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The Miscellany News April 6, 2017

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Volume CXLIX | Issue 18

Poetry sheds light on VC to initiate ‘Engaged Pluralism’ life of visionary artist O Dylan Smith

Guest Reporter

Meg Howell Reporter

O

n Monday, March 27, Vassar announced “Engaged Pluralism: Belonging and Thriving at Vassar College,” a $1.6 million initiative meant to promote inclusivity and affirmation among the college community. Beginning in the fall, the program will be in place for nine semesters. Associate Professor and Chair of the Anthropology Department, Candice Lowe Swift, will direct the initiative.

Partial funding for the Engaged Pluralism project comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has awarded Vassar College a grant of $800,000. According to their website, “The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation endeavors to strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the See PLURALISM on page 3

Courtesy of Vassar College via Flickr

n March 29, Antonio Corsaro visited Vassar to give a lecture entitled “Art, Love and Divinity in Michelangelo’s Poetry.” Addressing an audience composed of members of the campus community, the Renaissance expert spent an hour discussing the little-known writings of famed mononymous High Renaissance artist and visionary Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti. Preceding the event was an introduction of Corsaro by Associate Professor of Art Yvonne Elet, whose academic specialties include Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture. She and other faculty members of the Medieval & Renaissance Studies Program coordinated the event.

Corsaro is currently an associate professor of Italian literature at the University of Urbino, a public university located in the north-eastern part of central Italy. In addition to teaching, he also serves as the director of an Anglophone study abroad program in Renaissance Studies for the school as well as a part-time consultant to Michelangelo’s house-turned-museum Casa Buonarroti. In previous years, he has worked as a visiting professor at other universities and colleges across both Europe and the United States.

As a writer and expert in Italian Renaissance literature, Corsaro regularly publishes essays and textual criticisms on comical, satirical and burlesque po-

etry from the 15th to 17th centuries. His studies include historical Italian figures ranging from Ariosto to Machiavelli.

His newest work, a critical edition of Michelangelo’s poetry, was the basis for Wednesday’s talk.

Throughout his lecture, Corsaro highlighted the importance of Michelangelo’s written work, presenting a range of primary texts: letters from the young artist to his father detailing complications in the construction of the Sistine ceiling; musings on painting and sculpture’s battle for artistic superiority, a seething debate of the time known as the paragone; and sonnets that deal with spirituality and love. He spoke of how around one-third of the Tuscan artist’s drawings include text of some kind before going on to compare Michelangelo to Phoebus, a contemporary Greek pop songwriter, and Apelles of Kos, a painter of Ancient Greece famed for his allegedly masterful portrait of Alexander the Great.

What struck student Kushin Mukherjee ’19 most about the talk was the reoccurring theme of Michelangelo’s polymathic nature. In his synopsis on the lecture, he stated, “An interesting note on the lecture, especially given the context on it being delivered on a liberal arts college campus, is the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to any field.”

Though Michelangelo’s written works were never officially published, See MICHELANGELO on page 17

After receiving a Mellon Foundation grant, Vassar will implement an initiative called “Engaged Pluralism: Belonging and Thriving at Vassar College.”

Future food changes raise concern Andrea Yang Reporter

W

e’ve all heard about the new dining program launching in the fall of 2017. Some are enthusiastic about the change, but others have their doubts. Regardless, rumors and speculations abound. To clarify the future of on-campus food, The Misc spoke with the Dining Renewal and Improvement Committee about students’ most pertinent questions regarding the change.

Special thanks to Assistant Dean for

Campus Activities Teresa Quinn, Dean of Strategic Planning & Academic Resources Marianne Begemann, Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa, Dean of the College and Professor of Education Chris Roellke and Associate Vice President of Finance Bryan Swarthout for providing a collective response to the following questions.

To ensure that all students can eat whenever and with whomever they like, the new plan fosters community-building over meals and allows for

increased flexibility around individual schedules. In theory, students will be free to go to the Deece as many times as they want without having to binge eat to conserve swipes. However, the change still brings up much confusion.

The administrators respond to a few such concerns: Q: “Can you address the cost and affordability of the new meal plan?”

A: “First and foremost, affordability—We have worked hard to create a See DINING on page 8

History behind hit show examined Rugby heads abroad for international play H Lucy Ellman Reporter

Lindsay Wolk

Guest Reporter

T

Courtesy of Klapi via Wikimedia Commons

ow does one sum up “Game of Thrones?” It’s like if you took “The Lord of the Rings,” got rid of all the endless tracking shots of New Zealand, added a healthy dose of sex and violence and then threw in a few more dragons for good measure. It’s dark, sexy and certainly not without controversy. Truly entertainment for the whole family.

Last Tuesday, March 28, Professor of English at Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Germany Dr. Sabine Volk-Birke delved into the dark and tantalizing world created by George R. R. Martin in his hit fantasy series in a lecture titled “Medievalism Today: Chivalry and Religion in A Song of Ice and Fire.”

Located in the Thompson Library Class of ’51 Reading Room, the lecture examined how Martin’s novels, and by extension its HBO adaptation, explore the infinite possibilities of the fantasy genre. In addition, the series creates stories that are appropriately nuanced in nature, as well as allegories that help audiences better understand their own past histories and current realities.

Professor Volk-Birke, an expert on medieval as well as modern English literature, was eagerly anticipated

by Vassar’s own Professor of English Robert DeMaria. DeMaria recalled how he was first introduced to VolkBirke: “I met Professor Volk-Birke See THRONES on page 14

On March 28, Professor of English at Martin Luther University Dr. Sabine Volk-Birke delved into the medieval world of “Game of Thrones.”

Inside this issue

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NEWS

VSA Updates: Now a weekly column in The Miscellany News

6

Civilization in Question enhances student FEATURES comprehension

he Vassar women’s rugby team opened its spring 2017 season with a trip abroad. Members of the team, lead by Head Coach Tony Brown, played three matches over the span of 10 days in Barcelona, Spain.

Sophomore Makena Emery explained the purpose of the trip, stating, “Every year Coach Brown organizes a spring break tour to an international destination to allow the team travel to experience new cultures, while playing a sport that we all love. Rugby culture outside of the U.S. is significantly more popular and widespread, so it’s really great for the team, which predominately consists of players who have never even touched a rugby ball before coming to college, to gain experience and develop more of an understanding for the game.”

The first game was played on Tuesday, March 14 at Spain’s oldest and most famous rugby club, Unió Esportiva Santboiana. It was the team’s first game since they defeated the United States Coast Guard Academy 15-10 on Dec. 4 in Greenville, SC, to take home the title of third in the nation.

Understandably, the team started off a little slow, as they have not practiced outdoors since before their trip to South Carolina in the winter.

“We’ve been preparing in our off

19 SPORTS

season by having indoor practices based more on fundamentals and skill building rather than the aggressive physicality we experience in practice during the season. We’ve also been hitting the weight room a lot, though, so we were working on building our strength, and letting that help us in tackling and rucking,” explained sophomore Kate Sworden.

20 minutes into the game, following numerous turnovers and errors, the Brewers were down 12-5, as senior Nathalie Freeman scored Vassar’s only points with a try.

Nevertheless, momentum shifted early in the second half as junior Michelle Urrutia intercepted a pass close to the UES goal line and scored to make it 12-10. The final two tries of the match went to seniors Mariah Ghant and Lauren Workman, pushing the Brewers ahead of Unió Esportiva Santboiana with a final score of 29-12.

Despite coming off of a huge win over a strong international opponent just one day prior, back-to-back games proved to be difficult for the Brewers against such talented competition.

The Instituto Nacional de Educacion Fisica is a combination of players from the physical education department of the University of Barcelona and international players, as the team is also an open club.

Four players on the Instituto NacioSee RUGBY on page 19

Rules on fouls in basketball have columnist in thrall

The Miscellany News

Page 2

April 6, 2017

Editor-in-Chief Anika Lanser

Senior Editors Emma Jones Elena Schultz

Contributing Editor Yifan Wang

Eilis Donohue/The Miscellany News

“The rare sunny day gave us a fantastic view of the other spectacular buildings on the so-called Museum Island, including the famous Berliner Dom.” To read more about Eilis Donohue’s travels in Berlin, Germany, as well as those of her classmates, visit farandaway.miscellanynews.org!

The Miscellany News 6

April

Thursday

Music on the Bridge

11:30am | Bridge North Atrium | Music Dept.

GRST Event

5:00pm | New England 105 | Greek and Roman Studies

Late Night at the Loeb

Weekender_ 7

April

8

Friday

April

ACS Workshop

2:00pm | Library 160 | CIS

Saturday

Golf (W) Vassar College Invitational

9:00pm | Mug | ViCE

Good Neighbors Spring Festival

Paper Critique

Constellations

9:00am | Joss Beach | RSL Office

7:00pm | Shiva | Philaletheis

9:00am | Golf Course | Athletics 9:00pm | Rose Parlor | The Miscellany News

Greenhaven Reunion

5:00pm | The Loeb Atrium | The Loeb

10:00am | Aula | VPI

Ribicoff Lecture

WVKR Record Fair

5:30pm | Taylor 203 | Art Dept.

10:00am | College Center | WVKR

Constellations

Volleyball (M) Tri-Match vs.

Alvernia University/Hunter College

9:30pm | Shiva | Philaletheis

Sports Design Online Copy

Assistant Copy Assistant Social Media Assistant Features Assistant Photo Web Master & Technical Advisor

Laurel Hennen Vigil Emily Sayer Nick Barone Evelyn Frick Noah Purdy Patrick Tanella Olivia O’Loughlin Talya Phelps Charlotte VarcoeWolfson Sarah Dolan Kelsey Quinn Laila Volpe

Claire Baker Hannah Nice Matt Stein Michael Chung George Witteman

Reporters Sasha Gopalakrishnan Meg Howell Kaitlin Prado Andrea Yang Columnists Jimmy Christon Jesser Horowitz Steven Park Design Scarlett Neuberger Maya Sterling Yoav Yaron Copy Adele Birkenes James Bonanno Gabriela Calderon Leah Cates Jillian Frechette Tanya Kotru Gode Sumiko Neary Jessica Roden

Sunday

Golf (W) Vassar College Invitational

9:00am | Golf Course | Athletics

Student Music Showcase

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April

News Features Opinions Humor and Satire Arts

11:00am | Kenyon Gym | Athletics

Slow Art Day

1:00pm | The Loeb Permanent Collection Galleries | The Loeb

Senior Recital: Christa Ventresca, Alto Saxophone 1:30pm | Skinner Recital Hall | Music Dept.

Courtesy of Public Domain Photos

Constellations

2:00pm and 7:00pm | Shiva | Philaletheis Courtesy of Gelsey White

Philaletheis’ full-length production of “Constellations” opens Thursday, April 6 in The Shiva. Tickets are available for reservation at the info desk.

Senior Recital: Jingyi Gao, Flute 4:00pm | Skinner Recital Hall | Music Dept.

Vegan Cheese Tasting

4:30pm | Rose Parlor | VARC

Relay for Life Benefit Concert

7:00pm | Rocky 300 | Relay for Life

Be sure to check out WVKR’s Record Fair on Saturday, April 8 at 10:00am in the College Center.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

CORRECTION POLICY The Miscellany News will only accept corrections for any misquotes, misrepresentations or factual errors for an article within the semester it is printed.

The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.

April 6, 2017

NEWS

Page 3

‘Engaged Pluralism’ endeavors to promote inclusivity PLURALISM continued from page 1

arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies.” The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Vassar 33 other grants since 1970, totaling over $16.6 million (The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation).

Recent recipients of grants from the Mellon Foundation include Franklin & Marshall College, Wesleyan University and the University of Rochester, among others.

Vassar Interim President John Chenette co-authored the project and will be involved in guiding its implementation.

Chenette released a statement on March 27 regarding “Engaged Pluralism.” He began by citing the efforts of members of the Vassar community to make Vassar a place where diversity and inclusivity are able to flourish.

“Recently,” he wrote, “we have sought to galvanize these efforts by articulating an ambitious vision for the College that would be worthy of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s support and might serve as an example for other institutions with similar aspirations” (Vassar College, “Announcement: Belonging and Thriving at Vassar,” 3.27.2017).

“Through this initiative,” Chenette wrote in the announcement of the project, “We aim to understand more fully what it means to belong to and thrive in a diverse community, which aspects of our living and learning environment most contribute to student success, and how we can develop and coordinate programs and support systems that enable all of our students to experience a sense of belonging and that provide them with the opportunity to thrive” (Vassar College, “Vassar announces $1.6 million initiative to advance the college’s mission as an inclusive and affirming learning community,” 3.27.2017).

Chenette, who was originally involved in the project in his previous position as Dean of the Faculty, commented that this announcement is the culmination of a nearly two-year-long endeavor. The process began when he helped to plan a retreat for faculty focused on helping students thrive at Vassar. The momentum from that retreat motivated Chenette and his colleagues to begin a conversation, among both

the faculty and students, about diversity and inclusivity.

“Vassar has transformed dramatically over the past decade in terms of racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, international, veteran status, and other markers of identity,” Chenette wrote via email. “With this project, we are turning our focus to the challenge of cultivating an environment that accords to every student, regardless of background, the sense that they belong here and can succeed in the educational opportunities offered at Vassar.”

Since that workshop, President Chenette and Professor Lowe Swift have been engaging the community, with the hope that they could devise a plan to promote diversity and inclusivity at Vassar.

“From that point forward, [Chenette] and I were in regular communication about expanding the vision of inclusion for our campus,” Lowe Swift commented via email.

“With input from faculty, a focal point became ‘inclusive pedagogies’–ways to teach that are inclusive and empowering,” Chenette said.

Lowe Swift, who also serves as the Liaison to the President and the Senior Administration for Race and Inclusion, organized dinners with students, giving them the opportunity to make suggestions regarding their shared goal. Among the students’ suggestions was the installment of post-baccalaureates at Vassar to help the College realize visions of inclusion grounded in its students’ needs and expectations, as well as anti-bias training and the development of more inclusive pedagogies across the school’s curriculum, with a special emphasis on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines.

“Students are the lifeblood of this institution,” Lowe Swift said. “Without their perspectives, Vassar, as a learning community, will lose vitality and relevance.”

In response to these conversations, Chenette, with former college President Catherine Hill, approached the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation with the idea of an “inclusive pedagogy project,” a pilot project that would focus on developing more inclusive teaching policies.

The Mellon Foundation wanted more, however.

Chenette explained, “Mellon asked us to devel-

op with a bigger vision, viewing us as leaders among liberal arts colleges in facing the challenges of building a strong, diverse, and empowering community.”

Chenette, Lowe Swift, and their colleagues thought more seriously about the issues of diversity and inclusivity within the Vassar community. After another year of work, they submitted the proposal in its current form to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. They heard back from Mellon just before spring break with exciting news: their request for funding was approved.

Chenette is particularly excited about the opportunities for change provided by this grant.

“This project represents an exciting opportunity,” Chenette said in his March 27 statement, “setting forth a vision supported by resources to ignite lasting change on our campus ... Today, I am honored to report that the listening and talking have helped us sketch out a bold plan to enact authentic, positive change.”

Chenette explained, “’Engaged Pluralism’ means engaging and affirming diversity as a source of strength and vitality...striving to understand and engage each other across all manner of differences as we seek to build a stronger and more supportive campus community where all members feel they belong and can thrive.”

The Engaged Pluralism initiative will be executed in three key facets: investigation, encouragement and building. The administration will investigate Vassar students’ learning styles with the intention to assess and enhance programs that respond to students’ needs, encourage curricular innovations and build the capacity of students, faculty and administrators to contribute more actively to inclusive experiences on campus.

As principal investigator, Lowe Swift will focus on the investigation and assessment of student needs. “My task is to keep students involved at every level of decision-making and implementation of the initiative,” she said.

In the Office of Communications announcement, Lowe Swift spoke about the goals of “Engaged Pluralism.” “Our ultimate aim,” she said, “is to foster a living and learning community that is equitable, and that reflects and express-

es the economic, racial/ethnic, sociocultural, religious and intellectual diversity and capacity of the wider world. We want to provide an opportunity for all members of the community to work together, across and through differences.

Such a community better prepares students to achieve their goals in an increasingly diverse, interconnected and globalized world.” (Vassar College, “Vassar announces $1.6 million initiative to advance the college’s mission as an inclusive and affirming learning community,” 3.27.2017).

The Engaged Pluralism Project builds on the efforts of Vassar, as an institution, to promote inclusivity and diversity on campus over the last decade or so. Under the direction of former-President Catherine Hill, Vassar has expanded its financial aid policy, becoming tied with Amherst College as the number one liberal arts college with the greatest percentage of Pell Grant recipients among its student body, according to US News & World Report. The report based its rankings on US Department of Education data from the 2014-2015 school year.

Per the report, 25 percent of Vassar undergraduates received Pell Grants that year (US News and World Report, “Economic Diversity Among the Top 25 Ranked Schools,” 2017).

Chenette referenced these efforts in the announcement: “Diversity at Vassar has certainly enriched the educational experience of all of our students, and we have developed a variety of new programs to support student success.

As a result, graduation rates across different demographics are approximately the same.”

Conversations regarding diversity are commonplace at Vassar, even in the face of hatred and hardship. As President Chenette wrote on March 27, “These conversations have not always been easy, but they have been informative.

And they are by no means over. Discussions like these will be an important part of how we design the roadmap for the next four years of this ambitious project.”

“I think that opening up more channels of communication will lead to increased understanding, and ultimately, if we listen to each other closely, and work together, we may be able to transform the educational experience at Vassar for the better,” Lowe Swift concluded.

Jahren discusses interdisciplinary ‘Lab Girl,’ plant science Laurel Hennen Vigil News Editor

O

n the evening of Thursday, March 30, the Taylor Hall auditorium was packed with students and professors eager to hear scientist and author Dr. Hope Jahren discuss her acclaimed book, “Lab Girl.”

Jahren is a geobotanist at the University of Oslo in Norway. Her first book, “Lab Girl”— part memoir, part science tome—is a New York Times bestseller, winner of the 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir/Autobiography and a finalist for the 2017 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. It was also the Spring 2017 pick for Vassar’s Center for Collaborative Approaches to Science’s (CCAS)

Engaging Science Book Club.

After being introduced by Vassar Professor of Biology Mark Schlessman, Jahren delivered a lecture titled, “The Magic of Roots, Leaves and Everything In-Between,” during which she both spoke about her research and experience as a scientist and read excerpts from her book.

Jahren began by reminiscing about where her passion for science was sparked: in the laboratory of her father, who taught various science courses at a community college in rural Minnesota for 42 years. She used to help him set up experiments for the next day’s classes. She said, “From a very young age, I thought, when I grow up, I’m going to have my own lab. I just chased that my whole life. I didn’t realize that made me

Laurel Hennen Vigil/The Miscellany News

Dr. Hope Jahren, a geobotanist and author, discussed her book “Lab Girl” and her research on plants at her March 30 lecture, “Roots, Leaves and Everything In Between.”

unusual. The book is about that story: what we learned along the way, how we did it, who were the people that were important, the glorious successes that we had and then the heartbreaking defeats that we had, all jumbled together into a book that’s not really about any one thing.”

Jahren then showed pictures of her old lab at the University of Hawaii, where she taught before moving to Norway in September. It was filled with Plexiglas boxes with plants growing inside. “What those are, are actually time machines,” she said, explaining how she can control the environmental conditions inside the boxes to replicate different time periods. “If I want to set those boxes to the time of the dinosaurs, and grow a bunch of plants and see how they grow, I can do that. I can set it to the Ice Age. I can set it to what we’re doing now, the worse case scenario 200 years from now.”

She played several time-lapse videos of her lab plants arching toward the sunlight or unfurling from a tiny seed. These videos are a tool Jahren uses to help students understand that plants are not inanimate objects. “They’re not less alive than we are,” she said. “They’re alive in a different way, but they’re just as fully alive.”

While the videos played, Jahren read passages from “Lab Girl.” “When you go into a forest, you probably look up at the plants that have grown so much taller than you ever could. You probably don’t look down, where underneath a single footprint are hundreds of seeds, each one of them alive and waiting,” she read. “When you are in the forest, for every tree that you see, there are at least a hundred more trees waiting in the soil, alive and fervently wishing to be.”

Jahren mentioned the criticism she’s received for writing and speaking about plants in a more colloquial way, such as saying that plants “choose” to move or to grow, which alarms some other scientists who feel that this anthropomorphizes plants, thus breaking the “rules” of science writing. Jahren, however, isn’t concerned,

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

because her mere presence in the lab already defies traditional conventions. “I’m a girl, I wasn’t supposed to be here anyway,” she said. “So why don’t I just break all these rules?”

Jahren has written extensively about the challenges of being a woman in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) and about the sexual harassment many women in these fields face. Several audience members, many of whom were young women interested in a career in STEM, said they were profoundly inspired by this.

Piper Yang ’19 commented, “I’m a computer science major and I’m going to the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in the Fall. As a preface for that, I wanted to learn a little more about the opportunities for women in STEM and hear about how one woman has overcome the difficulties of being a woman in such a male-dominated field.”

Annika Rowland ’20, who read “Lab Girl” over winter break, added, “The way [the book] was written really changed my perspective on how biology research is managed in the United States and how difficult it can be to pursue that career path, but also how rewarding it is in the end.

It definitely cemented my love for biology and learning about the natural world.”

Interspersed with her discussion of her previous research, Jahren also talked about a new project she’s working on: finding and analyzing references to plants in great literature in order to promote interdisciplinary learning, so that knowledge of science can enrich understanding of the arts and humanities, and vice versa. She started this project by examining the holy books of prominent religions and shared passages about plants from the King James Bible, the Talmud and the Qur’an. She invited the audience to share with her any similar passages they can find in works of literature.

Jahren can be reached at a.h.jahren[at]geo. uio.no.

NEWS

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April 6, 2017

Democracy Matters ponders Trump-era voting rights Ashley LaMere Guest Reporter

“I

ing the proposed New York Votes Act, also known as New York State Assembly Bill 5312. If passed, Assembly Bill 5312 would introduce automatic voter registration through an opt-out system, early voting and same-day registration in New York State. In addition, the Act would provide no-excuse absentee voting, as well as voting rights for people on parole. Bill 5312 would follow the example of similar efforts in other states, such as Oregon’s Automatic Voter Registration Experiment: 300,000 new Oregonians had registered to vote over the course of a year following the implementation of an “opt-out” registration system, which was implemented in January 2016 and administered at individual Department of Motor Vehicle locations. Furthermore, 44 percent of these newly registered individuals voted in the next statewide election.

According to Beckenhauer, Democracy Matters chapters across New York will be lobbying their state legislators in the coming months to pass the New York Votes Act. “This would have dramatic effects for New York State politics, to say the ab-

out of the spotlight for negative things. You can’t go anywhere on this planet without somebody having heard of HB2 and having some perception about it” (CBS, “North Carolina Governor Signs Legislation Rolling Back “Bathroom Bill,” 3.30.2017).

Other political leaders echoed Stone’s thoughts. Governor Cooper commented, “[This compromise] begins to repair our reputation.” He added, “It wasn’t a perfect deal or my preferred solution, but an important first step in our state” (The New York Times, “North Carolina Governor Signs Repeal of Bathroom Law,” 3.30.2017).

The Senate approved the revised bill by a vote of 32-16 and the House later passed it 70-48. This new bill calls for the repeal of HB2, prevents local governments from enacting non-discrimination ordinances until 2020 and leaves bathroom regulations to state lawmakers (CBS, “North Carolina Governor Signs Legislation Rolling Back “Bathroom Bill,” 3.30.2017). Individuals from both sides of the political spectrum oppose these orders, believing that they either do too much or too little for the transgender community.

The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins was one dissenter who believed that bill did too much for transgender rights. He commented, “It does signal that elected officials are ultimately willing to surrender to the courts and the NCAA on matters of public policy and safety” (The Washington Post, “North Carolina Governor Signs Bill Repealing and Replacing Transgender Bathroom Law Amid Criticism,” 3.30.2017). Republican Senator Dan Bishop added, “This bill is at best a punt. At worst it is a betrayal of principle” (CBS, “North Carolina Governor Signs Legislation Rolling Back ‘Bathroom Bill,’” 3.30.2017).

On the other side of the debate stood LGBTQ activists who believed the revised bill is just as discriminatory as HB2. President of the Human Rights Campaign Chad Griffin commented, “This new law does not repeal HB2. Instead, it

institutes a statewide prohibition on equality by banning nondiscrimination protections across North Carolina and fuels the flames of the anti-transgender hate. Each and every lawmaker who supported this bill betrayed the LGBTQ community” (The Washington Post, “North Carolina Governor Signs Bill Repealing and Replacing Transgender Bathroom Law Amid Criticism,” 3.30.2017). Director of NC Policy Watch Chris Fitzsimon added, “That, to me, is astonishing, that we’re going to make L.G.B.T. people wait another four years to be protected from being fired because they’re gay” (The New York Times, “Bathroom Law Repeal Leaves Few Pleased in North Carolina,” 3.30.2017).

No matter which side one takes in this debate, it is undeniable that North Carolina’s finances suffered from HB2. The Associated Press released an analysis this week estimating that it would cost the state more than $3.7 billion lost in business in the next 12 years (The New York Times, “Bathroom Law Repeal Leaves Few Pleased in North Carolina,” 3.30.2017).

solute least,” he emphasized. “Grassroots organizing can have huge impact at the state, county and municipal level, not to mention there are many other institutions that can be pressured to reform.”

And it looks like Beckenhauer is only one among a cohort of Vassar students who support more inclusive voting rights. One of the students present was Kelly Pushie ’20, who said, “[It is] incredibly important to make voting readily available to everyone and make it easy for people to register to vote who otherwise would not do so. The wider the array of people who vote, the better the beliefs of the people will be represented.”

For students looking to get involved, Mandle has a bit of advice: nothing is as effective as a faceto-face meeting with your local representative.

To that end, Democracy Matters student representatives from across the state will be traveling to Albany along with members of the Roosevelt Institute for a Lobbying Day this April 25. Students with further questions on how they can get involved are encouraged to reach out to Democracy Matters.

Michael Chung/The Miscellany News

don’t think voting is the end, but rather the beginning, of political participation. Voting is a ‘gateway drug’ to political engagement. Now, more than ever, is a time to engage, not just with voting, but by contacting representatives, joining political organizations, contributing, volunteering, demonstrating and maybe even running for office.”

These words from Sean McElwee, a policy analyst at Demos, a New York City-based think tank and public policy organization, were among those heard at Wednesday, March 29’s “Voting Rights in the Age of Trump” lecture. His call to action may have fallen on deaf ears, however, or rather, no ears at all—Rocky 200 was sparsely populated that evening, as a handful of students trickled in around the 7 p.m. start time.

This lack of student involvement is acutely felt

by Executive Director of Democracy Matters Joan Mandle, who presided over the event. A Vassar grad herself from the Class of ’66, Mandle cut her teeth as an activist during her time on campus, where she advocated for Vassar to go co-ed. (It eventually did so, as many of us know, in 1969.)

She vividly remembers having to make the case in a meeting with Vassar’s conservative Board, composed entirely of white men, that women could be held to the same intellectual standards as men in a co-educational environment.

Mandle pointed out that the Hudson Valley’s 10 principle grassroots groups are not heavily student-based, but that a national student movement called the Indivisibles is a notable example of student activism in today’s political climate. This grassroots student organization follows a guide written by former congressional staffers, which educates its campus satellites on best practices for engaging and lobbying Congress to protect human rights, as a toolkit for “resisting the Trump agenda” (The Indivisible Guide).

After a short introduction by Mandle, McElwee gave a data-driven presentation titled “The Policy Consequences of Voting Registration Inequities in NY” based on his own work at Demos, which revealed the strong relationship between low turnout and unequal turnout. He pointed to a 2010 study by Vincent Mahler, which concluded that for every one percent increase in turnout levels, there was a corresponding decrease of about

three-quarters of a Gini point in overall inequality (Mahler, “Government Inequality Reduction in Comparative Perspective: A Cross-National Study of the Developed World,” 2010). This means that across developed nations, including the United States, higher levels of turnout are related to lower levels of inequality in that country.

McElwee went on to explain that “core” voters in the United States, who are more likely to vote not just in presidential elections but in local and midterm elections, are more often than not both white and Republican. According to his research, core voters are also more likely to favor such policies as cutting taxes to reduce the federal deficit, whereas the general American population favors measures such as decreasing spending on defense instead.

Furthermore, multimillionaires are disproportionately represented among campaign donors (they make up three percent of the American population and yet 50 percent of “elite donors,” who give $10,000 plus to a single campaign). And according to McElwee’s research, policy outcomes are particularly responsive to the preferences of the rich.

The effects of big money on politics is also a major discussion point for Democracy Matters.

According to President of Vassar’s Democracy Matters chapter Samuel Beckenhauer, “85 percent of people want some reform in money of politics, yet until relatively recently [even] the Democratic Party has largely been lukewarm on the issue.”

Beckenhauer pointed to Black Lives Matter as a movement which has worked successfully outside of the two-party system. He argued further that until either party starts to take these movements seriously, they would be better off being organized outside the two-party system.

McElwee asserted that under the Trump Administration, federal voting rights laws should not be expected to become more inclusive. Voting at the federal level is regulated by the National Voter Registration Act, for which compliance is especially low, for example, in states with high African American populations. Part of what Demos does is to sue delinquent states in order to achieve compliance. “There’s never going to be a silver bullet [to ensure inclusive voting rights],” McElwee conceded toward the end of his presentation, “A lot of the action will have to start at the state level.”

To this point, McElwee concluded by highlight-

On Wednesday, March 29 Demos policy analyst Sean McElwee gave a data-driven presentation titled “The Policy Consequences of Voting Registration Inequities in NY.”

News Briefs NC “Bathroom Bill” Repealed On Thursday, March 30, North Carolina lawmakers passed legislation, which Governor Roy Cooper then signed, to repeal the state’s controversial “bathroom bill” in an attempt to reconcile relationships with businesses, convention centers and sports organizations. Both the left and right are criticizing this compromise, questioning the future of LGBTQ rights in the state.

The repealed bill, known as House Bill 2 (HB2), required transgender people to use the bathrooms, changing rooms and showers in public buildings that corresponded to the sex on their birth certificates (NBC News, “North Carolina Governor Signs Bill Replacing Transgender Bathroom Law,” 3.30.2017). Former governor Pat McCrory signed the bill March 2016. Since then, it has elicited backlash from numerous individuals and organizations (The New York Times, “Bathroom Law Repeal Leaves Few Pleased in North Carolina,” 3.30.2017).

Performers like Bruce Springsteen cancelled concerts, businesses halted expansions and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Atlantic Coast Conference and the National Basketball Association moved high-profile events because of this bill. This week, the NCAA warned North Carolina lawmakers that the state could lose the opportunity to host championship games through 2022 if they continue to discriminate. Losing these games could mean forfeiting millions of dollars in revenue (The New York Times, “Bathroom Law Repeal Leaves Few Pleased in North Carolina,” 3.30.2017).

Republican Representative Scott Stone urged his colleagues to vote for the revised bill to escape HB2’s negative economic consequences.

“We are impeding the growth in our revenue, in our ability to do more things for tourism, for teacher pay, while we have this stigma hanging over,” he said. “The time has come for us to get

—Hanna Stasiuk, Guest Reporter VSA Special Funds Frozen On Tuesday, April 4, VSA Chair of Finance Shahid Naeem announced that until further notice, all special purpose funds were frozen. Special purpose funds refer to Collaboration, Senate Discretionary, Conference, Community and Speakers funds. The capital fund, however, will not be frozen, as it is endowed.

There were several factors that led to the freeze. Primarily, there was a large difference between the 2016-17 budget and the student activities fee revenue collected this year. In addition, Naeem explained, “VSA orgs have amassed a significant amount of debt over a period of several years that was concealed with the help of dash-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

board errors/trickery but mainly through the existence of several ‘black hole’ accounts where a majority of this debt was aggregated. These accounts ran hugely in the red, rolling over each year and allowing the rest of the budget to appear more or less normal. It appears this has been going on for years.” As a result of this, some organizations have racked up more than $50,000 of debt during the past few years. While the 2015-16 fiscal year budget surplus was expected to make up for this debt, it turned out that the ostensible surplus was merely a result of the masking of those debts.

Naeem emphasized that this measure is not meant to be punitive, but merely pragmatic, as what remains of the 2016-17 special purpose fund may have to go to cover funds left unaccounted for by the debt.

Since they have already been allocated, the budgets of most student organizations will not be frozen. However, organizations that are overspending their budget will have their funds frozen (with the exception of orgs previously given permission to spend in the red or those with pre-approved special purpose fund allocations).

Naeem concluded, “I understand that calling this inconvenient and tough for everyone involved is an understatement. This issue is a threat to the entire budget, which means it is a threat to each and every organization on campus–not just this year but every year in the future as well. It would be easy to walk away from this and not address the current situation, or enact softer measures. However, by taking these hard steps immediately, we have the opportunity to fix something that has gone on unnoticed or unchallenged for years and finally right the ship for next fall. I also ask for your patience in resolving this. Please know that everyone involved in VSA Finance is working as hard as possible to resolve this with minimal impact for orgs.”

—Laurel Hennen Vigil, News Editor

NEWS

April 6, 2017

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Updates from the VSA Elections Voting Delayed by One Week As you may have seen in my most recent all-campus email, voting in the Spring Elections has been postponed by exactly one week.

Voting will now take place from Tuesday, April 11 at 12 p.m. to Thursday, April 13 at 12 p.m. Results will be announced next Thursday evening, time TBD (most likely in the Old Bookstore).

The campaigning period has been extended until the beginning of the voting period.

The Vassar Student Association (VSA) was left with no other option but to make this postponement, as CIS, who operates the software that we use to administer our elections, has been overworked with the implementation of Workday and understaffed as a result of various illnesses.

This Week’s VSA Senate Meeting

Project.Period Project Period is officially back on! For those of you who don’t know, Project Period (aka “P.”) is a VSA initiative dedicated to providing free menstrual products to the Vassar community. The project was conceptualized in Fall of 2015 and has been in the works ever since. The project, at this time, offers menstrual pads and tampons of varying absorbencies. Our products, packed away in clear boxes, are located in each residential bathroom and in a few academic/general bathrooms (ex. Main College Center, Library, Bridge Building, etc.). We will have them stationed at the most popular spots on campus so students will not go without, no matter where they find themselves in the case of an emergency. This project will go live early to mid-April so keep an eye out for those nifty boxes! In the very near future, we are looking to expand the project to include anonymous ordering and delivery, similar to C.H.O.I.C.E. At this time, Health & Wellness Committee is recruiting volunteers for Project Period who would be interested in managing the project long-term. If you are interested in being a part of this, please email Natalie Kopke at nakopke[at]vassar.edu to confirm your interest and to get relevant updates.

shuttle to New York City will be Saturday, April 29. As the date approaches, keep an eye out for more information via email and in these Misc updates about ticket sales!

VSA Friday Movie Night Series The VSA is working with the Campus Activities Office to revive the Friday Night Movie Series that took place long ago in Blodgett Auditorium every week! The series will be starting up again within the next few weeks, and we will be screening four to six movies (depending on the start date). We have also applied for funding for a popcorn machine so that we can serve refreshments! Stay tuned for more information as the project develops.

Take the What Happens Here Survey!

Vassar is conducting the second What Happens Here: Campus Climate survey of all currently enrolled students concerning issues relevant to sexual assault, misconduct and interpersonal violence at Vassar.

In order to have reliable information, it is vital that as many Vassar students participate as are comfortable. Your candid answers will be helpful, informative and appreciated.

Your participation is entirely voluntary, and completely anonymous. Your decision to answer any particular question on the survey, or not, is equally voluntary.

Links to the survey are individualized (so that the survey may not be taken twice) and can be found in your vassar.edu email inbox starting on Monday, April 10 through Friday, April 28. The email containing the link is labeled: “Vassar Sexual Misconduct Survey your invitation and link”.

Survey FAQs, including findings from, and responses to, the 2015 Campus Climate Survey may be found on our survey website! Stay tuned for updates at www.vassar.edu/whathappenshere/ Let’s encourage one another to take this survey so that we have a better understanding of #WhatHappensHere. ­—Calvin Lamothe, VSA President

Courtesy of VSA

This week, the VSA Senate invited Luis Inoa, Director of Residential Life, for a forum. In the forum, we discussed issues surrounding Campus Dining, House Teams and Student Leader compensation, the future of Co-Ops, and more.

In addition to approving our usual slew of fund applications, we also certified Healing 2 Action (H2A), a student activist group, as a new Level 1 Pre-Organization.

We discussed proposed changes to the College’s Mission Statement that were proposed by a committee made up of faculty, administrators, trustees and one student. The feedback given

by VSA Senate members will be conveyed to this committee for their consideration.

Finally, various VSA members provided updates on the work they and their committees are doing in their final month in office (more on select projects to follow). If you are interested in learning more about any of these topics,

all VSA Senate minutes, agendas and meeting materials can be found in a folder on Google Drive called “VSA Senate Agendas 2016-17,” to which all students have view access. See the first of this week’s two all-campus emails for a link the folder, and add it to your Drive for easy viewing!

Final NYC Shuttle of the Year!

Save the date: the last VSA-sponsored VSA

The VSA encourages students to fill out the What Happens Here Campus Climate survey, which concerns sexual assault, misconduct and interpersonal violence at Vassar.

Red Sand Project raises awareness of human trafficking Steven Huynh Guest Reporter

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Courtesy of Vassar Red Sand Project

n this coming month, as students walk to class, the dining hall or back to your dormitory, they may find themselves perplexed by the appearance of red sand on sidewalks. If so, then the Red Sand Project has achieved its purpose. This art installation serves to bring awareness to one of the most overlooked issues across the world— human trafficking.

Communities in all fifty states and in more than seventy countries around the world have participated in the Red Sand Project (Red Sand Project, “Tracing Their Presence,” 2017). Taking to social media, they post pictures of their installations as a way to prove how far-reaching the movement is, as well as to establish unity with the victims.

Grace Roebuck ’20, one of the pioneers of the project at Vassar, emphasized, “It’s through educating the students, faculty and members of Poughkeepsie that we hope to inspire a dialogue about human trafficking. Often the most powerful and easy way to prevent human trafficking is to know about it–what it is, how it happens and who’s at risk. When educated, people are significantly less likely to be trafficked, and it’s only through knowing and acknowledging the issue that we can begin the dialogue for change.”

The founder of this project is Molly Gochman, an activist and artist with a long established history of works dating back to 2001. Gochman’s immense portfolio includes audio tapes capturing her most intimate thoughts, live performances with trapeze artists and even an unusual exhibit in which she encourages visitors to take an object of personal significance. All of her works are in some way related to time and change: all of them strive to encourage people to stop and look around at their surroundings, at the objects and communities filled with meaning.

In her words, “We also have the opportunity to look ahead to what isn’t, but what can be with time—to create cultural change through global empathy. Never before has there been such an opportunity to rally a global collective and bring together the unprecedented level of commitment, activism and disparate voice calling for a

more just, caring world” (Molly Gochman, “Introduction,” 2017).

It is not a surprise that she soon directed her art towards one of the most pervasive issues in society. After her last exhibit in 2010, Gochman spent some time researching human trafficking.

She found herself shocked and disturbed by the number of people kidnapped and trafficked across international borders—approximately 600,000 to 800,000 each year (Red Sand Project, “Stats,” 2017).

In response, Gochman started the Red Sand Project at Art Basel, Miami in December 2014.

Her installation involved filling cracks in sidewalks with red sand, a symbol of all the trafficking victims who fell through the cracks of society. The bright red color makes the project impossible to ignore and encourages curious people to take time to learn about human trafficking. As the Red Sand Project puts it, “These interventions remind us that we can’t merely walk over the most marginalized people in our communities—those who fall through the metaphoric cracks” (Red Sand Project, “Sidewalk Interventions,” 2017).

Roebuck added, “The sand stands for the fragility of the victims’ situations, and how easily they can be ‘washed away.’ Just as a single grain of sand is meaningless on its own, a victim isn’t isolated: they’re part of a vast network of co-dependence that sustains the human trafficking industry and prevents their escape.”

Numerous clubs and preliminary organizations support the project: Vassar Greens; Abolitionists Unchained, a pre-org focused on human trafficking; unFramed, which pushes political activism and social justice through art; the Sculpture Department; and the Vassar chapters of UNICEF and Amnesty International.

Priya Misra ’17, a co-president of Amnesty International, thought this project was a creative and effective way to bring attention to an issue so commonly overlooked. She said, “Surprisingly, not many people know that human trafficking occurs close to home—the United States has had massive difficulty curtailing both domestic and international traffickers. Criminals seek out teenage runaways or go as far as finding some

Vassar’s Red Sand Project, which will be installed on April 14 and 15, will serve to raise awareness of human trafficking and educate the Vassar community on what they can do to help. way to blackmail young women into doing their bidding. Abroad, traffickers take advantage of global events like migrant crises, seeing them as an opportunity to prey on the precarious, those who are scared, alone and lost.”

Amnesty International has done work with this issue in the past, inviting a United Nations speaker to talk about human trafficking within the U.S. They have also focused on international human trafficking, specifically its rise during the European Union migrant crisis.

An installation of the Red Sand Project will occur at Vassar on April 14 and 15, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The exhibit is open to students, faculty and the Poughkeepsie community; all are welcome to participate and strongly encouraged to visit the Collaboratory from April 9 through 26. That is

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

where the organizers behind the installation will exhibit information about human trafficking, including the types of trafficking, how to recognize it and what to do to address the issue.

In addition to this two-and-a-half-week project, there will be a fundraiser where donations will go towards a nonprofit that aids human trafficking victims and to bringing a speaker to Vassar.

Roebuck affirmed, “We will be concluding Red Sands by bringing an incredible speaker from Free the Slaves to campus; similar lectures have been given at Stanford, Oberlin and Harvard and many more. They will be speaking on their innovative model of change and on human trafficking itself, to further empower students in their fight.”

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April 6, 2017

Historic VC course now available for 2017 fall semester Noah Purdy Arts Editor

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Courtesy of Allison Sugino/Rachel Friedman

“Civilization in Question” draws on the expertise of three professors to shed new light on socalled canonical texts, delving into their historical contexts and exploration of large themes.

Michael Chung/The Miscellany News

ooted in aporia, the Ancient Greek idea— literally meaning a lack of egress—that only through intellectual impasse or doubt can one reach new understanding, Vassar’s academic model, like many liberal arts courses of study, relies heavily on confrontation. Students are challenged to face the unfamiliar and, in turn, learn to rethink and question the familiar.

Few courses, however, offer a glimpse into this crucial underpinning of our touted curriculum. One course, though, was designed more than 30 years ago specifically with this holistic approach in mind. After a five-year hiatus, College Course 101: Civilization in Question— cross-listed in Greek & Roman and Medieval & Renaissance Studies—is back on offer for the upcoming fall semester.

Civilization in Question began in 1982 as a year-long course with around 120 students, and was team-taught by six professors who collaborated on a syllabus incorporating seminal texts drawn from each of their respective areas of expertise.

It came about as part of a push in the early ’80s to regroup the curriculum into specific modes of study between which students were expected to spread their course loads. Civilization in Question was conceived as a required class that would bridge the various modes, Vassar’s answer of sorts to the “Great Books” courses taught at other institutions such as Columbia or Bard.

“While this curricular plan seemed to be fulfilling many important goals of a liberal education, the Vassar College committees thought that students lacked courses that would integrate and unify their knowledge,” wrote Professor Emeritus of Political Science Peter G. Stillman, one of the original six professors, in an article about the course.

“Their education tended to be too fragmented,” he continued, “to lack emphasis on crucial relationships among disciplines, in short to evince in some important ways a weakening and a fragmenting of the humanistic vision” (The Journal of General Education, “The College Course: Civilization in Question,” Vol. 36, No. 1, 1984).

In the original form of the course, the professors rotated, each of the six taking turns lecturing on their chosen texts, and also led separate discussions in smaller groups once a week, a model reminiscent of the introductory ART 105106 course.

Unique to Civilization in Question, though, was the presence and active involvement of all of the participating faculty during the lecture periods, drawing on discussions at weekly faculty seminars that prepped them for discussing texts that were often far from their areas of expertise.

No matter who was teaching or what texts were being presented, what was always at stake was the very idea of a canon, of questioning if there are works so vital that they transcend their contexts. At the heart of the College Course is the view that great works are great because they

take a critical stance toward the civilizations and eras in which they originated, and that by reading and comparing these texts one can both broaden one’s thinking and challenge one’s perceptions. “‘Civilization in Question’ is an open theme; it poses a problem rather than setting limits to exploration or presuming answers...”

Stillman continued, describing the main crux of the course.

In the course’s newest permutation this fall, Associate Professor and Chair of Greek & Roman Studies Rachel Friedman and Professor of History and Director of Medieval & Renaissance Studies Nancy Bisaha, who have both taught Civilization in Question before, will be joined by Assistant Professor of Philosophy Christopher Raymond.

They will be focusing primarily on pre-modern texts, with Ancient Greek works by Homer and Aeschylus covered by Friedman, thinkers including Plato and Augustine reflecting Raymond’s work in ancient philosophy, and texts

by Italian humanists Machiavelli and Pico della Mirandola and a Medieval romance by Chrétien de Troyes taught by Bisaha.

Retired Professor of Greek & Roman Studies Rachel Kitzinger, who took part in the original iteration of the College Course along with Stillman, spoke to some of the challenges of teaching a course like this, but also to how enriching it was for students and faculty alike.

“The difficulty, quite honestly,” she said, “was that...you’re not resting on your expertise; you have to be willing to make a fool of yourself in front of students and also your fellow faculty...”

By seeing professors in a more vulnerable light, the hope is that students feel more comfortable raising questions and working together toward understanding.

While it is true that intellectual or pedagogical disagreements have arisen among faculty in the course from time to time, all of the professors affirmed that this only indicated yet another benefit of Civilization in Question, namely the development of conviction through debate and the commitment to conveying one’s ideas while still communicating them through difference.

As Friedman noted, “The freshness of the perspective, having a colleague process what you’re teaching with you is incredibly productive ... It keeps you engaged and excited as a teacher.”

Over time, though, it became clear that the six-professor structure was too lofty, its “talking heads” model proving inconsistent with the original intent of a guided yet open discussion.

Besides, the curricular redesign plan had fallen to the wayside—Civilization in Question and the language requirement are its only surviving components—and the NEH grant funding the weekly faculty seminars dried up after four years.

The course was scaled back to one semester and eventually settled on an ideal balance of three professors. Friedman explained, “[Many students are] used to a different model of learning and teaching, where there’s one expert at the front of the room and that’s who they have to listen to. Here we’re saying, ‘Well, here are three

Pictured above are Professors Nancy Bisaha, Rachel Friedman and Chris Raymond, who will be leading the team-taught “Civilization in Question” course this fall, a VC staple since the 1980’s. different takes on this text. What do you think?’” “[W]hat we’re also modeling is slow reading,” continued Friedman, who experienced firsthand the relentless pace of Columbia’s Great Books curriculum, which she found fostered rushed and superficial reading. “It’s not about... covering a particular time period or a particular genre, it’s about slow and deep engagement with texts.”

What was retained in the course was its format of two 75-minute lectures and one 50-minute discussion period per week, as well as its flexibility with regard to composition—professors of subjects as disparate as Greek and Roman studies, philosophy, math, French, history, chemistry, English and music have all taught in the course, with the material on the syllabus changing each time to fit their interests and knowledge.

“What remained was a conviction that hearing people from different disciplines talking about the same text...was extremely valuable,” Kitzinger reflected.

Raymond expanded on what remains present despite the constantly evolving nature of the professors and syllabus. As he explained, evoking the course’s title, “You read so-called canonical texts, but part of the aim...is not just to question the texts, but to show how the texts are questioning the civilizations [they were written in]. There’s no homogeneous canon; maybe, if anything, [what] makes something come into the canon is that it’s critical and that it’s doing something new.” “[W]e had the belief that what would emerge in the course of teaching would be common thematic connections that would come out of the discussion and also the interests of the students,” Kitzinger added.

Bisaha and Friedman vouched for this, marveling at how in previous years, in spite of the difficulty of creating a unifying narrative to link the whole semester’s work, recurring themes would pop up from text to text and generate lively discussions about the connections between them.

Describing the unique aspect of the pre-modern concentration this fall, Raymond stated, “One of the advantages of this approach is that a lot of the texts are going to be directly in conversation with each other.”

Bisaha elaborated, saying, “[B]ecause we start at a certain point in the ancient period and then go forward, it also gives students an understanding and appreciation for how generations build on one another, that they valued these texts and they kept revisiting them and they kept coming back to the same ideas. And then it maybe also helps them understand how a lot of the ideas we think we invented really are so deeply rooted.”

Speaking to this last point, Friedman agreed that many students are exposed less and less to material from the periods she and her colleagues study, which she sees as detrimental to a true liberal arts education. “[A] trend we see on campus is a kind of presentism among our students, where the value of studying pre-modern sources or material is not

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

apparent,” she stated. “I think the three of us are all firmly committed to the study of pre-modern material as a way to give us more clarity and understanding of our own world.”

“The questions, in a lot of ways, are eternal questions,” Bisaha affirmed.

Another academic trend that makes this course stand apart is its presence among the emergence of multidisciplinary programs on campus. When Civilization in Question first began in the ’80s, Vassar had only four such programs; now, the College boasts a whopping 12.

“Multidisciplinaries, I think, have become more and more disciplinary in their approaches, whereas this remains open to almost any discipline,” Kitzinger expressed.

Civilization in Question always provided a space for professors who otherwise would not have been able to teach in this collaborative format, remaining relatively unchanged on a campus where multidisciplinary programs were developing and turning increasingly inward.

“Even now,” Friedman explained, “where we have team teaching and faculty coming from different disciplines, the [multidisciplinary programs] have an agenda about educating students in [their respective] discipline...”

Many professors have become frustrated with students’ increasing focus on fulfilling requirements, which can blind them to the actual content of their courses and the potential for rich dialogue between their areas of study.

According to Friedman, “This is a class that will not fit in any box, and I think that’s really important.”

Bisaha concurred, emphasizing how transformational it was to teach in this unique environment, especially early on in her career in academia.

As for students, she stated, “I hope it would encourage them to embrace debate as part of learning ... It’s really good to engage; it’s really good to disagree ... It’s really exciting to test your ideas and let them take shape in that way.”

Looking forward, Raymond stated, “We and the students are going to be reading texts that we’re distanced from in various ways and that are very hard to access, and in order to do that well, you have to be...humble about what you know and don’t know, and I think it really has to be a joint enterprise...”

This fall’s Civilization in Question is set to reinstate a proud Vassar tradition, a course characteristic of the bold academic values we constantly strive to reaffirm. It will be, as it always has been, an experience in the revelatory nature of aporia, of submitting to the unknown in order to gain a clarity of thought, an openness to difference and an informed perspective on the big questions of the world at large.

“I think it’s because the course is so unusual that there’s a sense that you’re doing something different,” Friedman summed up, “and also a sense—dare I say—that this is what college is supposed to be about ... It’s about sitting in a room with your classmates and different faculty and just grappling with these texts ... There’s an energy and an excitement that that generates.”

April 6, 2017

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Org Spotlight: Barefoot Monkeys talk inclusivity, history Matt Stein

Assistant Features Editor

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there still juggling or spinning poi.

If someone wishes to participate in a non-executive board leadership role, there are also opportunities to choreograph acts in one of the BFM shows. Every year, the Monkeys have two indoor shows and two fire shows in front of Rockefeller Hall. Anybody can suggest an idea for an act and choreograph it. In February, BFM presented “Monkey Sea, Monkey Do” in the Susan Stein Shiva Theater. Acts were centered around the theme piracy and featured routines choreographed by members of every year. There will also by a fire show April 15.

Choreographer for the upcoming fire show Josh Samolchuck ’20 hasn’t finished his first year at Vassar but already has been given the opportunity to choreograph BFM shows. “In the fall indoor show and this spring fire show, I had an idea for an act. I picked a song and arranged the cho-

Courtesy of Alec Ferretti

his is the inaugural article of the weekly feature, “Org of the Week,” in which the Miscellany will shine a spotlight on one of the many clubs in the Vassar community. This week, we’ll be discussing the Barefoot Monkeys (BFM).

Have you ever crossed the quad at night and seen people dancing with fire? Or witnessed someone sauntering in stilts? Your eyes don’t deceive you. It’s the Barefoot Monkeys: Vassar’s only circus-themed club that anyone can join.

Any Wednesday or Friday from 3-6, you can find the Monkeys in the residential quad or the Villard Room for Playtime, where they’ll be working on new acrobatic skills or just playing around and hanging out. There are also opportunities to “spin” fire, weather permitting, and practice balancing during Acro Saturdays in the Walker MPR. BFM’s exec board leads Treehouse, which is their meeting that anyone can attend where they determine policies and acts. Besides being known for their unbelievable acrobatics, the Monkeys also have a reputation for their thorough safety precautions, ensuring that anyone can defy gravity without breaking their neck or combusting.

Now the President, or Grand Monkey, of BFM Christa Ventresca ’17 described what led her to get involved, “I wasn’t initially planning on joining the Monkeys, but I lived in Strong my freshman year and the Monkeys usually practice on the quad right outside that dorm. So there was one time when I was sitting alone in my room and they were making a ton of noise outside, so I decided to see what the fuss was about. Somehow I got sucked into this club as a result.”

Knowledge in the acrobatic world isn’t necessary either. Many members of BFM started with little to no experience, only a general interest.

Anyone can show up to playtime and be welcomed with open arms. Just a few of their activities include contact juggling, spinning staffs, poi and balancing,

Anna Roberts ’20 notes that her favorite activity since joining the Monkeys is balancing: “Basically, two people work together to lift somebody in the air to do cool things. There’s a base and a flier. The base lifts the flier somehow. There are ground balances, high balances and mid-balances. I personally prefer the high ones. They’re more fun, but you do cool things. Some of them are dynamic, like assisted cartwheels, but some of them are lifts, like the one we call ‘Dirty Dancing,’ like the movie. I think the technical term is ‘High Bird on Hands,’ but we just call it ‘Dirty Dancing.’”

No other organization compares to the size of the Monkey community. With an email list boasting over 350 people and too many alumni to count, the Barefoot Monkeys are everywhere. No matter what dorm you live in or city you go off to after college, a member of the Monkey family is

The Barefoot Monkeys have practiced acrobatics, fire play, poi, balancing and circus-style choreography for twenty years. The organization welcomes all students regardless of experience.

reography and taught it to the other people who want to be in it. So even as early as the second show, having been on campus for three months, I was still able to get into a leadership position teaching other people choreography.”

Participating in a variety of BFM events over the last four years, Ventresca talked about one of her most exhilarating experiences with the Monkeys. “The first time spinning fire was definitely a huge adrenaline rush, which I love, because it’s super empowering to be like, ‘Oh my God, I’m on fire and not getting hurt. This is great.’ Other than that, I have a lot of great show memories because it’s weird watching a show come together from the very beginning to the very end. It’s super wonderful to see.”

Every show will have many alumni sitting in the audience because one of the integral parts of the Monkeys is their sense of an inclusive community. Many Monkeys form friendships that transcend just hanging out during playtime or show rehearsals, carrying over into meals, classes and even housing.

Near the end of April, BFM hosts an annual “Monkey See, Monkey Do” convention, which holds numerous juggling and fire workshops over the space of a weekend. “Monkey See, Monkey Do” acts as an opportunity for Monkey alumni to reunite and for members to teach the skills they’ve developed. Essentially, the convention is one big playtime.

Now approaching their twentieth year as an org, BFM still has a captivating presence to the Vassar community. Samolchuck spoke about the general acceptance found within the Monkeys: “I don’t think there’s one type of person in the Monkeys. I feel like from the first playtime I went to, I always felt that they were looking for anybody who has interest in learning any of these things.

It’s really nice because you don’t need to go in knowing how to do everything. They’re very open to teaching everyone anything they want to know. It’s very relaxed about most things. You come and go as you please.”

You gotta give your veggie lasagna some vegan ricotta Brooke Thomas Guest Reporterr

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Courtesy of Brooke Thomas

rowing up with three siblings, my favorite meals were the ones I was allowed to eat as much of as I wanted because we weren’t going to run out. Mac and Cheese was a stand-by.

We would get in trouble if we wasted any and, having a bottomless stomach, the duty of finishing off the second or third box usually came to me.

Another favorite was lasagna. I’m realizing now that this connection may have just as much to do with the combo of pasta and cheese as it does with being allowed to eat a large quantity of food.

Well I haven’t eaten “real” cheese in the last three and a half years, so that means I haven’t had lasagna for about three and a half years—a tragedy.

A few weeks ago, however, I changed my fate! I noticed vegan ricotta at a certain health food store and was immediately inspired to make lasagna with it. My hopes were crushed by the price tag, so I decided to look at the ingredients and do a little searching online.

Here’s where this recipe turns a bit weird.

Now, I hate raw tofu as much as the next person but apparently I love lasagna more.

(Side note: my housemate who studied abroad in Italy has let me know that the lasagna she had in Bologna did not have ricotta in it. However, the lasagna of my childhood was from the freezer section of a grocery store called Blair’s and not from Bologna, sorry Italy.)

I was extremely weary of tofu ricotta but I had faith in my ability to make things taste good so I went for it and I was pleased with the results.

The first thing you do is drain and squeeze the excess water out of a block of medium firm tofu. Most of the recipes I read said to go for firm, but I didn’t want the chunks to be that solid and I think I made the right choice.

Make sure you get most of the water out of there or else you are going to have sauce instead of cheese. Then add about a teaspoon

of garlic powder, a splash of extra virgin olive oil, half a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of ground black pepper and, most importantly, a few teaspoons of fresh lemon juice.

This whole process relies heavily on tasting it to see what you like. I also added about a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and a teaspoon or two of oregano.

I also think adding some fresh basil leaves would be delicious but that would obviously make it green, so it’s up to you.

To assemble the lasagna, boil the lasagna noodles following the package instructions then drain and rinse them in cold water.

In whatever size pan you want (although there are usually enough noodles in a box for a 9” by 13” pan), put down a bit of your tomato sauce.

I like straight up bottled marinara sauce but you could make your own or go for some fancy basil, tomato business. Lay down a layer of the noodles.

Next, add a layer of your ricotta using a spoon or rubber spatula to smooth it out. Lay down another layer of noodles and add a few handfuls of spinach and chopped mushrooms (or you could use vegetarian ground “beef” or anything else you want) and more tomato sauce.

Continue layering the noodles and filling, alternating fillings between each layer, until you run out of noodles or room in the pan.

I like to finish off the top with more tomato sauce but you could leave it bare if you want it crispy or add some vegan white sauce (cashews would be good for this, but that’s too fancy for me).

Bake at 375 for around 25 minutes with aluminum foil and 25 minutes without. You just want the whole thing to be bubbly and heated through.

I was really nervous about the ricotta situation but after it came out I was thoroughly impressed.

It didn’t taste exactly like the dairy version but it was darn close and the texture was spot on. I will definitely be making it again.

Ingredients ~48 oz of tomato sauce ~4 cups fresh spinach ~4 cups chopped mushrooms 16 oz box lasagna noodles 1 block of medium firm tofu 1 tsp garlic powder Splash of extra virgin olive oil Salt and pepper to taste 2 tsp fresh lemon juice Optional: nutritional yeast, oregano and basil to taste

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 8

FEATURES

April 6, 2017

Administrators address uncertainty regarding meal plan DINING continued from page 1 new meal plan that will be healthy, enjoyable and affordable, and we believe we have done that with the new dining plan that will be in place at the start of next semester. In terms of cost, the increase in room and board (combined) for next year is $500, or four percent, the same percent as the tuition increase for next year.”

team, all dining employees are SEIU and CWA employees of the college, and they will continue to work at dining locations although some schedules may change. The new style of cooking is more labor intensive and requires more chefs.

We plan to hire additional employees to cover extended hours. New staffing plan and schedule (divided by day parts) is being worked on.”

Q “What are the locations that students will have unlimited access to?”

Q: “Could you explain a little more about the eco-friendly and the Farm to Fork concept of Bon Appétit?”

A: “Students will have unlimited access to ACDC. Students will be able to use a meal equivalency once every four hours at the Express, Bridge Café or Food Truck on weekdays and once each day on the weekends. Meal equivalences will consist of a drink, a hot or cold meal, fruit and a snack.”

Q: “Since everyone is on the meal plan, would alternative residential options (TA/TH/SoCo/ Ferry/Off-campus) and cooking for oneself become less desirable?”

A: “Bon Appétit focuses on developing menus which utilize ingredients available locally (within 200 miles). The menus will be catered to the season. Not everything will be available locally but Bon Appétit has already begun developing relationships with local farms, including the Vassar Farm Project, and local producers to meet their needs.

The renovation aims to provide a more open and welcoming environment that features differ-

ent dining destinations. There will be an open staircase to UpC. The downstairs seating will be in group settings, providing places for students to study and socialize. Outlets and printers will be available. There will be a different set of stations like a coffee bar and smoothies open up during late night.”

Q: “Being the central hub for dining, will ACDC become more crowded?”

A: “The renovation of ACDC will enhance the atmosphere and increase capacity (# of seats) 30 to 40 percent. It is our expectation that the combination of additional capacity in ACDC, continuous operation of ACDC from early morning to late night, and additional meal options at the Express, Food Truck and Bridge Café will prevent over-crowding in ACDC.” Q: “Would the Deece open during breaks?”

A: “The All Campus Dining Center will be open during October break, as it is today. We are evaluating optional plans for those students on

A: “The new dining plan does not preclude students from cooking for themselves, although it will definitely make it unnecessary. In some ways, being on the meal plan provides students living in the apartments or co-ops with more dining options, and thus, especially during crunch times, an easy way to get a meal without the need for shopping, cooking, cleaning etc. Senior residential options give students a unique living situation. Students can live in a single with three or four other students as opposed to a traditional [dormitory-style] house of 150. Our sense is that students will still be looking for smaller, more intimate and controlled environments especially entering their senior year.”

Courtesy of Vassar College

Q: “Will the new plan affect student employment and programming?”

A: “None of the student positions at ACDC, the Kiosk or the Bean will be dissolved. The stage on the second floor of the ACDC is still available for programming late night events.”

Q: “With the change in contractor, would the current employees be laid off? Would there be enough staff to accommodate the extended and continuous hours of operation at ACDC (7 a.m. to 1 a.m.)?”

A: “Other than the Aramark management

The renovated All Campus Dining Center, as pictured in the design above, is due to be finished by August 2017 in time to welcome students back to campus. There will be unlimited access to the ACDC.

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

campus during other breaks.”

Q: “Will there be more private dining locations like the ‘Quiet Room’ with smaller tables?”

A: “In addition to the large open space on the first floor, the renovation opened up access to the second and third floor of the dining hall, with plenty of seating in all areas. The entire first floor will be open for dining and this includes the west side for seating and food stations. There will be a variety of table sizes and seating options throughout the dining center, and the second and third floor will allow for quieter dining.

The Express will move to the newly renovated Kiosk with expanded offerings and hours (breakfast and lunch until late afternoon). Located in the center of campus and designed for a high volume of people, the food won’t be customizable. The walls of the Kiosk will come down, allowing an open space for students to walk in and select from the hot and cold options to grab and go. A food truck will stop at locations such as residential houses and academic facilities during weekday nights and is available for special events.

The Retreat and Matthew’s Bean will take cash, VCash and credit. Student can still choose to sit and work in these locations. A Taqueria/ Chipotle type bar will be added at the Retreat.

To promote engagement within community, $200 is included in the meal plan for students to spend at local vendors, including the Vassar Farm, and at select restaurants on Raymond Avenue.”

Q: “Because dining bucks will no longer be part of the meal plan, how do students address the increase in cost for those who wish to dine in the Retreat?”

A: “The focus for hot meals made to order will be ACDC and the variety of options at the Retreat may be reduced. The hours and the menu at the Retreat will change, as new options and locations become available for students and the community. If students don’t have time to go off campus, the Arlington Bucks can also be used at the Retreat.”

The committee maintains that the new dining plan is open to discussion and constant change and development are still in progress.

April 6, 2017

OPINIONS

Page 9

The Miscellany News Staff Editorial

Trump’s climate policies necessitate active resistance

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n March 28, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that will repeal the climate policies former President Obama enacted during his time in office. President Trump promised this action during his presidential campaign, and it marks a troubling direction for the future of our country and for planet Earth as a whole. The president has relentlessly denied the belief that rising carbon dioxide emissions are a pressing global issue, and if further policies from the executive branch are put into effect over the next four years that continue to discard environmental protections, the world may be unable to mollify the substantial harm done to our planet.

In particular, this executive order includes repealing the Clean Power Plan spearheaded by President Obama. This decision is in line with President Trump’s support for the Keystone XL pipeline, repealing of wildlife protection acts and disregard for the necessity of America’s national parks and federal lands. He has claimed that this nullification will provide more jobs for the American people. However, Trump intentionally disregards the fact that jobs in the coal industry, which currently employs fewer than 100,000 people, will not be signficant in decades to come, when humanity can no longer reverse the devastating environmental harm (The New York Times, “Coal mining jobs Trump would bring back no longer exist,” 03.29.17).

The damage done to the environment is already visible in the rapidly disappearing Solomon Islands. A study published by the Environmental Research Letters provides irrefutable proof that the Solomon Islands are disappearing due to rising sea levels, with five already underwater over the past seven decades (CNN, “Five Solomon islands swallowed by the sea,” 05.10.2016). In addition, the world’s carbon dioxide levels rose above 400 ppm (parts per million) this past September. Many scientists believe this

threshold is the world’s breaking point, resulting in irreparable damage and a continual increase in world temperatures (Climate Central, “The World Passes 400 PPM Threshold. Permanently,” 09.27.2016). Because President Obama’s Clean Power Plan was integral to America’s role in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which seeks to prevent the planet’s temperature from rising over a permanently-detrimental 3.6 degrees, Trump’s rollback of environmental policy will be devastating for not only the nation, but also for the world. 2016 was the hottest year on record, and this trend will only continue if we do not reduce our usage of environment-degrading fossil fuels.

Another action equally detrimental to the environment taken by President Trump is to instate Scott Pruitt, a staunch climate change denier and friend to the fossil fuel industry, as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He has no experience in matters relating to the environment and has provided no scientific backing for the direction he is taking the agency in. As a person who rejects established science by stating that carbon dioxide emissions do not directly contribute to climate change, Pruitt is unfit to take the helm of our nation’s leading environmental agency.

While President Obama was not infallible in his approach to instating climate protective measures during his time in office, he made strides that were designed to better our country’s future. His Clean Power Plan promised to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent by 2030, and he signed the 2015 Paris Agreement in which the world’s nations promised to work to reduce climate-harming emissions (The New York Times, “Trump Signs Executive Order Unwinding Obama Climate Policies,” 03.28.2017).

President Trump’s reversal of this legacy has the potential to result in droughts, water wars, rising sea levels resulting in higher rates of erosion: environmental catastrophes that will dis-

proportionately impact marginalized groups.

These are impacts of environmental racism that we have seen already in places like Flint, Michigan and Kivalina, Alaska, where marginalized communities are put at further risk by the lack of environmental action taken by their respective governments and the lack of protection afforded by the federal government.

President Trump has proven that his capitalistic mindset that favors short-term profits neglects any possible concern for our future as a nation and the world in regards to the environment. Although in 2009 he wrote a letter to President Obama urging him to take immediate action to counteract climate change, he later declared via Twitter, “Global warming is a total, and very expensive, hoax!” A year later, he again changed his platform and donated money to combat climate change, but once again, a year after that, he re-declared the notion of climate change absurd (Newsweek, “A Timeline of Every Ridiculous Thing Trump Has Said About Climate Change,” 04.02.2017). His anti-environmental policies now are dangerous and indicative of how deeply beholden his administration is to the fossil fuel lobby.

Resistance against President Trump’s recent anti-environmental policies is apparent, however. The national parks, which are heralded as areas of conservation unique to the United States, have been threatened by budget cuts and bans on social media postings. In response, multiple “rogue” accounts have cropped up across social media to critique the administration’s harmful policies and to remind the public of the damage being done. One account, “Alt National Park Service,” responded to President Trump’s recent publicity stunt of donating his salary from his first months of presidency to the National Park Service. The group reminded the public that his donation amounted to $78,333, while his intended cuts will take a much deeper toll

on the EPA and National Park Service (NPS) budgets. The Interior Department’s budget, for instance, is proposed to be cut by 12 percent, which amounts to a loss of nearly $2 billion (Slate, “Donald Trump Gave a $78,000 Novelty Check to the Park Service, Whose Budget He Wants to Gut,” 4.3.2017). By taking to social media and disseminating this information, these rogue accounts serve as one of many forms of resistance against normalizing President Trump’s anti-environmental policies.

It is imperative that we continue to insist that President Trump shift toward policies that would allow him to keep his promise for more jobs within the United States energy sector but also strive to understand, prevent and repair the egregious harm that accompanies the continual use of fossil fuels. This can be conducted by shifting focus from fossil fuels toward more renewable resources and not repealing the strides that President Obama made toward ensuring a bright future for all of the world’s inhabitants.

In the meantime, the Vassar community, including students, faculty and staff, must continue to take tangible steps here and across the country to counteract President Trump’s harmful rollback of crucial environmental policies.

It is critical that we as young people remain informed, vocal and vigilant about climate change.

College students should continue to insist upon pursuing options such as a campus-wide divestment from fossil fuels, which 91 percent of the Vassar student body voted for overwhelmingly last year. Through steps taken in public policy and in everyday life, we must seize every opportunity to counteract harm done by us and by this presidential administration. The future of our world depends upon it.

—The Staff Editorial expresses the opinion of at least 2/3 of The Miscellany News Editorial Board.

Politicization of VSA should be questioned in election Drew Solender Columnist

T

his week, I and other writers for The Miscellany News have been given the unique opportunity to comment on the upcoming election. I don’t know about my contemporaries, but I am seizing upon this rare opportunity to analyze ongoing events and voice some of my personal concerns and observations. While I’m sure this has been said about many an election, this year’s election is a pivotal one for the VSA and Vassar for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there is politics. With the rapidly changing political landscape since the election of President Trump, college campuses have become hotbeds of progressive protest and outrage. Will the next VSA be a political body or a student service body if we elect the progressive candidates who are poised to win? Will they prioritize political issues like the return of BDS and the alienation of certain members of the student body, or will they put aside their opinions and serve all students?

The VSA, in recent years, has sometimes acted as a political body. This can often be for the benefit of many, such as when it reaches out to historically marginalized communities, works to create a more progressive community, and create a more inclusive society. It falls short, however, when it does this to a militant degree.

I think few at Vassar will argue that attempts at creating an environment of inclusion have been largely bad. The intentions behind them are certainly good. Continuing programs of inclusion and support for marginalized communities are essential and ought to be expanded. However, such attempts at an inclusive environment have had the effect, instead of eliminating discrimination, of discouraging political pluralism and silencing those who think against the grain.

There is definitely a way to be inclusionary to people of all races and also to those with opinions that don’t fall into the majority. Purist progressive groups like Healing to Action (H2A), which has fielded multiple members and allies to their movement as candidates in the VSA elections, might disagree. One of H2A’s members encourages people to “be the fist you

want to see in a fascist’s face,” which is something I will elaborate upon in a future article. My response to that would be, “you guys sometimes call moderates and conservatives, or anybody who doesn’t agree with your progressive views, fascists.

So where’s the limit to who you want to punch?” While the punching example is probably the most radical and is mostly talked about ironically, it does beg the question; where is the line drawn?

As a moderate centrist who believes in free trade, the sovereignty of the Jewish state, the idea that we shouldn’t punch anybody regardless of their views of race, as well as the idea that not every white person wants to explicitly undermine marginalized communities, I have been called a racist by some progressives at Vassar.

Yet conversely, I believe that the US government should pay billions in reparations to the Black community, that gerrymandering is an inherently racist process, and that the federal government is obligated to alleviate the poverty of historically oppressed communities. Still, even with these views, I’m not considered progressive enough by some because I don’t think people who disagree with me should be tarred and feathered. I wonder what will happen to conservatives, moderates, libertarians and any non-progressives if we elect candidates who paint all non-progressives as racists?

This is the inclusivity paradox; when Vassar creates a community that is more inclusive to historically marginalized groups, it becomes increasingly intolerant to those with differing views on the matter. I believe that a balance can be drawn between accomodating those who think differently politically (while, of course, ensuring that prejudiced ideas are properly confronted) and creating an inclusive environment for all marginalized identities. While I personally applaud the increasingly tolerant society that Vassar has created, I also think that progressives should try to catch flies with honey rather than vinegar. It sometimes seems to me that the goal is to just alienate people with problematic views to the point where they leave the community, instead of engaging them and trying to change

their opinions. Sometimes these efforts are made in vain. They are efforts that should be made nonetheless.

Then, of course, there is the marginalized ethnicity that is put at risk in a VSA dominated by progressive purists: Jewish people. I worry, as do many of my peers in the Jewish community, about the return of the ridiculous Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, which could be facilitated by a progressive bloc ruling the VSA. Firstly, for those who will argue that Jews are not marginalized, but are rather unequivocally accepted and integrated into Christian society, you are dead wrong. I would refer those people to the Jewish cemeteries that are being vandalized and destroyed by antisemites, the JCCs and synagogues receiving bomb threats from antisemites, the antisemitic man at Penn Station who chased me yelling “f**king jew!” last month, and the antisemites who make the BDS movement the cornerstone cause of their college career.

For those who do not know, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions or BDS is a movement that wants Vassar to divest from and boycott the Jewish state of Israel for the supposed purpose of liberating Palestinians. Though the BDS referenda were ultimately rejected by the student body last year (though it’s important to note that the BDS Resolution was initially passed by the VSA Council), the toxic environment the campaign created has lingered.

The fact is, antisemites and other people hostile to the Jewish people are manipulating progressive college students into wholeheartedly supporting this movement as an “anti-apartheid movement,” of which it is nothing of the sort.

BDS is simply the latest attempt to undermine the Jewish people and the state of Israel. Yet, what really concerns me is the campus effect of this movement.

While the BDS movement was happening during the 2015-2016 school year, the environment was described as “tense” and “hostile,” especially towards Jews who opposed BDS. This movement creates militants and combatants out of well-meaning students, all under the umbrella of an allegedly progressive agenda. What is

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

it all for? Vassar College’s divestment wouldn’t make a chink into Israel’s robust economy, but it might force Vassar to pay more for things like computer chips, telephones and medical supplies in Baldwin if it is indeed one of the many entities that imports those inexpensive and high quality products from Israel.

Essentially, this movement creates disharmony and antisemitism at Vassar, while also hurting Vassar financially and not affecting Israel at all. To those who think that Vassar would serve as a domino in the BDS movement, paving the way for other colleges to participate until a significant dent is made, you can forget that idea too. For many colleges outside the Vassar bubble, the BDS movement would look like a hot potato of ludicrousy that any institution would want to rid itself of as expediently as possible.

I strongly believe that electing droves of likeminded progressives and H2A members to the VSA will put non-progressives, Jews and Israel supporters in great danger of alienation, discrimination and even harassment.

I would like to see progressive candidates, and indeed every candidate, state whether they would incorporate free speech and political diversity measures into their inclusivity initiatives. I want to hear their exact opinions on the BDS movement and whether or not they would facilitate its return. I would like them to tell me whether they are running for the VSA for political reasons, or because they actually want to help improve the lives of students here. Student governments are meant to serve their constituents, fund clubs and create a better campus.

They are not meant be activists on issues that have never touched their lives or alienate members of the student body who they believe to be deplorables or degenerates.

Creating a more inclusive educational community is, of course, essential. I believe that such efforts do not necessarily have to come at the expense of political pluralism.

I have seen far too much evidence that progressive candidates would support the latter definition of government and eschew the former. So this is a challenge to progressive candidates for the VSA: prove me wrong.

OPINIONS

Page 10

April 6, 2017

Honoring the lives of autistic victims of ableist violence Jesser Horowitz Columnist

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s it’s Autism Awareness Month, the following space shall serve as a memorial to those within the autistic community who have lost their lives to ableist violence.

You may be aware of institutionalized ableism, you may actively fight against it, but it’s difficult to understand the human cost of it.

Activism that confronts ableism must center the lives of those must impacted.

Please read the following memorial, learn their names and honor their lives and memories.

Rest in Peace Ms. A, unknown Abdirahman Abdi, 37 Yonatan Aguilar, 11 Alexis Agyepong-Glover, 13 Majid Akhtar, 28 Faryaal Akhter, 2 Zain Akhtre, 5 Casey Albury, 17 Timothy Aleshire, 27 Angel Alicea-Estrada, 58 Lindsey Angela Alvarez, 4 Austin Anderson, 19 Aiden Archer, 3 Harry Aspley, 23 months Tamiyah Audain, 12 Angelica Auriemma, 20 Katie Lynn Baker, 10 Benjamin Barnhard, 13 Randle Barrow, 8 Dale Bartolome, 27 Asher Bashir, 4 William Beals, 19 Michael Becht Jr., 10 Adam Behan, 22 Erianna Beltran, 3 Brandon Beukers, 25 Stephanie Bincliffe, 25 Ryan Birse, 22 Charles-Antoine Blais, 6 Eric Bland, 38 Brendan Blum, 14 Jeffrey Bogrett, 9 James Boucher, 40 Jeremy Bostick, 11 Lucas Braman, 1 Steven Brazier, 19 Gabriel Britt, 6 Antonio Brooks, 14 Cameron Brookes, 16 Andromeda Brown, 21 Asher Brown, 13 Deetrick Brown, 2 Michael Camberdella, 18 Roland Campbell, 21 Maggie Caraballo, 38 Deonn Carter, 31 George Philip Carter, 59 Robin Callender, 53 Jonathan Carey, 13 Jose Castillo-Cisneros James Casullo, 8 Kathleen Casullo, 12 Tyler Caudill, 6 Dillon Cearfoss, 20 Calvin Champion, 32 Sze-ming Chan, 10 Mohammad Usmad Chaudhry, 21 Scarlett Chen, 4 Paul Childs, 15 On-Yu Choy, 15 Johnny Churchi, 13 Patrick Clare, 35 Kayden Clark, 24 Michael Clement, 15 Christopher Cline, 35 Damian Clough, 12 Raashanai Coley, 11 Casey Collier, 17 Kevin Colindres, 18 Owen Collins, 3 Adrian Colon, 4 Maia Comas, 2 Joseph Conant, 11 Daniel Corby, 4 Anthony Corona, 18 Linda Cornelison, 19 Chelsea Craig, 14 Kristopher Crain, 22 Taariq Cross, 7 Terrance Cottrell Jr., 8

Kenneth Countie, 24 James Joseph Cummings Jr., 46 Hansel Cunningham, 30 Aja Dasa, 16 Jason Dawes, 10 Ryan Davies, 12 Sarah Davies, 24 Stephen Davies, 46 Kevin DeAnda, 25 Christopher DeGroot, 19 David Dehmann, 33 Jeshiah DeJesus, 9 Michael DeLoge, 38 Ronnie Derrick, 47 Mitchell Dickson, 10 Disabled North Koreans Doherty, unknown Malik Drummond, 2 Fabian Duque, 16 Brahim Dukes, 18 Hayden Dukes, 4 Kyle Dutter, 12 Brandon Earle, 18 Bijan Ebrahimi, 44 James Ecford, 25 Jaelen Edge, 13 Joseph Edwards, 17 Stanley Edwards, 40 Elric Eiffert, 34 Jack Ellis, 20 Timothy Ellis Jr., 2 Ryan Emory, 16 Liam Fee, 2 Adrian Fierro, 20 Marcus Fiesel, 3 Gerard Fleming, 35 Demykho Forbes, 30 Leylan Forte, 4 Corey Foster, 16 Fantasia Franklin, 21 Jeffrey Franklin, 16 Heather Frans, 19 Jeremy Fraser, 9 Glen Freaney, 11 John Fulton, 12 Graham Gentles, 22 Paul Gianelos, 45 Sarah Gibbs, 34 Dougie Gibson, 13 Lilian Leilani Gill, 4 Paul Gladwelll, 38 Jacob Grabe, 13 Matthew Graville, 27 Carl Gregory, 20 Jonathan Grinstein-Camacho, 28 Rosario Gomez, 14 Matthew Goodman, 14 Shane Graham, about 10 Jared Greenwood, 26 Robert Guinyard Jr., 4 Dameian Gulley, 14 Matthew Hafer, 28 Joseph Haines, 25 Garrett Halsey, 13 Cameron Hamilton, 2 Jake Harkins, 10 Rebekah Harkins, 57 Jim Helm, 27 Chris Helmlinger, 24 Brian Goh Kah Heng, 19 Jon Henley, 14 Jawara Henry, 27 Carlos Herrera, 22 David Herrera Jr, 22 Dustin Hicks, 14 Walter Hildebrand Jr. 20 George Hodgins, 22 Kenneth Holmes, 12 James Many White Horses, 2 Omarion Humphrey, 9 Sean Hurtt, 14 Van Ingraham, 50 Chad Jackson, 25 John Jackson, 6 Jared James, 24 Leon Jayet-Cole, 5 Hevin Jenkins, 2 Jenny Jessup, 27 Stephanie Jobin, 13 Miss John, unknown Marquail Johnson, 8 Tia Jones, 12 Daniel Joost, 18 David Jordan, 20 Kaiya Kapahu, 5 Kesia Kearse, 5 Brian Kent, 25 Tony Khor, 15

Tammara Killam, 25 Ethan Scott Kirby, 3 Tianna Kirchner, 4 Ruby Knox, 20 Stephen Komninos, 22 Giovanni Kopystenski Gulpreet Kumari, 12 Montana Lance, 9 William Lash IV, 12 Shane Laycock, 11 Jake Lasker, 19 Aaron Leafe, 15 Hun Joon Lee, 19 Kennedy LeRoy, 16 Ty Lee, 11 Lane Lesko, 19 Daniel Leubner, 13 Leung, 14 Jennifer Little, 2 Tyler Long, 17 Gordon Longphee, 56 Paige Lunsford, 14 Joshua Maddox,15 Justin Malphus, 5 Denis Maltez, 12 Charles Mancill, 24 Elisa Manrique-Lutz, 11 Martin Manrique-Lutz, 10 Patrick Markcrow, 36 Jeremy Mardis, 6 Melissa Mathieson, 18 Kristal Mayon-Ceniceros London McCabe, 6 Katherine McCarron, 3 Elspeth McKendrick, 16 Benjamin McLatchie, 22 James McLaughlin, 20 Christopher Melton, 18 Richard Meredith, 82 Vincent Milletich, 22 Matthew Mirado, 17 Jude Mirra, 8 Raymond Mitchell, 21 Nhlanhla Mnguni, 4 Mzee Mohammed, 18 Jeremiah Moore, 19 Abubakar Nadama, 5 Sarah Naylor, 27 Bryan Nevins, 20 Phillip Nicholson, 22 Jade Norton, 10 Tine Nyes, 38 Gareth Oates, 18 Timothy O’Brien, 14 Chase Ogden, 13 Richard Olan, 69 Erick Oritz, 16 Ahziya Osceola, 3 Angela Owen, 45 Samauri Page, 14 Aaron Pajich, 18 Adrian Palmer, 21 Nicholas Pesare, 18 Daniel Pelka, 4 Remie Palmero, 11 Pierre Pasquiou, 10 Jordan Payne, 5 Vincent Phan, 24 Makayla Pickett, 14 Kenneth Pierre-Louis, 18 Tiffany Pinckney, 23 Julian Pintar, 11 Gabriel Poirier, 9 John Glenn Popple, 48 Kyle Potts, 9 Kajieme Powell, 25 Tavin Price, 19 Harry Procko,4 Jared Prudhomme, 26 Dominik Prusinski, 21 Basma Rafay, 20 Leslie Ramirez, 3 Michael Renner-Lewis III, 15 Otto Rapihana, 20 Leah Ratheram, 20 Michael Raven, 12 Thomas Rawnsley, 20 Nicholas Richett, 20 Julian Roary Jr., 12 David Roberts, 2 Alex Robinson, 9 Robert Robinson, 16 Rylan Rochester, 6 months Rasheen Rose, 33 Shaun Rossington, 21 Steven Rouse, 22 Jonathan Samuel, 13 Honesty Sanders, 4

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Christina Sankey, 37 Alex Santiago, 21 Naawal Sayid, 7 Daniel Schlemmer, 6 Luke Schlemmer, 3 Mason Scott, 6 Seo, 4 Krissy Shannon, 29 Susan Shea, 19 Nozomu Shinozaki, 22 Dainell Simmons, 29 Steven Simpson, 18 Ajit Singh, 12 Austin Skidmore Dyasha Smith, 21 Otto Smith, 18 Terry Smith, 11 Craig Sorger, 13 Ulysses Stable, 12 Calista, Springer, 16 Seth Sueppel, 8 Jarred Parks, 19 Connor Sparrowhawk, 18 Alex Spourdalakis, 14 Francis Stack Jr., 48 Joan Stack, 82 Mary Stack, 57 Carl Starke, 36 Terrell Stepney Kimberly Stern, 27 Konstantin Stjepic, 10 Melissa Stoddard, 11 Jack Sullivan, 18 Jason Tallman, 12 David Taylor, 28 Sidney Templeton, 44 Emily Titterington, 16 Thomas Thompson, 11 Aleksi Toledo, 4 Isaiah Toole, 16 Robert L. Thaut, 25 James Thomas, 38 James Thompson, 42 Courtney Topic, 22 Jarrod Tutko Jr., 9 Alan Turing, 41 George Van Day, 26 Chance Vanderpool, 4 Tanya Valentin, 36 Trevor Varinecz, 16 Damien Veraghen, 9 Matthew Vick, 23 Lakesha Victor, 10 Shellay Ward, 7 Alexis Wartena, 7 Ernest Vassell, 56 Jason Walsh, 5 Evan Watkins, 4 Stephon Watts, 15 Lydia Whitford, 18 Maxwell Webb, 16 Cordero Webber Jr., 5 months Joseph Weber, 36 Joseph Webster, 19 Ran Weiss, 31 Lei Wenfeng, 15 Brandon White, 15 Ronald Wilderman, 57 Kevin Wilkes, 32 Amareon Williams, 5 Brandon Williams, 5 Hezekiah Wilson III, 38 Wayne Winter, 39 Joseph Winters, 14 Willie Wright, 15 Matthew Wooby, 12 Mark Wood, 44 Heaven Woods, 5 Sean Yates, 35 Yin, 9 Andrew Young, 40 Mark Young, 11 Teyshawn Young, 3 Jia Jia Zhang, 3 Zhang, 7 Unknown Female, 6 Unknown Male, 8 Unknown Male, 21 Anonymous Male “2014-77”, 30s Unknown Male, 6 Unknown Female, 7 Unknown Female, 33 Unknown Male, 16 35,000 Aktion T4 Victims Read more at http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com/. A special thanks for their hard work giving a voice to victims.

April 6, 2017

OPINIONS

Trump couldn’t save coal industry if he tried Steven Park Columnist

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ike some ancient relic from the past, Donald Trump has written off the consequences of climate change numerous times and has instead vowed to bring back coal to America. Give America black lung again, I suppose. But while some believe that Trump’s mission would provide many well-needed jobs to lower-income, blue-collar workers in rural America, what they don’t know is that the coal industry is dying and no executive order from the White House can truly “revive” it.

Those jobs that Trump promised to revive don’t exist anymore because the coal-mining process has largely become automated by new technology (The New York Times, “Coal Mining Jobs Trump Would Bring Back No Longer Exist,” 03.29.2017).

Already, countless different self-driving machines have taken over the business, such as autonomous long-distance haul trains, automated drilling and tunnel-boring systems, and automated long-wall plough and shearers (IISD, “Mining a Mirage?,” 09.2016). According to a recent report by the International Institute for Sustainable Development, fully autonomous equipment “would reduce the workforce of a typical open-cut, iron-ore mine by approximately 30 to 40 percent,” while automation could reduce the number of truck, dozer and drill operators in open pit mines by up to 75 percent (IISD). Why would coal companies bring back workers when they already have machines that can do their jobs better?

“People think of coal mining as some 1890s, colorful, populous frontier activity, but it’s much better to think of it as a high-tech industry with far fewer miners and more engineers and coders. The regulatory changes are entirely outweighed by these technological changes ... Even if you brought back demand for coal, you wouldn’t bring back the same number of workers,” stated Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program (The New York Times).

One other reason why the coal-mining industry is on its last legs is because it’s being overtaken and, quite frankly, smothered by a different energy in-

dustry–natural gas. Last year, the Energy Information Administration published a report that clearly showed the natural gas industry displacing coal: Over the past 60 years, the annual share of coal has slowly dropped from nearly 60 percent of the total U.S. electricity generation to 33 percent, while natural gas has climbed up from about 10 percent to 32 percent (Forbes, “Don’t Blame Renewable Energy for Dying U.S. Coal Industry,” 03.18.2016).

The explanation is simple: Natural gas is ridiculously cheap and abundant compared to coal.

So while natural gas has been enjoying a tremendous boon, countless coal factories have been shut down not because of regulations, but because they simply can’t compete (The Motley Fool, “Not Even Donald Trump Can Save the U.S. Coal Industry,” 10.06.2016). Even if Trump were to succeed in reviving the coal industry, he would cause a decline in natural gas consumption instead since the two are in direct competition with each other. The result? Thousands of natural gas workers without a job. On a side note, environmentalists were eager to point out that renewable energy has been steadily growing as a reliable source of energy. According to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, renewable energy was “responsible for 64% of all new electrical generating capacity installed [in 2015]” (Forbes). Speaking of renewable energy, the Natural Resources Defense Council has stated that jobs related to clean energy and energy efficiency are projected to increase by as many as 274,000 through 2020 under the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan (New York Times). That was, of course, before President Trump started to dismantle the Clean Power Plan piece by piece, from easing pollution restrictions to opening federal lands to coal companies for leasing. But even the leaders of the coal industry say that Trump’s efforts won’t be enough to make any real dent in the problem.

At most, dismantling all these regulations would restore perhaps 10 percent of the coal companies’ market share (The New York Times, “Policy Shift Helps Coal, but Other Forces May Limit Effect,” 03.28.2017).

Meanwhile, various other countries in the world

are actively seeking to replace coal with alternative sources of energy. For instance, China has recently announced its plan to spend more than $360 billion on renewable power sources through 2020 (The New York Times, “China Aims to Spend at Least $360 Billion on Renewable Energy by 2020,” 01.05.2017). In fact, China already surpassed Germany in 2015 as the world’s largest solar power market, boasting 43.2 gigawatts of solar capacity compared to Germany’s 38.4 gigawatts and America’s 27.8 gigawatts (MIT Technology Review, “China is on an Epic Solar Power Binge,” 03.22.2016).

Not only that, China already has plans to triple that amount by 2020, aiming for a total of 140 gigawatts.

To put that into context, the world solar capacity is estimated to be 200 gigawatts in 2015. China is essentially turning into one giant sunflower.

Yes, China, formerly one of America’s biggest customers of coal, is hard at work in getting rid of its reputation as “the world’s largest polluter.”

Maybe it’s because this plan would create 13 million new jobs in China’s renewable energy sector?

Maybe it’s because China truly believes in the dangers of global warming? Or gee, maybe it’s because the air pollution in China is so deathly toxic that about 4,400 people die every day as a result of China’s infamous smog? (“The Huffington Post, “Air Pollution Causes 4,400 Deaths in China Every Single Day: Study,” 08.14.2015).

Of course, China isn’t alone in abandoning coal.

Ambitious plans in renewable energy are currently in motion in countries like Australia, Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan and Vietnam (The Guardian, “China cementing global dominance of renewable energy and technology,” 01.06.2017). So not only is coal dying in the U.S., but every other country on the planet knows that it’s dying and is trying to expedite that process even further. With all that being said, I beg of you, Mr. Donald Trump, to just let this prehistoric behemoth die already.

There’s no point in trying to save a collapsing coal industry, just like how there’s no point in trying to revive the VHS movie industry–the entire world has moved on, and quite frankly, it’s about time you stop living in the 1870s and start living in 2017.

More affordable housing projects needed Noa Mendoza

Guest Columnist

I

’m from San Francisco, land of the techies.

Years ago, I could have ended that sentence very differently. I’m from San Francisco, land of the hippies. San Francisco, land of immigrants, land of artists and musicians, working-class families and clog-moms. However, San Francisco, like all cities, is in a constant state of flux.

The new wave of people who flooded into the city as the Silicon Valley tech industry boomed are a typically single, young, wealthy crowd. Locals call them “the techies.”

This change can especially be seen in the Mission District, a once working-class Latino neighborhood that I grew up in. For the past decade, its 99 cent stores, local markets and rent-controlled apartments have been vanishing in favor of artisanal chocolate stores, $9 Pressed Juiceries,and Mark Zuckerberg’s apartment. This change especially hit home with the news that Thrift Town, a 45-year old San Francisco institution, had closed last Wednesday.

The iconic Thrift Town on 17th and Mission was a non-profit thrift store, open since 1975, that served the needs of the diverse community.

It had a historic tradition of serving the needs of locals shopping for everything from day to day clothes to burning man outfits. However, due to increased rent prices in residential and commercial zones of the Mission, Thrift Town, like many other local businesses, was forced to close its doors.

As a longtime Mission resident told SFGate, “It’s been a nonstop parade of funerals for these kinds of businesses here. Twenty years ago, we came here to make culture, not money. The culture is still living in some places, but it’s on life support” (SFGate, “Rumors Confirmed: 45-yearold Thrift Town Closed Today,” 03.29.17).

Gentrification is both a long, scary word and a complex, scary, violent process.

According to the Zillow Home Value Index, rent prices in the once working-class Mission District, once primarily home to Mexican, South American and Central American migrant families, now averages over $4,000 per month

for a one-bedroom apartment. This price is way beyond what is affordable for the average working family.

Rent-controlled apartments in San Francisco, as well as in gentrified cities across America, are an increasing novelty, due to landlords’ taking advantage of tenancy laws like the Ellis Act. When abused, the Ellis Act “allows real estate speculators to purchase rent-controlled buildings, evict longtime tenants, and sell shares to people who can afford to own their own homes” (Newsweek Magazine, “Tech Boom Forces a Ruthless Gentrification in San Francisco”, 4.15.14). This combination of the eviction of locals and the closing of commercial businesses, like Thrift Town, that once created the rich, distinct culture of a neighborhood, changes the landscape of the neighborhood and makes it so that only a select few can afford to live there. The beauty of cities and neighborhoods is in their diversity—diversity of people, language, incomes, cultures. This is one of the many violent byproducts of gentrification, byproducts that must be constantly confronted, critiqued and actively fought.

However, I don’t want to oversimplify the process. Gentrification is not a simply black and white, zero-sum issue. Complex histories and sociological phenomena inform the process of gentrification, a process that cannot be reduced to a single motivation or action. My family moved away from the Mission in the early 2000s because there were frequent violent outbreaks near our street and high rates of gang activity near my elementary school.

Along with the wave of techies came cleaner streets and more money put into neighborhood revitalization projects.

In an interview with Steven Fowler of the Hudson Valley, Lisa Silverstone, the executive director of Safe Harbors of the Hudson, a non-profit arts and housing redeveloping project working to provide affordable housing throughout the Hudson Valley, responded to the question of “how do you draw the line between renewal and displacement?”–effectively, when do you know if you are revitalizing an

area or gentrifying it–with something that stuck with me. She said, “When people who have lived in neighborhoods for years start losing the ability to pay rent, when you start losing the unique character of your neighborhoods...that’s when the alarm bells should go off. The alarm bells shouldn’t go off when buildings start being rehabilitated. That’s a good thing” (Hudson Valley, “Gentrification of the Hudson Valley”, 11.18.2016).

While I, as both a West Coaster and only recent Vassar student, am not at all qualified to talk about the changing demographics of the Hudson Valley, I immediately drew parallels between the situation here and the situation in San Francisco.

An article in the Poughkeepsie Journal discusses Poughkeepsie’s own dilemma: “There’s a delicate balance between the need for urban revitalization and preventing displacement of those who may no longer afford to live there.

How do we walk the line?” (Poughkeepsie Journal, “In cities, the Hudson Valley is struggling with its potential and realities” 1.5.2017).

This tough question is being approached through projects like the Poughkeepsie Underwear Factory, a revitalization of the old abandoned factory on Main Street that which opened its doors on March 30th and now houses local businesses and a remodeled interior, in hopes of revitalizing the surrounding area (Poughkeepsie Journal, “Underwear Factory opens as latest revitalized Poughkeepsie property”, 3.30.2017).

In order to “walk the line,” as shown by San Francisco’s current gentrification crisis, affordable housing is of central importance. Crossing the line between revitalization and gentrification occurs when local residents can no longer afford to live in their own city. While Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley should have the opportunity to enjoy benefits of revitalization through projects like the Underwear Factory, the Hudson Valley must be careful not to succumb to a culture of evicting local residents and making the city virtually unaffordable to those who once lived there.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 11

Word on the street What have you been doing with your extra hour of daylight?

“More drugs” — Max CantyHilchey ’19

“Dying in Olmsted basement” — John Kee ’19

“I didn’t even know we had an extra hour” — Daniel Elendu ’19

“Sleeping more” — Chris Chang ’20

“Writing the Misc crossword” — Mackenzie Little ’17

“Not homework” ­­— Alex Muccio ’17

Evelyn Frick, Humor & Satire Editor Michael Chung, Assistant Photo Editor

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 12

April 6, 2017

Breaking News From the desk of Evelyn Frick, Humor & Satire Editor Paul Ryan is a lizard person. Think about it. Can you prove that he isn’t? Exactly. Paul Ryan is a lizard person.

Spring clean and be savage: Vassar squirrels prove as cut out your dearest friends trashy as all Founder’s Days Yesenia Garcia Ms. Clean

T

he start of the second half of the semester has brought along many interesting changes to campus; the mounds of snow have melted away, the days are longer, the Deece cups have vanished. All of these signs can be interpreted as the coming of spring! Households all across the nation are responding to this change of season by beginning the task of spring cleaning. The recent surge of posts on the Free and For Sale Facebook page indicates that Vassar students have also commenced the arduous process of spring cleaning in a futile attempt to de-clutter their closets.

This semester you should consider undertaking a different kind of spring cleaning, a kind that is more personal. Instead of getting rid of clothes you have outgrown, you should get rid of all the friends you have outgrown. Since spring is the time of renewal and rebirth, it is the perfect time to end all of the decaying friendships you are a part of. Death is a natural part of life, and you should not be afraid to recognize when a friendship has expired. It may be a painful process, but that’s why we are here to walk you through this challenging, but ultimately rewarding process of spring cleaning.

1. Unfriend them from all social media

Since the majority of your social interactions occur via the Internet, it is important to purge every social media platform of their presence.

Let’s face it, you were getting tired of receiving Facebook invites to events you will never attend and seeing them retweet old memes that aren’t even funny anymore. Take the time to remove your ex-friends from all of your preferred sites (Facebook, Moodle, Twitter, Etsy, Snapchat and Linkedin in order to truly cleanse yourself from their toxicity.)

2. Forge new paths

As you make your way across campus, you notice a “friend” approaching. You strategically glance at your phone in order to avoid exchanging a forced smile with them. Sound familiar?

Instead of simply averting your eyes when you cross paths with a friend that you have grown

tired of, you should rethink your routes so that you never have to cross paths with them again. It may make you late to class but ultimately it will save you from a few brief seconds of awkwardness, and that’s all that really matters.

3. Hire a hypnotist to erase all memories of friendship

Although this measure may seem a little drastic, it is the only way to ensure that no hard feelings are left over once you terminate your friendship. A quick internet search will yield many results of hypnotists in the Hudson Valley, so it is up to you to choose the one that best suits your needs. In most cases, all the memories you have of the times your friends have wronged you are erased after just one visit, and you will be free to resume making new memories soon after. Some hypnotists even offer a special “Erase nine friends from your memory and get the tenth one free” deal! If the process seems scary to you, just pretend that you are starring in the cinematic classic “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

4. Search for new friends

To fill the void in your life that you have created, you should promptly begin the search for new friends. The easiest way to do this is to set up a table in the College Center and ask members of the general public to submit friendship applications. Request that they provide you with their personal statement, two to three letters of recommendation and their most recent transcript.

You are free to choose as many friends as you desire, but I encourage you to limit the number of accepted applicants so that you gain a reputation for being an “elite” and “prestigious” institution.

5. Transfer schools

If the steps mentioned above fail to drastically improve your life, the only option that remains is to transfer schools. One of the most common complaints heard across campus is the inability to get out of the “Vassar bubble.” Well, here is your chance to finally escape! Hopefully you will find the companionship you are searching for at your new school, but if things don’t work out feel free to repeat steps one through five as many times as necessary. Happy spring cleaning!

Maya Sterling

Nuts for Squirrels

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his year we’ve survived our share of Vassar epidemics. Remember when you couldn’t walk through the center TA path to get to the AFC? Or when paper mache German poems covered our horizontal-branch tree (well I guess that’s still happening). Or when there are a dry spell of no macaroni and cheese at the Deece? (Oh wait maybe that’s every day ever).

But springtime is bringing a new wave of an out-of-control situation. This time it’s coming in the form of furry gravity defiers who are getting “wasted.” They’ve spent the winter having hibernation parties with womp womps and ensuring (by burying nuts in hard to find places) some new trees should be coming our way. Who are these hooligans?

That’s right, you’ve guessed it. Vassar has an English majors problem (aka squirrels)!

You may have heard, the reason Vassar squirrels are prone to weird behavior is because they are the souls of English majors who, after graduating, come back to haunt the campus. This of course makes total sense since the Vassar squirrels are out of control! Did you know they even have their own Instagram account?

Further evidence supports this theory. The only explanation for the squirrels excitement over the garbage is that they are already hooked after eating four years of Deece food.

This trash tendency should be of utmost concern to the wider Vassar community. Squirrel Neurotic Obsession Over Waste, or SNOOW for short, is dangerous for both fauna and homosapien! I have been unfortunate, a few too many times to admit, to find a squirrel hurling itself out of a trash can only a few inches from my face. And no, before you make a joke about my how face was in the trash, I was doing some research and *going to the source*.

As for the pint-sized dumpster divers, they have shown some affinity to the open-top trash cans. You know that ones I’m talking about. The metal slotted eye sores that for some reason are called trash cans. These poor excuses for waste

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receptacles are truly unflattering and almost always surrounded by a radius of litter.

This is especially true at the dorms (at Joss).

Most of the trash is not even in the can, it’s on the ground. You’ve got the normal things like straws, red solo cups and spoons. But then it gets weird.

Just this week I found a cup full of some homemade brewed tea with fresh leaves and berries.

Was this for an ecology class or is this actually a pastime? The next day I found a perfectly nice pair of boots size 8.5. At this rate we are going to have the classiest tea-drinking, best-dressed squirrels on this side of the Mississippi!

The squirrels have been keen to point out to us just how ridiculous our trash cans are. Who needs a nest in a tree when you can take an easy skip and hop into a trash can. It’s ten times cozier: just lay back on a warm pile of Nilda’s cookie crumbs, slurp the dregs of someone’s kiosk smoothie and chew on a tiki umbrella. **ANNOUNCEMENT** I interrupt this humor article for a legitimate call to action. Can we have better trash cans? (at NewlyElectedVSAExecutiveBoard) Like ones that have covers? And more of them? And outdoor recycling? And a better composting situation? And while we’re at it, maybe a womp womp sanctuary? Not that last one? Ok. In thinking about the vast skill set of our puffier-tailed-rat comrades, I think it is safe to assume most strange situations from this school year can be attributed to them. Remember all of those stolen bicycles? Only teeth of steel could have chomped through your non-existant bike lock. Or how about the closing of the West side of the Deece? I’m telling you, early in the morning you can look through the window to see the Vassar squirrels building cup towers out of all the plastic Deece cups. Can you believe it, all of these Vassar mysteries, and only one (more like 50,000) culprit(s)!

I implore you, fellow Vassar students, to tip your hat to the next squirrel you see. Congratulate them on their cunning abilities. If you ask nicely enough, you may even get them to peer-review your next paper.

HUMOR & SATIRE

April 6, 2017

Page 13

I’m not having family issues, you’re having family issues Evelyn Frick A degenerate

M

best thing: kiss a goat. To be clear, I’m not saying I’ll French a goat, or kiss a goat on the lips. Get your mind out of the gutter. I’ll give a goat a nice little peck between the horns! Since apparently I’m a dirty animal, I might as well show some love to my fellow dirty animals.

To be honest though, I think I’ll only kiss a goat if it’s a cute goat. I’ve kissed many not cute men in my day, men that were similar in personality to my cousin, Tim, and I deserve to kiss a cutie. This might be a bit hard to accomplish since I don’t own a goat, nor do I know someone who owns a goat. But maybe I can sneak onto the Vassar Farm and do it. It’s not trespassing if it’s for wholesome purposes, right?

Evelyn Frick/The Miscellany News

y cousin Tim thinks I’m a degenerate.

Well actually, (Wow it’s weird to be the one using this phrase for once. Usually white men are saying this phrase at me.) according to him that’s not true. According to a recent text he sent me, he actually said, “I’m disappointed in you, but I don’t think you’re a degenerate. I just think you’re behavior is degenerative” (Tim Goeglein, Text Message, 3.29.2017).

With that air-tight logic, there was nothing my small-woman brain could do to argue my case.

The initial reason my cousin decided to call me out my degenerative behavior is because I liked to post pictures on my Instagram of the progress my armpits have made as I have grown out my underarm hair.

I was always under the impression that I have bodily autonomy and men’s opinions about what I do with my body is irrelevant; but after stroking his beard like the mighty, macho man he is, Tim proved me wrong with all the knowledge that his Roanoke College (The U.S.’s 140th out of 239 ranked liberal arts college) education has provided him.

And so, I have decided to lean into it. Tim is right, I am a degenerate and since I am unwilling to change my behavior, I have compiled a list of other degenerative behaviors I wish to engage in, in the future.

I’ll say it, I like Cool Ranch Doritos. And I’ll say it, I like taking showers. So why not do them together? I am a degenerate after all and surely showering with the crumbs of tortilla chips flavored with my least favorite salad dressing will lead to my downfall.

While doing this, I think I will also livestream the event on my Instagram. That way I can pass it off as performance art, because I am not only a degenerate, but also an art heaux. (An art performance will make me more of a reprobate, but

that’s a risk I’m willing to take.)

And also because that way I can advertise for Doritos and get more involved with the capitalist system. Not only does Tim think I’m a degenerate but he also thinks capitalism is really great; coincidentally he’s one of the least compassionate people I know. (If capitalism were on Yelp, he would give it a five star review.) Despite that as my cousin he has never attempted to show interest in my interests, as a woman to serve my male cousin’s interests. Perhaps if I do so, I will be less of a degenerate.

Bestiality isn’t really my thing and nor do I ever want it to be. (What kind of degenerate do you think I am? Jeez...) But I want to do the next

My cousin’s profile picture on Facebook is a selfie of him with Nigel Farage at CPAC. I chose not to use that picture without his consent, however, so I recreated the pic with Paint.

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The Miscellany Word Search

by Kim Carlson and Mackenzie Little “We Weren’t Told the Last Issue Was April Fools Day”

S Y O T S U J F A A

D F B C M E B B N K

N S U I O A R F W X

E H T K G X E E E L

Y Z Q W H R F D H W

Answers to last week’s puzzle

Kiddie Lit Creatures

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S C O F

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Word List: Where’s The Joke

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The next degenerative thing I plan on doing is telling a man that I don’t want to have sex with him. Not that I’ve ever talked about sex with my cousin, but he seems like the type of guy that thinks women should be submissive in every aspect. (Just a little insight based on 19 years of knowing him.)

Thus in his perfect reasoning, women should never turn down a man. If I do, I will bring shame upon my family and degrade my honor a la Mulan, which is why I have to do it now.

The idea that I have the right to a consensual sex act is extremely radical, I know. (Should I even continue on with this list? Have I reached my peak degenerate? Nah, not quite yet...) I’ll let you know if I become too much of a degenerate to function.

My last act on Earth will be to act as a degenerate and smoke weed in a coffin. That’s right, I want to be sealed into a maplewood coffin and lowered into the ground where I can hit a bong in peace. I’ve never hot-boxed before but I feel like smoking weed in a coffin is the most creative way to go about it and yet it will also be the most simple; I will be smoking in a literal hot box.

It is also worth noting that being sealed into a coffin will also be my last act on Earth, but what a way to go out, am I right? With all the air deprivation and weed smoke I’ll be hallucinating my way to hell and that sounds better than how my week on Earth has been going. My last request is that Bob Marley is played at my funeral.

If anyone has any other suggestions on how to be a degenerate, like not wearing a bra or voting for a Democrat, please let me know. I want to be the best possible libertine (or worst possible?) I can be and so I’ll take any advice I can get. Feel free to email me, text me, send me a message on LinkedIn or send me a carrier pigeon. For even more convenience, I can even leave a suggestion box outside my room.

E Z R A T O A D A S H Y

© 2017 (Published via Across Lite)

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ARTS

Page 14

April 6, 2017

VC Women’s Chorus delivers empowering performance Sasha Gopalakrishnan Reporter

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Courtesy of Vassar College Music Department

he Vassar College Women’s Chorus, affectionately called WoCo, held their biannual performance this past Saturday, April 1, in the Martel Recital Hall in Skinner Hall. From as far back as the inception of the Women’s Chorus at Vassar, the group has had a concert every semester since 1876.

With Associate Professor and Chair of Music and Director of Choral Activities Christine Howlett as the conductor, this particular show was performed in two parts: the first involved three contemporary pieces by American composers, while the second part of the program was the performance of Mozart’s “Sparrow Mass in C Major” with the orchestra.

As Howlett explained, “We often do a lot of contemporary work, but we don’t always have that much work from the past because it isn’t always arranged for a women’s chorus. Earlier this year we performed a mass by Haydn, and we’re ending the year with Mozart, so there have been a few new experiences for WoCo.” Two of the contemporary pieces selected, namely “Patito” (2015) by Gabriela Lena Frank and “Rise Up!” (2016) by Jake Runestad, were written as part of the Women’s Choir Commission Consortium of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and the performances by the Vassar Women’s Chorus marked their regional premier.

The third contemporary piece, “Song of Perfect Propriety” (2006) by Carol Barnett, was commissioned as part of a project by the Cornell University Chorus in conjunction with their “No Whining, No Flowers” project.

All the composers chosen have particularly interesting perspectives: Identity has always been at the center of Frank’s music, for example, which tends to reflect her travels throughout South America and her studies of Latin American folklore. According to the program notes, “[H]er pieces incorporate poetry, mythology, and native musical styles into a western classical framework that is uniquely her own.” In the VC chorus’s rendition of “Patito,” which translates to “little duck,” was per-

formed a cappella, with the chorus hitting strikingly high notes each time they sang the word “patito.”

An award-winning composer, Runestad’s “Rise Up!” was adapted from speeches and writings by U.S. suffragette Susan B. Anthony. The chorus performed this song with piano accompaniment, mastering voice control and overlapping their chanting of “rise up” to create an overwhelming and omnipresent echo of the inspiring phrase.

The next song was just as empowering: the sarcastically titled “Song of Perfect Propriety” written by Dorothy Parker and composed by Barnett.

As the program stated, “Parker was known for her caustic dry wit and...wrote realistically about poverty and sexism.” A humorist, writer, critic and defender of human rights, Parker and her witty essence was reflected in this piece. Melanie Donnelly ’17, a member of the Women’s Chorus for the past four years, explained, “My favorite piece we did was called ‘Song of Perfect Propriety,’ written as a commission for a women’s chorus piece that was about something other than birds and love— which are basically all the repertoire you can find for women’s chorus[es], because of course women can only sing about pretty things and love.”

As mentioned, all of the composers selected were contemporary, and some of them were quite recent pieces. While working on new music is an exciting prospect, Howlett explained some of the distinct challenges they faced: “With new composers who have not been premiered before, you have no recordings to go off of, and you don’t really know what the piece will sound like until you go through the entire thing. In fact, many a times you don’t even know if you really love a piece until you’re on stage performing it, so it’s a really rewarding and wonderful feeling to then see how it all fits together and to know that not only did we accomplish something, but it was worth our time.”

The second part of the performance centered around Mozart’s “Sparrow Mass in C Major,” which was an arrangement for the Women’s Chorus by Heribert Breuer. According to the program notes, “[This mass] is believed to have been written in Salzburg in 1775. It owes its nickname ‘Spar-

Associate Professor, Chair of Music and Director of Choral Activities Christine Howlett conducted the Vassar College Women’s Chorus concert that took place on Saturday, April 1. row Mass’ to the twittering, bird-like violin figure which appears in the Sanctus and Benedictus.”

The orchestra stepped in as an accompaniment during this part of the program. Allison Breeze ’19, a member of the group, explained how the orchestra beautifully complemented the vocals of the Women’s Chorus. “We usually work a cappella or with piano, but collaborating with the orchestra is always refreshing because it allows older, richer sounds to come through,” she related.

Regarding how she felt about the mass, Breeze continued, “The Mozart mass is in Germanic Latin instead of Church Latin, so it has different pronunciations than what we’re used to. While that was challenging, it was really nice to have some older works since we usually do more modern ones.”

In the same vein, Donnelly also elucidated, “The Mozart mass was written originally for SATB [so-

prano, alto, tenor, bass] but rearranged for a women’s chorus, so it was kind of like reclaiming this male-dominated tradition.”

The chorus, as well as the orchestra, put on a beautiful performance. Before commencing the mass, however, the group did a poignant send-off for their seniors, who have been with the group for four years. Howlett called the three women in question forward, all of whom were donning corsages, and gave a short but touching speech about how inspirational they have been for the incoming members of the group over the course of the past few years. Breeze summed up this collective sentiment amongst the group, stating, “[I was] particularly excited for this concert because it’s the last one with our seniors. I think we all want[ed] to do a good job for them, so that they have a nice memory of their last performance with WoCo.”

Medievalism explored in ‘Game of Thrones’ lecture Ages.”

Perhaps the most pertinent aspect of the lecture was Volk-Birke’s discussion of world building and how fantasy literature in particular allows for a greater freedom of creativity, as it is not bound by the constraints of our own reality. Martin’s stories are not the characteristically black-and-white or “good vs. evil” fictions found in other mainstream fantasy (cough cough “Lord of the Rings” cough cough). Instead, his stories revel in the grey areas and illustrate deeply human characters bound by their fantastically messy and complex narratives.

This nuanced take on the medievalist genre has certainly paid off, as “A Song of Ice and Fire” and its many adaptations have spawned

a worldwide phenomenon with the interest of a captivated global audience. Volk-Birke discussed how this kind of world-building invites fan interaction.

As she reflected, “The series has not only sold phenomenally well but has also created a huge fan community with large-scale activities on the Internet as well as a roaring trade with fan articles [and a] variety of intermedial offshoots like graphic novels, artworks and video games.”

DeMaria was intrigued by this understanding of Martin’s works, stating, “She showed in fact that there is a liberalizing, progressive religious tendency in the ‘Ice and Fire’ books, and I found that quite enlightening since the little I’d read

Courtesy of IZEA/Martin Luther University

THRONES continued from page 1 through our mutual participation in an organization called the International Association for University Professors of English ... It was from the beginning for senior scholars with no worries about professional networking, just a desire to discuss the study of English and English literature as a worldwide phenomenon.”

DeMaria has since praised Volk-Birke’s contributions to this international community, commenting, “Sabine Volk-Birke is now the chair of the international committee, which assists the director in making all kinds of interesting decisions about membership and the structure and location of the conferences. I’m a member of that committee, and I’ve come to admire Sabine’s intelligence and good sense.”

Volk-Birke’s international perspective was certainly a welcome contribution to the Vassar community, and her analysis of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” universe was nuanced, even progressive in nature and captivating for all those in attendance.

DeMaria greatly enjoyed Volk-Birke’s scholarly approach to the lecture topic, in her careful consideration of history as well as the format of her discussion. As he stated, “Her lecture did not disappoint me in the least. She took a predictably scholarly approach and began by distinguishing the medieval from medievalism, the history of which she proceeded to outline.”

This distinction is an important one, and certainly not one often recognized by audiences.

Medievalism, which a mainstream audience is certainly more familiar with, is not the exact rendering of the medieval era, but one born out of our contemporary imaginings (often fantastical in nature) of history.

Yet this does not mean that medievalist literature is not worth our scholarly discussion, and that notion was not lost on Sarah Mamlet ’20, a student in attendance at the lecture. Mamlet recalled, “While many scholars of the Middle Ages might assume that popular culture, such as George R. R. Martin’s series, merely takes the imagined view of medieval life, Volk-Birke detailed the themes of chivalry and religion from the books that were prevalent in the real Middle

“Game of Thrones” has dominated television and media since its debut, and this lecture provides scholarly discussion about the controversies and medievalistic aspects of the historical genre.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

and seen of it seemed really backward in politics, religion, gender dynamics and in everything else.”

While Volk-Birke was clearly more focused on the Martin’s rendering of medievalism within the novels, it is interesting to compare this more progressive understanding of the novels to the HBO adaptation, where one can see where television executives may have fallen short. As a show, “Game of Thrones” is known for its relentless attempts to push the boundaries, which have arguably led to some confused, even backwards interpretations of gender politics in particular.

The character of Sansa is an excellent example of the ways in which writers’ attempts to horrify the audience may have backfired.

Though this character certainly undergoes tremendous hardship in Martin’s novels, the writers on the show actively changed storylines in order for audiences to see the character suffer even more. Previous seasons saw her as the victim of horrific abuse from a variety of men in her life, and, arguably, at a certain point, the audience becomes numb to it all.

The attempt to push boundaries and provide “edgy” entertainment that refuses to let its audience to look away in a sense provides consent to the exhibition of violence. Is that all that progressive? While it is important to delve into the dark, complicated aspects of life, at what point does the visual interpretation of abuse move beyond the nuanced and into the voyeuristic and possibly toxic?

Yet the novels and television adaptations are certainly separate entities, and Volk-Birke’s interpretation of Martin’s original works still stand. Mamlet stated that the lecture made her think of the saying “the past is a foreign country.”

It is much easier to explore serious and complex issues through a lens different from our own. Medievalist literature offers the reader an escape into the fantastical, where they can explore their own realities through the eyes of a knight in shining armor, a queen atop her throne or even on the back of a fire-breathing dragon.

And what better way is there to see the world?

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April 6, 2017

Page 15

High-stakes, dark comedy inspires conflicting emotions Kaitlin Prado Columnist

Shameless

Paul Abbott Showtime

was looking forward to seeing the new Power Rangers movie this weekend, and had planned to be writing a review of that, but instead I stayed in all weekend doing homework and binge watching Netflix.

During spring break, I made the mistake of convincing myself that it would be a good idea to start watching a new television show on Netflix.

I thought I had the time, and so why not? The problem with that plan was that I chose to watch “Shameless”—and my binge-watching skills were not ready for this endeavor.

I had two reasons for watching this show. One being the fact that spoilers for it were all over my Twitter feed and it felt like a worthwhile clickhole, and two being that my mother actually recommended it to me over winter break. In hindsight, the second reason is a cause for a bit of concern because there is a lot of nudity and sex, emotional and physical violence, and a ton of drugs in this show—all things that I wasn’t aware my mom knew about or approved of in television form.

I did not love “Shameless”—but I kept watching it anyway. One thing that I think Shameless does especially well is the way they have created and maintained so many good characters throughout the many seasons. That isn’t to say that these characters are portraying good people, but rather that the characters have been carefully written as individuals. When I first realized that this story followed a large nuclear family as well as their close friends and neighbors, I was expecting a single lens through which the storytelling would take place. Instead of using one character as the central storyteller, however, the writers of “Shameless” do a good job of presenting the Gallagher family as a

Courtesy of RanZag via Wikimedia Commons

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“Shameless” is hard to define as a whole. Its many complexities and viewer’s strong feelings towards the characters, whether good or bad, make the show addicting yet not above criticism. group of full-bodied characters. Each of their separate stories are written in a way that allows them to be in conversation with the rest of the family, and constant shifts in point of view add to the show.

I feel like a show has done a quality job if I become irrationally attached to or influenced by the fictional characters of the world. One of the clearest examples of this effect in “Shameless” would have to be the father Frank Gallagher. I kind of hate this man. I hate this fictional man, and I’d be surprised if anyone didn’t. If the consistently reckless abandonment of his kids doesn’t drive you to cursing under your breath (even though you’re watching it alone in your own room), then his blatant narcissism and selfishness will at least have you wringing your hands in frustration.

Frank’s oldest daughter Fiona also had me cursing out loud at points. While I despised her father,

I was constantly rooting for her, and she let me down often. At times I felt like I was watching a scary movie in that I wanted to yell at her: ‘Don’t go in there! Don’t do that!’—knowing she was likely to do it anyway. Fiona Gallagher has made some serious sacrifices for the sake of keeping her family together, and a lot of her quick thinking and decision-making was commendable. Alternatively, the disparity between the goodness and badness of the choices she’s made is often quite large, and this too was frustrating.

Generally, I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this show. On the one hand, I was impressed with the overall storytelling and accessibility of the characters. Whether I liked the content or not, I feel that it’d be hard to argue against the fact that this is a well written script. On the other hand, from time to time the writers completely alienated

me by including extremely troubling themes and problematic story lines that just wouldn’t quit.

There is no denying just how problematic this show is. In a truly shameless manner, over the course of six seasons, the storylines have wavered between displaying the authentic trials and tribulations in the lives of this poor and loving family, and totally exploiting narratives that cannot contribute to a productive conversation in the context of the show. Again, in a brazen way this show gives a very casual treatment to some incredibly serious issues, and it often does so in a way that does not clarify whether or not the show is attempting to critique or make a statement out of the problem rather than a joke of it. The show takes care to create complexity and infuse deep emotions into many plot points, but completely trivializes others, and I think at minimum it does the show and its viewers a huge disservice.

The most obvious element that appears to carry the show through the creative high and low points is its undeniably strong cast. This group of talented actors ranges from more popular choices such as William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum to fresher faces like Ethan Cutkosky and Shanola Hampton.

It is clear that these characters and the actors who portray them have grown into the series and into each other, and I loved that. A special shoutout is due to the relationship between Kevin (Steve Howey) and Veronica (Shanola Hampton), even though it has been weathered and threatened time and again, it remains complex, high stakes and fun to watch.

The fact that Shameless oscillates between dark comedy and serious drama plays out as both a strength and a weakness for the show. I think refusing to tether itself to one genre (in all regards with the exception of awards ceremonies) leaves so many creative options on the table. At the same time, however, I think this attempt to cater to two distinct genres is one of the primary sources of the show’s mishandling of highly sensitive subjects.

I wouldn’t recommend this show, but at the same time, when the new season comes out in May of this year I will probably be watching it.

‘Ghost in the Shell’ revives classic, for better or worse Jimmy Christon Columnist

Ghost in the Shell 1995 Mamoru Oshii

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Ghost in the Shell 2017 Rupert Sanders

Courtesy of BagoGames via Flickr

yberpunk is seriously one of the coolest, most over-the-top genres in the film industry. If you don’t get excited when you hear the words, “The sky was the color of a TV tuned to a dead channel,” you need to step your game up (like actually though, go read “Neuromancer” if you haven’t already).

Cyberpunk is in this Goldilocks zone between pulp and seriousness. It’s the generic equivalent of eating a Denver omelette for breakfast: there’s a lot of ingredients in it, and it is a fulfilling meal—but at the end of the day, there is a significant amount of cheese in it.

Cyberpunk is a genre where Harrison Ford can be getting choked to death by an android one minute and then be crying over a bottle of whiskey the next (“Blade Runner” is another staple of cyberpunk that you should really see if you haven’t already).

“Ghost in the Shell” is one such series that is a staple for the genre—cheese and all. The series (split among movies and TV shows) has influenced the genre in innumerable ways and is deserving of the title “classic” for the genre.

And unsurprisingly, the live-action adaptation of this beloved series is bad.

If you’ve been keeping up, you’ve probably noticed that I’m doing a lot of recommendations in this review so far, and that’s because this review is going to be one huge recommendation for the original 1995 “Ghost in the Shell” animated movie.

In this sense, my beef with this new “Ghost in the Shell” isn’t that it is a bad movie per se (which it is), but that it’s just baffling how they managed to drop the ball in departments that the original animation excelled at. I would have been okay if this new movie had been a shotby-shot remake of the 1995 film. Instead of that,

director Rupert Sanders added plots and details that aren’t just completely unnecessary, but actively hurt this film.

One thing you’ll notice about the 1995 “Ghost in the Shell” is that it is paced to the dot. Everything in the movie has a reason for being there. The animated movie is only 80 minutes long, and it is able to pack every minute with an enjoyable mix of actions and ideas. The movie progresses from set-piece to set-piece with barely any filler. It isn’t just lean, it’s able to tell its story with only the parts that are absolutely necessary for the story to be told.

The 2017 “Ghost in the Shell,” on the other hand, is only 20 minutes longer, but it feels incredibly bloated. If you watch the 1995 “Ghost in the Shell” close to the new “Ghost in the Shell,” you’ll notice just how horribly the new version handles both its pacing and the content within the film. The movie has action for sure, but the route by which we arrive at these scenes is needlessly long and boring. Even worse than the pacing issue is what is shown on the screen: it’s boring!

The 1995 film really nails a sort-of-cool factor when it comes to its action—and this is where the pulp comes in. It was, and still is, fun to watch the Major, the series’ main character, turn invisible and toss people around like ragdolls, and it’s fun to watch the spider-tank fight at the end of the film. The movie also never takes itself too seriously and is well aware of how cheesy some of the scenes look. More importantly, it’s also pleasurable to watch the slower scenes.

The animators behind the 1995 film really nailed a cohesive aesthetic, not just for the characters in the film but also the world they inhabit, giving us images of a futuristic city that grows more lifelike by the day.

The 2017 film not only just flops when it comes to the action (there’s a fight involving electric batons that was borderline unwatchable), but the visuals in the film in general are a complete mess: colors are all over the place with no unifying style, and the film as a whole lacks any sort of cinematic style to reel it all together.

Then there’s the other half of the new “Ghost in the Shell”: the concepts. A big part of the

The many controversies that surrounded the reboot of “Ghost in the Shell” and the whole direction of the film prove that sometimes remakes are not worth it and originals reign supreme. original animated film was how it explored the theme of humanity and what it is that makes a person human, a theme the new film just ignores in place of its own broader theme of identity. The commentary from the new film on this new theme is superficial at best and thoughtless at worst.

If you want a good barometer-reading comparison between the two films, look at how they handle their themes. The original “Ghost in the Shell” leaves us with the question “What does it mean to be human?” and points us to some examples within the film that can be seen as answers (giving a greater appreciation of what the film does on subsequent watches).

In the new “Ghost in the Shell,” the answer to its central question of “What is identity?” is stated by Scarlett Johansson at the end of the film when she says (paraphrasing here): “I’m me because people tell me I’m me.” It’s vapid, banal and completely shallow.

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I’ve left the whitewashing controversy for the end of this review because I’m going to assume most people have heard about it. It’s still in the film, and my comments wouldn’t add much to this discussion.

I will say, however, that other than the inclusion of Scarlett Johansson, the 2017 “Ghost in the Shell” fares better in terms of avoiding racially-insensitive casting actors for their roles than other live-action adaptations (“Avatar the Last Airbender” and “Dragonball Evolution” to name a couple). So at least there’s some sort of progress being made.

Points you should take away from this review: don’t see the 2017 live-action “Ghost in the Shell,” go watch the 1995 animated “Ghost in the Shell” instead. This new remake is shallow and as lifeless as some of the robots shown in the film. The original film is one that has aged like wine, and is well worth your time (all 80 minutes of it).

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April 6, 2017

‘Dough’ yourself a favor, skip out on this sweet treat Izzy Braham Columnist

Cookie Do

550 LaGuardia Place New York, NY 10012

f food is art, then cookie dough is the Vincent van Gogh (or van Dough, if you will) of the food world—it evokes passionate thoughts and, while once thought of as not very honorable, now no one can get enough of it. Over break my cousin and I ventured to New York City to go to Cookie Do, a cafe that sells edible cookie dough in ice cream cones. Using pasteurized eggs and heat-treated flour, the shop generates pounds of cookie dough a day and attracts large lines that file down the block. When food is presented this beautifully, one can truly compare it to a piece of art.

After seeing Cookie Do featured multiple times on INSIDER food videos on Facebook, I was convinced that I needed to experience this place, so my cousin and I perused their cute website and decided to go the 550 LaGuardia Place location near Washington Square Park on the Lower East Side.

Before you get too jealous of my outing, let me just tell you that the Cookie Do experience was two-fold: While in the end my cousin and I left with a hefty load of creamy chocolate chip cookie dough and luscious fudge brownie batter topped off with chocolate chips and sprinkles—it wasn’t all fun and games throughout the entire process.

At first, approaching the shop, we were excited.

The interior decor looked quaint and warm, decorated with mirrors and pink signs making puns with the word “do.” It looked crowded inside, but we were ecstatic that there wasn’t a line out the door.

It was all fine and dandy until we tried to open the door and an employee brought a small detail to our attention. Little did we know, the line did not end inside the shop—it started across the street and spanned half a block long. There was

Courtesy of Max Pixel via freegreatpicture.com

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With lines stretching down the block, Cookie Do has become a popular attraction for habitants and visitors to the New York City area. However, you must decide whether this treat is worth the wait. even someone at the shop’s entrance guarding the door and ushering people across the street to their proper placement in line. As people laughed at us, we reluctantly joined the rest of the commoners on the other side of the street. I should have known that you can’t just walk into heaven.

Here is where the pain and suffering came in.

We waited in line for a whole hour (which was apparently lucky as the wait can get up to four or five hours) on a 30-degree New York winter day. My cousin and I huddled together like penguins fantasizing about the intoxicatingly scrumptious cookie dough we were determined to consume. We watched enviously as others left the shop across the street, stopping leisurely to take photos and smiling down at their massive amounts of dough.

Besides eating the dough, the main highlight of the experience was watching other customers

make the same mistake we did, trying to enter directly into the shop and not realizing that the line started on the other side of the street. My cousin and I found this sadistically funny. We laughed at how everyone seemed to share the same expression of shock and outrage upon realizing that they too would have to wait in the freezing cold for hours to get their cookie dough.

After a while, however, our feet and hands had lost feeling and we became even more antsy. Eventually we made it to the front of the line, and an employee gave us special Cookie Do tokens that would get us through the door once we crossed the street. At last, we entered the shop which was pleasantly inviting with its warm, sweet smell and cheery music in the background.

We had to wait about 20 minutes in the shop before it was our turn to order, but it was all right

because we could watch how the dough was made through a huge glass window looking into the kitchen. While this was a cool touch, it didn’t distract from the fact that the shop was a little disorganized, as there was only one freezer from which the employees were scooping the dough and they kept having to move around each other to get to the specific flavors that customers were ordering.

An hour and 20 minutes in, it was time for us to us to feast. I took my time sampling the different types of dough and deciding what the best combination would be. I ordered one scoop of “confetti,” which is Cookie Do’s signature chocolate chip dough with extra sprinkles and chocolate chips, and a scoop of “cake batter.” The dough was expensive, which I was expecting knowing its immense popularity. One scoop in a cup cost $4, and two scoops cost $7. I also ordered a container of it to take with me back to Vassar, which was a pricey $9.

After finally paying, we impatiently posed for a classic tourist photo that my aunt forced us to take (the requisite aesthetic aspect of this experience), and then without further ado, dug in. The dough did not disappoint—it was extra sugary and the texture was soft like clay. It was “do-licious” as one might say. Although, after a few bites, I had to put it away because it was so rich.

In the end, the full Cookie Do experience brought out both the best and worst parts of humanity. On one hand, you get an extreme amount of satisfaction in indulging your primal desire to consume. On the other hand, though, you become a cold-hearted fiend laughing at the folly of others, selfishly complaining about the wait and basking in your own pettiness for caring so much about a dessert you could buy for $2 at Safeway. It’s a whirlwind of emotions—shock, anger, boredom and pure enjoyment.

In all seriousness, is it truly worth all the waiting? If you are really, really, really hankering for the ultimate sweet treat—an artistic and artisinal experience—and you want to make a trip out of it, then maybe the Cookie Do experience is worth it.

But at the end of the day, it might be more practical to acquire some Ben & Jerry’s and call it quits.

‘This Is Us’ warms the heart, tackles emotional truths Tori Lafon

Guest Columnist

This Is Us

NBC

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Courtesy of blackfilm.com

n a life full of what-ifs, there are a few things that I am absolutely positive about. Hearing your own voice on a recording is horrific, diagonally cut sandwiches will always taste better and if I am going to watch an episode of “This Is Us,” I am going to cry.

Seriously, watching “This Is Us” is like getting punched in the gut with a pillowcase full of feelings.

In its first episode, the show sets up a deceptively simple premise: a group of people are all born on the same day and that fact alone connects them. The story begins on the 36th birthday of several birthday sharers who, in typical midlife-crisis form, are all dealing with their own set of challenges.

First is Jack, a nervous father-to-be whose day takes a turn when his wife Rebecca, pregnant with triplets, goes into labor. In a separate story, Kate, a personal assistant to her twin brother Kevin, is struggling with the fact that another year has passed and she still has not lost the weight she wants to. Kevin is a chiseled actor whose role in the popular sitcom “The Manny” makes him feel like he will never be taken seriously as an artist. And lastly Randall decides on his birthday to confront his birth father who abandoned him on a firehouse doorstep as a baby.

It is the kind of syrupy gimmick I would expect from a network family drama, and honestly I was hesitant to start watching because of it.

However, “This Is Us” quickly subverted my expectations by balancing its saccharine elements with clever dialogue and genuine surprises.

Although I hate to ruin the fun of the first episode, it is near impossible to talk about this show without revealing a couple spoilers. First of all, it is quickly revealed that everything is

not what it seems. In the last minutes of the premiere, “This Is Us” smoothly divulges that no, these are not randomly connected people, they are actually all family: Jack and Rebecca are Kevin, Kate and Randall’s parents, since they were adopted by the couple when they lost the third baby during childbirth. This revelation also uncovers the premiere’s second plot twist: The scenes of Jack and Rebecca are from 1979, and the scenes of the other characters are from the present day.

While the premiere’s big surprise was without a doubt the show’s best so far, the show has deliciously subverted the audience’s expectations by constantly changing and revealing major details about its characters. Admittedly, the show sometimes sacrifices nuance in favor of crafting these big reveals. Also, at times it can feel a little too eager to wrap things up with a big sweeping speech and a lesson.

However, even when the writing falls flat, the cast’s brilliant performances manage to keep the show grounded.

Particularly, Sterling K. Brown breathes intricate emotion into his performance of the tightly-wound, passionate Randall. His portrayal helps to make Randall’s reconciliation with his estranged father William, skillfully performed

by Ron Cephas Jones, one of the show’s most rewarding storylines. Particularly in the twosome’s main storyline’s cumulative episode, “Memphis,” their performances help make the simple, bittersweet road trip story the best episode of the season.

More often than not, the writing packs major emotional truth, and the writers have obviously done their research. Most notably, the show tackles the complexity of interracial adoption with great grace. I am also impressed with the show’s handling of loss and the potential loss of a family member.

Another element of “This Is Us” I find particularly captivating is its time-jumping structure, as the majority of the episodes have continued the precedent set by the premiere by including multiple storylines within the characters’ lives.

It is a brilliant format which successfully drives home to the audience the entire point of the

“This Is Us” may seem like a typical television drama, but the pervailing emotions surrounding the show are so realistic and resounding that one cannot help but shed a tear whenever it is on. show: If you collapse time, you can better understand what it means to live a life inherently influenced by where you have been and where you are going. What has happened in the past will only be relived if it informs the present, a fact which also drives the majority of the show’s major twists.

I also love this format because it is an interesting perspective on how people influence our lives. When trying to answer the questions of what makes us “us,” we often turn to memories of the time we have spent with the people we love and the people who love us. All at once, these people, whether they are a parent, a friend or a significant other, are present at every age you have known them.

Likewise, the show only divulges defining moments in characters’ lives if it informs what is happening in the modern day, and part of the fun of the show is learning more about these complex, inherently flawed yet endearing char-

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acters. The structure could easily fall victim to convolution, yet “This Is Us” manages to create an intimate series of portraits and seamlessly sew them together.

What I love most about this show is simply how refreshing it is. Amongst the cynicism common to “Game of Thrones” and “Mr. Robot” (shows I do admittedly adore), it is nice to have a drama that veers more towards hope than contempt.

Amongst the current political climate as well as everyday stress, I think we all need a show that promises that yes, sometimes you will lose, but the wins make life worth living. It may be a cheesy stance, but it’s one that I have chosen to embrace.

Basically, “This Is Us” has managed to live up to its hype. If you are in need of a good cry instead of a cheap one, “This Is Us” should definitely be on your watch list. And yes, your emotions will be manipulated, but it will be worth it.

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April 6, 2017

Page 17

Talk delves into Michelangelo’s writings MICHELANGELO continued from page 1

Campus Canvas

Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

their wide dissemination earned him a reputation as a man of letters in his lifetime—a reputation that would become secondary to his artistic talents after his death. Despite his fame, his personal correspondences reveal him to be both a spiritual and humble man, especially later in his life. In his advanced age, he grew to see beauty as a cardinal sin, writing about their perceived profaneness when not exchanging love sonnets with widow and fellow poet Vittoria Colonna.

Commenting on how audience members included students and faculty hailing from radically different departments, Mukherjee drew comparisons between Michelangelo’s pursuits and the interdisciplinary academic curiosity of Vassar: “One of the main organizational forces behind the lecture, the interdisciplinary Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program, had sought to bring a literary scholar of Michelangelo and Machiavelli to appeal to such a broad audience.

Poetry, painting and sculpture, though disparate, found unification through artists such as Michelangelo as did the pedagogically diverse audience through Corsaro’s lecture.

Will Tseng ’17, an economics and philosophy double major who has taken classes in the art history department, said in an emailed statement, “I personally find it interesting to read about Michelangelo’s poems to get an insight about what it must have been like for him when he painted the Sistine Chapel.”

453 years after completing the Duomo Pietà, his final sculpture and oeuvre, the late artist continues to make headlines both on and off college campuses nationwide. On April 3, The Guardian reported an ongoing exhibition hosted in London’s National Gallery that explores the precarious relationship between Michelangelo and his mentor-turned-artistic-rival Sebastiano del Piombo. Included in the exhibit are enrapturing, albeit unfinished, Michelangelo statues on loan from the Royal Academy and San Vincenzo Monastery, letters between him and del Piombo and paintings by del Piombo that bear a suspi-

A lecture by literature professor Antonio Corsaro discussed a lesser-known side of the Renaissance master Michelangelo’s groundbreaking and multidisciplinary work: his poetry. cious resemblance to those of his more famous colleague (The Guardian, “Michelangelo and Sebastiano review - of gods and men,” 03.13.2017).

The two’s relationship was born from Michelangelo’s resentment towards Raphael, whom his adoptive brother Pope Leo X, in a petty act of fraternal jealousy, came to favor over him. After being cast away to Florence by the Pope to work on a pointless architectural project, he sent designs that could rival Raphael’s works to del Piombo.

What resulted was del Piombo’s “The Raising of Lazarus,” a painting meant to compete with Raphael’s masterpiece, “The Transfiguration.”

The National Gallery has owned the expansive tableau since 1824, and it can now be viewed next to Michelangelo’s preliminary sketches. Perhaps the most revealing part of the exhibition, notes Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones, is not the

paintings, but rather the passionate letters between Michelangelo and his colleagues, which all humanize an otherwise larger-than-life figure.

This same goal was on clear display in the lecture last week, as Corsaro contextualized Michelangelo’s poetry within the booming humanistic culture of Renaissance Florence, a time when the arts and letters both flourished in an unprecendented manner. As Professor Elet summed up, “Antonio Corsaro’s richly interdisciplinary analysis of Michelangelo’s poetry highlights deep continuities between the master’s writings and his works of art. I think [Corsaro] makes a very important contribution to a more holistic view of Michelangelo as a visual, spatial and literary artist, and to our understanding of broader issues of the relation of word and image in early modern culture.”

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

submit to misc@vassar.edu

Excuse me, Where’s your happy place?

“My high place” — Gabriel Quinones ’19

“My computer” — Leon Brill ’19

“When I’m in my bed with my fairy lights on and watching Netflix” — Megan Jackson ’18

“My bed” — Anna Roberts ’20

“Under a tree in VT…wait, that’s my sappy place” — Ben Papsun ’20

Christa Haryanto ’19 (they, them, theirs/she, her, hers) is a political science and prospective media studies double major. From Jakarta, Indonesia, they like to express themselves through art forms such as poetry and drawing.

“The big stall of the Lathrop 4N bathroom” — Peter Roumeliotis ’19

Evelyn Frick, Humor & Satire Editor Michael Chung, Assistant Photo Editor

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SPORTS

Page 18

April 6, 2017

Track & field overcomes stormy weather to reach success Gabrielle Deitch Guest Reporter

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Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

n Friday, March 31 and Saturday, April 1, the Vassar track and field teams competed in Mahwah, NJ, for the Eighth Annual Ramapo Roadrunner Classic. Despite less than ideal weather conditions, both the men and women persevered to have strong performances at the two-day meet.

The Brewers were met with cold wind and rain upon arrival on the first day of the meet. While the harsh conditions led the women to cancel their throwing events, they did compete in the 5000-meter run and the 4x800 relay. The women’s best performance in the 5000-meter came from junior Katie Voegtlin who finished the race at 19:07.26.

This time earned her third place and was also a personal best record in the event. Behind Voegtlin, senior Laura MacDonald finished in sixth with a time of 19:21.17, while sophomore Cameron Daddis finished in 12th place with a time of 20:28.72.

The 4x800 relay brought more victory for the Brewers as seniors Alex Gittens and Lucy Balcezak, junior Savannah Wiman and freshman Erin Clark finished at 9:46.55. Not only was this a record-breaking time in the Northeast this season, it was also 13 seconds faster than the standard time needed to qualify for the ECAC Championships.

“It felt great to be able to win the 4x800 and get that ECAC mark so early, and in a 35 degree downpour! I am looking forward to seeing this team do great things over the next few months,” said Balcezak.

On Saturday, the women had a much fuller day of competition, allowing many of the athletes to achieve personal or collegiate bests. Sophomore Kate Lawson and junior Beatrice Land both had personal bests in the 1500-meter run, with times of 5:21.08 and 5:56.71, respectively. Meanwhile, sophomore Sophie Sharp attained a collegiate best in the 100-meter hurdles prelims at 19.60. Freshman Zahra Crim also achieved a collegiate best, finishing the 800-meter run with a time of 2:46.81.

While the team placed relatively high in numerous events, some of the strongest performances came in the 400-meters, where senior Alex Gittens

earned second place with a time of 1:00.91, and the 4x100 meter relay, in which senior Saparja Nag, sophomores Annelise Depman and Sophie Sharp and freshman Max Wagh finished sixth with a time of 53.64. Vassar also fared well in several jumping events. Freshman Penelope Mort Ranta tied a school record in the high jump as she reached 1.48 meters of 4’10.25”, while Depman made it to the finals for triple jump, ultimately placing fifth overall.

As for the men, they also braced the rough weather to reach success in the 5000-meter run and the 4x800 relay on the first day of the meet.

Like the women, the men took the victory in the relay, winning by approximately five seconds. Senior Gabe Fishman, juniors Philip Brown and Jared Freedman and sophomore Ry Blume finished the event at 8:20.83.

The next day, the men had several notable performances, particularly by freshman Skylar Widman and junior Kyle Estrada.

“Stand out performances came from Skylar Widman who was able to make a solid improvement from his previous college best in the 100 meter dash and qualify for the finals of the 100 meters later in the meet,” noted Estrada.

Widman went on to finish seventh in the finals, running slightly faster than he did in the preliminary round, with a time of 11.45. While Estrada just missed the cutoff to qualify for the finals in the 100-meter dash, he had a strong showing in the 200-meters later that afternoon, posting a time of 22.84, a personal best.

“I felt that individually I had a decent day,” said Estrada. “I was able to run a personal best in the 200m dash in poor conditions which was a big confidence boost as I was able to run faster than I did in Arizona where it was 90 and sunny.”

Saturday’s competition featured strong performances by other freshmen in addition to Widman.

Cole Derksen finished the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.97, earning 17th place in his first race for the Brewers. Adin Becker also had a successful day, achieving a collegiate best in the 1500-meters, in which he finished ninth with a time of 4:15.88.

Sophomore Ryan Blume also ran a collegiate

Senior Lucy Balcezak races to the finish line in Ramapo Roadrunner Classic. Hoping for better weather on April 7, VC track and field will compete in the Sam Howell Unvitational. best time, finishing the 400-meters with a time of 53.83. Junior Jared Freedman and sophomore Dan Melody were only a few seconds behind Blume with times of 56.59 and 56.80.

Junior Michael Walsh put the Brewers on the board in jumping events, reaching 4.91 meters in the long jump and getting fifth place in the triple jump with a jump of 11.51 meters.

Overall, Head Coach Justin Harris was pleased with the both teams’ abilities to work hard while facing adverse weather conditions, which was the coaching staff’s main objective for the meet.

“We think the main take away is the notion that we can have a great meet while not necessarily running fast or jumping far,” explained Coach Harris. “Being successful is about matching your effort to what the environment dishes out–weather, competitors our own thoughts–regardless though, we have to compete.”

Estrada, like Coach Harris, is proud of the men’s efforts and excited to see what future meets bring.

“Moving forward we are looking to see continued improvements across the board for everybody. We have high hopes for our relays going into Liberty Leagues. We also have our eyes on a few of the individual event titles,” Estrada shared.

The women’s side shares similar optimism about the future, and Balcezak is confident that having had to face the harsh elements will only allow the women to be stronger as the season continues. “As we move on to bigger meets, and as the weather hopefully improves, the toughness learned and practiced at these early meets will come in very handy,” Balcezak noted. “Learning to race and compete, and to stay strong through adverse conditions is one of the most important parts of being a runner. This meet proved we have a very tough team.”

The Brewers next head to Princeton, NJ on April 7th, to compete in the Sam Howell Invitational, and to Galloway, NJ on April 8th for the Osprey Open.

No dig’gity, volleyball heads to UVC championships at No. 1 Kelly Pushie

Guest Reporter

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ith its two wins this weekend against the Penn State-Behrend University (PSUB) Lions and the Bard College Raptors, the Vassar men’s volleyball team extended its winning streak to 13 games and secured the Regular Season UVC title with an 8-0 finish in conference play.

The Brewers breezed passed Penn State-Behrend in the first two sets with scores of 25-11 and 25-19. However, the Lions gave the Brewers a run for their money in the third set. The Brewers were down 24-22 but were able to regain the lead with three straight kills from freshman Yoni Auerbach.

Eventually, they were able to avoid a fourth set and pull through in with a final score of 29-27.

Vassar caused PSUB to walk away with a negative hitting percentage due to the Brewers impressive 13 blocks. Senior captain Christian Lizana put up 12 kills, 15 digs and two assisted blocks to lead the squad.

In their second contest of the day, Vassar surpassed Bard in three sets to secure the victory. VC was able to use its diverse offense to their advantage, as all but one player had at least one kill in the match versus the Raptors. Lizana put up eight kills and Auerbach put up seven kills and seven digs.

Meanwhile, senior captain Trey Cimorelli ended with a team-high nine digs and freshman Kevin Ros had eight digs and six kills. Sophomore Daniel Halberg dished out an impressive 23 assists, three assisted blocks and seven digs.

Lizana has been a solid player in his senior season. He had two productive games this past weekend and has fulfilled his role as captain with ease.

Lizana is focusing on making sure that enthusiasm stays high and the team keeps their goals in mind.

“I think all year one of my responsibilities is to make sure that everyone remains level headed but also excited. Just because we were able to finish out the regular season strong with undefeated

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

Freshman Kevin Ros bumps ball in recent home match against New York University on March 11. The squad will face Hunter College on Saturday, April 8 at 11 a.m in Kenyon Hall.

conference play doesn’t mean that come tournament time we can expect to coast right through,” explained Lizana. “We can see our run end quickly if we choose to think that we are untouchable. Every game will be a battle and we need to practice and prepare with that mindset.”

While the team has influential captions, Head Coach Richard Gary is at the reins of this impressive team. Despite this season being his first at Vassar, Coach Gary has significantly guided the Brewers’ path to success. Lizana attributes much of their success this season to the impact Coach Gary has had on the team. Lizana shared, “His understanding of the game and being able to show us the small things that make a big difference, as well as his passion and belief in us, has made us a stronger and more developed team.”

Alternatively, Coach Gary attributes much of the team’s success to the widespread talent on the squad. “Frankly, we wouldn’t be in this position if EVERY player hadn’t stepped up at some point this season. It’s been incredibly gratifying to watch this group gel into a great team, and I could give you an hour long description of each player’s contributions,” Coach Gary noted.

However, Coach Gary believes he would be remiss if he did not mention the impact that the seniors have had on the team this year. Coach Gary explains that the seniors have helped foster a great environment for the team to improve in every practice and every match. “[This leadership] starts with Trey, Quinn and Christian, who exemplify that ethos, and has trickled down through every player on the team. Even when someone is injured or isn’t on the court during a match, they find a way to contribute with an observation, some tension breaking joke, or simply by being vocally supportive of the current task. It makes it very easy to work with the guys to find ways to improve, ” said Coach Gary.

In terms of how the team is preparing for next weekend, Lizana wants to ensure that everyone is in the best possible shape to play. “We have a bunch of players all battling the sore shoulders and knees that kick in at this point in the season, so we will be managing jumps and swings if we can,” Lizana mentioned.

However, the team still needs to get in game

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

mode and prepare for the upcoming weekend.

“For these last two games though, our Senior Day, I think we really want to finish strong. Hunter is a good team that has knocked off some quality opponents already this year, so we have to take these final matches seriously.” Lizana continued, “Coach Gary has a saying that we should aim to get 2 percent better each day, and if we do that we will go all the way. Our senior day games are a chance to touch up some things before the conference tournament and bring in great momentum.”

Lizana emphasizes the teams improvement and newfound confidence as they head into playoffs.

He stated, “In my time here we had never beaten teams like New Paltz or Stevens, so that’s always motivation when playing those teams but we were very aware of our talent and potential and we aim every game to play like we know we are capable.”

One player that has contributed to Vassar’s success is Ros. In his freshman campaign, Ros has 20 kills on the season to go along with 20 aces. Six of those kills and eight digs came from the match against Bard last weekend.

When reflecting on the season, Ros is incredibly appreciative of the leadership of the upperclassmen. “We wouldn’t be where we are today without our captains/upperclassmen,” Ros said.

“They are great role models during games, practices and off the court. From helping the freshmen transition onto a new team to serving in the fifth set, they are always there to help and offer advice.”

Ros is hopeful to keep a similar team dynamic in the future. “Hopefully, in the next couple of years, I’ll be able to take what I’ve learned from them and have such a great effect on the then-underclassmen, as they’ve affected me,” he noted.

With their two wins this past weekend, the Vassar men’s volleyball squad will head into the UVC tournament as the No. 1 seed. On April 14, they will match up against the winner of the No. 4 seed New Paltz and No. 5 seed MIT at home. To finish out the bracket, the No. 2 seed is NYU, while Stevens Institute of Technology secured the No. 3 seed and Nazareth College sits at the No. 6 seed.

The squad also has their sights set on an NCAA tournament appearance, which would start on Thursday, April 13 and continue to the final, which would take place on Saturday, April 15.

April 6, 2017

SPORTS

Historic debate continues: To foul or not to foul

Odds against them, Gonzaga falls to UNC in NCAA finals Robert Pinataro Guest Columnist

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he University of North Carolina Tar Heels came into the March Madness finals looking for redemption after last year’s last-second loss to Villanova on the Kris Jenkins buzzer beating three pointer. North Carolina has been calling this season its “redemption tour” in reference to what happened last season.

The truth of the matter is, UNC never should have made it to this year’s championship game, but they did. They lost three starters from last year’s tremendous team, and they added a recruiting class that was not even ranked in the top 25 in college basketball.

The Heels were not expected to win a national championship this year. Most people had them finishing a few games back of an ACC championship. Despite this, they played well all year and ground through some difficult March Madness tournament games to reach the finals, despite not being the powerhouse they had been in 2016.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs’ trip to the finals of the March Madness tournament was what many would call a dream season. During the regular season, the Zags lost just one game to Brigham Young University. Their nearly undefeated record granted them the No. 1 seed in the NCAA March Madness tournament.

South Dakota State, Northwestern, West Virginia, Xavier and South Carolina all had their national championship dreams thwarted by the Bulldogs during the tournament, and Gonzaga made it to the national championship.

On Monday, April 3, North Carolina brought the Bulldogs’ amazing run to end. The Zags did not play as well as they did earlier in the tournament, but the game was still very close. However, at the end of the game, things fell apart.

After several questionable foul calls, freshman center Zach Collins fouled out of the game with 5:03 left to play. To make matters worse, Gonzaga’s

monstrous center Przemek Karnowski had four fouls with 8:02 left to play. With Collins gone and Karnowski being forced to play a less aggressive game, Gonzaga’s game was limited severely on both sides of the ball.

As if this was not enough, the referees missed an out of bounds call and Zags guard Nigel Williams-Goss injured his ankle in the final minutes.

For North Carolina, the two coldest players on the team and probably in college basketball were the stars of the show on Monday night. Isaiah Hicks and Joel Berry had been having an unbelievably bad tournament, combined to hit three out of 26 field goal attempts in Saturday’s final four matchup against Oregon. But on Monday, both players came to play. They both hit some extremely important shots for North Carolina in clutch situations, helping the Tar Heels redeem themselves in 2017.

As the clock ticked to zero, the confetti rained down on the new national champions, the University of North Carolina. It was a sad day for the Zags, as it truly seemed that they could have won the game had the circumstances not been so against them. When asked if he felt that the better team had won, Bulldog Josh Perkins said, “Obviously not. You’ve got to give them credit for getting it done down the stretch, though.”

The Tar Heels were favored to win the game, but once both teams stepped on the court, it was apparent that the Bulldogs could just as easily bring home the national championship. The fact that they could have won the game makes the loss sting a little bit more.

Going forward, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will lose some talent next season, which will certainly hurt them. But after a championship season like this one, recruiting becomes much easier. The Zags can only hope to rebuild an even stronger team for next season, and revenge their championship loss. As the Tar Heels have shown, teams can defy all odds and emerge victorious.

Page 19

Mack Liederman Guest Columnist

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or any basketball fan, it’s the type of nail-biting, game-deciding situation that leaves you screaming at your TV. Your favorite team just scored a big basket to put them up by three, 10 seconds left. What should the defense do? Defend the play, and run the risk of a game-tying three? Or should they foul, forcing free throws and a max of two points?

These are the age-old questions that have polarized some of basketball’s greatest minds. There’s Team Rihanna and Team Beyonce, Team Edward and Team Jacob and now, this March, there’s Team Defend and Team Foul.

The most prominent display of a defend or foul dilemma (maybe of the last decade) occurred on the basketball’s biggest stage last Saturday, in the Final Four matchup between powerhouse Gonzaga and cinderella South Carolina. With the Zags up by three, 75-72, After the Gamecocks managed to cross the mid-court line, Gonzaga’s Josh Perkins gave the strategic foul with 3.5 seconds left, sending Thornwell to the line for two shots. Thornwell stepped up and nailed the first free throw. With very little time left on the clock, Thornwell had no choice but to intentionally miss the second, in hopes for a fellow Gamecock to grab the rebound and put it back in for two points to send the game to overtime. However, Gonzaga freshmen center Killian Tillie grabbed the board and was fouled. Tillie would go on to hit two throws, giving Gonzaga a four point lead, effectively ending the game.

Gonzaga’s defensive sequence was a defend or foul situation executed to perfection.

Perkins picked the right moment to give the foul, with (A), not enough time left (3.5 seconds) for South Carolina to have a chance to gain another possession, and (B), while Thornwell was handling the ball about two feet outside the three point line, making him unlikely to begin a shoot-

ing motion and draw a 3-shot foul.

However, in the heat of the moment, there was a divide in the Zags huddle about the play call, as many players were uneasy about Few’s call to foul.

“I was screaming at my teammates to foul because I saw they weren’t fouling,” said Gonzaga starting point guard Nigel Williams-Goss in an interview.

Although Gonzaga Head Coach Few has been one of very few coaches to be a proponent of fouling, he too was torn by the decision at hand. As Coach Few pointed out, choosing to foul leads a team to run the risk of not obtaining the rebound off the intentionally missed second free throw, giving the opposing team another possession to either tie the game with a two or win the game with a three. This is the nightmare scenario that often scares coaches away from fouling and instead electing to play out the final defensive possession.

However, a player knocking down a clutch three pointer under a defend play call is much more likely than the offensive team grabbing a offensive board off an intentional miss under a foul play call.

In foul scenario, much more must go right for the team down by three. So is fouling the right move?

“I would pressure the ball and slow them [the offensive team down by three] down and foul after they get over half court,” said sophomore basketball player Steve Palecki. “Limits them from tying the game with a three but necessary to rebound on the free throws for this plan to work.”

And you don’t even need to look at the numbers to recognize that defending often turns sour for the defensive team much more than fouling.

Recall the 2008 NCAA national championship game, where Memphis choose to defend, resulting in Kansas knocking down a clutch three pointer to tie and send the game to overtime, which Kansas would eventually win. But can anyone recall any game in which fouling under six seconds actually resulted in an overtime?

Evidence goes to show. When in doubt, just give the foul.

Even against international opponents, rugby rolls in wins RUGBY continued from page 1

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

nal de Educacion Fisica play for international teams including Maria Lasada, Angela del Pan and Maria Casado, who all play for the Spanish women’s national team. Similarly, Instituto Nacional de Educacion Fisica’s Alicia Stone is on the German national sevens team. Both del Pan and Casado played in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Facing professional competition, VC was unfortunately held scoreless throughout the match. The Brewers lost 0-41, yet the score did not reflect how well Vassar played. Specifically, the defense put up an incredibly strong fight, highlighted by sophomore Rachel Elson, who started at fullback and had one of the best games of her career. Freeman and sophomore Jennie To also made multiple big tackles in an attempt to keep the game competitive.

After such a difficult loss, the team had five days to recover and explore before heading into its final game against Manresa XV on Tuesday, March 21. The days off were spent sightseeing and exploring everything Barcelona has to offer.

Reminscing on the experience, Sworden recalled, “While we did only play three games, the games stick with you for a long time, in terms of bruises and soreness, so the days off we had were great for recuperating. That’s not to say we just stayed in bed resting, though.”

Sworden continued, “We saw almost all the major sites there are in Barcelona, La Boqueria, La Rambla, Park Guell, La Sagrada Familia and more, often walking miles even on our off days, taking in the cuisine and sights. We also had a few practices where we’d focus on our game play and strategy and stretch out so we were ready for the next game. There was a really fun practice we had on the beach playing touch rugby in the sand.”

Many memories and photographs later, the Brewers competed in their final match of the trip against Manresa XV. Vassar handily emerged victorious, surpassing its competition 58-15.

This win was even more impressive when you note the number of rookies who received playing time and starting nods. Many older

Junior Andi Ramsey takes down an opponent in a recent game. After an impressive win against UConn, women’s rugby will take on Elite 8 finisher Saint Michael’s College on Saturday, April 8. players played out of position as well. Elson had yet another amazing performance abroad as she was able to notch a team-leading three tries to secure the win for Vassar.

Reflecting on her first ever rugby game, freshman scrumhalf Lindsey “Sam” Sample stated, “I’m a rookie and a freshman so I obviously don’t see a lot of playing time, but for the last game Coach Brown started a lot of us rookies. It was terrifying honestly, because I felt that we were representing Vassar and the USA abroad so I wanted to play well, and I didn’t feel ready to play my position yet; the first few minutes were really rough, but like Tony and all of my teammates say, the best way to learn rugby is by being thrown into an actual game and figuring it out as you go. It was really fun and I learned a lot.”

Nevertheless, Sample and the other beginners posted strong performances and contributed to the Vassar win.

In response to the Barcelona competitors, Coach Brown referenced some advantages that the team’s competitors have over the Brewers.

Coach Brown explained, “The teams we played had locker rooms! This was, and is, a huge factor as players not only can get a shower after the game but bond as a team.”

Nevertheless, Coach Brown acknowledges the benefits of competing against such talented opponents as well as traveling as a team. Coach Brown stated, “The main benefit is building team spirit. The men and women also get to know each other.”

Reiterating the benefits of the trip, junior Andi Ramsey shared, “With regards to rugby, it was fun getting to interact with players from other countries with whom we don’t necessarily have a lot in common other than our love for the sport. It was also wonderful to play outside on grass after many months inside. My favorite aspect outside of rugby was getting to spend a

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

lot of time with my teammates. The weather and food were also pretty wonderful.”

Ramsey continued, “The trip helps a lot for a few reasons. It helps to get a few games in before April, and many players were able to try new positions or play with different combinations of people. After a successful trip abroad, it looks like we’ll definitely have some more wins this season.”

The team returned to the states on March 22, arriving at Vassar later in the week as classes resumed on the 27th. The Brewers were scheduled to have a quick turn-around and face Poughkeepsie rival Marist College on Sunday, March 26. However, the match was postponed due to weather conditions, and the team had another week to practice at home.

On Saturday, April. 1, the Brewers exploded for their first home game of the season on the Vassar Farm. The squad defeated the University of Connecticut in a low scoring match ending in 15-5.

For VC to earn the win, Elson, Urrutia and sophomore Oshana Reich each scored a try.

The game was also highlighted by long Vassar possessions and counter-attacks from Elson.

Due to Uconn’s relatively weak kicking performance, Elson was able to gain possession and make strong runs.

However, the squad did not only excel on offense, as the defense side held strong and had notable performances. Senior Laila Blumenthal-Rothchild had a phenomenal tackle in the second half, taking down one of UConn’s strongest runners. Sophomore Miranda Scarlata and juniors Abby Alexander and Alicia Menard-Livingston also all contributed significantly on the defensive end.

With its win over UConn, the team advances its monumental overall record to 15-3 and spring record 3-1. The Brewers look to continue on their winning streak as travel to their first away games of the spring season.

The team will first face Saint Michael’s College, who finished in the Elite 8 last fall, in Colchester, VT. on April 8. The very next day, VC will head to Stony Brook University for the TriState 7s tournament.

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Page 20

April 6, 2017

Brewers return to home turf, spring sports stay in stride Olivia O’Loughlin Sports Editor

Men’s Baseball

Women’s Tennis

To kick off league play, the Vassar women’s tennis team dominated the Saint Lawrence University Saints 8-1 on Saturday, April 1.

The day started off great for the Brewers as they swept all doubles competition. At No. 1, senior captain Shayna Becker and freshman Tara Edwards earned the first victory with a score of 8-3.

Next came wins from junior Kate Christensen and sophomore Morgane Flournoy who defeated St. Lawrence’s Alexandra Dadoly and Lia Peterson 8-4 at the No. 2 spot.

At No. 3, senior captain Connie Yoo and junior Dasha Ivenitsky pulled through after an early deficit to earn a 9-7 and finish the Brewers’ domination in doubles.

The squad’s prowess did not stop there, as Yoo

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

VC traveled to Farmingdale, NY, to face off against Plattsburgh State three times over the weekend, earning two wins and one loss. On Saturday, the Brewers nabbed a 7-3 win, while they split Sunday 1-1 with respective scores of 4-3 and 1-3.

On Saturday, the Farmingdale Cardinals were the first to get on the scoreboards with an early run in the top of the first inning. Nevertheless, Vassar answered at the bottom of the fifth inning with two runs from junior captain and infielder Bobby Kinne and fellow junior shortstop Matt Hernandez.

After two more runs from the Cardinals, Vassar bounced back to score five runs in the sixth inning, which came from senior second baseman Denis Shanagher, sophomore right fielder Taylor Smach, freshman third baseman Daniel Bonfiglio and freshman first baseman Matt Martino.

As the Brewers held the Cardinals for the rest of the match, they earned the 7-3 win. The victory was awarded to junior pitcher Derek DeMild for his strong performance.

The squad returned for action against Plattsburgh the very next day for a doubleheader. In the first game of the day, VC clinched a close 4-3 victory, with sophomore Bryan Rubin tabbing the win as pitcher.

Once more, Plattsburgh beat Vassar to the home plate, scoring the first run of the game in the second inning. However, the Brewers responded with unanswered runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to take the lead. Vassar’s runs were scored

by Shanagher, sophomore centerfielder Jake Doyle and Bonfiglio, respectively.

The Cardinals fired back in the seventh inning as shortstop Stephen Bryant launched the ball passed the Brewers to bring in two runs and tie the game at three apiece. Nevertheless, another run from Bonfiglio, thanks to an impressive hit from Martino, would boost Vassar to victory.

Unfortunately, VC was unable to continue its momentum and faced a 1-4 loss late on Sunday.

With Plattsburgh scoring three runs in the second inning, the Brewers could not catch up. However, with a hit from Kinne, Rubin ran to home in the sixth inning to award the team its lone run of the game.

After returning home, the team faced the University of Rochester on Wednesday, April 5 on Prentiss baseball field before hosting heading to Rochester, NY to take on the Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday, April 8.

came back for No. 5 singles and held the Saints scoreless to earn the perfect 6-0, 6-0 win. Next, Edwards sealed the win for the Burgundy and Gray as she earned the fifth win for Vassar as she finished No. 3 singles with scores of 6-2, 6-2. Right behind Edwards, Flournoy clinched another victory at No. 4 as she defeated Emily Wyman 6-1, 7-5.

Then to wrap up the day, Christensen topped Georgia Comber at No. 1 with scores of 6-4, 6-3 while Ivenitsky captured the victory at No. 6 in a super tiebreaker 6-2, 2-6, 10-1.

VC will next compete in the Seven Sisters Championships in Hadley, MA on Saturday, April 8 and Sunday, April 9. The Brewers will face Bryn Mawr College and Smith College on Saturday before competing against host Mount Holyoke College and Wellesley College on Sunday.

Women’s Lacrosse

In one of the most challenging weekends of the year, the Vassar women’s lacrosse team served a large upset to Union College (10-9) and faced a tough loss to William Smith (4-14). The win over the Union Dutchwomen is the program’s first win in three years.

On Friday, the Brewers fell into a quick deficit as the Dutchwomen notched off four goals in the first 13 minutes. Freshman Kelly Pushie put Vassar on the boards as she scored an unassisted goal with approximately 10 minutes left in the first half. Up next, Union added two more goals to take a 6-1 lead going into halftime.

After the break, the Dutchwomen continued their run to extend the lead to seven goals with a score of 9-1. Freshman Tessa Waters then reached the back of the net in attempt to decrease the deficit. Union would score one more before the momentum would shift in Vassar’s favor. With 22 minutes left in the contest, Vassar battled back.

Waters scored her second goal to start Vassar’s run, followed by one from senior captain Julia Trudell merely 26 seconds later. Trudell and Waters continued their domination as Trudell tallied her second goal of the day with an assist from Waters, pushing the score to 5-9.

Junior Amelia Rivoir assisted the next two goals, one from fellow junior Hannah Cho and another from Pushie. Pushie then completed her hat trick to make the score 7-9 with just over 14 minutes to play.

For the next 13 minutes, the game was deadlocked and the Brewers remained down by one. To lift the team to a tie game, Waters earned a hat trick for herself with another unassisted goal at 0:58.

With both teams expecting to go to overtime, freshman Grace Goodwin-Boyd launched the ball past Union goalkeeper to give Vassar the win! With this victory, the Burgundy and Gray headed into its second game of the weekend versus the Herons of William Smith.

Although the Herons scored the first goal of the day, Pushie answered with a free-position goal at 25:41. William Smith then went on a nine-goal scoring streak, leading 10-1 at the half.

However, in the second half, Pushie was back for more as she netted another unassisted goal. Then, after more back-and-forth, Vassar scored two more goals during the match: one from sophomore Emily Hamburger and the final from Waters.

Despite the result, junior goalkeeper Emily Chancey earned a strong 12 saves on the day.

The Brewers now have the week to prepare for their next Liberty League doubleheader against

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

Freshman Mike Mullen takes a shot against Salve Regina in Tampa, FL. The men’s lacrosse team will travel to Potsdam, NY, to compete against Clarkson University on Saturday, April 8.

Senior captain Connie Yoo returns a hit on Josselyn Tennis Courts. Her stellar performance against St. Lawrence University, earned her the title of Vassar Athletics Featured Athlete of the Week. the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8.

Men’s Lacrosse

The Brewers made history on Saturday, April 1 as they took down No. 19 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 11-9 and captured the program’s first victory against the Engineers. The game was a battle, and it was not until the fourth quarter that Vassar ran away with the win.

Sophomore Dekker Stebel was the first to reach the scoreboards as he scored an unassisted goal with 11:41 left in the first quarter. After RPI answered with two goals, fellow sophomore James Thomas scored an unassisted goal to tie the game at two apiece. Senior Sam Houston-Read then lifted VC to a 3-2 lead with another goal, assisted by fellow senior Liam Moriarty.

After more back-and-forth, senior captain Brandon DeStasio then netted two unassisted goals to tie the game 5-5.

Things turned scary for Vassar as RPI took a two-goal lead 7-5 heading into the fourth quarter.

With 15 minutes to turn things around, the Brewers gained momentum with the help of man-up opportunities. Moriarty had the first goal of the fourth quarter to lessen the deficit to one.

RPI then committed multiple fouls to send two Engineers to the sideline and give VC man-up opportunities.

Freshman Michael Mullen started Vassar’s string of goals as he reached the back of the net after a pass from Stebel. VC then took the lead with goals from senior Chris Billups with an assist from Houston-Read, followed by another one from Mullen assisted by DeStasio.

In between two goals from the Engineers, Thomas reached the back of the net once more at 3:07. Earning a hat trick, Mullen had the final goal of the game with another assist from Moriarty, lifting the team 11-9 After this monumental victory, the Brewers will continue Liberty League play as they take on Clarkson University on Saturday, April 8 in Potsdam, NY.

Men’s Tennis

On Sunday, April 2, the Vassar men’s tennis team handedly defeated the Coast Guard Academy Bears 8-1. The Brewers victory was largely earned due to their sweep of singles play.

The Nick duo of senior Nick Litsky and sophomore Nick Zuczek demonstrated its prowess once again as the pair earned a 8-2 victory at No. 3 against Mike Melampy and Arthur Wicke. Up next, senior Juan Felipe Laso and freshman Allen Sokolov tallied another VC win as they topped John Hu and Adam Bahney 8-4 at the No. 2 spot.

Unfortunately the Brewers were unable to earn the win at the No. 1 spot as the Bears inched by freshmen Jeremy Auh and Dom Demeterfi 8-6.

With Vassar up 2-1, the teams headed into singles play. At No. 2 singles, Sokolov clinched his second win of the day as he topped Melampy 6-0, 6-1. The next VC victory came at the hands of Litsky, who defeated Tom Hackett 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot. With this win, Litsky tallied a team-high 14 wins in singles in addition to earning Liberty League honors for his strong performance.

Sealing the victory for the Brewers, sophomore Jamie Anderson kept the success rolling at No. 4 as he knocked off Adam Bahney 6-3, 7-6 (7-1). Then, ready for revenge, Auh earned his first collegiate three-set win at No. 5 as he surpassed Jack Phillips 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

Laso earned another Vassar three-set victory as he battled and defeated John Hu 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Finally, at No. 6, freshman Zamir Birnbach wrapped up the wins as he topped Wicke 6-7, 6-4, 10-6.

Next weekend, the Brewers will head to MA as they face MIT on Friday, April 7 before taking on Babson College on Saturday, April 8.

Weekend Scoreboard WOMEN’S LACROSSE

Men’s Rugby

After a previous postponement, VC finally battled and defeated Poughkeepsie foe Marist College 34-12 on Saturday, April 1. Sophomore wing Stephen Kpundeh was a standout performer on the day as he tallied 14 points off of two tries and two conversions.

Kpundeh scored the first points of the day as he snuck passed Marist’s defense to convert his own try. However, Marist fought back and scored a try to even the score at seven apiece. Kpundeh came back for more points, scoring another try to boost Vassar to a 12-7 lead. Once more, Marist answered and tied the score 12-12.

The Brewers scored the remaining points of the match and ran away with the victory. Sophomore lock Tony Varghese initiated Vassar’s scoring streak with a try, followed by fellow sophomore Robert Eder to give Vassar a 22-12 lead heading into halftime.

After the half, Eder and freshman flanker Ankit Khosla each scored a try to clinch the 34-12 victory for the Brewers.

The squad will next head to Colchester, VT to face Saint Michael’s College on Saturday, April 8.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

VASSAR

VS

UNION

10

9

MEN’S RUGBY VASSAR

34

VS

MARIST

12