Misc9 22 16

The Miscellany News

Volume CXLIX | Issue 2

September 22, 2016

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

McCoy lecture bridges identity gap Reinstatement of ASL meets student demand Clark Xu Reporter

With additional reporting by

Will Kyle

Sarah Henry

O

Guest Reporter

T Courtesy of Vassar College/Karl Rabe

ver the course of her visit to Vassar, social activist Yavilah McCoy proved that genuine discussions about faith-based, racial, class and gender identities are not just possible, but completely necessary.

McCoy delivered a lecture entitled, “Faith, Race, Power, and Privilege” on Sept. 7 and led anti-oppression workshops on Sept. 8 and 9.

Discussing her identity within Jewish communities and in the broader context of contemporary American society, McCoy emphasized that any solution or compromise must be born out of open-minded dialogue between people with different backgrounds and personal histories. McCoy began, “When people get together to share, when they open their hearts, when they say something that you haven’t See IDENTITY on page 3

Social activist Yavilah McCoy gave a lecture on Sept. 7 and led workshops on Sept. 8 and 9 dealing with intersectional identities.

Vassar junior launches social app Emily Hwu and Imaan Lamba Guest Reporters

A

re you ever sitting in your dorm room on a Friday night, wondering what the heck there is to do on campus? Sure, you could go check out the Mug, but then you risk having to trek all the way to Main and back if it ends up being a bust. If

only there were a quick way to see which events are currently hot and which are definitely not.

Sule Marshall ’18 has set out to address this very issue through his app, Vybz.

The creation of the app began the summer before Sule’s freshman year when he and his friend were discussing a different app that locates and rates restaurants in

his home country of Trinidad and Tobago. Sule realized that the base ideas of this app could be refocused to better apply to the needs of the Trinbagonian youth. Just like students at Vassar, their interests lay more toward concerts, comedy shows and themed parties than expensive dining options. The app he imagSee APP on page 6

his fall, American Sign Language (ASL) joined the long list of languages available for study at Vassar as a part of the Self-Instructional Language Program (SILP). SILP aims to allow students to study languages that are not commonly offered at colleges and universities. As such, it is structured very differently from the traditional classroom setting.

As the name of the program suggests, the majority of the responsibility is placed on the student to learn the language through a combination of audio and visual resources. Twice a week, students meet with a tutor who is a native speaker of their language of study in order to practice and perfect what they have learned from the book. This all may sound very daunting, but many students attest that it is also rewarding, allowing the student to have practical experience in communicating in their language of study.

Serving as the coordinator of the SILP since the fall of 2014, Lioba A. Gerhardi said, “By providing contact with native speakers and exposure to other cultures, the program also contributes to diversity on campus.” Gerhardi submitted her proposal to add ASL in January and September of 2015 with the support of faculty from the Department of Education and Director of the Office of Accessibility and Educational Opportunity, Mary Jo Cavanaugh. The SILP

now consists of ASL, Gaelic, Hindi, Korean, Portuguese, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish and Yiddish.

Students’ enthusiasm in the course was vital in making bringing the course to Vassar. As Gerhardi noted, “The addition of ASL was set in motion by strong student interest ... ASL is an important addition to our curriculum, as it recognizes the importance of deaf culture in society and our commitment to be inclusive.”

The ASL class received overwhelming interest when it first launched this fall. About 30 people showed up to the orientation meeting for the class which was meant to be capped at 20, and I was excited to be included as a member of the class.

Sophie Cash ’19 is one of these excited students. After taking two years of ASL in high school, she was disappointed to learn that Vassar did not offer it during the 2015-2016 school year. She went to speak to Gerhadi about her love for ASL and was delighted to learn that a plan to add ASL to the program was in the works: “I wish I could say I had a hand in making it happen, but I was really on the periphery of the initiative– just kind of on the side lines going ‘Yay! Thank God this is happening!’”

Last fall, Associate Professor of English Leslie Dunn’s media studies course on The Arts of Silence invited the sign language poetry group Flying Words to perform on campus, connectSee ASL on page 7

Fall season in full Jazz prodigy to perform with trio swing for VC tennis E Sasha Gopalakrishnan Guest Reporter

Lindsay Wolk

Guest Reporter

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Inside this issue

5

Event to fire up international FEATURES students

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very year, Vassar’s Music Department carefully selects artists to be a part of its concert series. One annual concert is designated a Dickinson-Kayden Event that primarily brings jazz concerts to the Skinner Hall stage.

This year, Vassar presents the Julian Lage Trio, made up of esteemed jazz guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenney Wollesen. This acclaimed group was recently on an international tour.

Awards at age 13 and was a member of Gary Burton’s band at age 16.

Now, at 28 years, Lage has already had a successful musical career spanning two decades and has even been called the best living jazz guitarist.

Micah Katz-Zeiger ’18, a jazz student and guitarist himself, expressed his agreement with that opinion, after he saw him play in Boston with Gary Burton in 2012. “Modern guitarists usually tend to rely on distortions, echoes and other effects in See JAZZ on page 17

Courtesy of Julian Lage on Twitter

oth the men’s and women’s tennis teams suffered huge talent losses from last season, but their futures look bright as they aim to improve upon last year’s results.

Longtime head coach Kathy Campbell has returned to Vassar after taking sabbatical last spring. Over the last 35 years, Coach Campbell has led the Vassar women’s tennis team to winning over 70 percent of their matches.

Last spring, the women finished 13-8 overall under interim head coach Bruce Levine. Levine and Campbell have very different coaching styles but the team remains strong despite the back and forth in leadership.

“I don’t even think there was an adjustment period, everything just went back to the way it was before she [Coach Campbell] left. We all missed her last semester and are happy to have her back,” junior Morgan Fitzgerald said. The fall season serves as an opportunity for Campbell to evaluate the team and consider her starting lineup for the spring.

Leading the way for the Brewers is junior Kate Christensen. She will continue to take the No. 1 spot after competing against some of the country’s top players as a sophomore last year.

Christensen has lived up to her fourstar tennisrecruiting.net rating as both a freshman and a sophomore, with 13-4

and 13-11 singles records respectively.

Last year’s No. 2 singles player, Courtney Geiss, will miss both the fall and spring seasons, as she is studying abroad at the London School of Economics for the entirety of her junior year. Other notable losses include Kelsey Van Noy and Lauren Stauffer, both of whom graduated as members of the Class of 2016.

Senior captain Shayna Becker is looking to replace her former doubles partner, senior Hanna McGuire, who decided to not play for her last year.

Becker and McGuire, who went 8-7 overall at No. 1, accounted for the biggest win of last season when they beat a pair of All-Americans from Skidmore in Liberty League play.

Along with Becker and McGuire, No. 2 pair Van Noy and then-freshman Morgane Flournoy won their match against the Thoroughbreds.

Then-sophomore Morgan Fitzgerald, Becker and Flournoy each defeated their respective singles opponents, bringing home the woman’s biggest win of the season 5-4.

Since McGuire’s departure, Coach Campbell has tested out new doubles teams, pairing Becker with both Flournory and freshman Tara Edwards.

“Shayna and I share a really good energy on the court and our styles of play work well together,” Flournoy expressed. “Shayna is very consistent and See TENNIS on page 18

They will be performing at Skinner Hall’s Mary Anna Fox Martel Recital Hall this Saturday, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m., and the concert is free and open to the public.

Julian Lage, a child prodigy on the guitar, has such abundant musical prowess that he has performed with remarkable artists like Jim Hall, Herbie Hancock, Nels Cline and Carlos Santana when he was only nine years old. There was even a documentary about him entitled “Jules at Eight.”

He went to Berklee College of Music, appeared on stage at the Grammy

The Julian Lage Trio will perform on Saturday, Sept. 24, at 8 p.m. in Skinner Hall’s Mary Anna Fox Martel Concert Hall. The jazz performance by the highly acclaimed trio will be part of the All Families Weekend lineup.

Theories on selfdriving cars take OPINIONS a new turn

14 ARTS

Museum paints marginalized voices in new light

The Miscellany News

Page 2

September 22, 2016

Editor-in-Chief Rhys Johnson

Senior Editors Zander Bashaw Emma Jones

Contributing Editors Elizabeth Dean Yifan Wang

News Eilis Donohue Opinions Nick Barone Arts Noah Purdy Elena Schultz Sports Hanna McGuire Design Talya Phelps Charlotte VarcoeWolfson Online Kelsey Quinn Copy Jackson Ingram Humor and Satire Evelyn Frick Assistant Arts Assistant Copy Assistant Social Media Web Master

Katie Nordstrom ’18, who is spending the semester doing a teaching internship in Clifden, Ireland, took an accidental 3.5-mile hike to the Cliffs of Moher. “This mistake turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it was the single most beautiful walk of my life. The sun was shining with a nice ocean breeze as the cliffs appeared slowly and elegantly. I whole-heartedly recommend that everyone go see the Cliffs of Moher. It is one of those formations that look gorgeous in pictures but are literally breathtaking in person.” To read more about Katie’s JYA experience, visit farandaway.miscellanynews.org!

The Miscellany News 22

September

Thursday

Late Night at the Lehman Loeb

5:00pm | Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center| Art

Livia Kohn Lecture

5:30pm | Taylor 203 |Asian Studies Program

Grassroots Training

7:00pm | Rocky 104 | Democracy Matters

Weekender_ 23

September

Friday

24

September

Saturday

25

September

Sunday

Haitian Art Auction and Sale

Haitian Art Auction and Sale

Haitian Art Auction and Sale

Beyonce vs. Rihanna

Volleyball (W) : Liberty League Tri-Match

Lacrosse (W) Clinic

12:00pm | College Center 223 | Vassar Haiti Project

7:00pm | TH Circle | TH Council and VCSS

CAAD Create and Control

9:00pm | Rocky 200 | Dean of the Faculty

9:00am | College Center 223 | Vassar Haiti Project

12:00pm | AFC 102 | Athletics

Rugby (W) at Hofstra University

1:00pm | Rugby Field at the Farm | Athletics

Soccer (W) vs. Skidmore College

2:00pm | Prentiss Field | Athletics

CAAD Create and Control

2:00pm and 9:00pm | Rocky 200 | Dean of the Faculty

VISA Bonfire

7:00pm | TH Circle | VISA

10:00am | College Center 223 | Vassar Haiti Project

Patrick Tanella Claire Baker Hannah Nice Andy Carrera

Reporters Sieu Nguyen Sabrina Oh Clark Xu Columnists Jimmy Christon Jillian Elkin Saachi Jain Steven Park Penina Remler Jesser Horowitz Photographer Alec Ferretti Design Christa Haryanto Scarlett Neuberger Samana Shrestha Copy Laila Volpe Jessica Roden Laura Wigginton Gabriela Calderon Katerina Pavlidis James Bonanno Leah Cates Sumiko Neary Diana Henry

10:30am | Prentiss Field | Athletics

Tennis (M) vs. Alumni

11:00am | Joss Courts | Athletics

Urban Wilderness Festival and Environmental Fair 1:00pm | Environmental Co-op Barn MPR | Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve

CAAD Create and Control

2:00pm | Rocky 200 | Dean of the Faculty

Todd Crow Piano Concert 3:00pm | Skinner Recital Hall | Music Department

Julian Lage Trio

8:00pm | Skinner Recital Hall | Music Department

Comedy Normative Stand Up 8:30pm | Sanders Classroom 200 | Comedy Normative

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

CORRECTION POLICY The Miscellany News will only corrections for any misquotes, resentations or factual errors for ticle within the semester it is

accept misrepan arprinted.

September 22, 2016

NEWS

Page 3

API and AUN use education to empower young people Eilis Donohue News Editor

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Joseph Weiman/The Miscellany News

resident of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) Margee Ensign spoke to students, faculty and community members on Sept.

19 about the AUN’s work towards educating the nation’s young people and keeping the peace in times of turmoil. Using education to alleviate the pressures of displacement-induced impoverishment was a focal point in Ensign’s talk, one which Vassar College Refugee Solidarity, the student initiative begun last year to support international displaced persons, also strives for.

On Sept. 19, displacement was discussed at the first ever United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants. Despite the emphasis on the European migration, political and social unrest has caused an uptick in displacement the world over.

On April 14, 2014, the world was abruptly introduced to the political unrest in Nigeria when it learned of the capture of 276 Nigerian female students by the radical group Boko Haram. Nigeria is a rapidly growing country; its population doubles every 26 years. At this rate, by 2045, it will be the third-largest nation in the world. “Unfortunately, growing so fast, Nigeria has more children out of school than any country in the world,” noted Ensign. For precisely this reason, under her direction, the AUN, in conjunction with the Adawama Peace Initiative (API), runs a variety of programs to educate young people of all means.

The API and the AUN together have developed a variety of programs to serve their community’s needs including Peace through Sports, which fosters team-building and tolerance across religious and ethnic divides. Ensign told the story of meeting three boys who came to the AUN campus to play sports: “[A]ll of a sudden these big boys start saying, ‘It’s you or Boko Haram.’ Are the choices that stark here in our community? Apparently they are ... It doesn’t take much, but it gave them a sense of belonging.” Other projects include a program to upcycle plastic into artistic items and another set of programs to feed local boys and girls a meal and teach them to read for a few hours a day.

Some of these initiatives align with Vassar’s own VC Refugee Solidarity program strives to achieve. Professor and Chair of History Maria Höhn agreed, “The student leaders working on the refugee solidarity initiative with me have always seen our initiative as a way to jump start and invigorate Vassar’s local engagement.” One of those student leaders, Anish Kanoria ’18 wrote, “I think institutions of higher education in the United States can and should do much, much more while responding to the crisis; and it shouldn’t just be within the realm of ‘educating ourselves.’

Awareness of historic and contemporary fact is essential...but we must be mindful that resources devoted towards this crisis shouldn’t only be consumed by ‘us.’ They should also reach those they intend to benefit.”

While the work that AUN-API does is lauded as beneficial, not everyone agrees with their methods. Assistant Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies Samson Opondo pointed out in an emailed statement that an institution like the AUN, modeled after an American university, could be seen as an agent of colonization, despite its good intentions. He continued, “Is this a case of an institution that appears as a deus ex machina offering ‘resolutions’ to complex African problems in ways that depoliticize some of the problems or even the conditions of the university’s presence and power in the society it engages?”

Despite potential problems in its execution, the idea of using education to empower vulnerable young people is noteworthy. Ensign asserted, “I really do believe universities now need to step up. We don’t think of universities as being agents of social change; we think of NGOs, we think of government, we think of international agencies. How about universities?” Höhn agreed in an emailed statement, “We are in danger now of losing a whole generation of young people, who without education, are going to be left with few alternatives. I think we need to think much more effectively about how the digital humanities can offer us new opportunities to connect with displaced youth. Lots of colleges are working on that

President of the American University of Nigeria addressed Vassar students and staff and local community members Monday, describing the peace and education initiatives in her community. now, and I am grateful that Vassar is part of that.”

It is especially important in these situations to support women’s education. Agents of displacement like Boko Haram are particularly stressful for women and children. Ensign described traveling with the API to bring supplies to a location where the survivors of a raid gathered. “We went into a room of about 500 women and girls, and I said to my Hausa translator, ask them, where are their husbands and boys? And the response [was], ‘Our husbands were burned alive and our boys were taken.’ And at that moment, I knew everything had changed.” Professor of Sociology Diane Harriford remarked in an emailed statement, “The media seem often to depict war as men killing each other and give less attention to the suffering of women and children unless it is something as dramatic as the Boko Haram kidnapping

or the plight of exploited boy soldiers. I did not fully comprehend how women suffered daily until I was in Greece and talked to many women refugees who had lost male family members and were on their own with their children. I would like the media to make it clear that the victims of war are not simply those who engage in battle.”

The AUN-API has worked hard to assert women’s rights to education. One of the AUN’s working understandings is that women are essential to development. Several of the Chibok girls who escaped their capture by Boko Haram went on to be educated at the AUN. Ensign stands by her opinion that when women are educated, a community can move forward greatly. “These young women, for me, define what education is. They’ve been through so much, and they’re so strong, and they remind me that education changes everything.”

Speaker addresses intersectionality in Jewish community IDENTITY continued from page 1 heard before, it is a gift; it is a beautiful gift; it is sacred. I want to invite you to share in ways that can be held dear and valued and that will have promise for what happens at Vassar and in the world.” In McCoy’s approach, sincere speech and genuine listening are the starting point for bridging differences, especially those that have emerged from traumatic social events.

One such trauma is the disproportionately high rate of incarcerated individuals from minority backgrounds in the American prison system. McCoy noted, “Racism is a disease that is killing our nation. I’m also awake to the fact people of color make up only 30 percent of United States population and yet account for 60 percent of those who are in prison or are incarcerated.” Encouraging a way of thinking that sensitizes people to differences of race, class and gender, McCoy continued, “Intersectionality in the name of dismantling systems of oppression amplifies the sound of many and multiple hearts crying out for healing, repair and resolution. Intersectionality is a call to action.”

McCoy’s focus on intersectionality as a response to traumatic social developments captured the hearts of her audience. A major aspect of McCoy’s lecture was the connections between Jewish identity and various categories of race, class and gender. Raymond and Jewett House Advisor Michael Drucker reflected, “To me, McCoy’s remarks on Thursday night meant pride. I was emotional after the lecture, with tears in my eyes, because I was overcome with great pride for my community. I left with my own personal needs for being understood, for mattering, for community and for hope being met. I am still feeling exhilarated by it, days afterward, and for that I’m grateful.” Sylvan Perlmutter ’19 corroborated, “McCoy’s remarks were really meaningful to me as a Latinx-Jew who has struggled to feel fully understood in Jewish and Latinx spaces. The fact that she so confidently owned the intersection of her identities really inspired me to not feel like I needed to tone down any part of myself.” Drucker and Perlmutter’s reflections exemplified the personal responses of many attendees.

As a leader in education reform, McCoy has served as the director and founder of a non-profit organization called Ayecha that engages in advocacy for Jews from ethnic and racial minorities as well as a director of The Curriculum Initiative aimed at promoting Jewish identity in educational contexts. The key conclusion that McCoy distills from her experience is that, even though positive and definitive resolutions to conflicts of faith, race, class and gender remain in the distant future, it is possible to lay the foundations for tomorrow’s peace by engaging in dialogue that reminds participants of their shared humanity. Crediting McCoy’s experience, Drucker elaborated, “The presence and wisdom of a leader like McCoy on our campus are, in part, a response to the past and will act as stimuli for responses in the future. By that I mean, her lecture and workshops were not the beginning of a response to any specific issue nor are they the absolute answer for anything moving forward. As she reminded us several times during her visit, we are Vassar and the answers already reside within us.”

From speech to practice, McCoy delivered workshops that not only instructed students and faculty on how to facilitate open discussions, but also engaged them at the level of their personal histories. Henry Rosen ’17 commented, “My personal experience of Yavilah McCoy’s visit to campus was overall very positive.

I thought she conveyed in an open and inviting way a very important perspective on campus activism and student leadership. She encouraged students to be active and vocal against structural oppressions and to invite change to campus. In her workshops, she offered ways of thinking about leadership that could help facilitate more genuine and far-reaching inclusivity.” Rosen continued, “Several of JVP-Vassar’s student leaders attended Yavilah’s workshops, and so we’ll be taking to heart her reminders, approaches and insights with regard to campus organizing over the coming year.”

In addition to Jewish Voice for Peace, McCoy’s workshops addressed student leaders from Vassar Jewish Union, Multiracial and Biracial Students Association, Students for

Justice in Palestine and the ALANA Center.

McCoy’s workshops also attracted students who were generally interested in supporting multicultural dialogue and interaction on campus. Isabel Morrison ’19 noted, “[W]e talked about the goals and strengths of each of the communities and then discussed where things overlapped and where they were different. We explored how to create safer communities and spaces; we also talked about how people can take on multiple roles in systems of oppression at different times, including victims, perpetrators, bystanders and allies.”

Continuing his reflections on the workshops, Drucker noted, “I would say McCoy greatly addressed the Jewish community at Vassar, as well, as our diverse community of people of color whether they are Jewish or not. McCoy presented herself to us as Jewish, as African American and Black, and as woman...telling us plainly that she is not an anomaly. For our Jewish community, specifically, one of the gifts she gave us is to leave behind the myth that all Jews are white because it simply isn’t true.”

Drucker appreciated the hope McCoy offered that intersectional oppression can be combatted. “Her teaching reminded me that there is White Supremacy that creates racism and Christian Hegemony that creates religious discrimination (including, but not limited to antisemitism) and the two systems of oppression work together,” he affirmed. “We have the capacity, as a community, to address them both simultaneously,” he concluded. Perlmutter agreed, “I hope that the presence of a Black Jewish woman on campus will help dispel the pernicious stereotype that all Jews are rich and white. These views have made it difficult for Jews to participate in the social justice movement because they have to constantly deal with false assumptions about the nature of their communities.”

The open discussion facilitated by McCoy’s visit also brought out observations about Vassar College’s campus-wide response to issues of faith, race and privilege. Rosen argues that the campus climate remains lukewarm to fully funding the Arabic program, increasing CARES

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

and Metcalf budgets, offering Islam Studies within the Religion Department, establishing a Middle Eastern and North African Studies Department as well as supporting the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Movement. In regard to Black Lives Matter and the Movement for Black Lives, Rosen explained, “I think the school should be doing more to actively support Black Lives Matter and the Movement for Black Lives by holding roundtable discussions, inviting speakers, designing seminars and workshops for students, first-years in particular. The administration as well as the VSA should also be supporting Black student organizing on campus and actively seeking the voices and input of Black students in relation to political conversations happening on campus.”

In parallel, Perlmutter highlighted possible improvements in the Office of Residential and Spiritual Life’s response to these issues. He stated, “There does not seem to be an established space where RSL orgs and identity groups can regularly interact and create interpersonal as well as inter organizational connections.

If some common space could be established that would be a great start.” Morrison agreed, “Vassar is lagging behind its peer institutions in many ways concerning offering support to marginalized students. This is primarily due to decision makers for the college being out of touch with the needs of students. However, it is also due to lack of communication between religious and other identity-based communities.”

Despite the subtle impact of social trauma and closed attitudes toward a variety of issues, patience and hope manage to find their way into everyday moments. Morrison continued, “There are many common goals between identity-based and religious communities including supporting students based on how they identify and working for justice and peace.” Anticipating these types of criticisms and the long process of dialogue, negotiation and compromise at the end of her lecture, McCoy concluded, “Your liberation is my liberation and my liberation is your liberation, and we cannot have it any other way. I welcome you to your truth, and may the journey continue to find us together.”

NEWS

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September 22, 2016

Community Works lends support to local non-profits Jakob Eckelstein Guest Reporter

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assar has a reputation among students for being in a so-called bubble–that is, for being isolated from the community which surrounds it–despite its physical presence within Arlington and close proximity to the city of Poughkeepsie. To say the campus is totally insulated from its surroundings, however, is to ignore the College’s efforts in recent years to reach out to the Poughkeepsie community and beyond.

One such project is Community Works, a philanthropic campaign that has donated over $1 million to 50 not-for-profit organizations in Poughkeepsie and the greater Hudson Valley since its inception. Vassar originally launched Community Works in 2001 as an outreach alternative to the local United Way campaign, which funds the Boy Scouts, after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Scouts’ plea to continue excluding gay men from leadership positions within the organization.

Last year the project contributed over $72,000 in grants to 11 organizations. Recipients included an LGBTQ+ education network, afterschool programs for at-risk students and the Domestic Violence Services in Dutchess County. This year, the goal is to raise $70,000, which will all be donated to about ten organizations.

A significant portion of Community Works’ grant money comes from current Vassar employees who agree to deductions from their monthly paychecks to fund the campaign. Vassar’s faculty is shrinking, however, and therefore Community Works may have to turn to other sources–such as individual dorms and student organizations–in order to bolster its coffer. Interim Chair of Community Works and Interim Director of Field Work Nicholas de Leeuw encouraged students to step up again this year, commenting, “Campus organizations and dorms have put together fundraising events that have been really helpful, they really have an impact, and we would welcome the TAs or the THs to do that too. And if any student organization or dorm wanted to do that, I and other members

of the committee would help them any way I could.”

Nominations for the 2017 grant recipients, which can be filled out online or mailed in, are due on Friday, Sept. 23, so de Leeuw and his team are gearing up for the upcoming review process. Anyone can nominate an organization for a grant, whether they are involved with that specific organization or not. Community Works welcomes any suggestions, but the nomination form indicates that past submissions and recipients have focused on issues such as hunger, homelessness, youth empowerment, the environment, domestic violence, child abuse, local arts and LGBTQ+ services.

After Friday, de Leeuw and the rest of the committee will get together to investigate each organization’s legitimacy before deciding whether or not to lend their support. The 2016 committee was comprised of a wide range of faculty members and employees, whose diverse experiences and backgrounds allow for thorough consideration of an equally varied set of nominations. Some of last year’s committee members were Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs Jeffrey B. Kosmacher, Associate Professor and Chair of Education Erin McCloskey, Central Dining Chef’s Helper Darrin Weaver and Director of Accessibility and Educational Opportunity and Moorhead Learning Specialist MaryJo Cavanaugh.

This is the first thing that makes Community Works unique among philanthropic organizations. It is small, led by people who work in concert with those who benefit from these grants, creating a sense of community and familiarity.

When the recipients are announced–usually right before Vassar’s October break–they receive grants with no strings attached. This is the second element that makes Community Works unique. Other, larger donors require detailed reporting from grant recipients about exactly how they spend time and money. Crime Victims Program Coordinator for Family Services Kathy Peluso explained how time consuming this can be. “We get most of our funding from the Office

of Victim Services in Albany; it’s like 700,000 dollars a year and without them we wouldnít be here. But they require a lot of documentation of everything,” she explained. “Every moment, every 15 minutes of our time. And it has to all equal the eight hours, seven hours I work, or nine hours, whatever it happens to be that day. So it’s a lot of documentation and that’s a big part of the job. Community Works grants require none of this, they don’t need to. Due to thorough vetting during the nomination process, Community Works is able to trust the people they support.

Recipients have already proven themselves.” De Leeuw agreed that the decision process should be sufficient to judge the recipients’ goals and intentions, and further monitoring should not be necessary. “[The grants should] be like money falling out of the sky. They don’t have to do anything to get the money and they don’t have to do any reporting once they’ve got the money,” he remarked.

Several of the organizations and groups which receive Community Works funding are closely associated with one another. The Poughkeepsie Family Partnership Center, located in downtown Poughkeepsie, is a converted school building that now houses the offices of local community organizations, many of which Community Works has awarded grants. Across the street from the Center sits the Poughkeepsie Plenty Fresh Market trailer, the latest project by the Poughkeepsie Plenty Coalition, one of the 2016 grant recipients. Begun in 2010 as a collaborative effort with Vassar, the Coalition’s mission is to provide access to healthy, fresh food to city residents and work towards ending food insecurity in Poughkeepsie.

Food security and accessibility is one issue among a variety of social issues and causes to which the chosen programs and organizations are dedicated. Other 2016 recipients include the Spark Media Project, which supports programming for children with interest in the media arts; the River Haven Program of Hudson River Housing, devoted to helping runaway and homeless youth find housing, counseling

asserted, “Our [party’s] policy is to take heroin out of the hands of addicts and not put it in their arms” (Vox, “Canada’s evidence-based plan to help fight heroin addiction: legalize prescription heroin”).

In response to critics, the majority Liberal government expressed its continued support for the programs. The amended Controlled Drugs and Substances document now reads, “A number of countries have allowed doctors to use diacetylmorphine-assisted treatment to support the small percentage of patients with opioid dependence who have not responded to other treatment option.” It asserts, “There is also a significant body of scientific evidence supporting its use” (CNN).

The policy change marks another attempt on the part of the administration of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reverse the more draconian substance abuse policies of the previous Conservative government. Supporters of the initiatives spearheaded by the Liberal government highlight dire need for emergency access to diacetylmorphine and contend that it could prove beneficial to mitigating heavy addiction as well as other risks associated with drug abuse.

According to Associate Professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes and her colleagues who led NAOMI, “[P]rescribing heroin to severe addicts who don’t respond to other treatments might not cure them of their habit, but it can lessen their exposure to life-threatening risks, such as drug overdoses [and] blood-borne viral infections.”

The measure could also lessen the societal toll of illicit drug use by reducing criminal activity and health care costs. Though controversial, the arguments in favor of the programs have proven compelling enough to generate interest from U.S. policymakers, who are eager to find innovative and practical solutions to address the heroin epidemic plaguing their own country.

Floods ravage North Korea On Sept. 10, 2016, floods triggered by Typhoon Lionrock hit North Korea, devastating the secluded mountainous northern provinces of the country. A United Nations report issued in response to the floods cited a state government publication confirmed 133 deaths, 395 missing and tens of thousands of collapsed homes and buildings. Railways, roads and farmland are submerged in water and there are over 44,000 homeless (The Guardian, “North Korea says floods damaged ‘tens of thousands’ of buildings in the north-east,” 09.10.2016).

Most of the destruction has been along the Tumen River, near the border between North Korea and China and Russia.

North Korea’s official news agency, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), reported that this is the “heaviest downpour” the country has seen since 1945, and that many are suffering from “great hardship” (LA Times, “North Korea’s deadly floods undermine the nation’s projection of power,” 09.15.2016).

An admission of weakness from the public is an extremely rare occurrence for the totalitarian state (CNN, “North Korea makes rare public appeal for flood relief,” 09.15.2016).

According to Forbes, complete power and unwavering strength are crucial to maintaining the ruling Workers’ Party’s control over the people (Forbes, “Systematic Tyranny: How the Kim Dynasty Holds the North Korean People In Bondage,” 08.29.2012).

Flooding cause by the typhoon, which also passed through Japan and Russia, hit during the harvesting season, destroying many of the crops and inciting widespread panic about the state of food supply. The mountainous terrain is largely bare of vegetation that could hold back landslides and water, thanks to strip mining and the construction of rice terraces. The combination of these activities mean that the water floods uncontrollably downhill, destroying properties and farmland as it goes.

The question of food supply is a particularly critical one, since the northeastern area that was worst affected is among the poorest

and support in the city; and the education and advocacy group GLSEN Hudson Valley (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network). In an informational video posted on the Community Works webpage, GLSEN Hudson Valley Chapter Co-Chair Rob Conlon explained, “GLSEN’s work is important because students really need the support in schools to feel that they are safe in being who they are.” He described the resources the group was able to supply to schools all over the Hudson Valley with the funding from Community Works. “A program like Vassar Community Works, whether you give a dollar, whether you give a hundred dollars, makes a real impact for organizations like GLSEN Hudson Valley and all the organizations that the program supports. Because without those little pieces of change, there can be no big piece of change,” he contended.

Some groups have received grants multiple years in a row, such as R.E.A.L. Skills Network (Relationship-Empowerment-Affirmation-Leadership), which was created 2008 and has received funding each year from Community Works since 2010. Vassar students remain involved with this project on the personal level as well. “Every year, a Vassar fellow has been involved in R.E.A.L. Skills. This program was created by...a Vassar fellow, and every year after, a Vassar fellow has come to this program and helped this program grow, continually. It’s unbelievable,” explained R.E.A.L. Skills Director Tree Arrington in their informational video.

Students are not always aware of the opportunities available to them to engage more actively with their community. “[T]here are lots of things to do in Poughkeepsie. You can get involved with organizations like [Community Works recipients] through field work or volunteering,” de Leeuw attested. “But you know, the bubble is self-imposed. If you want to get out of the bubble…just get out of the bubble!” Vassar students can get involved with local nonprofits by becoming a Community Fellow, many of which are placed in programs that receive funding from the Community Works program.

News Briefs Canada approves heroin legislation The Canadian National Department of Health has recently passed regulations that would allow doctors to prescribe heroin as a means of treating patients who are severely addicted to the drug and unresponsive to conventional treatments.

The so-called heroin maintenance program stipulates that patients are permitted to schedule appointments over three times a day at select clinics to receive injections of diacetylmorphine, a form of pharmaceutical-grade heroin, from a certified nurse. By sanctioning these programs, which are modeled after similar programs currently operating in European countries, the government hopes to curb the mounting death toll caused by the growing epidemic of opioid addiction.

The new regulations, however, are not entirely novel, for they merely reinstate laws that were repealed not too long ago. In Oct. 2013, then-Health Minister Rona Ambrose removed prescription heroin from the Special Access Program, thereby making it inaccessible to doctors. In the ensuing years, research efforts such as the North American Opiate Medical Initiative (NAOMI), an “experimental drug trial evaluating the feasibility and effectiveness of heroin-assisted treatment in a Canadian context,” lent credibility to the potential value of these programs (CNN, “Prescription heroin gets green light in Canada,” 09.14.16).

With research conducted in multiple countries suggesting the efficacy of heroin-maintenance programs, the previous regulations were reauthorized upon the condition that they be rewritten to clarify that requests for diacetylmorphine would only be accepted for specialized cases involving “long-term users for whom standard treatments like methadone and detox have failed after repeated attempts” (Washington Post, “Canada has just approved prescription heroin,” 09.13.16).

The regulations have been met with backlash from more Conservative Canadians. Colin Carrie, a Conservative member of Parliament and the party spokesperson for health policy,

—Jorge Gruber, Guest Reporter

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

in the nation. Under normal conditions, about 70 percent of North Koreans regularly go hungry, and one in three children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition (LA Times).

North Korea already depends heavily on foreign aid to feed its population; the UN has allocated 8 million dollars this year alone to aid humanitarian efforts in the country (BBC News, “North Korea floods: Tens of thousands displaced,” 09.13.2016).

The well-being of the affected population in the coming harsh winter months, while they will be without food or shelter, is of great concern to the United Nations. The number of affected people is only expected to increase as the weather worsens. Relief workers believe they do not yet know the total effect of the storms, since they are just beginning to enter regions previously rendered inaccessible by the flood (LA Times).

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) sent emergency food assistance to more than 140,000 people on Sept. 14, and the North Korean government launched a campaign to rebuild the affected areas. According to BBC News, “The campaign means that workers have been diverted from many of North Korea’s set-piece construction projects and sent to Hamgyong Province to shore up river banks and build new homes” (BBC).

The North Korean regime has faced harsh criticism since the arrival of the floods. It came just days after the confirmation of the military’s fifth nuclear test, for which the UN has proposed renewed sanctions (The Guardian). The sanctions would only make aid even more difficult to procure. According to CNN, the Worker’s Party of Korea seems to be more concerned with preventing social unrest and potential uprisings than with providing for the safety and well-being of its people (CNN). Furthermore, according to BBC, the floods were not the KCNA’s main story; the local media focused on leader Kim Jong-Un’s visit to a plentiful farm during harvesting instead.

—Katherine Ni, Guest Reporter

September 22, 2016

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VISA bonfire to foster bonds among international students Andrea Yang

Guest Reporter

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Courtesy of the Office of International Services

usk descends as yet another source of warmth and light arises. Firewood cracks and s’mores sizzle as the bright bonfire dances amid a lovely group of students. This is what you can expect at the VISA bonfire, which will occur at the Outdoor Space in Townhouse Circle on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 7 pm. According to VISA Vice President and director of this event, Tyler Wen ’18, the VISA bonfire is an annual event designed to bring all the international and internationally-affiliated individuals on campus together, and especially for international freshmen to bond and meet new friends.

As stated in the Vassar Student Association website, Vassar International Student Association (VISA) is a student-run organization that addresses the specific needs of the international community of the college. This organization is open to anyone who feels “international.”

Director of International Services Andrew Meade said that the bonfire is VISA’s first official event of the year. “It traditionally has offered the opportunity for first-year internationals to meet returning international students, and to hear a little about what VISA has in store for the year,” he wrote.

For international freshmen, the VISA bonfire will be a sequel to international orientation. For Wenxuan Guo ’20, the orientation organized by VISA and OIS was quite enjoyable. She recounted, “The meetings and workshops were informative and helpful. Despite the rain, we still had a wonderful bonfire with delicious s’mores.” Eilif Rønning ’20 agreed: “I thought it was a nice closing to the orientation and gave us time to socialize without icebreakers and get to know people.”

Maggie Chen ’20 expressed that she also felt supported during orientation and throughout the beginning of college. “I like my international pod.

We bonded over dinner. Although I still feel like there are people I didn’t get to talk to during international orientation. So I’m excited for another bonfire!” Both Guo and Chen expressed their

A group of students at this year’s International Orientation, including VISA President Robyn Lin ’18, OIS interns Nora Kyrkjebo ’18, Ruoyu Li ’19 and Xiangyi Tan ’17 and volunteer Isa Pengskul ’19. wish to have more time during orientation. Thus VISA bonfire is a great opportunity for internationals to reconnect and form new bonds.

VISA President Robyn Lin ’18 noted that they are seeking to further support international freshman after orientation and are considering reinstating the old big-sibling-little-sibling mentorship program for international students.

International Services Student Intern Nora Kyrkjebo ’18 spoke about the role of the International Services office in supporting students: “Not only do we want to act as a voice for our community but we’re [also] striving to have individual voices of international community heard within the larger context of Vassar. There are so many nationalities represented—and with that many more cultures, languages and experiences—here at Vassar, all of which deserve to be heard.”

She added that the organization also seeks to foster international cross-cultural interaction by encouraging international and domestic students to engage in conversations with each other.

Meade felt that last year there weren’t enough events in the first half of the fall term. To address that, he announced that the office will host five new “Around the World” events, featuring Europe, Latin America, Africa, East Asia and South/ Southeast Asia. He explained, “These are great events for connecting with other internationals, as well as for any student to find out more about life in other parts of the world.”

The first “Around the World” event took place last Wednesday, Sept. 14. It took on a regional exploration of European culture and cuisine. International students cooked together and shared delicious dishes from around the world. Alex Sun

’20 commented that he really enjoyed the food and activities. “There was a diversity of opinion that wasn’t American and we got to play some fun games to learn basic demographic/trivia information,” said Sun. Meade also introduced the next big annual event, Kaleidoscope, which will take place before Thanksgiving and is part of the International Education Week. He wrote in an emailed statement, “Kaleidoscope is a collaboration of VISA and OIS. It is an international festival complete with the World’s Got Talent show, an international dessert cook-off, the culmination of the annual international photo contest, a world flag ceremony and lots of great ethnic cuisine from the area. We aim for as many as 500 people to come to this event, which is both a wonderful celebration of the international community as well as one of our best ‘bridge events,’ programs that appeal to all students.”

The OIS and VISA host all these events with the goal of helping international students adjust to life in the US and to develop a community of friends.

Rønning commented, “I think VISA is very helpful with the transition to the U.S. and Vassar and [is] a wonderful resource on campus. All the interns and others are such warm, kind people that make you feel so welcome. In terms of expectations for the future, I generally just hope to see communication from them via e-mail and occasional events for the international community at Vassar. I also hope that events like ‘Around the World’ could have more structured discussion.”

He also suggested an event where people could wear traditional clothing from their countries.

In response to international students’ gratitude, Meade articulated that directing these events for them was a rewarding experience. He wrote, “OIS and VISA do work hard to create this welcome, but it really is a labor of love.”

Tyler Wen concluded, “We will continue to host great events for the Vassar community, especially for our internationals. After all, we’re one big family.”

Students achieve high law, med school admission rates Alexandra Trunnell Guest Reporter

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assar is well known for its academic excellence, and this excellence is well apparent in its graduate acceptance rates into law school and medical school. According to the 2015 Fact Book, Vassar has had acceptance rates consistently higher than the national average to both medical school (as much as 35 percent higher in 2013) and law school (as much as 13 percent higher in 2014).

Vassar’s career counseling staff attribute such high rates to a combination of highly-motivated

students and a strong set of departments which help students to apply. As Director of the Office for Fellowships and Pre-Health Advising Lisa Kooperman wrote in an emailed statement, “Vassar has a robust advising system with a dedicated faculty committee [...] Pauline [Saavedra, Assistant Dean of Studies] and I work with students and alumnae/i to prepare them for an application to the schools in the health professions making sure that they take advantage of opportunities outside of the classroom, utilize their summers wisely and chart an academic course that will prepare them for competitive applications.”

Courtesy of the Office of Institutional Researh

Admission rates among Vassar applicants to law school and medical school are consistently above the national average, remaining close to 100 percent for several years in a row.

Vanessa Hung ’17, an aspiring neuropsychiatrist currently applying to medical school said, “I’ve been seeking advice from Lisa Kooperman from the pre-med office since sophomore year and she has given me a lot of guidance since then. I have also talked to the pre-med interns from last semester, Lucy Morse and Domenic Pedulla, which helped me a lot in preparing for MCATS and selecting med schools to apply to.”

In addition, premed advising is available to anyone in the Vassar community with an interest in pursuing a medical degree. According to Kooperman, “We support everyone who wants to apply, we do not have GPA cutoffs or criteria beyond deadlines that would prevent someone from using the support of the committee.” This openstyle advising has, in fact, led to incredible results: “Look at the five-year trend which includes stats for a cohort of people who may be in more than one of the application cycles (re-applicants), this acceptance rate is more around the 80 percent, which means that Vassar alumnae/i are very successful in gaining admission to schools in the health professions,” remarked Kooperman.

Medical school is not the only area in which Vassar graduates’ acceptance rates are higher than the national average; acceptance rates to law school are higher than average as well. According to Director of the Career Development Office (CDO) Stacy Bingham, pre-law advising begins early with an info session during freshman orientation. From there, advising can take many forms depending on the need of the student: They might be advised to work more closely with the field work office, be put in touch with an alum working in legal careers or just get advice on how to ask for letters of recommendation. Bingham also notes that the CDO offers services even after graduation, which is a contributing factor to the fact that 85 percent of Vassar law school applicants in a given year are alumnae/i instead of seniors.

All of these factors make the CDO an invaluable resource and many students utilize it every day. “Going into senior year and the law school application process, I know that I need to make sure to present myself in a professional way. The first step toward this goal was getting help from the CDO in updating my resume. As I move for-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

ward with the application process, I plan on utilizing the CDO to make sure that my application materials stand out in the best way possible,” stated Brianna Taylor ’17, who is currently applying to law school in order to pursue a career in environmental law.

Alumnus Chris Brown ’16 is currently enrolled at Berkeley Law School. He recalls his experience with the CDO, remarking that, “If I hadn’t utilized the resources at Vassar, I do not think I would be at the law school I am at today...but the CDO and [Assistant Director of the CDO] Janette [Swanson] told me the importance of using the application to tell the whole story of myself to the readers. She encouraged me to write about something that would show people my fun and creative side in my personal statement. I ended up writing about my time in a cappella at Vassar, and the Boalt admissions team wrote me back in my acceptance letter saying they couldn’t wait to hear me sing. We worked together to highlight parts of me and my personality that an admissions team simply can’t get by looking at a resume and two numbers. You have a limited amount of ways to get information to these schools, and if there is one thing that the CDO is good at, it is fitting your life’s story into that small application.”

So, aspiring medical and law students, what steps should you take? Bingham recommends seeking experiences related to the career path you have in mind, Kooperman encourages students to meet with pre-professional advisors frequently and Brown urges students to ask questions, saying, “The CDO, as well as many other Vassar resources, like professors, other students or alums (like me!) are always willing to help.” Whether wanting to apply to graduate school is a new interest or one you’ve had your whole life, take it from the experts: you don’t have to do it alone.

Reflecting on his experience, Brown said, “The CDO is an amazing resource ... They can give you tips and secrets that someone like me, a first-generation college student, could have never been able to find out by myself. They sincerely are there for every student. I can only speak to the pre-law branch of the office, but if that sector is any indication of how the rest of the office functions, then Vassar students are in amazing hands.”

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September 22, 2016

Alumna reflects on teaching, lifelong learning after VC Andrew Willett Guest Reporter

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assar alumna Carolyn Belle Lyday ’72 updated us on her teaching work and how Vassar has stuck with her in her career.

Q: What are you doing right now?

A: I am in my 38th year of teaching at George School, a Quaker coeducational boarding and day school. Now I teach in the religion department, where I have taught for the last 30-something years.

Q: How do you like what you’re doing?

Q: How do you feel your Vassar education has affected your life?

A: My Vassar education was really a crucible where I discovered a lot of things; I was able to focus on things that mattered deeply to me and I feel that rest of my life spilled out of that. It unfolded because of habits of thought, habits of work, a vision of how I could participate more fully in the world and give my gifts to the world.

All of those things really came together for me at Vassar in the classroom, in the library, in the dormitory. All of the things that were going on in the wider society. I discovered my capacity for leadership, I discovered how to be really a collaborative leader, kind of a point person. I was the chair of the Vassar Committee to end the war. I became a dorm president at Cushing, the Chair of the Board of House presidents, working closely with the Dean of Residences.

I learned how institutional bureaucracies work, both in good ways and not good ways. I really learned intellectual passion from my professors and from my classmates. It was just really fun to pursue things intellectually. I can still remember my professors and things we talked about in the classroom. The whole liberal arts education that was offered there–I was a political science major, a Russian minor, but I took art history; I took philosophy; I took English classes every single year I was there; I took drama literature classes. It was a very powerful education that both showed me what I was capable of but also showed me the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge at a very critical time in my life.

Q: What kind of things were you involved with at Vassar?

A: Residential life was very important for me and Vassar was doing a pretty good job during the administration of really trying to involve students in a meaningful, real way in campus governance. I ran for student government president my junior year and lost to a classmate of

Courtesy Lyday CourtesyofofCarolyn Karen Crook

A: I love what I’m doing! I wouldn’t be in my 38th year of doing it if I didn’t. That’s certainly one of the things I began learning while I was a student at Vassar. That is the capacity to have real passion for what I do.

mine. I look back gratefully at that fact because I would have had a very different senior year as the SGA (Student Government Association) president, but I became a member of the Student Conference Committee as a result, which met with administration regularly to talk about issues; this was very important to me.

While I was at Vassar, it was also a time when the college was intentionally trying to diversify its student body. Vassar was admitting African-American students and it was a time when they were gaining a voice in a very important way. They were trying to speak truth to power and challenge a lot of paternalism that kind of inevitably at that time was there. At one point, they occupied Main building, and it was a really big deal. I began learning what it meant to be a white ally and do anti-racism work while I was there, which was something I was concerned with, growing up in North Carolina. I really started seeing it and I began learning how to participate in that work and that was really important to me.

I also regularly attended chapel at Vassar, something that really also had a big impact on me. When I arrived, Fred Woods was the chaplain. He also taught ethics in the Religion Department. Then when Fred left, George Williamson came. [...] Both of them really began to show me a way to have intellectual integrity and to be a person of faith, really made me think outside the box of the type of Christian doctrine I had been raised in. I am tremendously grateful for them. They planted important seeds in terms of thinking about religion. I only took one religion course at Vassar. That was my senior year with Patrick Sullivan. I only took that one course, which was a year-long course on Eastern religions. I didn’t know that much about Buddhism, Hinduism and Daoism. We also studied Islam in that course.

That was also the year I studied art history.

I realized I was going to graduate Vassar without taking Art History 101, which at the time was one of the legendary Vassar courses. I had a fabulous time in both of those courses and I was able to bring everything I had been learning from political science and other courses into it. At the time, though, I was not thinking at all about teaching career. I certainly was not thinking about graduate school in religion, which I subsequently did at Yale Divinity School where I got my M.Divs. But those were just really important seeds that got planted.

I remember thinking my senior year that I could do a whole other four-year undergraduate career, being an art history major and taking all these other courses at Vassar that I hadn’t been able to take. I remember laughing out loud in my

Carolyn Belle Lyday ’72 (right) and her wife, former Miscellany News editor Margaret Sanborn ’73 (left) visiting Alice Springs, Northern Territory in Australia. room in Cushing, thinking this is what it means that a well-educated person is really a lifelong learner. I left college with even more questions that I came in with because of everything I learned. It really honed in a way my curiosity and gave me the skills to pursue it.

Q: What is a favorite memory at Vassar?

A: There are several that jump into my head at once and compete. One is being in the library.

There was a table, which is still there, on the second floor in the stacks in the front by the leaded windows. I used to love to go in there. There was always a sense of being able to exhale, not being able to think about anything else except what I was working on. It was really a very, very good feeling for me. I would go in there after dinner and work for hours and not really be aware of the passage of time. That was really wonderful.

That’s one really favorite memory. Another one has to be just sitting out on the lawn with my friends, all of us with our guitars, playing guitar and singing songs. Talking about politics and just feeling the urgency of the times because it was really a crazy time. You know the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, the Cold War, nuclear arms and all of those things. It felt like an urgent, critical time in the history of the country and in the world. It often felt to us that in the United States we were at the epicenter because the United States has so much power. We really needed to participate in that democracy.

Q: Where do you see yourself in five years?

A: In five years, I expect to still be living in the same place but retired. I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do in retirement. I might go back into hospital chaplaincy, which I did for a while after I finished at Yale Divinity School. I think that, now that I’m older, I will handle that ministry a lot better. I enjoyed it while I was doing it, but I was in my 20’s. With the life experience I have had, that’s a possible path for me. I also expect that I will be involved in teaching, probably through my church. I am very, very concerned about global warming and the environmental crisis as well as the shifts in the human relationship to the Earth. I think faith communities need to be brought up to speed on that. I wish they could be leading the discussion, changing hearts and minds, and I would like to participate in that more. It’s what I have already done in classes I teach like cosmology or sustainability and spirituality. I also want to keep traveling because I love to explore the world, witness the world and bear witness to it.

Q: Do you have any words of wisdom for current Vassar students?

A: Take advantage of the opportunity to do the really hard, challenging intellectual work and find the joy in it. If you can find joy in it now, then you’ll be able to find joy in it the rest of your life. Soak it all up. Take a course that you never thought you’d take before. You never know what seeds will get planted there, which will bear fruit later in your life.

Vybz goes from Vassar Campus to Carribean communities the app to more college campuses and to additional Caribbean countries.

You can download Vybz for Android and iOS. On the app, you can create your own events, judge events nearby based on the heat map, plan private events and comment on events.

Have you ever been in one of those annoying situations which entails the impossible task of trying to have a phone conversation over blaring music with a friend at an event to ask whether that event is worth attending? Vybz can save you the trouble of doing so since it allows you to chat with other users in the area including those already present at the event. It also facilitates easier decision making about where to go with your friends—thus saving friendships— through the private posts section. This section is where friends can have private conversations while monitoring activity at various events on the app and effortlessly plan their night. The more users there are, the greater the community and the more accurate the responses are.

In addition, Sule notes that the best way we can support Vybz is by simply using it and telling him what we do and do not like, as feedback is necessary to the developmental process. He added, “My friends here at Vassar have been really helpful. One friend Soso tells me every bug he finds; he found three today, actually.”

Not only can Vybz be a handy resource for students on campus, but it also serves as an illustration of innovational inspiration, a display of how an idea can be brought to fruition. What makes Sule’s case even more exemplary is his motivation behind the

creation of the app, which is not only as a way to exercise his technological skills and interests, but also as a way to help his communities.

Achieving balance between extracurricular and academic pursuits as a Vassar student can be difficult. Nevertheless, Sule has a passion to keep his app going that drives his work. He admits, “I have a bad habit of working on Vybz during all my classes.”

When discussing how the perspective of younger generations influence technology, Sule said, “You’ll see a lot of startups dealing with student loans or climate change from our generation because those are the problems a lot of us face currently. In 5-10 years you’ll see different companies being built to tackle the next generation’s problems.”

In addition, Sule said, “You also need more than just age diversity [amongst technology developers]; you need diversity in racial, class and gender spheres or else, as it is now, not everyone’s problems will be addressed.”

Although developing an original app from the ground up seems like a daunting task, Sule ensures that you can too. While he had the advantage of being versed in a programming language similar to the one used in app development, he learned most of his skills during the process of building Vybz.

He relied on Googling the basics of iOS development, searching “how do I do ___” until he got the hang of it. Sule wanted to advise students who are considering starting a big project like building an app to just jump in. He said, “A lot of people talk about doing things and never actually start getting anything done. Once you start, you’ve done more than most

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

people, and after that all you really need is perseverance.” Although, he recalls that there were times when he wanted to quit working on Vybz because it was so time consuming. Despite the time commitment, Sule concedes, it was worthwhile to make his dreams reality.

Courtesy of Sule Marshall

APP continued from page 1 ined would notify his peers of events happening in close proximity with ratings to indicate, for example, whether or not the party is worth the walk. Originally entitled “Vibes” for the word used in Trinbagonian culture to describe the atmosphere at an event, his sister suggested he shift the spelling of the app, and thus, Vybz was born.

After months of hard work, creativity and programming focused on the development of Vybz, Sule launched the Beta version of his app at Vassar in March 2016 and then officially released the app to his hometown in the summer of 2016. After only a few months, the user count is already over 4,000.

Since the release, users have discovered new ways to take advantage of the tools and platform provided by Vybz. Sule said in an emailed statement, “The original idea was to make an app that you can open and be able to just know exactly what event or place to go to; however, when I launched in Trinidad, people also decided to use it to promote different things like free healthcare clinics from churches or daily lunch specials at restaurants.” Thus, the event app Sule originally imagined is now gradually evolving into a unique news source that provides something that Sule describes as “hyperlocal communication,” which specifically provides information relevant to the area of the app’s users.

This development shows that the demographic for Sule’s app is not restricted to teenagers looking for a good time, but instead includes community members of all ages looking to reach out for various purposes. Sule’s current goal for the year is to bring

Sule Marshall ’18 created the app Vybz (shown in screenshot above) to help users find events.

September 22, 2016

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Sign language classes receive overwhelming interest er for ASL, and she comes to us with tremendous experience and enthusiasm,” Gerhardi remarked, and her students certainly agree. Rachel Kim ’20, a student in the class, said, “She gets so passionate about telling her experiences from the past and her patience is what allows all the students to catch up to the material and understand ASL little by little.”

McLaughlin has been teaching ASL for 23 years, starting in 1993 teaching a non-credit program for deaf children at Woodstock Elementary and eventually moving up to a credited high school class.

From 2002 to 2009, Vassar offered ASL as a regular course through the Department of Education and McLaughlin was one of the three people to be interviewed for the teaching position. McLaughlin remembers, “There were about four students there that told their advisors, ‘We want Mary!’ ...

But I knew in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t be hired because I didn’t have my [Master’s] Degree yet. They told me to go get my degree.” After discussing the matter with her friends, the general consensus was: “Come on, Mary, it’s Vassar. You have to go back to college.” So, in 2001, that’s exactly what she did.

McLaughlin said, “Going back to college was really a struggle. It was overwhelming ... A tutor was hired to help me and when I graduated, they said, ‘How do you feel?’ and I just said ‘I feel great.’ This job really pushed me to get my Master’s Degree. So when the job opened up, I came running.”

McLaughlin is currently teaching ASL at three different schools and when asked if there is anything different about teaching at Vassar as opposed to the other schools, she was quick to respond. “At Vassar, students just seem more mature, more experienced ... They’re very motivated to learn and learn about the world.”

McLaughlin affirms that overenrollment is fairly common. There were 30 to 36 people who tried enrolling in the class. “At Vassar they said the limit was 20,” McLaughlin recalls. “I’m willing to go to 22, and I’m always at 22. I can’t go any higher than that. I only have two eyes and I’m not verbal ... I usually get 20 to 40 emails asking if I can override the enrollment limit, and I have to say no.”

For those who did get in the class, the no-talking policy in the classroom was a source of anxiety in the beginning. The majority of the nerves stemmed from the fact that no interpreter would be present after the first class and students ques-

tioned their ability to understand McLaughlin, regardless of McLaughlin’s assurance: “The interpreter is leaving now. I know you’re scared. It’ll be okay, I promise.”

Kim admits, “I was scared of taking ASL. I highly considered dropping the course because I doubted that I’d do well...but after attending the first class, I realized that it was a lot more fun than I realized. To this day, I always anticipate for the next lesson to be taught and for more of Professor McLaughlin’s stories.”

Besides being a great learning opportunity, the ASL class also boasts a fun environment and an engaging teacher. Kim says, “If I had to describe the tutor, Professor McLaughlin, in one word, it’d be charismatic ... It’s impossible to deviate our focus from her because her humor and sarcasm are not things the class wants to miss.”

McLaughlin also doesn’t adhere to the grammar drilling style of many language classes: “She’s no stickler and doesn’t solely teach out of the book; When explaining stories, she incorporates the lesson’s vocabulary for the class to get a better understanding of how...to use sign language,” Kim explains.

By telling stories, McLaughlin allows her students to see sign language in a practical light, taking the opportunity to teach them slang and versions of signs used in the deaf community not found in a textbook. It also allows for a more personal connection between her and her students.

Kim says, “By far, Professor McLaughlin’s stories are the highlights of every lesson. Although the class has only met a few times so far, we’ve learned so much about her, and anyone can easily tell that we’re all absorbed into her life stories.”

So, for those considering taking ASL next year and those who have not yet fulfilled your foreign language requirement, the new ASL course and teacher come highly recommended and the possibility of higher level ASL classes is currently being discussed.

Kim said, “For those who are interested in taking the ASL class, go for it. For those who are fearful that they won’t be able to catch up or actually absorb the material like I initially did, don’t worry, and instead, be excited! Professor McLaughlin supports you all the way, and because you’re in the same position as the rest of the students, the class is supportive of you too.”

Courtesy of Sarah Henry

ASL continued from page 1 ing Vassar to the Hudson Valley deaf community and increasing conversation on campus about ASL and the deaf community.

Now, only one year after Cash and other students had the opportunity to meet these artists, Vassar’s new ASL classes will introduce even more students to ASL and learning about the deaf community in the United States.

“It’s just such an incredible way to access language,” Cash says. “Even setting aside the social element, it’s just great for people who are visual learners and really struggle with traditional language learning.”

Furthermore, Cash believes that offering ASL reflects well on Vassar: “Offering ASL really communicates that a school is enthusiastic about their students engaging with communities they may not normally communicate with...and the deaf community is just full of so many engaging and enthusiastic people. It’s really amazing.”

Cash is offering herself up as a tutor and someone to talk to and practice with: “I’m desperately trying to find people to practice ASL with!”

The instructor for the course is Mary McLaughlin, a native speaker of ASL who has taught the language to both deaf and speaking students at a variety of educational levels for more than 20 years. My interview with McLaughlin was done through Direct Video Phone, a service that connects the speaking caller to an interpreter who in turn makes a video call to the computer of the deaf individual you are trying to reach. This allows verbal speech do be translated to visual ASL and vice-versa. Messages can also be left via this service, a fact I learned as I waited in awkward silence with the interpreter on the line until the ringing stopped and it was time to leave a message. When she called me back, I was in for another surreal experience. As I was so used to her nonverbal communication patterns–the signs and the facial expressions alike–hearing her words out loud and in a male voice was a bit disconcerting. It’s amazing that after just three weeks, I’ve become so accustomed to nonverbal communication that having a conversation without being able to see her didn’t seem quite right.

The instructor for the ASL course is a major draw factor for the class. “We are very fortunate to have Mary McLaughlin as our tutor and examin-

Vegan, nut-free mac and cheese to tempt omnivores Brooke Thomas Guest Colunmist

D

Courtesy of Brooke Thomas

o you think you can’t go vegan because you will miss cheese? Try out this recipe and then reevaluate.

Vegan cheese, or cheeze, depending on how much you care about etymology, likely brings up thoughts of strange, viscous, unmeltable goop.

But like dairy cheese, not all vegan cheese is made equal!

As a seasoned vegan I think I am qualified to recommend a few vegan cheeses that stack up against the real thing. My favorite harder cheese available at stores is Chao by Field Roast. Try the Creamy Original Chao Slices for a muenster experience. Chao slices are coconut-based and contain fermented tofu. Seriously, make a sandwich with these, they are so good.

Another popular variety of vegan cheese is nut-based soft cheese. One of my favorite brands for this is Treeline Treenut Cheese, who just happen to be based out of the Hudson Valley!

This cheese is cashew-based and tastes great on bagels, sandwiches and crackers. My favorite is the Green Peppercorn flavor. You can also make nut cheese at home! I’ve never tried this personally but there are plenty of recipes online. Miyoko Schinner from artisanveganlife.com has great recipes online and in her book “Artisan Vegan Cheese.” Buying vegan cheese from the store and making nut-based cheese from scratch can both end up being expensive, so my personal favorite cheese fix doesn’t fit into either of those categories.

My favorite homemade vegan cheese is actually a cheese sauce and it is gluten-, soy- and nut-free (depending on what kind of non-dairy milk you use) plus being fairly inexpensive! The original recipe is for nacho cheese sauce from Hot For Food, a Toronto-based vegan food blog and YouTube channel. You can find this recipe on the blog.

But I am going to tell you how to adapt this recipe to make delicious vegan mac and cheese!

Start by boiling a cup of peeled, cubed white potato and half a cup of peeled, chopped carrot.

That is right, the base of this sauce is veggies, but please don’t be alarmed! I promise it doesn’t taste like veggies. Boil for approximately 10 minutes, drain and blend them in a blender. A high-powered blender will work best, but I’ve successfully made this in a food processor so you can make anything work if you blend long enough.

Next you are going to add to the blender 1/4 cup of vegetable oil, 1/4 cup of non-dairy milk or water (if you have a nut or soy allergy try checking out rice milk), 2 tsp of lemon juice, 1 1/2 tbsp of tomato paste, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1 tsp of onion powder and 1 tsp of salt. I also like to add about 1 tsp of mustard, some hot sauce, more salt and garlic powder, a bunch of ground pepper and a couple tablespoons of nutritional yeast for flavor but those are optional.

Blend until very smooth and add more nondairy milk or water if you need to!

Boil your macaroni (there will be enough sauce for a 16-oz box), drain and mix the sauce with the pasta! It should be hot enough to eat without heating it up further.

If you want to be a little extra, add some frozen peas and call it mac and peas.

The last time I made this dish I had my two omnivorous housemates try it and, not surprisingly, they both approved! They both said it had the texture of dairy cheese and that it tasted great.

Vegans, make this for your friends and family and watch them be baffled! Omnivores or vegetarians, try this recipe out before deciding you can’t live without cheese, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Be sure to check out Hot For Food for the original recipe and for other awesome vegan

Ingredients food!

1 cup peeled, cooked white potato 1/2 cup cooked carrot 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup non-dairy milk or water 2 tsp lemon juice 1 1/2 tbsp tomato paste 1 tsp of garlic powder 1 tsp of onion powder 1 tsp of salt Optional: 1 tsp of mustard hot sauce, ground pepper and nutritional yeast to taste

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 8

OPINIONS

September 22, 2016

The Miscellany News Staff Editorial

Di Bartolo must redefine role of Dean of Students Office

O

n May 26, 2016, Dean of the College Chris Roellke sent out an all-campus email announcing the appointment of Adriana di Bartolo as Vassar College’s new Dean of Students. The email cited Dean di Bartolo’s extensive experience with student affairs in higher education, including her tenure as the Founding Director of the Queer Resource Center of the Claremont Colleges and Acting Associate Dean of Students for Personal Success and Wellness.

With DB Brown’s recent retirement, the hiring of Dean di Bartolo poses a unique opportunity for Vassar’s administration to redress and reconsider its past treatment of programs like the Student Support Network (SSN) or community resources like the ALANA Center. Her career, rooted in service to students and grounded in queer theory, is a wonderful testament to the potential for reform in the Dean of Students office. We at The Miscellany News wish to express our utmost support for Dean di Bartolo as she transitions into this position, while acknowledging the office’s history as one that has often resulted in institutional mistreatment. We believe that Dean di Bartolo can accomplish meaningful things at Vassar and change the way administrators interact with students, especially across lines of race, gender, faith, sexual orientation and ability.

However, Dean di Bartolo may be in for a challenge. As many are aware, the relationship between the Dean of Students Office and the student body has historically been tenuous. Specifically, the lack of transparency surrounding the Dean of Students Office and its extensive influence over the College’s primary behavioral monitoring system, the SSN, especially its treatment of involuntary leave, raised concern for our staff and the larger Vassar community. As was written last semes-

ter, “We at The Miscellany News support the purpose of the SSN, but feel that the execu­ tion and understanding of the student body is lacking. Among other things, we believe that transparency is crucial to the functionality of the SSN. Understanding how and why stu­ dents are sent away is critical for the health and happiness of the campus at large” (The Miscellany News, “SSN needs reevaluation, provide more info to campus,” 03.02.2016).

We asserted, and still do assert, that involuntary leave, from a structural standpoint, can often do more harm than good, especially for low-income students or students who come from toxic home environments.

Additionally, underfunding and lack of support for crucial resources for students have raised concerns about administrative treatment of student affairs and where Vassar’s priorities should lie as an institution.

Most recently, Vassar outrageously reduced the reach of The Listening Center and CARES as peer-listening services due to perceived liability issues, effectively eliminating one of Vassar’s most pertinent and accessible resources for survivors of trauma. While these organizations are restructuring to continue the absolutely vital work that they do, these decisions reflect the greater deficiencies of administrative priority. Moreover, underfunding and understaffing of resources for students of color, such as the ALANA Center, must be addressed in some capacity.

While many of these issues fall out of the direct jurisdiction of the Dean of Students, it is no secret that deans and upper level administrators hold large amounts of institutional power. Dean di Bartolo’s support for these key resources could recenter students and imbue our community of students with a greater sense of agency.

Many students may pass by Dean di Barto-

lo’s office or drop in to meet with her without realizing the full extent of the institutional power vested in her position. The Dean of Students is responsible for the offices of Counseling, Health Services, Health Education and Residential Life, as well as overseeing the student conduct process and co-chairing the New Student Orientation Committee.

The Dean is also one of the four administrators that make up the Students of Concern group, which meets weekly to coordinate resources for students in crisis. In short, Dean di Bartolo will have been shaping students’ experiences from the moment they set foot on campus.

At the University of Chicago, Dean of Students John Ellison recently struck a nerve with incoming students even before move-in day, with his letter describing the University’s staunch policy on academic freedom. Ellison decried trigger warnings and “intellectual safe spaces,” and declared that the University does not cancel invited speakers on the basis of having a controversial topic (The Chicago Tribune, “U. of C. tells incoming freshmen it does not support ‘trigger warnings’ or ‘safe spaces,’” 08.25.2016). Here at Vassar, it will fall on Dean di Bartolo to respect student agency, instead of silencing community needs or claiming to know what is best for us, as Chicago has done.

Unfortunately, Vassar has already failed this year to support certain voices, albeit not as publicly. This year’s New Student Orientation, although replete with presentations on sexual health and drug and alcohol safety, was distinctly lacking in programming geared towards students of color. In fact, apart from an optional ALANA Center open house, the only event that dealt with issues of racial identity was I Am Vassar, a Chapel event with speeches on individuality by students and adminis-

trators.

Even if the will to improve programming for people of color is there, the infrastructure often is not: underfunding and the College’s historical priorities mean that Dean di Bartolo will be working to build from the ground up. For Dean di Bartolo to address issues of ableism on campus, the framework is quite literally not there: some residential houses and academic buildings lack the proper ramps and elevators to be accessible to students with physical disabilities.

CARES and TLC are sticky issues as well, with the College citing liability issues involved with having students on call for such a service. Vassar has since hired two new staff members for its Counseling Service: a step in the right direction upon which we at The Miscellany News believe Dean di Bartolo can build in expanding support for students’ mental health. Even so, mental health, accessibility and support for students of color are only some of the issues di Bartolo will face in the coming months.

Our hopes for Dean di Bartolo and her career at Vassar are high, and we are optimistic that she can set a precedent for what kind of leadership and administration-student relationships we hope for in Cappy’s successor.

So far, Vassar has made an effort to involve students in the presidential search process, selecting two student representatives to serve as liaisons and creating opportunities for students to submit their opinions—which we never have a shortage of. This is a transitional year for the College, and if Dean di Bartolo leads the way in valuing student voices, we can make Vassar a better place together.

— The Staff Editorial expresses the opinion of at least two-thirds of The Miscellany News Editorial Board

Courtesy of Isabel Marvel

“Continued misuse of what previously was one of our best tools to cure disease could in fact generate a pathogen that humanity would not have a solution for.” The risks of overzealous use of antibacterial agents may spell greater dangers than was once previously thought. Find out more about the problematic implications of antibiotic overuse in Senior Editor Zander Bashaw’s editorial on page 11.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

OPINIONS

September 22, 2016

Page 9

Dr. Jill Stein unqualified to lead Progressive movement Jesser Horowitz Columnist

I

t should be of no surprise to hear that the American electorate harbors no amount of enthusiasm for this year’s presidential nominees. Hillary Clinton, a longtime controversial figure, has yet to win back the love and trust of the Democratic Party’s Left wing. Donald Trump has spent the entire campaign promoting racism and extreme xenophobia while simultaneously failing to rebuke the antisemitic and Nazi-esque rhetoric of some of his supporters.

As a result, an alarming number of American progressives are looking towards third-party options, most prominently former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. A recent Quinnipiac poll showed Gary Johnson at 13 percent support and Jill Stein at four percent.

When it comes to Gary Johnson, I somewhat understand the appeal. He appears to be a well-meaning, morally good person, he performed adequately as Governor of New Mexico and would likely make a more than decent President. If you’re a Republican or a Conservative who’s unhappy with both options, he’s a reasonable alternative.

But if you’re a progressive supporter of Bernie Sanders, then Gary Johnson is a bizarre and contradictory figure to turn to. According to On the Issues, Gary Johnson opposes all federal funding for abortions, doesn’t believes insurers should be required to provide birth control and opposes affirmative action. Furthermore, he supports the elimination of the corporate income tax, wants to abolish the Department Education, wants to abolish the Department of Housing and Urban Development, doesn’t believe the government should take action to combat climate change, would sign the TPP, is generally against gun control, at one point opposed mandatory vaccinations and advocates the repeal of Obamacare.

These positions make Gary Johnson, and libertarian ideology as a whole, incompatible with

progressive or leftist ideals. No, he’s not as bad– or dangerous–as Trump. He probably wouldn’t be a terrible President. But he also can’t win and even if he could, his presidency would not be a victory for the Left by any means.

But today Gary Johnson is not the subject of my attention. Instead, I direct my ire firmly at the Green Party nominee, Dr. Jill Ellen Stein. Receiving growing support from Progressives and considerable attention on my Facebook feed, Jill Stein has targeted former Bernie supporters, promising the same kind of hope for the future that he instilled within a largely disenchanted Left. She has asserted herself as being beyond partisan politics and a true voice for the progressive movement.

Behind this facade, however, lies a presidential candidate who panders in far more destructive ways than Hillary Clinton ever did, specifically when it comes to vaccinations. She has received considerable negative attention as a result of her statements on the subject, which I believe should disqualify her from being considered credible.

Firstly, despite popular belief to the contrary, Jill Stein is not an anti-vaxxer. She has never claimed vaccines cause autism, she has never urged parents to not vaccinate their children and she has openly stated that vaccines have had a “huge contribution to public health” (Snopes, “Jill’s Line,” 08.01.2016). This fact is often overlooked or dismissed in critiques of Stein.

No, Jill Stein is not an anti-vaxxer. Jill Stein is worse than an anti-vaxxer. Stein, a Harvard educated medical doctor, uses her position of authority as a major candidate for President, as a voice for the Progressive movement in the United States, to pander to the anti-vaccine movement and legitimize their beliefs knowing full well the consequences that could come of it. An anti-vaxxer is an idiot peddling nonsense because they don’t know better, Jill Stein is a potential serial killer peddling nonsense despite the fact that she does.

As a side note, I understand that many of my readers might doubt the appropriateness of the use of the term “serial killer” to describe Jill Stein.

Let me remind you that, according to the World Health Organization, there were 114,900 measles deaths globally in 2014 alone. Also according to the World Health Organization, during the period between 2000 and 2014, measles vaccinations saved an estimated 17.1 million lives. A Harvard-educated medical doctor granting legitimacy to a movement that they know, or should know, could result in the deaths of millions is malpractice at best and murder at worst.

And do not be fooled, Dr. Jill Stein has time and time again granted credence to the anti-vaccine movement while ignoring every opportunity to take a definitive stand against them.

On July 29, Jill Stein told the Washington Post, “[P]eople do not trust a Food and Drug Administration, or even the CDC for that matter, where corporate influence and the pharmaceutical industry has a lot of influence,” additionally adding that “as a medical doctor” she believes “there were real questions” that need to be addressed.

As a side note, the Washington Post pointed out that most members of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee “work at academic or medical institutions, not drug companies” (Washington Post, “Jill Stein on vaccines: People have ‘real questions,’” 07.29.2016).]

The next day at 4:54 p.m., Jill Stein’s campaign clarified her position tweeting, “There’s no evidence that autism is caused by vaccines. Let’s do more to support autistic people & their families.”

By 4:59 p.m., that tweet was deleted and replaced with “I’m not aware of evidence linking autism to vaccines” (Forbes, “Jill Stein Sort Of Answers the Autism-Vaccine Question And No One Is Happy,” 08.01.2016).

A firm condemnation of the anti-vaccine movement by Dr. Jill Stein could have gone a long way in making her a credible candidate and in purging the Left of anti-science elements. Instead, she has crafted her language in a way to appeal to a group of people she obviously doesn’t agree with, knowing full well it could lead to a public health crisis.

And her language when describing autistic

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people could also use some work. In an interview with Elle, Jill Stein, while answering a question regarding how she got involved in politics, described how, “There were these new epidemics of asthma and cancer and autism and diabetes and obesity. And I said to myself, ‘Hey, our genes didn’t change overnight.’ You know, my generation didn’t grow up with this” (Elle, “Meet Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein,” 07.06.2015).

Did you get what she’s saying? That autism is in the same category as cancer and diabetes. That autism is an epidemic, a disease.

Donald Trump, of course, made similar statements, but I blame Jill Stein more. Donald Trump is not a medical doctor, he’s not an expert, he likely hasn’t had much exposure to autistic people, he’s not even a particularly intelligent person. But Jill Stein is intelligent. In fact, she’s a Harvard-educated medical doctor, and a champion of social justice, a person who by every measure should have known better. And yet, she, just like Donald Trump, uses ignorant, statistically inaccurate language that stigmatizes autistic people and leads to the kind of violence I detailed in my last piece.

It is the fact that Jill Stein has the potential to be a strong, moral center for the Progressive movement that makes her statements so disheartening and dangerous.

And even her commitment to her progressive ideals appears to be fading. Recently, Stein stated that she believes that it’s Hillary Clinton who “poses the greater threat” (Politico, “Jill Stein: Trump may have ‘memory problem,’” 09.19.16).

This position is unjustifiable for a progressive, and should reveal Stein’s true goals for this presidential race.

And the most frustrating part of this is that I agree with her on a lot of things. We do need a truly progressive voice, we do need an end to the two-party system, we do need a leader who can push past the status quo. However, that doesn’t excuse Jill Stein’s ableist, dishonest, and pandering attitude on vaccinations. Even if she could win the presidency, she wouldn’t deserve to.

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OPINIONS

Page 10

September 22, 2016

Chris Christie eschews duties, must resign immediately Nick Barone

Opinions Editor

O

n Monday, Sept. 19, federal prosecutors claimed that Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie was fully aware that three of his officials were complicit in the lane closures in Fort Lee leading to the Washington Bridge. The controversy, often referred to as “Bridgegate,” halted traffic in Fort Lee, causing major delays and traffic backups on the streets for five days.

Governor Christie denied and continues to deny any knowledge regarding lane closures in the borough. Despite never being charged with conspiracy or perjury and a U.S. attorney not finding any evidence to bring charges against him, the debacle eroded public trust in Christie as a leader and called his integrity into question. As a result, several of Christie’s top officials and aides resigned or were fired.

During the trial of two of Christie’s aides, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, prosecutors asserted that Baroni and another top official bragged to Christie about the lane closures during a Sept. 11 memorial service. Prosecutors explicitly said Baroni cited Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich’s failure to endorse Christie’s gubernatorial reelection campaign as the driving motivation behind the closures.

Additionally, prosecutors asserted, “Mr. Baroni, then the highest-ranking official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge, studiously ignored the mayor as he pleaded by text, email and a handwritten letter for the agency to reopen the lanes.” They suggested a massive coverup between Christie, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York and Bridget Kelly’s lawyer to mask the lane closures as a traffic study (The New York Times, “Chris Christie Knew About Bridge Lane Closings as They Happened, Prosecutors Say,” 09.19.2016).

The evidence the prosecutors provided is all but damning. In a highly centralized, micromanaged gubernatorial administration, how could one possibly believe the narrative that these officials acted completely outside

of Christie’s realm of influence? One month before the closures, Bridget Kelly emailed David Wildstein, another Christie appointee who worked at Port Authority, “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” On Dec. 12, 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported an alleged phone conversation betweens Governors Christie and Cuomo, in which Christie complained about and attempted to end a Port Authority investigation into the lane closures. Christie denied the call, but The Wall Street Journal stuck by its story.

There are far too many incongruities in the Christie administration’s interpretations of Bridgegate for me to believe a word that he says. The arguments of federal prosecutors in court on Monday only reinforce this notion.

Federal prosecutors legitimizing the accusations against Christie as a manipulative bully and, more egregiously, a manipulative liar gives further credence to something I and many other New Jerseysans have been saying for a very long time: Chris Christie must resign or we must recall him.

Bridgegate is only one of many reasons why Christie is unfit to serve the State of New Jersey. After his failed presidential campaign, Christie endorsed Donald Trump. On the campaign trail, however, Christie lobbed many insults at Trump, including calling the GOP nominee a “13-year old” for skipping the Fox News debate before the Iowa caucuses.

While not ignoring the massively significant ethical implications of endorsing a racist demagogue, Christie’s choice of support underscores major flaws in political character. It is clear that this endorsement, and other expressions of support such as actively campaigning, of Trump was an act of bizarre and Machiavellian political pragmatism in an effort to remain politically relevant. The absurdly transparent decision was only rendered more embarrassing when Donald Trump elected to not choose Christie as his running mate for the general election.

While popular media mostly turned against him, this move was still largely at the expense of the people of New Jersey. Much of Christie’s travel, for both his presidential campaign and for Trump’s, has been on New Jersey’s dime.

Financial costs aside, Christie also eschewed his duties in favor of achieving national recognition. In the year 2015, Christie was out of state for 261 days. In Jan. 2016, he spent 24 of 31 days out of state. This gross neglect of state affairs is only further exacerbated by Christie’s continual ineffectiveness as a leader.

In May 2016, it was reported in Mendham Patch that the Office of Legislative Services said that New Jersey will collect $1.1 billion less in taxes than the Christie administration had promised. Governor Christie has refused to raise taxes to help remedy the situation. This massive budget hole, coupled with massive state debts and ongoing pension crises, serves as another misfire of Christie’s administration, whose financial mismanagement has led to New Jersey’s credit rating being downgraded nine times.

Poverty rates have increased substantially since 2009.

In 2015, New Jersey ranked dead last in economic growth in the United states, according to NJ.com.

On issues of education, Christie and other politicians in Trenton have significantly increased the weight of standardized testing when evaluating teacher performance, as of Sept. 2016. When the New Jersey Education Association rightfully pushed back on this decision and called for greater pedagogical freedom in the classroom, Christie referred to the organization as the “Mafia” (Education Week, “N.J. Gov Chris Christie Calls Teacher Union ‘Mafia’, Signs Education Bills,” 09.06.2016).

His constant antagonizing of teachers and other public workers, coupled with his substantial cuts to the pensions of these vital members of our labor force, highlights his warped gubernatorial priorities.

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In 2013, Governor Christie attempted to weaken or overturn a critical ruling in the Mount Laurel fair housing case, which encouraged the construction of low-and-moderate income housing in the wealthy communities.

Christie essentially tried to interpret the law as allowing these wealthy towns to decide on their own how much housing should actually be constructed. This would have effectively given agency to potentially hostile, classist local governments to halt the creation of any kind of affordable housing. Christie also attempted to defund the independent agency that regulates affordable housing in the state. Fortunately, the court upheld the original ruling and blocked any attempts to undermine it by Christie (The New York Times, “A Historic Fair Housing Decision Reaffirmed,” 09.30.2016).

Isn’t that almost cartoonishly villainous?

Isn’t that stamping on the rights and livelihoods of low-income citizens, who are often disproportionately people of color?

A common thread runs through all of these anecdotes, from Bridgegate to his bizarre support for Donald Trump to his constant betrayal of New Jersey’s public workers. Governor Chris Christie, simply put, does not prioritize serving the people of New Jersey over his own interests. Time and time again, Christie has proved that he will put himself over taxpaying citizens whenever he’s granted the chance. The only achievement of note of his entire tenure as governor, to be fair, was his effectiveness as a unifying leader during Hurricane Sandy.

Chris Christie, if you can hear me: for the love of God, resign. And resign today, not tomorrow. Don’t wait until 2017, do it now. Our people can only take so much more of this.

Your constant cowardice and self-serving political posturing have always been at our expense.

It’s time to take responsibility for your failures and quit.

If you lack the political courage to resign, which I know you do, then it’s on the people of 76948 New Jersey to recall you.

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September 22, 2016

OPINIONS

Overuse of antibiotics proves problematic Zander Bashaw Senior Editor

O

n Sept. 21 2016, the United Nations General Assembly held a meeting at their headquarters in Manhattan to discuss a growing problem that could endanger the health of every person on the planet. The day-long event featured Member States, non-governmental organizations, civil society, the private sector and academic institutions all providing insight and input on the issue at hand. The U.N.’s event described how the purpose of the meeting “is to summon and maintain strong national, regional and international political commitment in addressing antimicrobial resistance...” (The United Nations, “High-level meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance,” 09.20.2016).

Antimicrobial resistance is when a microbe evolves an increased or total resistance to agents that formerly were able to eradicate or contain it. The more commonly cited term is antibiotic resistance, which falls under the previously stated definition because bacteria are a type of microbe. The World Health Organization states that Antibiotic resistance “is one of the biggest threats to global health today. It can affect anyone, of any age, in any country” (World Health Organization, “Antibiotic Resistance.” 10.15.2015).

Since bacteria developing resistances to deleterious environmental conditions has been occurring naturally for over three billion years now, why now is their evolution and adaptation a cause for global concern? To answer this question, a truncated explanation of the mechanisms behind bacterial immunity and how antibiotics work is necessary.

The main thing to know about antibiotics is that they work on parts of bacterial cells that are different than human cells so that they do not harm the patient. For example, bacterial cells have a carbohydrate-rich cell wall surrounding them to give the cell structural support. An antibiotic could be a molecule that inhibits a bacterium’s ability to build a cell wall. Other antibiotics prevent bacteria from replicating their

DNA or building proteins by blocking the various bacterial machinery needed to perform such tasks (Genetic Science Learning Center, “What is an Antibiotic,” 08.15.2014). These techniques are effective at reducing the infection to a level where the patient’s immune system can take over. Though this sounds like a flawless system, bacteria evolve and adapt to survive in spite of these drugs.

Bacteria pick up mutations, or random changes in their genetic makeup, and this occurs whenever they divide. In order to divide, all DNA in the mother cell must be replicated and the main enzyme responsible for this process is DNA polymerase. Polymerase binds together nucleotides, each containing one of the four bases (A, G, C and T) to make new copies of DNA for the daughter cells. However, polymerase makes some mistakes and lays down the wrong base approximately one in every one million to 100 million times (Federation of European Microbiological Societies, “DNA replication fidelity in Escherichia coli: a multi-DNA polymerase affair,” (04.05.2012).

This might not seem very often, but keep in mind that bacterial cells are dividing quite rapidly, which means these mutations are still relevant; Bacteria in a colony may be slightly different than their neighbors. Some of these mutations may provide bacteria with an ability to resist an antibiotic. For example, if the gene encoding a protein that an antibiotic blocks mutates, perhaps the protein would be unaffected by the drug and then able to complete its function.

In addition to these mutations, bacteria can actually harvest useful genes from each other and they achieve this by exchanging DNA plasmids, which are circular strands of DNA that contain a small set of genes that could help a bacteria survive. In a process called conjugation, one bacteria will siphon a copy of this useful plasmid into another one through a straw-like structure called a pilus (Kenyon College Biology Department, “Bacterial Gene Transfer,” 09.20.2016).

Conjugation means that in addition to natural

selection for bacteria with an antibiotic resistant mutation, these bacteria can effectively transfer their immunity to others, even if they are different species.

Essentially, through antibiotics, humans introduce selection pressures that, via natural selection, produce bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. This may seem like a grim reality, but remember that as bacteria continue to develop resistance, researchers find new and more precise antibiotics. The problem that warrants a U.N. meeting, is that humans have accelerated and globalized this resistance process by blatant misuse and overuse of antibiotics.

In an ideal world, antibiotics would be a last-resort solution to a bacterial infection and they would be carefully prescribed to match the pathogen in question, and then properly administered in a way that would prevent lots of resistant surviving bacteria. In reality, 80 percent of all antibiotics, by mass, are used on livestock to combat the often unsanitary and crowded conditions in which they are raised (Scientific American, “Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria and the World’s Peril,” 09.19.2016).

People have also began carelessly using antibiotics as “solutions” to ailments antibiotics are not effective against or not necessary for, such as viral infections, or merely for common colds.

These factors can result in “superbugs” that have, through conjugation of plasmids from other types of resistant bacteria, acquired immunity many different antibiotics. Continued misuse of what previously was one of our best tools to cure disease could in fact generate a pathogen that humanity would not have a solution for. The U.N. needs to take the lead on setting up policies that can prevent such irresponsible antibiotic use.

Since many resistant bacteria are excreted by animals and humans alike, wastewater and sewage treatment practices must improve to prevent the formation of superbugs in these immune bacteria cesspools. Researchers, lawmakers and citizens all need to work together to adequately respond to the threat of antimicrobial resistance.

Benefits of self-driving cars need rethinking Steven Park Columnist

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he future of driverless cars may actually be just around the corner if the events of last week are of any indication. On Wednesday, Sept. 14, Uber sent shockwaves across the nation as the American online transportation company tested their line of self-driving cars in public for the first time. As part of a research exercise, Uber had several self-driving cars pick up a specially selected group of passengers in Pittsburgh to see how the vehicles would fare in the real world (TechCrunch, “Uber starts self-driving car pickups in Pittsburgh,” 09.14.2016).

Obviously, the car wasn’t empty when it came to pick up the startled participants. Two Uber researchers accompanied each self-driving car to take detailed notes on how the vehicle performed and made sure everything was running smoothly.

As many have already speculated, this event may prove that self-driving cars will arrive a lot sooner than we think. However, while the technology behind this development is indeed revolutionary and exciting, some of the benefits that experts claim self-driving cars will bring seem a little farfetched. While the concept of a self-driving car sounds incredibly futuristic, this idea has actually been in the mind of car engineers for several decades. In 1939, General Motors announced their picturesque vision of the future where cars drive themselves around in “abundant sunshine [and] fresh air” (Wired, “Autonomous Cars Through the Ages,” 02.06.2012). In fact, Japanese engineer Sadayuki Tsugawa constructed the first truly autonomous car, which could process pictures of the road with its internal computer system as early as 1977.

Today, self-driving cars are less of a dream and more of an inevitability. In a recent report, John Zimmer, president and co-founder of Lyft, predicts that the majority of vehicles on the roads will be autonomous by 2021 (The Verge, “Lyft’s president says ‘majority’ of rides will be in self-driving cars by 2021,” 09.18.2016). Not only that, he also imagines personal car ownership disappearing in the U.S. by 2025. That’s less than a decade away!

In addition to these bold predictions, experts

are also discussing the potential benefits to adopting a system of driverless cars. For instance, car accidents are one of the leading causes of death in America. According to the National Safety Council, an estimated 38,300 Americans were killed on the road in 2015 alone (Newsweek, “2015 Brought Biggest Percent Increase in U.S. Traffic Deaths in 50 Years,” 02.17.2016).

Experts say that having a machine drive instead of a human could significantly decrease the number of car accidents. A study done by McKinsey & Co. suggests that self-driving cars could reduce those accidents by up to 90 percent and save about $190 billion (GeekWire, “Self-driving cars could reduce accidents by 90 percent, becomes greatest health achievement of the century,” 09.25.2015). Not only that, the report also states that the amount of time saved if each commuter traveled using a self-driving car every day could add up to one billion hours. Experts imagine that all that time could allow people to work in their cars, significantly boosting productivity.

However, it is with this report that I feel that we may be over-glorifying the effects of a society filled with self-driving cars. Undoubtedly, this technology has the power to shape the future of transportation and change lives for the better. Yet, it’s important to remain realistic, especially since overexcitement could lead to the death of a technological milestone (remember Google Glass?

Yeah, I thought so).

First, it’s true that self-driving cars could significantly reduce the number of casualties from vehicular accidents. I admit, it’s actually a little depressing to think that having the car drive itself is the only way to stop some of these accidents, especially in cases where the driver was intoxicated. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, 27 people die every day as a result of drunk driving crashes, despite the fact that we are constantly being reminded how stupid it is to get behind the steering wheel when drunk (MADD, “Drunk Driving Statistics,” 2015).

But we have self-driving cars doesn’t mean the roads are effectively safe.

In May 2016, a self-driving car manufactured

by Tesla failed to apply the brakes when a tractor-trailer turned in front of it, ultimately kill-

ing the human passenger (NYT, “Self-Driving Tesla Was Involved in Fatal Crash, U.S. Says,” 06.30.2016). Incidents like these open an entirely new can of worms with questions about liability and fault. If self-driving cars will take over the highways and streets across America, we can’t let our guard down and treat this technology as infallible.

I also don’t buy the rhetoric surrounding the potential increases in productivity self-driving cars could yield. While I do believe self-driving cars will prevent numerous accidents, I can’t exactly wrap my mind around how they will increase productivity. The idea is that the average American spends so much time driving in a car that a self-driving car would free up all that time for us to get something done. The general logic seems reasonable, but this claim ignores several different factors ranging from motion sickness to the fact that most drives you take in your car last about 10 to 20 minutes.

Given those conditions, I have difficulty imagining the average person getting anything done while riding in a self-driving car. Most importantly, the experience of being in a self-driving car isn’t something that’s completely new and foreign. In fact, most people have experienced it many times in their lives: it’s called sitting in the passenger seat while someone else drives the car.

Essentially, I imagine riding in a self-driving car might feel similar to being picked up by a parent from school. It’s convenient, but I’ll probably be on my phone the entire time.

Despite these reasons, there’s nothing wrong with being excited about self-driving cars. This is the technology of the future. Artificial intelligence programming has essentially found its way into every facet of our life. Building a car that can navigate the road safely and account for random variables like a kid running into the street is an incredible scientific development worthy of our praise. It’s a true testament to how we are single-handedly creating the future we had envisioned decades and even centuries ago. At the same time, we have to remain realistic with this new technology and account for any and all problems that may arise. After all, a lack of foresight could ruin any great invention.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Page 11

Word on the street What would you have done if UpC hadn’t reopened?

“I would’ve transferred schools.”

— Alicia MenardLivingston ’18

“I would’ve thought about buying a blender but not actually.”

— Miranda Scarlata ’19

“I would’ve been desperately sad.”

— Jennie To ’19

“Sat in my room and cried.”

— Leah Clark ’19

“I would invest in an expresso maker.”

— Annalise Buehner ’19

“I’ve been looking forward to this smoothie for 4 months.” ­­— Kylan MacLeod ’19

Evelyn Frick, Humor & Satire Editor

HUMOR & SATIRE

Page 12

September 22, 2016

Breaking News From the desk of Evelyn Frick, Humor & Satire Editor Student debating whether to change advisor, major or drop out all together after accidentally calling advisor “Mom” Students experimented on at Malia Obama lives her best ACDC but not with the food life and intense riot ensues Maya Sterling

Lead Singer of The Deece Doors

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his week, students began to notice a new hidden treasure of Vassar College. By engaging in one of the many things college students do best, eating, Brewers have come to appreciate, and almost worship, the Deece... doors.

You heard me right, the doors that frame the majestic Deece are the new Vassar hip phenomena. “After the first moment I struggled with the doors at the Deece, I knew I had discovered something special, something unique.

I cannot wait to apply to Vassar this fall,” commented prospective student Alex Hoaglin.

The doors, freshly equipped for the new school year, now have the special feature of not opening. This revolutionary technology forces students to struggle in anguish as they tug violently against the doors, which for some reason are always locked. Usually only one is left unlocked, leading students on an excruciating quest which has resulted in numerous reports of broken nails, sweaty palms and fallen VCards.

Locked doors, what initially seems to be a way to prevent students from burning through their meal swipes on the gourmet cuisine served at the Deece, or a way to quickly spread meningococcal disease, has actually been discovered to hold a valuable purpose. “We actually installed the Deece doors as a human experiment,” commented Professor of Anthropology Jamie Harington. “The Anthropology Department and the Dean of Students teamed up to figure out ways we could get students to show more emotion.”

The initiative in question, known as the ACDAABDI (Anti-Cellular Device Awareness Action Body Department Initiative) kicked off during the first week of classes. Many students, however, are unaware of the study. According to VSA President Calvin Lamothe, “I sent 32 separate emails about the initiative, but they might have gotten lost in the other 562 I sent since Convocation,” he admits.

“What we are trying to study,” notes Profes-

sor Harington, “is what kinds of stimuli cause students to have outrageous and uncontrollable outbursts. What professors are finding in classes is that the technological age is causing students to show only subdued emotions, or in some extreme cases, lack emotional capability at all.”

The Vassar study comes as response to the USDA (United Students Department of Apathy) releasing a report stating that 42.0 percent of liberal arts college students are either “partially or completely dead inside.” The Deecedoor experiment has turned out to be a huge success. We have encountered an average of 1,297 outbursts a day,” notes Professor Harington. “We have also learned of innovative techniques in doorknob-handling skills.”

Despite this riveting scientific study, students have begun to express their views on being unknowingly surveyed in their darkest hour: when they are hangry. “If I was being made to embarrass myself without being spied on, I wouldn’t have a problem,” complains first year Kelly Noecker. “Unfortunately the government, I mean administration, is breaching my rights as an American citizen...” Kelly’s alltoo relevant comments were unfortunately too long to included in this article.

Other students however are finding the inconveniently cemented-in-place hinged portals to be a quite fitting addition to the building. “It kind of goes along with the whole theme of the Deece,” reports long-time Deece patron junior Harper Taniguchi. “They basically have the motto ‘disappointing service, disappointing food and now disappointing doors.’”

Former Vassar President Cappy Hill also had the opportunity to share her views on the project. “I am very impressed with the teachers’ motivation to learn from the students. I do not know from whom they adopted this technique, because I made it my president mission to ignore students’ demands to divest endowment funds from fossil fuel companies. I’m glad administration has found an even more demanding issue to occupy their time.”

Yesenia Garcia Lollapolicing

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merica has been rocked by a scandal unrivaled in magnitude since Watergate. In the midst of this heated election season, another unrelated controversy has recently been at the forefront of everyone’s minds. You guessed it, the Obama girl is at it again.

Shocking images have emerged from the internet exposing a lifestyle so unwholesome, so vile, it can only be described as un-American.

A string of troublesome events has caused the media to conduct a full investigation regarding the actions and whereabouts of 18-year-old Malia Obama. Beginning in July, a pattern of unruly behavior was noticed by experts and has rightly prompted concern amongst media outlets and elderly citizens alike.

The images that have since surfaced have stunned the nation, leaving people horrified and speechless. But don’t worry, the media outlets have plenty to say about the matter. And they are well within their rights, of course, as the First Amendment explicitly protects the right to speculate on important matters such as this. It has been widely reported that the First Daughter was seen frolicking at a music festival by the name of “Lollapalooza” in Chicago.

Although her motives are still unclear at this time, it appears that she was “having a good time” with her “friends.” However, we must say, an environment filled with flower crowns, lively music and crop-tops seems hardly the right place for the First Daughter to be spending her time. It seems highly unlikely that a respectable teenage girl would enjoy taking part in these types of activities, but we are not here to judge.

Exclusive footage has been obtained of Ms. Obama at the event, gyrating her hips in time with the music in the company of her friends.

On a more disturbing note, photographic evidence suggests that Malia also smoked an unidentified substance at the music festival. Some experts speculate that the substance in question could be marijuana, commonly referred to on the streets as the “devil’s lettuce” (for its satanic qualities, I assume). The footage was ob-

tained by novice videographers via Snapchat, a social media platform intended for the sharing of memories amongst friends. Quite a memory indeed!

Thankfully, Malia has stepped up and taken responsibility for her actions. Recently she was seen sporting a t-shirt emblazoned with the words “Smoking Kills” across the front, sending a clear message to America that she is deeply ashamed of her behavior and has informed herself of the detrimental ramifications of her actions.

Responses to these unfortunate events have been varied and widespread outrage has been vocalized by people who only want the best for Malia. The leading psychologists of the nation are baffled by this pattern of behavior which is not usually associated with other individuals within the same age-group. Researchers throughout America are scrambling for an explanation for this unprecedented display of hedonism. Parents throughout the nation are expressing concern and adamantly protest that their own children would never take part in such deplorable behavior.

As a concerned citizen, I firmly believe that our number one priority right now as a nation should be ensuring that Ms. Obama does not get herself into more mischief. Obviously, the overbearing presence of the Secret Service was not enough to curtail this behavior, so we must take matters into our own hands.

Thankfully, Malia Obama is now under the constant vigilance and scrutiny of the public eye. We should express gratitude to Malia’s friends, who have without fail, let the entire nation know about the intimate details of her personal life.

Malia Obama is reportedly taking a gap year and will be attending Harvard University next fall. Hopefully, she puts an end to her downward spiral in time for classes. Such behavior has no place at an institution dedicated primarily to the education and development of young adults.

Barack Obama has declined to comment on this story.

Until reopening, Late Night at the Kiosk mourned on melodramatic scale Evelyn Frick, YoPMS

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he last few weeks have been very stressful and trying times at Vassar. Not because freshmen are just now getting a sense of what it’s like to balance collegiate classes, extracurriculars, a sleep schedule and be away from home, or whatever. Seriously my dudes, stop making everything about yourselves. Quit whining and go FaceTime your dog or something, because I don’t want to hear it. (@my fellowees, if y’all are reading this … Just kidding.) No, the last few weeks have been harsh and anxiety-inducing for one reason and one reason only: Late Night at the Kiosk, or the cafe formerly known as UpC, has not yet been opened. And, to make matters worse, in a Facebook post, an employee of the Kiosk said it would remain unopened until they could hire enough workers. Many students, including myself, went into a panic at the thought of no more late-night smoothies or supremely long lines which doubled as an excuse to procrastinate on homework.

I was so concerned about this matter that I even decided to write my humor article this week on the extremes I would go to get UpC up and running once more.

In my sad desperation, I didn’t consider that I may have been overreacting about $15 milkshakes. For, sure enough, yesterday the news was announced that UpC had gathered enough employees to start working again soon. Everyone on campus drew a collective sigh of relief. Except me, because even though now I would be able to fill myself with sugary snacks at midnight every school night, my article idea was out the window. But, because I was too lazy to come up with any other ideas, I’ve made the executive decision (I can do that as Humor and Satire editor) to inform you of what I would have done to get Late Night at the Kiosk back. So here we go: Money Sure, if I were to pay a large sum of money to get UpC back on its feet, I then wouldn’t actually have the money to buy any food there. But you know what, Vassar? I’m a giver.

I’m a very generous person. (Ask my sexual partners, ayo.) I would be willing to sacrifice my ability to wait in line for an hour for a regular chocolate milkshake so all of you could do that. Out of the goodness of my heart. The

only thing hindering this solid plan is that I would probably have to ask my mom, because even though I am an 18-year-old adult woman, she runs my bank account. (Thanks, Mom!) And she would probably be against my investment in a student-run cafe that lists a snack option as “a whole fruit.” On the other hand, I have about $7.00 in VCash left...

One-Woman Protest Everyone is always saying that activism is lacking on this campus, but I’ve seen a bunch of protests on this campus and it looks simple enough. All I would have to do is handcuff myself to the Kiosk, make a sign that says something like “Open UpC or I’ll lie here all night and day without food...until I get hungry and order Bacio’s,” and hope that catches someone’s attention. Going to the bathroom might be a bit of an issue, but odds are I won’t actually be protesting for more than five minutes so I’m not all that worried about it.

Sexual Favors Ironic as it is, I would definitely sell my body for a YoPiMP smoothie. What? Where’s

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

my dignity, you ask? Well, I counter with this: think about how empowering it would be for me to suck a dick so that the entirety of campus could feverishly use up their meal swipes buying chicken nuggets at the end of the semester. (Remember what I said about being a generous lover?) Plus, I once took an online quiz that said I was worth 10 goats, so this would be a definite step up. And if you think about it, giving sexual favors to keep the Kiosk open does make some sense. This is the Ivy League Whorehouse, after all.

Kidnap the UpC guy, Patrick This one might be a little hard to pull off because I am smol™. But at the same time, it might not be that difficult to achieve. I could just go visit him at the Deece and be like, “Hey Patrick, let’s go somewhere that’s literally anywhere else but here!” And he would probably be like, “Sure!” Considering it’s the Deece and all. And then I would kidnap him.

Obviously then in my ransom I would ask for the Kiosk to be open again, because why else would I kidnap Patrick? He seems like a chill dude.

HUMOR & SATIRE

September 22, 2016

Page 13

Hawaiian pizza discovered to be neither Hawaiian nor good Chris Allen

Retreatza Specialist

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“Bear With Us” ACROSS

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42 Bear who lost his button 45 Cowboy bar 47 A bear won’t lay this 48 A long fucking poem 49 Baltimore’s star bird 52 A really thin line 56 Bear who was left at a train station, I can’t bear it 58 Older son of Isaac 59 A compound in pee 60 Little deuce car 61 Also known as daminozide 62 Get a good __ on that steak

al. Pineapple, on the other hand, is a Fruit. A fruit with a capital F. Out of all the fruits, it is perhaps the most fruit-like.

Pineapple’s flavor is found in candy, Fanta soda and other areas of the food world in which the presence of tomato would make no sense.

The flavors of pineapple and tomato do not live in the same neighborhood, or even the same galaxy. Therefore, arguing that they belong together on a pizza because they’re both fruit is akin to arguing that a hungry polar bear and an arctic seal would be great buddies because they’re both animals.

You may be wondering, “What did Hawaiian pizza ever do to you?” My intense feelings originated at a Halloween party about seven years ago. The delivery man showed up at the door with enough pizzas to feed 20 middle schoolers. But one of the boxes contained something that was more of a trick than a treat. Looking at the strange, greasy, yellow and pink concoction, I thought, “What’s the worst that could happen?” I grabbed a slice, chomped on it with-

out hesitation and my taste buds were instantly assaulted by the bizarre combination of tastes.

What was this kooky concoction? What hath the Pizza Gods wrought?

For a split second, my brain was teased by an illusion of sensory pleasure. Was I...enjoying it? Perhaps I was. But if so, the enjoyment was merely temporary. Suddenly, the aftertaste struck me like a charging boar, and the confused pleasure melted away into a bitter repugnance. I fought my way through the rest of the slice to avoid showing rudeness to my host and weakness in the face of challenging pizza toppings.

That strained effort really took a toll on the rest of my night. I won’t go into details, but the worst possible thing did happen in the bathroom later that night. Was I already a little bit nauseous before I ate the Hawaiian pizza? Maybe. Could it have been because I ate too much Halloween candy? Perhaps. Will I nevertheless insistently refuse to eat Hawaiian pizza ever again? Absolutely.

Samana Shrestha/The Miscellany News

s a preface, I would like to say that this article actually belongs in the Opinions section of this week’s Miscellany News. I submitted it as an Opinion piece because the subject matter is a complex political issue about which I have very passionate feelings. However, there was not in enough room in that section, so the editors have decided to place it in the Humor section.

Though I am disappointed, I am completely sure that my article is in the Humor section for this purely logistical reason, and not because the editors found my serious attempt at opinion journalism unintentionally humorous. That being said, let’s get down to business.

Hawaiian pizza, known in some circles as pizza with ham and pineapple on it, is a travesty. Its name is a misnomer, it is a weird combination of flavors and as far as creative, unique varieties of pizza go, it simply does not deliver.

If you are a fan of Hawaiian pizza, I am certain that I have already lost you at this point, but let me assure you that I mean no personal offense to you or your spunky taste buds. I do, however, hope to personally offend all the Hawaiian pizzas out there, as well as the totally-not-Hawaiian man who has admitted to the criminal offense of inventing such a recipe.

That’s right, Satan’s pizza chef does not actually reside in the Aloha state or descend from the indigenous people of the Hawaiian islands, he is a dude from Canada named Sam. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that the originator of Hawaiian pizza is not Hawaiian, considering what Hawaiian pizza is: the pizza equivalent of a tourism shirt that says, “Let’s get lei’d!”

To be fair, I myself am no more Hawaiian than Sam. I do not have the authority to decide what is authentically Hawaiian and what is not. But unlike Sam, I believe that mixing chunks of ham and pineapple on a pizza is reckless.

Just when you thought Hawaiian pizza couldn’t be any more geographically confused, here comes another strange fact. Hawaiian pizza is not super popular in Hawaii, despite its name, or in Canada, where it originated, but it is massively popular in Australia. I don’t think

this is a reflection of the Australian people.

They are very kind and generally not insane, despite their choice of pizza. Rather, I think it is a reflection of the conditions in which they live. In the Land Down Under, every part of the natural environment wants to kill you, whether it’s the devastating heat, the ferocious wildlife or Russell Crowe. It makes sense that Australians would turn to such an unusual style of pizza in order to survive and cope with their unusual surroundings.

“But tomato is technically a fruit too,” is the central counterargument for defenders of Hawaiian pizza. How can pineapple on pizza be bad if tomato sauce is completely acceptable?

Well, tomato’s status as a fruit is ambiguous to say the least, and outright questionable to say the most. Tomato does not fit so neatly into the fruit kingdom, as demonstrated by its foray into the juice industry. Tomato juice is not awful, it’s just wildly different from all the other fruit juices. Not many people enjoy a glass of acidic, pulpy tomato with their breakfast cere-

The Miscellany Crossword

by Kim Carlson and Mackenzie Little Bear With 63 Mountaineer yelling Us 49 Magnum ___

53 The Lake ___ of Innisfree, Yeats 54 Indian bread 55 Equals $1.12 U.S. 57 Ectoplasm, but less fancy

50 Not raw, but close Mackenzie Little and Kim Carlson

64 Johnny Cash once shot a man here, apparently

51 Writing this crossword was a bad one 52 A sexy kind of muffin

DOWN

ACROSS 1 Photo−esque programming language 1 pleasant Willy nilly 2 Not scent silly old bear 5 The 3 Roman potmain character of Disney Channel’s famous 4 Noggin−bonk TaleSpin 5 Fancy word for mud−slinging 10 a plant 6 What Base the oldof guys did to the Constitution 14 Not active 7 Sitcom potato chip brand 15the Turkish title 8 ___ rampartsofficial we watched 16 ___ and Papa 9 Making a mountain (not out of a molehill) 17 convinced Coca ___you’re only one causing forest 10 Bear fires18 Origin of Maria the robot 20 Bartering 11 Mistress of hell in currency the DC Comics universe 22 Mario’s favorite sport 12 Noble title in Arab countries & Afghanistan 23 Hark, let me play thee a 13 “That’s the tall bit of the ship” − Mackenzie tune uponLake my but luteit’s really more of 19 We call it Sunset 24 Not West, SouthWest a ___ 25 Pledge 21 Lend me this body part 28creepy Not completely 25 The part of upstairs dandy−like 26 Military hat with pom−pom 33 Not thisthan sorrier 27 Better _____ 34 smol 28 Dirty, dusty, dank, etc.

35this "Iftoyour aren’t, 29 Up makecousins things a little more fun you are" 30 A cold house 36Hung, President, 31 ___ an actorbathtubs in martial hate arts films him 32 A type of Chinese green tea 37 Paul Rudd’s smallest 34 Vegetable that kind of looks like a striped potato role 38 Given charity 38 What you yellas when things are empty 39 I Like this 40 The sense of beingguy, in a hurry Everybody Likes this 43 A tree from India known for its shape guy 44 Not pretti 40 Compel 45 This is ____ Tep 41 A style of photography, 46 Messenger used to talk to your crush in 2006 abbr.

48 What people do in Las Vegas besides gamble

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42 Bear who lost his button 45 Cowboy bar © 2016 (Published via Across Lite) MISCELLANY NEWSword | VASSAR 47 A bear won’t lay this 5 Fancy for COLLEGE 26 Military hat with 48 A long fucking poem mud−slinging pom−pom 49 Baltimore’s star bird 6 What the old guys did to 27 Better _____ than sorrier 52 A really thin line the Constitution 28 Dirty, dusty, dank, etc.

56 Bear who was left at a

48 What people do in Las Vegas besides gamble 49 Magnum ___ 50 Not raw, but close

ARTS

Page 14

September 22, 2016

New D.C. museum dignifies a marginalized narrative Noah Purdy Arts Editor

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Courtesy of Lexey Swall/New York Tines

s the nation faces a transitional time, pondering President Obama’s legacy and worrying about changes in the future, one institution hopes to concretize a narrative of vast importance to our collective history, one of the largest and most hard-fought pursuits of justice in America whose enduring pain Obama’s victories have only begun to rectify. On Saturday, Sept. 24, the Smithsonian will open its permanent monument to this story in Washington, D.C., in the form of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC).

Echoing the myriad struggles of the people it honors, the NMAAHC has a long and fraught backstory itself. After African-American Civil War veterans proposed a memorial on the National Mall in 1915, versions of the idea floated through Congress throughout subsequent years.

In 1988, Civil Rights activist Rep. John Lewis helped introduce legislation to create an African-American history museum within the Smithsonian, which was ultimately rejected.

Lewis proposed it again in 2001 and, following a report entitled “The Time Has Come,” the “National Museum of African American History and Culture Act” was finally passed in 2003. “[I]t’s about time!” exclaimed Interim Director for the Campus Life ALANA Center Wendy Maragh Taylor. “The museum’s soon opening is recognition of the necessary connections that must be made between African-American history and the development of the United States. There have been contributions galore that have unacknowledged and without which this great nation would not be, well, quite so great.”

The fight did not stop there, however, as the new museum had to find a space to occupy, an unfortunately fitting analogy. Many legislators resisted the push to build the NMAAHC on the crowded Mall, but a spot was ultimately chosen between the National Museum of American History (NMAH) and the Washington Monument.

“Its place on the National Mall is significant in its own right,” wrote Associate Professor of History and Director of Africana Studies Quincy T. Mills in an emailed statement. “The presence of the Martin Luther King Memorial and now the NMAAHC counters and begins to make more whole the narratives of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and the war memorials.”

The five-story museum, designed by Tanzanian-born British architect David Adjaye, features brown filigreed exterior paneling inspired by West African-rooted latticework

done by African-American artisans.

The design—three inverted-pyramid tiers— resembles ancient Yoruban sculpture or, alternatively, hands lifted in prayer, and stands out among the stately National Mall buildings. As one reporter put it, “[I]t’s as if Beyoncé, in one of her bejeweled costumes, strutted into a Wall Street meeting filled with gray suits” (National Geographic, “Black America’s Story, Told Like Never Before,” 10.2016).

Next came considerable fundraising—half of the $540 million initial cost was provided by the government, while the other half came from public and private donations—and building a collection from scratch. The NMAAHC held “Antiques Roadshow”-style events in 15 cities, asking for heirlooms with significance to African-American history..

The museum now holds 40,000 objects, about 3,500 of which will be on display in the opening exhibitions.

As NMAAHC Founding Director and former NMAH curator Lonnie G. Bunch III reflected, “The defining experience of African-American life has been the necessity of making a way out of no way, of mustering the nimbleness, ingenuity and perseverance to establish a place in this society” (Smithsonian Magazine, “The Definitive Story of How the National Museum of African American History and Culture Came to Be,” 09.2016).

Donations came from far and wide, and the sources were as diverse as the history and the objects themselves. Examples include Harriet Tubman’s hymnal, donated by a man whose relatives Tubman helped escape to freedom; Althea Gibson’s tennis racket, donated by a second cousin; and Nat Turner’s Bible, donated by the descendant of a family who once owned Turner as a slave (New York Times, “‘I, Too, Sing America’: The National Museum of African American History and Culture,” 09.15.2016).

The donations were then organized into three major sections. First are the chronological historical floors. “History” displays such items as a slave auction block, a statue of Thomas Jefferson with bricks listing his slaves and Frederick Douglass’s cane.

“The Segregation Era” holds objects like Emmett Till’s original coffin, KKK hoods and the dress Rosa Parks was sewing the day she was arrested.

Finally, “1968 to Today” brings history into the modern day, with pieces as recent as a door from Hurricane Katrina, a “Justice 4 Trayvon” protest sign and information about Black Lives Matter.

The other two spaces in the museum are the “Community” and “Culture” galleries, featuring many themed rooms, from music (Jimi

The Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture opens Saturday, Sept. 24 at long last, shedding light on one of the most important narratives in American history.

Hendrix’s vest, Louis Armstrong’s trumpet) to sports (Muhammad Ali’s boxing gloves, Jesse Owens’s cleats, Jackie Robinson’s jersey) to military service (a Tuskegee Airmen biplane) to entertainment and the arts (an “Oprah” stage set, a collection of modern and contemporary art)..

Such an ambitious scope by necessity overlooks certain elements, like, as critics have noted, the AIDS crisis and issues of gender and sexuality.

Yet overall, the NMAAHC strives to right a huge wrong in the United States, namely the sustained oppression and erasure of Black lives and identities in mainstream culture.

As Taylor commented, “From the museum’s design to the exhibitions, the story of African Americans is shared through diverse means, and incorporates the richness and brilliance of this culture and its people.”

Though a crucial first step in accurate and deserved representation, the NMAAHC cannot be the last. “I hope there will be a proliferation of other museums with a focus on specif-

ic aspects of the African-American experience, including slavery and the Great Migration,” expressed Professor of Sociology Diane Harriford.

She continued: “For some who visit the museum, I hope it will be the beginning of a much needed education about life for African-descended people in America.” She also hopes the museum provokes careful thought, from rethinking the story we tell of our nation to openness to the idea of reparations.

Whatever one takes away from the NMAAHC and its momentous opening, the museum and the story it tells are undoubtedly long overdue and will hopefully spark new and renewed dialogue about what it means to be American.

As Professor Mills summed up, “The NMAAHC has plans to not just be a static repository of public history...[but also] an open space...to connect the past and present; to think about history as a connective tissue to what is possible and just in a world not yet seen.”

Courtesy of Lexey Swall/New YorkCrook Tines Courtesy of Karen

Courtesy of Lexey Swall/New York Tines

One display in the NMAAHC is a statue of Thomas Jefferson in front of bricks labeled with the names of some of his slaves, challenging the narrative that in the U.S., “all men are created equal.”

Other galleries in the museum feature memorabilia from prominent African-American figures in various disciplines, such as Jackie Robinson, whose bat and jersey are shown above.

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September 22, 2016

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Artist-in-residence presents a unique view of Vassar Izzy Braham

Guest Reporter

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Courtesy of Chip Porter/The Loeb

ast spring, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center premiered artist-in-resident Mark Dion’s installation “Universal Collection.” The exhibit, a peculiar floor-to-ceiling “cabinet of curiosity,” shows off everything from taxidermy to antique paintings to historical Vassar artifacts.

Dion combines nature, history and art, displaying his exhibits in a way akin to showcases found in natural history museums. The focus of the art is to analyze how the world displays and thinks about historical relics.

“I make work that is an investigation into the culture of nature,” Dion said in an interview with Elizabeth Bennett ’17 for the exhibition catalogue. “Rather than focus on nature itself, my work deals with ideas about nature that form our attitudes and in the end, shape real landscapes.”

While the exhibit is an attention-grabbing showcase, the project’s relationship with the audience goes even further than simply catching the viewer’s eye—it aims to inspire critical thought.

“I want to manifest a situation in which the viewer encounters objects and their relations in a manner that rubs against the grain of their expectations of display and their understanding of the role of the institution,” Dion explained. “I want to push or frustrate their assumptions in order to understand the politics of display.”

In addition to the exhibit, Vassar recently received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation called the Creative Arts Across Disciplines Initiative that allows artists like Dion to integrate themselves into academics as well. The grant is intended to push students to discover connections between art and other disciplines.

With this program, Dion was able to coteach a class with Professor of Anthropology Anne Pike-Tay last semester. The class, entitled

“Mark Dion: Universal Collection,” running through Dec. 11 at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, features one of Dion’s signature “cabinets of curiosity” of objects from all over campus.

“From the Natural History Museum to Ecotourism,” aimed to challenge students’ views on how we categorize historical artifacts in museums and the ways in which we represent nature. As Dion remarked on the class, “We want to speak about what these institutions promote and conceal, what fantasies they encourage and how they define, for a particular group of people at a particular time, what gets to stand for nature.”

The course was also very interactive—students got to accompany Dion to the Natural History Museum and the Tanya Bonakdar Gallery in New York City. And to top it off, students even helped Dion gather artifacts for his exhibit in the Loeb.

Alongside the Vassar College Artifact Project spearheaded by Rick Jones, Dion and the

students explored places all over campus to search for relics, from the Vassar Archives & Special Collections Library to the Geology Museum archives and even the basement of Main Building. In fact, according to Curator of Academic Programs Elizabeth Nogrady, the hunt for Vassar artifacts was by far one of the most enriching aspects of the course: “My favorite part of the process was exploring campus and seeing the dialogue between Mark and the students.”

Since 1997, Dion has worked with many institutions to build historical collections that pertain specifically to each university’s heritage. Some places he has built exhibits for are Brown University, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, University of Tokyo, the Art Academy of Dresden, Johns Hopkins University,

Ohio University and many more. “Each project is quite different, as each collection is distinct and reflects the radically disparate educational philosophy of each institution,” Dion said in his interview with Bennett.

“As a women’s college, the makeup of its material cultural history is quite distinct from any of the other schools I have worked with,” Dion remarked about Vassar’s collection. “The bonding of social groups in the early days of the school was steeped in ritual, and with that came richness in artifacts, which we can find today preserved in special collections.”

Due to the specificity of the exhibit, the project took most of the 2016 spring semester to put together and opened in the Loeb in late May. While Jones and students helped recover on-campus artifacts, Dion designed the cabinet and arranged the placement of each item.

Associate Director of the Libraries for Special Collections Ron Patkus stated, “I appreciated the way Mark Dion creatively arranges the artifacts in ways that are thoughtful, elegant and intriguing.”

The exhibit will be open for the public to see until Dec. 11, and on Sept. 29, Dion is scheduled to do an artist gallery talk and book launching on campus. But in the meantime, the art remains on display in the Loeb, allowing the Vassar community to confront its own history head-on.

“It challenges us to think more deeply about the things around us and what they say about us,” Patkus said. The Vassar artifacts, full of tradition, speak volumes about the school’s cultural heritage. Dion remarked, “The objects are so precious and well-designed and made, they feel bound in pride and, of course, also privilege.”

Moreover, this evaluation of heritage has united the Vassar community in small ways. “It was great seeing alumni open the drawers and encounter the art,” says Nogrady, “It is always interesting to see people’s first reactions to or memories about the art.”

New York Fashion Week continues to raise controversy Kirk Patrick Testa Guest Columnist

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ments, modular separates and streetwise attitude,” according to Vogue’s Maya Singer.

The designers crafted looks that borrowed traditional menswear elements and deconstructed them to include more feminine silhouettes. Oversized jackets were also sprinkled throughout the collection—a progressive reworking of the concept of making a statement through layering. Finally, the designers surprised with their use of sheer fabrics in pants, dresses and jackets. It was an interesting take on bringing softness into traditionally tough, utilitarian pieces. DKNY’s impeccable balance between brand DNA and fresh sartorial vision keeps people, like myself, wanting more.

Brandon Maxwell was another designer that wowed. After starting his brand less than a year ago, Maxwell delivered understated yet impactful clothing that was nothing short of glamorous. The collection featured only four colors: pale pink, olive green, black and

white. Every single look was monochromatic but never boring (unlike the Yeezy collection).

Maxwell proved his precise tailoring skills through the variety of silhouettes he created.

Every single piece of the collection, 38 looks in total, was completely different! He utilized a variety of pieces: pant suits, crop tops, skirts, mini dresses, formal gowns and more.

Maxwell, through this collection, proved that designers can take classical clothing types yet elevate them by imbuing tradition with an indescribable essence of the future. Truly, the clothing spoke for itself and for Maxwell’s unstoppable rise to stardom as a designer, well-deserving of the attention of the masses for his undeniable talent and vision.

New York Fashion Week would not be the same without a little drama to stir the pot. Thankfully, highlights such as DKNY’s collection can continue to illustrate the positive attributes of creative expression.

Courtesy of Getty Images and Elle Magazine

ew York Fashion week has been notorious for raising controversy every season. This year’s award-winner for worst offender goes to Marc Jacobs for his culturally insensitive appropriation of dreadlocks. Jacob’s 52-look collection was the closing show of New York Fashion Week, a hot ticket for all fashionistas.

His models wore candy-colored dreadlocks made from wool made possible by renowned hair stylist Guido Palau. Both Jacobs and Palau claimed that neither Rastafarian culture nor hair served as inspiration for the show. Rather, they argued that the show was inspired by raver culture, Boy George and Harajuku. Regardless of these claims, the show incited much anger and backlash from the public. After an onslaught of impassioned criticism from social media, Jacobs thoughtlessly commented on his Instagram with the following: “And all who cry ‘cultural appropriation’ or whatever nonsense about any race of skin color wearing their hair in a particular style or manner—funny how you don’t criticize women of color for straightening their hair...I don’t see color or race—I see people. I’m sorry to read that so many people are so narrow minded...Love is the answer...”

In so doing, Jacobs fueled even more anger and backlash from the public. It is absolutely false to claim that society does not criticize women of color for straightening their hair.

It happens all the time. What a lousy invocation of reverse racism! And of course he doesn’t “see color or race,” as it is a core tenet of white culture to appropriate the culture and styles of people of color as a way to stand out within an already white-washed landscape.

Jacobs’s most recent statement about his racist remarks was in the form of another Instagram post with the caption: “I apologize for the lack of sensitivity unintentionally expressed by my brevity. I wholeheartedly believe in freedom of speech and freedom to express oneself though art, clothes, words, hair, music...EVERYTHING. Of course I do ‘see’ color but I

DO NOT discriminate. THAT IS A FACT!” Nice try covering up your racist sentiments, Jacobs, but we have the tabs and receipts.

There is nothing wrong with pushing limits or trying to be different. However, when you are a designer creating clothing that is seen on the world’s stage, it is important to take into consideration the implications of creative direction that is bound to offend.

A runner-up for contributing nothing positive to fashion goes to Kanye West for his uninspired reruns in Yeezy Season 4. When Chanel ushered jersey fabric into high fashion, it was revolutionary. Kanye’s t-shirts are just tired. The show featured looks that blended inspirations from Jedi masters’ robes, “Duck Dynasty” hillbilly chic and basic white girl yogawear. His collection was a mere repeat of the last three seasons of Yeezy, another bland iteration of athleisure, trite thigh-high boots and black spandex. There is nothing special about the clothing he brands.

Though West claims that the clothing he designs is not aimed for fashion, but rather aimed at dressing the masses, there is something highly flawed in his business model. It is absolutely impractical to believe that the masses will buy parkas that cost over $1,000 when there are far more reasonably priced selections elsewhere. West commodifies clothing by taking a pair of sweatpants, using his celebrity status to brand it and hyping up the masses into thinking that they need his clothes.

Wake up consumers! You can buy similar styles in department stores, Target or better yet, a thrift shop. The unsatisfactory nature of Yeezy raises the question of what standards we must hold celebrities accountable to when they use the cult of fame to rob the masses.

On a better note, DKNY’s collection, presented on the High Line, was a tour de force that demonstrated the genius of the recently appointed duo of creative directors Maxwell Osbourne and Dao-Yi Chao. The clothes and overall collection spoke to the endless possibilities in store for the brand’s future. At the same time, it quoted DKNY signatures such as “pinstripe tailoring, activewear ele-

Kanye West’s collection at Fashion Week was tired and repetitive. Other noteworthy shows were Marc Jacobs—appropriative—and standouts DKNY and Brandon Maxwell.

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September 22, 2016

Concept Couchella displays house, campus diversity album F impresses Adam Westerman Guest Reporter

Jimmy Christon Columnist

Splendor & Misery

clipping.

Sub Pop

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and the reverberating music was never uncomfortably loud. Being from Seattle, it was refreshing to see moshing (or at least an attempt at moshing) during Lizard Pile’s set. Although the crowd was jumping around, it never impinged on my enjoyment of the concert.

Kaufman said Ferry concerts were bent on ensuring and encouraging a supportive music-listening community. The next Ferry Concert’s theme is “Fluid(s).” Kaufman said the intent behind the theme is “creating a safe space for queer-identified people, but also about liquids and gas, so expect a lot of goop but don’t bring your own.” Zane added, “As a non-binary person, it feels good that our community is hosting an event like this. A lot of people think Ferry is homogeneous, but we are actually very diverse in class, religion and sexual orientation.”

Courtesy of Ayela Faruqui

Ayela Faruqui ’19 was one of the featured student musical acts at Ferry House’s Couchella event.

The eclectic mix of DJs and bands successfully reflected Ferry’s mission of inclusivity and diversity.

Lady Gaga’s “Perfect Illusion” disappoints Patrick Tanella

Assistant Arts Editor Perfect Illusion

Lady Gaga Interscope Records

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entioning Lady Gaga could lead to a myriad of possible discussions. Some might critique her style, while others are more inclined to say that she possesses no talent whatsoever. However you feel about the controversial singer, you cannot say she isn’t an artist.

Gaga is constantly evolving her art, which can be seen in her pop, jazz and now rock era. Two weeks ago, Gaga released the first single from her new album, called “Perfect Illusion.” Many fans are ecstatic about her new sound and are praising the single, yet I feel that it lacks the depth that I have grown accustomed to.

Lady Gaga does not just produce music. She embodies the art that she is making, which is seen through her fashion and music videos. The notorious meat dress at the VMAs made a powerful statement against the meat industry. Each era, Gaga has grown more as she is perfecting her art. The newest era is rock, with her inspirations being artists such as David Bowie and Led Zeppelin.

After Gaga’s latest solo album “Artpop” did not receive the critical and fan acclaim that had continuously been associated with her movement, one could tell that something was off. I attended “The Artpop Ball,” which was the tour following the album, and it was not the same Gaga that had brought the spectacular “Born This Way Ball” and “Monster Ball Tour” years before. Gaga went through each song with barely any pauses and the strong connection between her and her fans was no longer evident.

Following her initial rise, Gaga teamed up with Tony Bennett for their jazz album, “Cheek to Cheek,” and performed twice at the Oscars, which included a “Sound of Music” tribute and “Til it Happens to You,” a song dedicated to survivors of sexual assault on college campuses. This showed the world a different Gaga, and my family realized that the singer I had worshiped since I was 13 could actually sing. Her 2015

comeback also included Gaga being cast in the main role on the cult television series “American Horror Story.”

Following this success, Gaga’s fans eagerly awaited news of another pop album. Over three years after the release of “Artpop,” Gaga announced that her newest single, “Perfect Illusion,” would be released in Sept. 2016. As an avid fan, I was ecstatic. In the years since “Artpop,” I had ventured from traditional pop music and explored different genres, yet I knew I would come back to Gaga after hearing the first note.

Surprisingly, that was not the case. I waited over a day after the song’s release to listen to it, as I was busy and wanted to take my time. My concert-goer group chat was exploding over the song and demanded that I listen. Finally, I caved.

The shrill beat immediately hits you and doesn’t relent for the duration of the song. In contrast to a typical Gaga song, there is a sense of grittiness and hastiness in the sound. It isn’t quite rock, but it also isn’t pop or disco. I felt I was on a roller coaster where I could hear every bump and creak.

Somehow the three-minute song feels repetitive: You would not be able to count the number of times Gaga says “Perfect Illusion” because it feels as though she will never stop. There is a sudden key change halfway through, yet nothing different actually hap-

Courtesy of Lady Gaga on Twitter

ast year, the rapper Logic released his album “The Incredible True Story,” which happened to be a concept album telling the story of intrepid space travelers searching for a new Earth-like planet. This album, “Splendor & Misery,” is also a concept album centering around a science-fiction adventure in space, but its concept is leagues ahead of “The Incredible True Story,” both in terms of concept and in terms of music.

Clipping (stylized as “clipping.”) is the experimental hip-hop group made up of three people: Jonathan Snipes (of the late electro-pop duo Captain Ahab), Daveed Diggs (of Broadway show “Hamilton” fame) and William Hutson (who, according to Wikipedia, makes music under the name Rale).

In terms of experimentality, “Splendor & Misery” is pretty tame compared to clipping.’s other works. The album simply tells a story and while the production is more “out there” compared to contemporaries, it doesn’t rival their most boundary-pushing beats like the one made almost entirely out of gunshots on their last E.P. “Wriggle.”

All that being said, “Splendor & Misery” isn’t clipping. trading in their experimentality for stagnation, but it is instead focusing on the theme of this concept album, which follows the story of a slave being transported on an interstellar cargo ship, and how he breaks free. I’m not going to go any further into the story because I feel like interpretation is one of the album’s best aspects, but know that I think the story is one of the absolute best parts of this album and is definitely worth delving into.

You will have to dive into this album to find the story, too. Definitely be prepared to listen multiple times to fully grasp the story. “Splendor & Misery” comes in at only 37 minutes, which is nothing short of astounding, especially in a genre as bloated with self-indulgent throwaway tracks as hip-hop.

This is an album where if you aren’t watching the song titles, you probably won’t notice the tracks change. This keeps up for the whole album too, so instead of a collection of songs that tell a story, it plays like a story that is told through music. This works to great effect with an album as short as “Splendor & Misery.” It’s the musical equivalent of watching a great episode of a 30-minute TV show like “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.” It tells its story in a way that doesn’t have room for anything unnecessary, and it’s out in less than an hour.

Another aspect of this album worthy of praise is that it doesn’t sacrifice musicality for storytelling.

So many concept albums have suffered from this, and most concept albums choose to completely separate their music from their theme, leaving the story bits to play as interludes or skits and only dropping vague hints to the narrative in the actual song. But on “Splendor & Misery,” every part of the album is used to develop the story And let’s talk about the lyrics while I’m at it. Daveed Diggs has a great ability to tell a story through rhymes without sacrificing on his actual bars. The track “All Black” is basically six minutes of exposition rapped to you by Diggs, and it’s absolutely stellar. Each verse has a great use of assonance to push the story along over all six minutes. The other standout track from Diggs is the track “Air ‘em Out,” which has the beat of a hard-hitting trap song but is stripped down to only the most essential components of percussion. Coming in at three minutes and 50 seconds, the track deceptively sounds like one of those braggadocious, self-indulgent tracks with which hip-hop is oversaturated.

All things considered, this album is truly in a category of its own. Sure, there have been other concept albums that execute stories well, and even some in the genre of hip-hop, but none have been quite like “Splendor & Misery.” None have mixed rapping and singing to tell a story as effectively as this album, which does all this and is still somehow, crazily, under 40 minutes. clipping. delivered a short, dense and poignant album that doesn’t sacrifice any of its musicality to tell its story.

erry House, the on-campus student co-op situated between Main Building and the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film, is known for often hosting a variety of off-beat concerts.

Last Friday, I attended Couchella, a concert hosted by the residents of Ferry. There were five acts in all headlining the event: Marco Pittarelli ’19, Found Object, Lizard Pile, Huckleberry Spin (Bevan Whitehead ’19) and Ayela Faruqui ’19. DJ Dahl was originally supposed to headline as well but he dropped out a couple days before the concert, and Faruqui filled the vacant spot.

Before the concert began, I wanted to learn a little more about the venue itself, as well as how the residents decided on their theme. I spoke with Ferry residents Klara Kaufman ’19 and Olivia Zane ’19 about the co-op. “It straddles the line between public space and private space, because it has the accessibility of a dorm but is built like a house,” Kaufman said. “We’re looking forward to throwing more throughout the year.” On Friday night, the residents removed the furniture from their living area and set up the room for a couple hundred students to jump around and enjoy themselves.

All acts showcased what Vassar’s talented student body had to offer, with Lizard Pile being the standout of the evening. The bands and DJs that played last Friday matched or surpassed the caliber of bands which I’ve happily paid for back home. We’re very lucky to get to hear on-campus music for free.

Pittarelli had a sadboy alt vibe, and a great amount of talent with their intricate melodies and witty lyrics. Found Object played with great emotion, with Ilan Korman ’19 masterfully adding fills and maintaining consistent tempo. Lizard Pile brought an intense energy and professional punk-sounding vibe that commanded the crowd.

They were fun and loud and rowdy.

I asked Whitehead before the show how he had crafted his set and he responded, “I sort of play my sets on the fly, and sometimes that bites me in

the butt. I have a core amount of music and often I add to that. A lot of songs end up sounding good 10 bpm [beats per minute] faster than they should be, 10 to 15. And then you turn off the key-lock and it sounds together, it sounds good. I pick songs that connect and go from there.” Faruqui transitioned seamlessly between hip-hop and electronic, throwing in a multitude of songs I had never heard. She put together a unique and invigorating set. When asked how she keeps her style signature, Faruqui said, “I try to turn people on to new music as much as possible.” Her drive to provide a creative set unfolded in a coherent performance that pleased the crowd and kept them dancing.

All in all, the concert turned me on to several new groups of different genres, the acts felt cohesive as a unit and the crowd was exceedingly into the music. Ferry has surprisingly decent acoustics,

Lady Gaga’s new single, “Perfect Illusion,” is the first taste of her upcoming album “Joanne.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

pens. It’s the same repetitive vocals with a variation in instrumentals. Overall, “Perfect Illusion” is a catchy song, but it lacks the depth and effervescence that accompanies a typical Gaga song.

How did a singer known for her uniqueness and talent release such an empty song? Perhaps because of the lack of commercial success of “Artpop,” Gaga felt as though she had something to prove: that she was able to attain another number one. It is trying way too hard to be commercially viable at a pivotal time in Gaga’s career. She just showed the world she is a fantastic singer this past year, but now she is conforming to the current musical standards that utilize strong, repetitive vocals and radio play to garner number-one hits. This may be why she recruited bigname pop producers such as Marc Ronson, Blood Pop and Kevin Parker from Tame Impala. Ronson described “Perfect Illusion” in an interview as bigger than “Bad Romance,” but I could not disagree more.

“Bad Romance” changed the pop music industry upon its release. Its music video has been rated the best music video of all time by Billboard and Rolling Stone. While it is a catchy dance song, it also has the substance and emotion backing it that makes a song more than a song. It’s the kind of song that you can blast on a late-night drive that delivers an overwhelmingly pleasant rush of emotions. “Perfect Illusion” lacks everything that “Bad Romance” possesses. While it is not necessarily a bad song, it will never mean more than that to me.

However, I still have hope for one of my former favorite singers after this disappointing single. Her fifth pop album, “Joanne,” will be released Oct. 21, and I am hopeful that it will not be as commercially-oriented as “Perfect Illusion.” Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, Joanne is one of the singer’s middle names. It is the most personal album title yet, and also may pay homage to her late aunt of the same name. Gaga announced that the album will include a collaboration with Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine, which promises to be stunning.

Lady Gaga was my favorite person growing up, and while she may no longer be one of my favorite singers, I am eager to see what “Joanne” brings. I know that she is one of the most talented artists out there, and I firmly believe that if she sticks to her voice and doesn’t rely on attempting to please the general public, the album can be sensational.

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Julian Lage showcases jazz at Skinner Hall JAZZ continued from page 1

complimented Lage’s personality in addition to his musical talent. Katz-Zeiger shared an anecdote on how he went to see Lage’s show in 2012 with a friend of his who once took a class with Lage. Once the show was over, his friend approached Lage to congratulate him, and the acclaimed performer not only had full recollection of who Katz-Zeiger’s companion was, but also commented on how he loved his style during that one class they had together.

His humility really shines through, making him an increasingly inspirational figure in jazz.

Osborn also remarked, “Despite his early success and fame, Julian has continued to grow as a musician and has remained humble and appreciative of his audiences. In listening to the radio interview with him, I was struck by how gentle, sensitive and thoughtful he was. He seems like a beautiful player and a beautiful person.”

Putting all this in perspective, it really is remarkable that someone so talented will be gracing a stage on which Vassar students practice every week. But then again, Vassar is known for bringing in the best of their fields.

Jazz legends such as Jim Hall, Phil Woods, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Ron Carter, Eubie Blake and many more have performed at Vassar as a part of the Dickinson-Kayden concert series.

This event last year starred members of Vassar’s own faculty, including pianist Peter Tomlinson, guitarist Mike DeMicco, bassist Lou Pappas, James Osborn on trumpet, Ed Xiques on saxophones and guest drummer Tom Melito.

In fact, classical guitar instructor Terry Champlin commented, “I’m going to go see it with some friends because I enjoy quality jazz music.”

Katz-Zeiger mentioned in parting, “I’ve listened to ‘Arclight,’ and I’m excited to hear how his album is going to sound live. My favorite piece is a ballad called ‘Nocturn,’ and I hope he plays it.”

With Lage’s immaculate sounds and original style, I’m sure the performance will be rivThe Julian Lage Trio, consisting of jazz guitarist Julian Lage, bassist Scott Colley and eting. Don’t miss out on the trio this Saturday drummer Kenny Wollesen, will play at Vassar as a stop on their months-long world tour. at 8 p.m. in our very own Skinner Hall!

their music, because even though it obscures the music, it’s much easier. But Julian is different; his music has a very clean tone. If I tried to play like that, all my mistakes would be clear.

He’s really impeccable,” said Katz-Zeiger.

Another student musician, Rhys Johnson ’18 [Disclaimer: Rhys Johnson is the Editor-in-Chief of the Miscellany News] explained, “His successes are a testament to the fact that there still exists a place for young musicians even in a genre full of its fair share of old fossils who have taken their entire lives to get where they are.” He continued, “For a worried young musician like myself, there is definitely solace to be taken in that.”

Director of the Vassar College Jazz and Wind Ensembles James Osborn has an admiration for Lage as well. In an emailed statement, Osborn said, “What I love about his playing is the variety of styles and the brilliant creativity he displays in each of those styles.

He also picks very engaging material, some of it from the first half of the 20th century, and mixes it with traditional acoustic guitar music, country influenced music, contemporary jazz and rock. His improvisations are always so interesting and inspired, and he sometimes moves the music in directions that are unpredictable.”

Katz-Zeiger articulated a similar view: “He brings in modern sounds, yet retains the essence and emotional quality of jazz and what it embodies.”

During the show at Vassar, Lage will be performing pieces from “Arclight” with his trio. All three of them share a great musical rapport. They’ve worked together in the past, perfecting a certain dynamic where they create and put together beautiful arrangements of songs. According to Katz-Zeiger, working in a trio is likely to highlight Lage’s skill as a guitarist.

Furthermore, both Katz-Zeiger and Osborn

Excuse me, Favorite bathroom on campus?

“New England, they’re spacious and private so you don’t have to worry about other people hearing you!”

— Carina Cohen ’19

Courtesy of Karen Crook

“2 East Cushing... one of the shower heads has beautiful shower pressure.”

— Xuewei Zhao ’19

Campus Canvas

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

“New England...

Wait, did someone already say that?”

— John Kee ’19

submit to misc@vassar.edu

“Noyes Jetson bathroom!”

— Takunda Maisva ’19

This is a drawing I did for my class last week! I used to doodle a lot before taking art classes at Vassar, so I wanted to create something simple like my old doodles for my class. I hadn’t worked in such a large scale before (this is 6 ft by 4ft), so that was a new experience. It’s frustrating to try out different styles, but it is really rewarding!

—Sophia Yoo ’19

“The one in the library where all the employees are, you know?”

— Christine Lederer ’19

“The private bathroom in Noyes-it has a really nice mirror.”

— Max CantyHilchey ’19

Evelyn Frick, Humor & Satire Editor

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

SPORTS

Page 18

September 22, 2016

Women’s soccer competitive in spite of opening losses Fiona McLeod Guest Reporter

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Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

espite a recent string of close losses and a tie against aggressive competition resulting in a current record of 1-4-1, the Vassar College women’s soccer team continues to uphold their morale while moving into upcoming games.

Head coach Corey Holton, who acknowledges the importance of playing highly talented opponents prior to moving into the Liberty League, leads the women for the third year in a row.

“We have been playing high level competition and these games will inevitably get us prepared for playing against rivals in the Liberty League,” she commented. “We are facing great teams and competing along with them.”

With an incoming freshmen class of six players, the Brewers look to offset the loss of four graduated seniors, including starting goalkeeper Emma Nichols and captain midfielder Lucy Brainerd.

Nichols was designated to the Liberty League First-Team All League, starting in all 18 games and recording 83 saves throughout the season. Finishing second on the team with goals and overall points, Brainerd was selected for the Liberty League Second-Team.

The Brewers will also attempt to fill in the role of another Liberty League First-Team player, junior Jessica Schwed, who anchored the defense of the team, starting in every game last season.

Schwed quit after the fifth game of the season.

Senior captain Kelsey Hamm commented on the large magnitude of the last two class sizes and their significance to the team. “We have some sophomores and freshmen who have been stepping up their game big time, such as Megan Coughlan, a sophomore defender,” she said.

Aside from these impactful losses, the lineup maintains eight of its 11 starters, which will help to accommodate the new players quickly.

“The majority of our current team is made up of returners, so the chemistry on the field wasn’t too hard to get back,” sophomore forward Audrey Pillsbury explained. “All the freshmen have

brought up our team’s level of play. It’s also been instrumental having Stephanie back in goal after spending her junior year abroad.”

Senior captain Emily Krebs agreed, further noting, “Although we have without a doubt lost some great talent, I think we have had a smooth transition due to different people stepping up right away. The absence of those lost is not greatly felt on the field.”

A mass of the team is made up of the sophomore class, which contains 11 returning players.

With the experience of last season, these women are ready to contribute the knowledge and skill they gained along to their current season.

As captains, both Krebs and Hamm look to mentor their team to their overarching goal, the Liberty League playoffs and ultimately the NCAAs. Senior Jordyn Matthews and Audrey Pillsbury, along with Krebs, will be anticipated to take control of the attacking end and net goals throughout upcoming games for the Brewers.

Returning players Amanda McFarland and Sara Seper are expected to contribute to the midfield along with last year’s Liberty League Rookie of the Year, sophomore Rebecca Andrews, who led the women’s soccer team in both goals and points last year. She has already netted one goal this season, and she will likely contribute much more in the upcoming games for the Brewers.

The team currently rosters four goalies, working to fill the role that Nichols has left empty, including seniors Stephanie Tapolsky and Phoebe Reuben, as well as sophomore Katie Emery and incoming freshman Camelia Manring.

Coach Holton remains confident that this year’s team will become even stronger than in it has been in seasons past. She remarked, “Every player is leading others from their own strengths.

We have already learned a lot from this season and we’re growing together to become stronger overall.”

This past Saturday, the team tied No. 24 SUNY Oneonta 2-2 at home. Though Oneonta got on the scoreboard first, its lead did not last for long.

Their first goal was returned with back-to-back

Junior defender Emma Lavelle makes a play in the women’s soccer 2-2 stalemate against Oneonta on Saturday, Sept. 17. The Brewers are currently 1-4-1 on the season. goals from the Brewers. Freshman midfielder Savannah Cutler returned Oneonta’s first point, finding an open net after breaking away on a pass to score her first career goal for Vassar.

Andrews found the top right corner of the net next with an assist from freshman defender Jordan Moss, bringing the team to a lead over Oneonta, 2-1. Despite fighting to hold on to this lead, Oneonta scored on a header, bringing the game to a tie at two goals each.

In the succeeding overtime, neither team was able to find a final goal to secure the win. Despite the tie, the Brewers dominated the game’s shooting statistics. While Oneonta took seven shots in total, the Brewers were able to take 17 shots in total and place 10 of those on goal.

“Although it was disappointing to not get the win, we were all pleased with our performance. It

was a step in the right direction for us,” said Pillsbury. “Oneonta was great competition and getting a point against them gave us the confidence we need heading into league games.”

Each member and coach of the team is eager to continue on into the regular play of their season, gaining wins in the Liberty League and leaving behind their string of close losses and ties.

Holton reported, “We’re digging ourselves out of a hole and we’re climbing out together. The effort, the heart and the determination of this entire group are admirable. We are taking the season day-by-day and game-by-game.”

The Brewers will look to secure their second win of the season against Montclair State University this Wednesday, Sept. 21. Following that competition, the women will start Liberty League play against Skidmore College at home at 2 p.m.

Vassar looks to young players to fill shoes of graduates TENNIS continued from page 1 has great put-aways up at net. I’m able to set her up really well with my serve and groundstrokes.”

The fall is also a great time to focus on team cohesion and the integration of the freshmen into both team culture and the collegiate tennis atmosphere. “We have had a great start this season so far in terms of establishing a cohesive and supportive team unit. One of our team goals is to maintain this positive team dynamic in the coming weeks and in the spring,” Becker said. “Making sure the freshmen are well integrated into the team is vital to maintain this cohesive team unit with open communication between players.”

Edwards looks particularly promising after a strong performance in her college debut at the Swarthmore Tournament, picking up a Liberty League Rookie of the Week nod. “I feel great about how my collegiate career has started. I feel like I’m playing well and I’m having fun, so I’m really pleased right now,” expressed Edwards.

This past weekend, the team hosted SUNY New Paltz, New York University and Connecticut College in the annual Vassar Scramble, its only home tournament of the fall. The team had a great showing as they finished the weekend with a 27-11 mark, winning 69 percent of the matches it played.

Becker and Edwards both went undefeated during the first day of competition, going 2-0 in singles and teaming up for a doubles win. The pair also competed together on Sunday, winning 8-4.

Senior and captain Connie Yoo also had a strong performance over the weekend, finishing 4-1 in singles. Her lone loss came after a challenging three-set battle against an NYU opponent.

Last season, Yoo had the best singles percentage of any Brewer, winning seven of her nine contests.

Next weekend, the team will travel to Geneva, NY to compete in the ITA Northeast Regionals.

Christensen will look to repeat her ITA performance from two years ago when she won the

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

Sophomore Morgane Flournoy went 3-0 in doubles play during the Vassar Scramble on Sunday, Sept. 18. The women proved their capabilities as they finished the tournament 27-11 overall.

tournament, becoming the regional champion and a singles All-American.

Following the ITAs, the Brewers will conclude the fall season with two Liberty League matches against Union and Bard. In the fall of 2015, Vassar beat Union 8-1 and Bard 9-0.

The girls often attribute their excellence in home events to the support they receive from the men’s team. Throughout the years, the men’s and women’s squads have shared an incredibly close bond from which they both reap benefits.

“We have always have had a close relationship with the men’s team since my freshman year.

They come to support our matches and we go to theirs,” Becker noted. “They always bring great energy and I think that that support really makes a difference when we play close matches.”

With the women cheering them on, the men’s team hopes to return to the Liberty League playoffs after a disappointing end to the 2015-2016 season, during which they finished 8-14 and did not make it to post-season play.

Third-year head coach Alex Wong states, “I have liked the energy that we’ve practiced and competed with so far. I think that it is partially due to the returners’ hunger after a tough loss at the end of last year, and the freshmen coming in with great energy work ethic. I am looking forward to seeing our improvements and how we stack up against tough regional and national opponents.”

After some late season 4-5 losses that pushed them out of Liberty League contention, a major goal for the team is to focus on its grit and toughness compared to past seasons.

“We are looking to come back stronger in every aspect compared to last year. Technically, physically and mentally stronger,” says No. 1 singles player, senior Nick Litsky.

Litsky and fellow senior Juan Felipe Laso will team up as captains as they look to improve upon their strong personal seasons while leading the whole team to the Liberty League Tournament.

Both captains finished last season 15-9, posting the strongest play within the squad.

Laso reflects on his junior season while looking forward to his final year, stating, “It was a good season for me last year, but it also ended on a very bitter note. At the end of the day, it is not about

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

how each individual in the team performs but about the results of the team as a whole.”

The team has a few big roles to fill as they lost last year’s captains, Daniel Cooper and Evan Udine, to graduation. Like Laso and Litsky, Cooper finished last season with a winning record of 15-8.

Junior Gray Thurstone was also an integral member of last year’s team after picking up All-Liberty League Honorable Mention for doubles. Thurstone will miss the entire fall season and the majority of the spring to recover from shoulder surgery he had over the summer.

Despite losing these impactfiul players, Coach Wong has high hopes for the underclassman and believes that they will excel on the court. “We lost some great players and great leaders with last year’s graduation. Their shoes will obviously be tough to fill, but I think that the sophomore and freshman classes are stepping up early in this season and will be in the mix to start in this year’s lineup,” reflected Wong.

As for the freshmen, Allen Sokolov stated, “I think all of us freshmen have really fit in. The whole team is meshing well personality-wise and we are all really close friends. On court we are just trying to do anything to help the team win.”

This past Friday, Vassar competed against Williams College to open the fall season. The Brewers fought hard but ultimately fell 8-1 to the No. 12-ranked Ephs.

Despite a hard team loss, Laso had a strong individual start to his season beating a difficult opponent at the No. 3 singles spot with scores of 6-2 and 6-3. Despite losing, sophomore Jamie Anderson took his No. 4 competitor to three , falling 3-6, 6-4, 8-10.

The men’s team will continue fall action next weekend against two Liberty League opponents, Bard and Union. Last season the Brewers defeated both teams 9-0 in the dual match-ups.

Vassar’s fall season will wrap up the first weekend in October at the ITA Regional Tournament in Geneva, NY. Able leadership from both captains and coaches combined with support between the squads will guide the men’s and women’s teams through fall and into spring competition.

September 22, 2016

SPORTS

Page 19

Kaepernick protest spurs Boycott over patriotism; contention within league larger NFL issues ignored Hanna McGuire Sports Editor

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t the 1968 Summer Olympics, track and field sprinter Tommie Smith raised his hand while atop the gold medal podium in solute of Black Power. His political action raised controversy but also awareness during the Civil Rights Movement.

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has recently followed in Smith’s footsteps, sitting and kneeling during the national anthem to protest mistreatment of people of color in America. The athlete first went unnoticed, but by his third game of protest, teammates and opponents alike started to stand in solidarity with him.

While many have responded positively to Kaepernick, there has still been a large backlash.

When Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall took a knee during the anthem, he lost his sponsorships. Kaepernick has also been called unpatriotic and received numerous death threats.

Kaepernick’s actions raise the question of whether athletes should make waves with such politically charged statements. What does it mean for the individual, the franchise and the fans? If sports are bigger than the individual, what happens to the team’s structure when players call attention to themselves?

Safety Eric Reid, linebacker Eli Harold and safety Antoine Bethea have been the only 49ers to stand with Kaepernick. In a team, unity creates an environment to achieve a common goal.

While these political statements are unrelated to football, they threaten to dismantle the team.

This doesn’t mean each player can’t hold a different belief but rather that different beliefs must be recognized and understood.

It’s clear Kaepernick took extensive efforts when devising his plan, but I wonder if he told his team prior to taking a seat. If the quarterback is trying to create discussion around such a polemic issue, he should have begun within his team to create a mutual understanding of his actions and his

teammate’s responses.

On the other hand, Kaepernick has maintained that the oppression of Black people and people of color is bigger than football–bigger than himself–and that it would be wrong of him to turn a blind eye. Other players share this sentiment and applaud Kaepernick for using his platform to call attention to such a pertinent issue.

Football is just a game. Police brutality against people of color, however, is not. But many, including the NFL, don’t like Kaepernick’s use of football to create his statement.

In a Denver Post interview, Brandon Marshall explained the limitations he and Kaepernick feel as NFL players. “We have freedom of speech. But then we use our platform, and we get bashed for it. It’s almost like they want us to only go with the grain. And once we go against the grain, it’s an issue,” Marshall said.

Police brutality has always been problematic and now with social media, the public is more aware of the issue. But that doesn’t mean things are actively changing, especially when people of color are so often silenced.

According to the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES), 71.5 percent of men in the NFL are non-white, with 69.4 percent of that number being people of color. Given these numbers, it makes sense that NFL players of color, like Kaepernick, want to give the issue a voice to support their oppressed community.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t see this side, arguing the franchise supports players who seek change but not at the cost of patriotism.

But maybe the most patriotic act is challenging America’s systemic problems to make it better.

Kaepernick’s methods may not have been the best course of action, but he has spurred discussion about a problem that has been historically ignored. Kaepernick and other players should disregard any negative reaction, come together and continue fighting for change.

Hanna McGuire Sports Editor

TW: sexual assault and domestic violence an Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has disrupted the NFL in more ways than one. He sat and later kneeled during the national anthem, which caused both cohesion and uproar within the NFL. Fellow players have since stood with Kaepernick, whether sitting, kneeling, raising fists or linking arms. But the league hasn’t been supportive and many sponsors have ended relationships with players since the political statement.

Despite many players acting alongside Kaepernick, many fans have voiced their disgust with the quarterback’s actions. This sentiment is shared by many, so many that both CBS and NBC saw their lowest ratings during football games in seven years. If Kaepernick won’t stand for the national anthem, then apparently fans won’t watch games.

Actor James Woods, known for his fervent conservatism, is participating in this boycott. When speaking with TMZ Sports he said, “I hope they [Kaepernick and co.] respect my constitutional right never to watch the NFL again. I will never watch the NFL again. Ever.”

The Miami police union shares a similar, though slightly less strong, sentiment with Woods. After four Dolphins players kneeled before a game, the union announced a boycott against the NFL. Jeffery Bell, the International Union of Police Associations president, argued that players “give up that right of freedom of speech temporarily.”

There’s no surprise Kaepernick’s actions spurred backlash, but a boycott? Fans are boycotting the NFL because a person of color used his platform as a famous athlete to talk about a problem permeating his community.

Fans won’t boycott the NFL, however, when a player brutally assaults his wife. Or when a player sexually assaults two women. Or even when a player kills another human being. No, only when a

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player peacefully protests systematic racism.

That makes complete sense.

In 2014 former running back Ray Rice assaulted his then-fiancée. The NFL suspended him two games before a tape was released showing the assault. Only after the video made headlines did teams stop showing interest in Rice.

Steelers’ current quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has been publicly accused of sexual assault twice. After the first case, the NFL did nothing.

Following the second incident, the league suspended Roethlisberger for six games. He maintained his Nike endorsement and signed a record-breaking $87.4 million contract with the Steelers in 2015. That year Forbes ranked Roethlisberger the 11th-highest-paid athlete in the world.

Apparently violating and brutalizing women isn’t enough to anger fans into boycotting the NFL. This is one of the many reasons rape continues to happen. The league isn’t held accountable for its negligence, which further condones such horrible mistreatment of women by its players.

Fans are calling Kaepernick unpatriotic, but he’s just exercising his right to free speech, something the American system claims to protect. In boycotting the NFL, fans are implying Kaepernick and his fellow protesters do not deserve that right.

This unacceptable reaction by fans and the NFL encourages the silencing of survivors as well as people of color. These communities need a voice, especially within the sports world and even more so in the face of a male-dominated entity like the NFL. There are many reasons to boycott the NFL but Kaepernick’s political statement is not one of them. The league has systematic issues that encourage the maltreatment of women and people of color. It is problematic that fans support the game despite these unacceptable situations.

It is further concerning that the NFL does almost nothing. The lack of action combined with fan’s unacceptable ignorance will surely continue to damage these glaring societal problems.

Vassar rugby teams rebound after losing top scorers Kelly Pushie

Guest Reporter

O

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

nly a week into the fall season, the Vassar College men’s and women’s rugby teams are already off to a positive start. Over his 22year tenure, Coach Anthony Brown has led the women’s team to 20 winning seasons and the men’s side to 16 winning seasons.

Fresh off a conference win against Siena College, the women wasted no time picking up another victory against University of Albany on Saturday, Sept. 17. Guided by senior captains Mary Margaret McElduff, Nathalie Freeman and Mariah Ghant, the squad is looking as strong as ever. Returning 10 starters, the team displayed its dominance in a 70-5 win over Siena and a 31-12 win over the University of Albany.

Coach Brown is confident in both the team’s preparation and the captain’s leadership thus far.

“We are process-oriented so we want our players to practice skills and tactics that will enable them to beat the better teams in the country that play Rugby at the Division II level,” Coach Brown expressed. “I think the seniors on the squad expect to win the Conference and qualify for the Fall Final Four. They want to do well. Expectations are one thing, doing it involves a lot of hard work.”

These expectations for the season are not just coming from Coach Brown. Freeman has high hopes for her teammates’ play as well. She wants to improve upon the team’s fourth-place national finish and also fulfill her duty as captain.

“As a captain, I plan to lead by example, and also offer my guidance and assistance to all of the rookies and other less experienced players,” Freeman outlined. “I hope that my co-captains and I can help everyone to reach their full potential this season.”

Last season, Darienne Jones and Cierra Thomas accounted for 335 points, contributing 34 and 33 tries respectively. Unfortunately for the Brewers, both women graduated. Taylor Nunley, another 2016 graduate, played a large role as well with 15 tries and 75 points during her final year.

Freeman mentions that a lot of people have stepped up to help make up for the loss of the team’s top scorers. “Junior Kayla Lightner has come in at 12 to replace Cierra Thomas, who grad-

The women’s rugby team matches up in a contest last year against Delaware University. Despite losing the team’s two top scorers, the Brewers haven’t slowed down and are 2-0 already this season. uated last year. Kayla has already done wonderful things on the field,” she articulated.

Despite handily defeating Albany, Coach Brown still sees room for improvement for the women’s side.

“The University at Albany was a tough physical challenge,” Coach Brown analyzed. “We did not tackle well and must improve in that area before we can even have expectations of playoffs.”

As long as the women’s team continues to keep firing on all cylinders as it has been these past two games, they will undoubtedly be well prepared for another successful season.

In the upcoming weeks, the women’s squad will play three consecutive games at home. On Saturday, Sept. 24, they will take on Hofstra University, followed by Marist on Oct. 2, then later Stony Brook University on Oct. 9.

Like the women, the Vassar men’s rugby team is already showing promising skill after defeating Monroe College and Bard University.

“We will just focus on getting a basic set of skills that will allow us to play the game with purpose and give us the best chance to win,” reflected Coach Brown after the two victories.

The men’s captains this year are juniors George Sheppard and Joseph Simon, as well as senior Seamus Taylor. While the team has capable leaders, only four starters and 13 players in total returned.

Graduates John Loree and Eli Vargas are difficult shoes to fill as they each scored eight tries, 80 points collectively.

To make up for this loss, 19 freshmen have been added to the roster, two of which, Evan Roberts and Rob Eder, have snatched starting spots at hooker and No. 8.

Taylor is confident in this year’s squad, despite the loss of key players who graduated last year.

“We’ve already filled in many of those spots with some exceptional rookie talent. That may give us a short-term knowledge deficit, but everyone is learning quickly and we’re already evolving into

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

a competitive side,” Taylor mentioned.

In the men’s first game against Monroe College, they pulled through with a 45-7 victory, following a very close first half. Coach Brown noted that the team has “a lot of work to do this fall” since in the first half, the score was 12-7 and this was Monroe’s first rugby game ever.

However, the team was able to pull through in the second half after Simon, sophomore Charlie Hooghkirk and Taylor each scored. In the second half, Vassar took advantage of Monroe’s inexperience and accumulation of penalties. These weaknesses allowed the Brewers to hold the Mustangs scoreless for the remainder of the game.

“Grabbing a win against Monroe in week one was huge for team morale. We have a lot of rookies on the team this year and it’s great to have some early victories to celebrate and learn from,” Taylor articulated. “However, we missed a number of big tackles in that game and were really tested at times by a hard-hitting Monroe side, so we’ve been working on fundamentals and physicality.”

It is clear that working on the fundamentals and physical aspects while getting ready for Bard paid off, as the men’s team was able to add another victory on Sunday, Sept. 18.

Taylor attributes these early victories to the team’s cohesion on and off the field. In addition to a talented roster, Taylor believes that the Brewers’ unity will prove very beneficial for them the rest of the season.

“I can promise that it will take a team-oriented effort of buying in and buckling down for VC to devastate opponents this year,” Taylor continued.

“Can we do it? Absolutely. We just have to take it week by week. With a competitive Drew side coming up in week three, everyone has to bring their A game.” With this team-oriented attitude, it is no wonder Taylor was chosen to be one of the captains for his senior season.

While the men are a young squad, the talent and unity of the team will bode for a victorious upcoming season.

Vassar will play Drew University on Saturday, Sept. 25. After that contest, the Brewers will face off at home against Maritime College on Sunday, Oct. 2 and Oneonta on Sunday, Oct. 9.

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Page 20

September 22, 2016

League competion already on the brink for fall teams Jamie Anderson Guest Reporter

Women’s Volleyball

Field Hockey

Junior forward Storm Sideleau had a standout performance Saturday, tallying three goals and an assist as the Brewers shut out the Roadrunners of Ramapo College at Weinberg Field. Sideleau’s hat trick came on the heels of sophomore Alyssa More’s three-score performance at Western Connecticut, marking the first time in 17 years that Vassar has posted hat tricks in back-to-back games.

Vassar jumped out to a 1-0 lead within the first 10 minutes as freshman Cristina Lopez assisted Sideleau to get the women on the board. Sideleau put another shot in the back of the net moments later. Sophomore Megan Caveny scored the third goal while freshman Sabrina Stacks knocked in a fourth. Vassar added two after the break, another from Sideleau as well as one from sophomore Emily Poehlein.

Goalies sophomore Paige Amico and freshman Liz Rotolo combined for the shutout, as Vassar outshot the Roadrunners 35-2.

The Brewers next travel to Wayne, NJ Monday evening to take on the Pioneers of William Paterson University.

Men’s Cross Country

The men’s cross country contingent took third at Rowan University’s Bill Fritz/Carlie Way Invitational this past weekend. Vassar finished with 64 points, behind Rowan with 25 and Salisbury University with 51.

Junior Michael Scarlett finished fifth out of 174 runners and was first under the wire for Vassar with a time of 25:36.57. Scarlett has finished first for Vassar in his last 11 races.

Freshman Adin Becker took sixth on the 8K course with a time of 25:40.90, not far off from

Women’s Cross Country

Women’s cross country put six runners in the top 16 at the Bill Fritz/Charlie Way Invitational hosted by Rowan, where Vassar finished third overall. The Brewers finished with 49 points, six behind host Rowan and 15 points behind the overall team winners, New Paltz, 34 points.

Senior Lucy Balcezak finished the 6K course in 23:37.82, finishing sixth overall and first for the Brewers. Sophomore Christiana Prater-Lee finished close behind Balcezak, running a 23:38.61, good for eighth place. Freshman Meghan Cook ran a 23:55.23, her best so far, scoring points for Vassar with a 10th place finish.

Senior Laura MacDonald came in 11th place, recording a time of 24:04.06. Freshman Caroline Hartman added 14 points for VC, clocking in at 24:49.82, fifth among her teammates. Sophomore Cameron Daddis took 15th overall while fellow sophomore Megan Horn posted a 24:38.38, over a minute faster than her previous personal best.

The women next travel to the Saratoga Invitational Oct. 1 in Saratoga Springs, NY, hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Men’s Soccer

The Brewer men’s soccer squad suffered its first setback of the year, falling 4-2 at Oneonta (42-0) on Saturday.

Vassar took a 1-0 lead into the half thanks to a 28th-minute goal from junior defender Tanner Sands, with the assist courtesy of junior midfielder Reid Smith.

By the 64th minute the Oneonta Red Dragons had scored three unanswered goals on the Brewers. Vassar cut Oneonta’s lead in half in the 69th minute when junior Alex Gonzalez found the back of the net off a ball from fellow junior Jose Novas.

In the 78th minute, Oneonta, however, pushed their edge to 4-2, a lead they would preserve until the full-time whistle. Both teams had ample scoring opportunities, with Vassar taking 16 shots to Oneonta’s 15. Junior keeper Matt Marcelino took his first loss of the season, making eight saves.

On Tuesday, Vassar cruised past Elmira College 3-0 with goals coming from freshmen Henrik Olsson and Mattie Mrlik and Novas.

The men have their first Liberty League contest on Saturday against Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. Men’s Tennis

The men’s tennis squad opened fall proceedings Friday against non-conference opponent Williams College. The Brewers tested Williams up and down the lineup in singles and doubles but

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

Sophomore Christiana Prater-Lee finished eighth with a time of 23:38.61 in the Bill Fritz/ Charlie Way Invitational. The women’s team finished third overall with 49 points.

Courtesy of Carlisle Stockton

Women’s volleyball had a strong weekend, finishing 3-1 in Liberty League action from Clark Gym at Rochester Institute of Technology. The Brewers knocked off St. Lawrence University 2517, 15-25, 25-23 and 25-15 and Bard College 25-19, 2725 and 25-18 to start things off on Friday.

Saturday, Vassar picked up a big win, upsetting Clarkson University, the preseason pick to win the Liberty League. The Brewers hit .273 for the match and posted 61 kills, the most this season, and most since doing the same against New Paltz on Oct. 24, 2012. Sophomore Devan Gallagher hit .348 for the match while posting 21 kills while sophomore setter Annie MacMillan had a career-high 54 assists. Senior Sierra Tobin recorded 22 digs, the most of all players on either side.

RIT ended Vassar’s seven-match winning streak on Saturday as they took the game 25-16, 28-26, 20-25 and 25-12. Gallagher posted 18 kills for Vassar, hitting .395 for the match. MacMillan also notched 30 assists and seven digs. Tobin tied for the match lead for digs with 16, while freshman Jorden Schreeder added 12 of her own.

Vassar continues Liberty League play against Bard College and RIT at Bard next Friday at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.

Scarlett. Senior captain Gabe Fishman placed 17th overall with a time of 26:10.38, a new personal best.

Junior Philip Brown was just behind Fishman in 18th with a 26:11.00, also a personal best. Sophomore Luke Arsenault was the last point scorer for VC, finishing 24th with a time of 26:26.72.

The Brewers will next head to the Saratoga Invitational, hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Oct. 1 in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Senior captain Juan Felipe Laso hits a volley during a match last year. He was the sole Brewer to win in the men’s 1-8 non-conference loss against Williams College on Friday, Sept. 16. . dropped the dual match 8-1 to the No. 12-ranked Ephs.

In doubles, freshman pair Jeremy Auh and Allen Sokolov kept things competitive at No. 1, going down to Taylor and Grodecki, 8-5. Seniors Alexander Luckmann and Nick Litsky dropped No. 2 Dubs to Sachin Raghavan and Rohan Shastri by the same score, while junior Juan Felipe Laso and freshman Dom Demeterfi pushed Christian O’Connor and Deepak Indrakanti all the way, coming up just short, 9-7.

Williams picked up wins at one and two singles, over Litsky and Sokolov respectively. Laso made quick work of Shastri at three singles, coming out on top 6-2 , 6-3. Sophomore Jamie Anderson dropped a tight match at four singles 3-6, 6-4, 8-10. Auh kept things interesting at No. 5, eventually taking the loss 6-2, 6-3, while Demeterfi fell 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6 singles.

The Brewers are back in action on Saturday, Sept. 24, traveling to Union College at 9 a.m. for Liberty League action, before returning home the same day at 4 p.m. to battle Bard College in more conference play.

Women’s Tennis

The Vassar College women’s tennis hosted Connecticut College, SUNY New Paltz and New York University for the annual Vassar Scramble over the weekend.

The squad played outside for the first day of competition, then finished with a day of doubles play indoors at Walker Field House on Sunday afternoon. The Brewers won 69 percent of their matches at the Scramble, going 27-12 overall on the weekend, 16-8 in singles and doubles combined on Saturday and 11-4 in dubs on Sunday.

Senior captain Shayna Becker was 2-0 in singles on day one, as was freshman Tara Edwards.

Junior Kate Christensen went 3-0 in on the singles court while captain Connie Yoo was 2-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles. The first day of play was shortened slightly as darkness forced play to a halt.

Becker combined for another win with Edwards, an 8-4 victory over Adrienne Sieverding and Stephanie Simon of Connecticut College on Sunday. Yoo, paired with freshman Ashley Fair for a tight 9-8 win over Connecticut College. Christensen teamed up with sophomore Morgane Flournoy for an easy 8-3 win over the Warrens of Connecticut. Juniors Morgan Fitzgerald and Dasha Ivenitsky got past another Connecticut College pair by a scoreline of 8-6.

Flournoy, Yoo, freshman Vista Grinde and junior Lauren DiFazio each have five wins to their names in dubs. Vassar has gone 20-9 in doubles thus far, making use of 16 combinations through two weeks of tournament play.

The Brewers will next take the court at the Intercollegiate Northeast Regionals at William Smith College next Saturday, Sept. 24.

Men’s Rugby

In its second divisional game of the fall, Vassar took down the Raptors of Bard College on Sunday.

Sophomore No. 8 Rob Eder ran in two tries on the afternoon, including Vassar’s first. Seniors Joe Simon and Seamus Taylor each put in a score shortly afterward, pushing Vassar out to an early

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19-0 lead.

Bard got on the board in the first half but faced a 24-7 deficit going into the second 40 minutes.

Vassar saw the game out by a scoreline of 48-26 over Bard, with Simon adding two more tries, juniors Nick Olkovsky and Trevor Kennish contributing one each.

Kennish also slotted two cons, while Sophomore Stephen Kpundeh added two of his own.

For many Brewers, this was their first chance to compete in a live competitive game.

Vassar Rugby takes the field again this Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016 at Drew University, with kickoff set for 1 p.m.

Women’s Rugby

The Brewers had won their previous two matchups with University of Albany but faced some difficulty getting into proceedings in the opening minutes this weekend.

Vassar went up 5-0 early and went into halftime up 10-7 over the hosts. The Brewers broke things open in the second period, scoring 21 points to extend their lead over Albany, who would add a try near the end, but still dropped the result to the Brewers 31-12.

Senior captain Nathalie Freeman was responsible for two tries. Juniors Kayla Lightner and Sarah Mawhinney added one try each, as did sophomore Rachel Elson. Senior captain Mary Margaret McElduff also sent home four conversions on the day.

The Brewers B-side picked up another win on the day, shutting out Albany 38-0. Sophomore Jennie To scored two tries while senior Lizzie Bennet, juniors Michelle Urrutia and Claire Fondrie-Teitler tallied a try each. Sophomore Kaitlin Prado also scored a try while sophomore Makenna Emery was good on four cons for the Brewers, who scored 26 of their 38 points in the first half of play.

Women’s Rugby, A- and B-sides, will look to stay undefeated as they host Hofstra University this Saturday, Sept. 24th starting at 1 p.m.

Women’s Golf

Women’s golf competed at the Ann S. Batchelder Invitational this weekend at Wellesley College, finishing seventh as a team with a two-day score of 700.

Amherst College earned the team win with a score of 616, while Williams College recorded a 620 for second place. Freshman No. 1 Andrea Han posted back-to-back rounds in the 70s for Vassar, as she finished 10th overall with a two-day score of 158. Han was nine strokes behind the leader.

Another freshman, Qiwen Tan, posted an 85 on Saturday and a 92 Sunday for a weekend score of 177, finishing 34th. Senior Emily Prince improved her card nine strokes from Saturday to Sunday, posting an 86 on the second day of play.

Junior Annie Hsu also improved, shooting a 95 on Saturday, but an 89 on Sunday for the Brewers.

Sophomore Evon Shay posted a 92 Sunday, eight strokes improved from the first day to finish with a 192.

The Brewers will head to the Mount Holyoke College Invitational at The Orchards Golf Course next weekend.