The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CLII | Issue 2
September 12, 2019
Pi’erre to headline ViCE fall concert EPI defunding instigates ALANA fellow transfer Abby Tarwater
“Y
Arts Editor
Tiana Headley Reporter
T
o be a student of color at a historically white college is to question, at one point or another, whether you truly belong there. Far from their neighborhoods and cultural roots, students of color typically build their own affinity communities, such as Vassar’s Black Student Union and the Latinx Student Union. Affinity spac-
Courtesy of Amy Goss-Minch
o Pi’erre, you wanna come out here?” Renowned record producer, rapper and songwriter Pi’erre Bourne is set to take the Vogelstein quad stage for Vassar’s annual Welcome Back Concert, which takes place this Friday, Sept. 13. Bourne is best known for producing Playboi Carti’s breakout single “Magnolia,” along with his collaborations with rappers such as Kanye West, 21 Savage, Lil Yachty, DaBaby and Lil Uzi Vert. Bourne’s performance is hosted by Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE), which also organizes Vassar’s yearly spring concert. In an email correspondence, ViCE Co-President Dane Marshall ’20 expressed his excitement about the event. “In my opinion, the current Vassar student body has not seen a performer on campus that has had so much influence on the sound of modern popular music...it’s a dream come true, ” he gushed. The Welcome Back Concert is a fun and inclusive way for students to come together, dance and acclimate back to campus each fall. Marshall explained, “The beginning of the year is always stressful with getting back into the rhythm of school and figuring out your schedule and your life and what not,
and I think the Welcome Back Concert Chicago “disco rap superstar” and is the perfect opportunity to release activist Ric Wilson will open the eveand destress and dance and have a ning at 7 p.m., playing tracks off of his great time!” 2018 EP “BANBA.”
Vassar’s annual fall concert acts as the first campus breakout event of the year. Tomoorw, Pi’erre will, in fact, be coming out here. The artist is best known for producing Playboi Carti’s “Magnolia.”
es on college campuses are more than just networks of shared identities and experiences—they are places of refuge. The ALANA (African American/Black, Latinx, Asian, Asian American and Native American) Center, a place dedicated to serving the interests of students of color on campus, has stood as a hub for ALANA organizations at VasSee ALANA on page 4
Disorientation rehashes campus controversies Aena Khan
Assistant News Editor
“R
efuse to see the university as a place of enlight-
enment.” So say the authors of this year’s Disorientation Guide—a student-authored pamphlet critiquing the college—which evocatively implores students to engage in a culture of dissonance: to “change everything” by “beginning any-
where,” in its own words. On Aug. 30, 2019, a group of Vassar students released the second installment of the Guide and publicized it with flyers taped around campus. A sheet printed black with a QR code linked students to the guide’s electronic form, a departure from its physical circulation last year. This year’s Disorientation See DISORIENTATION on page 3
Wage increase brings Golf pro shares VC course secrets allotment stagnation Jonah Frere-Holmes Reporter
Jessica Moss and Frankie Knuckles Senior Editors
D
Inside this issue
10
FEATURES
An analog reflection: Capturing moments changes them
F
11
his first 18-hole round. I googled it, and that is a very bad score. Thirty-five years later, as the professional of that very same course, he shot a 68. That same search informed me that’s a very, very good score. Myers’ hold over the Vassar golf course is unchallenged, and for good reason: Each year from 20062015 the Hudson Valley Magazine voted him the Best Golf ProfesSee GOLF on page 18
or Vassar students, the golf course next to the AFC and Walker Field House is not very meaningful. Marauding first-years have been known to lay their embroidered blankets on its grassy outskirts before putting on “Biking” and hugging each other for hours at a time, and drunken, high-speed shepherding of the geese that call the course home is an underappreciated pastime. By and large, however, Vassar students golf very little, and find sufficient alternatives on campus to satisfy their hunger for well-kept grassy surfaces on which to unwind. As a relative unknown, the golf course carries a mystifying aura, one that provokes questions like, “Do people golf at Vassar?” and “Wait, we have a golf course?” We do indeed have a golf course, and I embarked on a journey to pick the brain of its resident PGA Golf Professional and caretaker, Rhett Myers. I sought to clear up the foggy image of Vassar’s golf course: how Vassar ended up with the course, who is really in charge of it and Vassar owns the land on which the course is situated and leases it to a whether or not it will be replaced manager, who runs it with nearly complete autonomy. Long-time manager by a horde of solar panels in the Rhett Myers views the course as a fun-loving, family-friendly place.
FEATURES
Yvette Hu/ The Miscellany News
[The following article appears in the Opinions section.] uring Spring 2019, student workers rejoiced at the news that they could expect a raise. In a statement given to The Miscellany News, administrators indicated at the time that, although raising student wages presented budgetary concerns, they were committed to finding the necessary funds to bring the wage from $10 per hour up to the state minimum of $11.10. On Aug 27, a campus-wide email from Student Employment stalled celebrations. Titled “Wage increase reminder,” the email included a table with “guidelines” indicating that our hours per week would decrease. The College bases its wage and earnings math on 15 available work weeks per semester. The discerning eye and quick mathematical mind might notice a discrepancy between the number of suggested hours listed and the hours needed in order to reach the earnings allotment. Sticking with the 15 week assumption, a first-year working
seven hours per week would earn $1,165.50 per semester or $2,331 per year, coming up $69 shy of the earnings allotment. They would need to work 7.25 hours each week to get their allotment, or an additional 3.75 hours over the course of the semester. This discrepancy is largest for first-years, but each class year shows such a gap. Sophomores have a gap of $36. Upperclassmen, just $3. While even the discrepancy for first-years may seem negligible to an institution with a budget as large as Vassar’s, this amount could translate to a class’ worth of books. For sophomores, a semester’s worth of laundry (assuming that, unlike us, you do laundry every week). For upperclassmen like us, eh, not so much. But we like to look out for the little guy. Armed with basic arithmetic skills, we brought our findings to the College. To our qualms, they replied: “The average hours listed in the Student Employment Office memo are in fact averages, and not caps on a number of hours students can work.” And further, with parSee WAGE RATE on page 15
near future. Sitting across from me in the homey, brochure-laden reception room of the course, Myers explained in his curt but amiable tone that the first fundamental rule of golf is grip. The Vassar golf course opened in 1930, and in the past 60 years, has had only two managers. Myers, who took over the course in 2004, started playing golf at the tender age of nine. As a 12-year-old, he shot a 144 on
Students create a united green front against climate change
13 OPINION
Vassar’s derelict summer healthcare puts resident students at risk