The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CLII | Issue 4
September 26, 2019
Elite consulting firm Heated campus strikes on climate comes to Vassar Jessica Moss, Mack Liederman Senior Editor, Editor-in-Chief
Olivia Watson News Editor
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cattered across the grass on the Chapel Lawn, Vassar students gathered for exchanges in cross-legged semicircles, listening to live performances at the makeshift stage nearby and painting signs bearing slogans from “Tell the Truth—Earth is Dying” to “Unite for Justice” to “Eating CEOs is Vegan.” As a backdrop to the tranquil scene, two doors were raised as art exhibits, inviting participants to first think of a place meaningful to them, and to then walk through the doors— imagining the impact the climate crisis will have on that place. See STRIKE on page 4
Courtesy of Grace Rousell
he room teemed with black blazers, sweaty palms and briefcases in hands of rushing, fervent Vassar students, anxiously waiting on the chance to meet with the alumnae/i of McKinsey & Company. As students piled in to New England Hall’s recruitment session, many later arrivals found themselves forced to sit on the floor. The atmosphere was eager, but tense: This hourlong meeting could offer a gateway into one of the world’s most prestigious companies. McKinsey & Company is one of the most successful global consulting firms, currently employing individuals in 65 countries. Each year, McKinsey pools applicants from an elite group of college students—exclusively via on-campus recruiting—for internships and jobs. On Sept. 19, McKinsey made its inaugural recruiting visit to Vassar, largely through the efforts of alumnus and Senior Partner at McKinsey Steven Kauderer ‘85. McKinsey is most selective about where they recruit students.
With a rumored starting salary of $83,000, many students and recent graduates alike covet the opportunity for the firm to come to their college (Case Interview, “Management Consulting Salary,” 2019). In the past, McKinsey has only visited Ivy Leagues, Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley. The company recently made a transition to include liberal arts schools, as they now recruit only at Amherst, Williams and Vassar. According to its company website, the firm strives to be socially minded, demonstrated through their contributions to organizations like the Malala Fund. They also work pro-bono for several environmental non-profit companies. However, despite its charitable work, the firm is not without wrongdoings. According to a recent Forbes article, McKinsey has advised and worked with authoritarian governments, some of which have committed human rights violations. In Saudi Arabia, reports produced by McKinsey consultants tracked criticism of See MCKINSEY on page 3
Students of all class years, along with community members, joined Vassasr’s iteration of the Global Climate Strike to protest complicity in climate change.
Arlington Bucks insulate campus Tiana Headley Reporter
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hen the weekend rolls around and Vassar students tire of Deece pasta and Global Kitchen experiments, Arlington eateries are the typical go-to. Afterall, it only takes five to 10 minutes to walk off campus to enjoy a BurgerFi milkshake or share a large pizza pie from Ba-
cios with friends. With the inception of the Arlington Bucks program in Fall 2017, even students who otherwise could not afford to eat out can now do so on a semesterly $100 budget. Arlington Bucks was created as an extension of the meal plan, part of the larger transformation that campus dining underwent in
2017. The semesterly $100 is part of the meal plan budget funded by students’ Cost of Attendance. Prior to 2017, students had to choose from four meal plan options that ranged in meal swipes and cost (The Phoenix, “Comparing Meal Plans: Where Do College Students Eat Best?” 09.20.2012). Vassar also switched from its preSee ARLINGTON on page 5
Alumnae continue advocacy for SAVP Dezaki film confronts comfort women issue Duncan Aronson Features Editor
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Inside this issue
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ARTS
Bullet-laden fashion is desensitizing, not politically productive
Taylor Stewart
Assistant Arts Editor
Duncan Aronson / The Miscellany News
assar administration. The enemy. In student discourse, the two terms are usually interchangeable. Vassar’s administrative bodies are the faceless entities that reduce a student’s financial aid, demolish faculty housing for conference venues and increase campus wages in a way that doesn’t quite add up as advertised. But there are real people—complex people—who have to navigate these complex situations. Getting to know these individuals can create new dimensions, of hopes and successes, challenges and mistakes, intentions and idiosyncrasies, that will ultimately help us relate to Vassar’s administrators. My journey starts in Metcalf House, or Metcalf for short, which is the home of Vassar College Counseling Service (VCCS) and the Sexual Assault and Violence Prevention (SAVP). The building’s interior is filled with white walls and dark olive carpets, and brightened by comfortable chairs, colorful posters and equally colorful, tactile manipulatives, like the ones you might have played with in your local pediatrician’s office. Metcalf’s full name and the inti-
Erin Boss ’16 (left) and Nicole Wong ’15 (right) pose in SAVP’s office, located in Metcalf House. Both alumna administrators bring to their positions a personal understanding of Vassar student life. mate spacing of its halls, rooms and stairs hint at its residential history. Each room has since been repurposed into office spaces with comfortable blue sofas and dark brown desks. Office four, the domain of SAVP Office Director Nicole Wong ’15, did not seem to break from the pattern. SAVP Program Coordina-
tor Erin Boss ’16, whose office is across the hall, joined us. Looking down from the vista of retrospection, their life trajectories align in a comprehensible, even straightforward fashion. Their paths have criss-crossed and paralleled one another as they have See SAVP on page 11
Don’t reinvent the wheel, but the bike shop can FEATURES make your ride smoother
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[TW: This article mentions war crimes and sexual violence.] obukatsu Fujioka is a bespectacled and neat-looking man. He is also a purveyor of Japan’s history wars. As a graduate student at Sophia University in Tokyo, Miki Dezaki interviewed Nobukatsu Fujioka for his student project-turned-documentary film, “Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue.” On Monday, Sept. 23, Dezaki came to Vassar for a screening of “Shusenjo” and a Q&A session. Fujioka argues that Japanese people have been “brainwashed” by Americans into believing the “Tokyo War Crimes Trials view of history,” one that exaggerates the severity of the Imperial Army’s sexual trafficking. The “comfort women issue” concerns the sexual enslavement of an estimated 200,000 Asian women by the Japanese empire. The question of coercive recruitment of these women—whether they were sex slaves or prostitutes—and the prevalence of “comfort stations,”
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or Imperial Army brothels, in Asia are hotly contested on rightwing YouTube, in street demonstrations, and in Japan’s National Diet Building. Fujioka, the Vice President of the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, has gained both notoriety and popular support for denying Tokyo’s war crimes during World War II (Los Angeles Times, “Defender of Japan’s War Past,” 05.09.1997). In 1962, Fujioka entered Hokkaido University, where he became, according to former teachers and classmates, a member of the Stalinist wing of the radical student movement. He taught at the University of Tokyo. Fujioka is no stray conspiracy theorist or hate-monger—he’s an educated man with a following. Many Japanese legislators are also fervent nationalists, including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party, who are set on amending the war-renouncing clause of the constitution and denying charges of coercive recruitment. “Shusenjo” also includes tesSee FILM on page 6
Vassar memes is the wrong place for direct callouts