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The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVIII | Issue 4

October 1, 2015

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Robberies Philosophy unites Hudson Valley minds plague A THs, TAs Amanda Su

Guest Reporter

Rhys Johnson News Editor

“E

courtesy of Spencer Davis

With additional reporting by Senior Editor Noble Ingram. very one of us was home at the time,” said Natalie DiCenzo ’16. It was a typical Thursday evening in her Terrace Apartment (TA) with its inhabitants spending the night in and people coming and going periodically. Around 1 a.m., DiCenzo and one of her housemates were talking in her room when they heard a strange shuffling noise coming from the door of one of the rooms across the hall. As she noted, however, “Why would you expect it to be anyone other than your housemate walking around or going to the bathroom?” Seconds later, DiCenzo’s own door unexpectedly cracked open, and a strange pair of eyes peered in, followed by the beam of a flashlight. Upon seeing that the room was not empty though, the TA’s uninvited visitor bolted off out the door, into the night. After inspecting the state of the house once their unwanted guest ran away, DiCenzo discovered that her housemate’s room had been entered, and his backpack, including valuable personal items like his laptop, had been stolen. DiCenzo’s story is not an isolated incident, however. It is one of several burglaries committed in Vassar’s senior housing See BURGLARY on page 4

lthough they are in such close proximity, the schools in the Hudson Valley area don’t often come together to share their ideas. “I think it’s really sweet watching all these schools come together to talk about philosophy and engaging in philosophical discussions,” Erin Leahy ’16, a member of the Philosophy department’s majors committee said of the second annual Mid-Hudson Philosophy Society meeting. She added, “Having a central event or location to come do philosophy together is really special; and to have a whole day with events that are interrelated to give a broader context of a certain philosophical issue is also really valuable.” You didn’t have to be the next See PHILOSOPHY on page 6

Hudson Valley students gather in Thompson Memorial Library as part of the Mid-Hudson Philospohy Society’s annual meeting. This year, the discussion focussed on Guantanom Bay and international human rights.

Chefs think outside the box with local foods Julia Cunningham Features Editor

K

en Oldehoff stuck his head in the door. “Sorry, I was just on the phone with somebody from the Local Economy Project, the Hudson Valley Farm food hub, or farm hub, asking me what Vassar would buy next fall because they’re planning what to plant.” As the Director of Marketing and

Sustainability, Oldehoff finds and brings more local food to campus. The Deece that “popped-up” under the tent outside the College Center a few weeks ago, and has also been under the tent on the big side of the Deece occasionally, is a showcase not just of the local foods that Oldehoff has found, but also a tribute to the talented chefs on Vassar’s campus. Senior Director of Campus Din-

ing Maureen King explained, “I think we’ve been talking about it for awhile. I mean, we’ve been doing the pop-ups in the Deece.” The move to push the pop-up tent outside was Oldehoff’s idea. King said, gesturing from inside her office behind the Kiosk, “Ken had had this idea last year to do a popup somewhere in this area, where students could use a meal.” She went on, “We’ve done bigger

events in the dining rooms, and that was just an idea to create some variety for students, just to do something different. Eating in the same place every day can get monotonous for students.” The pop-up Deece provided a way for students and chefs alike to take a break from their usual proceedings. King said, “It’s a way to showcase some of the talent we See DEECE on page 7

Glass plates capture Vassar’s past Tennis downsizing proves contentious I Yifan Wang

Assistant Arts Editor

n an image from nearly a century ago, taken in May 1930, the class of 1932 gathers on the lawn near Main Building for their tree ceremony. Dressed in white robes, hoods and some with fake white beards on, the large group of students are holding a flag emblazoned with their class

year. Some students stand around the small sapling they just planted as their class tree. Although class trees and the events around them don’t have much presence on campus now, it was a big deal 85 years ago, involving dove-releasing, secret rites and digging the hole using Matthew Vassar’s silver spade. The tree ceremo-

nies were documented by a series of images dating from 1904 to 1935. This series of visual materials can be found in the “Glass Plates Negatives” collection at Vassar’s digital library. With 870 images in total, the collection was recently conserved and digitized at an off-campus conservation center. The images were See VASSARIANA on page 16

courtesy of Vassar College Libraries

Students from the class of 1925 were celebrating Founder’s Day. This image is from a new collection at Vassar libraries. The visual materials were created from glass plate negatives, which were recently conserved and processed off campus.

Inside this issue

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Alum opens eatery in FEATURES New York City

14 ARTS

Audio preservation topic for upcoming lecture

Zach Rippe

T

Sports Editor

he women’s tennis team at Vassar College has sustained a long running tradition of winning. Head coach Kathy Campbell has been with the team since the late 1970s and boasts an impressive resume that has seen the Brewers ranked among the top-15 teams in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northeast region since 1988. Her teams have also been nationally ranked for 18 years. Vassar won the Liberty League title every year from 2002 to 2010 and has also won the Seven Sisters Championship 11 times since 1987, including victories in 2013 and 2015. Still, this fall, the team faces a difficult situation. Last year, the roster consisted of 13 players, a good surplus, considering the travel party consists of 10 girls. This season, however, the roster consists of seven athletes. A team needs six athletes to compete in match, making a roster of seven risky when it comes to competing over the course of an entire season. There are several factors for the drop in numbers, including the graduation of seniors, a lack of freshman recruits and JYA departures. These all have been consistent issues throughout the years. One additional cause of this

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year’s low numbers has been the departure of sophomore Lauren DiFazio from the team. DiFazio was notified via a handwritten letter on July 23 this past summer. The letter read: “After much consideration over the summer, I have decided to reduce the size of the team for this coming year. In making the team smaller, I am also making an effort to insure that the team members’ skills throughout the roster are closer in ability to push each other more and to raise the overall level of play. Therefore, I am not able to offer you a spot on the team this year.” It went on to explain, “At our May meeting after the season, I did remind you that each year I decide who returns to the team the following year.” DiFazio acknowledged the gap in skill, yet described her determined mindset going into the summer via interview: “I just wasn’t getting better… It was kind of like a wash. [I said to myself] I’m going to go home over the summer and work my ass off because I want to play. I don’t want to be on this team if I’m just gonna be benched the whole time. So I go home and I literally played tennis for 6 hours every single day. It was ridiculous. I was running, I was training, I was weightlifting.” DiFazio suggested that had she known about the cut earlier, she See TENNIS on page 18

New coach dives into swimming SPORTS season with gusto


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