The Miscellany News
Volume CXLVIII | Issue 1
September 10, 2015
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
ALANA Center welcomes new director, fresh ideas Noble Ingram SENIOR EDITOR
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Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News
midst the typical frenzy of early September and the new school year, a new face has emerged that seeks to redirect the campus’ prolific activist energy.. The New Director of the ALANA Center, Bethel “B” Nathan has moved into the space, located above the Susan Stein Shiva Theater. Nathan has spent the past eight years working as an administrator for Colorado State University. The ALANA Center, dedicated to serving the needs of students of color on campus, was previously directed by Luz Burgos-Lopez, who left Vassar last spring. The walls of Nathan’s office are still bare and the thudding from the ALANA Center’s remodeling construction punctuates her speech. Although she has only been at Vas-
sar since July, Nathan expressed excitement at the possibilities her new post has given her. She reiterated her desire to do meaningful work with the center. “I moved across the country 2,000 miles. For me to move across the country 2000 miles that means I wanted to find a place that I’m committed to,” she said. The challenges of the position, however, are very real. Even a visionary ALANA Director still reports to a list of other administrators, many of whom have priorities that do not always match with those of the center. As Associate Professor and Chair of the Spanish Department and member of the search committee Eva Woods explained, “On the one hand there is what we would hope an ALANA center director would do but then there is the reality of what the See ALANA on page 4
Bethel “B” Nathan has big plans for promoting diversity and inclusion on campus in her capacity as the new Director of the ALANA Center, but also expressed her wish for her colleagues to engage with the community about such issues as well.
Transitions makes radio waves OVA offers veterans college opportunities Rhys Johnson NEWS EDITOR
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n her closing remarks to this year’s cohort, Transitions Intern Taylor Veasley ’18 wrote to this year’s 56-student group, “You did not get in because of your disadvantages, but in spite of them.” On Sept. 1, the Vassar Transitions program was featured in a story entitled “Helping low-income college students feel at home” on the American Public Media radio program Marketplace. The Transitions program, now in its sixth year, was created to help
confront the social pressures facing low-income, first-generation and veteran students on campus and to help those students adjust to life at Vassar. Dean of Studies Benjamin Lotto commented, “What our students were telling us is that they felt that they didn’t belong. They were great students. They graduated. They did good work. They got good grades, but they weren’t happy here. They felt like the school was for someone else” (Marketplace, “Helping low-income college students feel at home,” 9.01.15). As the Los Angeles-based radio
show noted, the Transitions program seeks to address those issues in the week before freshmen begin orientation, offering workshops and mentorship on career development and financial aid in addition to providing students with a working knowledge of the College’s various support systems as well as a sense of community among students to whom they may relate more easily. Transitions Intern Italo Calderón ’18, who himself was unable to participate in the program during his first year, commended Transitions’ See TRANSITIONS on page 4
Julia Cunningham
ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR
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osh was running late. He had been off campus helping a veteran who hadn’t fully registered for the four classes that that were required by his GI Bill and hadn’t noticed the time. Operation Veteran Admission (OVA), the organization that Joshua Ridley ‘17 helped found, was created exactly to address that type of issue. Veterans who return home run the risk of becoming part of the over-
whelming statistics regarding suicide rates and homelessness. Ridley, along with the other co-founder of OVA David Carrell ‘17, hope to reach the root of the issue by addressing education. “We feel that having veterans go into a school setting is an easy transition for us,” Ridley said, “Because it’s not really real life.” Veteran education was something that Ridley and Carrell both found they were passionate about, which See OVA on page 13
Pacio expands reach of CAAD Walsh hired as new Director of Athletics A Connor McIlwain REPORTER
Amreen Bhasin REPORTER
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Connor McIlwain/The Miscellany News
regular trailer rarely receives much attention. But the surprisingly adaptable Collaboratory has been all over campus and played host to a number of creative installations, displays and workshops since its inception last year. According to the Creative Arts Across Discipline website, “CAAD is an experimental laboratory for trying out new models of research, pedagogy and parctice, that foreground critical making and doing as complementary activities to critical thinking.” New Interdisciplinary Arts Coordinator, Tom Pacio now oversees the project and has high hopes for expanding the site’s potential uses and visibility this year. Originally coming to Vassar in 2007 to work as the Education Director for Powerhouse, Pacio’s recent job shift to CAAD has been a whirlwind of work. “I have only been in this position since the beginning of August, so the majority of my efforts thus far have been spent producing the three MultiArts Collectives which are taking place this fall on campus,” wrote Pacio. “In addition to that, I am coordinating the use of the Collaboratory and sending out calls for proposals for next year’s See CAAD on page 17
Diya Nag ’18 and Emma Butensky ’18 pose in the Collaboratory. Vassar on Tap offered free cookies and mini tap lessons outside of the College Center this week.
Inside this issue
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Misc music critic takes on summer’s HUMOR & biggest hits SATIRE
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Summer travelers recount their worldly TRAVEL adventures
n Aug. 17, Vassar College’s new Athletic Director, Michelle Walsh, had her first day of work as a Brewer. Walsh was selected after an exhaustive national search to fill a position that former Director Sharon Beverly had left unoccupied for over a year. After Beverly left Vassar for the College of New Jersey in March 2014, current Associate Director of Athletics, Kim Culligan, served as the interim Athletic Director for the school. Walsh comes to Vassar from SUNY Geneseo, where she served as an Associate Athletic Director as the Senior Woman Administrator at the school. Through a wealth of experience on both the performance and administrative side of the athletic world, Walsh has been able to develop strong career goals and opportunities that she now hopes to build upon with Vassar. She explained, “I have been involved in athletics for most of my life. As an undergraduate at Swarthmore College, I participated in field hockey, basketball and softball, serving as
14 ARTS
a captain for each sport during my senior year. My own liberal arts education taught me to [develop] skills that have guided me throughout my career: how to learn and how to lead. These skills were acquired while aspiring to excellence both in the classroom and on the playing field; as a Director, I am passionate about providing those same learning opportunities for our student-athletes here at Vassar.” Walsh has extensive experience in handling the challenges of college athletics, particularly at the Division III level. While she was a celebrated player in all three of her sports, Walsh has had even greater experience from the administrative and coaching sides. She has been an Assistant Basketball Coach at Smith College and was the Interim Head Golf Coach at William Smith College, a Liberty League foe, where she also served as an administrative intern and an assistant basketball coach once again. She worked as the Facilities Coordinator and the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, before heading to Fitchburg State See WALSH on page 18
Loeb displays Asian art in preparation for conference