Misc9 24 15

The Miscellany News

Volume CXLVIII | Issue 3

September 24, 2015

Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org

Slahi’s voice heard through diary Amanda Su

Guest Reporter

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Guest Reporter & News Editor

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t Vassar, traditions are constantly changing, taking on different meaning to students and evolving with the campus culture. Serenading is one such tradition, constantly in flux due to its controversial reputation on campus.

This year’s Serenading, which took place on Sunday, Sept. 20, proved little different, as students and administrators grappled with where the century-old tradition was to go in the future in light of decreasing student

Guest Reporter

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Sarah Sandler Columnist

Writer and human rights activist Larry Siems gives Starr Lecture entitled Finding Mohamedou, Finding Ourselves: Uncensoring the Guantánamo Diary.

season, they are just considered students, like everyone else at Vassar.

By having access to the weight room in their offseason when non-athletes do not, they are being granted a sort of preferential treatment that the NCAA discourages among Division III schools.

Since the violation was announced over the summer, key players such as Culligan, the Director of Athletics and Physical Education Michelle Walsh, Head Athletic Trainer Cameron Williams, President and Vice President of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), senior Colleen O’Connell of women’s basketball and junior Trey Cimorelli of men’s volleyball have been frequently meeting to try to come up with a viable solution.

In the email sent to athletes over the summer, Culligan stated, “To correct this violation, we are implementing a new policy that will limit student-athlete use of this room to those sport teams and programs that are currently in their declared playing and practice seasons. While you are in your traditional season you may use the room at will and freely. During your non-traditional segment, you may use that room only on the 16 dates that you will also be practicing with the entire team and See VWR on page 18

Inside this issue

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Support animals welcome FEATURES in ResLife

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ime in the water, whether it’s a beach, pool or lake, is often a big part of most people’s summers, but it rarely means weeks spent in a boat at sea.

This past summer, Katie Hoots ’18 and Ben Lehr ’16 participated in two very different SEA (Sea Education Association) programs. SEA is an organization that coordinates a variety of sailing and ocean education trips during fall, winter and summer semesters.

Hoots’ program in particular was called “Aloha ‘Aina: People and Nature in the Hawaiian Islands. It was a collaborative study abroad program with Sea Education Association and Hawaii Pacific University” (press release).

During her five week long program through the islands of Hawaii aboard a 134 foot sailboat called Robert C. Seamans, Hoots said, “We spent the first few weeks on land doing coursework and island hopping to learn about the culture and enviSee SEA on page 7

Exhibit examines race in media Sabrina Oh

Guest Reporter

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broken window concedes to the deluge of sunlight. The light enables one to only make out his austere visage. Fit snugly at the corner of his mouth, his half-smoked cigarette fumes away.

He has a firm grasp on the left side

of the window. Has he just opened the window, or is he in the process of closing it? He leans forward, a gesture of impending action, or is it? Does he find respite in this urban vantage, or is it a vantage point, where he plans to target his next quarry?

Meet Red Jackson, a subject of African-American photographer Gor-

don Parks. In many ways, Jackson is a typical teenager–he reads to his younger brother, does his chores and relaxes at home. But Jackson is also gang banger. Parks follows the prosaic details of this seventeen-year-old Harlem gang leader during the 1940s; his attraction to the subject See PARKS on page 17

courtesy of Vassar College Media Relations

owards the end of the summer, student-athletes received an email from Associate Director of Athletics Kim Culligan announcing a situation regarding compliance with the NCAA rules and regulations. The issue involved use of the Varsity Weight Room (VWR) when athletes are not in their playing and practice season. To the disappointment of many athletes and avid VWR goers, the NCAA rule in question had been widely misinterpreted by many Division III schools, Vassar included. The email from Culligan continued, “The use of our VWR is currently restricted to members of our teams only and is not open to the Vassar Community and other students attending Vassar College. By imposing this restriction, we are making it a benefit for student-athletes only. While you are out of season and not practicing and competing with your team, it would therefore be considered an extra benefit and a violation of the NCAA rules to use the VWR as you would need to be treated like every other student on this campus.” In the email Culligan explained the misunderstanding with the NCAA legislation to student-athletes. When student-athletes are not in their regular

interest and rising concerns among students about the event’s historical connection with hazing.

Serenading is among the oldest extant traditions at Vassar, along with other events dating back to the 19th century such as Founder’s Day, the Daisy Chain and Salve Night.

Originally called “step-singing,” Serenading began as an oral tradition in which the junior class sang to, and passed along marching songs to, freshmen, who would repeat the process in their junior years.

See SERENADING on page 3

Pursuing knowledge on the high seas

NCAA policy cuts weight room hours Winnie Yeates

Serenading attracts dwindling crowds Derek Sonntag & Rhys Johnson

courtesy of Donna Aceto

ohamedou Ould Slahií’s voice can just barely be heard from behind the tightly sealed gates of Guantánamo Bay. Although his words passed through the bars almost ten years ago, Slahií reamins there, fourteen years after his incarceration. The freshmen class read Slahií’s story over the summer.

In this year’s freshman common reading, the incoming Class of 2019 was presented with the book, “Guantánamo Diary,” written by Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Writer and human rights activist Larry Siems who edited, introduced, and annotated the book, presented this year’s STARR lecture, “Finding Mohamedou, Finding Ourselves: Uncensoring the Guantánamo Diary” on Sept.

24 in the Villard Room In addition, Siems gave a short background introduction of the book for incoming freshmen on the Freshmen Common Reading Program 2015 Moodle page. “It’s remarkable that we even have this book, really,” He said in the video.

He went on to say, “Mohamedou, who wrote this book in 2005 in an isolation cell in Camp Echo in Guantánamo, wrote the 466 page manuscript by hand in English, his fourth language, a language that he learned almost entirely in Guantánamo.” Whenever a prisoner writes anything, Siems said, it is considered classified from the moSee STARR on page 6

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

After Life Magazine published a skewed version of Gordon Parks’ photographs, he dedicated his life to reclaiming his work. The Loeb will showcase Parks’ original collection of photographs, alongside the infamous Life Magazine article.

Humor Editor still striving to be a HUMOR Pokémon Master

14 ARTS

Students take Time Square with one-act play

The Miscellany News

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Bennett goes abroad in the Pacific Islands Lizzie Bennett JYA Blogger

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t’s been nearly two weeks since I’ve arrived in Samoa. Already, things feel like they’re falling into place. I’m living at The University of the South Pacific-Alafua, located in a village in the outskirts of Apia. USP-Alafua is where the School of Agriculture is located.

It’s a legit farm. I’ve never lived this close to cows in my entire life. They’re literally right next door to me. I haven’t explored the rest of campus, but there are apparently sheep, pigs, poultry, and crops of all kinds. The animals I most often see on campus, however, are stray cats and dogs. They’re quite friendly, but I try to avoid them as much as possible. Since USP is a regional university (It has campuses in places like Fiji and Vanuatu as well as here.) students come from all over the South Pacific- they’re from Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, and more countries! All eight of us in my program group have roommates. Mine is Samoan, but she is unfortunately not at the university at the moment because she’s tending to family matters. However, this does not mean that I am lacking in new acquaintances

from the Pacific Islands!

Recently, I was wearing my Vassar Rugby shirt while doing laundry. Our laundry is located near a house where a bunch of Fijian students live. Our group has become friends with many of the Fijians, and one of them said hello to me while he was on his way home. He commented on the fact that I was wearing a rugby shirt, and asked if I played. I told him I did, and he asked me if I wanted to join the informal games of touch rugby (there would be no tackling, thank God.) that take place every day after classes end. I was excited and terrified that he had asked me, and I accepted his offer. I need to keep up my skills and fitness for the spring season, but I knew that all of the people playing touch would be orders of magnitude faster and more skilled than I. In the Pacific Islands, rugby is incredibly popular, and most people who play have grown up playing and watching it. Adding to that is the fact that I would be playing with mostly men.

I already detest drawing attention to myself, and the fact that I would be the only palagi woman rugby player would, in my mind, draw a bit of attention.

courtesy of Lizzie Bennett

As soon as I stepped onto the pitch, however, all of my negative feelings dissipated. I didn’t know who anyone was, and I made innumerable mistakes, but I was playing again.

The field overlooks my dormitory, and the mountain behind it. Below is a picture of the mountain in the morning, from right in front of my room. Not a bad view, isn’t it?

Well, imagine it during the sunset. We played until sundown, and then I hung out with some of the Fijians for a bit, since I already knew a few of them through my friends in the program group. They invited me to come to Fijian bible study with them. Although I do not identify with any religion in particular, I accepted the offer. It would be a learning experience for me. I quickly donned some fancier clothes and took a friend from the program group with me. It had been a long time since I had read or even handled a Bible, so I trusted on my friend of faith to help me out if I needed him.

It turned out that one of the people I had played rugby with earlier that day was the deacon, the leader of the group! Many of those I had played with were there and were excited to see me. The fellowship began and it was super chill. However, the study was basically a speed-reading of the Bible, meaning that I would have to rack my lapsed-Catholic memory in order to remember where things were. At one point, the study group was told to find a verse about the perfection of God and I somehow ended up finding the passage about how Jesus’ apostles went into town to buy food. After stumbling through the Good Book, the service ended and we were asked to stay for some “light refreshments”.

Now, think of some light refreshments.

What does the phrase bring to mind? Tea sandwiches and lemonade? Cookies? Tiny cubes of cheese with toothpicks in them?

That’s at least what I envisioned. A member of the group brought around cups of mango juice. Already I was satisfied. Anything involving mango juice is good, I thought. Then came the surprise.

September 24, 2015

Editor-in-Chief Palak Patel

Senior Editor Noble Ingram

News Features Opinions Humor & Satire Sports Photography Design Online Copy

Rhys Johnson Julia Cunningham Emily Sayer Zander Bashaw Zach Rippe Sam Pianello Sarah Dolan Elizabeth Dean Anika Lanser

Crossword Editors Alycia Beattie York Chen Collin KnoppSchwyn Assistant Opinions Sophia Burns Assistant Arts Connor McIlwain Yifan Wang Assistant Social Media Hannah Nice Reporters Amreen Bhasin Ashley Hoyle Sieu Nguyen Columnists Penina Remler Sarah Sandler Josh Sherman Design Samana Shrestha Copy Claire Baker Antigone Delton Kelsey Quinn Jessica Roden Sophia Slater Rebecca Weir Laura Wigginton

To read more about Lizzie’s travels, visit farandaway.miscellanynews.org!

Get involved with the Misc!

Come to paper critique on Sundays at 9 p.m. in the Rose Parlor!

Email misc@vassar.edu for any questions.

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 24, 2015

NEWS

Page 3

VC embraces more extensive solar, windpower energy Rhys Johnson & Ethan Baratz News Editor & Guest Reporter

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courtesy of Vassar College Media Relations

n Sept. 16, the College announced its two latest sustainability initiatives: a solar energy deal with BQ Energy and a hydropower agreement with Gravity Renewables.

BQ Energy is a Poughkeepsie-based wind and solar energy equipment supplier. They have worked on various private and public projects throughout the country, and will begin construction on a 10 megawatt (MW) solar energy project in Lackawanna this month (Office of Communications, “Vassar College announces two major clean energy initiatives, enabling the college to meet more than 20% of its electricity needs,” 09.16.15).

Gravity Renewables is a Colorado-based hydropower plant owner and operator. They have worked directly with a variety of institutions and with regulators to promote and develop clean and cost-effective alternatives to electricity, and have recently worked extensively in various locations throughout the Hudson Valley.

These projects include a recently finalized agreement with Gravity Renewables that will supply Vassar with 10 percent of its energy requirements using clean hydropower generated at one of Enel Green Power North America’s nearby hydro facilities in Groveville, about 15 miles away. According to the Office of Sustainability, because the deal was finalized just before the start of the school year, the College should begin receiving access to Gravity Renewables energy by the end of the month.

Also in the works is the development of a solar farm on a brownfield in the town of North East, about 30 miles away. There BQ Energy will build a 2 MW solar array atop a decommissioned landfill that is anticipated to meet approximately 11 percent of the College’s general energy needs. According to Sustainability Coordinator Alistair Hall, however, because the permitting process for such a project is longer and more complicated, the College plans to break ground at the site in the spring, and hopes to have the

The College recently announced its latest energy initiatives with solar power company BQ Energy and hydropower supplier Gravity Renewables, which will cut 20 percent of the community’s electricity needs. system operation by summer.

As Hall explained, the impetus for these sustainability efforts from the College came from a number of places. Along with New York’s recent push for a greater focus on adopting renewable energy sources, more concerning circumstances sparked conversations among administrators regarding how to confront climate-related issues on campus. Hall wrote in an emailed statement, “Hurricane Sandy laid bare the problems with our outdated energy system and the disproportionate impacts that it has on marginalized communities. Climate Change will only worsen these impacts.” Amid these conversations, BQ Energy and Gravity Renewables reached out to the College to put together the projects, and Hall worked with Director of Budget and Planning Bryan Swarthout to have the plans ap-

proved by the College.

According to Sustainability Intern Sophie Bedecarré Ernst ’17, however, these are not the only changes that the College has in store for the coming months. The Sustainability Department also has begun a handful of lighting conservation projects, and has recently completed an initiative to replace many outdoor floodlights on campus with LEDs. At the year’s first faculty meeting, President Catharine Bond Hill informally announced plans for Vassar to go carbon neutral, with the year 2035 being a tentative target date. Ernst explained that Hill has tasked the College Committee on Sustainability with writing a Climate Action Plan this year, and that a subcommittee will be created to discuss ideas for carbon neutrality. She remarked, “This is a huge step in the

right direction. I think that though we have a ways to go, we will greatly benefit by communicating with peer institutions. This year-long planning process will be essential and will let us dictate the mechanisms Vassar will adopt in terms of tackling neutrality. Adopting best practices from other liberal arts colleges will be a productive way of achieving neutrality.”

Many students, however, feel that neither the College’s recent progress, nor the prospect of going carbon neutral, is a strong enough response to the issue of global climate change.

The student environmental activist organization DivestVC has petitioned the College to divest from the fossil fuel industry in accordance with its often-stated commitment to sustainability and conservation for years. One of its members, Elise Ferguson ’17, posited that it is not unusual for the College to respond to student activism with appeasement measures. She wrote in an emailed statement, “I think something that a friend/fellow divestment organizer from another school said sums it up well. That is, if you want a really awesome recycling program at your school, start a divestment campaign. Divestment is a prospect that most college administrations find uncomfortable, and so sometimes they like to distract from it by improving other environmental policies on campus.”

Ferguson went on to clarify that this is not to say that the College’s new and upcoming sustainability measures are not worthy of praise, but rather that the community should be wary not to allow itself to rest on its laurels, and that there is still work to be done. “It is important to celebrate such improvements to keep morale up, as the fight for a more sustainable present and future can otherwise be a tiring and discouraging one,” she remarked. “At the same time, while improvements such as this are wonderful, welcome, and necessary we cannot let them distract us from our struggle for large scale political change. We should celebrate and appreciate the steps that the college has committed to taking, but we cannot be lulled into complacency.”

House Teams opt out of contentious freshmen tradition SERENADING continued from page 1

On Sept. 18, after extensive conversation among their respective constituencies and house teams, Hoyle, Hoang and Davison House President Nathaniel Lindley ’18 released an official statement announcing that their respective residential houses would not be formally participating in this year’s Serenading.

The statement read, “As bodies commissioned to uphold ResLife’s mission of cultivating an empowering, socially conscious, and responsible environment, we feel that, in order to maintain the dignity of our houses and their residents, we must distance ourselves from an event which verges on hazing. This decision has been reached in response to sentiments within our respective houses.”

It went on to note, “Some freshmen have reported that the prospect of this event makes them feel ‘anxious’ and ‘unsafe...’ Because this event consistently results in an uncomfortable and unsafe environment across campus, it is clearly time to reevaluate and enact change.”

Although freshmen from non-participating houses who did wish to take part in the tradition were encouraged to tag along with other residential houses, only a handful did so. Instead, the majority of freshmen and house team members from the non-participating houses walked to Ballantine Field together in solidarity after the end of the water balloon fight and singing had ended to take part in the remaining events of the day, including a pizza picnic and a fireworks show.

Some students, however, have questioned the validity of claims that Serenading qualifies as hazing, and remain critical of the houses who opted not to participate. They insist that those who believe Serenading to be a form of hazing are simply being hypersensitive to the issue.

Many students took to the ever-controversial, anonymous social media outlet YikYak to voice their criticisms.

One person posted, “None of that was hazing. Way to just come for the food.” Another commented, “Freshmen shouldn’t participate in the fireworks because it’s a form of hazing.”

Hoang, however, maintained that she, Hoyle and Lindley acted in their constituencies’ best

interests and meant no offense by their late arrival to the event. “We respect the house teams, the Senior Class Council and the Traditions Committee for all the work that went into [Serenading], because that’s not insignificant,” Hoang asserted at a VSA Council meeting on Sept.

20, shortly after Serenading had ended. “But the fact is that there are opinions out there that are calling our decision-making process autocratic, selfish, lazy, deceitful...It’s hurtful, frankly, and untrue. I can say confidently that we spent a great deal of energy to ensure that we were representing, to the best of our abilities, what our constituencies wanted.”

She went on to say, “I don’t think that the loudest voices in the rooms are the only ones that ought to be heard...We each have received a multitude of emails, hand-written notes slipped under our doors and face-to-face interactions with people thanking us for thinking with their interests in mind.”

The nature of Serenading has long been a topic of uncertainty, and its future even more so. Although the VSA Traditions Committee is in name responsible for such events, few students are aware of precisely what role it plays in them, and many have begun to question the purpose of the nascent group if the College’s leadership can commandeer the event through administrative actions.

In response, VSA President Ramy Abbady ’16 resolved to address such concerns soon, suggesting that a committee tasked specifically with organizing Serenading, clarifying underlying uncertainties surrounding the tradition and trying to craft a future for it that would appeal to future students in a way that did not resemble hazing.

However the future of Serenading will turn out, there is little doubt that it will remain a contentious issue in years to come, whatever it may look like.

Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

In recent decades, however, the tradition had changed greatly, and many came to view it as unsavory. As the Vassar Encyclopedia puts it, “In recent years, it has devolved into more of a food fight than a song fest—a free-for-all involving ketchup and chocolate sauce” (Vassar Encyclopedia, “Vassar Traditions”).

This “devolution” is the cause of why, in the eyes of many students, administrators have recently imposed several changes to Serenading to halt elements of the tradition that many consider to be hazing. These alterations have included a restriction to limit the food-fighting and to a water balloon fight before freshmen sing, and, in the case of this year’s instalment, a decision by the Administration to move the event to the Sunday of All Families Weekend.

In spite of the College’s efforts to clean up the reputation of Serenading, many students remained skeptical of the power dynamics involved in the tradition, arguing that only a very slim minority within the freshman class actually expressed interest in participating, whereas some others were openly concerned by it.

According to Noyes House President Ashley Hoyle ’18, most freshmen in her house that she asked for feedback were more confused than excited by the tradition, and didn’t follow why it was scheduled to take place during All Families Weekend. “Generally, they don’t understand what the point is and they don’t want to take the time away from some of the families that are going to be here,” she commented at a VSA Council meeting on Sept. 13.

Likewise, Josselyn House President Cecilia Hoang ’18 asserted that, due to similar feedback, she and other house presidents were faced with the uncomfortable decision between upholding the College’s tradition and responding to input students they were elected to represent.

“This is their experience. We can’t take that away from them,” Hoang posited, “but if it does turn out that they reach a near consensus about not wanting to participate, is it plausible that my obligation to respect what my house wants to do takes precedence over my obligation to a tradition?”

In keeping with the tradition’s ever-controversial nature, Serenading has been an issue on campus this year, as freshmen and their VSA representatives negotiated with its historical connection with hazing.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

NEWS

Page 4 Outside the Bubble

—Jeremy Middleman, Guest Reporter Obama Moves to Simplify FAFSA Application On Sept. 13, the White House announced changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application process that will take effect in the fall of 2016 (Reuters, “White House to announce steps to ease access to student aid,” 09.13.15).

Student debt—amounting to about $1.2 trillion— has been a growing national concern in recent years.

The FAFSA application timeline and process was, to many, part of the problem. Now, instead of waiting until Jan. 1 to start the form, students will be able to start the application as early as October. Also, whereas in past years students could not apply for financial aid until after their taxes had been filed in the spring, forcing them to wait until summer to learn the details of their package, they can now use tax information from two years prior. “Learning about aid eligibility options much earlier in the college application and decision process will allow students and families to determine the true cost of attending college—taking available financial aid into account—and make more informed decisions,” the White House stated (Reuters).

The application will also be much simpler. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan estimated that completing the new application will only take 20 minutes.

“When I was back in Chicago [as the CEO of Chicago Public Schools]...the FAFSA was so complicated that you almost had to have a degree in accounting to complete it,” he joked. “The form itself was literally a barrier to entry—it made it harder to go to college, not easier” (Chicago Tribune, “Federal student loan application to be easier and earlier next year,” 09.14.15).

As President Obama expressed, there is an unknown number of young adults who never attended college because they did not know that aid was available. “Right now, about 2 million students don’t claim the financial aid that they’re eligible for. And part of it is it’s just complicated and time-consuming,” he announced. “And so those young people are leaving money on the table” (Office of the Press Secretary, “Remarks by the President at Town Hall on College Access and Affordability,” 09.14.15).

The next hurdle for the issue, however, is spreading the word of this change and its potential benefit.

—Hannah Mittman, Guest Reporter

Bridge building seeks to unify sciences Eilis Donohue Guest Reporter

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assar has been committed to science as a part of the liberal arts education since it hired its first professor in 1865, the renowned astronomer Maria Mitchell.

Recently the College has been working towards bringing its science facilities and programs up to par with its arts divisions. Although the College currently houses the Biology, Chemistry, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Earth Science, Mathematics & Statistics and Physics & Astronomy in various buildings around campus, a new building is set to unite the programs when it opens at the beginning of next semester.

Dean of Strategic Planning and Academic Resources Marianne Begemann, who has spearheaded the project since its inception, noted that the Bridge will be installed with the latest scientific equipment and resources. She explained in an emailed statement, “[The Bridge] will have laboratory space for teaching envi-

ronmental and earth science courses, shared facilities including a robotics lab, fabrication facility (electric and machine shops), a stockroom/storage facility, phytotron, herbarium, visualization lab, teaching spaces, administrative suite, offices, a cafe with seating and outdoor patio, as well as shared open common spaces for study and small group gatherings.”

At 80,000 square feet, the building is also much larger than any other academic building at Vassar. According to Professor of Chemistry Joseph Tanski, who has been involved in advocating for an updated science space on campus since the 2003, in order to to ensure that it would not be incongruous with the existing buildings, the Bridge was designed to serve as a link between areas of campus. Tanski confirms, “The proximity and overlap between several science departments will make it easier to work together collaboratively and will enhance the experience for students.” In an article published in The Alumnae/i Quarterly, Beth Dunlop ’69 noted, “Its structural system will allow

Joshua Sherman/The Miscellany News

New Species of Human Discovered in South African Cave On Sept. 10, Professor of Human Evolution Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand Lee Berger unveiled fossil evidence for the a new human ancestor, Homo naledi, meaning “human star.” The bones were discovered in Rising Star, a cave in South Africa.

Steven Tucker, who found the fossils while exploring the cave in 2013, described his discovery, “[The crawlspace] is seven inches wide, with these jagged rocks, sticking into you from all sides. And suddenly at the bottom, it opens up into a large chamber with really stunning stalactites hanging from the ceiling” (Daily Mail, “Is this the first human? Extraordinary find in a South African cave suggests man may be up to 2.8 million years old,” 09.10.15). According to experts, if the burial scenario is undisturbed, the creatures may have introduced artificial light into the caves (Daily Mail).

Scientists initially hypothesized that the bodies accrued as a result of a natural disaster, but testing of the cave’s sediment revealed that the bodies could not have naturally moved from outside the cave (ABC News Australia, “New species of human relative, Homo naledi, found in underground graveyard in Cradle of Humankind in South Africa,” 09.10.15).

Structurally, the species shows many similarities to modern humans. The general shape of the skull is much like those of modern humans, but the braincase is less than half the size. Researchers postulate that their rotated shoulder bones and long, curved fingers would have helped with climbing, while their palms, wrists, and thumbs are humanlike, suggesting tool use.

Estimates of the age of the fossils place them between 20,000 and two million years ago (Daily Mail).

Paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London Chris Stringer also drew attention to the find’s significance. “The mixture of features in H. naledi highlights once again the complexity of the human family tree and the need for further research to understand the history and ultimate origins of our species,” he remarked. Scientists hope that H. naledi will illuminate the transition from humans’ chimp ancestor, australopithecines, to modern-day humans (New York Times, “Homo naledi, new species in human lineage, is found in South African cave,” 09.10.15).

The evolutionary history of humans, however, is still unclear, and scientists admit that it may take decades before they can fully understand who Homo naledi really was.

September 24, 2015

Along with a long list of maintenance projects, the “Bridge” is the College’s latest effort to update its long-ignored science facilities. Equipped with state-of-the-art resources, it is set to open on Jan. 4.

for the use of lighter materials–glass, metal, and mesh–that will make its gently curved form seem almost to float across the landscape.”

Significant efforts have been made to ensure that the Bridge is as ecologically conscious and responsible as possible, especially becuase it is situated directly above the Fonteyn Kill, which runs from Arlington through campus between Olmstead and Skinner Hall. Environmental initiatives for the integrated science center project include wetland restoration on the Kill and restoration of the Edith Roberts Ecological Laboratory, the wildlife area surrounding the stream.

The addition of the Bridge building is not the only alteration Vassar has made to its science facilities, however. According to Begemann, major renovations to Olmstead Hall, New England Building and Sanders Physics were completed earlier this year. The renovations are part of the larger Integrated Science Center project that includes the new construction.

All buildings involved in the project are Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certified. Tanski notes, “[The considerations] include energy considerations such as heat recovery from the Bridge air exhaust and lights on timers, wildlife friendly bird safe glass, rainwater collection for irrigation, the use of local materials such as the bluestone in the Bridge and low VOC building materials.”

In addition to the College’s general concern for keeping all of its facilities renovated, the renewed focus on developing space for the sciences has been one part of a campaign called Vassar 150: World Changing. The fundraising campaign concluded in June of 2013 and, with $46 million raised for the new science center alone, enabled construction to commence.

The Bridge building nearing its opening on Jan. 4, 2016, is to many the culmination of years of hard work, and the next great step in Vassar’s history. Tanski remarked, “Many of Vassar’s peer college’s have renovated or built new science facilities in recent years, and our science project is part of Vassar’s commitment to being a leader in liberal arts education.”

Cushing demands maintenance action Shelia Hu

Guest Reporter

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n Sept 17, Cushing House Team, driven by a series of housing issues within the dorm, passed a resolution demanding better living conditions.

The resolution covers a wide array of issues that, although not new, have come to a head for residents this year. It decries conditions in Cushing as unfair given the $11,980 students are charged annually for Room and Board, particularly in light of the failure of the Office of Residential Life to live up to its promise for an effective, seven-days-per-week housekeeping service for each of the dorms and understaffing in Buildings and Grounds.

As a response to these problems, the resolution lists student expectations for what the quality of living in Cushing should be, such as getting prompt responses to service requests and infestation reports, regular cleaning and restocking of bathrooms, fair treatment of the custodial staff, and increased communication between residents and maintenance staff.

Cushing House President Anish Kanoria ’18 explained in an emailed statement, “Conditions, in terms of pests and the lack of bathroom necessities, this year have deteriorated significantly when compared to last year. The problems of cleanliness, broken furniture and the like have been enduring issues that, in my opinion, should have been addressed earlier.”

He continued, “We believe that the recent instances of wasps frequenting our bathrooms and residents having to buy their own pest-control spray are examples of how the college does not provide us with the basic services we pay for. Cushing House Team decided to take a stand now because we felt the conditions in the house posed a real danger to the health and safety of our residents.”

According to Kanoria, drafting of the resolution began when House Team members reported multiple complaints about house conditions from residents at their “House Climate” discussion, during which Cushing House Advisor Anders van Minter suggested creating a res-

olution. With House Team approval, a working group was formed to draft this resolution, which was quickly passed.

Van Minter offered his support, commenting, “I appreciate the clear articulation of student concerns that the Cushing resolution brings forward. The most important thing ResLife can do is to ensure that residents have a safe and secure living and learning environment. As such, the biggest issue that ResLife needs to address in Cushing House is the establishment of clear communication between students, the house team and B&G around issues of safety and security.”

He continued, “ResLife needs to continue to help the Cushing house team build a house culture where residents take pride in their living environment, hold each other accountable for maintaining a healthy environment, and report issues they are aware of appropriately in a timely manner. Additionally, ResLife needs to continue to support residents of Cushing, and advocate on their behalf when necessary.”

Anticipating a critical response from administrators, Kanoria noted that, though it is students’ responsibility to keep their own spaces clean, the problem is far deeper. “Some of the issues we raise, like wasps and the lack of toilet paper in our bathrooms, does not fall under the purview of the residents,” he noted. “These are larger structural issues about the rate of response to complaints, such as the crumbling infrastructure of buildings on campus (especially dorms) that have not been renovated and the way the college chooses to spend our money.”

Kanoria also pointed out that while the Resolution is specifically written about Cushing House, many other residential houses deal with similar living issues, especially the older dorms that have not been recently renovated.

Main House President Mark Lawson ’18 commended Cushing House Team for the passing of the resolution, asserting that their concerns apply to his constituency as well. He commented, “Main is experiencing a lot of similar issues within our walls, and so drafting a similar resolution is definitely a possibility. To

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

provide residents with the best possible living situation, as well as giving custodial staff the appreciation and resources they need, well, I don’t see who suffers from that. There is room to improve, and I applaud Cushing for taking this first step.”

While some of the other dorms, like Jewett House, have recently been renovated, students living there as well have taken up the cry for better housing conditions. Jewett House President Kohei Joshi ’18 remarked, “I have never considered asking for the same in Jewett, as we have been renovated recently and do not have lots of the problems Cushing has. Sometimes, some of our bathrooms do get skipped in terms of cleaning and replacing paper towels and toilet papers, though I found that talking to the building manager and the cleaning staff themselves has been very effective. I think that fostering a good relation with these people first can be a very effective solution.”

Cushing’s resolution was soon passed on directly to Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa, Director of Operations Jeff Horst, Dean of of Strategic Planning and Academic Resources Marianne Begemann and Vice President for Finance and Administration Bob Walton. As of Sept. 21, Inoa has responded to the resolution with a few updates. Via Inoa, Buildings & Grounds had reported that after walking around the dorm and checking nine of Cushing’s 12 bathrooms, they found all were fully stocked and clean. With the exception of one clogged water fountain, they reported that all seemed to be in order with the bathrooms.

ResLife reported, however, that they would commence pest control starting Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in two of the Cushing bathrooms.

Inoa also reported that he is set to meet with members of ResLife, Buildings & Grounds and Cushing House Team to address housing condition concerns.

In addition to the efforts put forth by Cushing House Team, VSA Operations Committee is currently working out a more thorough resolution covering student housing concerns across campus.

September 24, 2015

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ResLife policy finds space for support animals in dorms Julia Cunningham Features Editor

“I

exposed to my room and my dog.”

Those same accommodations may get in the way, however, if DeYoung wants to live on campus his senior year. “The real issue comes in if I want to move into a TA or TH for senior housing and stay on campus,” DeYoung said.

“It has to be four other people who don’t have allergies, and they have to set aside a house for that. So I’m not really sure how that’s going to work.”

As for the future of Vassar offering accommodations for emotional support animals, Inoa said they hope to continue to find better ways to bring these animals on campus. Inoa wants to create a support system for people and their support animals. “It’s one thing to know that the student is going to be okay, and the student is better because the animal is living there. But it’s another thing to ensure that the animal is also having a good experience in that space, too,” Inoa said.

His own way of ensuring Kima’s comfort, DeYoung explained, is to arrange his class schedule accordingly. “What I try to do, instead of block all my classes into one or two days, how some people like to do everything

Tuesday, Thursday and then have off Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I try to spread it out so I can spend time with her, walk her,” DeYoung said. He added, “But this semester I wasn’t able to, so I actually have other students who’re dog walking for me.”

Kima seems to understand, DeYoung explained. “Even before Vassar, I had jobs. I would be gone for eight or ten hours a day at work. I mean, I did have roommates and other dogs in the house, but there’s still no situation unless you’re retired where you’re just going to be home with a dog all the time.”

There are a few regulations that DeYoung said seem different for faculty with dogs and students with dogs. “When I first got here they said no building besides Lathrop, nowhere in Lathrop besides your room,” DeYoung said. He went on, “But then, walking around the campus, there’s dogs everywhere.” He added, “So I thought okay, maybe there’s some gray area.”

As for being able to keep Kima by his side, DeYoung said, “The college has been great, though. I take Kima around everywhere, and I’ve never had an issue where someone’s told me I can’t bring her here.”

Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

nitially, when they said they wanted me to live on campus it was a red flag, I can’t live in a dorm room with a dog.”

After getting into Vassar, Pat DeYoung’s ’18 first worry was that he wouldn’t be able to bring Kima, his support dog. “Originally I didn’t think I was going to come to Vassar, so I wasn’t looking at residential schools,” DeYoung explained. “I was looking at schools that I could commute to.” He continued, “But when I got into Vassar through the Posse process, the first thing I was like, hey, I have a dog, what can I do for that?”

Vassar’s policy on having animals in the dorms dictates that either the animal must be kept humanely in a cage 24/7 or it must be a support or trained service animal. DeYoung said, “And they asked, ‘well, is she a support animal or a service animal?’ And I said, ‘well she’s a support animal, so I’m not going to not live with her.’ And they said, ‘okay, well we can accommodate that.’”

Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa said that animals deemed acceptable have been anything from mice, rats, snakes, fish and lizards. Inoa said, however, “Service animals are one thing, pets are another thing. Emotional support animals are much more recent request and an alteration of what we’ve allowed.”

Last year was one of the first times that Vassar formally opened dorm rooms up to support animals. There were three approved requests to bring animals back to campus this fall, and another request that was recently made for a cat. These animals are an important part of students’ lives, as well as an important aspect of their Vassar career.

As for any mental health concerns, Inoa believes the support animals are around more for students’ continued overall wellbeing, rather than for mental support. “I don’t think of it as a response to students wanting more counselors in Metcalf. I think of it as students wanting some agency around taking care of themselves, and finding mechanisms to cope,” Inoa said.

“For some students that means an emotional support animal, and then students find other means for self care.” Inoa continued, “And I think this is one of those things students identify as a way of helping themselves out.”

To ensure that students who need the support animals are able to have an easy transition into the dorms, Inoa, along with the Office of Accessibility and Educational Opportunity (AEO) tries to create an easy, relaxed application process. As DeYoung said, “It was pretty streamlined.” He added, “They referred me to the Office of Accessibility and [Director] MaryJo Cavanaugh, and she basically sent me an email with the policy and the requirements.

I just went through my doctor to provide documentation showing why I need the support animal, and the medical basis for that. And once I submitted to the school, the accommodation came in and they placed me according to that in the dorms.”

Being able to find a suitable place for students with emotional support animals is a tricky process. Inoa explained, “With the students who were pre-approved in the spring for the following fall, we haven’t had any issues.

For those who were more recently approved, we’ve had some issues when thinking we’ve placed them in more low traffic areas, they still have had an impact on other students.”

Inoa went on to explain, “So this very delicate balance between meeting the accommodation, but still keeping in mind the health concerns of other students around them.”

Communication, Inoa said, is key. “So perhaps if students communicate with us, say, ‘has something in my environment changed?’I’m coughing a lot more, I’m feeling itchy, I have hives. These are some of the concerns we’ve gotten from students and we’ve had to work with them to figure out place, location, is it the student with the allergies that’s moving, or is it the other student who we’ve provided the accommodation?”

DeYoung said that he hasn’t had any direct complaints about Kima. “There is more of an issue with people who are afraid of dogs,” DeYoung said. “Not so much people with dog allergies. A bunch of my friends actually are allergic to dogs,” DeYoung added. “They come to my room all the time.”

In addition, DeYoung’s accommodations put him in a more isolated area. “From what I understand, they have rooms that are designated as service animal rooms. So I live in one of those, and no one is in my hallway except for me,” DeYoung said. “So it’s kind of isolated. So if people do have an allergy, they’re not really

Pat DeYoung ‘18 sits with his support dog, Kira outside the College Center. Kira is able to live in the dorms due to new ResLife decisions about policy reguarding support animals in the dorms.

Transformations of Tasty Tuesdays adds more variety Aditi Chandna and Julia Cunningham Guest Reporter and Features Editor

T

here are not many campus traditions that are as widely appreciated as Tasty Tuesdays. Every Tuesday, as the name suggests, a few restaurants in Poughkeepsie that are just a little too far for students to walk to set up stalls in the College Center to sell their food. While there are many student favorites, the longest line tends to be for the Indian food from Kismat.

For any returning Vassar students, they will have noticed, however, that on Tuesdays, that corner of the College Center looks a little dif-

ferent this year. This is because Kismat was not welcomed back. There have been rumors floating around, but none of them were justified by either Kismat or VSA. The owner of Kismat Sammy Ahmeb said, “I loved doing Tasty Tuesday. I had been doing it since 2009, and I don’t know why Vassar hasn’t invited me back this year but I respect their decision.”

The VSA explained the situation in a little more detail. Vice President of Operations, Ruby Pierce explained, “All vendors have to sign a contract as well as provide proof of insurance

Sam Pianello/The Miscellany News

Students in the College Center await food from Tasty Tuesday. The tradition of bringing in local vendors to serve food on Tuesdays has been around since 2008, and has been successful ever since.

and a health department permit.”

She went on to say, “Kismat was in violation of the Tasty Tuesday contract in regards to complying with requests from the Campus Activities Office.”

Kismat and Vassar are by no means on bad terms. “I can promise that there was fair and due process in alerting them to this violation and giving them opportunity to revise their practices. The violation continued, and we had to let them go,” Pierce said. Ahmeb said, “I am more than willing to follow all the rules.”

Although they can’t take part in Tasty Tuesday this year, Kismat has started offering lunch at reduced prices Monday through Saturday.

Ahmeb is confident that the business that he started will still succeed despite his departure from Tasty Tuesday.

Ahmeb has a long history with food. “My family started a Bangladeshi restaurant in 1943 in Manhattan that has branched out into over sixteen restaurants,” He said. “I learned how to cook from my uncle and brother and worked with them for a time,” He added. The type of food he offers at Kismat is his specialty. Ahmeb explained, “I have specialized in Malabari cuisine, which is a type of South Indian cuisine.”

Kismat will be missed, but Tasty Tuesday must go on.

The event does not happen on its own.

Pierce, who is in charge of which restaurants are included in Tasty Tuesday, explained the selection process. “We take into consideration what kind of food students want to eat and which restaurants are willing to participate.

There are some vendors who have been here for years, so we invite them back,” She said.

There are some issues, occasionally, with finding restaurants that are willing to relocate to the College Center for a few hours every

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Tuesday. “If we catch word that students want someone to come, we work on getting that to happen,” Pierce went on to say. “Not all restaurants want to participate, though, even if Vassar wants them here.”

Without Kismat, Tasty Tuesday has not been short of food. Ku Yah, for instance, is one restaurant that specializes in Jamaican and West Indian cuisine. As the description online explains, “Their vision was to bring an elegant dine-in restaurant to Poughkeepsie which would be an element of surprise in this small town, hence the Jamaican patois expression of surprise, ‘Ku Yah.’” The Carribean restaraunt settled in Poughkeepsie in 2011 and has been coming to Vassar for Tasty Tuesdays ever since. The owner of Ku Yah, Winston, said, “We originally wanted to start a French bistro in the nineties. But our kids kept us busy and we put it off until a couple of years ago.” He added that Vassar students give them good business, and will hopefully continue to do so.

Love Feast is a new addition this year. Kamini Oppenheimer, who runs the Love Feast stall at Tasty Tuesdays serves vegan Indian food such as black-eyed peas, black bean and sweet potato curry and ‘channa saag,’ or chickpeas and spinach.

She started catering in Millbrook in 2011, and said she has finally found her passion with Love Feast. “I’m finally doing something I really enjoy,” She explained. Her love of experimenting with different cuisines helped her create the idea behind the food she offers.

Tasty Tuesday is an alternative every Tuesday for the Deece, Express Lunch or the Retreat. While it may not be a lasting tradition for some vendors, it has been a tasty treat for students since 2008.

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September 24, 2015

New org bridges gap between sciences and humanities Julia Cunningham Features Editor

A

courtesy of Jay Kim

scientific revolution has begun at Vassar this semester, led by a new pre-org called Modern Science. “We have had a great response,” Jay Kim ‘17, co-founder of Modern Science said, sitting across the table in the Retreat. At the activities fair, for instance, the club put over 100 new names on their mailing list.

“We really do want to help implement the science here at Vassar and create awareness about it, but we want to do it in a way that also suits Vassar as well,” Kim explained. “It’s just a really nice thing, I think, to have a space for science at Vassar, because historically it’s been pretty neglected.”

Modern Science was created two years ago

by Peter Kim ‘17. “It was actually called Vassar Scientific Literature Club, and that was this idea that people who are actually interested in sciences could look at research papers,” Jay said. He went on, “It was inactive for about a year, and at that point I contacted Peter and I said I was just really interested in the club, and I wanted a chance to actually help provide it.

So at that point we started doing Modern Science.”

The important part about Modern Science is that it is accessible to everyone, not just science majors. “We want a lot of diversity,” Jay said. “We want to be very complimentary towards the humanities and social sciences. We don’t want the sciences to be a completely separate discipline.” He gave the example of a discussion of artificial intelligence (AI) that was brought up at a meeting last year. “We didn’t talk about it just in the scientist’s perspective.

We talked about it in ways a political science major, for example, could see how the structural effects of AI could actually be implemented by society. You could do law, you could pretty much use it to learn how to prevent certain diseases from occurring.”

Modern Science opened to the public just this year. Last year, Jay explained, was the “beta phase,” and the club was only eleven members. Throughout the year, the club was able to smooth out its flaws, as well as test out methods of sharing Modern Science with the entire Vassar community.

Their most immediate issue was the material they were covering during meetings. “We realized that no one really wants to read sci-

Modern Science is a new org that has only recently opened up to the public. They have many events planned throughout the semester, including professor lectures and trips off campus to laboratories. entific research, at least not for fun,” Jay said.

“We just sent out emails with articles that were a little more accessible,” he added. Those articles came from sources such as Nature and PopSci. “Nature isn’t just pure scientific articles. The journal also has accessible articles for the public. PopSci was another one we use,” He explained.

The main concern for Modern Science is that not just science majors, or not just premed students will feel comfortable at their meetings. “We used a lot of articles that are more accessible and directed to the public,” Jay said. “You don’t have to come in with specialized knowledge at all. It was just stuff that would be really interesting and fascinating to read about, something that would really grab you in.”

Even in the beta phase, Modern Science wanted to offer the full experience of being a pre-org at Vassar. “Last semester we actually had Professor of Physics, Zosia Krusberg do a lecture that was pretty popular, but she is gone now, unfortunately. I’ve asked a couple of other professors, as well, math professor MingWen An Wissmann, and other executive board

members of this club have also branched out to other professors as well,” Jay said.

This year, Modern Science wants to continue offering the lecture series, since it benefits both the teachers and the students. “So hopefully we could get a teacher to do a lecture every month next semester, since we have too many events this semester,” Jay said. He continued, “It’s something we’re really looking forward to. Because I know when I was looking for a major advisor, I just looked online, and that was just as much as information as I could get.

That’s not really a nice way to do it, though.”

In addition to finding major advisors, seeing more of professors outside the classroom helps students get to know the types of people from whom they are learning.

“We want to do something like a sit down with faculty dinner,” Jay went on to say. “Because I feel like if you’re at Vassar, a lot of people don’t know anything about professors unless you take a class with them, and even if you have a class, you really don’t know what the professors do. So we want to increase communications with faculty by doing a dinner. It would be a really casual dinner where we could

just get to know the professors in a very casual and nice way.”

Now that they are open to the wider Vassar community, Modern Science had its first public showing last Friday. “We were on the Library Lawn, just because that would be more public than any other area. It also would be easy to move around in a group format,” Jay said. The event began at 3 p.m., which turned out to be slightly problematic, perhaps ironically so, due to lab conflicts.

Jay added, “It was just a method of getting our name out there for anyone that was interested in the club. It was more creating awareness of what we’ve done in the past, and an idea of what our discussions will be like for general body, plan events, and plan the lectures we’re doing this semester.”

This semester, Modern Science plans to take on an ambitious amount number of events.

“One of the bigger trips that we’re planning on doing this semester is, and it will still be open to the public of course, is a trip to New York,” Jay said. “That will just be more for fun and bonding, but it will also be visiting places like The New York Hall of Science, the American Museum of Natural History, the Rose Center, which is an observatory,” he added.

Another trip they have planned is to the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, which is a highly-ranked laboratory only a couple of hours from campus. “We want to try to arrange a dinner with the researchers there, as well, so we can communicate with them to see what’s happening,” Jay said.

There is plenty of excitement surrounding Modern Science and everything they hope to achieve this year. Their first priority is to make the sciences more accessible. Even Jay said that the sciences are not his first choice, “To be honest, I’ve been more of a math person,” He said. “I am pre-med, and knowledge can just pop out at you in so many ways that you don’t expect it to. Sciences have always been a way of exploring the world around us, and there’s so much that we don’t know, and I feel like it’s just so interesting to find out.

Modern Science meets every Monday 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Deece Dodge room. While the newly minted pre-org hopes to revolutionize the sciences at Vassar, Jay concluded, “I think science really is a tool for revolutionary change in people’s lives.”

Larry Siems reflects on the unknowable Guantánamo STARR continued from page 1

ment it’s uttered. “This manuscript was taken away, taken to a secure facility inside of Washington D.C., and stayed there for seven years,” Siems said.

The autobiographical book shares personal stories about Slahi’s time as a prisoner in the infamous Guantánamo prison. Readers are exposed to the injustice Slahi suffered at the hands of the military; some of which include (but are not limited to) blaring heavy metal music, sleep deprivation, false letters from family, forced lack of hygiene, elaborate kidnapping schemes and blatant sexual harassment.

In a video on Moodle, Professor of Psychology Randy Cornelius explained the “Value of Emotion” in the book. He said that as he read, “Even as Slahi is being treated like a dog, being forced to endure all kinds of deprivation, torture, injustice and so-on, he never-the-less often responds with kindness and compassion.

These reveal a certain kind of man with a certain kind of values.”

Sponsored by the Dean of Faculty, the Freshman Writing Seminar Program and the Vassar First Year Program, the STARR lecture will expose freshmen, who spent their summer reading “Guantánamo Diary,” to the realism of the situation.

In the lecture, Siems confronted the issues illuminated in Slahi’s book. Among one of the challenges faced with publishing the controversial Guantánamo Diary was the legal struggle to release Slahi’s original manuscript. After seven years, the government finally allowed for the release of the book under the condition of 2,600 black bar redactions and censorship lines.

“Finally in the summer of 2015, they were able to hand me a disk that had a PDF file that was the government’s declassified version of

the manuscript,” Siems said.

Those lines, Siems said, still keep the much of the public from reading the full truth of Slahi’s time spent in Guantánamo. Siems said, “Even so, it’s an amazing story.”

The Class of 2019 was introduced to “Guantánamo Diary” in the early summer when they were instructed to read the book and discuss it on Moodle. Vassar Faculty posted thought-provoking questions about the readings and allowed students to respond. For instance, in “The Prisoner’s Voice,” English Professor Amitav Kumar asked, “How, in the account that you are reading, does the subjectivity of the prisoner rise to the surface and affect us?”

Professor of History on the Eloise Ellery Chair, Rebecca Edwards offered her own advice on how to read the book, saying, “Maybe stop and take a walk now and then.” She added, “If a certain passage confuses you or stresses you, read it again, and think about it some more.”

The professors’ videos offered a preview of what freshmen could expect from both Siems’ lecture, and from Vassar classes from a range of departments.

The freshman common reading is selected by the Writing Subcommittee of the Committee on Curricular Policies. Dean of Freshman and Professor of English Susan Zlotnick explained, “When choosing the book, we keep in mind the books that have been selected in the previous years and try to—over the course of four or five years—select books that represent the range of subjects taught at the College.”

She added, “‘Guantánamo Diary,’ which recounts Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s extralegal rendition, imprisonment and torture in the name of national security, opens up a space for thinking about recent US policy. Our incoming

freshmen have grown up in a world defined by the events of 9/11 and the conflicts, including the ‘war on terror,’ that followed. Guantánamo Diary fills in some of that recent history for our students.”

Slahi’s story is not an easy one to hear. Slahi, barely over thirty, received a call from the police to come in for questioning in his home country of Mauritania, Africa on November 30, 2001. “It was voluntary,” Siems said. He believed he would be home by the next day. Siems explained, “Instead, the Mauritanian government held him for a little over a week while the government of Jordan arranged a rendition flight to pick him up, and took him to Amman, Jordan where he was interrogated at the US request for eight months in a Jordanian intelligence prison.”

The Jordanians concluded that he wasn’t who the US thought he was, and were ready to send Slahi home. However, Siems said, “They sent him on to Guantánamo on August 5, 2002, and he has been there ever since.”

Throughout the novel, Siems left commentary and notes referring to and explaining the redactions that scatter the book. About the topics that were discussed at the lecture, Zlotnick ensured, “Larry Siems will address a variety of issues, including the challenges of editing a heavily redacted manuscript, but also the impact that the release of Slahi’s diary has had.”

The Writing Committee sponsored a public reading of selections from Guantánamo Diary in the library during the first week of classes to underscore the fact that we could not bring Slahi himself to campus because he’s still imprisoned.

Siems said, “I think what happened to him [Slahi] at Guantánamo is at the heart of ‘Guantánamo Diary,’ and it’s a pretty harrowing

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

and disturbing story. I think for anyone who is an American citizen, a student or somebody who studies the principles by which this country was founded, you’ll find a pretty troubling story.”

The lecture is open to anyone. Students, faculty and alumnae are encouraged to attend.

Those who have not had the chance to read Guantánamo Diary need not fear. Zlotnick explained, “I’m sure Siems will provide enough context to make the talk valuable to all members of the Vassar community.”

Whether through the written words in his book or the spoken words in Siems’s lecture, people finally will hear Slahi’s voice. “But this book is more than a litany of complaints,” Siems said. “This is really the first piece of literature that we have that comes out of the post-9/11 interrogation program.” Siems went on to say of Slahi, “He has a great sense of beauty, he has a great sense of irony, a great sense of humor.”

In this way, Siems explained, “He is able to tell a story in which he is primarily interested in the human side of what is a very dehumanized place. We get these amazing portraits of interrogators and guards, people that are in your neighborhoods, probably, now having come back from Guantánamo having served there.

People we never hear from because they don’t get to talk about their experiences, either.”

This book, Edwards said on Moodle, is a challenging, and possibly even disturbing read.

In a world still recovering from the devastation of Sept. 11, shrouded in the perpetual fear of foreign conflicts and terrorism, this enlightenment is an important part of Vassar students’ knowledge of the world. Edwards said, “At the heart of a modern, liberal arts education, is willingness to confront discomfort and complexity and difficult questions.“

September 24, 2015

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Studying smart: tips for the seemingly limitless reading Kayla Gonzalez Guest Reporter

“I

Leo Hilton/The Miscellany News

really don’t know if I want to reveal this to you.” Laura Song ’16 said as she looked around the bustling street fair. After a moment of consideration, she hesitantly continued. “The best place to study is Blodgett, especially during finals week because there’s no one in there.”

The rigorous amount of work at Vassar is nothing AP courses or SAT prep can accurately prepare you for. It can be especially difficult for freshmen to get into comfortable and productive studying habits.

One of the first steps to doing this is finding the right place to study, which can take considerable time for some people. The ideal palce is both confortable, but not so comfortable that you fall asleep, as well as being free of distractions.

The library seems like the obvious choice, and while it is a perfectly good and beautiful study environment, it is not the only available place or even library on campus.

Chiara Mannarino ’16 shared some of her alternatives, like the Skinner Music Library or the Art History Library, which are always less occupied.

Aliyah Harith-Bey ’16 added that finding the best place to study was actually a motivation to declare her major sooner rather than later. She said, “Something exciting for me was that once you declare a major, you get access to the department’s building. So I’m always studying in Rocky because that’s the Political Science building.”

Other responses included the Retreat, the Deece, Taylor Hall, New England and the Jetson Lounge. But choosing a place to study isn’t the only step to being a good student. According to Harith-Bey, it helps to make sure you’re on top of your work.

Your path to success starts as soon as you get the assignment. “For papers, always read the prompt as soon as you get it! Even if you don’t start it immediately, let it marinate so it’s in your head. If you don’t read it right away, you can easily forget about the assignment and that leaves you stressed out for when you eventually begin.”

When it comes to reading assignments, Song had an interesting study hack that she learned from LSAT prep.

“To speed up your reading, you should draw a vertical line through the page,” Song said. While this may seem a little unorthodox at first, Song went on to explain the reasoning behind and benefits of this method. “Pay attention to your eye movement when you’re reading because a lot of the time only one eye moves along the text, which slows you down. You should be reading with both eyes moving.”

According to Song, “This technique will get you into the habit of moving both eyes across the page and it will train your mind to look at the words and pick up what the reading is about without reading every word.”

If you’re someone who gets everything done on a device instead of on paper, Harith-Bey suggested an app that changed the way she studied.

“I highly suggest downloading the app Good Notes because it allows you to download PDFs from Moodle or any other place and add, sort, annotate, and highlight them on your screen.”

Although the app is not free, Harith-Bey guarantees that it’s worth the buy because of the money you’ll save not printing out every reading. “Everything is on my ipad because of this app. I’ve printed out about two readings in the past two years.”

Once you’re in study mode, you may be tempted to take a 20 minute break, which will inevitably turn into a two-hour break. To avoid doing this, Song suggests studying in a group.

“I do work with other people because it motivates me to stay on task. We’ll let ourselves take a break and talk for 15 minutes, but as soon as that’s over, we get back to work.”

Procrastination leads all students to try to write an essay in one sitting at some point in their careers, but both Song and Harith-Bey emphasized the importance of getting a head start on assignments. Song explained, “Section your work off by days. If I have a paper due on Wednesday, I’ll work on it Sunday, get it done by Monday, then go my office hours to review it.”

Harith-Bey echoed this statement by saying, “Nothing sucks more than taking an outline to a professor at the last minute and having them switch everything up.”

Besides the reading, writing, and problem solving, office hours are equally an important part of studying. ”Get into the habit of going to office hours,” advises Harith-Bey. ”Within

A student works on an assignment in Cushing’s great hall.. Of the many useful places on campus the class of 2019 has found to improve their study habits, dorm common spaces are a popular option. two to three weeks of the semester, make an appointment with your professor just to talk to them, maybe bring up something you found interesting in class. They appreciate it a lot more than you think.”

For people who are new to the concept of office hours, Mannarino cleared up a common misconception about them. “Many people think they need to have a big, concrete plan when they go to office hours. They don’t need that! They can just go in with an idea, and the professor will help them develop it.”

Mannarino also stressed the fact that office hours conversations aren’t restricted to the class subject. “I once went in with an idea for a paper and it turned into a conversation about my life and planning my study abroad,” Mannarino said.

Building strong relationships with professors is helpful to not only studying habits but also future connections. “Remember that you’re eventually going to have to ask them for letters of recommendation,” Song says.

Harith-Bey recalled a time that her professor helped her get in contact with the design de-

partment at Anthropologie, which eventually left her with a job. “You never know whom your professor knows,” she commented.

Now, no matter how prepared and organized you are with your studying, accidents happen and essays are ruined. Song recalled just a moment. “I was studying at the deece on one of the tall tables, and I had finished my essay. I got up to get some juice, and when I got back to my table, I tripped over my charger wire. My computer fell off the table and broke when it hit the ground!” Luckily, Song was able to contact her professor and get an extension.

In moments like these, which might happen, and in moments of extreme stress, which will without-a-doubt happen, it’s always important to stay calm.

For newly independent freshmen just figuring out the path to success in college, these steps are proven to help, as they have already helped freshmen like Mannarino. She concludes, “You have to remember that having a lot of work always seems overwhelming, but you will always find a way to get it done.”

Anchors Away! Two students’ summers on the high seas SEA continued from page 1

ronment on the Hawai’ian Islands. During that time, we were based on the west side of O’ahu.”

Once the sailing journey began, it took them to the Big Island, through a channel created by the island trio of Lana’i, Mau’i, and Moloka’i.

Hoots added, “We went onshore Moloka’i for an amazing day at the world’s only functioning Hawai’ian fish pond and then sailed back to O’ahu where we would spend our last week putting together papers and presentations to summarize our life changing journey.”

Hoots plans on declaring a Biology and Greek and Roman Studies double major here at Vassar. She commented, “My time at SEA made

me further realize my passion for biology and the natural world. The program’s synthesis of humanity studies with the natural sciences inspired me to pursue a double major in a natural science and a humanity.”

She went on, “For me, the combination sparks my varying interests and allows me to delve into seemingly contrasting areas that have more overlaps than one might think–that’s the beauty of a liberal arts education!”

Hoots’s trip taught her a lot more in addition to reigniting her passion for biology. She added, “We were able to see and experience in person a taste of the ancient Hawai’ian culture and practices that we had studied in the classroom.

courtesy of Brent Hoots

Katie Hoots ‘18 aboard the 134 foot sailboat, Robert C. Seamans, that she lived on for five weeks island hopping around Hawai’i as part of her summer with the Sea Education Association Program.

Every person we talk to enriches our understanding of the deep connections between the resource management and spirituality of the ancient Hawai’ians.”

Her group had the opportunity to work on a water system belonging to an anciet Hawai’ian people, the Ahupua’a. Hoots commented, “We sang the ‘E ho mai’ chant as a way of asking for permission to enter sacred territory.

The ‘E ho mai’ chant is literally asking ‘for knowledge from above, knowledge hidden in the chants,’ and as I sing it, I hope that my shipmates and I can immerse ourselves in this experience and further absorb the values of the Hawai’ian people.”

This connection with Hawai’ian people inspired Hoots’s passion for a cause called #ProtectMaunaKea. Mauna Kea has been a sacred site for Hawai’ian peoples for over one thousand years, and is now being considered by foreign entities for the location of a billion dollar TMT (thirty meter telescope).

Hoots recognizes that this telescope could lead to scientific discoveries, but she said, “It is yet another example of foreign peoples desecrating sacred land and taking advantage of a native population.”

Hoots’s semester at SEA was much more than an academic education for her, but a spiritual one as well. When she swam to a small islet called Mokoli’i she said, “I looked back at the setting sun and felt an overwhelming sense of Aloha ‘Aina (love of the land).”

“Surrounded by ocean water and lush mountain ridges, I thought that maybe I had caught a glimpse of the powerful and intimate relationship the Hawai’ian peoples have had of this land for over a thousand years,” She added, “In that moment, among my shipmates, the warm breeze, and the rolling waves, I knew that if we could spread that sense of pride and love for the earth, we could change it for the better.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Hoots had an unforgettable summer. She said, “Overall, my summer with SEA was one of the best experiences of my life. I am so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to work with an incredible crew of shipmates, professors, and sailors. I would absolutely recommend SEA to anyone.”

While Hoots spent a good amount of time on land, Lehr had a very different experience. His SEA trip consisted of a thirty day journey from Woods Hole, Massachusetts to Cork, Ireland through the north Atlantic.

Lehr said, “Spending a month at sea with no land in sight was an amazing experience.

The community that formed on-board was unlike anything I have ever experienced. We saw whales or dolphins most days, often just a few feet from the ship. At night, dolphins would play under the ship’s bow, their bodies glowing magically from the bioluminescence and trailing shooting stars.”

Being at sea for thirty days meant a lot of work for Lehr and the other students on-board.

He added, “Three ‘watches’ rotated through a twenty-four hour schedule on deck and in the oceanography lab meant that most days were ten hours long, not including class and course work.”

The hard work proved useful, and Lehr added, “I hope to be a leader in climate change and conservation movements in the future. Learning about my own leadership capabilities and the ocean environment in the context of sailing a tall ship was very relevant for me.”

He concluded, “I learned that life at sea on a sailing ship is completely different from life on land, in ways that are both indescribable and, I believe, critically important to understanding Western and particularly American cultures and experiences. I learned to appreciate everything that I have and everything that I can do on land in a different way.”

FEATURES

Page 8

September 24, 2015

Magic of Sorting Hat remains a mystery all four years Alan Hagins

Guest Reporter

S

tempt to anticipate with whom they might end up rooming.

Perhaps the most difficult question to predict for students is the one about magic. Lily Shell, ‘16, said she answered “maybe.” Shell explained, “I wasn’t sure if I would end up with someone really weird if I answered ‘yes,’but I also didn’t want to end up with someone who was no fun at all.”

For others, like Peter Galer ’16, “Initially, the question about magic felt like a curveball. But after consulting with my brother, I realized I couldn’t say no. I think it has to be yes or maybe. We go to a liberal arts college.”

The introduction of magic and online survey software that was brought about in 2008 was a stark departure for Horowitz and the rest of the Residential Life office, who had previously

courtesy of Vassar College Media Relations

ometime in the faint pre-dawn glow of the year 2008, Vassar College acquired a magical artifact we now know as The Sorting Hat. For four years after, Associate Director of Residential Life, Rich Horowitz, retrieved the hat from its hiding spot and used it to assign freshman year roommates. Now, Horowitz said, “I’m anxious to bring the hat back to life after its three-year slumber.”

But, resurrecting The Sorting Hat might be more difficult than it appears. Part of the problem is that the location of The Sorting Hat is yet undisclosed. There are reports from Assistant Director of Residential Life Anders C. Van Minter, who suggests, “There is a womp womp who protects the hat.” As anyone who has come across one of these furry ferocious creatures can attest, retrieval of the hat would be no simple or safe task. It may be well worth it for Horowitz though, who believes an element of magic is crucial to the selection of freshman year roommates.

Each year, a standard survey is sent out to all admitted students. Horowitz described the survey in an interview, saying, “Our survey begins with some of the most basic match/mismatch issues, such as interest in all female or Wellness housing, whether a student is a smoker and/or willing to live with a smoker, sleep habits and cleanliness,” Horotwitz noted.

Before the survey ends however, the residential office’s standard line of questioning takes a sharp turn.

“Do you believe in magic?” The question first appeared on the survey in 2008, the same year that The Sorting Hat was acquired.“My sense is the question itself offers the possibility of some magic while students are answering these questions and lost in a world of the future in which there’s so much excitement and anxiety swirling around and clouding things. I think it gives reason for pause and, generally speaking, I think it’s in these pauses that the

best stuff happens.” Remarked Horowitz.

“The groovy stuff aside,” Horowitz continued, “it’s a fun question and a great song by a band with one of the best names ever.” Although asked in specifics about how the question of magic influenced Horowitz’s decision making process, he declined to comment. We may suppose that a magician never reveals his secrets. In any case, Horowitz suggests that “by the end of the survey, students have had the opportunity to provide a fairly comprehensive snapshot of who they believe they are.”

While Horowitz and others at the Office of Residential Life may think that the survey provides a rather straightforward measure of students’ habits and personality some students are of a different mind. Many students are inclined to second guess the survey questions in an at-

Each summer freshmen await their dorm assignments. Housing is an important part of the college experience. Some students stay in the same dorm for four years, and some move around each year.

relied on snail mail to get the word out about selection.

Horowitz arrived in 2005. “That year’s selection was a chaotic scramble,” Horowitz explined. It was difficult for Horowitz and team to match up the paper applications that they received from students and assign them roommates. “I relied heavily on help from house advisors and our student workers to get the job done. Even after that, however, there was a mad dash to print the letters, stuff the envelopes and then send them out,” He said.

In 2008, the college saw the introduction of The Sorting Hat accompanied by a lightening of spirits, and the lightning fast technology of online surveys and files. But, as Horowitz notes, “while things have become easier, the need to find the time to slow things down enough to do the work well is the annual challenge.”

In addition to time concerns, for Horowitz, “there are many things that can help make or break a roommate match. Similarities may actually be good or bad and the same can be said of differences. It seems to me that the key ingredient for any success in any match is kindness, consideration and open-mindedness.”

Incoming freshman have had the opportunity, since 2008, to choose their own roommates, or leave it up to the department and the luck of the draw. Horowitz said, “While some students each year choose this option, most students go old school, and allow the sorting to happen.”

Despite some students’ concerns that the survey questions do not accurately reflect their personalities, the element of magic Horowitz introduced gives students reason to trust they will be sorted well. And if things don’t go quite as well as they’d hoped, they can always switch.

Come next fall, it might be time once again for Horowitz to make his journey to the womp womp’s lair and retrieve The Sorting Hat. Soon, Horowitz might renew that age old feeling of magic which clings to our dormitories’ hallways, and simply won’t get out of our mattresses.

Deece Hacks presents: a surprise for your whole palate Penina Remler Columnist

T

he Deece is much more than a dining hall. In fact, some may go ahead and consider each trip a considerably unique experience. Each visit is a bit unpredictable; rarely can you guarantee that there will be an open table or your favorite cereal will be there waiting for you, but that is what makes Vassar’s dining experience one of a kind—you never know what your next meal has in store.

However, if you’re a food freak like me, a substantial meal is crucial. Although a quick bowl of Lucky Charms sounds simple and satisfying, it has little chance of providing enough energy to make it through the day. At this point, I usually turn to the salad bar, which has definitely improved, but as I enter my third semester and notice that I am still eating the same meal for lunch and dinner, my taste buds can’t help but scream–something has got to change. This brings me to five recently tested and well-reviewed “deece hacks.” With a little time and patience, you will be pleasantly surprised to uncover what some accessible deece ingredients can bring to the table.

Apple Compote

Kale Chicken Caesar Salad

Why trek off campus when a satisfying, substantial kale chicken Caesar salad awaits you at the Deece? The process is painless; start by stocking up with some kale at the stir-fry station, take a detour by the grill to request some chopped grilled chicken, walk over to the salad bar to combine some parmesan cheese, lemon and olive oil and voila: a respectable salad that you can enjoy without having to leave campus.

Ingredients: Kale, grilled chicken, extra virgin olive oil, lemon wedges and shaved parmesan cheese.

Stir-friend Broccoli Stalks and Flowers, Red Peppers, and Tofu

Rocky Mountain Toast

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

courtesy of Paige MacKenzie on Flickr

courtesy of Despi Ross on Flickr

With one slice of bread, unsalted butter and a single egg, spice up your breakfast with the classic “egg in a whole.” All you’ll need is a spot at the stirfry station to cook your egg into its own carb-cove, which can be made by cutting out a circle in the center of your toast. Over medium-high heat, watch your breakfast come to life by just grilling the egg and toast together for two-three minutes on each side. Depending on your preference, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and indulge over your overeasy egg before your friends even make it to the front of the omelet line.

Ingredients: 1 ¾ inch-thick slice bread, 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, salt and pepper.

courtesy of sadjeans on Flickr

courtesy of spicyseasons on Flickr

We all know the deece is well stocked in apples and saucepans, but did you know that combining the two could satisfy any healthy yet sweet craving? Depending on your preference, hunt down a handful of red or green apples and remember to rid the core while cutting them into chunks. Place your apples in a well-heated saucepan with some water and stir them until this mix begins to bubble. Once the heat rises, reduce to a lower level and cover your apples until they have cooked down, but still maintain some type of consistency.

Finally, top them off with some sugar, cinnamon or desired toppings and simmer for a final two to three minutes before serving. with or without vanilla soft serve on the side.

Ingredients: 4-5 apples, 2 tablespoons water, 2 tablespoons sugar and/or cinnamon, 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon and optional ice cream à la mode.

Just because “Meatless Monday” has a certain ring to it, doesn’t mean that you have to wait a full week to embrace your inner vegetarian. Impress your friends and those around you with a recipe that is flavorful, colorful, simple and accessible at the cost of a single meal swipe. Though the title sounds a bit complex, all you’ll need is some broccoli, tofu, soy sauce, vegetable stock, garlic, ginger and red bell peppers, which luckily for you, can all be found within walking distance. Heat your skillet, throw in some olive oil/vegetable stock, sauté your broccoli/tofu, embellish it with sauces/ seasonings and allow your appetite to take over from there.

Ingredients: 1 bunch of broccoli, ¼ inch thick pieces of tofu, 1-2 tablespoons of soy sauce, vegtable stock, salt, pepper, garlic, minced ginger, red pepper flakes and 2-inch pieces of red bell peppers.

September 24, 2015

OPINIONS

Page 9

The Miscellany News Staff Editorial

College takes positive steps toward energy conservation

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his past week, Vassar College released its decision to adopt two clean energy initiatives that are expected to supply the school with 20% of the campus’ energy needs and dramatically curtail greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades. The college is taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint in the long run by collaborating with hydro power company Gravity Renewables and solar energy manufacturer BQ Energy and replacing a sizable percentage of its nonrenewable fuel with solar electricity.

“These two renewable energy projects contribute to our goal of reaching carbon neutrality as quickly as possible, while also supporting the renewable energy sector, which will need to be part of the global solution to climate change,” stated President Hill in response to the initiatives (Vassar College, Vassar College announces two major clean energy initiatives, enabling the college to meet more than 20% of its electricity needs, 9.16.15) Considering the pushback that the administration has faced from the student body in recent months, this energy conservation policy, finally reconciling the ever-widening gap between student and administrative interests, comes as a welcome gesture on the part of the College. Groups on campus such as the Vassar College Divestment Campaign have been protesting for the college’s detachment from practices like coal, oil and natural gas extraction for years, arguing for complete divestment from the fossil fuel industry. VC Divest, along with the majority of the student body, advocates for increased sustainability and a commitment to improving environmental conditions locally and globally.

Therefore, we at The Miscellany News would like to commend the school for recog-

nizing the general requests of its community and implementing changes that represent the priorities of the campus as a whole.

However, if these initiatives are in fact a direct response to student activism, then it would seem as though the administration is only appeasing the call for divestment with a smaller scale plan for energy conservation.

The majority of the campus’ energy is still dependent on fossil fuels, and the recent construction of The Integrated Science Center proved to be ecologically damaging, utilizing none of the clean power sources that the college will now be integrating according to the new initiatives.

It is also curious that the school is implementing these measures after a year of social outcry concerning racial tensions and sexual violence on campus. We must ask, then, is the administration distracting students with these measures to avoid addressing the issues that have thus far been the focus of campus activism?

Whether or not the college is avoiding standing points of conflict amongst students, it’s evident that Vassar College is fundamentally motivated to contributing to the environmentalist cause. In 2011, the school enacted the Greenhouse Gas Reduction plan to cut back on emissions by 3% each year, scaling back on natural gas usage on three separate levels: on-site consumption of gas and oil for heating campus, emissions from purchased electricity and emissions from sponsored travel, employee commuting, JYA and off-site waste disposal.

Judging from the base fiscal year of 2005, the college was able to reduce total greenhouse gas emissions by 48% by 2013 (Vassar College, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory). Hopefully this is a good indicator that

these initiatives with Gravity Renewables and BQ Energy will have long term benefits as well, and that trustees will continue in their efforts to promote energy conservation despite any degree of success that these projects may yield.

If we presume that the initiatives are merely a step in a series of actions taken to better the environment, then we need to consider any additional improvements that Vassar can make to its plans for climate change.

Vassar College names 21 schools, including Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Bryn Mawr College and Colby College, as points of reference for comparative data studies; so, by analyzing the renewable energy policies at these peer institutions, we can better ascertain whether or not it would be feasible for Vassar to achieve a “greener” campus.

At Amherst, select academic and residential buildings are powered by solar panels and windmills, and similarly, Bryn Mawr began operating on 100% wind power in 2014.

Director of Facilities Services at the institution Glenn Smith said, “We are supporting a movement for our country to move away from fossil fuels and towards a more renewable energy source,” (Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr Continues Commitment to Sustainability with Renewable Energy Investment, 4.3.14).

Bowdoin College, like Vassar, is moving towards carbon neutrality, and has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 17% in six years. The school hopes to become carbon neutral by 2020, and Colby, a national forerunner in campus sustainability, is already carbon neutral.

Perhaps it’s time that we press for concrete, goal-oriented deadlines as well. Vas-

sar has made considerable progress with regards to on-campus sustainability principles, but does the administration have a long term plan in place? Without any information relating to future developments or objectives, it’s difficult to trust that the school will remain committed to environmental activism, or even to the continuation of its agreements with Gravity Renewables and BQ Energy. And if, in twenty years, Vassar is still working with these companies, will the incremental reductions in greenhouse gas emissions really be enough to combat quickly deteriorating global climate conditions?

It is likely that these measures will have to be reformed, or supplemented, in order to generate even a minor impact on the environment.

Nevertheless, this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. With the college allocating a large part of its funds to the generous financial aid packages that the campus community depends on, we must recognize that the decision to adopt these costly clean energy initiatives demonstrates a clear dedication to sustainability. Ideally, the school would work more closely with groups such as VC Divest and advocate a more handson approach to safe environmental practices, as the initiatives lack the human element that’s instrumental in inspiring lasting change. While it is our duty to continually promote our beliefs and strive to better our institution, we have to evaluate which goals are attainable and which are not. We must derive some satisfaction from any amount of progress while pushing for ongoing improvements.

—The Staff Editorial represents the opinions of at least 2/3 of our Editorial Board.

Corporate vendors lose touch with community dining needs Joshua Sherman Columnist

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ast Friday was the first of three dining presentations from the firms that have approached Vassar to make a Request For Proposal (RFP). In a nutshell, these three companies, Sodexo, Bon Appetit and our own Aramark, want to propose to Vassar (and us students) what sort of vision they will implement if put in charge of campus dining over the course of several years.

This is the byproduct of years of student complaints about food quality, a 2012 report on campus dining quality, not to mention my own work on the Miscellany writing on the poor dining options on campus.

Now it’s coming together with an action plan, where each company will go into great detail about why they are the foremost experts of dining services in the world, what access and potential they can provide in their capacity, and how they want to carry out their vision here at a school like Vassar College.

I couldn’t help but look on with amusement as Sodexo, the first of the three vendors, presented its dining vision last Friday in the Villard Room. The very nature of the event felt so overly professional and structured–something they probably find commonplace at other, much larger institutions. They had this business developer, and that marketing director, and this regional chef coordinator, and so on until at least half a dozen different suited ladies and gentlemen dotted the room, putting on those big grins you only see at conventions and conferences. They had this massive HDTV at the front with a slideshow of the various health and food initiatives they provide the world. Of course they had brochures all about Sodexo’s campus dining mission and what sort of success stories they had over the years.

Over the next hour and a half, Sodexo went into its vision about how they saw the faults in Aramark’s current dining situation. They talked about how the food was prepared far too early in the ACDC, prioritizing quantity over quality.

They talked about how, through all this data, social media and other initiatives, Sodexo has

the tools to turn Vassar’s dining experience around, and that we’re on the cusp of some sort of dining revolution, just as they provided at Albany and Brandeis.

There were all sorts of things done to improve dining, including rewards programs, specialty stores, SnapChat accounts for dining and more. Sodexo really emphasized how it was so student-friendly and really knew how to integrate its dining experiences into the hip, young, Millennial culture of “Mark Zuckerberg” and “Justin Bieber,” as expressed in their presentation.

Let me be frank: I highly doubt we’ll see any major difference in what Sodexo, Aramark and Bon Appetit can provide as dining service providers. These are massive companies all with the same clout and control over food processes and sourcing, whether it’s around the corner in farms along the Hudson Valley, or even around the world.

The fact of the matter is that I doubt it has much to do with these dining service providers that impacts poor dining quality, but the funding from our college toward campus dining. Sodexo can have all these great ideas, but I wonder if we even give Aramark enough money to do the things it really wants to do.

“I doubt it has much to do with these... providers that impacts poor dining quality.”

This is also in conjunction with the fact that we are not a large school, so we can’t have as much variety as a school like Brandeis or Albany when considering how many dining options will exist.

Marianne Begemann on Sunday at VSA Council already stated that once the new cafe in the new Integrated Science Center is completed, there will be no more new dining centers or options on campus, and in fact we’ll probably

close the Kiosk in the long term and adjust the capacity of the Retreat, among numerous other ideas rolling around with Master Planning. The point here is that Vassar is not Brandeis or Albany. When Sodexo talks about sushi bars and new cafes, that’s in partnership with the college in terms of funding those public works. Aside from improving the Retreat and ACDC, there will be likely few other major changes to dining facilities and options by that extension.

Of course these are just locations, but it’s hard to vision how dining will evolve much farther when we’re working out of the same core facilities, which will be improved, but only within the scale that Vassar sees necessary to meet campus dining needs. And as for the status quo, I don’t see much of a commitment in that department, with or without Aramark.

When Vassar chefs prepare meals, they prepare from recipes that they get from Aramark staff, as well as work from whatever Aramark chooses to order.

Perhaps one of the biggest complaints from students, among myriad other complaints about the quality of the food in the ACDC, is the fact that options are bland, tasteless and nausea-inducing. But this has nothing to do with who provides the food.

Aramark’s food service provider, Sysco, sells a huge range of products, and the problem is that we choose to purchase lower quality foods, more highly processed items, more prepared sauces and generic foods, and ultimately all those things that makes our dining experience such a poor one. Aramark doesn’t want to buy low-quality food, they buy whatever meets their schedule for spending however much money they are allowed to during the year. Even Vassar dining staff admit they know Aramark can buy better quality food, but choose not to, likely due to the limitations of what Vassar’s contract permits in terms of spending.

I will admit I’m working from some preconceived notions about dining here, as much isn’t shared about how Aramark is compensated, and my last attempt to acquire that information from Brian Swarthout came up empty handed, mostly due to the complex relationship dining

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

has here between facility costs, food costs, manager costs and dining staff costs. I’ll also concede I don’t think there’s anything malicious afoot here–just that Vassar wants to keep a low-cost dining experience, and that’s far more impactful on our dining experiences than what Aramark can or won’t do on a daily basis. We’re not some big school with 15,000 mouths to feed, and when seniors don’t typically have to pay for a meal plan, that removes a lot of people from an already small campus.

These big ideas, and this professional presentation grounded in big school successes sort of demonstrates not only how little Sodexo understands Vassar as a campus, but also how it seems that little will change after these dining projects are adopted, unless Vassar shows a more thorough commitment to spending more money on dining. There are many ways dining could evolve from here, and Sodexo has expressed very clearly in its presentation that it wants to be a partner.

“It’s hard to vision how dining will evolve... when we’re working out of the same facilities.”

But to be honest, I think the issue lies in not just Sodexo’s “big school” mentality in its presentation and style at these meetings, but also the fact that we are a small school. When we contract out big companies in such a small environment, we’re going to get a watered down experience.

We need to look inward to smaller scale operations with all our smart residents to really figure out dining for the long term. Maybe my feelings will change as I observe the other potential dining service providers and their presentations in the coming weeks, but I remain skeptical at best, and cynical at heart.

—Joshua Sherman ’16 is an English major..

OPINIONS

Page 10

September 24, 2015

Campus ignores challenges of international experience Christa Haryanto Guest Columnist

B

eing an international student always warrants a myriad of questions.

No, I am not American. Yes, I am aware that my accent sounds vaguely close to yours. No, I cannot speak on behalf of my country’s political views. And yes, we do know how to party.

But everyone’s experience of being “international” is a distinct one. Some of us have moved from schools across the globe. Others have grown up in a “Westernized” international school in our home countries. Many of us have had very limited exposure to the United States and its culture.

Constantly confronted with questions of identity and belonging, it is unfair to assume that all our experiences are uniform. There are varying degrees of personal dissonance, discourse and culture shock that happen to each person.

Josh Pratt ’16 from London, England, shared some of his thoughts on being international in the midst of Vassar’s often vocal and dynamic culture of political dialogue and engagement.

He likens the experience to being “dropped in the middle of page 250 of a storybook,” an environment where everyone else around you expects you to have understood the nature of the issues at hand from the first page.

More specifically, he expressed confusion with the level of animosity towards the Republican party, stating that the only time that he’d ever hear a discussion this heated back home was during “a football match between Chelsea and Arsenal.”

This shows just how different cultural emphases and priorities can be. While some may assume ignorance or distaste when an international student doesn’t seem to know much about U.S. politics or social justice issues, it may just not have been a large part of their culture back home.

Josh is also working on VCTV’s upcoming production titled “Lost in Translation” in coop-

eration with VISA and OIS. He hopes to shed light on the multitude of international student experiences on campus. For him, working on the show has taught him that “each international has their own amazing world out there, and it’s been amazing to open up and share these worlds.”

However, other students cite different experiences for their definition of being international.

Elianne Lugo ’17 recalls a conversation she once had with a random man on a train who couldn’t seem to believe that a girl from Nicaragua could study somewhere at Vassar as one such incident.

While dodging ignorance from individuals similar to the one she encountered on the train, she also has to constantly reaffirm her identity, where even other latinos ask if she is “fully Nicaraguan.” She describes her experience of being international as one of simultaneously hating having “[her] Nicaraguan-ness taken away” on one hand, while resenting that some “people from [around] here exaggerate it.” She states that although these encounters don’t exactly offend her, they do tend to annoy her.

“There are varying degrees of personal dissonance, discourse and culture shock...”

One’s identity is not for you to question, take apart, or validate—it is theirs to learn to come to terms with. Especially as an international student whose identity takes up a small percentage of the student population, national identity becomes a much larger and more defining part of who a person is in the context of the school.

However, some struggles that students have here do not just pertain to national identity. Hassan Saad ’17 from Pakistan finds that his experience with hookup culture as a time when he felt

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a big cultural disparity.

His first time at the Mug his freshman year, he “saw the trashiest and grossest makeouts” happen, contrasting from his culture’s usual culture of courting a girl before even thinking about physical intimacy. He was “very taken aback” and confused, quickly thinking that his “cultural values were polar opposites to Vassar’s.” Although it was a few years back, Hassan still feels confused and hasn’t particularly figured out as to what he wants out of such relationships, a problem that has his roots in his background.

Diego Encarnacion ’18, another international sophomore, noticed most the difference in the treatment of social issues in the USA and in Singapore.

He states that “the west puts an emphasis on the integrity and rights of the individual,” leading to “much debate” about issues such as “race, gender, socioeconomic class,” while in Singapore, the “cohesiveness of the society as a whole is what’s prioritized— even over rights like freedom of thought and expression.”

My personal experience of being international has been similar—a struggle of reconciling personal, societal and school-held ideas and beliefs.

Like Diego, the values reinforced by the Vassar community (openness, dialogue and political liberalism) and some of the more conservative Chinese-Indonesian values I grew up with (respect, honour, submissiveness) do not necessarily play along in my head, and I continue to struggle to navigate issues and formulate personal opinions on them.

Additionally, I often find myself as the spokesperson of my country and culture in class discussions. There are times where I feel like the “token international” voice in a discussion, a required outside perspective that often gets marginalized or drowned out by other American perspectives as soon as I stop speaking.

However, my voice, and the voices of others are not “token.” We do not speak for an entire

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

culture, but for ourselves, just as an American student’s personal values and beliefs do not represent those of the entire nation. Although it may be difficult to distance a person’s national background from their opinions, just know that those who live outside the immediate U.S. bubble are just as diverse in opinion as you are.

To think of the international student experience as a uniform one, or to dismiss such experiences as something too difficult to sympathize with and learn from, is to invalidate every other person’s struggle to come to terms with American culture.

The experiences listed above are only a small fraction of the myriad stories that live on this campus, and I encourage you to seek out and listen to them.

Although it can be argued that each and every student in Vassar wrestles with questions of identity and one’s place in the world, coming from outside the U.S. adds more webs to untangle.

With international students, there is a larger physical and emotional independence from home—tensions, disagreements, and differences between one’s home and school culture become more prominent.

And if you were still wondering, yes, I have a problem finishing American portion sizes. No, I do not know enough about American geography to know where Rhode Island or South Carolina are on a map. Yes, the obsession with football confuses me—and no, I do actually love the pop culture here.

But what I do know, is that I am a collection of my knowings and unknowings, and they do not detract from my views and opinions. I am my own kind of student, citizen, foreigner all at once—learning, inhabiting and exploring this brave new world just as much as the next student here.

—Christa Haryanto ’19 is undeclared. She is an international student from Jakarta.

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September 24, 2015

OPINIONS

Islamaphobia permeates GOP rhetoric Nicholas Barone Guest Columnist

S

ince Sept. 11, inflammatory rhetoric regarding the status of Muslim-Americans in the United States has been an unfortunate aspect of many politicians’ stances and leanings.

Last Sunday night, GOP presidential candidate Dr. Benjamin Carson told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he “... would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.” (CNN, “Ben Carson: U.S. shouldn’t elect a Muslim president,” 09.21.2015). Carson continued to argue that Muslim beliefs were incongruent with American value systems, going as far as to say that Islam is inconsistent with the Constitution.

The offensive remarks were only further exacerbated when Carson conceded later in the interview that he would be willing to vote for a Muslim running for Congress if “their life has been consistent with things that will elevate this nation.” While one may be quick to dismiss this as the lunatic ravings of a man completely out of touch with the pluralistic nature of the American population, sentiments such as these have been pervasive throughout comments made by GOP hopefuls.

Democrats and Muslim rights groups quickly denounced Carson’s comments and even some other Republicans distanced themselves from his position. Debbie Wassersman Schultz, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, slammed Carson and called on him to apologize for his comments while simultaneously upholding the notion that such discriminatory remarks are overtly dangerous and threatening to the political process in a democracy. The Council on American-Islamic Reactions has called for Carson to drop out of the race.

Donald Trump held a rally on Thursday where a man in the audience claimed that “America has a problem. Muslims. President Obama is a Muslim.” (The Washing Post, “Donald Trump Is Now Reaping What He Has Sown,” 09.19.2015). Trump came under fire

for not correcting the man, considering that Obama identifies as a Christian. More unnerving than that, Trump did nothing to address the inherent bigotry that laid beneath the surface of the question. Instead, he railed against radical Islam in a subsequent television interview on Fox News later that week, neglecting to condemn the position of the man in question. But these are the words of a political candidate who adamantly pressured the president to prove his U.S. citizenship, after all, so perhaps this reaction isn’t so startling. In the past decade or so, Islamophobia has risen in response to the global climate in terms of terrorism and America’s interventionist policy in the Middle East. Fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of Islam have fueled such ignorance.

However, Islamophobia is not solely present in the statements made by far-right political figures. In the case of Ahmed Mohamed (the young teenager who was arrested and suspended from school for bringing in a homemade clock which presumably resembled a bomb), liberal political pundit Bill Maher supported the idea of questioning the kid, especially considering that “the clock looks exactly like a… bomb” and “It’s been one culture that’s been blowing shit up over and over again.”

It is particularly unnerving when figures who are supposedly on the side of tolerance and understanding stoop to the same racist and discriminatory levels as members on the opposing side. Maher has a particularly unsavory history in regards to his statements about Islam, including support for racial profiling. The most troubling aspect of the rhetoric of seemingly distinct figures such as Ben Carson and Bill Maher is the fact that these individuals are educated and intellectual, both supposedly dedicated to public discourse and the democratic process.

The generalizations and misunderstandings of Islam paved the path for such inflammatory statements. Dr. Carson’s lack of understanding of Constitutional law does not justify his remarks, nor does Maher’s innate inability to

separate the actions of extremist individuals from an entire, complex ideology warrant his position. In Carson’s case, his assertions are directly invalidated by the Constitution itself.

Article VI of the Constitution clearly affirms that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Carson’s views stand in direct contrast with this concept, especially when his own argument used the Constitution as its basis.

Similarly, Maher’s statements deriding Islam as the cause for the majority of terrorist threats and attacks over the last few decades are unfounded and unjustified. The New America Foundation has found that white, rightwing terrorists have killed twice the amount of people since Sept. 11 as Islamic extremists.

The study also concluded that the “criminal justice system judged jihadists more harshly than their non-Muslim counterparts, indicting them more frequently than non-jihadists and handing down longer sentences” (Time Magazine, “Study Says White Extremists Have Killed More Americans in the U.S. Than Jihadists Since 9/11,” 06.24.2015). Maher latched onto Islam as an easy target in the wake of Sept. 11 and the War on Terror, only furthering the dissemination of fear-mongering political rhetoric whose main victims are completely innocent Muslims.

Islamophobia rears its ugly head throughout discussions regarding profiling, terrorism and foreign policy. These assertions are based on an amalgam of fear and racism, which serve to do nothing more than justify discriminatory tendencies that are already an unfortunate cornerstone of modern society. Figures such as Carson and Maher have the responsibility of creating and fostering political dialogue that is conducive to inclusion and plurality, not hatred and ignorance.

Emma Burns

Y

ou know we have officially entered the digital age when a mere pound sign can spark a grassroots campaign, an art exhibition and fund a women’s shelter.

The hashtag has encountered significant doubt in its potential usefulness since its creation several years ago. It has proven, however, to be a key element in the globalization of a variety of social movements.

Hashtags allow almost everyone, across race, gender, class and economic divides, to participate in political and cultural conversations.

Admittedly, their use is by no means limited to social justice and political campaigning. The versatility and informality of hashtags, though, is perhaps what renders them particularly effective tools for change. #YesAllWomen is a Twitter hashtag and social media campaign that has facilitated the sharing of stories of misogyny and violence against women. It was popularized in 2014, partially in response to the notorious hashtag #NotAllMen. Its true origins, however, lie in the killing spree that took place in Isla Vista, California, in the same year. The killer developed a reputation in popular media as misogynistic, and his apparent hatred of women was a known factor in his crimes. And while it is true that “not all men” are like this– in fact, most men are not rapists, abusers, or hostile sexists– it is also true that every single woman has been subject to cultural misogyny.

The #YesAllWomen Art Fundraiser, hosted by actress, singer, and director Rose McGowan, will take place for one night only on September 19 in Los Angeles.

The show combines artwork, performance art, and book readings, and features more than fifteen artists, including Barbara Kruger, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, and Favianna Rodriguez. Comedian and writer Megan Amram will read an excerpt of her new book, Science . . . For Her! The exhibit will feature music and meditative performances by La Porscha, whose work is known for fusing art and activism.

Artwork will also be auctioned off online, allowing #YesAllWomen to remain a universal campaign.

The goal of the fundraiser is to transfer the energy of the hashtag into a community-oriented experience. The movement has already succeeded in virtually uniting victims of misogyny from all corners of the world. Now, through visual and live art, some of the art world’s leading feminists will attempt to take the movement offline.The leaders of the event want women and girls who are victims of abuse to feel that they do not stand alone.

Although the online portion of the movement is an important step toward solidarity, it is crucial that women continue to speak up in the tangible world, as well as the virtual one, about their experiences.

The proceeds from the event will go to the East Los Angeles Women’s Center. The center’s staff, made up primarily of volunteers, dedicates a considerable amount of time and effort to improving the lives of women who, in many ways, do not have other support systems to turn to.

They have provided counseling, taught parenting classes, supported victims of abuse, fought against human trafficking, accompanied assault survivors to court and facilitated hospital visits.

Some have even gone undercover to strip clubs and bars to provide support and assistance to women who may be in vulnerable or dangerous positions. In other words, the women’s center has served as a source of power for a considerable number of women.

The project’s founder, Jessie Askinazi, photographer, writer and feminist, specifically chose artists who reject the position of inferiority that women are placed in and use art to fight back. She endeavored to find women with a diversified mix of approaches to feminism and change. Askinazi hopes that #YesAllWomen will become an annual fundraiser that will benefit a range of non-profit organizations aiding women.

Some argue that the hashtag trivializes the movement. Although it is a simplistic way of encompassing a monumental issue, #YesAll-

Word on the street What is your rapper name?

“I shouldn’t rap.

Ever.”

— Sarah Cohn ’18

“Healthy Choice.”

— Aaron Shaffer ’18

—Nicholas Barone ’19 is a student at Vassar College.

#YesAllWomen advances digital activism Guest Columnist

Page 11

Women serves to make the campaign easily accessible, without disrespecting the victims that it aims to benefit.

The hashtag represents not only an expression of shared pain and frustration, but also solidarity and a call to action, and continues to prove skeptics wrong by providing tangible aid to women. The profits donated to the East Los Angeles Women’s Shelter will directly benefit the numerous women who rely on the organization for support and guidance.

Hashtags help widespread groups of people stay connected, ensuring that feminism remains a global dialogue and forcing the world to see international issues through the eyes of women of different cultures, classes and races. They have the power to mobilize people in protests and conversations that would otherwise remain virtually unknown.

If nothing else, hashtags should satisfy Americans in one way: they have put news reporting in the hands of the people, weakening the stronghold of the media on consumers’ minds.

Many people first hear about new developments in politics and pop culture through Twitter and Facebook instead of newspapers and television, and have easy access to a range of perspectives and interpretations, as opposed to the often polarized views of news sources.

Hashtags have played a huge role in the growing accessibility of feminism over the past several years, introducing a historically taboo movement into mainstream media and culture. #YouOKSis started a national conversation about street harassment, the controversial #BringBackOurGirls reminded the Internet to question the origins of online campaigns and #EverydaySexism allows women to share their experiences with cultural misogyny.

Of course, a hashtag alone cannot solve a global issue–it should be seen as a means, not an end. But there can be no doubt that the #YesAllWomen campaign is a significant means for improving the lives of women and making their voices heard.

—Emma Burns ’19 is a student at Vassar College.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

“B-Wavez.”

— Braison Liemisa ’18

“Trill Will.”

— Kibi Blaze Williams-Brown ’18

“Yung EBJ.” — Elizabeth Boyce-Jacino ’18

“MC Pee Pants.” ­­— Matthew Strimaitis ’19

Zander Bashaw, Humor & Satire Editor Sam Pianello, Photo Editor

OPINIONS

Page 12

September 24, 2015

Underclassman meal plans provide unrealistic options Jesse Horowitz Guest Columnist

A

t long last, Vassar students might finally receive food that is edible. This is a huge step forward for humanity. The prospect of being able to actually digest and enjoy food on campus is incredible.

The Vassar Student Association and the Food Committee should be commended for its efforts in bringing about this change. But now that it’s being addressed, the time has come to take on the elephant in the room: the exploitative nature of our meal plans.

“...the time has come to take on...the exploitative nature of our meal plans.”

Our current meal plan system offers four options: Minimum, Standard, Enhanced and Plus. Each one gives a set number of meal swipes, dining bucks and 10 guest swipes.

While the dining bucks can rollover from the Fall to Spring semesters, meal swipes do not have that option. As a result, many students struggle to use as many meal swipes as possible, while also striving to save their dining bucks for more Retreat options in the second semester. While this may not sound that bad, the fact that our dining in the Deece is less than adequate, it makes using up 150-200 meal swipes in a semester difficult.

Vassar’s largest meal plan does not allow for three meal swipes a day for seven days a

“Munch Hard”

week. This might not seem that bad to an observer who’s also not a Vassar Student, but it is indicative of a larger issue within Vassar’s food service industry.

After all, we get dining bucks and can therefore just go to the Retreat sometimes instead of the Deece. Some students, or should I say the ones with particularly deep pockets, may even go out to eat on occasion.

That’s fine. Except that the facts complicate matters.

A meal swipe cannot be saved semester-to-semester. That means, if I pay for 180 meal swipes, but I only use 165 during the semester, there are 15 meals that I paid for but that I won’t be allowed to receive. In most places this is considered to be theft. Here, it’s a sound business decision.

Because you can’t save up meal swipes, it makes financial sense to use up as many as possible before the end of the semester. Dining bucks, which are used at the retreat, may be saved semester-to-semester.

So the system in place forces us to use up all our meal swipes and then go to the Retreat to use up the rest of our dining bucks, so that we have to get more for the coming year.

Some might suggest that the solution is a complete reversal of the meal plan. I say there are two concrete acts that we can do to change things for the better. We can fix all of these issues with just two reforms.

Firstly, let’s give students the ability to customize their meals plans if none of the pre-set ones appeal to them.

For example, if I know that I’m going to be spending a lot more time at the Retreat than the Deece, I’ll get a meal plan with a lot less

meal swipes and a lot more Dining Bucks. If I want additional meal swipes I can get that.

If I want less I can get that.

We should just have more general flexibility surrounding how we create our meal plans. We know what we wnt to eat. The school should trust in the ability of students to choose their own meal plans and stop forcing us into their strict options.

“I say there are two concrete acts that we can do to change things for the better.”

Some might say this is difficult to implement. Those people are correct, if we assume that they live in a world in which computers don’t exist and everything must be done manually. As we live in a world where computers DO exist, this can easily be programmed.

Rigid, pre-set meal plans made sense for a pre-computer based system when it difficult to keep track of how many meals people have had. Now that this technology is available, I say let’s use it.

Secondly, and this is a really complex one so bear with me, let’s allow for students to save their meals swipes to the next semester. It’s really a simple concept. If I pay for 180 meal swipes, then that’s what I should get, even if I don’t use all of them by the end of the semester. That’s fairly reasonable, I would say.

So, if it’s so simple, why isn’t this already school policy? Because the administration wants you to have to pay for a meal plan every semester. This is so that they get more money out of you. They need more money because the profits of campus dining go to the food provider rather than the college.

While some view this as the reality of the situation, I call this poppycock.

I challenge the notion that meal plan reform actually costs the school money. Customized meal plans still allow me to use most of my meal swipes, but I’m not going to overuse my meal swipes. I’m going to use them up at the end of the semester because the amount of times I used my meal swipes will be consistent with the amount I wanted.

What I won’t get is a situation where I use up all my meal swipes before the semester ends, and as a result I am stuck up creek without a paddle. We can have a meal plan that works for both the school and the students.

Now that we’re a getting a new food provider, one that hopefully serves actual food this time, we have a golden opportunity to enact meaningful reforms. Our current system needlessly exploits the students for excessive financial gain.

But honestly, it’s not completely on the VSA or Food Committee to fix. We should demand that whoever gets the honor of the being Vassar’s first provider of food plays fair with the students. This requires going to meetings, researching the potential food providers and getting active ourselves. We will never fix campus dining with apathy.

—Jesse Horowitz ’19 is undeclared.

The Miscellany Crossword

by Alycia Beattie, York Chen, and Collin Knopp-Schwyn If you want to help us make crosswords, or talk to us about making crosswords, shoot coknoppschwyn@vassar.edu an email!

ACROSS

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31 Tater state

51 How lions like meat cooked, probably, I’m

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48 Monkey act

32 Unhappy key

not a fucking lion

6 How this joke will fall

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33 Fruity organic compound

52 Kind of big bad bomb

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53 Layout with lots of room

38 Run a knife into

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14 Big water

58 Part 2 of a joke (4 words) with 17-Across

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54 Rat!

15 Tom Hiddleston role

61 Hot love

42 To draw with dots

55 The floor may be it.

16 Brain product

62 Three ___ Bookstore

44 What your front 8 teeth do, nominally

56 Laptop maker

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45 One who mimics

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answered in circled boxes

64 JOOOOOOHN CEEEENA [doot do doo

49 At the filming location (2 words)

59 Ash Ketchum rival Gary

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60 Jar of dead people

21 Spits out M&M’s, say

65 Preztel up

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DOWN

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35 Frontal or occipital

3 Boggy carpet

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4 America’s loudest snake

37 Vassar blueshirts (abbr.)

5 “You’ll get the check ___ time” (2 words)

38 Shapely Tostito

6 High-tail it outta there

39 Picnic terrorist

7 Bereavement

40 Great Basin tribe

8 What “also known as” is also known as

41 Superman’s mettle

9 ___ the season...

42 Sock sock

10 Redirect funds

43 Heart sacs

11 Anthony Hopkins role

46 Pressure gauge no., sometimes, I bet

12 Little wood in your mouth?

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

HUMOR & SATIRE

September 24, 2015

Page 13

Breaking News From the desk of Zander Bashaw, Humor & Satire Editor “No smoothie is that good”: meal swipe price serves as keystone for Pope Francis’ criticism of US capitalism Student braces himself for Decent rice and beans are all life as pro Pokémon trainer it takes to win Deece cookoff Zander Bashaw Ash Ketchum

P

okémon and the Nintendo Company recently announced that they will be releasing Pokémon GO in 2016. Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company said, “Our challenge was to develop a great game for smartphone devices that expressed the core values of Pokémon.” If you’re snickering right now at the phrase “core values of Pokémon,” or “The Pokémon Company,” just know that this is very serious; it will affect my life irretrievably.

Pokémon GO will be available on Android and iPhone devices, and will use location and social networking-based software to allow people to play Pokémon in real world locations. It also will include another optional piece of hardware that connects to the phone via bluetooth. This device will vibrate to indicate another trainer or wild Pokémon nearby. This is absolutely terrible news for everything I have built over the past 19.5 years.

My interest in Pokémon (read: obsession), began when I was about 5 years old. The cards, the shows, the Pokémon themselves filled my waking and dreaming moments. I used to play with household objects, inventing Pokémon with names like “Oranjibrow” (an orange, stuffed M&M caricature).

A perennial favorite and aptly named game was “Pokémon guess.” In this game I would pick a Pokémon card from my already alarmingly large collection and demand that my parents guess what it was. You might think that it could be a fun variant on 20 questions, or would at least help my parents make up some ground on the Pokémon knowledge I was already light years ahead of them on. You would be wrong on both accounts. When my parents guessed incorrectly, I would say “Nope!” and put the card back in the box. No explanation, no conversation, no reward for a correct guess. It was so much fun.

Not surprisingly, my parents had another kid a few years after that, and though my brother picked up the mantle of Pokémon, he never quite embraced it the way I did. My mom accurately summarized our childhood the other day when she said “Zander played with things, and Thad played with Zander.” From those words, you could see me as a charismatic leader, or an antisocial weirdo.

By this point, I was starting to meticulously organize Pokémon cards in large binders. I quite literally wanted to be the very best. I was convinced I was going pro in both baseball and soccer, and was going to be a Pokémon master in my spare time. In 2016, I may have a chance to reach my last, but certainly not least childhood dream.

The big revolution in this story came when I started to play the Pokémon video games. Virtual realities have a certain calling to me. You might think this means that I have a great social media presence and am a phone magnet. Sure, I like taking snapchats on the toilet and retweeting dumb shit, but it’s not the perfect thing for me. The virtual realities in my life are not often used for social interaction or independence–they mostly serve as ways to emulate Pokémon.

For example, I’m currently a full time coach of four fantasy football teams. From the outside, this could be seen as a pleasant way of connecting with the friends and family I play it with. In reality, my fantasy football profession is a NFLbased Pokémon game. Like in Pokémon, you want the strongest players so you can crush the other managers (trainers). Both fantasy football and Pokémon have the same goal: to be the very best. The only difference, as of now, is their connection to the real world. Pokémon GO is seeking to overleap that distinction.

When Pokémon GO is introduced, my inherent desire to catch ‘em all and be the very best, though currently bubbling below the surface, will reach boiling point. I’ll forsake my education, and begin my life roaming the country. I’ll go into dangerous caves, forests and mountains in search of rare Pokémon. I’ll ruthlessly challenge and defeat my closest friends in battles. I’ll shelve all my years of education and social interaction for the thrill of stopping Team Rocket .

As someone who is interested in evolutionary biology, I wonder, why are virtual realities so fun?

How can a world where you capture creatures in weird balls captivate people for decades? Though these questions are important, what I really want to know is this: when are Pokémon going to become real?

As a nation, I’m sure we could reserve a quarter of our country’s budget for developing GO into an even better virtual reality. In the meantime, I’m likely to spend three quarters of my daily life being a Pokémon trainer in 2016.

Sophie Blumenstock Chef Boyardeece

A

s many students know, Vassar’s own All Campus Dining Center (ACDC (Deece)), is host to an up-and-coming reality TV show, “Cutthroat Kitchen: College Edition.” Vassar would like to thank the Food Network for this wonderful and invigorating opportunity.

A new iteration of the classic Cutthroat Kitchen show, “College Edition” operates in the same way: four contestants compete for money in a cooking competition where “sabotage is not only encouraged, but for sale.” Contestants can purchase obstacles for their fellow chefs to overcome as they all race to be crowned the best chef, earning their remaining money.

Last Saturday, the contestants assembled in the illustrious Deece Kitchens, ready to do battle. Alton Brown, mastermind of culinary cruelty hosted the show. The Miscellany’s Zander Bashaw was the guest judge for the contest.

Each contestant introduced themselves, proclaiming that they were “serious chef[s],” there to “prove” themselves. Each was adamant that they definitely weren’t here to make friends.

After exchanging the usual personal remarks about their opponents’ hair, body compositions and general skill in the workplace, the chefs were ready to begin.

The first contest was to craft “the perfect Deece breakfast.” One chef was given the obstacle of making scrambled eggs with what may or may not be actual eggs. Although he enjoyed the yogurt, Zander chose the chef who made the omelet as the winner of the first round, saying that he would highly recommend it to any Vassar student, of varying hangover levels. The chef bagel chef fell short. Zander cited the reason, “Even though they looked like bagels, they definitely did not remind me of bagels.” When interviewed after their elimination, the chef proved to be a good sport, commenting, “I’m just proud to have gotten this far. I’ll be back next time with some less stale ideas.” The studio audience gave a smattering of respectful snaps.

Moving straight into the second contest, the remaining three judges were presented with the challenges of making a salad with only canned vegetables, pizza with ingredients drawn out of a hat and That Rice Dish With Those Beans, a culinary staple of vegetarian college cuisine. The

salad came together quickly with not much skill necessary. Limp lettuce was piled with cucumber slices, tomato chunks and the questionable beet slices, with a generous helping of banana peppers. Other contestants made disparaging remarks about said banana peppers, implying that they were only used to mask some type of personal inadequacy felt by the chef. The chef in question soldiered on, defending their dish, asserting that, “It’s a little different, but so am I,” earning a round of heartfelt snaps from the studio audience.

That Rice Dish With Those Beans came together well, earning Zander’s approval for “truly reminding [him] of real rice and beans.” Zander’s harshest critiques were saved for the grab-bag pizza, saying, “I just wouldn’t eat it.” His heartfelt but harsh words caused this chef to fall under the sharp blade of elimination.

The third contest of the day was served up with a twist: the two remaining chefs were tasked to tackle the all-important Deece Dinner, but they were only allowed to use ingredients from the previous two contests. The chef who made That Rice Dish With Those Beans took a risk in serving the same meal again, but made a strategic move by purchasing a sabotage for their opponent, forcing them to only be able to cook vegetables by boiling them. Despite a monumental effort on the part of the sabotee, our fearleass judge declared the veggies limp and flavorless. The proud chef of That Rice Dish With Those Beans was the winner of the contest, elicting a fair number of snaps, but only enough to know that some people vaguely appreciated the outcome.

In post-competition interview, the winning chef proudly declared, “I did what I meant to do.

I came here, and I didn’t make any friends.” The runner-up acknowledged the competitiveness of the competition, commenting that, “Yeah, there were a lot of great competitors today. But I’ll be back here soon to prove to everyone that I can do this. And not make friends.”

“Cutthroat Kitchen: College Edition” ensures attempted creativity, at least in the way the old stand-bys are cooked. If any students wish to be a part of the studio audience or even a guest judge on the next episode of “Cutthroat Kitchen: College Edition,” please complain loudly the next time you’re in the Deece.

Hipsters to leave behind mason jars, begin using Ziploc bags

by Suzanna Varichione, Hipster Sapiens Anthropologist

D

uring these last few weeks of summer, and at all times really, it is important to stay hydrated. For hipsters, picking the proper drinking vessel is just as vital as the water it holds. At Vassar College, a National Geographic confirmed breeding ground for hipsters, the dialogue has been as clear as water. Water bottles, with their self-explanatory name and widespread usage, have never, and will never be an option for forward-thinking people.

The scene image is built on the foundation of independent thinking, doing things before they become cool and instagramming sharpie-labeled Polaroids. VC Hips, Vassar college’s VSA approved flock of hipsters, is an active group on campus. Until recently, one of the most universally accepted markings of a hipster was a glass jar in place of a water bottle or coffee mug. Variations included anything from mason jars to peanut butter jars to empty crude oil barrels.

The ingenuity was clear. These were recy-

cled, serving a purpose other than their intended use, just like most things hipsters have “invented.” They also served as a way to ward off the accusation that ripped-jean clan care less about the environment than being “edgy.”

Unfortunately, the mainstream world has caught on to the trend, officially marking it as “cool.” Mason jars now sell for less than $10 from Target, you can even find mason jars packaged with a special straw lid. The glass jar has become a proper vessel for drinking, and therefore it can no longer be of use to the common hipster. When faced with this earth-shattering adversity, the hipster community rose to the occasion and found a new way to drink their fruit-infused iced-tea kale quinoa fairtrade mineral water. Their new preference?

Ziploc bags.

These advanced people provided us at the Miscellany News some insight into this decision in recent interviews. “It’s the perfect combination of out-of-the-jar thinking and

crippling inconvenience.” declared Willo’wisp Banksy, class of two thousand and late. “Anything from pre-used sandwich bags to gallon freezer bags, for the thirstier hipster, can be filled with liquids,” he explained whilst hanging out in the retreat. In his hands was a quart-sized Ziplock bag of coffee with a straw punched into the side—sort of like a Capri sun, but way edgier.

Unfortunately, drinking ahead of the curve comes at a price. A Ziplock bag’s seal is too weak to seal in most liquid unless the bag is held upright. However, sacrifices like this are a small price to pay in the grand scheme of staying scene.

The impact of this new hipster trend is reaching beyond than just Vassar’s campus.

In the far-off land of the Juliet School Store, My Market and the Dollar Store, there are reports of major increases in ziplock bag sales.

Economically speaking, it is clear that when the Vassar student body decides to commit to

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

inane trends, the entire community benefits.

Not everyone has been happy with these ideas. Johnny Football, class of 20TexasA&M, a Vassar athlete, told misc reporters that “[Hipsters] are just being big plastic douchebags” as he ordered fifteen grilled chicken breasts at the Deece.

VC Hips has been working to combat the contentious nature between hipsters and athletes. At the latest meeting, spokesperson Qhloe Danksy (non numerical class year) explained the types of steps the org is taking to fix this. “We see a chance for unification of these two traditionally opposed factions.

Maybe because athletes need lots of water and Gatorade, and we need to be stylish, we can show them the benefits of using plastic bags for those essential fluids.”

But what about the other essential fluids of college? Well, pouring vodka and cran-apple juice into a plastic bag certainly puts a new spin on being trashed.

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September 24, 2015

Taveras takes Manhattan with play, An Empty Glass Connor McIlwain

Assistant Arts Editor

M

courtesy of Juliany Taveras

any actors make their way from the stages of Vassar to those of Manhattan and beyond. But fewer make this transition and then catch a train back to Poughkeepsie for class the next day. Juliany Taveras ’16 is one of those actors. She wrote and performed “An Empty Glass” last year and just recently discovered that the play was accepted to a competition in Manhattan. She explained, “I wasn’t sure whether I would even apply—but, as more of a joke than anything else, I took a screenshot of the email I’d been forwarded and sent it to my cast, using a Facebook group message we’d formed when we all got together in April for Unbound’s first Staged Readings Festival.”

Co-director of the play, Taylor Dalton ’15, elaborated, “Julli [Taveras] messaged the cast with the MRT ad and was like ‘hahaha look guys’ and I was like ‘stop laughing if you don’t submit your play, I will.’ So she submitted it because I threatened her, really.”

This joke turned into a reality when the play was accepted into the Manhattan Repertory Theatre’s (MRT) annual Fall One Act Play competition. According to Taveras, “No part of me genuinely thought we’d be able to do it.

But the next thing I know, the entire group (my co-director and now alum Taylor at the helm) was squawking at me to submit to it anyway. So I did. Within a few days, I’d been accepted to compete, and I guess the rest is history.”

Taveras learned about MRT during her summer internship with Girl Be Heard, a social justice theatre company. The small theatre was created in 2005 and hosts plays, workshops, competitions, classes and events in the heart of Times Square. “An Empty Glass” will be featured alongside 29 other plays in its yearly Fall One Act Play Competition. “The competition sought applications for plays that had already been cast and produced,” explained Taveras.

The best play receives a $1000 cash prize.

Taveras wrote the play last fall when she was

The cast of “An Empty Glass” rehearses in Rocky before driving to Manhatttan for their performances.

Juliany Taveras ’16 wrote and produced the play last semester before submitting it to the MRT. studying abroad. “It was part of an independent study I completed in London, in which I sat down with the intention of exploring ideas of ‘home’ and how to tell certain stories using theatre as a medium,” she explained.

London proved to be the ideal place for Taveras to write a play. “It was actually a relatively quick writing process (London offered me quite a lot of free time, relative to the chaos I’m accustomed to here), and it’s wild to me how far I’ve taken the project, a year later,” she explained.

The play was first performed last year when Taveras returned to campus. Dalton explained, “It was one of the first participants in Unbound’s Series of Staged Readings, which showcased a few student-written pieces in the Spring of 2015.”

Angela Brown ’16 didn’t see the play last year but is traveling to Manhattan to see it in competition. In an emailed statement, she said, “Even though I wasn’t able to see the show on campus, I was very present with those involved and heard many a conversation about the vision/process. It was so free form; it managed to create itself without using the usual oh so mapped out ~Vassar Theatre~ paths.” Brown is interested in seeing a different kind of audience that the show will attract off campus. “I’m so excited to look around at the audience and wonder how these energies will resonate with them,” she said. “Being in an audience at Vassar comes with a certain vocabulary-- protocol, even. So I wonder what an audience with a different vocabulary will feel.”

But performing the play off campus has a

unique set of difficulties. “It’s not easy to rehearse in Rocky the entire time and then get used to a tiny theater on the outskirts of Times Square in a day’s time,“ explained Taveras. The cast could not actually perform in the actual venue until the dress rehearsal one day before opening night. Taveras added, “And of course, there’s the daily road trip to and from the city (gas? parking? where’s that grant I applied to three weeks ago?).”

Nevertheless, the experience has been valuable for the cast. “I go home every single night... and feel unbelievably blessed,” explained Taveras. “I am working with some of my closest friends and a group of fantastic performers/ artists/thinkers/movers/shakers. They couldn’t mean more to me.”

Dalton has similar feelings about the experience. She explained, “This play has brought a playwright I believe in, a work that affects me deeply, and a cast that inspires me with their honesty together into one project. So my experience has been incredible. To say the absolute least.”

The cast in particular makes the play so special for Dalton and Taveras. According to Dalton, “This cast... is an incredible group of students/artists/theatre-makers/activists/lovers/ thinkers that has come together to produce one of the most impactful one-act plays I have ever had the privilege to see, yet alone be a part of.”

After the competition, Taveras hopes the show will return to campus. “At the moment we’re just trying to make it through this last week,” she said. ”But then we definitely want to talk about the possibility.”

But even if the show doesn’t make it back to Vassar, these last few weeks will leave a lasting mark on Taveras. She continued, “This process has meant more to me than I could have ever known. We’re still taking it day by day, but when it’s all over, I know it won’t actually be over. We’ve all changed each other in some way, and I know it won’t be the last time we work together. I can feel it.”

Documentary records conditions of Indian workers Sieu Nguyen Reporter

H

In addition to filmmaking, Roy has explored masculinity in his research and writing. His graphic book on the topic titled “A Little Book on Men” was recently published

by Yoda Press, an independent publishing venture based in New Delhi.

Kumar elaborated on his reasons for inviting a filmmaker like Roy, “I am an admirer of Rahul Roy’s films. His films demonstrate the value of documentaries where the artist is working as an immersive journalist–a journalist immersed, sometimes for years, in the lives of the people that he or she is portraying.”

He continued, “I read that he was on a tour of the US and screening his films at the Brecht Forum in New York City, and sent him an invite.”

While making the documentary, Rahul Roy faced resistance from the factory in question, Maruti Suzuki. The Indian online magazine

courtesy of The Justice Project South Asia

undreds of workers at India’s largest automobile manufacturing company Maruti Suzuki are on trial for the murder of a senior manager and thousands workers dismissed. The case has already dragged on for two and a half years, with defense lawyers planning strategies in the court canteen.

Their bail application has been rejected.

When the workers are led to the courtroom on each hearing, their families line up for the only chance of seeing them.

That is a brief teaser of “The Factory,” a film by the Indian documentary filmmaker Rahul Roy, which is going to be screened in Rocky 200 on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015. The filmmaker, who is currently going around the United States on tour to show his film, will be visiting Vassar and attending the event.

Professor of English Amitava Kumar, is one of the chief organizers of this event. Talking about the intentions and purpose of the film screening, he addresses the issue of workers’ rights in a global context.

“The film will give a human face to globalization. It will introduce students to politics as the lived experience of workers. It will also show that notions like ‘development’ or ‘industrial growth’ are in reality contested terms, with workers paying with their blood for their rights.”

Along with the English Department and the Political Science Department, the South Asian Student Alliance (SASA) is also sponsoring the event.

A member of SASA, Richa Gautam ’16, an international student from India, added to the discussion of this social issue, “Workers’ rights in India are not too great (are they anywhere?). A lot of global companies outsource their manual labour to India, and even when in Indian enterprises the situation of lower class workers is not really that great. The class of workers also intersects largely with lower castes, which adds to the problem of rights violation. The judicial process is longdrawn and expensive and therefore hard to

afford,” Gautam wrote in an emailed statement.

Daniel Doctor ’16, another student coordinator of “The Factory” film screening, agreed, “I think everyone involved hopes that the documentary serves as an example of how we are so separated from the rights of workers who are oppressed by governing corporate bodies. Although many may think that development leads to a brighter future, it doesn’t necessarily mean that this is shared by everyone.”

As the event flyer introduces, Roy completed his masters in Film and TV production from the Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 1987. Since then, Roy has been working as an independent documentary film maker.

Having been internationally screened, his award-winning work has focused on communalism, labor and masculinities.

Rahu Roy, a New Delhi based filmmaker, created a documentary to record the living conditions of Indian workers. Various departments and groups worked together to bring the film to campus.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Scroll.In publicized a slice of its behind-thescene story, “The fact that the Maruti management obdurately refused to talk to Roy or give him permission to shoot inside the plant also influenced the narrative. The Factory is seen through the eyes of the workers and their supporters. There is no attempt to establish equivalence by seeking the other side of the story. Maruti’s views on the matter come through in indirect ways: through a presentation that plays out on a giant screen as dancers writhe before it in silhouette, media reports and the legal representations made by the company.”

The Scroll.In article continued, “Maruti appears in the film as a malevolent presence that instituted an unhealthy work culture to ensure profit at all costs, actively blocked the workers’ legitimate demands to allow them to form a union, and influenced villagers living near the plant through corporate social responsibility programmes into providing them with muscle power when the workers went on strike.”

In an interview with Scroll.In, Roy commented on his experience of making the film, “Labour has been an abiding interest, so there is a continuum with my previous films, but I have always worked with unorganised labour.”

The director went on, pointing to his observation about the workers: “This was the first time I was working with organised labour, but it was a very different class of labour. The big issue in the Maruti case was about dignity–the workers felt stripped of their dignity all the time. They displayed tremendous intellectual rigour and political acumen. These are not workers who are going to take things lying down–they are educated, they are on Facebook and they use smartphones–and this is something the Indian industry has to face.”

Looking forward to the screening and sharing her own expectation of its effect, Gautam said, “We hope that the audience will gain a more informed and global perspective on labour rights.”

September 24, 2015

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Page 15

Indecent Exposure to introduce its new members Yifan Wang

Assistant Arts Editor

W

hen asked about the ever-present myth that declares women as not funny, Elizabeth Snyderman ’17 wrote her response as a female comedian herself: “Anyone who thinks that has probably never met a woman.”

Snyderman is a member of Indecent Exposure (IE), an all-female comedy troupe on campus. Founded in 2004, the group aimed to address what they saw as a serious lack of female comedians. In its description on the Vassar Student Association page, the group wrote: “IE is a busy group consistently laughing in the face of the myth that ‘women aren’t funny.’”

However, most members find the myth too ridiculous to take seriously. Co-President of IE, Jocelyn Hassel ‘16, elaborated, “I don’t particularly come into meetings thinking ‘How can we let everyone know that we’re actually funny.’ I think that question itself implies that I have to ‘prove’ something that is just the product of a gendered stereotype.”

Snydeman echoed her attitude, with a humorous touch. “If women weren’t funny, could I do this? (you can’t see it, but I’m doing a really hilarious jig) But seriously, I don’t really like to engage with that myth, because it’s so preposterous.”

The other Co-President, Caitlan Moore ‘16, added, “We all have complete faith in each other’s talent and humor so we approach the shows as an opportunity to have fun and do what we love. In general, I think that we try hard to bring new perspectives to our comedy.

We know that we have a lot to say as women and as individuals from a variety of different backgrounds.”

The group presents at least three performances each semester, including sketch shows and stand-up comedies. Moore explained: “Typically, we start with our fall stand-up show to kick off the semester. Later, we have our Gals n Pals show where we invite friends to write their own sets and workshop and perform them with us. Then we end each semes-

courtesy of Indecent Exposure via Facebook

Indecent Exposure is an all-female comedy troupe founded in 2004. Established in response to a lack of female comedians, the student organization regularly presents three shows each semester.

ter with our winter sketch show…and we’ve been talking about maybe adding some more informal shows. Last year, we worked with ViCE to bring Jessica Williams. The event was a big success so we’re hoping to plan something else like that.”

On Sept. 26, IE will hold its first stand-up show for the fall, with new members performing for the first time.

A new member of IE, Hallie Ayres ’18 joined the troupe this semester, hoping for more thrilling opportunities to perform in front of an audience. “The first time I ever performed comedy was with Comedy Normative in our spring semester show. I didn’t think I would really like it because I get nervous in front of crowds, but performing in front of a live audience gave me such a rush. It was absolutely thrilling, and I will forever be chasing the high of that first time. That’s how addiction starts.”

She continued, “I auditioned for Indecent Exposure at the beginning of this semester because I thought it would be cool to try writing sketch comedy as well… If you think of the comedy groups as island nations, then I just immigrated to IE. Hopefully I won’t get deported.”

For her first appearance this weekend, she will share an experience not everyone gets to have: what it’s like to have a twin. Ayres said: “My set is probably going to be about my relationship with my twin sister. There are twenty years of stories between us, so I’m just trying to turn those into a funny set. During our freshman year last year, I was thinking a lot about what it’s like going to the same college as my twin and how that affects different aspects of our social lives, so it’s been on my mind.”

Snyderman will also be presenting her sets this week. Her jokes for this time were mostly inspired by her recent personal experiences.

“Well, I don’t want to give away too much, but my set is fairly typical of most of my sets, in that it’s a bunch of non-related joke topics with a bunch of jokes within them…This set is probably going to be a little more personal than my previous sets,” explained Snyderman.

Drawing on personal experiences and developing humor from reality seem to be the style of many comedians within IE. And at this

point, most performers are still finalizing and refining their writings.

Moore and Hassel are also not done with their jokes, which respectively focusing on stories from family and friends, and on summer happenings and senior year pressures. For Hassel, it’s all about finding a balance between staying true to her own humor and being aware that there’s an audience at the same time.

Many members of IE started their comedy career at Vassar. Joining the group in her freshman year, Hassel found a place to be herself and to understand humor. “It is a place where I can just be unabashedly myself. I have to explore my memories and my own understanding of what my humor looks like for my jokes, even if those jokes may be embarrassing moments from the pits of my childhood. It is exciting to figure out what your sense of humor is, and to allow it to grow and become a part of your personality as a performer. I’m able to use comedy as a way to understand myself more,” said Hassel.

Snyderman, having written pages of jokes in high school, decided to try it out at college.

“And I’m so glad I did…I have really found a community of women who have my back no matter what, and who have fostered and encouraged my artistic development.”

She continued, “I love it because I love performing, mostly. Doing standup is a totally unique experience. It’s you against the world, and you know whether or not you’re winning, because if they’re not laughing, you’re dying.

It’s incredibly vulnerable, yet rewarding.”

As Hassel put it, “it is so fun to poke fun­—as bizarre as that sounds.”

With the showcase around the corner, the two co-presidents are very excited. “I think we’re bringing a variety of sets and perspectives. I’m excited for people to see our new members,” said Moore. And for Hassel, “it is so fun to watch fellow members perform their sets, and I’m hoping that our performances will be just as fun for the audience as it has been for us.”

But ultimately, the troupe is simply expecting laughter. “I’m really just hoping to make a few people laugh. Laughter is good for the soul,” said Ayres.

Maher ’97 returns to lead television writing workshop Matt Stein

Guest Reporter

E

courtesy of Kevin Maher

very year, countless students suffer sleepless nights of the one dreaded thought: What am I going to do after college?

With so few successes in the entertainment industry it is especially difficult to find a path towards success. Here at Vassar, we’ve had our fair share of alums pave the way, however. There’s Meryl Streep, Lisa Kudrow and many more. And then there’s Kevin.

Kevin Maher ’97 might not be a name you recognize, but you’d be pretty familiar with some of the work that he’s written. He has worked with HBO, Comedy Central, VH1, Nickelodeon, AMC, CNN and many more channels.

He has even been nominated for an Emmy Award, performed in a solo comedy off-Broadway and worked on a Christian teen talk show.

In his diverse career, Maher has written and developed TV shows, short films and various multimedia projects. He is currently raising money for a web series called Andrew 12-Sided Dice Clay. Thus far, he has raised $7,387 for the project, which chronicles a bad-boy stand up comedian. Clad in a black biker jacket, Andrew stands on a stage spouting expletives, parodying traditional “shocking” comedy.

Maher will be returning to Vassar to lead the writing workshop, “True Tales from the Writers’ Room: The Business and Craft of Writing,” which will delve into much more than just scripts.

Associate Director for Employer Relations in the Career Development Office Susan Smith, one of the coordinators of this event, had much enthusiasm for the upcoming workshop. “I’m excited to bring Kevin back to campus because I think his workshop will offer practical information for students interested in the Film/TV production business, and he seems eager to share his knowl-

edge and expertise with our students.” Many alumnae/i give back somehow through endowments, but giving back has rarely meant leading a workshop.

Maher will explore how to find your dream job and deal with a job interview. He will also interact with workshop participants to customize the lessons and directions of the event. The former alumnus was a History and Sociology Major who also had interests in television, so the lessons he will teach could be helpful to anyone who is fascinated by the wonderful world of entertainment.

There’s no preparation needed for attendees; just bring yourself and your creativity.

Workshops at Vassar offer a great opportunity for those who even have the slightest interest in the topic to explore. There have been a wide array of people that come to Vassar to lead workshops, like famous writers, casting directors, poets and actors. You will also find people of similar interests who could become good friends. One doesn’t even have to have any experience in the topic to show up. After all, you have to start somewhere!

While this event may appear specifically oriented for Drama, Film and Media Studies students, anyone is welcome to attend by enrolling through VCLink online. Space is limited so register as early as possible. More information can be found on the Vassar Calendar.

Caleb Featherstone ’18, who intends on being a Drama Major, has attended previous workshops and will be going to this one, explained what drew him to want to go. “I’m interested in writing and I believe that it’s a great opportunity to learn more.” Like when Vassar has hosted other speakers, these events are great chances to ask more about their topic and discover ways you can get more involved.

Kevin Maher ’97 will return to campus to lead an interactive screenwriting workshop, and to answer general career questions. His resume includes shows for HBO, AMC and CNN..

Prospective Film Major David Gabriel ’19 explained,“The writing workshop, more than anything, will give me a taste of what it is like to work in the industry as opposed to seeing film as an abstract idea. Hands on learning experience makes the theoretical concrete.”

Gabriel will be attending this event as his first writing workshop. He continued, “Also often times when we learn about films, by studying and analyzing them, we lose track of what we need to do as prospective filmmakers, to further our own careers. This brings us into that headspace.” Through the experience that Maher has in the entertainment industry, he has a lot of tips to offer and advice to give, including dispelling ru-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

mors and illusions people might have about the film industry.

Currently, Maher hosts a web variety show called Kevin Geeks Out, where he takes an in-depth approach to discussions of some geek culture staple, including such topics as zombies, animal attacks or visions of the future, and provide humorous commentary.

Additionally he hosts monthly live shows where he investigates obscure topics in film and television. These videos and information about his events can be found on his blog, ThisKevin.

The workshop will be at 4 p.m. in the College Center Muti-Purpose Room on Wednesday, Sept. 30.

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September 24, 2015

Powers’ new Halsey’s album shows openness and candor album pokes pessimism Patrick Tanella Guest Columnist

Badlands Halsey Astralwerks

Nick Garrison

Guest Columnist

Savage Hills Ballroom Youth Lagoon Fat Possum Records

O

n track “17” of Trevor Powers’ debut album, a line reads: “Don’t stop imagining—the day that you do is the day that you die.” This served as the mission statement for the Boise musician’s dream-pop project Youth Lagoon, sung characteristically in his haunting, lonely falsetto. Powers’ short discography often finds the singer struggling to maintain some semblance of wonder in a world prepared to take it away. And if his latest album “Savage Hills Ballroom” is any indication, that struggle is becoming all the more difficult.

Youth Lagoon’s music has always been introspective, but Powers indulges in full-on self-loathing on this new album, coming off as if he’s actively choosing a life in isolation. Take the single “Rotten Human”, which finds Powers admonishing the fakeness and dishonesty of popular culture. “How are we supposed to know what’s real?” He laments. Whether he rejects society or society rejects him doesn’t matter anymore; he’s completely alone.

From the first track, it’s obvious that Powers is in a very different place than he was in his last two albums. “Officer Telephone” is a dark, defeatist track with one of Trevor’s best vocal performances to date. The lyrics are reminiscent of a blues song with a timeless refrain: “All I want is for you to come back home.” The instrumentation is sparse with an ominous bass and twangy guitar before breaking into a hard-hitting and energetic electronica song; it’s sonic whiplash, but it works.

While Powers is undeniably more pessimistic this time around, the album isn’t an entirely bleak affair. Ballroom’s standout track “Highway Patrol Stun Gun” is an undeniably gorgeous song. Similar to many of Youth Lagoon’s best, it builds to an incredibly cathartic climax ready-made for a road trip montage (though it’s still not exactly a “positive” song; it’s lyrics meditate on a loss of identity). “Kerry” is a Flaming Lips-esque love song and his most radio-friendly track to date. This is an album about being overcome by anxiety (another reoccurring theme in the Youth Lagoon canon), not overcoming it.

Powers’ vocals are as otherworldly as ever, fragile and ghostly. His is an incredibly emotive voice; though his range is limited, it’s a perfect match for his lyrics and ethereal instrumentation.

It’s a childlike voice that evokes a sense of loss and confusion. Arguably the defining characteristic of his music, his vocals, are prominently on display in Ballroom which is definitely one of the album’s highlights. The musicianship is strong on this album: though it is lacking the complex instrumentation that made Wondrous Bughouse so memorable, the orchestral moments are fantastic and the audio layering is still strong.

The production on this album acts as the middle ground between the lo-fi, synth-heavy sound on his debut album and the maximalism on his sophomore release, making it more accessible but ultimately sacrificing the experimentation that characterized his earlier work. Another thing that just didn’t work on the album is the track “Again”.

Ultimately, the simple percussion and crescendos of noise just don’t work together and the quasi-Beck delivery is not effective.

The cover art calls this album “a collection of ten songs,” but it’s much more cohesive than that. Each track compliments the last, including the two instrumental arrangements. The songs work perfectly well individually, but it works so much better as one uninterrupted self-examination session. Savage Hills Ballroom is admittedly not Youth Lagoon’s best work, but it’s still a solid emotional experience and a decent introductory album to Trevor’s body of work. The wonder that was present throughout his earlier work may be beginning to dissipate, but Youth Lagoon still manages to wear that maturity well.

Savage Hills Ballroom will be released on Sept.

25 on Fat Possum Records.

A

shley Nicolette Frangipane, known by her stage name Halsey, released her highly-anticipated debut album, “Badlands,” in late August. Last year, many people did not know the blue-haired singer, but she is quickly rising to the top through her catchy, raw lyrics and explosive personality. “Room 93,” her debut EP, was released last October and, although there were only five songs, Halsey began to amass a cult following that led to sold-out shows and opening for The Kooks and Imagine Dragons on their tours. I went to one of the New Jersey natives Imagine Dragons shows in Brooklyn and when I asked the people around me who they were here to see, almost all of them screamed “HALSEY!” Her stage presence is unlike any other artist, as she personally connects with every one of her fans in the audience and the ones that cannot make it to her shows.

The singer is constantly on twitter expressing her love and appreciation for her many followers.

“Room 93” explores the intimacy of hotel rooms and how it can feel like an alternate universe. With “Badlands,” Halsey expands her concept to a much larger arena. She describes the Badlands as a futuristic, isolated society on the outskirts of Los Angeles, which is also a metaphor for the lonely and desolate mind she had when writing the album. She says that most of what she writes about are things she has witnessed or thought about, but some songs are from personal experience with her long line of bad

partners.

However, her music is always raw and honest, with the capacity to make anyone feel. The 16 songs feature a combination of alternative pop, punk and rock. It opens with “Castle,” which has an ominous, foreboding sound that represents the dark world of the Badlands that the listener is about to enter.

Other highlights include “Ghost,” which was also featured on the EP and one of the first songs ever written under the name Halsey.

The chilling lyric, “my ghost, where’d you go, I can’t find you in the body next to me,” describes how people can change during relationships into people their partners may not be able to recognize.

“Colors” has the largest resemblance to a pop Top 40 hit, but beneath that façade lies a heavy breakup song with Tumblr-famous lyrics. “You were red and you liked me because I was blue. You touched me and suddenly I was a lilac sky, and you decided purple just wasn’t for you.” The song that has received the most attention by the mainstream music stations has been “New Americana,” which is an enthralling anthem that talks about the new generation of music and pop culture. The chorus chants, “We are the New Americana, high on legal marijuana. Raised on Biggie and Nirvana, we are the New Americana,” which depicts a youth revolution against normal cultural standards.

Although it has been praised by critics and fans alike, Halsey has received backlash for talking about the legalization of marijuana. In response, the singer tweeted, “If you think the song is about getting high then you are fucking stupid.” The first single in promotion for the album, “Hold Me Down,” describes one’s struggles with demons, which can be drugs or other people. Overall, the songs that comprise the album are powerful, candid pieces deeply filled with emotions that take the listener through the Badlands from beginning to end.

Halsey is just as open and honest outside of her music as she is in it. She is a staunch supporter of social justice issues, speaking from experience about the stereotypes she experiences from being bi-racial, bisexual and bipolar. The singer says that all these things comprise who she is and she is proud of the person she has become.

Throughout her career she has dealt with criticism and learned to grow from it. She released two versions of the “Ghost” music video, one with a boy and one with a girl.

The heteronormative video got virtually no criticism, but the one with a girl was criticized for being too “sexual,” even though they were the exact same videos. Halsey quickly defended herself and spoke out against the hypocrisy and misogyny that exists in America today.

She is very open about her bipolar disorder because she encourages others to not let their mental illnesses get in the way of success. For her followers who might be suffering from a mental illness or who might not conform to heteronormative standards, this honesty is an amazing thing–Halsey is here to say that it is normal and just a part who you are. She is also a feminist and speaks up against problems facing women’s rights, such as supporting Planned Parenthood and being pro-choice.

“Badlands” landed at number two on the Billboard Music Charts, making a fantastic first album debut. Fellow artists Marina and the Diamonds, The Weeknd, and Matt Healy, the lead singer of the 1975, have all expressed their support and adulation for the singer.

Halsey will be going on tour this fall, and all of her dates sold out in less than thirty minutes. She will also be opening for the Weeknd on a select few tour dates. “Badlands” has been acclaimed by critics and fans alike, and I am sure that this is only the beginning for this talented, non-conforming artist.

UnReal looks at reality TV from backstage Jillian Elkin

Guest Columnist

UnReal Marti Noxon A + E Studios

R

eality television is usually labeled a guilty pleasure. Why guilty? We tend to derive pleasure from watching petty but vicious competition and a range of emotional breakdowns and breakthroughs. (Though, the former tends to offer more entertainment and next-day buzz.)

But should we feel guilty about watching a show like “The Bachelor” for its lack of educational nourishment or for more sinister reasons? UnReal, a scripted program that aired its first season on Lifetime this summer, makes the case that the viewer should consider the manipulation and morally questionable ethics involved in producing a reality program.

Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro crafted a show inspired by Shapiro’s time working as a creative producer on “The Bachelor”.

The show follows the behind-the-scene drama of the creative producers and the contestants on a Bachelor-esque reality show named “Everlasting”. The show repeatedly emphasizes the dichotomy between a show that sells a romantic fairytale and the decidedly unromantic nature of production.

At the beginning of this season’s “Unreal”, the fierce, sharp-tongued executive producer, Quinn, offers cash bonuses for nudity, ambulances and cat fights, all in order to get “Everlasting” started. The protagonist, creative producer Rachel, plays the game well. She brings a contestant to tears by bringing up a past trauma and barters with the show’s suitor, telling him which contestants to seduce or discard. The producers compete against each other as they try to craft compelling storylines, using the young women looking for love or fame as pawns.

“UnReal” seeks to educate its audience on the inner workings of reality television. The show earned applause and affirmation from reality

producers (including a few from “The Bachelor”) for its accurate depiction of emotional manipulation of the contestants and prioritization of ‘making good television’ over the contestants’ best interests. “UnReal” forces the viewers to think about how media becomes easy to consume and addictive.

The price for escapist entertainment is high considering how the producers control and isolate the talent. Yet the show also aims to display complex characters. Despite the producers’ exploitation of the show’s talent, they are not depicted as wholly evil people. The audience is supposed to root for and sympathize with everyone at least once during the season.

Adding interest to the complexity of the characters is the fact that most of the characters are women. There are two male main characters: the suitor and the show’s creator. Numerous critics label “UnReal” as a feminist show. The women on the show have a myriad of concerns and issues, aside from their romantic lives. Rachel and Quinn frequently bemoan the societal obsession with romance that conforms to traditional gender roles (a wealthy husband to take care of his less successful wife emotionally and financially for eternity).

The show also depicts sexism in mass culture by explicitly outlining the female tropes that are created in reality television: the bitch, the older, not sexually appealing woman, the masculine, not sexually appealing woman, the token angry, black woman and the wife material. The television tropes exist in non-scripted and scripted realms, as well as in reality as stereotypes and critiques of women. “UnReal” presents these tropes through the magic of editing and production on “Everlasting”, but shows that each woman has her own unique story and none of the labels actually hold up.

The characters Rachel and Quinn are fully aware of the sexism that their reality dating show peddles to the masses. Neither of them buys into the concept of romance to the extent that the contestants do, but they still struggle between wanting the fairytale ending that their show depicts and wanting to be savvy and ambitious in both their professional and personal lives. As

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

the season unfurls, the contestants realize that the competition is not about falling in love and more of them attempt to stretch their few minutes of fame. Meanwhile, the suitor cares little about any of the contestants and has his own plans to use the show to launch his professional career. They live in an environment designed to be a lovers’ paradise, but each person is looking out for their own skin. Unlike the viewer, they don’t get caught up in the production.

“UnReal” is full of drama, driven by the flawed characters’ poor choices. The contestants pettily try to talk down their rivals or make deals with the suitor in order to stay on the show longer. However, the producers are far worse: encouraging the women to drink too much, taking away medication and taking advantage of emotional and mental disorders. At worst, these actions contribute to the rape and suicide of two different contestants. The depictions of such serious subjects on a show about a reality television competition are where “UnReal” falters.

Like on other dramas (from the critically-acclaimed ones such as Mad Men to network melodramas like Days of Our Lives), rape and suicide as exciting plot points frequently fail to adequately and responsibly address the subjects.

“UnReal” never acknowledges the rape of a contestant outside of the one episode it occurs in.

The suicide of a contestant, triggered by memories of an abusive relationship, is covered in two episodes. Then, the show moves on to wedding planning and increased competition between the contestants. By lightly brushing over these subjects, especially when leaving them out would not hurt the show, UnReal fails as a feminist show trying to educate its audience.

A show created by women and featuring women of varying ages with fully developed personalities is rare on television. Despite its drawbacks, “UnReal” has a fast pace and fascinating characters. Whether you love or hate reality television, the behind-the-scenes look and the questions it poses appeal to all. The drama and romantic extravagance of reality television plus witty satire make UnReal an addictive must-watch.

ARTS

September 24, 2015

Page 17

Infamous article reexamined at Loeb Excuse me, What would you want to be famous for?

PARKS continued from page 1

was brought about by the scene of gang wars in Harlem at the time. Loeb Curator and Assistant Director for Strategic Planning MaryKay Lombino, explained, “Gordon Parks really wanted to bring awareness to these different parts of his life. Parks was really excited to show the world—the white world—this young man.”

Parks’ photographic essay “Harlem Gang Leader” was published by Life Magazine in 1948. But he was not pleased with the finished piece Life published. Lombino explained, “The exhibit really explores this idea of editing and manipulating photography. Parks took hundreds of photos of this young man, photos in the home, photos on the street, photos with family...just really a representation of his life and Life ended up publishing something that just portrayed a violent thug in the streets.”

“Harlem Gang Leader” indeed holds aesthetic, artistic value. However, it also raises peculiarities about Life’s editorial process, or lack thereof, when they published only certain parts of Parks’ work. Surely, this fact renders Life Magazine eponymously ironic, but the narrative untold brings in a third-party—the audience. The cognizance of the editorial process prompts the spectator’s curiosity to string together images, present or not, and add momentum to the story Parks and/or Life’s editors attempt to tell.

Parks’ photos are the subject of a new exhibit in the Loeb, which opens on Friday. “The exhibit shows all of Parks’ pictures without any labels or captions and then also includes copies of Life Magazine’s original article. So you can look just for the sake of looking because these are beautiful photos and then you can see the difference in representation—you can see what Parks saw and then what the world saw through the Life article. That’s why it’s called Making An Argument, because this juxtaposition slowly reveals a story coming together, a narrative being created,” explained Lombino.

At the Loeb, with the full range of photos on display, the spectator can ultimately be the raconteur. Coordinator of Public Education and Information Margaret Vetare wrote, “I’m especially interested in sharing the Gordon Parks exhibition with teenage groups because it’s

Campus Canvas

such fertile ground for discussing the media’s role in shaping our understanding of events and situations. Our culture is at this point completely saturated with media, so it’s important for young people to develop the skills to look at their visual world critically. Because of the way it’s organized, with Parks’ original photos and then the edited versions as they appeared in Life magazine, an exhibition like ‘The Making of an Argument’ is a great reminder to try to identify, or at least question, whose voice we are hearing in the narratives presented to us daily.”

The Life Magazine debacle shaped much of Parks’ later work. According to Lombino, “This really shaped Parks. He thought this was his chance to really get through to people and explore race in an honest way but it all blew up. After that, he really wanted to have more influence and control of his work. He wanted to take back what was taken from him in the published piece.”

The exhibit was first on display at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA), where Lombino knew the curator, Russell Lord. It then made its way to Grinnell College. Here, Lombino said she realized how relevant the exhibit could be at Vassar and worked with Grinnell and NOMA to bring the exhibit to campus. “It has a lot of tie-ins with issues we are experiencing and dealing with on campus. Parks really wanted to explore race and class. There is so much behind the pictures themselves and the greater story of the Life Magazine article that comments on these themes,” she explained.

These black and white photographic still lives from Harlem in the 1940s constitute the very vestiges of the antecedent Harlem Renaissance. The context and means by which Parks became a significant figure in American social realist art are critical to a more comprehensive understanding of not only Parks but also contemporary African-American culture.

Art History major Sophie Asakura ’17 noted the important perspective this exhibit will bring to the Loeb in an emailed statement. She explained, “I think the inclusion of documentary photography in our museum is an important contribution to its status as an educational tool. The show will help us think twice about mainstream media and its relationship with

the individual artistic process, race and the creation of narrative.”

Parks was born on November 30, 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas, where segregation and racial discrimination were beyond present. He purchased his first camera, a Voigtländer Brilliant, at a pawnshop in Seattle. His first roll of photographs grabbed the attention of developers at a women’s clothing store in Minnesota. After seeing Parks’ photographs, in 1940, Marva Louis, wife of boxer Joe Louis, advised Parks to move to Chicago, and so he did. Chicago gave Parks the opportunity to explore the African-American community and, thereby, an opportunity to find his original angle as a photographer. His photographic endeavors eventually took him to the Farm Security Administration (FSA), where he studied under Roy Stryker.

His work flourished under Stryker. Parks continued his photographic encounters with the African-American community, including fashion, sports, racism, Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali. Parks was also an active writer, painter, musician, composer and film director. Plain and simple, a true Renaissance Man he was.

Pindyck Intern for the Loeb, Alex Raz ’16, was responsible for making sure visitors learned about this additional collection of Parks’ works. He explained, “In this role I helped with the exhibition checklist, and I helped layout the exhibition. Also, I did a good deal of general research for myself. The most significant part of this role though was creating a website for the iPad to display in the gallery to highlight the many other parts of Parks’ career that aren’t included in the exhibition’s focus.”

But ultimately, Parks’ body of work as a whole had a powerful cultural influence. “He radically changed photo-journalism, and confronted a white audience with truths about their own place and power,” said Raz. “The exhibition opens up a variety of questions that are germane not only to this campus, but race relations in the United States, such as how artists of color navigate a white-dominated environment, issues of entitlement in co-opting the stories and art of people of color, and looking at Parks’ whole career, examining the struggle to fight oppression from an inherently oppressive environment.”

A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists

“Competitive eating.”

— Sophie Koreto ’18

“Doing something that moves toward the cure for cancer.”

— Matt Valadez ’18

“Creating a society that allows everyone to live up to their potential.”

— Vince Lenart ’18

submit to misc@vassar.edu

“Being the most judgemental person about bad singing.”

— Nick Ruggeri ’18

“A sex tape with Jon Hamm.”

— M McKee ’17

“Being the best Elton John impersonator the world has ever seen.”

— Michael Oosterhout ’18 This is a drawing of my BELOVED cousin. He was standing by a river, the color of which got almost blended in with the color of sky. I was attracted by the contour of his face and the stark contrast between his head and the landscape. As I was drawing, I realized that the river disappeared while his facial expression dominated my eyes. He was looking at the river, but I didn’t know what he had seen or what he was thinking about. Therefore, I just hid the river not only because the edge of the river and the sky was hard to tell, but also because I wanted to leave the beloved figure in the drawing with space to think and see on his own. I wanted my cousin to breathe on this drawing.

-Elle Fan ‘18

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Zander Bashaw, Humor & Satire Editor Sam Pianello, Photo Editor

SPORTS

Page 18

September 24 2015

Female ruggers blast opposition, strive for Nationals Shira Idris

Guest Reporter

L

tries, but my real goal is just to make fewer mistakes every game and become a more proficient player.” For Jones, a personal goal this season was to make a lot of more big hits. “I just want to deck people more often in games. Eventually my goal is by the end of the first half, the whole entire opposing team doesn’t want to touch or be touched by me,” she explained.

The women ruggers lost nine seniors from last year. It’s difficult to replace such talent, skill and experience, especially as the majority of rookies have never played rugby before. But in the recent years, the women have been very strong in recruiting new players. According to Freeman, the team has 14 rookies this year. Taylor Nunley added hopefully, “I am continually impressed by how well our rookies have been doing this season, granted a few more of them

than usual have played rugby before coming to Vassar. They have improved so much in the past few weeks alone. It’s inspiring.”

The women have begun their season with two blowout victories over Stony Brook University and Fairfield University at 55-5 and 81-0 respectively. They downed the Seawolves behind three tries from Thomas and beat the Stags handily in a game that saw many young players get some time.

Last year’s record was 16-3, and impressive feat to beat. But these ladies have the fierce determination that can take them all the way to the top. Jones is very hopeful for the upcoming season and the team atmosphere in general, stating, “Our team is uplifting, I feel that everyone has made improvements and can tell, so as of now the atmosphere is very hopeful.”

courtesy of Vassar Athletics

ast fall witnessed one of the most heartbreaking ends to a Vassar women’s rugby season ever. After a challenging and well-fought battle, the Brewers were winning against Kutztown University. However, in the last minute and the last play of the game Kutztown managed to squeeze out one more try, and took the victory with a score of 22-20. None of the lady ruggers who were around last year will forget the heartbreak and disappointment from losing that one game that would have taken them to the Final 4.

But the lady ruggers are back with an undefeatable attitude and they want that win more than ever. Senior captains Cierra Thomas, Darienne Jones and Taylor Nunley are all hopeful for this fall season, looking to conclude it in the Final 4 in Florida like they did in 2013.

In the fall of 2013, the Brewers lost in the semifinals against Notre Dame College (OH), and ended up ranking 3rd in the nation for Division II. Jones’ expectations for the season are quite high. She explained, “Our goal is to go to Nationals, make it to Final Four and then make it to the finals.” Similarly, Junior flyhalf Mary-Margaret McElduff said, ”I expect to win the conference but I would really like us to go to the Final 4 in Florida again.“ In regards to winning Nationals, captain Taylor Nunley explained, “After seeing the ever-rising levels of talent, effort, and energy among the team, I wouldn’t put it past us at all.” Junior flanker Nathalie Freeman stated, “My expectation for the team is that we go to Nationals and I wouldn’t be surprised if we placed in the top four.” It seems like everyone is determined to go back to Florida and win it all this year.

The Brewers have been preparing for this upcoming season since the end of last fall.

During the spring, the women also had a competitive season with out-of-league games. In the spring, coach Tony Brown likes to phase out the seniors and move around some posi-

tions to practice for the upcoming, more competitive fall season. Captain Darienne Jones explained, “Last spring we finished well, it gave us some insight for what this season would look like.” McElduff added, “We need more time to mesh together as a team with people in new positions.” Last fall, McElduff started to play the important position of flyhalf, who often distributes the ball in offensive plays. Now that she’s more used to the position, she feels she has improved a lot at distributing the ball and reading the defense. Freeman, who plays flanker and sometimes hooker, has improved at poaching the ball and at getting low in the rucks, which are important skills when you’re a forward.

The women ruggers’ off-season summer training consisted of a lot of running and lifting. Jones said, “[I wanted to make] sure my muscles would not be surprised by anything when I came back to Vassar.” After all, rugby is a contact-heavy sport. Furthermore, in the winter, the ruggers have weekly game screenings, where they watch either professional women’s rugby games, or their own past games, so they can learn from their mistakes and triumphs.

Jones was hopeful of the team’s offensive tactics, stating, “everyone on the team is very strong offensively.” However, she also divulged, “As a team we still have a lot more to work on.

We all need that aggressive confidence that I hope to instill.” Jones added, “We struggle with physicality every year and I just want to get rid of it completely so our team can focus on being superb offensively and never afraid to make a tackle.” Freeman said that they’ve incorporated new drills in practice to make the team more physical. To be successful in rugby requires a lot of confidence, aggression and physicality.

Nunley opened up about her personal goals for the year: “[I hope] to be better than I was last season in every sense of the word—stronger, faster, more aggressive.” Freeman added, “I just want to keep improving every day. I would love to make better tackles and score more

Junior Natalie Freeman runs ferociously into contact with the ball. Freeman has flanked exceptionally well, winning Athlete of the Week honors as she helped lead the women to an 81-0 victory.

New legislation proposed to restore VWR availability do on a daily basis, and hopefully help to create a more positive dynamic between the two parties.” So far, there has been a relatively small turnout of non-athletes at these sessions, but it is still very early into the year and the prospects and potential of these open-sessions are promising. O’Connell is optimistic, “Personally, I think this is a great opportunity to literally bridge the gap between athletes and non-athletes on campus, as we can share the same space and work together in sessions to be stronger and more physically fit. There’s a certain camaraderie in the weight room that makes it an enjoyable place to work hard and improve.

I’m happy that we get to share it with others on our campus.”

But in the meantime, the situation still presents challenges for the athletic department and athletes because training and having full access to resources is important for building and maintaining strength to prepare for their actual

playing seasons. Head Athletic Trainer Cameron Williams emphasized the importance of weight training and conditioning for athletes, especially during the off-season, “I’ve never heard a coach in any sport say that a student athlete they coached was too strong or powerful. Being able to generate force, especially explosively, is beneficial in every sport. Moreover, muscles and connective tissue strengthened through strength straining are less likely to be injured. So yes, I would say having access to a solid program and a place to train is an advantage, especially during the offseason when student athletes have more time to devote to less sport-specific skills.” Cimorelli echoed Williams’ sentiments, “Being able to use the weight room as a varsity athlete is crucial to being successful on the next level. I can’t think of any sport where being stronger would hurt you, it only helps in every situation. With that said, the time that you use the weight room the most

Jacob Brody/The Miscellany News

VWR continued from page 1 under the direction of your coaching staff. You can use the AFC Fitness Room while you are not practicing with your team if you would like.”

As of now, there will be new weight room sessions open to both athletes and non-athletes in order to meet NCAA requirements. Walsh commented on the changes that have been made, “The new policy was developed through a collaborative effort between our athletic administrators and SAAC leadership in order to ensure compliance with NCAA rules while still providing our student-athletes with an opportunity to strength train during their respective off-seasons.” Walsh felt that it was crucial for student-athletes to be involved in assisting with the new policy, “The policy has been a work in progress and I have very much valued the input of student-athletes during the process.”

Cimorelli mentioned, “This decision was made mostly by the Athletic Directors and Coach Cam. However, Colleen and I did meet with that group before the final decision was made.”

Cimorelli continued about the ongoing efforts to fully remedy the situation: “We are working on a weekly basis to continue to monitor and adjust the times when open-lifting sessions are available based on attendance. So changes will be made weekly to the available hours.” O’Connell also spoke about the new weight room schedule. “Although it was challenging to readjust the weight room schedule, I am happy that we were informed of the policy’s regulations.

I would much rather have to work around our schedules than be in violation of NCAA rules.”

However, a silver-lining has emerged from the misunderstanding as Vassar’s new open weight room policy will aid in accomplishing a long-term goal of the Athletic Department and SAAC, which is to help alleviate the disparity between student-athletes and non-athletes.

Cimorelli mentioned, “I believe that having a space where both athletes and non-athletes can come, push themselves to new limits, and support each other will help to bridge that gap between the two groups on campus. It will also allow non-athletes to experience what athletes

A controversy surrounding the Varsity Weight Room has made it difficult for many student-athletes to get in the gym and work on their strength and conditioning as they gear up for their seasons.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

is the non-traditional season. That is the time where you are pushing yourself in the weight room to get stronger. During the traditional season you use the weight room to maintain your strength.” Walsh agreed, “Student-athletes who build a solid foundation during the off-season are then able to spend time in-season focusing on tactical and technical skill development, which is essential to their ability to be successful.”

However, the athletic department and student-athletes are still working with each other to continue to improve upon the current situation. In the email sent by Culligan, she elaborated on an upcoming meeting in January to vote on the proposed legislation, “There is legislation proposed which will be voted upon by the Division III membership at the January 2016 convention to change this regulation as this is a problem on many other Division III campuses.” The Vassar Athletic Department is already involved in the new legislation process with the NCAA as Walsh actually wrote the policy that will be proposed in January to clarify the benefits of the VWR. Williams spoke further on the situation from his standpoint, “In short, it’s frustrating. The offseason is the best time for student athletes to work on improving their athleticism through strength training and this makes it more challenging for me to help them accomplish this, but we’re hopeful that the rule will be updated to reflect current thoughts on offseason training. Is the situation perfect yet?

No, and we all understand that. But we are working to make it better and more changes are coming. And we all appreciate the student athletes’ patience as we move through the semester.” For the student-athletes, not much has changed. Cimorelli has been continuing his workout routine, “The policy hasn’t changed how much work I accomplish in the weight room. I have just had to change my schedule around in order to fit my workouts in.” O’Connell agreed, “I’m encouraged by the attitudes of student-athletes and our dedication and work ethic to make the time slots that are available, even if it means being awake and ready to work out at 7 a.m. three times a week.”

SPORTS

September 24, 2015

Body image a paradox for female athletes Elaina Peterkin Guest Columnist

B

odies–the ever-evident feature of our appearance–so many bodies, yet not one the same. Each beautiful in its own way and so on. Of course, these are all common sayings, fleeting statements meant to placate the burning criticisms against the bodies that don’t fit the societal construction of attractiveness.

For many this pressure can be very damaging, specifically in terms of body image. Often, the exemplification of someone struggling difficulties with body image is a teenage girl perusing over magazines (or something of the like), mooning over the appearance of models that may or not have been manipulated.

Yes, as of late, however, there has been a real shift towards more acceptance, though this is hardly a solution. This is a dangerous limitation of those who contend with negative body images–while it is true that a large number of young girls have negative body image, it is also the problem of many young boys, adolescents, adults or perhaps even athletes.

There is something about being in sport that all athletes must accept beyond the strenuous physical activity and such: the frequent public scrutiny, especially of their bodies. It goes without saying that athletes are assumed to have and maintain bodies at the peak of their strength and agility. They are required by some unspoken contract to be fit, but not too fit, and who is deciding? The people they surround themselves with, the people admiring them, the people criticizing them and so on.

Yet they themselves never seem to be on the deciding end.

This is the active branding of athletes, with attractiveness being the gateway to sponsorships and deals. To be visible in the athletic world is a mix of skill in their sport and a promising physical appearance, it is this behavior that degrades the athlete as an athlete, glorifying yet again, the value beauty. Though this applies more to professional athletes,

Page 19

A brief trip through the wild, wild, NFC East Adam Joseph D’Agostino Sr

most of the same principle behaviors are still prevalent in lower level athletics.

For female athletes, beyond the overt mockery of female sports, they undergo constant sexualization. A simple photo-shoot displaying a woman’s strength and comfort in her own skin receives a commentary of limited support, lewd suggestions and vicious slut-shaming. A female athlete cannot be nearly nude without reason as her body has already been labeled as a sexual object. Further, a female athlete, though it is within their job to be strong, has a predetermined limit for how strong she can appear. There is some societal aversion of muscularity in women; she can be strong, but once her biceps become visible or her abdominals too defined, some invisible line has been crossed. God forbid she doesn’t appear as fit as she should!

More recently, there has been much of this discussion due to the constant attack against tennis champion Serena Williams. As one of the best female athletes of all time, it can be assumed that she has gotten so far through persistence and hard work. Thus an obvious result would be the development of power within her body manifested as muscle. Yet, this must not be a common pathway of thought as many still comment on her appearance rather than her record breaking tennis game.

For the male athlete, there is a completely different form of pressure. While male athletes also experience sexualization, they are expected to be bigger and stronger. They are scrutinized for their appearance, especially their height and muscle mass. This is a projected factor of the increased use of steroids among male athletes. Likewise, female and male athletes can be pressured into disordered eating due to dissatisfaction with their body image.

It is safe to say that there needs to be some restructuring of how we think of and present athletes in the media. If not only to protect athletes, but to end the cyclical nature of body image pressure.

Guest Columnist

W

ith an injured 2-0 Dallas Cowboys unit leading the pack, the NFC East is up for grabs and there’s really only one reason that’s the case. Every single team in the conference looks absolutely awful. Let’s go through each one of them as the standings currently read from top to bottom.

Dallas was the clear favorite to win this conference convincingly. They had the highest-powered offense in the conference last season lead by DeMarco Murray and Tony Romo, not to mention Dez Bryant as a phenomenal wide receiver. Fast-forward to week three of the 2015 season and not a single one of them is left. Murray went to Philadelphia in the offseason in an attempt to win a Super Bowl, leaving the best offensive line in the process. Bryant and Romo? Yeah, they are injured and not like “oh they might miss a game.” They are done until at least halfway through this season after suffering a broken foot and collarbone in back to back weeks. That leaves the offense in the hands of journeyman QB Brandon Weeden and tight end Jason Witten, which, if the fact that the Giants and Eagles took out the two big players means anything, indicates that the Redskins have a hit out on the longtime Cowboys player.

This brings us to talk about Washington, which won’t take long. Sorry, Redskins fans.

It’s just not happening this year. Granted, everyone is surprised that they beat the Rams.

There just aren’t really any dangerous weapons out there, unless you want to put DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon in the same category as Antonio Brown. With Quarterback held down by Kirk Cousins and Robert Griffin III out in exile somewhere, help really isn’t coming any time soon.

Now onto the Giants (be warned, I have bias here). These guys can’t finish a game for the life of them. They had the Falcons on the ropes last week only to let them leave the

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Meadowlands with the win. More importantly, they blew an upset against Dallas in week one because they forgot how many time-outs the Cowboys had left. If Victor Cruz can come back in form and help Odell Beckham Jr. out there, maybe Eli Manning will have a shot at bringing his team out of this mess. Also, Coughlin is in the hot seat this year, which pretty much always means the Giants win the Super Bowl, so my hopes are high.

Now onto the “New look” Eagles, and this has to be my favorite story in the conference by far (again, bias). A little back-story for those who don’t follow the NFL offseason because this story deserves its time. During the trade window, Eagles head coach Chip Kelly flexed his muscles and literally tore apart his entire team. The two most notable things he did were trade LeSean McCoy to the Buffalo Bills for linebacker Kiko Alonso (who might be injured for the season now by the way) and a straight up Quarterback trade with Sam Bradford coming from St. Louis and Nick Foles going the other way. Keep in mind: Sam Bradford is coming off his second ACL tear in as many years.

Kelly also acquired Tim Tebow and DeMarco Murray in this time frame. However, he only kept Murray. So now to see how that’s paid off. To begin with, the Eagles are 0-2 having dropped games to the Falcons and Cowboys.

Sam Bradford has given up five turnovers thus far and scored only two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Murray, the new secret weapon and last year’s best running back has rushed for 21 total yards. Also, he’s getting initial contact behind the line of scrimmage almost every time. The offense has been incredibly lackluster thus far, and if it doesn’t start getting up to pace, things are going to get ugly for Kelly.

Be it due to injury, poor roster management (which maybe still remains to be seen) or just awful clock management, no one is making a statement. It’s really looking like 9-7 is all it’s going to take here and there’s no75004 way to tell right now who’s going to get there first.

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SPORTS

Page 20

September 24, 2015

VC rugby alumni keep on rucking in post-college days Zach Rippe

Sports Editor

T

courtesy of Vassar Athletics

he rugby team here at Vassar began over 30 years ago and boasts a long, impressive list of alumni who have grown to love the sport. An annual alumni game takes place at the Vassar Farm every Founder’s Day and offers an opportunity for players past and present to come together, share stories and experiences, and play quite an interesting game of rugby. Many of these alumni take their love for the game with them when they leave Vassar and continue to involve rugby in their daily lives.

Three recent male alumni, Brett Anker ’12, Jerry Dieudonne ’13 and Dan Flynn ’13 are all staying involved with the sport. Flynn began playing for Boston Maccabi Rugby Football Club the fall after graduation. The former front row forward heard about the team through another Vassar College alum: Bruce Mendelson ’90. Mendelson, currently the oldest player on the team, mentioned the Maccabees during the 2013 Vassar alumni game and Flynn was immediately hooked. The team plays in the New England Rugby Football Union Senior Men’s Division III, and is open to all over age 18. “The average age of our players is 27-28, but we have some men as young as 21 and as old as 45,” explained Flynn. The Maccabees also compete in the NERFU D3 Conference for a playoff position and a chance to play at a regional qualifier for Nationals.

The Maccabees do a lot of work off the rugby pitch as well. “One of the things that really drew me in about the team is that we are also a non-profit community service organization.

I’m actually on the executive board as the Director of Community Service. There are so many teams in Boston to play for, I think what sets us apart is the fact that we leverage the bond we form through playing rugby to give back to the community and make a difference in the world around us,” Flynn explained.

Dieudonne, a teammate and friend of Flynn’s, is now also playing for the Maccabees, yet his path to Boston was a bit different than Flynn’s. After finishing Vassar in the fall of 2013, the speedy winger stayed with his older brother Rudy for a few months, traveled in Switzerland for a bit, moved to Nashville, Tennessee,

then relocated to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to live with his younger brother Roy and work for Citibank. “It was not the most legitimate team I ever played on,” Dieudonne divulged. “During my time there attendance was inconsistent, logistics were sketchy at times–I would show up to an empty field at practice in Marion Park because no one told me it was canceled or no one had bothered to come, we had a five game Spring schedule, and we often practiced with the local high school boy’s team in the overheated Avera Sports Dome.” While there, work and rugby often conflicted with one another as practice times and Dieudonne’s work shift often overlapped. Dieudonne often would arrive to see teammates packing up their bags as he was jogging over.

What brought Dieudonne back east was his connection to Vassar Rugby. He spoke with Flynn via the Vassar Rugby Alumni Facebook page this past spring and was introduced to Alex Goldstein, founder of Boston Maccabi RFC. Goldstein was eventually able to get Dieudonne in touch with potential employers as well. This fall, Flynn and Dieudonne were joined by a third Vassar rugby alum, Zach Kent ’13. “I think I’ll always fondly remember how well the three of us played on the same team in those pickup games, communicating well as we had for years and being able to predict each other’s movements and create gaps at which to run hard. It was clear that our time at Vassar had made us good individual players, but great as a unit,” reminisced Dieudonne.

While alumnus Brett Anker has been playing some Division III rugby with a team down in Washington, DC and a Division II squad in White Plains, New York, he has also been covering international collegiate club rugby as a freelance reporter for Rugby Today. Anker, who recently got his master’s degree in Sports Management while in Washington DC, has interned for the NFL Player’s Association, worked for Major League Baseball and now has settled into a position doing property management accounting.

While rugby can often be time consuming, Anker relishes the opportunity to stay so close to the game. He writes previews and recaps, along with some PR work and side stories, was

Jerry Dieudonne ’13 sprints down the wing in a game with his club team in Sioux Falls, SD. Vassar rugby boasts an extensive list of alumni, many of whom are still involved with the sport. a writer for the Varsity Cup, a championship that hosts the top programs in all of Division 1 college rugby, and was most recently interviewed on an Australian rugby radio program about American collegiate rugby. This has provided him the opportunity to also attend a host of major rugby matches and events throughout the country, including the Collegiate Rugby Championship and some exhibition games between the US and European club teams.

The three alumni all value their time as rugby players here at Vassar. Flynn stated, “Joining Vassar Rugby was the single best decision I made in my time at Vassar. It’s hard to articulate just how much that experience formed me and how important the relationships I developed through it are to me.” All were also sure to mention head coach Tony Brown and the impact he and the program have had on their lives. Anker came to Vassar a soccer player and was introduced to Brown via an introductory swim class. Anker explained, “Tony would always come up to me and say, ‘when you want

to play a real sport, come talk to me.’I hadn’t really been enjoying soccer [and eventually did]. My first game was on tour in Ireland where I was playing fullback at the time, a big Irish center came down, barreled over me and scored. After the try when we were behind the posts, Tony came up to me and said, ‘Welcome to rugby lad, go out and get the next one!’ I was immediately hooked.”

Dieudonne too offered some thoughts on his old head coach. In reference to his on field accolades and overall love for the game, he explained, “None of this would have been possible without the support, generosity and brilliance of the Vassar men’s and women’s Rugby Coach, Anthony Brown. Tony has personally provided me opportunities I never would have dreamed possible, and there is no way I can hope to fully repay him for all that he has given me. I try though, in my own small way, by keeping up with the sport I love and leaving nothing on the field for every minute I’m lucky enough to be out there.”

Seasons change but Brewers’ winning ways stay same Ashley Hoyle Reporter

Women’s Tennis

This weekend, women’s tennis competed in the yearly Vassar Scramble Tournament hosted this year on Vassar’s Joss courts against New York University and Connecticut College.

They had a strong finish on the second day of competition, with a score of 6-0 in singles (two which were finished with a third set tie-break) and 5-1 in doubles leading to an overall score of 12-8 in singles and 6-2 in doubles. The Brewers are now gearing up to play in the ITA Northeast Regional Tournament coming up this weekend.

Women’s Golf

Men’s Soccer

Saturday saw men’s soccer’s match against SUNY New Paltz. The men won by one single point, scored by senior Jordan Palmer in the closing minutes of competition after 86 minutes of play that saw only three shots on goal.

Brewer defense kept New Paltz at a season low for shots on goal. This puts the Brewers at 3-2-2 on the season.

Women’s Field Hockey

Early in the week field hockey beat an out-of-conference Western Connecticut with a solid 4-1 victory at home in Poughkeepsie– continuing their 13 home game winning streak

(the third longest active streak in the division).

The Brewers kept Western Connecticut under four shots on goal for the match and continued to keep the pressure on in the mid-field.

Then, Field Hockey shut out Ramapo College on Saturday, playing at home this weekend for a non-conference game. The Brewers kept solid defense, keeping opponent shots on goal as well as score at zero and taking 19 of the 20 penalty corners. The 2-0 win puts their record at 6-1 overall for the season. Both shots were assisted by freshman Megan Caveny on the Athletic Center Turf Field–one was scored by junior Lauren Shumate and the other by junior Lauren Wiebe who also came out on top for shots on goal at four. This was Wiebe’s third

The women’s golf team played this weekend in the New York University Invitational. They came out after struggling during the first day of competition with an 11th place finish, shooting 76-over on the day. Junior Emily Prince lead the Brewers with a score of 88 to tie for 33rd place–her fourth score north of 80 in her career at Vassar and the first time she has led the team in scoring. The Brewers rallied for the second day of the tournament when every Brewer but one improved their scores from the first day of competition and shaved 22 strokes off of their overall game, finishing with a score of 706 and an 11th place finish on the weekend at Spook Rook Golf Course in Suffern, New York.

Women’s Soccer

In Vassar women’s soccer’s best performance of the year they beat Manhattanville College 6-0 on their home turf, Gordon Field. The six goals were scored by six different players and puts their record at 5-2 for this fall overall. The goalies were successful in clinching the shutout–blocking the singular goal to come their way. The Brewers also saw SUNY New Paltz, again at home and again another shutout. The women won 2-0 and are currently on a three game winning streak and have not let an opponent score since Sept. 12th. The Brewers will see Montclair State next.

Men’s Rugby

The men traveled to Schenectady, New York this week to play a tough match against Union College who they held off with a score of 30-21.

The men got off to a slow start - missing many tackles and committing many errors in the first 40 minutes. The Brewers are now sitting on an overall record of 3-0-0.

Women’s Lacrosse

courtesy of Vassar Athletics

Women’s Volleyball

The women’s volleyball team saw their first Liberty League tournament this weekend– where they split their two days of competition.

They pulled out a huge win against Union on Friday, where they scored a season high of 47 kills and then took a tough loss against St. Lawrence. On day two, they were beaten 0-3 by Clarkson, but then came back and swept Skidmore 3-0. This puts their record at 2-2 for Liberty League play and 6-6 on the season.

goal of the season and her 25th for her career with the Brewers. The women will see No. 11 Montclair State next, on the road.

The women’s field hockey team charges across the midway line with the ball on their way to a 4-1 victory over Western Connecticut State that saw their home winning streak extend to 13 games.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

The Vassar women’s lacrosse Head Coach, Judy Finerghty announced this week the Brewer’s schedule for the 2016 season. The Brewers will host five competitions in Poughkeepsie and will travel for eight games. They will also take a Spring break trip to Bradenton, Florida next semester to compete in the Spring Fling lacrosse tournament. The team is coming off their best Liberty League finish in program history with a clinching of the 3rd slot and a 10-6 winning record. The Brewers will open the season at home for their second year in a row against SUNY New Paltz on March 5th.