The Miscellany News | September 22, 2011

The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

September 22, 2011

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Volume CXLV | Issue 3

In last week, race for 2015 Council heats up Dave Rosenkranz

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News Editor

Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

ext week, the Class of 2015 will elect its first representatives to the Vassar Student Association (VSA) leadership. All but three races have multiple candidates, and this year’s presidential race has been particularly competitive. Since last week, Lanbo Yang ’15, Benedict Nguyen ’15, Seth Bynum ’15 and Alison Elrich ’15 have campaigned around campus in an effort to show the freshman class why they deserve to be in charge.

The class president’s responsibilities include organizing and leading all meetings of the Class Council, acting as a liaison between the class and the VSA Council, constantly communicating with his or her class, participating in all VSA Council meetings and any other committees or sub-committees

onto which they are placed by the VSA, setting agendas and delegating tasks within the Class Council, informing the Class Council of any pertinent information from the larger VSA, and overseeing all programming efforts. All four candidates have different plans for completing these duties, as well as for focusing their agendas.

According to his online statement, Yang believes that food and dining, environmental sustainability and alcohol culture are some of the most important issues for Vassar students this year, particularly emphasizing the latter two. “[The freshmen] have had an unprecedented amount of EMS cases this year ... I think that there should at least be some kind of awareness going regarding the importance of safe drinking,” said Yang. He See FRESHMEN on page 4

VC slips in ranking, Plans to move bookstore advance some dispute criteria Relocation possible by early 2012 L

The College intends to relocate its bookstore off campus into a space currently occupied by the Juliet Café Pizzeria and Billiards, pictured above. The Juilet building once held a movie theater, a form to which the administration considered returning.

Joey Rearick

Assistant News Editor

Molly Turpin, Editor in Chief Bobbie Lucas, Guest Reporter

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icking up where it left off at the end of 2008, the College is again making progress on the move of the Vassar bookstore into the Juliet building across the street from campus.

Work on the relocation could begin as early as 2012, but with the progress on the plans has come a resurgence of familiar debates on the benefits of moving the bookstore off campus.

“The goal was to find a purpose for

the Juliet that would make better use of all the space because the cafe and billiards operation relies primarily on the front section of the building, but not the back,” said Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Eismeier during a visit to the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council.

“It was felt that we could move and expand the bookstore so that it would become not just a college bookstore, but a community bookstore.”

The project, which was postponed

due to the recession, last saw significant public discussion in the Fall 2008. The plan would move the current bookstore into the space currently occupied by Juliet Café Pizzeria and Billiards, which is owned

by College Properties, LLC, a subsidiary organization of Vassar College. The renovation will likely cost between $4 and $5 million and will be financed by both long-term debt and equity contributions.

See BOOKSTORE on page 4

ast week, U.S. News and World Report issued its annual rankings of American universities and colleges. Though Vassar received a high ranking in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category its new position as the 14th best college in the nation represents a slight demotion from the 12th position it earned last year.

U.S. News and World Report has long garnered attention for its attempts to quantify the value of institutions of higher education. Since 1983, its rankings have

assessed schools on a list of criteria meant to indicate a college or university’s quality. The publication requests data from each of the schools it examines, and analyzes the data according to a formula that changes slightly each year.

The rankings website states, “We gather data from and about each school in 16 areas related to academic excellence. Each indicator is assigned a weight (expressed as a percentage) based on our judgments about which measures of quality matter most.” When the weighted scores in each category See RANKINGS on page 4

Courtesy of the Warsaw Museum of Modern Art

Vassar women’s prison Media group explores urbanism program still inspires Ruth Bolster

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Assistant Features Editor

assar has a long history of spearheading innovative methods of education; it was the first of the Seven Sister schools to admit men, and the first college in the world to offer an undergraduate degree in Cognitive Science.

Although the Greenhaven Prison Internship program was canceled this year by the Department of Corrections, Vassar is continuing its role as an educational innovator with another course related to the student-prisoner relationship.

Formally titled Gender, Social Problems and Social Change in the Contemporary United States, the course brings traditional college students and incarcerated women together in one classroom. It is the first course of this kind in New York State. Both inmates and students are offered an unique perspective on the nation’s most pressing social

problems in more ways than one.

Offered through Vassar’s Sociology Department, the class itself is the brainchild of Professor of Political Science Mary Shanley and Professor of Sociology Eileen Leonard.

The two were inspired to create a course that incorporates incarcerated people after they completed training for Temple University’s Inside-Out Prison-Exchange program, which has been facilitating the creation of mixed classes of college students and inmates inside prison walls since 1997.

Inside-Out hopes to provide a means for college students to explore pertinent social issues while simultaneously reducing criminal recidivism through higher education for incarcerated people, as students have class with people from Philadelphia prisons.

Because no program of this nature See PRISON on page 7

Inside this issue

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FEATURES

Revisiting the lost tradition of white angels

15 ARTS

Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta, pictured above, form the Raqs Media Collective, a group of Delhi-based media practitioners. They will speak at this year’s Agnes Rindge Claflin Lecture Series on Sept. 28 and 29.

Matthew Hauptman Guest Reporter

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his year’s Agnes Rindge Claflin Lecture Series will be delivered by Raqs Media Collective, a group of three Delhi-based media practitioners: Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata

Jazz Night fosters funk on Thursdays

Sengupta. The two-day event will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at an event entitled Triangulations including a film screening and lecture in Taylor Auditorium. Another set of screenings will take place simultaneously in Taylor 203. Screenings continue on Thursday, Sept. 29

18 SPORTS

with a film entitled Local Time: Cities and Temporality followed by a 5 p.m. reception in the Jade Room of Taylor Hall and a 6:30 p.m. workshop led by Professor of English Amitava Kumar. The group’s work is documentary, perhaps even journalistic See RAQS on page 16

Intramural sports introduce House Cup tournament

Page 2

The Miscellany News

September 22, 2011

Editor in Chief Molly Turpin Senior Editors

Katharine Austin Erik Lorenzsonn Aashim Usgaonkar

Contributing Editors Katie Cornish Mitchell Gilburne Carrie Hojnicki Jillian Scharr

Features Danielle Bukowski Mary Huber Opinions Hannah Blume Humor & Satire Alanna Okun Arts Rachael Borné Adam Buchsbaum Sports Corey Cohn Andy Marmer Photography Juliana Halpert Madeline Zappala Online Nathan Tauger Social Media Matt Ortile Managing Qian Xu

Assistant News Joey Rearick Dave Rosenkranz Assistant Features Ruth Bolster Jessica Tarantine Assistant Arts Charlacia Dent Shruti Manian Assistant Photo Carlos Hernandez Crossword Editor Jonathan Garfinkel Columnists Brittany Hunt Michael Mestitz Tom Renjilian Andy Sussman In late September 1963, Dr. Alan Siimpson, former Dean of the College at the University of Chicago, became Vassar’s seventh president. Approximately 100 Vassar students met with Victor Morris, a leader in civil rights in the Poughkeepsie area, to form a civil rights organization on campus.

This Week in Vassar History 1824, Sept. 16 The Marquis de Lafayette was entertained by the village of Poughkeepsie. Matthew Vassar was one of the hosts.

1865, Sept. 20 The Main Building was ready. “At a distance of 400 feet from the Main Building was the Boiler and Gas House which furnished all buildings on campus with both heat and light, Vassar College being the first institution in the world to be heated by a central plant in a separate buildings.” Marion Bacon, Life at Vassar 1918, Sept. 10-20 On September 20 Vassar trustee Frank Chambers visited President MacCracken, who was confined to his bed by a persistent throat infection. Explaining that he’d hoped to be joined by two other trustees who had been unable to come to Poughkeepsie, Chambers in effect told MacCracken to resign Vassar’s presidency.

“Polite but indirect, the message stated that since MacCracken’s interest in the College seemed not to be as great as his desire to do war work away from the College, he should leave. The trustees had decided they would like to free him for full-time war service. Decoded, MacCracken knew the statement meant that he had too many radical ideas and was not long for Vassar if the trustees had their way.”

Elizabeth A. Daniels, Bridges to the World: Henry Noble MacCracken and Vassar College

By Dean Emeritus Colton Johnson

In the days that followed, MacCracken learned that the demand for his resignation came from seven of the 28-member board of trustees without the knowledge of most of the others.

When the cause of his dismissal shifted from his war work to the College’s $400,000 deficit—not possibly his fault, as all financial decisions rested with the Executive Committee, a group which had included his predecessor ex officio but from which he had been explicitly barred—MacCracken declared that, should he accept resignation, he would resign publicly, stating his own reasons for leaving.

The seven trustees countered, offering a year’s leave of absence, at full salary and effective September 1, during which he would find other employment. Replying that his response would come “in some days,” MacCracken retired with his wife Marjorie to Old Point Comfort, Virginia, to organize their thoughts, leaving their two young children in the care Marjorie’s aunt. MacCracken’s leave of absence was accepted when the board met on September 20, the day on which the seven trustees had originally planned to accept his resignation.

1938, Sept. 21 A tropical hurricane inflicted severe damage on colleges up and down the East Coast. At Brown, 100 year-old elms were downed and $25,000 damage was done to buildings. Radcliffe’s director of buildings and grounds was killed while working to remove a tree that had fallen through the administration building.

The power plant’s chimney at Connecticut College fell over, shutting off light and water to the campus, and Wesleyan lost over 200 of its 300 large elms and oaks. At Vassar, twelve large trees were uprooted, the Shakespeare Garden was flooded and 200 tons of coal washed out of the “coal pocket,” into Sunset Lake and out through the Fonteyn Kill to the Hudson.

LETTERS POLICY

The Miscellany News is Vassar College’s weekly open forum for discussion of campus, local and national issues, and welcomes letters and opinions submissions from all readers. Letters to the Editor should not exceed 450 words, and they usually respond to a particular item or debate from the previous week’s issue. Opinions articles are longer pieces, up to 800 words, and take the form of a longer column. No letter or opinions article may be printed anonymously. If you are interested in contributing, e-mail misc@vassar.edu.

ADVERTISING POLICY

1959, Sept. 17 Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, in New York State in observance of the 350th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the Hudson River, visited the College. The senior class president, Gail Jarvis ’60 escorted the Princess to the President’s House, where she was met

by President Blanding and Mrs. Franklin D Roosevelt, at whose Val-Kil Cottage in Hyde Park she spent the night.

The Library had a special exhibition in honor of the Hudson Champlain Celebration.

The Miscellany News (1) reserves the right to reject or edit any advertising copy at any time; (2) will not accept advertisements that promote discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, sex or sexual orientation, nor will it accept advertisements of a political nature or advertisements that promote products or services illegal in the State of New York: (3) will print every advertisement with the word “advertisement” above it; (4) shall not be liable for failure to print, publish or circulate all or any portion of any issue if such a failure is the result of circumstances beyond the paper’s control.

1966, September The Dean’s Program was inaugurated. Intended to supplement departmental programming by providing endowed funding of specific-topic symposia, over the next two years the program offered symposia on such topics as “The Politics of Youth;” “The Death of God Theology;” “Human Behavior in Terms of Studies of Animal Behavior;” “What’s Happening in the Arts;” “Urban Poverty” and “New Directions of the Liberal Arts.”

The Editorial Board holds weekly meetings every Sunday at 9 p.m. in the Rose Parlor. All members of the Vassar community interested in joining the newspaper’s staff or in a critique of the current issue are welcome. The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented in the Opinions pages.

The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board. The Miscellany News is published weekly by the students of Vassar College. The Miscellany News office is located in College Center Room 303, Vassar College.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

NEWS

September 22, 2011

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NPR editor, alum shares encounters in India Bethan Johnson Guest Reporter

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Courtesy of Gracy Obuchowicz

cclaimed author and National Public Radio (NPR) Editor Miranda Kennedy ’97 visited Vassar last Thursday to talk about her novel Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India—a chronicle of her five year stay in New Delhi, India. She talked about her experiences, her inspirations and the literary challenges she faced. The presentation represented the combined efforts of the Vassar South Asian Student Alliance (SASA) and the Dutchess County nonprofit organization Sab Ras Inc., a group dedicated to “preserving and promoting India’s rich cultural heritage through the medium of music and other forms of the performing and visual arts.”

Kennedy’s journey began in 2001 when she left the United States for India to become a freelance reporter. She chose to live in India for two reasons: she had a family connection to the country (her aunt was a Christian missionary there), and she believed that despite huge changes in many aspects of life in India, “reporting in the U.S. is breathless to the change in India.” Unlike most foreign correspondents, however, Kennedy had a desire to live as authentically as possible. “I didn’t want to live in one of those beautiful, cloistered areas,” Kennedy explained. She instead chose a basic apartment in a place with great diversity—New Delhi.

Sideways on a Scooter follows six women who Kennedy met in New Delhi. She met them during her free time, outside of her official Boston Globe and NPR reporting duties. They were maids, gym acquaintances and coworkers who were all from “different classes and castes and religions,” and in different stages of the arranged marriage process. “India

has a great deal of diversity,” said Kennedy, adding that she chose them because they taught her the most about India.

The book reflects Kennedy’s anthropological curiosisty about how Indian women balance their traditional and modern cultures.

That kind of dichotomy, exemplified by the sight of a woman in jeans riding sideways on a motorcycle (like women wearing saris used to do), was never really understood by non-Indians. Kennedy hoped that her book would help show what an Indian woman’s life is really like.

“Women are still defined by family, and so you could be a great career woman, and yet still I think nothing is more important to you than your family; and that may be the case here too, but it’s socially much more compelling, I found, in India,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy said that watching, and sometimes participating in the trials and tribulations of an Indian arranged marriage exposed her to many aspects of Indian life. She explained that the concerns about caste and what life after marriage would mean to a modern woman became obvious as she observed her six muses.

Westerners might find arranged marriage hard to understand and accept considering, to her, the book appeared light-hearted and humorous; in many ways it was a work that showed as much about the pitfalls of being an outsider as it did about the prevalence of arranged marriages.

Kennedy suggested that Vassar students travel and study abroad, explaining, “everybody has a place that they maybe romanticized or dreamed about, and I think that if you make a reason to go, that isn’t tromping around and looking at the sights, you’ll get a lot more out of it.”

Pictured above, Miranda Kennedy ’97 visited the College last Thursday to speak about her book Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India.

The lecture was also important because it marked a connection between the Vassar community and Dutchess County. The Sab Ras mission statement explains that they work to “create a network of shared resources and audiences,” a quality that SASA Secretary Saumya Bhutani, who has been planning this lecture with Sab Ras since July, thinks Vassar students can benefit from.

“One thing that’s tough at Vassar in general is getting out of the bubble,” Bhutani explained, and this collaboration can work to change students’ misconceptions about Poughkeepsie and bring events to campus. Sab Ras Inc. and SASA believe that this event marks the beginning of a strong relationship, although they don’t have any events planned yet.

There was, however, one issue: the room that SASA booked was actually double-booked with

the Crocker Art Museum opening lecture, and SASA was not informed until the day of the event.

This caused confusion for guests and especially organizers, because they were not set up in the other room. Bhutani explained, “We would like to be give as much attention and consideration as all other Vassar organizations. I think what we are doing is worth paying attention to.” While the audience was pleased with the event, Bhutani said, “double-booking makes us appear disorganized and difficult to work with, so then they’re not going to want to work with us more.”

Despite this minor setback, the lecture taught Vassar about the conditions of life in India for women, and about the sheer effort exerted by organizations that bring events like these to campus for students and local residents to experience together.

Scholars convene to discuss ‘China’s Moscow’ Leighton Suen

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Guest Reporter

ast Thursday, Vassar’s Asian Studies and Jewish Studies Departments hosted “A Conversation with Scholars from Harbin China,” a program of scholarly discussions about Harbin, an intriguing city situated on the border of China, Mongolia and Russia. “China’s Moscow”—as it is often called—became a bi-cultural home for both Russian Jews and Chinese citizens in the beginning of the 20th century. Over 20 students and faculty members attended the two sessions that each lasted two hours.

The event included presentations from Vice President of Heilongjiang Province Academy of Social Sciences Professor Liu Shang, Professor Wang Aimin of the Center of Jewish Studies, Director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies Professor Da Zhigang, and Director of the Institute of Applied Economics in Harbin Professor Wang Aixin. The professors flew from China specifically to meet with Vassar College faculty, and began a week-long excursion in the United States with this collaboration.

“We were very happy with this event,” said Professor of Anthropology and Director of Asian Studies Martha Kaplan. “This was a great opportunity to meet with international colleagues to learn about their current scholarship on an important period in Jewish history and about a complex Northeast Asian border region.”

The 3 p.m. session commenced with a presentation by Shang on the history and culture of the Jewish community in Harbin. It was accompanied by a PowerPoint of photos of Harbin throughout the ages. His speech was translated into English by Professor of Chinese and Japanese Peipei Qiu, who is originally from Harbin herself. Additionally, translated outlines of the

speeches were provided by Asian Studies Department Intern Cheng Peng.

“At the beginning, I was a little concerned about the language barrier, because none of the four Harbin scholars could speak English,” said Qiu. “But with the support of many colleagues and students, the exchanges went very well, and I was amazed to see the depth and breadth of the multilingual conversations.” Conversations with the scholars were carried out in Russian, Japanese, Chinese and English with interpretation.

Although Jews first began living in China more than a thousand years ago, it was only at the beginning of the 20th century that an influx of Russian Jews caused a transformation in Harbin’s culture. After being blamed by the government for the death of Tsar Alexander II, many Russian Jews fled and became refugees in order to avoid persecution.

During that same time period, a secret treaty between Russia and China led to an extension of the Trans-Siberian Railway into northeastern China. This caused Russians of various professions to move into Harbin, and many chose to remain there.

In 1920, the Jewish population of Harbin reached its peak of 20,000. During this time, Jews readily influenced Harbin’s culture by opening businesses, hospitals, synagogues and institutions of higher education, among other things. During that time, it was not uncommon to find store signs written in both Russian and Chinese. Although there were no conflicts between the Chinese and Jewish residents, there were clearly divided districts in Harbin and very little mutual communication. The Jewish population began gradually declining in 1931 due to the Japanese conquest of northeastern China. By the 1960s, the population had

dwindled, and religious activities had ceased.

Despite this, many buildings from the period are still preserved today because of their role in Harbin’s history.

The second presentation of the session was

by Zhigang on international relations and collaborations in Northeast Asia. Professor of Geography Yu Zhou described the talk as centering on “geopolitical interactions among Russia, China, North and South Korea, Japan, Mongolia and the U.S. in the contemporary era” and including questions about “geopolitical alliances, historical legacies, the roles of local versus central state, and border regions versus national interests.” A central theme was uniting the regions and affecting public policy change, which the speaker noted could improve relationships between Japan and China, North and South Korea, and even responses to natural disasters. “[The event] does indeed reflect something that is central to Vassar’s curriculum with its strong multidisciplinary focus,” said Professor of Russian Studies Dan Ungurianu. “The end result was a polyphony of opinions worthy of Harbin’s multiethnic history.”

Students and faculty members who attended the event came from the Asian Studies Program, Jewish Studies Program, Chinese and Japanese Department, Russian Department and History Department.

“Our visitors are eager to promote international interest in the little-studied Jewish community within the regional context of Northeast Asia,” said Bush. “Dr. Liu and his colleagues have invited us to rejoin them in China to continue the conversation.”

Qiu concluded, “The participants of the event all look forward to the further development of this international academic collaboration.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

VSA Briefs Letter to Saland proposed

Vassar Student Association (VSA) President Tanay Tatum ’12 introduced a letter thanking New York State Senator Stephen M. Saland (R) for his support of the Marriage Equality Act to the VSA Council at its meeting last Sunday for endorsement. Council, however, voted to defer the endorsement to its next meeting based on fears that its contents may not be an accurate description of its constituents’ opinions on the subject of gay marriage.

Davison House President Doug Greer ’14 was first to voice a hesitation of approving the letter without being sure that his constituents could get behind it completely. Class of 2014 President Michael Moore, however, disagreed, claiming that if Council were to strive to get 100 percent of its constituents’ approval on a vote, it “will get nothing done.”

Based on the contents of the letter—which says that the bill protects “essential rights to same-sex couples while fully protecting religious institutions and individuals” and congratulates the Senator for overcoming partisan bickering—Moore argued that it contains sentiments that represent a majority of student opinion at Vassar.

Despite Moore’s support, Council voted to postpone the endorsement vote in order to have some time to collect student opinion. “I plan on getting my House Team’s opinion on this as well as talking to as many freshmen, sophomores and juniors as I can before Sunday,” wrote Greer in an emailed statement. “I totally get that not every single issue is going to be unanimous, but I do think that if most of Davison supports this letter then I’ll definitely vote to endorse it because my job is to represent them and their views,” he wrote.

President of the South Commons Matthew Wheeler ’12 also plans to garner student opinion on the topic before next Sunday’s vote.

Council discusses Serenading

On the heels of criticism emerging out of this year’s Serenading festivities, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council engaged in discussion about the tradition after a week’s worth of feedback given to the student leaders assembled in the room.

This year’s Serenading sparked a conversation because it was perceived to be more violent than previous years, and because inappropriate jokes about Strong House and menstruation were made at the awards ceremony immediately after the event.

Council members in general were split in the views about Serenading as a tradition: While some members thought it absurd to cancel the event because of its value as a traditions, others, such as Jewett House President Clayton Masterman ’13 felt that “just because is something is a tradition isn’t enough of a reason to keep doing it.”

While a complete discontinuation of Serenading seems very unlikely, most focused on ways to improve the event and to combat some of the critique lodged its way.

“Some people had fun during Serenading,” noted Noyes House President Deb Steinberg ’14, who felt that “if it’s done well, Serenading is a great community builder.” President of Ferry House Grace Saffran Ashford ’14 said that while the event as it stands now is a “symptom of disrespect to the community” and “a form of hazing,” she hopes “[the student body] can turn the event around.”

Class of 2012 President Pamela Vogel is now going to continue these discussions and attempt to address the issues raised. One method that came out of the discussions was creating a special committee to address the concerns raised about Serenading: “I think that the members of Council, along with a representative from the Campus Activities Office, is a good committee to address these concerns, and would include House Presidents in the plannigng process for years to come” she said. Additionally, the senior class will be sending out a survey to all four-class year about Serenading in order to gather more opinions on the topic. “Based on the conversations we have about this and the results of the survey, the senior class will reach out to next year’s senior class executive board with suggestions on how to improve the event,” concluded Vogel.

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Freshmen vie for class president FRESHMEN continued from page 1 believes that opening the second floor of the Students’ Building, also known as UpC, earlier in the semester might help relieve this problem. “I feel like there is the dorm culture of partying and drinking, but there should also be options for those people who don’t ... So opening UpC earlier for those people, just giving them the option, could be a good thing because people who are pressured to go to parties in the first few weeks are more prone,” he explained. Yang also hopes to contribute to the ongoing environmental discussion on campus. “I plan to make recycling bins more readily available,” wrote Yang in his online statement, adding in an interview, “I think students need to be more aware of their own space on campus.”

As president, Nguyen wants to foster a strong spirit of community on campus, particularly within the freshman class. “I think it’s important, as the year goes on, that we really bond as a class. The whole is always greater than the sum of the parts,” said Nguyen. He believes that this experience sets him apart from the other candidates, adding, “I was on student government in high school for all four years...and I think what I’m most proud of is getting to know the administration and understanding where they’re coming from, and having them understand where I’m coming from.”

Bynum wants to help freshmen get acclimated to Vassar. “If elected, I want to try to make it a smooth transition from high school to college,” explained Bynum. However, in his online statement, he emphasized that, he will “enter [his] presidency with no ideas or plans.” He thinks that it is too early to make any commitments and he hopes to keep in constant contact with the freshman class. “My job as your president is not to change or accomplish what I think should be done,” wrote Bynum online, adding in an interview, “It’s all up to [the freshman class]. They have to get in touch with me in order for me to bring up anything to the VSA board. I have to know what they want me to know. That’s the number one thing; it really starts with my classmates.” In an effort to encourage communication, Bynum posted his phone number and email addresses in his online statement, calling his classmates to “send me an email, text me or just grab me while I’m walking to class, sitting in my room, eating or even sleeping.”

Elrich considers food, alcohol policy and security to be the most important issues for the freshman class. Vassar’s contract with Aramark Food Services will expire this year, and Elrich wants more student input in renewal discussions, saying, “I would like to see how we can get some freshmen involved.” In terms of alcohol policy, Elrich wants to “create an open forum for conversation,” adding that she was “disturbed” by the frequency of freshman EMS calls.

On the issue of security, Elrich observed, “there is a trend where Security has found itself to be a punishing force instead of a group that’s there to make sure that we stay safe.”

Each candidate has sat in and observed at least one VSA Council’s weekly meeting, and they have all been campaigning furiously throughout the week. Tonight at 8 p.m., the candidates will debate one another in Sanders Classroom. The debate, which will be moderated by Miscellany News Editor in Chief Molly Turpin ’12, will give each candidate the opportunity to expand on his or her online statements, and give each freshman an opportunity to compare the candidates side-by-side. After the debate, campaigning will continue with posters and door-to-door visits until Sunday night. Voting will begin Monday afternoon and continue through Wednesday, and on Friday, Sept. 30 the winner will be announced in the Retreat.

NEWS

September 22, 2011

Business owners voice opinions on move Express concerns over café, parking regulations BOOKSTORE continued from page 1 “If we could wait until the perfect moment we would,” said Eismeier. “This seems like a reasonably good moment to move forward with the plans, and a lot of people in the Arlington and the Poughkeepsie area would really like to see it happen.”

For much of its history the Juliet building housed a movie theater. Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger said that after a survey of the Vassar and Arlington communities, one of the most popular ideas for the space was to return it to a theater, and the College made some consideration early in the planning process to do so, reaching out to a few local theaters. “If there were a successful, independent movie theater that was interested in expanding, it would have had a bigger stake in the claim to our intention,” she said.

As a bookstore, the space would be considerably larger than the bookstore’s current location below the College Center. According to a Miscellany News article from 2008, the Juliet building would provide 10,000 square feet of space, a 4,000 square foot increase over its present spot (“Bookstore to expand, move to Juliet’s,” 2.1.08). With this greater space, the bookstore would include a café as well as a community meeting space on the second floor for use by both campus and Arlington community groups. The bookstore will continue to be run by Barnes & Noble, but will go by the name of the Juliet Bookstore.

Although administrators cite a boost to the Arlington business community among their goals for the project, several business owners in the district expressed concerns for their businesses as well as for the parking needs of the new store, even as some welcomed the prospect of an anchor store for the area.

“I am not opposed to having a bookstore,” said Ken Kraft, owner of the Crafted Kup. “What I am opposed to is having a café in the bookstore.” He acknowledges that a larger store is needed to be the anchor for town reinvigoration, but disapproves of the College calling the store a bookstore if the first thing people see when walking by is a café.

“What I do believe the Planning Board needs to consider is the fact that they are saying it’s a bookstore, but they are putting tables

and chairs in the front window,” he said.

“The questions about the size of the café and its location were fully discussed based on initial concerns raised some years ago, by individuals on campus and in the community,” wrote Eismeier in an emailed statement.

“It’s important to note that there are different points of view about these matters and we considered them all. But in the end, for this project to go forward, a café of about this size and with some natural light is important to the overall success.”

“I think that there is natural concern about this change, but I think that having more foot traffic in Arlington and encouraging more people to come to Arlington will be good for his business as well,” said Eismeier of Krafted Cup owner Kraft.

Kitzinger added that one condition of Barnes & Noble for continuing to manage the store was to have the café visible from the outside.

Kraft also noted that he would like to be in conversation with the College on the subject, such as Three Arts owner Walter Effron has been, a proposal to which Kitzinger said the College would be open.

Effron himself is cautiously optimistic about the bookstore’s move. “While that is very hard to predict, to a certain degree, I will lose some business, but I also may pick some up by being there. It could help, but that remains to be seen,” he said.

Effron also noted that the overall print book sales are in decline. “So if Vassar didn’t do anything, I would still have problems.” Vassar has been in conversation with Effron about the bookstore move, and he says the administration has been considerate of his concerns.

The current tenant of the Juliet space and owner of Juliet’s Pizzeria Café and Billiards, Sophia Galacka, said that she does not like the idea of the bookstore and café. “The College says that they do not want to hurt local establishments, but by having a café they will be hurting so many of the surrounding businesses whether it is with parking issues or cutting into their profits and customers,” she said.

Galacka has continued to rent the Juliet space from the College on a month-by-month basis and has said that she will leave if asked to

as the bookstore plans move forward, though she hopes to keep her business in Arlington and to keep the Juliet name.

The issue of parking is still under some consideration. “Parking has been a problem in this area forever,” said Michelle Morrill, owner of All Shook Up. According to Town of Poughkeepsie zoning regulations, Article VIII, Section 210-92, which regulates off-street parking and loading, nonresidential spaces in all centers and hamlets, which includes Arlington Town Center, must provide four parking spaces for every 2,000 square feet of building space. Certain types of locations face more specific requirements (for example, bowling alleys must provide parking on a per-lane basis). Morrill suggested that by turning the Juliet space into a bookstore, the College would be changing the nature of the space and therefore the amount of parking necessary.

The Town’s regulations on off-street parking and loading do not have language specific to retail or café space, so the store would simply come under the heading of non-residential, and of the list of spaces subject to specific parking requirements it is unclear which the café and billiard hall would fit into, if any. Vassar plans to add seven spaces to service the new store, which, according to Eismeier, is just above the minimum requirement by the Town.

Within zoning regulations, the Planning Board also has the option of suspending parking requirements if they are unrealistic for an area.

“It is our understanding from officials that the proposed renovation and use of the space is consistent with hopes for continued development in Arlington,” Eismeier wrote in an emailed statement. “We also have been led to believe that the plan to create seven off-street parking spaces, enough to ensure that employees at the Juliet Bookstore will not take spaces from potential customers, is consistent with Town requirements. This in itself is an improvement over the current situation where no off-street parking exists for the Juliet.”

At the meeting of the Town of Poughkeepsie Planning Board on Sept. 16, the Board decided to table approval of the College’s plans until Oct. 20 to allow time to address parking issues.

Hill proposes socioeconomic criterion RANKINGS continued from page 1 are compiled the order of the annual rankings emerges.

The rankings among the top national liberal arts colleges have remained relatively static of late. This year, as in last year’s results, Williams and Amherst Colleges took the top two spots, respectively, and many of the schools consistently ranked highly shuffled around in the rankings only slightly. A number of the schools share significant characteristics (seven of the top 10 colleges are small schools located in the Northeast), a fact that makes differentiating between them a difficult task. Interestingly, however, Vassar shares its 14th spot with two military academies that the publication has lauded in recent years: West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy.

The U.S. News and World Report rankings and similar lists produced by other publications have been the subject of controversy since their inception. For many administrators and admissions employees working at American colleges, publications attempting to quantitatively assess the value of unique institutions seem fundamentally misguided.

“I think most college admission officers and high school counselors would agree with me that the whole idea of rank ordering colleges according to which is supposedly the ‘best’ is counter-intuitive,” said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid David Borus. “The college selection process should be about finding the best ‘fit’ between a student and an institution, and so it follows that what might be the best college choice for one individual might be the worst possible option for another.”

He does recognize that the rankings can be helpful for prospective students who might overlook excellent colleges if not for the attention the rankings bestow, but only in a limited sense. “I believe that while the rankings can be helpful in that they can expose students to colleges with which they were previously not familiar, they are only a starting point for further investigation, and should not be seen as a definitive judgment which is then used as the basis for making college decisions,” Borus said.

In fact, President Catharine Bond Hill recently called the rankings formulas into question. In anticipation of the release of the annual results, she wrote a piece for Inside Higher Ed magazine in which she argued that the criteria used by publications to compile their lists is far from comprehensive. “It is rankings season again, and despite objecting to their validity and worrying about the incentives they create for colleges and universities, we pay attention nonetheless,” she wrote, adding, “since they aren’t going away, I would like to propose one small change: Factor the socioeconomic diversity of a college’s student body into the rankings formula.”

She went on to say that though many colleges emphasize the importance of diversity in their mission statements and brochures, statistics about diversity have been excluded from the data that contributes to the most widely viewed rankings. “U.S. News reports separate rankings for socioeconomic and racial diversity, but the magazine’s main ranking clearly receives the most national attention,” she asserted. “Leaving diversity out of its main ranking formula suggests this criterion is of secondary

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

importance, in contrast to the importance diversity receives in the mission statements of these institutions.”

Borus agreed with Hill’s criticism. He wrote in an emailed statement, “The student body is a dimension that should be factored into the rankings, as should other measures that could validly be considered in this exercise, such as the success of graduates of an institution (e.g., grad school acceptance rates, fellowships and other competitive awards, career success, etc.), library and technology resources, and others.”

Still, in considering the rankings he judges to be flawed, Borus said he was not worried by Vassar’s drop in position. “I do not think that this slight shift in position was caused by any substantive changes at the College in the past year,” he said. “Every year, U.S. News tweaks the formula it employs to come up with their rankings, which can impact a school’s position.

Additionally, other institutions may improve or decline on some of the measures which contribute to the formula and that too can cause shifts.”

Indeed, the results actually provided him some cause for optimism. “In fact, on several components of the U.S. News ranking formula, such as selectivity, Vassar actually improved during the past year,” he said.

And despite Vassar’s drop in position in this year’s results, U.S. News and World Report included the College on a list that is sure to attract attention in this economy: its Best Value Schools category. According to this year’s results, Vassar’s tuition price is actually a bargain for its student body; the College is ranked the seventh best value in the nation.

FEATURES

September 22, 2011

Page 5

VSA org certification process demands time, effort Danielle Bukowski

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Features Editor

Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

he perfect recipe for creating a new Vassar Student Association (VSA) approved student organization involves a solid base group, dedicated leadership, a campus-wide presence and a dash of forms and applications. Last year only two new organizations, HYPE and SlowFood, were certified. There are currently about 15 groups in varying degrees of preparation for review, with widely different interests.

Current VSA Vice President of Activities Michael “Mookie” Thottam ’12 said that while there is no standard organization, there are some simple concepts he looks for.

“A group that is diverse in [its] leadership, has a general body, is fully functioning and holds regular meetings—which is different for different groups, for a cappella that’s rehearsals, or for soccer that’s practices— will be more successful,” he said.

The VSA also considers a group’s presence on campus, community involvement and the effort put into the application as indicators of how successful the group may be. In addition to these aspects, the VSA cannot certify any club whose mission statement is already covered by another organization.

ACCESS, a group dedicated to facilitating discussion on and raising awareness of disabilities, has been building up its presence on campus since Spring 2010. “Some students met to discuss how there’s not really a space for students with disabilities to talk openly about concerns,” said founding member Frances Vhay ’13.

Unlike the counseling services and the Office for Accessibility and Educational Opportunity, which help students deal with their disabilities one-on-one, ACCESS is about fostering a community of students with disabilities and their allies.

The group has come to study breaks and met with House Fellows in addition to holding regular meet-

ACCESS, whose members are pictured above, is one of many organizations seeking approval by the Vassar Students Association. ACCESS, formed in Spring 2010, is dedicated to facilitating discussion on and raising awareness of disabilities. ings, but without VSA-certification no group can fundraise or do events requiring more money than what the students can pay out of pocket.

But ACCESS is looking to expand, which will require a budget. “We also want to launch the ACCESS buddy program, to pair up freshmen with disabilities with one of their peers, as a mentoring program,” said founding member Nicole Ross ’13. “It can be isolating, as not only are you a freshman and new but to have a disability makes the change that much more confusing.”

Vhay also discussed the possibility of bringing speakers to campus, as the group hopes to bring the discussion of disabilities into the classroom.

Said Vhay, “About one in eight students are registered with the Office for Accessibility and Educational Opportunity as having some sort of disability. That’s a very large population, and needs more conversations in the classrooms. Disability is not a

foreign concept; these are concerns that affect a large population.”

ACCESS has handed in their cover letter, constitution, certification application and signatures to Thottam for review. “I know that sometimes it can take a while [to become certified], because they want to make sure that the organization is established enough,” Vhay said of the process. “However, given how active we have been in the past year and because there is no organization on campus like ACCESS, I believe that we will be certified. It just will take some time.”

After the initial meeting with Thottam, a group will come back to the VSA office multiple times.

“Groups looking for certification continue to meet with me throughout the semester to update the VSA on their progress as an organization and address initial concerns of the activities committee,” Thottam wrote in an emailed statement. “Groups with very strong cases for certification

are brought to the Activities Committee for application review (this includes constitutional review). After this review, the group leaders will be brought in to address final questions and concerns. It is possible that the committee will ask the group to come in more than once. Should a group pass the activities committee, it is brought to VSA Council for certification.”

The length of time for this process varies by group, and the number of groups that will be certified depends on the VSA’s budget. Thottam points to the fact that only two groups were certified all last year, and that while there will be some new organizations this year, there are many groups fighting for limited resources.

The matter of budget is the main reason most groups look for certification. The Jane Austen Book Club would like to be able to reserve a room for its meetings and collaborate with other organizations. The group has completed all of the pa-

perwork required and is waiting to meet with the VSA. “We’re a relaxed club, we’re not offending anyone and we are asking for a small budget. But we don’t have a budget yet, so planning events is hard,” said founding member Ross.

The Karaoke Club was inspired by Associate Professor of Japanese Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase, who brought students to her house to sing karaoke once a month. Peter Dang ’14, who runs the club, wants to make it into an official organization. “Most people don’t know that karaoke was originally from Japan. And we would sing in Japanese to improve language skills. Karaoke is great for language training. [At our first meeting] people were singing in four different languages,” said Dang.

With the budget of an official organization, Tsuchiya wouldn’t have to pay for the karaoke equipment.

“As an organization, we’d have more karaoke nights! And we’d fundraise by holding more karaoke—karaoke to support karaoke,” said Dang. He’d like to see the club meet once a week for two hours, with one group singing in the first hour and another in the second. Dang said, “There was a karaoke event in the Villard Room, and I found the music to be limited.

At first I thought that I was the only one who liked to sing in a different language, but everyone here takes at least one language course.”

Slow Food Vassar, which became certified last semester, was the fastest-certified organization in recent history. Said President Meghan McDermott ’13, “We had an initial meeting with Tanay [Tatum ’12], when she was Vice President for Activities, and asked her what it would take to get certified, and we were told it took two years on average,” she said.

“We got really worried but pushed through anyway. We built a mailing list, did tabling, got over 200 signatures, member supporters, started hosting meetings. We collaborated See CERTIFICATION on page 7

VC’s white angels filled niche of wireless technology Jessica Tarantine

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Guest Reporters

ith the convenience that comes with VCards, V-mail and cell phones, it is all too easy to forget that Vassar students managed to survive without these crucial comforts.

But before wireless technologies, Vassar used a means of communication that was both beloved and celebrated—the white angels.

“They started when Matthew Vassar opened the college doors,” reported then Director of Halls Winifred Earl in a 1975 Miscellany News article (10.21.1975. Miscellany News. “While Angels Add Personal Touch, Aid Security”).

“Each dorm had a white angel, a receptionist dressed like a nurse, who sat at its vestibule,” said Claudia Lynn Thomas ’71 in the same article. “The white angel received incoming guests and rang telephone calls through to the hallway phones.”

“They grew out of the nature of the College ... There was not a lot of communication with the outside world for Vassar students,” explained Emertius English Professor Colton Johnson. Even within the College itself, white angels helped pass messages. “Faculty would often pass messages to the students through the white angels to reschedule appointments,” said Johnson.

Another important task of the white angels, who sat in the lobby in each of the dorms, was to monitor the coming and going of students and guests in an age without Vassar College identification cards.

“They were the gatekeepers of the dorm. At that time the dorms could be accessed by anyone for a large part of the day,” wrote Lisa Rosa ’81 in an emailed statement. “The dorm doors locked after midnight or so until 6 a.m., other-

wise they were open. The white angels served the role of a mother figure...keeping a watchful eye on their children.”

Former white angel and current Retreat employee Irma Curran agreed. “I thought myself, being a mother, it was a good thing because for the freshmen it might have been the first time they had been away from home and we were there to make them feel at home.”

But at other times in Vassar’s history the white angels had duties resembling those of a maid. “We were waited on at meals—can you imagine?—our beds were changed weekly, too,” said Jean Smith Wilmer ’41.

These duties, however, did not last. And as time progressed, even more changes occurred.

The admission of men in 1969 caused the program to change radically.

“I had the feeling, though, that the little old ladies who guarded the doors in the dormitory...took a critical look at the new male arrivals and thought to themselves, ‘This is all going to take some getting used to, isn’t it?’” said Jonathan Levy ’72 in a “Memory” celebrating the sesquicentennial.

“It was a time of changing social standards in the whole country, and Vassar’s very serious rules on male visitation had just gone flying out the window, taking along with them the traditional after dinner coffee, called demi-tasse, which had been served graciously every day to the prim and proper female Vassar students,” Levy wrote. He explained that just a few years later males were allowed in the dorms 24 hours a day.

Indeed, before Levy’s time, the rules were very different. “She [the white angel] monitored our comings and goings, and called up to our rooms to announce the arrival of a male

guest. Men were not allowed to visit our rooms except on Sundays for a few hours, with the door open and ‘all four feet on the floor,’” said Nancy R. Hudson ’69 in her “Memory” for the sesquicentennial.

While the white angels eventually accepted the changes made to the dorms, the program faced other challenges.

“We would chat with them as we came and went from the dorm, they knew when we came and went, who we were with, what we were doing, etc. For me, they were like a mom or grandma watching over us. I’m sure some students thought they were ‘too involved,’” said Rosa.

One such student was Nina Keller ’75, who said, “White angels were very perceptive but sometimes they knew too much.”

Another problem appeared in 1979 when the Students Afro-American Society (SAS) called to stop the use of the term white angel.

SAS President Alice Goodman said, “Somebody said racism is pervasive on campus that we even have the WHITE angels,” in a Miscellany News article (04.27.1979. Miscellany News “‘White Angel’ called racist term; Goodman ask students to stop use.”)

The term white angel had officially been changed to messenger some years before, but was still used informally by students, making a unilateral change in verbiage difficult.

Noyes Messenger Evelyn White agreed with Goodman, stating, “I resent being called white angel.”

Johnson gave insight to this view, “The term was a kind of loving put-down for these women, but at the same time they wore a uniform and were servants.”

This view was not universal, however, as some messengers liked the term. Cushing Mes-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

senger Gwen Davis said, “It has nothing to do with racism. White stands for the uniform and angel means messenger of God.” By the early 1990s, the program was beginning to be phased out. Telephones had permeated campus both inside the dormitory halls and outside for security phones, and V-Card systems had begun to limit the need for a monitor supervising the comings and goings of the dorms.

The need for white angels had almost disappeared, and would have likely been phased out completely. But upon news of the possible disbanding, many alumnnae/i spoke up in favor of the white angel program. The New York Times reported Paulette Roberts ‘86, writing, “It [the news] literally made me mournful,” in a letter to the Dean of the College (04.02.1995.

New York Times. “The Trouble With Angels is Averted At Vassar.”)

Johnson explained, “You can see the idea that messengers become needed less, but the emotional attachment was quite another thing.

Here were the women who saw you come home from the Yale game having had slightly too much to drink and didn’t say anything.”

Amidst alumnae/i protest, a compromise was reached and the now-named messengers worked in the dorms from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. performing mostly administrative tasks, with Security and student workers taking shifts in the other hours.

Despite the program’s eventual end in 2004 due to budget concerns, the program still remains vivid in many alumnae/i’s memories of residential life at Vassar and serves as a reminder that no matter how beloved a tradition, it can still fall victim to another quintessential Vassar tradition—changing with the times.

FEATURES

Page 6

Boluk explores video gaming’s new frontiers Divya Pathuk

Guest Repoerter

M

embers of the class of 2015 aren’t the only new faces around campus. Stephanie Boluk, a postdoctoral fellow in the Media Studies Department, joins Vassar after receiving her doctoral degree in English from the University of Florida this past spring.

Although she’s only been on campus for a few weeks, Boluk said, “Vassar students are awesome.”

She will be spending most of her time conducting research but will also have the opportunity to teach.

This semester, Boluk is teaching a 200-level course entitled Virtual Worlds and Utopia. The students read works on utopian theory, focus on themes of labor within the industry of gaming, and examine the relationship between work and the playing of video games. “It’s looking at how issues of utopia and virtual worlds apply to Media Studies,” said Boluk.

The class also includes a blog on which students can post their thoughts or interesting articles that relate to the topics discussed in class. “There’s really no other place I’d rather be teaching. The students here are so diverse, so curious about everything, it makes my job a lot easier.”

Although her graduate degree is in English literature, Boluk experienced a wide range of disciplines in that department.

“The department defined literature in broad terms so I could do more work in film and video games.” Her main interests include electronic literature, video games, digital art and the way in which they relate to the wider media ecology.

Boluk wishes to bring those interests to her classroom. “It’s a deep critical history of media and media theory combined with practical components; through production [of media] and not just standard essay writing,” she explained. “I want my students to take advantage of the fact that they can explore ideas.”

Boluk also discussed technology’s rapid advancements and the role in the video game industry. She said, “We want to know the ways in which we can be critical towards technology; the class isn’t a ‘cheerleader’ for technology’s developments but is instead interested in how to slow that down and critically think about the economic and aesthetic impacts of technology.”

Boluk recognizes the ephemeral nature of technology as well as the risk of losing the early history of computers and gaming. She said, “Even though we can’t cover everything, we give students a historical and theoretical approach to gaming culture and game design [in this course].”

Boluk recently published Generation Zombie, a book that traces the roots and history of the zombie figure and its portrayal in films, games and social media. “I’m working on a book about independent gaming ... it discusses ‘metagaming’ and ‘modding,’ which is when you take a pre-existing game or console and modify so it does things that were not intended by the original design,” said Boluk. There are unique challenges to her field. “As a historian of games, hard to keep up with speed of advancing gaming technology,” she said.

That history, however, is something she wants to document. “Gaming has really flourished and developed since the ’90s with the rise of cheap software, allow designers to experiment—without the risk of multimillion dollar games,” said Boluk. This has, according to Boluk, allowed greater experimentation and independence in the gaming industry. “I’m interested in how smaller game industries have flourished alongside mainstream gaming industries,” she added.

She is also working with a professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz on North Korean comics and other visual culture. “We’re hoping to gain more understanding and insight into the history, world view and aesthetics of this isolated country,” said Boluk.

As for her feelings about Vassar and its students, Boluk expressed nothing but happiness and excitement: “I feel so lucky and ecstatic that I’m here for the next couple of years. I couldn’t ask for anything else…The liberal arts environment is absolutely stimulating. Vassar students are so diverse and so curious that it makes my job a lot easier; I’m so excited to be in this enclave where people can get together and make things happen.”

September 22, 2011

Rebuild the Dream aspires to bring about social change at grassroots level Juan Dominguez

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Guest Reporter

he founding members of the Rebuild the Dream movement believe that the concept of the American Dream is under siege.

Over the last few months, the movement has been fighting back against what they see as the special-interest-dominated politics of our country, and lobbying for the ideals of the American Dream. Those ideals include medicare for all, a strong social security system, and fair tax rates.

It all began in Wisconsin, when the teacher’s unions and their supporters protested against Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal last year.

Anthony “Van” Jones, the environmental advocate and civil rights activist, is one of the pioneers of the movement. He has dubbed it the leftist Tea Party. “[The group is] more for the solutions and governance instead of the extremism and intolerance present with the Tea Party,” said Jonathan Bix ’14, a Rebuild the Dream student organizer. It does want to emulate the conservative movement in its enthusiasm and determination.

Adam Eichen ’15, who has attended the group’s meetings and events, said, “I think that on the whole, the national Rebuild the Dream movement will help light a fire in the left wing base and serve as a call to action.”

They also learned from the conservatives’ grass roots organization and cooperation.

The movement has riled up those involved on campus. “The American Dream is being destroyed right now. Tens of millions without jobs or homes. Banks aren’t working towards a shared future while politicians keep giving tax breaks to the wealthiest and big business,” said Bix. “The ideals that should be brought back into focus include a fair minimum wage that’s a living wage, real universal health care, a path to citizenship for every immigrant, a fairer tax system, improved worker’s rights and rejuvenation of the middle class,” said Bix. Other members of the movement share his view.

In every political debate, Rebuild the Dream supports the interests of the people.

In regards to the most recent debt crisis, Bix said, “The debt ceiling has been raised countless times before without any debate.

There are long-term goals to be reached with our budget but holding our economic future hostage is not the right way to

go about it. Those receiving aid from the government would have been hit first and those are people who keep the wheels turning like teachers, nurses, social workers, first responders, etc.”

The group’s platform reflects its populist origins, with a Digital Age twist. “The platform was created by ordinary Americans,” said Bix. “Van Jones called for ideas and people responded by posting thousands of them on the website. Those ideas were rated by everyone and the top 100 were taken and voted on in house meetings all throughout the country. Then the top dozen were taken and made the platform.”

Although innovative, there are setbacks to this bottom-up method. One that stands out to group members is difficulty in attracting media attention.

“The group hasn’t gotten a massive amount of attention yet. There has been a little coverage in the media like the Huffington Post but that’s about it,” said Bix. “Around 300,000 people have signed the contract in support of the Rebuild the Dream platform being the American Dream. However, we are nowhere near approaching the Tea Party status in terms of interest and exposure,” added Bix. Nonetheless the movement is beginning to gain momentum, and having reached Vassar, Bix is confident it will gain popularity amongst Vassar’s philanthropic student body. They have roughly 30 students on their mailing list.

“We’ll end up attracting liberals who are disappointed in the current structure and, more importantly, Democrats,” Bix said.

“Democrats don’t have a shared ideology upon their platform except for the fact that they’re not Republican.”

They hope to appeal to the widest possible audience of leftists without alienating anyone. “The movement isn’t to be seen as an alternative or opposition to the Democratic Party. We just want to force Democrats back to where they used to stand, fighting for the common folk,” said Bix. “We’re looking for students who genuinely believe in fairness, equality, human dignity and sustainability.”

Spencer Resnick ’15 was attracted to the group for it’s genuine values and goals. “All too often, young people seek the convenience of standing by a party rather than embracing political values. Rebuild the Dream is about injecting progressive values into Left politics, something I think this

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

country needs right now, and something that I have a stake in as a citizen,” he said.

As is expected from a new organization, Rebuilding the Dream is still not yet a big player on the national or local stage. “The group is not officially approved by [the Vassar Students Association] but that’s one of [our] goals over next semester. As of now we want to start building a club and create progress so that it can be official acknowledged,” said Bix. Rebuild the Dream is organizing several events in hopes of developing a presence and interest so as to collect some leverage before making a bid for official recognition.

One of these events occurred this past Saturday, when a group of students went to Wall Street to protest what they saw as big business and banks’ unlimited influence on politics and policy through lobbying. Another is the anti-nuclear power rally that will be held on Oct. 1 in New York City.

Bix also hopes to have speakers like Van Jones or Cornel West make an appearance on campus in the next few months. A film series later this semester is also planned so that students may hear about the issues surrounding the movement.

In spite of all the upcoming activity Bix is not hoping to take attention away from already established Vassar student political groups. “I think our interactions with other political groups will be primarily through positive collaboration. I don’t think there will be much of a rivalry, because we don’t necessarily need tons of people for our dayto-day meetings, we’re mainly looking to create interest in our events, which tend not to conflict with those of other groups,” he said.

In fact, Rebuild the Dream hopes to collaborate and co-host with the Greens and MECHA for events like Powershift and the May Day rally. Bix also would like to work with them and others like Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics and the Vassar Democrats to register voters on campus.

Besides these events the group hopes to influence the student body, who Bix believes could be more politically active.

Eichen believes, “There is nothing worse than a democracy in which citizens, especially youth, do not care about or are not informed about politics. Disgust is never an excuse for apathy; it is an excuse to fight harder.”

FEATURES

September 22, 2011

Page 7

Class intends to address inequalities

Courtesy of prisonlullabies.com

PRISON continued from page 1 formerly existed in the state, the two professors then decided to write a curriculum that would be able to engage both college students and inmates while adhering to both prison and state protocol.

With the support of both the New York State Department of Correctional Services and the Taconic Correctional Facility, the program was formally instated in the spring of 2009.

A medium security prison located in Westchester County, the Taconic Correctional Facility is approximately an hour’s drive from Vassar’s campus and was considered an ideal location for this experimental program because of its relatively low security level. Moreover, the prison itself houses women who, in many cases, are given a number of opportunities to advance their education while incarcerated.

Before the establishment of Shanley’s and Leonard’s class, the prison offered courses through Mercy College, Nyack College and College Connections, which is a program that offers college prep courses in both math and English. Yet giving these women the opportunity to learn with college students is an educational experience within itself for both parties.

As New York State Department of Correctional Services Commissioner Brian Fisher noted in a 2010 article by Sabina Kaplan on the Vassar Class for Corrections Today, “Education and positive social interaction are both critical to offenders’ ability to readjust successfully to the community after prison—and to cope during incarceration. This program brought the best of both worlds to the participating offenders at Taconic Correctional Facility. It is clear that those offenders, as well as the participating Vassar students, learned a great deal not only academically but also about understanding and accepting others’ points of view.”

Vassar’s Course Catalogue describes the mission of the class as “[examining] the general issues of inequalities based on economic and employment status, racial and ethnic identity and gender and sexual orientation.”

Admission to the class is highly selective for both inmates and Vassar students.

Those incarcerated are selected based on

The sociology class Gender, Social Problems and Social Change in the Contemporary United States takes place at the Taconic Correctional Facility, pictured above. Students participating in the class engage with inmates on topics such as gender, race and criminal justice. factors such as standardized test scores, writing samples and interviews. Leonard and Shanley personally interview those who qualify for the course and assess their ability to engage in classroom discussions.

With a high level of interest in the class and only 10 available spots, admission for Vassar students is also competitive. The students who enroll are subject to the traditional background screenings given to all nonincarcerated prison volunteers.

Due to the prison’s relative distance from Vassar’s campus, the class itself meets once a week for two and a half hours. Vassar students are transported to the correctional facility in a prison van. They are then screened through security and are escorted by guards into the classroom. Once there, they then arrange the chairs in a circle and alternate seats with the students from Taconic.

The topics discussed range from gender and race to criminal justice. They encourage both Vassar students and Taconic students to draw from their own experiences. This discourse has ultimately helped reshape

how both sets of students view each other.

“Instead of being a statistic or a journal article, these women are our classmates and have the opportunity to voice their opinions on the social issues that affect them . . . many of us have many things in common with the women—they most certainly do not fit any of the stereotypes that many envision of ‘criminals,’” noted Abby Nathanson ’14, a Vassar student who is currently enrolled in the class. “But we’re not there to study them, and that is very important. We are there to create a community of learners together.”

The class does try to harness the atmosphere of a typical college classroom within the facility, although there are clearly some differences.

Nathanson said, “It is very difficult to get past the fact that no matter what, the Vassar students have much more privilege than [the incarcerated women] do. At the end of class, we can leave. We can drive away and go back to Vassar, sleep in our own rooms, [and] wear something other than a green prison uniform and white sneakers.”

Aspiring orgs must fill void on campus CERTIFICATION continued from page 5 with the Greens and got them to loan us resources so that we could schedule things before we had money.” Slow Food was certified by the national chapter in February 2011, and by April they had submitted their signatures list and constitution; two weeks later they were voted in by Council. The group doesn’t yet have an official budget, and are applying through the New Org Fund. “It was hard to get the administration to take us seriously, without the support of the student government,” explained McDermott. In its first academic year as a VSA organization, Slow Food Vassar has already had a sustainability session at CIA, hosted cooking classes and is collaborating with the Poughkeepsie Farm Project and local groups on various projects.

The current process for certifying an organization takes many weeks and depends on satisfactory completion of all requirements before the VSA’s final decision. The VSA is currently looking into altering the way it recognizes organizations, with the possibility of allowing new clubs to have a trial period with a smaller budget than a full-fledged organization has.

Along with the VSA’s long list of certified organizations, there are many clubs on campus that thrive without certification. “It is a misconception that a group cannot be successful or influence campus before receiving certification. I urge people to meet with me to understand the pros and cons of certification,” Thottam wrote in an emailed statement.

As it stands now, the sustainability of the group’s leadership and its presence on campus—if the Activities Committee has heard of the group and if they have already held events—are the two largest factors in certification. “Sometimes a small group of friends will come up with an idea, and they’re really into it, but the group is not sustainable, not inclusive, or it wouldn’t appeal to the campus as a whole,” said Thottam. “One other component is how much thought and effort has gone into the application. And our reason for this component is that a group that fills out the application incorrectly, or doesn’t clearly define their meetings or address our questions, then that hints to the capacity of the leadership of the group to sustain. If it starts off with weak leadership, we can’t assume that it will survive.”

“We support student initiative, and want to recognize groups that are functional, important and necessary on campus,” said Thottam.

VARC, Dining Services collaborate on Meatless Mondays Mary Huber

Features Editor

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nyone who’s passed by the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC) on Mondays has seen members of the Vassar Animal Rescue Coalition (VARC) passing out fliers, tabling for Meatless Mondays. The new campaign encourages students to—surprise—forego meat on Mondays, and reduce the negative health and ecological effects associated with eating large amounts of meat, such as higher fat and cholesterol intake and higher greenhouse gas emissions.

The Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health instigated the nationwide campaign, and though 60 other colleges and universities already participate, it only recently became visible at Vassar.

The Office of Health Education (OHE) originally brought the program to campus in February 2011, though campaigning has only recently swung into high gear. Said Wellness Peer Educator Abby Nathanson ’14, who works with the Office, “I started working on [Meatless Mondays], helping it grow and become more of a campus-wide movement,” at the end of last year.

That effort included bringing other campus groups to the table. The most prominently involved student group is VARC, which advocates vegetarianism and veganism in support of animal rights. Said President of VARC Alan Darer ’14, “I saw some advertisement [by the OHE] and I immediately thought, ‘Why isn’t VARC a part of this?’”

Before the school year started, Nathanson and Darer collaborated to plan the promotion of Meatless Mondays, which includes tabling at

the ACDC on Mondays, gathering pledges and highlighting vegetarian and vegan items at the ACDC with signs.

The organizers chose to have students sign pledges to reinforce their commitment to forego meat on Mondays. “Studies have shown people are more likely to actually do something they say they’re going to if they commit by physically signing a piece of paper or verbally agreeing,” explained Darer. “Second, we’d like to present the signatures to the administration and to Dining Services and say, ‘Look at all the support we have.’”

VARC hopes to persuade Dining Services to significantly reduce the amount of meat they serve on Mondays. “When we show Dining Services how many signatures we’ve collected, I’m not sure how that will go,” said Darer. “I only have high hopes for the future of Meatless Mondays though.”

Dining Services has so far cooperated with the campaign; they already highlighted vegetarian and vegan options the past few Mondays, and allowed VARC to table in the front lobby.

Despite being called “Meatless Mondays,” all parties agreed that there would still be meat options at the ACDC on Monday, however many pledges they collect. “When we initially went into this it was just about awareness. It was not until the past few weeks we’ve been talking about what it means,” said Director of Dining Services Maureen King.

King continued, “Eliminating meat completely would have been a pretty drastic move.

It would have needed more conversation with other college offices and with students.”

Chair of the Food Committee Rachel Schorr ’12 concurred. “The student body here is a di-

verse one, with diverse needs, and preferably we can cater to all of them. We can have some meat for athletes and students who need that extra protein,” she said.

Though Darer would prefer if students ate no meat on Mondays, or any other day, he realized that for many students this would be impractical. “I’m vegan, so I don’t believe in the use of animals for food. I wouldn’t want any animal treated in a way I wouldn’t want my family dog treated,” he said. “At the same time, though, I think it’s important for us to be practical with our goals while we run each specific campaign.”

Even people whose primary focus is not animal rights recognize the significance of the campaign. “It’s definitely an important program, to raise awareness of the amount of meat we eat, and the health and ecological benefits of limiting that consumption,” said Schorr.

Nathanson also believed Meatless Mondays could encourage vegetarianism in general. “It’s also a good segue for people who want to become vegetarian or vegan, but who maybe aren’t ready for the full commitment,” she said.

Nathanson stressed the community aspect of the program, adding, “I think it’s a good thing for new students to feel connected to campus. I know some people are doing it as a group, eating together and encouraging each other, or reminding each other [about their pledges].”

The organizers plan to emphasize that community aspect in their promotions. “We’ll probably have film screenings to raise awareness and some vegetarian cooking classes, just to make it more fun and communal, but also realizing that it’s often an individual choice to be conscious of your food, and respecting that,”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

said Nathanson.

All those interviewed considered Vassar especially receptive to the campaign’s message.

“I’d say Vassar’s a pretty supportive place to do this; we have a lot of vegetarians here. And, as much as people complain about the [ACDC], it’s actually pretty supportive of our program,” said Nathanson.

There have been some hiccups, though. “I’ve heard from many other people who came to me really confused and asked, ‘Why are there so few vegetarian options?’ Apparently a couple of Mondays coincided with barbecue days, where [the ACDC] actually took down the vegan station,” said Darer. “The general message I’ve been getting is that people want more vegetarian and vegan options in general, but especially on Mondays.”

Despite some miscommunications, the campaign has been fairly popular among students, according to its promoters. “We’ve only had two outreach days, and we have a little over 230 signatures. That’s about 10 percent of the student body,” said Darer. “That, to me, was extremely impressive, and it makes me extremely hopeful.”

The campaigners also hope to expand the campaign on campus. “We already work with Dining Services and VARC, and we’d like to include other organizations,” Nathanson proposed.

“One of our goals…is approaching staff, professors and administration. I plan on meeting with [President of the College Catharine Bond Hill] to ask her to sign the pledge,” added Darer. “I think that way we can say that Vassar is going meatless on Mondays, rather than just Vassar students.”

OPINIONS

Page 8

Miscellany News Staff Editorial

U.S. News ignores socioeconomic criterion Diversty key to College’s mission statement V

assar College was recently given a number 14 spot in The U.S. News & World Report popular college rankings, a slight slip from previous years. We know that we also became slightly more selective in the past year, and, more importantly, that our statistics on socioeconomic diversity have continued their steep rise that began with the Class of 2010—a signal that the College is meeting one of its chief priorities.

College rankings, like those published

by U.S. News, can be subjective and misleading; nonetheless, they widely read and referred to, and therefore deserve acknowledgment. Although the rankings are determined by different criteria than we as a college use to judge ourselves, they are important to alumnae/i, high school students and especially international applicants. While The Miscellany News Editorial Board recognizes that we cannot change the practice or popularity of the college ranking system, we can echo the sentiments of Vassar President Catharine Bond Hill in her critique of the ranking system. Hill’s “Diversity and the Rankings” column in Inside Higher Ed calls for socioeconomic diversity to be included in the criteria of the U.S. News ranking system.

U.S. News does contain separate rankings for racial and socioeconomic diversity; however, people generally look to its main Best Liberal Arts Schools list for the definitive rankings. This list takes into account, in part, statistics on a school’s endowment and how much its alumnae/i give—important factors, but not the ones students think of first when considering what college to attend.

How many of us feel that our educations

VC Taconic class still going strong Boyd Gardner

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Guest Columnist

ast week, The Miscellany News reported on the unfortunate cancelation of Vassar’s Green Haven and Otisville prison education programs by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. While the Green Haven and Otisville programs were institutions at Vassar and will be sorely missed, the article may have given some the mistaken impression that every Vassar-sponsored prison program had been canceled, which is thankfully not the case. Last year, I was fortunate enough to join nine other Vassar students and 11 inmates from Taconic Correctional Facility in a course called Family, Law and Social Policy, taught by Professors Eileen Leonard and Molly Shanley at the facility, and I am pleased to report to the Miscellany News that Vassar’s relationship with Taconic was not affected by the recent decisions in Albany. In fact, Leonard reports that Vassar may add an additional course at Taconic next year, which would provide more opportunities for Vassar students to learn alongside Taconic inmates. Studying social policy and law alongside students whose life experiences differed so incredibly from mine changed the very way that I approach academic inquiry, and the Taconic program was an invaluable experience for me. While the Miscellany News deserves praise for its strong staff editorial in support of the Green Haven and Otisville programs, students interested in the educational opportunities that prisons can offer should consider the Vassar-Taconic program.

—Boyd Gardner ’12 was president of Main House for the 2010-2011 school year.

have been enriched more by the philanthropy of alumnae/i than by the diversity that we see all around us? By not considering socioeconomic diversity, the rankings overlook an important aspect of what creates a robust college experience. Vassar, like many other top-ranked colleges and universities, includes diversity as a part its mission statement. By doing so, Vassar recognizes that socioeconomic diversity enriches educational experience both inside and outside of the classroom. As a fundamental facet of Vassar’s mission, socioeconomic diversity should be reflected in our ranking as well. As Hill pointed out, what better way to evaluate a school than by how well it achieves its own goals?

Vassar’s commitment to socioeconomic diversity places the College among the schools whose students receive the most financial support. Statistics from Director of Institutional Research David Davis-Van Atta show an increase in the number of Vassar students who have received grant aid: Roughly 45 percent of incoming freshmen in 2006 received grant aid, while the incoming 2010 class received over 60 percent. In 2006, Vassar was ranked the 11th best liberal arts college in the country and 12th best in 2010. Rankings of course take into account a number of criteria, but it is hard to ignore that at the same time as Vassar has been engaged in significant self-improvement in an area that has become a fundamental part of its mission, the trend is overlooked on a national scale. Rankings, of course, are relative. Hill, however, dispels this notion in her column, pointing out that Vassar ranks second only to Amherst College in Pell Grants given relative to Pell Grants

predicted. Additionally, Vassar exceeds the national prediction in the percentage of freshman enrolled that need financial aid. By not including socioeconomic diversity as a significant measure in determining rank, U.S. News fails to recognize schools that pursue diversity as a main goal.

The strongest point that Hill makes in her article is about the impact of socioeconomic diversity on all students. The success of Vassar as an institution is not just influenced by funding—it is the students we interact with every day. Due to the budget crisis, universities and colleges have to make tough decisions about what to spend money on.

Because the goal of these institutions will always be to attract strong potential students, and the rankings seem to have an impact on what schools strong potential students consider, it is plausible that schools might change their budgeting in an effort to maintain a high rank. When characteristics like socioeconomic diversity are not considered when factoring rank, schools lose the incentive to fund these worthwhile aid programs, and academic environments may well alienate applicants with financial need.

We at the Miscellany wholeheartedly support Hill’s call for socioeconomic diversity to factor into the popular U.S. News Best Liberal Arts Schools ranking. Whether or not U.S. News chooses to listen, we can appreciate that the choice to support socioeconomic diversity improves the character of our education in a manner that is unquantifiable.

—The Staff Editorial represents the opinion of at least two thirds of the 21-member Miscellany News Editorial Board.

Current GOP candidates Republican in name only Lane Kisonak

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Guest Columnist

et us start by getting one thing straight: The Republican Party is not rapidly devolving into a crazed, gladiatorial “death cult,” as the Daily Kos called it on Monday.

A potential voter tuning into the recent CNN and MSNBC debates (such as they are) between the current assortment of GOP presidential candidates might reasonably be persuaded otherwise. The unseemly sight of ostensibly civilized men and women, clad not in Roman togas but in the clothes of the American working class of 2011, cheering lustily for the state-sanctioned execution of 234 death-row inmates as well as for the market-sanctioned deaths of the uninsured—within a one-week timespan, no less—cannot help but set off certain alarm bells.

Aside from the usual thoughts one tends to have on such occasions—such as, “are these the same “pro-life” Republicans who want to de-fund Planned Parenthood because abortions comprise 3 percent of its services?” or “What would these audience members think if it were their siblings, parents or children on death row?” or “Is it just me or do I detect a glimmer of panic in Ron Paul’s eyes?”— it also seems prudent to wonder if this pair of incidents is symptomatic not simply of the dramatic rightward lurch our political mainstream has experienced since 2009, but rather of a larger, long-time trend in the attitude of the demographic which has for decades comprised the Republican base.

Of course, outrages such as Vietnam,

Watergate, Katrina and the financial crisis have done their share in the way of eroding aggregate trust in government in the last half-century. The Pew Research Center finds a significant downward trend in trust since the question was first asked in 1958, bolstered from time to time by economic booms and rally-around-the-flag events like Sept. 11 and the First Gulf War. A few interesting things to note from pulling apart the data: Republican trust in government has actually trended higher than Democratic trust for about 60 percent of the time polling has been taken. And, while the GOP has held the presidency for 31 of the last 53 years (with GOP trust naturally climbing during Republican presidencies) it is important to remember that there has been a Democratic Congress during 35 of those 53 years. Even during the period of unbroken Democratic majority rule which ran until 1981, Republicans were on the whole slightly more likely to trust the government than Democrats. From 1987 to 1995, when Democrats held both houses, GOP respondents demonstrated higher trust during all but the first months of Bill Clinton’s term. One last thing the data shows us is that Republican trust has much higher peaks and lower troughs than Democratic trust; both the highest and lowest trust numbers since 1958, in fact, are seen in the GOP. Current GOP trust under Obama is hovering around the historical low, while Democratic numbers are floating around their mean for the last three decades.

See GOP on page 10

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

September 22, 2011

Student-led change needed in Serenading E

veryone on campus thinks of Serenading in a certain way, but it’s an event with a very long and tumultuous history. Serenading has changed dramatically since its inception, and many of these changes have been made to address the negative energy that more recent versions have often spawned. In planning for Serenading this year, the senior class executive board attempted to evaluate the student body’s relationship with the event and provide a positive experience for all classes. In some respects, we believe that the small changes we were able to make to this event were successful. At the same time, there is still a lot more work to be done.

The largest issue we sought to address was a sense of lasting animosity between the freshman and senior classes. In an attempt to alleviate these bad feelings, Pam, our Senior Class President, visited every house team to hear their concerns as well as work with them to organize a pizza dinner prior to the event. Many of the houses were concerned about the continued use of condiments, seniors interrupting the freshman songs, and violence during the event. In order to reduce this animosity, seniors were invited to a pizza dinner in their respective dorms so they could meet the freshmen and share in dorm pride. While the dinners were mostly well attended, many dorms felt that there was little interaction between the seniors and the freshman—hopefully this can be changed in the future.

In her class emails, Pam attempted to dissuade the aggressive inclinations of the senior class with instructions such as, “Listen to every house’s entire serenade. Clap. Cheer. Smile.

Dance. Shout, ‘I love you!’ Politely nod. Show them love”. Although we can advise our peers to behave appropriately, we cannot control them.

Influenced by the culture of years past, some seniors still engaged in aggressive, demeaning, and rude actions towards other participants, including the use of non-water products and physical violence. We apologize on their behalf, but cannot take responsibility for their actions.

We hope in the future that fellow seniors will act more maturely and respectfully of our campus and of the other classes.

Regretfully, some of our own Senior Class Council members did not live up to their responsibility to act as examples for the class and for our school. We, the Senior Class Executive Board, apologize to anyone offended by statements made on the stage during the event, or by the actions taken during the day. We specifically would like to apologize to Strong House for the sexist and offensive comments made about your wonderful house. An important part of Vassar’s history, Strong has always been a safe place for women on campus, and we regret that such disrespectful comments were associated with our class. Our council, as a whole, failed to live up to its commitment to be responsible leaders, and will certainly work to regain the trust and respect from our peers and underclassmen that we lost due to Serenading.

Despite the problems with the event this year, many freshmen and seniors enjoyed the house spirit brought on by the event, and expressed their love for their dorm at the field. We were happy to see many seniors yelling, “We love you freshman!” and cheering on their former house.

With these positive examples of house pride in mind, we hope that future classes can work to improve the event. We strongly urge next year’s class and house leadership to work as closely as possible in the planning of Serenading, and take time to evaluate the positive potential of the event moving forward. Serenading is an entirely student-run event, and we believe that house and class leaders have the opportunity to make this experience a decidedly more positive and universally appealing one for future freshman classes. In years to come, we hope that Serenading will focus on dorm and campus-wide spirit, and lives on as an event that Vassar College can be proud of.

—The Class of 2012 Executive Board is comprised of President Pam Vogel, Vice President Raymon Azcona, Secretary Julia Nethero and Treasurer Gabriel Kelly-Ramirez.

September 22, 2011

OPINIONS

Page 9

Dispatch from Jerusalem: JYA student’s take on UN Palestine proposes membership to Security Council Corey Epstein

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Guest Columnist

ast month, a shiny new light rail opened in Jerusalem. Riding this amazing aboveground subway multiple times each week has given me a unique view on life in Jerusalem.

What is so unique about this train is that a large portion of its route goes down the very road that serves as a border between West (Jewish) and East (Palestinian) Jerusalem. Each station on this portion of the light rail serves as a meeting point for two groups of Jerusalemites, two groups that have little interaction in their daily lives throughout their shared city.

This may seem like a calm and optimistic description of Jerusalem, a city usually described in much more divisive and violent terms. For the three weeks that I have been living in Jerusalem (right near this East-West border) I have not felt or seen some of the attributes usually associated with Jerusalem, like hostility, and unrest.

Later this week, however, the normal beat of daily life in Jerusalem is sure to change. By September 23, the Palestinian Authority will submit a formal request to the United Nations Security Council for full UN membership. Realizing that bilateral peace talks with Israel have come to a standstill, the Palestinian Authority hopes that by bringing their case to a multinational arena,

“Observers expect the General Assembly to overwhelmingly vote for Palestinian statehood if it takes up the issue.” they can achieve what has eluded them in bilateral talks.

Sounds good for the Palestinians–—right?

The problem arises when you consider the structure of the Security Council, and how any one of the permanent members, including the United States, have veto power over any decision made among the group.

The Obama administration has made it clear that they will veto any Palestinian proposal for statehood in the Security Council, saying that any two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict must come from direct, binational talks. So no matter what, when the application is presented to the Security Council later this week, the US will use its veto and ensure that Palestine is not given full member status to the UN. But the Palestinian authority still insists on approaching the Security Council, even though

it knows that the imminent U.S. veto will not bring them full UN membership. They can also submit an application to the General Assembly, where no nation has veto power. Observers expect the General Assembly to overwhelmingly vote for Palestinian statehood if it takes up the issue. However, any decision made by this body would make Palestine a mere observer state at the UN, similar to that of Vatican City.

So now imagine for a second that you are a Palestinian following the UN vote later this week. In the Security Council, you see nearly all of the permanent member states support your statehood bid, yet the United States uses its veto, which trumps any decision made by the majority of the council and crushes your hopes.

And then in the General Assembly, which may or may not take a vote on the issue, you see a majority of the international community tell-

HPV vaccine essential in fight against cervical cancer Julian Hassan and Joshua Solomon

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Guest Columnists

f you have turned on CNN or read any political blog in recent months, you realize that political discourse is currently steeped in cheap shots and misinformation. Still, the recent feud between Republican presidential candidates Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann over the distribution of an HPV (Human papillomavirus) vaccine is particularly absurd. The current bickering is in reference to preventing the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States and should be exempt from politicization.

We feel it is important for the Vassar community and the general populace to be more informed about HPV and vaccines that can be used to prevent HPV. Even before we criticize Bachmann’s reasoning here are some facts about HPV. Between 50 to 80 percent of sexually active young adults get HPV at some point. This percentage is even higher among women between 15 to 25 years old, those who have multiple sexual partners and smokers. Most of the time, HPV goes away naturally or causes relatively minor genital warts. Unfortunately, if untreated, HPV can cause oral, anal or cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is particularly common as it affects about 10 percent of those who are diagnosed with HPV. It is the fifth most deadly cancer among women.

Gardasil has a high success rate at preventing the four most dangerous strains of HPV and would put a dent in these statistics.

Despite the evidence that HPV is a serious health issue that can be mostly prevented through a vaccine, it has become the focus of a foolishly heated debate. It all started with Perry’s 2007 executive order mandating that sixth-grade girls receive Gardasil, one type of HPV vaccine. It included an opt-out policy that made it possible for parents to prevent the distribution of Gardasil to their children. Despite Perry’s general social conservatism, this policy was rather progressive and potentially life saving. Unfortunately, in 2008, the Texas state legislature overrode Perry’s executive order.

Still, Bachmann has attacked Perry’s order on several troubling fronts. First, she is spreading blatant lies about the side effects of Gardasil.

Bachmann claims that a woman came up to her about her daughter, who suffered from “mental retardation,” as a result of Gardasil. This is simply untrue. Otherwise, Joseph Bocchini, the chair of the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization, would not vouch for the safety of Gardasil to The Washington Post. Additionally, Dr. Arthur Caplan, a

bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, is offering Bachmann $10,000 if her claim is accurate. It is a strange offer, but it also demonstrates the inaccuracy of her rhetoric. The actual side effects are minor and include such everyday occurrences as fever and headaches.

Like any self-respecting Tea Party politician, Bachmann also has a problem with the implication of government involvement in administering HPV vaccines. To be fair, Perry has changed his position on the issue upon becoming a presidential candidate. Still, Bachmann’s characterization of the order as “Perrycare” is incorrect, regardless of your views of Barack Obama’s health care reform efforts, since the scope is so radically different. The opt-out policy should serve as a valid counter-argument that proves that Perry’s decision was not based in governmental control. Yet, it is not surprising that this point was subject to distortion since this is an easier way to garner headlines and gain a political advantage.

In a YouTube video that Bachmann posted, she says that “parents should be making the decisions” about allowing their children to receive an HPV vaccine. We would understand her argument more if her reasons were not steeped in a patronizing tone in regards to sexuality. She has referred to potential female targets of a vaccination as “innocent,” as if they are little children who should be shielded from sexuality. Her evangelical disposition would only cement this interpretation. Still, it is precisely at the onset of puberty that Gardasil should be administered.

The CDC and other health organizations say that HPV vaccines work the best if given before sexual contact. Thus, the early vaccination age is not about exposing children to sex, but about preventing a serious STI from occurring. This way, consensual, healthy sex can be enjoyed in a safer way when those who are vaccinated are ready.

All in all, the political furor between Bachmann and Perry over Gardasil has been steeped in misinformation and has diminished the importance of the issue. We hope that Vassar students and the general populace see through the damaging rhetoric and educate themselves about HPV vaccines such as Gardasil. If a Vassar student wants to receive Gardasil, they are available at reduced cost at Baldwin. It is still helpful for college students to receive the vaccine, regardless of prior sexual contact. You can call (845) 437-5800 to make an appointment.

—Julian Hassan ’14 is a Baldwin Health Intern and Joshua Solomon ’13 is the outreach coordinator of CHOICE.

ing you that you do in fact deserve your own state. You are happy again! Who cares about the specifics of the Security Council versus the General Assembly? The world has given a loud shout of support for Palestine, and you hope that your life will begin to look less like life under occupation and more like life in a sovereign nation.

But you wake up the next day and realize that nothing on the ground has changed. Due to the U..S veto, the UN cannot recognize your country as one equal to the others in the international arena. And even if there were no veto power, UN membership for the Palestinians would not solve the many contentious issues that make up the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

So what exactly is going to happen after the vote this week? Luckily for me, I have Israeli and Palestinian friends in Jerusalem and I have eagerly asked them this question since I arrived in the city.

A 28-year-old East Jerusalem Palestinian told me that she believes that angry Palestinians in the West Bank will organize demonstrations against Israel. She also told me that these protests could get violent, but she does not foresee Palestinians risking their growing economy by starting a third Intifada.

See PALESTINE on page 12

Health community objects to Bachmann’s comments Michelle Farinella Guest Columnist

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e all know that politicians often make unfounded, inflammatory statements in order to get attention. Most of the time these statements are laughable in their absurdity and do not merit any serious debate or reflection. But what happens when such a statement is no longer just funny and instead has the potential to do serious harm? Then we get Michele Bachmann’s statement about the HPV vaccine. Bachmann’s statement that the HPV vaccine can cause “mental retardation” and that “there are very dangerous consequences” of receiving the vaccine is not a statement that can be ignored. Such a statement is not only completely inaccurate but it can have potentially dangerous consequences for women in the United States.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HPV is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States. Around six million people contract the virus every year and at least 50 percent of sexually active men and women contract the virus at some point in their lives. Often times there are no symptoms of the virus and 90 percent of the time the body’s immune system is able to clear the body of HPV within two years. However, in some cases HPV can lead to genital warts or, more seriously, cervical cancer and other reproductive cancers. Fortunately, there are currently two HPV vaccines on the market (Gardasil and Cervarix) that can be used to protect women against the types of HPV that most often cause cervical cancer. In addition, Gardasil protects women against genital warts.

In the United States, 12,000 women contract cervical cancer every year. Almost all of these cases are caused by HPV. Of these women, 4,000 of them die each year. If enough girls were to receive the HPV vaccine, there is the potential to save thousands of lives from cervical cancer.

In a report released just last month, the Institute of Medicine found that the HPV vaccine was generally safe and that there was no evidence linking it to mental retardation. Additionally, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the CDC and

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

the American Academy of Family Physicians all highly recommend that girls receive the vaccine between the ages of 11 and 12 to help prevent cervical cancer in the future.

Although these medical authorities were quick to make statements touting the vaccine’s safety after Bachmann’s assertion, the damage has already been done. If this statement continues to get press, Bachmann’s false claim will be repeated over and over again in the popular media. Even if the statement is untrue it will constantly be in people’s minds and after a while they may have trouble deciphering the truth for themselves.

Because of the visibility and power that politicians have, it becomes dangerous when they begin making claims about issues that they are not qualified to talk about. One of these issues is the medical efficacy of the HPV vaccine.

Michele Bachmann should stick to discussing topics she understands. Criticizing Rick Perry for using an executive order mandating that sixth-graders in Texas be vaccinated against HPV is a topic that Bachmann can and should debate about. Overreach of executive power is an important issue and one of the reasons the government is set up the way it is. However, calling out the vaccine itself as being unsafe and “dangerous” without any good science backing it up is just irresponsible and unethical.

Politicians have a duty to work for the good of the people and they do no one any good when they instead spread lies.

In later interviews Bachmann claims that in terms of the vaccine’s safety, “I have no idea. I am not a doctor, I’m not a scientist, I’m not a physician. All I was doing is reporting what this woman told me at the debate.” Even Bachmann knows that she is not qualified to make such a statement, yet she did so anyway.

If Bachmann’s only sources of information are hysterical mothers that talk to her at debates, we may have to more seriously start questioning not only her judgment, but her sanity as well.

—Michelle Farinella ’12 is a science, technology and society major. She is co-president of ProHealth.

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OPINIONS

September 22, 2011

Trust in Republican Party trends higher than Democratic GOP continued from page 8 All of this shows a Republican Party which tends more to trust the government even when most of its branches are Democratically controlled, yet which is also susceptible to dramatic mood swings. This contrasts with a Democratic Party whose trend line sits more calmly in the middle. What causes these tendencies? Are people who vote Republican more persuadable by events and amenable to policy changes than people who vote Democrat? How does this contribute to polarization of the political climate?

To answer some of these questions I turned to the campaign platforms of the Democratic and Republican parties during 1960, 1968, 1980 and this year as snapshots, respectively, of a party whose values have largely held firm over the decades, and a party whose goals have morphed into something new and frightening.

In 1960 the Republicans and Democrats weren’t all that far apart. That year, in domestic policy, the GOP called for protection of consumers “against the hazard…of fraudulent and criminal practices in the marketplace,” “continued improvement of our vital transportation network,” “extended coverage of unemployment insurance” and elimination of wasteful farm subsidies—all items that would sound right at home in a modern Democratic platform. On the world stage in 1960, both Democrats and Republicans called for increased cooperation with and faith in the United Nations (UN) and other international institutions; today the UN (at least according to Herman Cain’s deeply informed analysis) just needs to be shaken up.

In 1968, as the Great Society reached its crescendo, the GOP continued to push for big infrastructure improvements, including highspeed rail, and maintained its liberal stance in international issues, vowing support for the International Court of Justice as a world-wide “final arbiter of legal disputes.” The Democrats

were of similar mind once more, explicitly pushing for high-speed rail as part of their economic package, alongside a higher minimum wage and flexible tax policy. Here as in 1960, the disagreements between the two parties had more to do with particular types of regulations and differences (mild by today’s standards) in fiscal and monetary policy.

By 1980 the Republican Party as we know it today began to emerge and solidify. High-speed rail was a non-starter (“Republicans reject the elitist notion that Americans must be forced out of their cars”). Farm subsidies had by this point become a vital plank in the agenda. The GOP explicitly ruled out using recession-prone monetary policy to fight inflation, which happened anyway in 1981. The Democrats, maintaining their commitments to labor, mass transit, infrastructure, international cooperation and human rights, watched as their colleagues across the aisle began their policy drift, a rightward shift which has only accelerated since the election of Barack Obama.

So why, when many of the problems we face today are the same ones we faced as the 1960s came to a close (growing income inequality, stagnancy in household real income, dependence costly and environmentally destructive energy sources, embroilment in regrettable wars of choice, declining schools, rampant lack of health insurance), do Republican voters embrace a set of policy choices so far from what was once accepted as the norm? Why do they dismiss Democratic ideas as socialist conspiracies to destroy the United States? Why, after all this time, is trust so low in the Obama administration despite decades of relative patience?

Perhaps, like so many things in politics, it comes down to perception.

The Democratic Party, as the common wisdom goes, has good ideas to drag the country out of recession, and generally espouses sound, pragmatic principles, but its leaders in Con-

gress and the White House lack the conviction to act on them. The Republican Party suffers no lack of conviction, especially in its Tea Party wing. Fueled by Fox News and a remarkably rigid party line, the cohesiveness of the Republican message, however unsound the party’s actual policies, did an incredible amount to restore the party’s voter base after 2008.

As the common wisdom also goes, anyone making under a million dollars who votes Republican is an idiot. I am disinclined to believe this particular generalization. However, it does seem that, perhaps in part because of the profound policy drift the GOP has experienced, its constituents, who in demographic terms have stayed the same since roughly 1980 (middle-class and educated, white, married, more likely to be male, religious, etc.), have failed to pay attention to the implications of modern GOP policies out of deference to what they perceive as strong convictions GOP leaders show toward certain ideals.

In a time which so desperately lacks accountability on the part of elected officials and business leaders, is it really so surprising to see an audience channel their anger and cheer for the death penalty? Were MSNBC’s audience really cheering for the death penalty per se, or simply for Rick Perry’s charismatic, short-and-sweet defense of his choices and appeal to ultimate justice, Texas-style? One cannot know for sure. In the context of high voter anger, though, individual reactions like this are not surprising, especially given—as mentioned in discussion of the Pew Center’s government trust data—GOP voters’ deep and abrupt swings in attitude as a whole, an effect which can only be amplified during deeply uncertain economic conditions.

“It takes balls to execute an innocent man,” a primary voter declared in 2010 during a focus group for Texas gubernatorial candidate Kay Bailey Hutchison, referring to the case of

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Cameron Todd Willingham.

Such a sentiment is in all ways disgusting.

But by examining it, as well as the applause for 233 other Texan executions and for the death of the uninsured, we can understand the culmination of decades of shift in policy and abuse of trust by the leaders of the Republican Party, the void left by unceasingly feeble Democrats who cannot sell their ideas, and we can see how a stable of Republican candidates and legislators more unabashedly conservative than any in our lifetimes have shifted the terms of discussion beyond all reason despite stubborn economic reality.

The average liberal Democratic voter still believes in roughly the same things he believed in decades ago, his opinions not so dramatically changed by single events as Republicans, his party’s policies essentially intact.

The average conservative Republican voter, now operating as the rugged individualist, has been given less and less by his party of choice to believe in save for the belief that pursuit of his own goals is the ultimate good for himself and for the United States. So it is that the Republican voter dismisses such grandiose calls to collective action as Obama’s jobs speech last week as empty rhetoric at best, or socialist government explosion at worst. So it is that the uninsured are condemned as less deserving of life-saving medical treatment than those more fortunate.

The word republic comes from the Latin res publica, meaning “thing of the public.”

Perhaps in the days of Eisenhower that still meant something to the framers of Republican policy. Today, the word “Republican,” as applied to the party’s leaders and many of its voters, who have shirked the responsibility of evaluating its policies, rings hollow. They are Republicans in name only.

—Lane Kisonak ’13 is a political science major.

September 22, 2011

OPINIONS

Page 11

Davis execution a case of justice denied William Crane

B

Guest Columnist

y the time you read this column, another innocent black man may well have been sacrificed to this nation’s “criminal justice” system.

Troy Davis’ case seems to stand out from many others. He was convicted of killing a police officer, Mark MacPhail, in Savannah, Ga. His trial, which lasted 10 days, took place in 1991, so he has now been on death row for 20 years. His execution is set to go forward on September 21.

According to Davis himself, he was indeed there on the night when MacPhail was murdered in 1989. He stepped in to stop another man, Sylvester Coles, from pistol-whipping a homeless man. Coles was the person who later reported to the police that he saw Davis arguing with the homeless man and testified at his trial.

Since the trial, however, the evidence against Davis has steadily leaked away like so much sand through a sieve. There was never any physical evidence connecting Davis to the murder. Nor did he ever confess. Of the witnesses against him at the trial, seven out of nine have recanted. All of these have stated that the police pressured them to testify against Davis, as there was a rush to obtain an arrest before MacPhail was buried.

One of them, Dorothy Ferrell, gives a typi-

“Since the trial, however, evidence has steadily leaked away like so much sand through a sieve.” cal account: “I was real tired because it was the middle of the night, and I was pregnant, too … I was scared that if I didn’t do what the police wanted me to do, then they would try to lock me up again. I was on parole at the time, and I had just gotten home from being locked up earlier that year. When the police were talking to me, it was like they wanted me to say I saw the shooting and to sign a statement. I wanted to be able to leave, and so I just said what they wanted me to say … I had four children at that time, and I was taking care of them myself. I couldn’t go back to jail. I didn’t have any choice but to get up there and testify to what I said in my earlier statements. So that’s what I did.”

One of the witnesses who did not recant

was Coles, who was originally a suspect himself. Interestingly, Coles had a .38 caliber gun, the same as the weapon that killed MacPhail.

Coles neglected to mention this to the police when he fingered Davis as the killer, but later claimed he had thrown it away in a bush a half hour before the incident in which MacPhail was killed. In addition, three people have come forward saying that Coles confessed to the killing of MacPhail.

For several years after his conviction, Davis was not able to construct an appeal because, in Georgia, criminal defendants are provided with public defenders only up until conviction, and not for appeals. It is only in the past several years that he has been able to step up his defense; however, all appeals to the federal district courts, the Georgia Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court have been denied. Despite an international campaign of solidarity, Davis has not been able to get a new trial to prove his innocence.

All this may seem like an extraordinary instance of justice denied. Yet, there are many elements of Davis’s story that are representative of other stories in the sorry history of the death penalty in the United States, and of the criminal justice system in general.

Just to begin with, Davis is black. From the moment MacPhail, a white man, was murdered in 1989, the police were looking for a See DAVIS on page 12

Georgia must grant Davis a fair trial John Kenney

T

Guest Columnist

roy Davis is set to be executed on Sept.

21, 2011. At the time this article was written this date has not been changed. The United States is one of the few remaining developed countries in the world to employ the death penalty. One of the fundamental tenets America touts in its defense of the practice is that only those who are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt are executed. The case of Troy Davis is one that raises doubt towards this ‘fact.’ Pope Benedict XVI has appealed Davis’ life be spared, while Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President Jimmy Carter have both asked that Davis be given a new trial. What is it about the Davis case that causes such controversy and has seen such action from noted and famous individuals?

The controversy is fueled by the very real possibility that Troy Davis might be innocent. In 1991, Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the shooting of off duty cop Mark Macphail. This harsh penalty was applied to Davis based off of the testimony of nine witnesses. There was no murder weapon nor was there any other physical evidence linking Davis to the crime. Already one

must wonder why such an extreme punishment was applied in a case where there was no quantitative way to prove that Davis had committed the crime. Throughout his arrest, trial and conviction Davis never gave up his claim to innocence.

After the trial was over, seven of the nine witnesses who claimed they saw Davis shoot Macphail recanted or changed their testimony. There is also reason to doubt the testimony of one of the remaining witnesses, Roy Coles, who may actually be the person who killed Mark Macphail. Three witnesses have signed affidavits that say Coles confessed to the crime.

Unfortunately this is not enough for Troy Davis to be given a new trial. I have long been against the death penalty but a case like this only furthers my staunch opposition to the practice. I am not arguing that Troy Davis is innocent, but I am arguing that he is going to be executed without being proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If the state is confident enough in his guilt to stick a needle in his arm, one would think they would also be willing to grant him a new trial with all of the changes that have occurred with regards to the evidence used to convict him in the first place.

The death penalty cannot be taken back, once the punishment has been applied there is no way to fix the mistake of punishing an innocent man. No amount of money or apologies will ever alleviate the fact that the state took away a man’s ultimate right. If one innocent man is executed does that not call for a complete examination of the system. Those who support the death penalty tout the sureness of the legal system in their continued support of the practice. What argument will they have if it is ever discovered that the legal system did make a mistake? Why are they willing to risk the death penalty on a case where so many things are unsure?

Troy Davis may not be innocent. There is a chance he did kill Officer Macphail that night. Davis should be allowed a new trial with what evidence remains to establish his true guilt or innocence in the case. I still won’t rest easy knowing that a man was executed and will continue to voice my opposition to the practice, but at least the State of Georgia can say it exercised all discretion and precaution in its application of the penalty.

What should The Miscellany News cover next?

“Whe the lights in the Retreat won’t turn on.”

Yasmine Saleh ’14

“I would really love to hear more about the inner workings of the VSA”

Nick Pearl ’14

“I dance on Wednesdays.”

Eli Schutze ’12

“I want the Misc to cover a list of what the Misc should cover.”

Brian Muir ’13

— John Kenney ’14 is a student at Vassar College.

ADVERTISEMENT “The origins of the IsraelPalestiine conflict.”

Ian D’Emilia ’13

“The personal history of the [Safety and Security] mustache man.”

Julia Anrather ’13 —Juliana Halpert, Photography Editor Alanna Okun, Humor & Satire Editor

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OPINIONS

Page 12

Outcome of Palestinian plan unsure PALESTINE continued from page 9 When I spoke to a group of 15-year-old Israelis and Palestinians two weeks ago, they all believed that full-out war was inevitable.

And last weekend I spoke to a 23-yearold former member of the Israeli Defense Forces, and when I asked him what would happen in the aftermath of the UN vote, he laughed at me and said, “I seriously have no idea.”

No idea. That’s how I feel about this whole process, and how I think the majority of people around me feel. It is strange, with such a historic moment approaching for Israel and Palestine, yet people do not know what the outcome will look like.

What I do know is that something will change in Jerusalem. Maybe security will be increased around the city. Maybe I will see some anti-Israel protests in East Jerusalem.

Maybe I will hear the shots of rubber bullets trying to stop a violent Palestinian uprising just over the security wall in the West Bank.

And my beloved light rail, the peaceful oasis for all in Jerusalem, will surely not be such a calm shared space for Jerusalemites anymore.

As a 15-year-old Palestinian told me last week as he worried about the aftermath of the UN vote, “I wish we could just skip September and go to October.” Although October may not be so different (but who really knows, anyway) part of me wishes we could skip September too.

—Cory Epstein ’13 is a political science and Jewish studies major. He is currently studying abroad at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Question of race plays central role in state executions

September 22, 2011 ADVERTISEMENT

DAVIS continued from page 11 black suspect to blame.

In fact, it has been clear for a long while that race plays a crucial, and unacceptable, role in deciding who receives the death penalty in the United States. 43 percent of those executed since 1976, when capital punishment was re-legalized, have been people of color, clearly a disproportionate amount. Minorities represent 55 percent of people currently on death row. This is to say nothing of those jurisdictions such as Colorado, in which 80 percent of death row inmates are minorities, or the federal prison system (77 percent), or the U.S. Military (86 percent). A final troubling statistic: since October 2002, 12 white convicts have been executed for killing black victims, while 178 black convicts have been executed for killing white victims.

Clearly as a minimum measure, a moratorium on the death penalty is needed to find out how race affects its application. But that is not nearly all. We need a general examination of capital punishment as part of an examination of the criminal justice system in this country, which privileges punishment over rehabilitation. We need to defeat the kind of system that can rush to judgment in a case like Davis’s, that can apply the maximum punishment while ignoring the many abuses of law enforcement’s power in his case, and that can elect to kill black and other minority convicts many more times than it kills white convicts.

Whether Davis is executed on Wednesday will depend on a small group of people on the Georgia Board of Paroles who have the power to grant a stay. But more than them, it will depend on the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who have signed petitions for clemency, who have marched in emergency demonstrations demanding a stay, and who feel themselves in solidarity with Davis in just a basic human way. It is these people who have the power to overturn the system that wants to put Davis to death on Wednesday, and whether he dies or not, the struggle continues.

As Davis’s sister, Martina Correia, has said, “If Troy is executed he will become even more powerful, because people all around the world are saying, “I AM TROY DAVIS,” and his story will be heard.”

—William Crane ’12 is a member of the International Socialist Organization and an activist in the Campaign to End the Death Penalty. He is an Asian studies major.

Crossword by Jack Mullan ACROSS 1. Prayer’s end 5. Authentic 9. Chute opening?

13. Spanish “but” 14. Roof’s edge 15. Bach’s instrument 16. Jack who preceded Johnny 17. Uno y dos 18. Country formerly Zaire 19. Cat call 21. *2001 film about an FBI superdog?

23. “Illmatic” rapper 26. ___-la-la 27. Founder’s Day month,

often 28. *Caught in a jam?

30. Gluttony, e.g.

31. Unclear 32. Commonly torn knee piece 33. Massage sounds 36. Treasure map phrase... or a hint to the answers of the starred clues 40. Orange potato 41. Unit of resistance 42. Reproductive body 44. Ab__ (from the beginning) 45. *”That’s exactly what I needed”?

47. Bee: prefix

Answers to last week’s puzzle

48. Other Gov’t Agency: Abbr.

49. G.I. address 50. *Snigger-inducing English pudding dish?

54. Territory 56. Calendar that ends in 2012 57. “The Thin Man” pooch 59. Site of Vassar meals 63. “___ anything!”

64. It’s sometimes proper 65. Archeological site 66. Fr. holy women 67. Big brass 68. Tina Fey’s “___ Girls” DOWN 1. Smart phone download 2. ___ mea culpa 3. Pitcher’s stat 4. Standard 5. Sharp comeback 6. Q-Tip target 7. “___ Maria” 8. More’s opposite 9. Stand-in 10. Agriculture & Nat. Res: Abbr.

11. Prego’s competition 12. Soon, poetically 15. Atlantic or Pacific 20. Defunct anesthetic 22. French sociologist Durkheim 23. Maritime org.

24. Coordination loss: Var. 25. Standard deviation symbol

29. Acquisition of the U.S. in the Spanish-American War 30. Coll., e.g.

32. HSBC has on in Main 33. Date with a Dr. 34. Kerfuffle 35. Throat malady 37. “Born of the Fourth of July” hero Ron

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

38. “Dexter” and “Weeds” channel: Abbr.

39. Astronomical red giant 43. Outer: Prefix 44. Offer one’s two cents 45. Jacuzzi 46. Creature with a dewlap 47. John or John Quincy 50. 12/25

51. Sports Division 52. “Chitty Bang Bang” actor Dick Van ____ 53. “Perpetual Peace” thinker 55. Agricultural locale 58. Bygone French coin 60. Pool tool 61. Calendario unit 62. Anderson Cooper’s home

HUMOR & SATIRE

September 22, 2011

Page 13

OPINIONS

GRE: Gritty, Real Experiences How to be classier: Tom Renjillian Columnist

T

he other day I was lying in bed in my boxer briefs, covered in pitachip crumbs and quickly-hardening hummus splotches, chortling along to my I Love Lucy box set when the phone rang.

“I just realized,” my mother panted, “that you’re entirely unemployable.”

“Hello, mother,” I hissed.

“I was just on The Google,” she explained, using a term that she believes to be synonymous with “The Computer.” “It turns out you fucked up your life.” My mother has been known to speak with a degree of bluntness previously observed by psychologists only among sociopaths and those with metal rods lodged in their frontal lobes.

“I’m fine, mother.” I nibbled a clump of hummus that was entwined within my chest hair. “I go to ~*VASSAR*~.”

“Never heard of it,” she told me.

“You’re going nowhere.”

“I have marketable skills. I can define post-modernism! And I used the word ‘hegemony’ twice yesterday.

Sure, it was just in reference to the absolute FASCISM of Eggs All Day, but—” “The job market will eat you alive,” she informed me.

So I signed up to take the GREs. I bought my Princeton Review prep book, spent approximately two hours relearning the elusive art of “math,” and Googled “Which grad school has the BEST frats, the BEST parties and the MOST hotties????”

Despite my intense preparation, I trundled into the test room relatively unprepared: I had no idea what “gauche” or “garrulous” meant and, unfortunately for my chances of getting into a top engineering school, was under the impression that a square root symbol was a division sign and that both could be used in some strange dark art called “PEMDAS.” But I was perhaps more unprepared for the intensely emotional aspect of the GRE. When I signed up for the test I never expected that in just four

hours the test would embroil me in a world of uncertainty, heartlessness and deceit that would lead me to reevaluate my entire value system.

The verbal section of the test, essentially a collection of mad libs for douchebags, asks you to fill in the blanks of sentences with unnecessarily pretentious words. Each question, formatted to mimic a normal everyday sentence about normal everyday people, introduces you to a cast of characters so strange and sadistic that their interactions can’t be described in plain English and must be discussed using only cryptic adjectives of three syllables or more.

In the first question I was introduced to the notoriously “irascible” Marco. A strong contender for the title of World’s Worst Boss, Marco became annoyed at his “loquacious” secretary Fernando and either “excoriated,” “vindicated” or “lubricated” him. Context and common sense might suggest “excoriate,” but who knows what strange perversions are lurking in Marco’s subconscious?

I selected “lubricate” because of a strong hunch that Marco preferred his employees extra slippery.

In the next question I met Julie and Kevin, an adorable couple who, both equally loyal and affectionate and heterosexual, were the “quintessence” of a happy marriage. However, the rest of the test’s characters were nowhere near as morally admirable as Julie and Kevin.

As I went through question after questions, I began to realize that in the world of the GRE, everyone treats each other like shit. Maybe it’s the stress of grad school, or the feelings of alienation and dissatisfaction that must come from existing only within the confines of a standardized test, but either way, these people are assholes. Every question seemed to contain some snide, deeply insulting remark thinly veiled behind a large vocabulary.

Valerie from question three, for example, probably compensating for her own insecurities, described her roommate Helga’s exercise regi-

men as “fatuous”—pun most likely intended—because immediately after running on the elliptical, Helga, that lard ass, insisted on consuming every gluten-free donut at the All Campus Dining Center.

Question 17 relayed some absolutely humiliating gossip about an English major named Cindy. Apparently Cindy, whom I’ve long suspected to be an utter moron, found the poetry of Emily Dickinson to be too “abstruse” for her tiny bird brain. Instead she’s forced to spend her time reading more “lucid” novels by Stephen King. Luckily Cindy, who has the reading comprehension skills of an eighth grader, will never know we’re talking about her.

I won’t say much about the math section because, as my score shows, I essentially slept through it, but amid the seemingly innocuous equations and triangles, something sinister was lurking: our old friend Julie from the verbal section! What’s she doing here, I wondered? Oh, you know, just committing a MORTAL SIN. Once deeply devoted to her husband Kevin, now the impatient little trollop was traveling 50 miles at 80 miles per hour to see none other than Marco, the latent homosexual from question one! (Who, may I add, was less enthused, traveling at a leisurely 45 mph.) Julie—an adulterer. My mind was blown! It seemed like everything I once thought I knew was crumbling around me.

“That settles it!” I exclaimed, climbing onto my chair. “This test is nothing more than a celebration of sin and moral degradation! Is grad school really worth it if it means becoming cruel and heartless? Must the size of one’s vocabulary be inversely proportional to the size of one’s heart????” I pleaded to two confused overachievers from Marist.

I was escorted out of the room.

The next day I went to the Career Development Office, wide-eyed and optimistic, ready to embrace my career opportunities.

“The job market will eat you alive,” they informed me.

Weekly Calendar: 9/15 - 9/21 Thursday, 9/22 3 p.m. Tea. In honor of freshmen parents weekend: things

freshmen do not want their parents to know. Rose Parlor.

5 p.m. Get to Know the CDO. Biblically. Faculty Commons.

that cutie from your chem lab; you can show off your talents for belly-dancing and eating super-hot chili and maybe even buy her a pair of earrings made from Scrabble tiles that she will never ever wear. Raymond Ave.

6:30 p.m. Lobbying Workshop. Because if Vassar students need one thing, it’s lessons on how to most loudly and efficiently get attention. CC MPR.

Friday, 9/23

Sunday, 9/25

3 p.m. Tea. Two words: “co-ed bathrooms.” Three more: “handicapped shower nookie.” Rose Parlor.

9 a.m. PHOCUS Freshmen Parents Weekend Show. “Look, Mom, there’s a photo of me in the dining hall right before I slipped on some errant vegannaise and had to get four stitches in my cheek!” College Center 2nd Floor.

Saturday, 9/24 12 p.m. Arlington Street Fair. The perfect first date with

Jean-Luc Bouchard Guest Columnist

S

alutations and good wishes, my fellow Vassarions, As the son of both the Duchess of Glockenspiral and the architect of the modern toppular hat, I feel it is my duty to bestow upon this campus a much-needed lesson in class. Everyone, from the progeny of nouveau-riche archaeologist supermodels to the people living in Lathrop, can apply these simple, easy-to-learn morsels of scrumptious knowledge to their clearly worse-than-mine lives.

How to be classier: 1. Never stop saying the word “quite.”

Nobody likes a student who slurs through his speech like a colonizer sloshing his way through Zulu swampland. This can easily be fixed by two things: identifying the awkward pauses in your conversation, and then inserting the word “quite.” Saying “quite” every three to four seconds makes you sound like an aficionado on nearly every subject, from Albanian fingerpaint pornography to Viking throw pillows. Example sentences: “Can’t quite read my pokerface, p-ppokerface” or “Cause if you quite like it, you should have put quite a ring on it.”

2. Stop talking to the commoners.

We’ve all been there. You’re having a perfectly nice time with your appropriate friends, and some normie comes along and talks to you. What do you do? We’ve been told many things: Don’t move and it won’t see you, throw some food across the room and run away, or even play dead. Well, from my experience, the best thing you can do is just ignore them. You see, much like our butlers live off the

table scraps and toilet water we give them, commoners live off our trickle-down welfare and attention. Next time this happens to you, simply point in the direction of the nearest “Panera Bread” or “Old Navy” and turn away.

3. Dress to kill.

Literally. If you were truly a classy person, you’d have Arabian thieves and Cockney kidnappers after you 24/seven. If that’s the case, no amount of steroidal, illiterate bodyguards can beat wearing a good old-fashioned killing suit. Tailored in 1943 by 120-year-old Italian warlock out of the softest Egyptian mithril, my own killing suit is a classic example of old-school manufacturing besting new-fangled cyborg implants. Complete with plasma whip, rebel-disintegrator, servant-thrasher and Pan-Dimensional Vortex Inducer (to name a few), my suit keeps me looking suave and alive. Remember: you can’t be classy if you’re dead!

And finally, 4. Choosing the right major

Unfortunately, for all of its perquisites, College of Vassar, Poughkeepsieshire still lacks in its selection of concentrations.

In its least-classy major (Russian) to its most-classy major (Italian), Vassar professors show time and time again a Neanderthalian commitment to academics over class. That’s why I suggest doing an independent major.

I myself am double majoring in fox hunting and monocle studies, with a correlate sequence in desiring instant gratification.

Well, as the kids say: thus ends my succession of counsel.

If what I’ve published helps even one unclassy student out there, I suppose I could sleep soundly tonight on my panda fur mattress. Thank you.

by Alanna Okun, Humor & Satire Editor

8 p.m. Barefoot Monkeys Fire Show. And then you can adjourn to this event for some semi-public hand holding. Nothing says “I want to make out with you” more than watching a kid from your fellow group drop a baton that’s aflame at both ends. Quad.

6 p.m. William Starr Freshman Lecture: Robert Pinsky. Let me get this straight: when the freshmen required reading was by Billy Collins, we got Billy Collins. When it was by Junot Diaz, we got Junot Diaz. So how come when it’s by Elizabeth Bishop, we don’t get ZOMBIE ELIZABETH BISHOP?! There is no good reason. Taylor Hall.

Mr. Bouchard’s guide

Monday, 9/26

6 p.m. Chang-rae Lee Reading. He can chang-rae me any day. (Ew/too dorky for words/whatever.) UpC.

Tuesday, 9/27 3 p.m. Tea. The number of trees in this gorgeous, wellpreserved arboretum of a campus on which they have urinated. Rose Parlor.

5 p.m. U.S. Department of State Info Session. “The first rule of the U.S. Department of State is that you don’t talk about the U.S. Department of State. Also that you have to give Hillary Clinton your Gogurt.” Faculty Commons.

Wednesday, 9/28 1 p.m. Raqs Media Collective. Nice raq*. Taylor Hall. * Why I am I stooping to such lowbrow humor, you may ask? Because any “Media Collective” that feels the need to host an eight-hour lecture could use a dash of boob jokes.

3 p.m. Tea. The fact that even though they promised they’d be

“majoring in econ with pre-med on the side,” they’re taking Intro Women’s Studies, Readings in the Pre-Medieval History of Constantinople and something called “Color.” Rose Parlor.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

3 p.m. Tea. The amount of VCharge purchases they’ve convinced the bookstore cashier to record as “textbooks” when said purchases were actually Twizzlers and lube. Rose Parlor.

ARTS

Page 14

September 22, 2011

Roundabout Ramblers unites faculty, student talent Charlacia Dent

W

Assistant Arts Editor

Courtesy of Turnquist Photography

hen you think about the Vassar faculty, your first thought isn’t a folk-bluegrass band performing, or in their terminology “ramblarizing,” famous covers like “Ring of Fire”

by Johnny Cash or “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses. However, if you just so happen to stop for a quick bite to eat at Babycakes one night or pass through a bar scene near campus, your perception might change.

The Roundabout Ramblers is just this band.

Taking their name from an old student-faculty band—the Raymond Avenue Ramblers, formed back in 1979 before the construction of the roundabout on Raymond Avenue—this second wave of Ramblers has already made quite a name for itself among members of the student, faculty and greater community population since its founding only three years ago.

“This has been a really fun experience, and I am glad that this was how I was introduced to Vassar,” said Assistant Professor of Biology Jennifer Kennell. When Dean of Students David “D.B.” Brown got the idea to restart the group it was like everything fell into place instantaneously. Many of its current members were then new members of the Vassar community.

The Roundabouts is currently made up of six faculty members and two students, all vocalists, who play multiple roles in the group.

Brown, who was one of the founders of the original Ramblers band, is the spokesperson and oldest member. He is a guitarist who is known to specialize in songs associated with the Golden Age of radio. The band houses three professors in the sciences: Kennell, Assistant Professor of Biology Jeremy Davis and Chemistry Department Lab Technician Aaron

Above, the Roundabout Ramblers perform a cover of a famous song. The band is composed of six faculty members, including Dean of Students David “D.B.” Brown on guitar, and two students.

Linder.

Kennell has been playing the fiddle since she was nine years old and continues to play it impressively in the band. Davis plays the accordion, but also secretly plays the coconuts.

And Linder is the bass player that stabilizes the band and holds up its arms.

Professor of Economics Paul Ruud serves as lead guitarist and is known for his ability to challenge the band by introducing different material. Professor of Psychology Randy Cornelius is another one of the Ramblers’ savvy guitarists.

The talented students include seniors Joseph Kim and Erin Donohoe. Kim originally started with the Ramblers as a violinist but has moved on to become the lead mandolin player while Donnahoe succeeds four former female lead singers.

The band is a collaborative one, drawing on the many different influences and talents of its members. “There is not just one style; we try all kinds of things which is one of the greatest things about this band. We work in arrangement around the person singing the song. Folk, blues, jazz, country and bluegrass is all in the

mix,” explained Brown, adding, “I don’t think that there is anyone who does what we do.”

This allows the Ramblers to successfully reach a wide audience of listeners.

“We play songs from the ’30s, ’40s, and ’60s, like ‘All Shook Up’ and songs by Patsy Cline.

Students and parents seem to like the music that we play and I think it is because these are songs that they hear all the time and we always look like we are having a good time performing on stage,” said Brown.

Along with its apparent versatility and diverse elements, the band boasts quite a few notable accomplishments dating back to the days of the old Ramblers. They have performed in Ireland and busked in London. There are also rumors roaming that the early band performed at a bar that burned down the next day, along with a performance that took place on the top of a ski lift. In addition, as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, the Ramblers were awarded the opportunity of opening a show at Vassar for folk phenomenon Pete Seeger around his 91st birthday.

Most importantly, the interaction between students and faculty in the band mirrors one of most rewarding benefits of getting a Vassar education.

“I love being able to meet and be with people I otherwise wouldn’t be, like Professor Cornelius. I’m not in the Psychology Department,” said Kim. While the group enjoys covers, because it gives them a chance to “ramblarize” the songs, a term that just denotes the groups ability to put their own unique twist on a song, it is are looking to create some tunes of its own.

You can catch them at their next performance this Saturday in the Villard Room at 7 p.m. for Freshmen Parents Weekend.

Wildberger one of a kind in dance history, pedagogy Adam Buchsbaum Arts Editor

“I

Courtesy of Kathy Wildberger

started dancing when I was real young and I couldn’t stop,” Katherine Wildberger, Lecturer of Dance and Drama and Assistant Director of the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT), said. “I had a teacher once, his name was Ted Shawn ...

He told me once that I had a heart that was made to dance. It’s carried me through my whole life.”

And a quick biography proves this.

She began her first dance lessons at the tender age of six at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Md. From there, she went on to study under a Denishawn dancer, Carol Lynn.

“I was just loving ballet. It was my dream, because I wanted to be that bird,” Wildberger said. Lynn sent Wildberger to Jacob’s Pillow, a dance festival.

Her time there was a turning point—Wildberger was exposed to modern dance. When she returned, Lynn told her she was different—that she was no longer a ballet dancer.

“And I was just horrified she said that. That’s like being a cellist and being told you play the rattle. But then I started looking at modern dance, and realized, ‘Oh yeah, this is where I belong. This is my element.

This is what I love.’” And to this day, Wildberger dances modern dance.

And so, Wildberger studied at Jacob’s Pillow, where she met Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis, two pioneers of modern dance in the United States. From there, she went onto the Juilliard School on a scholarship.

While a student, she auditioned for the Toronto Dance Theater.

She got in, left the school and became a founding and original member of her new company. She had her first experience with teaching there. The company forced Wildberger to teach, and so she did. “I remember my very first class, I was a wreck,” Wildberger said. “But half-

way through, I loved it. I love teaching now more than performing, and I love my beginners.”

She returned to Baltimore, and settled down there. She joined up with Jeff Duncan, another pioneer of modern dance, and his company named IMPETUS in Baltimore. Simultaneously, she found her own dance company, PATH. She choreographed and danced in her company.

She also began to teach dance at Goucher College.

Duncan died, leaving his legacy and repertoire to Wildberger’s estate.

IMPETUS shut down, as did PATH from lack of funding. Wildberger decided to return to New York. Her friends discouraged her. “‘They’ll kill you. You’ll die in New York. You can’t do this.’ Well, they were wrong.

And then, everything was great.” She continued to teach and choreograph dance there, as well as dance herself.

Wildberger later went to Brazil, to teach Master Classes in Limon Technique and perform her solo concert.

But then her life changed yet again upon her return. “I walked into my apartment in SoHo, and the whole ceiling had fallen in,” she said. “As far as I knew, I had to leave. There was something there. It was such a mess and it was just so horrible to have all your things destroyed.”

A friend offered her a job in Montana, and she left. She taught dance there as a Guest Dancer at the University of Missoula there, and began to work on a dance camp at the Crow reservation. She did this for over seven years, and took Vassar students with her to assist. Then while she was in Montana, a friend of hers at Vassar College gave her a call to mention a new job opening. Wilberger applied, got in and she returned to New York.

Wildberger is now the assistant director of VRDT. Her role includes leading the company’s members through movement and warm-ups,

Assistant Director of the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre Katherine Wildberger, pictured above, began dance lessons at the age of six. Before teaching at Vassar, Wildberger founded her own dance company, entitled PATH, in Baltimore. aswell as choreographing a piece every year. But her role is much more than her title would indicate. “You do what your job entails, but then you fill in in-between,” Wildberger said. “The list would go on forever.”

Troupe members are quite busy, with two sessions a week and rehearsal, just by default. In addition, members must work on their pieces for the VRDT showcase. “So many dancers live in that studio,” Wildberger said. “How many hours does it take to make a dance? You couldn’t even begin.”

Wildberger also teaches Movement for Actors in the Drama Department. “What I am focused on in that class...is getting them to be real physical in their bodies instead of in their heads and in their words,” Wildberger said. “Getting the body to be an instrument.”

The class employs both Laban Fundamentals and a newer idea called Viewpoints, which started in dance. Both techniques are ways to break down, categorize, and more precisely understand how a body moves within and occupies space.

Heightened awareness of the body adds to the reality and effectiveness of performance.

“When you see a performance of Shakespeare, you feel like they’re just talking to you, rather than you’re listening to it unfold in front of you,” Wildberger said. “And a lot of that is the body and how it carries the character. You can’t really pussyfoot about the body. You gotta really be able to be physical about it.”

As for this summer, Wildberger worked at the Salish Kootenai reservation. She, along with others, worked with children on telling and

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

creating their stories through dance, script and body percussion. Wildberger, her fellow teachers, and the children put on a 45-minute production at the grounds. “They started with one of their tribal songs,” she said. “Instead of playing drums, we had them hit basketballs, because they’re so attached to theirs basketballs and their hoop games.”

Dance is everything for Wildberger, and it appears nothing can ever change that. “Your body, it just cries out for it,” Wildberger said. “I can’t imagine life without it. I still dance now at my ripe old age.” Dance is a sublime, beautiful experience.

“When you dance and you’re in the zone...you become that animal, or you become that creature,” she said.

“You have this opportunity to live in this world where you can transform into something else.”

September 22, 2011

ARTS

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Wednesday nights a gay old time at Babycakes Café Shruti Manian

F

Assistant Arts Editor

Courtesy of Alex Brey

or students tired of campus food, taking a little walk across the street to grab a bite at Babycakes is a usual habit. But not everyone knows that every Wednesday night Babycakes transforms into a glitzy, flamboyant nightspot complete with a DJ duo and a massive disco ball. This metamorphosis is for Babycakes’ weekly Gay Night, fondly nicknamed “Gaybycakes.”

Gaybycakes is a two-and-a-half-year-old tradition. The brainchild of one of the managers at Babycakes, these nights have become one of the most popular and eagerly anticipated Babycakes events.

“Gayby night began actually as a one time event when our manager at that time, who just happened to be gay, asked if I would be interested in hosting an afternoon social for members of the gay community,” said Susan Wysocki, the owner of Babycakes. Though Poughkeepsie did have a couple of gay bars and pubs, both of these businesses were affected by the economic downturn and had to close down.

Wysocki thought that hosting an event for the homosexual population of Poughkeepsie was a good business proposition and also essential to creating a warmer, more accepting local community.

Wysocki described the event as a “tremendous success.” Heartened by the positive response, gay nights were chalked in as mainstay on the Babycakes calendar. “Though I am a business woman, I was happy to support the community. I also saw it as a money-making proposition. It was a way to promote the restaurant and bar business and hopefully attract new customers,” said Wysocki, adding, “It has

Every Wednesday night, local favorite Babycakes Café transforms into a hip nightspot for Gay Night, also known as “Gaybycakes.” Attendees can enjoy the DJ stylings of Ryan Doughty and Joshua Taylor. been going strong for about two years and is referred to as Gayby Night or Disco Bakery since we do have music and a disco ball.”

These nights tend to have an eclectic array of events that are entertaining, flashy and sometimes, simply, just over the top. Ranging from Drag Queen Bingo to a Tupperware party with Trixie to something more serious like rallies for gay rights, these nights run the whole gamut of fascinating acts and events. Right now Gaybycakes hosts a regular DJ duo—Ryan Doughty and Joshua Taylor. “The concept was to give the gay community and their friends a place to socialize, network and relax. A place were they would feel welcomed and comfortable without being scrutinized,” said Wysocki.

That Vassar, with its very own and very

Drama alums to share their wisdom, experience on stage Emma Daniels

C

Guest Reporter

Jazz Night brings eclectic, soulful tunes to Thursday

Courtesy of Brian Muir

ontrary to popular belief, there are Vassar alumnae/i besides Meryl Streep ‘71 and Lisa Kudrow ‘85 who are making a big splash in the world of theater and drama. Two in particular are Hannah Bos ’00 and Paul Thureen ’00, members of the Debate Society, a renowned Brooklyn-based theater company that writes and performs in experimental plays.

This coming weekend, Bos and Thureen will be teaching a theater workshop at the Martel Theater Stage on Sept. 24 to 25 from 1 to 5 p.m. each day. Bos said, “Basically we are sharing tools we use to make plays.” Bos and Thureen have a lot of tools to share. In Time Out New York, David Cote said the following about their company: “While the others might employ gestural vocabularies, metacabaret or high-concept lampoon, the Debate Society is carving out a body of work notable for its queasy humor and moody, haunting tableaux.”

The Debate Society was also awarded a Village Voice Best of Award for Best Argument for Devised Theater - 2010. And the Debate Society trio—which includes Bos, Thureen and Oliver Butler—are 2011 Sundance Institute Fellows, meaning the Sundance Institute provides them grants to support their artistic endeavors.

The Debate Society has performed all over the country; past tour destinations include Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; Hartford, Conn.; Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; and Syracuse, N.Y. The group, however, notably got its start right here on the Vassar campus, in a rather unexpected location: the Kenyon squash courts.

Bos said, “We did our senior thesis, ‘A Thought About Raya,’ in the Kenyon squash courts and that has since traveled the country and kind of been the starting point of our company.” The play is developed from the writings of Russian absurdist author Daniil Kharms.

Thureen added, “That was the first play we wrote together, and when we both ended up in NYC a few years after college, we decided to remount it with director Oliver Butler. It was the success of that play that made the three of us start the Debate Society.”

Since its first piece, the trio has written and performed in numerous critically acclaimed plays, including “Buddy Cop 2,” “You’re Wel-

come,” “Cape Disappointment,” “The Eaten Heart” and “The Snow Hen.” Bos said, “Vassar really gave both of us the confidence and the freedom to figure out what we wanted to do. There was space, supportive professors and just a general sense of play and creative energy in the school at the time.”

“The plays are written and developed in a 12- to 18-month time period. According to the Village Voice, once completed and in the performance stage, they are “skillful and gently absurd meditations on art, life and bingo.”

The trio is currently working on two new projects. One, developed with the help of Sundance, is called “The Untitled World’s Fair Play,” and is inspired by the Chicago World Fairs of 1893 and 1933. “The other is ‘Untitled Blood Play’ which is a dark little thriller set in the 1950s,” said Bos. All of Bos’s and Thureen’s current and past projects are connected in some way, shape or form with Vassar. Thureen mentioned the many friends they work with that are Vassar alumnae/i: in particular, their lighting designer, Mike Riggs ’99, and three of their board members. He also noted, “We run into people in the theater/tv/film industry all the time that we know from college. It’s a totally successful and supportive network.”

Bos’s and Thureen’s story will definitely be an inspiring one to the many potential—and sometimes reluctant—drama majors on campus. Their workshop will go over various concepts of theater, such as techniques on working collaboratively, feature a roundtable discussion on professional careers, and conclude with a reception and question and answer session.

When asked what advice he would give to those students, Thureen said, “Take advantage of the resources on campus while you’re here and do something amazing. You’ll never have the same kind of access to time, space, people and strange old planetariums that you’ll have here. It is a dumb profession . . . but a great one,” adding with a chuckle, “So don’t ruin it by shitting where you eat, as Grandma Myrtle used to say. Work very hard, be nice.”

Bos elaborated on Thureen’s point: “You know what?” she mused, “The job market is so terrible and the world is so weird that you might as well be doing what you love.”

prominent homosexual population, is right down the street is only an added bonus. In fact, Wysocki explained that Gayby Nights boasted of students coming in, from all the big schools in and around the area. “We were hoping that the night would draw people from all walks of life but of course based on the fact that there is a strong homosexual presence on the campus we knew that a lot of students would attend.

The great thing is that we have students from all of the local colleges stopping by. Since I and many of my staff are CIA grads we have a good following there. I hope a whole bunch of Vassar students stop by too!” said Wysocki.

What is significant about Gaybycakes is that it gives everyone the opportunity to meet new people. The night provides entertainment to

the homosexual population but is also equally inclusive of anyone else who may wish to join in. In an effort to make the evening more inclusive, Wysocki is considering also naming the event Happy Hours.

Wysocki also emphasizes the importance that local businesses play within a community. “Small businesses are important to the vibe of local communities because we don’t have to follow some of the rules that the corporate players have to follow. I don’t think you will find a Gayby Night at any of the places on Route 9 because it would be against some company policy. Those establishments tend to be very middle of the road to me and not a place where you find unique food, drink and people.

I also have the ability to support lots of local charities because I am the only one that has to approve how my funds are being appropriated!

Independently owned business are what make a neighborhood vibrant and interesting,” said Wysocki.

At the same time Wysocki also noted the fact that there may be members of the community who find her outspoken support for homosexuality off-putting. But she points out that her core philosophy has always been to ensure that Babycakes is a place for everyone to have fun and find something to do. She is also convinced that most of her customers are hardly fazed by the concept and instead appreciate the motive behind it. Summing up the ethos of the event, Wysocki said, “I support equal rights and feel all people should be treated fairly and humanely regardless of race, religion, socioeconomic status and of course, sexual orientation. Gabycakes begins every Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. in Babycakes. It’s one big party, and everyone is invited.

Every other Thursday night, Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) offers Jazz Night in the Mug, as seen above. This year’s Chair of ViCE Jazz Micah Trautmann ’12 seeks to add musical diversity.

Jack Owen

Guest Reporter

J

azz Night has long been a venue for students to cut loose and dance off their academic stress. While its avid attendees have always celebrated this weekly event, new Chair of ViCE Jazz Micah Trautmann ’12 hopes to make Jazz Night only better. “We’re carrying on Jazz Night’s legacy of excellence while at the same time moving it forward,” Trautmann explained.

Last Spring, Jazz Night’s former president Toby Sola ’13 made the strategic decision to move Jazz Night to Thursdays rather than Tuesdays, allowing for high attendance as Thursday signals the start of the weekend for most Vassar students. In turn, Jazz Night and NOViCE now share the Mug’s coveted Thursday night slot, alternating each week.

A bi-weekly Jazz Night allows for better planning and publicity for different bands and, ultimately, greater hype among the student body.

However, Trautmann plans to go beyond

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

just a schedule change to make the event better than ever. “We’re attempting to bring a new understanding of what eclecticism means,” said Trautmann. “Eclecticism can be more than a diversity of genres but rather a diversity of backgrounds.”

Jazz Night will be showcasing bands from distinct parts of the country, highlighting diversity in both musical and regional style. “Music is cultivated around certain historically and musically important areas,” Trautmann furthered. For example, the committee is trying to bring people from as far south as North Carolina and New Orleans.

Students can expect to hear musical styles ranging from Indian funk to bluesy Southern jazz. “Music speaks through one vessel: the soul,” wrote Trautmann in an emailed statement. “Bringing a diversity of regionally based music is an experiment in seeing how different places choose to express that singular emotive core, and yet seeing how it all comes back to one place.”

See JAZZ on page 16

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Page 16

Jazz Nights energized for new year

Pianist Mulhern destined to compose Rachael Borné

B

Arts Editor

y many people’s standards, Connor Mulhern ’14 got his musical start a little late in the game. When he was 11 years old he hovered over a small plastic piano in the grocery store toy isle, pounding out the chords to Coldplay’s “Clocks” over and over again. At that moment, his mother saw the potential and insisted he take piano lessons.

Now heavily involved in arts at Vassar as not only a music major, but also Mahogonny Ensemble accompanist and bass baritone singer in the College Choir, Mulhern explained, “I get annoyed when people claim that if you don’t start playing piano when you’re four, you won’t be able to become a concert pianist,” adding, “What matters is how much time you put into it after you start playing.”

Although today Mulhern is an accomplished and classically trained composer and performer, when he started taking piano lessons, he was adamantly against learning to read music. “I couldn’t even fathom reading music from the page,” he said. “I thought it was so unnatural.”

Mulhern no doubt changed his musical philosophy, making way for a deep-seated interest in creating powerful and captivating compositions. Instead of focusing on writing music instantly deemed “pretty” by its listeners, he is much more concerned with a piece’s evocative qualities. “I’m very impressionistic when I compose. I always think about what kind of emotions I want to convey. I try to think of a concept.”

Two years ago, Mulhern wrote one piece while on a family vacation to the incredibly picturesque Telluride, Colo. The sweeping vistas and sublime natural surroundings inspired him tremendously: “It’s the piece I’m most proud of so far. It isn’t the fastest piece and it isn’t the most provocative, but I feel like it really conveys the sereneness of the landscape,” he explained.

When Mulhern attended the Eastman School of Music summer program, he submitted the composition with his application. Later, the piece was performed by students of the program; however, Mulhern hopes to bring the composition to a new level now that he is studying music full time. “I want to expand the harmony more,” he explained. “I want to turn it into a longer piece.”

Even before Mulhern had that fateful encounter with a small plastic toy piano, pounding out Chris Martin’s alternative rock tunes,

Christie Chea/The Miscellany News

JAZZ continued from page 15 In addition, the Mug’s intimate setting provides the perfect space for these high-energy shows. “I’m most excited about creating an environment that is highly entertaining for the audience and interactive for the bands,” said Trautmann. “The Mug is small and has no stage as a barrier, so bands will walk right into the crowd clapping and involve themselves in a whole musical environment,” Trautmann explained.

Jazz Night kicked off last Thursday with Dr. Ruckus, a jazz and funk fusion band from Burlington, Vt. Trautmann did not want to disclose any of the future bands. “But you can certainly expect a lot of soul,” Trautmann wrote. When asked how Jazz Night will maintain a solid audience, Trautmann answered, “We hope legacy will carry over and we won’t let regular fans down. A lot of peer-to-peer discussion and excitement about upcoming shows is also pivotal. ” By building hype around impending shows through publicity and word of mouth, Jazz Night will likely be more popular than ever.

Joanna Hamer ’12, a regular attendee of Jazz Nights since her freshman year, is overall pleased with the program. “I’m a little less enthusiastic about the move from Tuesday from Thursday, if only because people think of Thursday nights differently from Tuesdays,” Hamer wrote in an emailed statement. “That said, both the Thursday night Jazz Nights that I’ve been to this semester are still the awesome mix of engaged bands and excited crowds.”

For students who love to dance, Jazz Night is widely considered a Thursday night mainstay. “There is certainly an element of danceability, but more importantly an element of vivacity,” Trautmann explained. Students will be able to shake and groove with the band, and in many cases even get to meet and chat with band members once the show is over. “I think the most important part of Jazz Night is that there are live musicians in close proximity to the students who want to hear their music and dance, and that’s what I see still happening,” Hamer wrote.

“I consider Jazz Night to be a parish,” wrote Trautmann, “housed in the holy chapel of ecstatic dance that is the Mug.” Students can attend mass at the next Jazz Night, on Thursday, Sept. 29 at 10 p.m. in the Mug. “We are trying to bring soul back into Jazz Night,” said Trautmann, adding “Expect greatness!”

September 22, 2011

Connor Mulhern ’14, pictured above, started taking piano lessons when he was 11 years old. An aspiring professional composer, Mulhern wrote a piece while on a family vacation in Telluride, Colo. he was incredibly drawn to music. “Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved music. I feel like I enter a different world through music,” he noted.

Disney’s iconic film Fantasia is what first sparked Mulhern’s interest in listening to and appreciating music. “As a child, my eyes were glued to the screen of that film. I watched it so many times that the tape wore out!”

Today, Mulhern has moved far past simply admiring cinematic scores and hopes to someday be a professional composer himself. “I’m not concerned with earning a gigantic living or anything like that. What I would really like is to eventually get to a point where people hear the music I write and say, ‘Oh that sounds like you.’”

And Mulhern is well on his way to finding his distinct and powerful musical voice. According to Naomi Dubin ’12, member of Mahagonny Chorus, Mulhern’s accompaniment

to the group is superb: “I think that one of the qualities that makes connor such a wonderful accompanist to work with—aside from his impressive skills as a pianist—is the fact that he is also a member of the Vassar College Choir,” Dubin explained, adding, “He knows how much an accompanist can actually affect the efficiency and dynamic of a rehearsal.”

As an avid believer in the 10,000-hour theory—arguing that with 10,000 hours of practice at any craft comes mastery—Mulnern undoubtedly shows dogged determination in his field. Though he may have gotten somewhat of a late start at learning the piano, Mulhern’s musical involvement and commitment at Vassar shows no evidence of this. Fellow Vassar Choir member Emma Greenstein ’13 testified to this in an emailed statement, explaining, “His work ethic and attention to detail render him an adept student and composer. He never hesitates to go the extra mile in his work.”

Raqs Media Collective shares experience of New Delhi RAQS continued from page 1 in feel and scope, though it purposely lacks the clarity of journalism. The films highlight an increasingly prevalent intersection between documentary film and contemporary art.

The event’s organizer, Professor of Art and Chair of the Art Department Molly Nesbit ’74, indicated that while she expects the lecture to be a major event on campus, the appeal of Raqs’s work is that it speaks to the ordinary and will likely fit in seamlessly with its surroundings. “They and their work are entering into the ordinary, everyday rhythms of the College,” Nesbit said.

Raqs Media Collective coalesced in 1992 after its three members graduated from the Mass Communications Research Centre at the Jamia Milia Islamia University in Delhi. Since its founding, the group has produced a number of experimental and highly original documentary films that explore urban landscape and livelihood, technology, education, knowledge and creativity. The group has experimented with a huge group of mediums, ranging from video to installation, text-image assemblages to performances, and online media objects.

Nesbit believes that Raqs’s work is immersed in a tradition of 20th-century realism that began with Russian montage filmmak-

ers like Sergei Eisenstein and found its way into the experimental documentary films of the late 20th and 21st century. But despite the group’s engagement with artistic traditions that cut across nationality and time, Raqs’s work nonetheless centers itself around its members’ own personal experiences as residents of New Delhi.

As Sengupta mentioned in one interview, “In a sense we have always seen our work as responding to the city. So, even if it articulates across large cultural distances we have always seen it as an ongoing process of responding to the locality that we live in.”

Triangulations will allow members of Raqs to share stories, methods, notes and research from their work; however, each will remain only half told, leaving room for listeners to fill in voids at their own accord. The presentation looks at the ways the thoughts and dreams of each Raqs member have converged over time.

During the workshop, Raqs will involve participants in the activity of reacting to urban landscapes. Audience members will undertake time travel with urban transports.

The workshop will explore issues of temporality, speed, lag and the pace of stillness in global cities.

Professor of English Amitava Kumar insists that despite Raqs’s preoccupation with its own locality, the group itself is wholly uninterested in the politics of racial and national identity. He argues instead that for Raqs, the nation (India) is not nearly as important a mode of identification as the city (New Delhi), largely because the city is less ideologically charged. And by remaining focused almost entirely on New Delhi and not the surrounding nation, Raqs essentially distances itself from any semblance of nationalist affiliations, according to Kumar, whose remarks surely go against the all too common and assumption that nonwhite artists are more interested in engaging in discourses of cultural and identity politics than in aesthetic innovations.

This choice is particularly clear in a dialogue printed in the book Cinema of Prayoga: Indian Experimental Film and Video 1913-2006.

In it Bagchi explained, “We are interested in the urban landscape, not to draw comparisons with urban locations elsewhere but to see the kind of transformations, the kind of urban norms that are emerging, and the georgaphies these entail.” This is not to suggest, however, that Raqs is not public-minded in its pursuits. Nesbit met the group in January 2004 at the World Social Forum, an annual meet-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ing of civil society organizations committed to counter-hegemonic globalization, a form of globalization that stresses the empowerment of local peoples over the elite. Nesbit believes that Raqs’ engagement with these issues will resonate with Vassar students because of the concern on this campus about how to become conscious global citizens in an increasingly global world. Raqs certainly integrates its own cultural work with these larger questions, but as Kumar explains, the group brings this possibility of public art to life and in doing so, enables its work to speak to the ordinary rather than the grandiose.

“The elusive language is there to muddy the waters,” says Kumar. Kumar and Nesbit both agree that Raqs’s work will be difficult to grasp upon a first viewing, but they also see the Vassar community as up for the challenge.

According to Nesbit, Vassar has a venerable tradition of hosting lecturers who are well ahead of their time: Gertrude Stein in the ’30s, John Cage and Simone de Beauvoir in the ’40s, and Hannah Arendt in the ’70s, to name but a few. Nesbit is sure that Raqs’s work, like anything controversial and different, will resonate with audiences long after the events. She pointed out, “It’s the echo effect that’s going to be interesting.”

ARTS

September 22, 2011

Page 17

Tree of Life attempts filmic greatness Kris Yim

I

Guest Columnist

f Terrence Malick’s wildly unconventional art direction in his latest film, The Tree of Life, can be deemed “experimental,” then the writer-director is indeed a mad scientist, and we’re his hapless test subjects. At times it is indistinguishable from a computer’s screensaver—the film opens with a ghostly flame against a black background—or the Discovery Channel’s Planet Earth. The film is a disappointing cinematic misfire that victimizes its audience with a minimalist script amounting to a vague mishmash of sickeningly slow, pantomimic self-reflection, coupled with pervasive, whispered voice-overs of existential musings. Despite Emmanuel Lubezki’s breathtaking cinematography and Alexandre Desplat’s moving score, The Tree of Life suffers from disorganized creative elements that drown in Malick’s own pretentiousness.

Following a brief prologue, the film centers on Jack O’Brien (Sean Penn), a middleaged metropolitan architect whose success is indicated by his workspace amid sleek, modern skyscrapers. While reminiscing about his childhood, Jack becomes preoccupied by thoughts of his long-dead older brother, and we see the self-absorbed architect sitting, arms crossed, at his work desk or gazing at the cityscape, apparently neglecting his occupational duties. Such prolonged shots of quiet reflection are overly abundant in The Tree of Life and effectively alienate the viewer.

In an attempt to express profound questions of life and existence, the film presents an incoherent nonlinear narrative structure so radical and puzzling that its difficulty rivals that of its themes. The scenes that follow abruptly embark on a journey through space and time, revealing galaxies, nebulae

Campus Canvas

and stars: a sequential order that suggests the creation of the universe. Eventually, as a young, volcanic Earth forms, microscopic life emerges. From the astronomical to the infinitesimal, such opposites are a recurring motif in The Tree of Life: the personal and the objective, mortality and God, the beginning and the end. Just as we acclimate to the poetry of Malick’s unexplained narrative diversion, the film jumps from depicting computer-generated dinosaurs to 1950s suburban Texas. It is this perplexing fragmentation that disorients and further distances the viewer from establishing any sort of emotional connection to the film.

The heart of the film visualizes Jack childhood in a quiet suburban town, where additional opposites are characterized by his unnamed parents. Mr. O’Brien (Brad Pitt) is a harsh disciplinarian who teaches his son that “It takes fierce will to get ahead in this world. If you’re good, people take advantage of you.” On the other hand, Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) is gentle and caring, but passive and subordinate in the face of her husband’s dominance. Much of the film is devoted to representing such household’s power dynamic. Throughout the flashback, instances of whispered voice-overs pervade the film ad nauseam. These whisperings are often nonsensical and even silly, representing inner thoughts that are vaguely directed to the speaker, a family member or perhaps to God. At one point, Mrs. O’Brien whispers, “Love everyone. Every leaf. Every ray of light. Forgive.” Later, a young Jack states, “Mother. Make me good. Brave.” What kind of script is this?

The film slows to a painful crawl: Life is conveyed through either a series of nature shots, shaky handheld-camera shots of children playing around the house or other glimpses of character interactions, the dia-

logue often muted in favor of the soundtrack. Oftentimes the characters, especially Mrs. O’Brien and the young Jack, are shown blankly standing or trudging in apparent deep introspection. As no plot developments are emphasized by the cinematic style, the film can feel like a two-and-a-half-hour-long artistic theatrical trailer.

Malick’s deliberate style renders the characters as lifeless mannequins, mere plot devices whose repressed internal struggles estrange the audience through silence or ineffective voice-overs. Many of the film’s plot elements themselves seem contrived. For instance, the brief window into Jack’s adult life as an architect is completely without significance, and the news of his brother’s death serves no purpose other than as a means to instill grief and prompt the film’s forced philosophical themes. In a French interview published in Le Figaro, even actor Sean Penn expressed confusion during the shoot. “A clearer and more conventional narrative,” he thinks, would have made the film more intelligible.

Of course, it is not merely this type of unconventionality that detracts from the film.

Indeed, it would be easy to dismiss criticisms as mere failures to grasp some of the film’s alleged obscure poeticism. The Tree of Life is a film that touches upon deeply complex metaphysical questions in a way just esoteric enough to feign profundity; thus, its incoherence stems from this conscious choice to forego narrative clarity for artistic reasons. By doing so, it presents an irresistible, empty canvas for rhetoricians and clueless armchair film theorists to inflate its pseudophilosophical insinuations with an array of vaguely plausible interpretations. Malick’s creative failures are unfair to the film’s cinematographic and musical merits. In The Tree of Life, the sum is lesser than its parts.

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

“D’Angelo.”

Andres Estela ’13

“Walkabout by Atlas Sounds Ft. Noah Lennox.”

Kevin Lozano ’15

“I’m listening to the cicadas.”

Ricardo Alvarez ’13

submit to misc@vassar.edu

“After a music sharing party-Andrew Bird, Guster, Local Natives. ”

Naomi Dann ’14

“The conversation behind me!”

Deidre Kilgore ’15 Courtesy of Olivia May

Across the river he waits Plump with opportunity, Beckoning with gold-ringed arms Shaking the vine that exhales, Full-baited and ever-satiated with round mouths Of temptation

Across the river he taunts What of what lies under my skin Could compare with the rolling hips Of the hills beyond his clacketting teeth And the plum cheek Of the arch-backed harvest

Across the river there is silence And no silence but that of distance The ineffable tang of unreachable palms Between my limbs and under swollen tongue All hollow but the clamor Of plum pits thrown at my feet —Olivia May ’14

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

“Surface rock on Big Fun. Monday Nights 12-1 AM WVKR.”

Tiffany Shi ’12 —Rachael Borné Arts Editor

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Page 18

September 22, 2011

New sports, House Cup enhance intramurals program Corey Cohn

Sports Editor

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House Cup Pits Dorm against Dorm

The intramural sports will be one of many activities that determine points for the inaugural Brewers House Cup. The Cup, which will take place over the duration of the 20112012 academic year, is designed to identify the house that most actively participates in campus events.

This contest is the brainchild of Terry Hanlon, House Advisor for Cushing and Noyes Houses and Assistant Director for Residential Wellness Programs. New to Vassar this year, Hanlon explained that the residential setup on campus suggested to him that such an event would be well received.

“The system is really conducive [for the House Cup],” he said. “It’s also a good way for seniors to reconnect to the houses they feel most affiliated with.” To clarify, while underclassmen will represent the houses in which they currently reside, students living in the Town Houses, Terrace Apartments and South Commons can choose the dorm they want to play for.

Points will be accumulated through a number of activities, a few of which have already taken place. During their training period, House Teams competed in a game of water ball, in which a can hung down from a string linking two trees, and two competing House Teams tried to spray the can (using a hose) to the tree opposite from them, a reverse tug-of-war of sorts. Strong House won that event.

The House Teams also competed in a talent competition, entitled, So You Think You Can….

Cushing House won this contest, which was judged by the senior housing managers. The annual Serenading event, a longtime Vassar tradition, was also counted towards the House Cup. Noyes was declared the winner, although Hanlon observed that the Cup appeared to provide extra incentive. “Joss [House] usually doesn’t participate, but they did this year,” he remarked.

Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

his year brings changes to Vassar’s intramural sports program that are designed to increase participation and enthusiasm for the recreational outlet. More sports will be offered and the competitions will be an element of the Brewers House Cup, a new year-long contest in which the nine campus houses will vie to accrue the most points in a variety of activities.

Now running the intramurals is Program Director Roman Czula, who first held this position from 1975 to 1991. He plans on approaching the intramurals the same way he does the Life Fitness Program, which he also oversees. “It’s going to be patterned [the same way],” he said.

“We’ll send out information, get responses and tailor to those responses.”

The students who plan to participate will have plenty to respond to right away. The fall semester features 10 intramural sports. In addition to staple games from last year—like soccer, volleyball and three-on-three basketball—new sports being offered include intramural squash, bowling and dodgeball. The spring semester will include additional sports, like softball and possibly football.

Men’s Lacrosse Head Coach Joe Proud will supervise the on-field play during the fall semester, while women’s soccer Head Coach Richard Moller will take over in the spring.

Every intramural sport is designed to accommodate players of all skill levels. While most of the individual sports will include competition in the form of challenge ladders, there will be separate ladders for participants in the beginner/low-intermediate class and the intermediate/advanced level. The team sports will be divided into recreational and competitive leagues.

In addition to these regularly scheduled games, there will also be the Jesse Lam ’03 Cup, a special event designed to find the fastest and strongest Vassar College students. Named in honor of Lam (a former men’s volleyball player known for his strength and speed), the contest will consist of two separate trials. The strength competition will take place on the seated overhead press machine in the Fitness Center and will require one repetition of the maximum weight each participant can lift. The speed competition will consist of a half-mile run on the Prentiss Field track, with the runners being ranked by completion time.

Winners that will be awarded during the Jesse Lam ’03 Cup include the strongest male and female student (varsity and non-varsity), the fastest male and female student (varsity and non-varsity), and the male and female student (varsity and non-varsity) with the best combined score from both events. Czula is still tak-

ing names of students who want to participate.

Czula is hoping that the increased variety will make the intramurals appeal to a wider range of students. He believes the program is important for those who don’t participate on a Vassar sports team but still enjoy getting time on the court or field. “There is a huge number of students who aren’t varsity-caliber but love to play,” he explained. “It fills an important niche for a great majority.”

Czula also stressed the importance of students providing feedback. He’s open to suggestions as to how the program can improve. “We make the opportunities available,” he said, “but it’s up to students to respond.”

Above, students enjoy a game of three-on-three basketball. Three-on-three basketball is one of many intramural sports that Program Director Roman Czula intends to include in the Brewer House Cup. There are several events planned for the rest of the year, designed to range across a variety of interests. One idea is a 48-hour film project, in which participants will receive a given genre, prop and line and have two days to write, direct and edit a movie. Other possibilities include trivia contests, a Wii Sports tournament and dance shows.

Hanlon emphasized that the House Cup will incorporate already existing events at Vassar.

“We want to support things that other offices are doing,” he explained. Current plans refer to the Halloween Fun Run, the Student-Faculty Basketball Game and fundraisers like Relay for Life as possible events for which House Cup points can be awarded for participation.

Harry Potter fans will recognize the House Cup as the same year-long contest in which students representing Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin Houses competed.

While Hanlon acknowledged the inspiration,

he also made it clear there are some differences. “No points will be deducted,” he said to provide an example.

Signs will be posted in all the houses to update residents of the current House Cup standings. Hanlon hopes to put something up in the College Center as well, along with possibly an online correspondence. In homage to Potter and Vassar’s strong embrace of the wizarding book series, he’s toyed with the idea of incorporating hourglasses into these scoreboards.

Ultimately, Hanlon hopes the Brewers House Cup will be something that engages the students from now until May. “My goal is that it fosters a sense of house pride that students feel in the beginning of the year throughout the whole year,” he said. Being new to the school himself, he already values being a Brewer. “I’ve taken [Vassar] as my new home,” Hanlon said, “and I hope that is reinforced for all Vassar students.”

Coach’s value athletics’ role in liberal arts education Kristine Olson

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Assistant Sports Editor

t Vassar College, a liberal arts education and limitless opportunities for personal growth are strongly emphasized. For this reason, it is both curious and fitting that there lacks a “sports culture,” common among other colleges and universities of varied academic reputations.

To address the question of where sports, specifically varsity athletics, fit into the identity of the Vassar community, five coaches— Head Coaches Andy Jennings (men’s soccer), Bruce Gillman (men’s and women’s fencing), James McCowan ’96 (men’s and women’s cross country and track and field), Judy Finerghty (women’s lacrosse) and Tony Brown (men’s and women’s rugby)—offered their stance.

To provide context, Jennings, who also served as Director of Athletics from 1990-2004, provided an epistemological view of Vassar’s fundamental dedication and commitment to athletics as a component of a liberal arts education. The Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film, the Aula, Kenyon Hall and Walker Field House all used to be Vassar’s main gym. Today it is the Athletic Fitness Center, which Jennings created the master plan for in 1994.

Commitment is a primary component of Vassar in terms of academics and atheletics. It is a commitment Jennings attributes to Matthew Vassar, Milo Jewett and Fran Ferguson, whose

own commitment as founders and educators to physical education accounts for the development of athletic facilities and staff since Vassar College’s early years.

As Jennings explained, “Vassar’s athletic facilities are the environment that aids students in realizing their potential.” For McCowan, who attended Vassar before today’s facilities were available and was still named an All-American, it is important to emphasize the privileges that athletic facilities and staff are to student-athletes. “I’ll never let them take it for granted,” said McCowan.

According to McCowan, commitment to physical education and varsity athletics is also a commitment to the recognition of the mindbody relationship, the education of self, and finding one’s own path in life. Gillman shares this sentiment, noting that Vassar’s commitment to openness and diversity is reflected in the Athletics Department, which, like the liberal arts curriculum, provides different paths and avenues in life and an opportunity for people to learn a different way of thinking and living.

Because he was a student-athlete at Vassar, McCowan presents a unique perspective on the Vassar experience and the philosophy of liberal arts and athletics as an educational process.

“Division III athletics are not about competitiveness,” he said. “We are highly competitive, but we’re using sports as an educational tool here at Vassar.” He continued, “What a lot of

people don’t know or forget is that coaches at Vassar are educators; we’re faculty.”

“Because Vassar doesn’t have a core curriculum, you can take classes because you want to and that doesn’t diminish their quality,” he observed, “and in the same way, student-athletes choose to play a particular sport.”

At a Division III school like Vassar (DIII designates non-scholarship athletic programs), coaches must address academics. Where a Pac12 conference university will hire a football coach to take the team to a National Championship and focus on nothing but the game and the improvement of his or her athletes as athletes, a coach at Vassar is faced with scheduling conflicts and the priority of academic course-work over athletic training. This dichotomy prompts Vassar coaches to take part in a dialogue with their student-athletes characterized by awareness and flexibility concerning the relationship between academics and athletics.

Finerghty touched on the complexity of athletics and athletes at Vassar (and other academic institutions) that is often overlooked.

“The game is just a small part of what we do,” she said. “The day-to-day activities and preparation are the bulk of the program. I approach coaching like academics. Athletics are an educational experience,” said Finerghty, who in her 18 years at Vassar has coached field hockey and lacrosse in addition to teaching beginning swimming, flag football, basketball and funda-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

mentals of conditioning. She is now teaching two physical education courses: Introduction to Athletic Injuries and Nutrition and Exercise.

To a coach and educator like Finerghty, student-athletes are viewed as thinkers even when they approach athletics.

Finerghty and her colleagues place special emphasis on time management, accountability and expectations. As McCowan, Jennings, Gillman, Brown and Finerghty all note, it is up to each student-athlete to make decisions and choose his/her own path. There is a sense of responsibility for oneself and one’s teammates and an awareness of consequences that each student-athlete encounters.

In season, Gillman’s priorities for his student-athletes are academics, fencing and all else—in that order. For Jennings, it is up to his soccer players to choose what their priorities are at any given moment with recognition that their choices affect the team.

These perspectives of experienced coaches, present a holistic view of athletics within the sphere of liberal arts education. Despite these coaches’ views, several expressed that an apprehension toward “jockification” remains at Vassar. Jennings exemplified this worry by sharing that, as a House Fellow in the 1990s, “to diversity, students said yes; but to athletes, they said no because they were worried the presence of athletics would change the meaning of the school.”

SPORTS

September 22, 2011

Page 19

Brands provide athletes creative outlet Andy Marmer

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Sports Editor

t is becoming an increasingly commonly held verity in the world of sports entertainment that when an athlete attains a certain level of celebrity and cultural relevance, he becomes but a vessel for a “brand.” By “brand,” I refer neither to the profusion of endorsement deals available to today’s athletes nor to the age-old practice of professional athletes inserting themselves into Hollywood tabloid headlines (I’m looking right at you, Kris Humphries), but rather the constructed and controlled public identity to which modern athletes are now beholden. In such an overwhelmingly mediated era, a successful brand is the principal way in which athletes commoditize their image.

What is so fascinating about the current phenomenon of branding in sports is the remarkable amount of creative liberty it affords athletes (and their PR team). A brand is not inscribed upon the athlete by an eager press searching for a story, and it is not the result of the fans collectively defining what the athlete is to mean to them. Instead, it is the athletes who create their own iconography. Armed with Twitter feeds and choicely worded press conferences, athletes carve out the narrative they find most fitting, casting themselves in whatever role they choose.

Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest casts himself as the affable lunatic; New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, the quiet, heroic torchbearer of a winning tradition; and Philadelphia Eagles QB Michael Vick, once a felon, is now a study in personal reclamation and redemption. A brand is almost entirely self-generated, self-promoted and self-aware.

Branding has become a constitutive part of what it means to be a professional athlete, and athletes, not unlike politicians, must de-

fine themselves, lest someone else do it for them. There is thus a gaping chasm between what an athlete is and what he purports himself to be, and everyone involved at least implicitly understands this.

The (most-likely intended) upshot of an athlete’s brand is that it bleeds into our cultural perception of everything the athlete does professionally. We know that it’s artificial, yet we treat it as though it’s the real deal, truly the essence of who that athlete is. Favorable branding is what creates our heroes in contemporary sports lore. Certainly, we base our judgments chiefly on what we witness on the playing field, yet even that is but a refraction of a calculated brand. For an obvious example, Miami Heat forward LeBron James spent the first seven years of his basketball career being consistently heralded as the ideal teammate, someone whose virtuosic talents were underscored by his capacity to make his teammates better. His Cleveland teams were regarded as overachievers, leading the league in wins in 2009 and 2010 in spite of the truly average players that made up the rest of the roster (including center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, guard Daniel Gibson and guard Mo Williams). A 6’8” forward of unprecedented athleticism, James was also a gifted passer who was comfortable facilitating a team’s offensive scheme, even though he could just as easily explode to the rim at will.

All of this corresponded with his brand perfectly. Every assist was framed as a gesture of good faith in his teammates, who, emboldened by this display of trust, consequently maximized their potential. Any team success was credited to the infinite intangibles that James brought to the team dynamic both on and off the court. When his teams lost, it was always in spite of his performance, never

because of him. Yet when James’ brand imploded as he took his talents to South Beach to play for the Heat with superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, he not only lost endorsement deals, jersey sales and credibility in the court of public opinion, but he also lost control of the way we view his game.

He had hoped he could be viewed as a tragic figure; instead, he was viewed as a coward and a villain. Suddenly, the same proficiency in passing upon which he had built his reputation was evidence of an all-to-deferential approach to the game, a lack of a “killer instinct.” Our collective inclination to applaud him in his pyrrhic victories was supplanted by a desire to rejoice in his defeats. We began to hate him—everything he now seemed to be was contemptuous.

Branding defines players, but it also blurs a critical distinction between authenticity and insincerity. Due to the pervasiveness of branding, we are increasingly unable to see where the public image ends and the athlete begins. What seems real and honest could just as easily be contrivance, and vice versa.

How are we, as faithful and attentive fans, supposed to interpret an appearance that an athlete makes at a charity event? It could be a genuine act of charity, or it could be just another event, fully servicing the ego of a calculated brand. We often give our heroes the benefit of the doubt and presume that they are acting out of an earnestness and realness, but should we allow ourselves to be so willfully ignorant? Alternatively, where’s the satisfaction in regarding a charity appearance with categorical skepticism? And does this cynicism not occlude our appreciation of moments of realness that do occur? The question of how to detect authenticity in sports is important, and regrettably, I don’t have an answer.

Sports Briefs Vassar names new Strength and Conditioning Coach

Men’s soccer prepares for Liberty League play

Men’s and women’s rugby have dominant weekend

This past Sunday, the men’s and women’s rugby team both hosted Hofstra University. Both Vassar teams outscored their opponents by a total of 135-5, with the men’s team winning 64-0 and the women’s squad

Courtesy of Sports Information

This past Tuesday Andrew Sweet was named the first-ever Vassar head strength and conditioning coach. Sweet, a certified strength and conditioning specialist who is also a member of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, will work with Vassar’s teams to help improve performances in the always-competitive Liberty League.

Sweet graduated from Liberty League rival Hobart College in 2006, where he majored in history and movement science. Sweet spent four years on the Statesmen’s football team.

After graduation—and during the summer while in school— Sweet worked as a conditioning coach for Strength in Motion from 2002-2010, while also earning a Masters in Education from the University of Syracuse. At Strength in Motion, Sweet was responsible for performance testing athletes as well as for creating workout programs for high school and college athletes.

Vassar Director of Athletics and Physical Education Dr. Sharon Beverly explained, “It represents another significant show of support and commitment the College has made toward improving the athletics program.” (“Andrew Sweet Named Head Strength and Conditioning Coach,” vassarathletics.com 9.20.11).

The position of strength and conditioning coach was funded by the President’s Athletics Endowment Fund.

The men’s soccer team played their final non-conference games prior to the start of Liberty League play. Last Friday, Sept. 16 the Brewers shut out Maritime College 4-0, before dropping a contest by the same score to No. 1 nationally ranked Christopher Newport University on Sept. 18.

In the first contest, Captain Ross Macklin ’13 wasted little time putting the Brewers up 1-0 in the eighth minute off of a free kick. Sam Erlichson-McCarthy ’12 made the score 2-0 just eight minutes later and from there Vassar cruised. Freshmen Tom Weichert and Robert Torrence each scored their second goals of the year in the second half.

Vassar also showed a strong performance on the defensive side of the ball, allowing just three shots—only one of which was on goal.

The Brewers carried over the strong play to their next game, where for 45 minutes they played even with the top Division III team in the country.

Although Christopher Newport scored four times in the second half, Vassar managed 14 shots in the contest and forced four saves from the Captains’ keeper.

Vassar will begin Liberty League play on Saturday, traveling to Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Zander Mrlik ’13, who plays defense and midfield for the men’s soccer team, fights an opponent for control of the ball at a recent game. winning 71-5. On the men’s side, seven Vassar players scored tries, with Andrew Jdaydani ’14 leading the way with three.

The women’s team was led by O’Mara Taylor ’12 with five tries, while four of her teammates recorded multi-try games. The women’s side will host Rutgers University on Saturday, while the men’s team travels to William Paterson University on Sunday.

Women’s golf takes sixth at NYU

The women’s golf team tied host New York University (NYU) for sixth at the NYU Invitational with a score of 687— one behind fifth place SUNY Cortland. Nicole Bronson ’13 led

the way, finishing in ninth place with a two-day score of 161.

Men’s tennis sweeps Bard

The men’s tennis team swept rival Bard College 9-0 this past Friday at Bard. The Brewers did not drop a set in the match.

In doubles, all three Brewers teams picked up 8-1 victories. In the singles matches, sophomore Wilson Platt and freshman Christian Lyon each picked up their first collegiate victories, 6-0, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-1 respectively.

Field hockey earns third win

Enya Cunningham ’15 scored both goals as the Vassar field hockey team overcame Mercy College 2-0 last Friday.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

NFL picks for Week Three against spread Andy Sussman

O

Columnist

ne way to enjoy every NFL game is to actually love football, but that is not the only option. Hence, here are my predictions for every game set to take place during Week 3, versus the point spread. As always, home teams are in caps.

CINCINNATI (-2.5) over San Francisco: Bengals rookie quarterback Andy Dalton has played rather well so far this season, having yet to throw an interception. The 49ers, meanwhile, continue to employ veteran Alex Smith and his increasingly small hands as their starting QB. Seventh year is a charm, 49ers, keep telling yourself that!

BUFFALO (+9) over New England: Both of these teams are currently 2-0. While it’s certainly not surprising to see the Patriots undefeated, Ryan Fitzpatrick of the Bills has thrown seven touchdown passes in his first two games. Still, Buffalo gets no credit from the line setters, who think that “Ryan Fitzpatrick” is a pseudonym for Trent Edwards.

NEW ORLEANS (-4) over Houston: Drew Brees is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. The Texans have one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL. PHILEDELPHIA (-5.5) over New York Giants: Two words for the Eagles: comeback game.

Miami (+2.5) over CLEVELAND: The Dolphins are by no means a good team, but they still have enough talent to beat the Browns fairly handily.

Denver (+7) over TENNESSEE: Yes, the Titans did have a nice win at home against Baltimore last week. Still, this is the same team that lost to the pitiful Jacksonville Jaguars the week before.

Detroit (-3.5) over MINNESOTA: The Lions are 2-0, and the Vikings are 0-2. If Brett Favre were alive to see this, he would be shaking his head in sadness. Actually, what am I saying? He would be on the Lions by now.

CAROLINA (-3.5) over Jacksonville: At some point, Cam Newton has to lead the Panthers to a victory. After all, if he throws for 6,000 yards in a season and doesn’t get a win, he’ll simply be known as Jon Kitna. Meanwhile, Jacksonville would kill to have Jon Kitna.

SAN DIEGO (-14.5) over Kansas City: Honestly, this line could be twice as high in favor of the Chargers and I’d still go against Kansas City.

New York Jets (-3.5) over OAKLAND: Let me make something clear here: I am in no way endorsing Mark Sanchez as a quarterback in any league where footballs are a part of the game.

However, the Jets’ defense is about as close to dominant as you can get, and the Raiders have been playing a bit over their heads—kind of like how Jamarcus Russell’s passes used to go way over Louis Murphy’s head.

Baltimore (-3.5) over ST. LOUIS: Similar to the Eagles, the Ravens desperately want to avenge a bad loss last week, in this case to the Tennessee Titans. Even if the Rams lose to become 0-3, they will still be close to clinching the NFC West division.

Atlanta (+1.5) over TAMPA BAY: The Falcons showed that they are not to be messed with when they knocked Michael Vick out of the game on Sunday.

Arizona (-3) over SEATTLE: Can both teams lose the same game?

Green Bay (-3.5) over CHICAGO: The defending-champion Packers have continued to run on all cylinders on offense, starting the season 2-0.

Pittsburgh (-10.5) over INDIANAPOLIS: Honestly, I feel bad for Colts fans. Peyton Manning looks like he will miss the entire season due to a neck surgery, and worse, it looks like Kerry Collins is completely healthy and won’t miss any snaps at all.

DALLAS (-5.5) over Washington: Tony Romo made a heroic comeback last week when he returned from a brutal injury to his ribs to lead the Cowboys to an overtime victory over the 49ers. However, even if Romo misses the next game, Jon Kitna will start, causing the Redskins’ defense to go into shock that he’s still in the league.

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September 22, 2011

Women’s soccer prepares for Liberty League season Jesse Hartman Guest Reporter

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Kat Mehocic/The Miscellany News

ith a core of upperclassmen leaders and some outstanding play by underclassmen, freshmen in particular, the Vassar women’s soccer team looks poised to make another deep Liberty League run. At 4-3 (as of Sept. 20), the team is ready for conference play, hoping to build on last season’s success.

Last year proved to be one of the team’s best, with a deep playoff run and a stellar 5-2 record in the Liberty League. Part of the success for the Brewers last season was an outstanding 6-1-1 home record. Going into this season, the Brewers and fans alike wanted to see a continuation of the program’s recent progress.

After suffering a tough overtime loss to Western Connecticut State University on Wednesday, Sept. 7, the Brewers had a week to prepare for their home opener against Stevens Institute of Technology. Coming into their first home game of the season, the Brewers were sitting at .500 with a record of 2-2, with both losses by a single goal.

With plenty of loud and cheering fans lining the bleachers at Gordon Field, the Brewers kicked off their first home game of the 2011-2012 campaign. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the young team—six freshmen and two sophomores started—to fall behind as Stevens’ Brittany Odgers notched a goal within the opening minute. However, the Brewers showed moxie and refused to give in to the early setback.

Freshman phenomenon Kelsey Domb tallied

her third goal of the season, off a cross from Alex Grant ’12, to tie the game at one. Although the Brewers would eventually be foiled by a golden goal in the overtime period, losing the game 2-1, the Vassar faithful supported them the whole way.

Undeterred by back-to-back overtime losses, the Brewers regained their mojo in a 3-1 victory over New York University with contributions by several younger members on the team. After the Brewers allowed another early goal, Domb once again showed her offensive prowess just two minutes later, heading home her teamleading fourth goal of the season off a cross from Tessa Verbanic ’12. Chloe Wheeler ’15 also got in on the action, scoring the first goal of her Vassar career in the 27th minute. Wheeler also assisted Sheeva Seyfi ’14 on her first goal of the season—a blast that ricocheted off the keeper’s hands.

The Brewers, with regained momentum and newfound confidence, were determined to make their second home game a success. Vassar gave its eager fans exactly what they were looking for. Although the Brewers fell behind early, Captain Alix Zongrone ’12 knotted the contest just a minute later, volleying a corner kick from Sarah Bourenane ’15 into the back of the net. Seyfi gave Vassar the lead 15 minutes later, depositing the ball in the lower-right corner of the net. Although Vassar outshot their opponents 16-3, they led just 2-1 at the half.

The Brewers maintained the pace in the second period with 16 shots to zero from Elms

Midfielder Kelsey Domb ’15 competes against an Elms College opponent for possession of the ball.

Coming back from a loss in their first home game, the Brewers defeated Elm 6-1 in a Sept. 17 game.

College. The Brewers’ offensive onslaught produced four goals in the half. Kylie Ladenberger ’14 scored first in the half. Seyfi also continued her dominance, scoring the next two Vassar goals, the latter a header off of a Verbanic free kick. Gavriella Kaplan ’14 concluded the impressive showing, tapping in the team’s final goal of the day. Lily Lanier ’15, normally a defender, made her first start in goal.

Maier embraces senior leadership role Sets high goals for field hockey teammates Alicia Salvino

A

Guest Reporter

SCOREBOARD Sept. 16 FIELD HOCKEY VASSAR

Alex Schlesinger/The Miscellany News

fter a tentative start to her Vassar field hockey career, Captain Emily Maier ’12 has embraced her role as both a leader and one of the team’s top offensive threats.

Explained Head Coach Cara Dunn in an emailed statement, “Her game sense is unmatched, and her drive to show our opponents that we are an attacking team.”

Maier came to Vassar from Spackenkill High School in Poughkeepsie, where in her senior year there were barely enough players to field a team. Still, Maier took away valuable lessons from her high school playing days. She wrote in an emailed statement, “First, I learned the value of being in shape, because we had no substitutes. I also learned to be patient with my teammates and how to lead by example.” Given the state of her high school program, Maier was at first apprehensive about playing at Vassar. She wrote, “When I got to Vassar, I was initially very humbled by my new teammates. Most came from winning teams and had played on various travel teams. I felt like I was a few steps behind, but that gave me more motivation to work hard and to improve to their level.”

Maier overcame her initial inhibitions, and her confidence, fitness and skills rose as she continued to play. As a result, she led the team in scoring her junior year with five goals and three assists.

Maier has transformed herself on more than just the field, growing—along with fellow Captains Libby Feltch ’12 and Rebecca Smith ’13—into one of the team’s leaders. Dunn explained, “[Maier] leads by example; she works incredibly hard at every practice and in every game.” She elaborated, “[Maier]’s greatest strengths revolve around her being a true team player. She works hard for her team to be better, and she is a genuine leader.”

Maier is off to a strong start this year, having recorded two goals and two assists in the team’s first five games. Her first goal of the year came in the team’s opening game. Hers was the lone Vassar goal of a 3-1 loss to Hartwick College.

Her goal against Hartwick was no surprise as Maier picked up just where she left off the previous season. In last season’s finale against Scranton University, she notched the game-winning goal, giv-

Just about halfway through the season, the Brewers seem to be springboarding off of last year’s success with a 4-3 record in non-conference play. This mark is even more impressive when considering all three losses were by just one goal and two of them were in overtime. The team appears to be hitting its stride at a perfect juncture in the season, as Liberty League play starts Saturday.

Emily Maier ’12, captain and forward on the women’s field hockey team, has played sports since elementary school. Off to a strong year, she has already recorded two goals and two assists. ing Vassar a 2-1 victory, a moment which she counts among her favorites. She wrote, “It was such a satisfying feeling.”

Maier has lofty goals for her final season. As captain, she hopes to help lead the team from a 3-14 record just a year ago to a .500 winning percentage and at least four Liberty League victories. From a personal standpoint, Maier is thinking big as well. She wrote, “I’d like to score 10-plus goals and even get [named] Liberty League Offensive Player of the Week.”

Dunn also has set high goals for the senior. She elaborated, “Our goals for [Maier] include keeping high intensity on the forward line, to set up her teammates for shots, create offensive corners and of course, score!”

Since elementary school, playing sports has always been a large component of Maier’s life, and she knew that it was something she wanted to continue. She explained, “I have played sports year-round since elementary school, so I couldn’t imagine suddenly giving it up just because I graduated from high school.” Despite having previously considered playing college basketball, she lost interest before coming to Vassar. Maier finally decided to focus on

field hockey and began looking into teams as part of her college selection process.

While she did not look into athletics as a requirement for her college experience, she explained that “if I ended up at a school that I could play for, then I would give it a shot.”

The decision to play field hockey at Vassar has shaped Maier’s college experience significantly. She has found the team to provide a sense of family. She wrote, “My closest friends are teammates, and my best memories have been from spending time with the team.” Maier says with certainty that she will remain in touch with her teammates after graduation.

Maier has other plans for once she leaves Vassar. While she isn’t sure exactly what she wants to do, she says, “If I can’t find a job relating to my studies of Economics and Psychology, I would like to look into possibly coaching at a high school level.”

Her work at Vassar’s Sports Information Department has also proven to be something Maier finds interesting and may be something she pursues in the future.

Overall, Maier isn’t worrying too much about the future. “For now, I’m enjoying my time at Vassar and trying to enjoy every practice and game.”

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