions See TRANSITIONS on page 7
Katie De Heras/The Miscellany News
hen Vassar College adopted a need-blind admissions policy in 2007, the policy was touted as being able to have a positive impact on the make-up of the student body. Four years later, for the first time and after a major recession, all four of Vassar’s current class years and a majority of its students have been admitted under the policy. After taking on the policy meant to increase access to Vassar and diversity within the student body, this year the College can begin to see how need-blind admissions are already shaping the student body. For Vassar, the need-blind policy was in many ways a corrective measure. President of the College Catharine Bond Hill explained that the policy had the potential to address areas she saw in need of improvement. “Whenever you’re deciding where See NEED BLIND on page 8
Assistant Features Editor
Lower-than-expected ticket sales from last year’s Of Montreal concert, pictured above, are largely blamed for ViCE’s debt situation: the student organization started the 2011-2012 year $30,000 in debt, accrued over the past two years.
Poughkeepsie bus line ViCE starts year with $30k debt rolls onto VC campus VSA passes censure at first meeting Dave Rosenkranz
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Assistant News Editor
Molly Turpin
Editor in Chief
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t its first meeting on Sunday night, the 26th Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council voted to censure Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) due to a $30,000 debt,
amounting to one fifth of its total budget for the year. The debt has largely been attributed to lackluster ticket sales for last year’s Of Montreal concert that did not reach the organization’s projection; the amount has also led to
some questions of ViCE’s financial management. “The thing that I probably find scariest in the situation is that there were maybe two or three people on ViCE Exec last year that had full See VICE on page 4
Courtesy of Middlemain.com
ast summer, the City of Poughkeepsie Transit System made several changes to two of its bus lines as part of an agreement with Vassar College that will lower the cost and increase the availability of off-campus transportation. The Shopper’s Special Bus Line will now include a stop on campus, and both the Shopper’s Special and the Main Street Bus Lines will be free for students and employees with a Vassar College Identification Card. Each $1.50 fare will be subsidized by President Catharine Bond Hill’s Office until at least the end of the fall semester, at which point she will consider extending the funding through
to next semester. The transition from Leprechaun Lines, the company that provided the old weekday shuttle service, to the Shopper’s Special and Main Street Bus Lines has several benefits according to Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs Jeffrey Kosmacher. The Leprechaun Lines shuttle only ran from around 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and charged the College for gasoline, personnel and maintenance. The new bus lines have a longer schedule, and those costs are already covered by the city transit system’s budget. “As we like to say, we got out of the bus business,” said Kosmacher, adding, “this change enables us to support students and employees who need to See BUS on page 4
The above murals, painted onto storefront boards as part of Middle Main Revitalizatoin, shout positve messages to the passersby in an attempt to create a more attractive, safer, inclusive and unified neighborhood through action.
Christie Chea/The Miscellany News
Travellers escape the wet weather while waiting for the Shopper’s Special bus. Starting this year, Vassar students can access two Poughkeepsie bus lines for free.
Inside this issue
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FEATURES
A look at the history of orientation
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FEATURES
Murals revive Middle Main St. Rachael Borné
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Arts Editor
andwiched between Pershing Avenue and Academy Street in downtown Poughkeepsie lies a stretch of Main Street in the midst of a powerful community revival. A span of boarded up storefronts now serves as the site of a vibrantly colored mural heralding the projects aim: “Poughkeepsie Revitalization.” Spearheaded by Hudson River Housing and known formal-
The original fudge recipe a part of VC history
ly as Middle Main Revitalization (MMR), the project strives to create a more attractive, safer, inclusive and unified neighborhood through advocacy, collaboration and most importantly—action. Over the summer, MMR took on many projects, ranging from a cleanup of the Fallkill Creek to the construction of a small park space to one element that captivates me every time I bike down Main Street: a pair of huge murals painted
18 SPORTS
brightly and shouting loudly positive messages to the community. “We’re trying to build this area back up from the ground up,” said Darrin Weaver, better known as TC on Vassar’s campus. Weaver and his girlfriend Boogie Tochigi designed a mural now adorning the façade of a boarded-up property with its sassy, animated, cartoon-like characters toting boom boxes, flashing their bling bling and hip-hop style. See MURALS on page 17
Liberty league undergoes changes