The Miscellany News
Volume CXLVIII | Issue 18
April 14, 2016
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Lamothe elected VSA President ProSky reaches out to college graduates O Eilis Donohue News Editor
n May 1, the current VSA council will hand over the reins to a new executive board, the members of which were revealed on April 7. Not only are the individuals in each position changing, some of the roles themselves are changing, thanks to the extensive restructuring of the VSA accomplished this past semester. The position of the President, however, will remain largely the
same. Calvin Lamothe ’17 has been involved with the VSA since his freshman year, but this coming year he is taking on the responsibility of heading the student government body. He remarked, “[The VSA] has been such a big part of my life and I care about it a lot, and I definitely wanted to make sure that someone who has a lot of passion and a lot of experience was running it, especially given the big transition that we have coming up with the new structure.”
The most significant change to the structure of the VSA has been the replacement of the council setup with a senate system, in which each class will have an equal number of representatives. Chair of Organizations Matthew Kolbert ’17 remarked, “I love the idea of a senate. It’s much more effective having a set amount of leaders from each class. I think that system works really well, as opposed to house presidents being on the VSA Senate.” See VSA on page 14
Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News
Calvin Lamothe ’17 was elected VSA President on April 7 by the student body. Lamothe will lead the VSA next year with a brand new executive board, consisting of six new positions, as they implement a new restructuring protocol.
Stoddard Meigs Guest Reporter
“I
went through college focused on international law and did a bunch of internships. I had crises of faith about what I believed in ... I didn’t have answers and was worried I would close doors if I accepted a full-time job in a field that wasn’t for me,” Senior Manager of Community Growth at Venture for America Laila Selim said, voicing a very familiar concern. As seniors look to graduation and beyond, they find themselves looking in that place,
so frequently discussed in tones of distaste that it makes this paragraph almost bitter to mention it, the job market. Seniors will ostensibly have to take that first step into the real world (read: not a cloistered college campus) and, as they say, first impressions are the most important. Well, maybe that depends on the direction of the path you end up on. “You never actually close doors. That’s the cool thing about how careers have changed in our lifetime as opposed to our parents,” said Selim, See PROSKY on page 14
Wambere leads talks of LBGTQ activism Kaitlynn Vo Reporter
“C
ourage, then, my countrymen, our contest is not only whether we ourselves shall be free, but whether there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth for civil and religious liberty.” When Samuel Adams first uttered these words before the State House of Pennsylvania in 1776, the fundamental principles of independence and equality in treatment were no doubt preeminent in his mind.
Skip ahead more than two-anda-quarter centuries later, and this appeal to the rudimentary right of individuals to access a freedom of expression and civil liberty is still being echoed. John Wambere familiarly leads the charge to secure civil liberty and rights for an oppressed people. Currently based in Boston, John Wambere is no stranger to controversy as one of the key leaders of the gay rights movement in Uganda. See WAMBERE on page 14
Campus showdown Povich speaks on glass ceilings pits old vs. new W Elena Schultz Reporter
Olivia O’Loughlin Guest Reporter
T
Inside this issue
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NEWS
New co-op focuses on VC sustainability
14 ARTS
hile it comes as no surprise that Vassar women have historically been on the forefront of the feminist movement, some have done so in particularly distinct ways. Lynn Povich ’65 is one of these women. She made waves as she and a group of women at Newsweek filed the first ever female class action lawsuit for sex discrimination in the workplace. Povich will recount her role in feminism and the movement for workplace equality in her lecture, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling at Newsweek: A Vassar Grad’s Tale of Second Wave Feminism.” This event will be held on Thursday, April 14, at 5:30 p.m. in Rockefeller Hall, room 300, and will be free and open to the public. Povich attended college at a time when women were limited to pursuing an “M-R-S” degree. A career— let alone one in a male-dominated field—was not initially part of Povich’s post-graduation plans. “What I’m going to say in my talk is that as much as we were told by our families or by our teachers that we were very bright kids and we were accomplished, the word career was rarely mentioned,” Povich recalled. “It was not a period of time where women were encouraged to have careers, even though Vassar was a place where you got an excellent education, as good as anywhere else in the See POVICH on page 14
Purgatory comes to Vassar in the form of upcoming play
courtesy of Makers
his past Wednesday was the day that everyone had been awaiting...the student-faculty basketball game. The student team consists of 28 promising Vassar students, while the “Old School” team rosters 13 faculty and administration. For six years, the students and faculty have battled it out on the court in close competition. Both teams have recruited the strongest and toughest Brewers and have trained extensively for this day. In history, the match-ups have been neck-and-neck with the record holding at 4–2 in favor of the student team. When the tradition began in 2010, the faculty bested the students with a 66-65 victory. The students’ buzzer beater in the second half was not enough as the faculty took the game. Then in 2011, the students returned with vengeance and defeated the faculty in overtime. Regulation play ended with a 36-36 tie, but the students quickly dominated the three-minute overtime and won the game 49-41. In 2012, the students won again, but were then defeated by the “Old School” in 2013, when the faculty came back prepared and ready to compete. In 2014 and 2015, the students again proved dominance to hold four wins in this school tradi-
tion. This year, the Old School team looks to improve its record by slaying the court. Each year, crowds of students, faculty, administration and alumni gather into the Athletic Fitness center for this memorable event. The gym has never failed to have an energetic atmosphere and it proves to be a night filled with Brewer pride. In addition to being a show of athletic prowess, the game has achieved other goals of the Vassar community. Since the onset of this tradition, the game has served as a fundraiser for financial aid, scholarships and Student Gifts. In 2010, the ticket sale proceeds went into the Senior Class Gift of an endowed scholarship fund tied to financial aid. With the hard work of the students and the graciousness of alumni, the money earned in 2010 totaled to $68,070. Then in 2014, the proceeds earned from the $5 ticket scales contributed greatly to the Student Gift for the Internship Grant Fund. Another positive aspect of this Vassar custom is the enormous crowds and pride generated for this event. Former college historian Betty Daniels reported that the audience of nearly 2,000 people in 2010 made the student-faculty game the most attended sports event in all Vassar history. Since 2010, the game has drawn See RIVALRY on page 14
Lynn Povich ‘65 became the first female Senior Editor of Newsweek after being part of a landmark class action suit. She is set to discuss her career in journalism.
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Women’s tennis continues SPORTS undefeated streak