The Miscellany News
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Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CLII | Issue 3
September 19, 2019
Courtesy of Brian Pough Following a summer of heated negoitations, 21 Vassar Security guards celebrate their new three-year union contract. The contract raises starting wages by $2/hour and ensures better vacation benefits for all.
‘Muslim Cool’ explores Blackness, Islam Taylor Stewart
Asstistant Arts editor
D
r. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer sat poised, legs crossed, at the front of the lecture hall. Even before she introduced herself, the audience thrummed, more lively than the hushed and severe crowds I usually confront at these things.
As Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Michigan, with a book and years of field research under her belt, Dr. Abdul Khabeer is an accomplished scholar. She studies intersections of Blackness and Muslimness in perceptions of race in America. Her book “Muslim Cool: See MUSLIM COOL on page 6
Vassar guards secure new contract Olivia Watson
Asstistant News Editor
t’s only fair that a College with an endowment over $1 billion and an annual tuition over $50,000 give its guards a
(HVSSOU) regarding the new Union contract for Vassar security guards. On April 30, 2019, Vassar security guards began negotiations See GUARDS on page 3
Yijia Hu/ The Miscellany News
“I
raise.” Vassar security guard of 20 years and Chief Steward of the Union Michael Phillips offered this statement in a recent press release from Hudson Valley Safety and Security Officers Union
Coming climate strike heats up campus Alysa Chen
Guest Reporter
Y
oung people have had enough of dire climate predictions and presidential candidates saying they have a “com-
prehensive” plan for dealing with climate change. Young people have had enough of bipartisanship and pessimism when it comes to climate policy. Young people have had enough of environmental rac-
ism going ignored and communities of color being ravaged by disasters without adequate government relief. Today’s climate In “Muslim Cool: Race, Religion, and Hip-Hop in the United States,” crisis has spurred a generation of scholar-artist Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer revamped the traditional See CLIMATE on page 5 lecture format, combining ethnography, spoken word, dance and video.
Local Greek festival feeds Tennis serves pre-season opener appetites for the new, old Alessandra Fable and Jackie Molloy Guest Reporters
Elias Contrubis Guest Reporter
I
Inside this issue
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WVKR rides the airwave between Vassar and Features Poughkeepsie
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E
very athlete has their own set of superstitions: putting on your right shoe before your left, always wearing the same headband or sitting on the same side of the bench every game. For one team on Vassar’s campus, these superstitions are blue socks, lucky balls and high fives. As the Vassar women’s tennis team begins their 2019-20 season, the
Courtesy of Amie Canfield
t was a rainy Saturday, with a certain gravitas in the air. A hoodie-and-sweatpants kind of day, with a cup of mint green tea lifted from the Deece and a personal screening of “The Great British Bake Off.” On a scale from one to don’t-have-afall-festival, I would say it was closer to the don’t-have-a-fall-festival side. Fortunately, the patrons and volunteers of the Fall Greek Festival didn’t get the message. On the afternoon of Sept. 4, I ascended the stairs to the Terrace Apartments and was happily surprised to see the white plastic sign with blue lettering advertising this year’s Fall Greek Festival. I immediately photographed the sign and sent it to the president of the Greek-Mediterranean Society with the text, “We should organize transportation to this.” A second later, two of my friends messaged me an image of the festival sign, saying, “Hey! Are we going to this?” Not gonna lie, I felt pure happiness, and that’s coming from a guy with an unsharpened set of emotions. I was thrilled that my friends
wanted to take part in Greek culture and even more so that they reached out first. “Yes, of course—let’s all go!” With a generous $15.60 allocation from VSA finance, the Greek-Mediterranean Society was able to easily secure the funding needed to retain a Safety and Security van. Great. I scratched that off the list, moving to the next step: advertising. With a little less than a week to go until the event, spreading the word was no small task, especially given the frequency with which Vassar students read their emails. In collaboration with the festival, we created signs to hang around campus. But we were really just banking on the fact that a historically respectable group of undergraduates momentarily abandoned their fastidious weekend homework grind for a gyro and maybe a baklava. With a final mass email from our VSA President, we began the gratifying task of taxiing folks to the festival grounds. The first shuttle at noon had slender attendance—actually no one showed up. An hour later, a handful of festival-goers maSee FESTIVAL on page 11
squad looks to use these rituals to build on their successful second place finish in last year’s Liberty League Finals as the team only lost one senior and added the No. 22 recruiting class in Division III across women’s tennis (Tennis Recruiting Network, 2019 Top NCAA D-III Women’s Classes, 06.21.2019). Their talent and experience was certainly on display this past weekend at the season-opening
Junior captain Sarra Yetka is one of many returners from the women’s tennis team that reached last year’s Liberty League Finals. From blue socks to playlists, supersitions and hard work combined to kick off the season.
Vassar’s green activists: It’s still not OPINIONS enough
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Vassar Scramble, where Vassar hosted New Paltz, Connecticut College and New York University on the Josselyn Tennis Courts for a non-scoring tournament. On Saturday, the Scramble was forced inside Walker Field House due to the on-again off-again rain, but the change of scenery didn’t bother the players. Vassar’s doubles teams dominated the first day of the tournament, finishing with a record of 9 wins and 3 losses through three rounds of play. Junior Frances Cornwall and senior captain Tara Edwards posted two commanding 8-2 wins over their counterparts from the Connecticut College doubles team. Meanwhile, sophomore Melina Stavropoulos and first-year Tatum Blalock went 3-0 in their group play. The team continued their matches on Sunday, moving into the singles round where continued their success, posting an overall 12-3 record on the day. While this team exudes confidence and composure in this mentally and physically challenging sport, they are not immune to the superstitions associated with the individuality and weirdness of tennis. Superstitions, and the See TENNIS on page 19
Serious film critic lauds Tommy Wiseau’s greatest HUMOR masterpiece