The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CLI | Issue 20
April 11, 2019
ICE raids escalate across Hudson Valley Tiana Headley Reporter
didn’t know the extent to which people were living in fear and suffering in my own community, and it was heartbreaking to hear that a place where I feel so safe and comfortable could be so hostile to others,” local New Paltz activist Ronnie Yastion shared in an email. Since President Donald Trump’s
Courtesy of Kasey Ivan
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January 2017 crackdown on undocumented immigrants, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ raids have escalated across the country. The Trump administration has asserted that immigrants pose a threat to American citizens, and pledged to deport three million undocumented immigrants with criminal records in 2017. Panic has spread throughSee DEPORTATIONS page 3
On April 2, President Elizabeth Bradley announced the appointment of T. Barton Thurber as the new director of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, effective as of Aug. 5, 2019. Thurber comes to the institution wielding extensive experience in the world of collegiate galleries.
Multilingual program Thurber appointed Loeb director connects across borders Holly Shulman Arts Editor
Ha Bui
Guest Reporter
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n 2015, the United Nations recorded an unprecedented influx of forcibly displaced individuals into Europe. On April 20, a boat of 700 capsized in Libyan waters, some 180 km south of Italy’s Lampedusa Island. Only 50 were saved. On Aug. 28, Austrian officials uncovered 71 refugee carcasses in a refrigeration truck on the Hungarian-Austrian
border. On Sept. 5, a protest march of more than 1,000 refugees erupted after the Hungarian government refused to provide trains to Austria and Germany. On Sept. 15, Hungary, alongside other European countries temporarily restating border controls, erected a fence along its Serbian border, terminating two decades of open borders in the EU. Inconsistent border controls across See CONNECTIONS on page 3
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ach year, thousands of starry-eyed prospective students meander across Vassar’s campus, accompanied by even starrier-eyed parents. Some are attracted to the school’s small class sizes, others to the beautiful campus or open curriculum. A select group applies because of the promise that here, they will spend four years in a place where they are never more than five minutes from Picassos and O’Keefes, Pollacks and Rot-
hkos—the list goes on. At Vassar, students enjoy unfettered access to The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, a museum that The New York Times once described as “one of the great college collections” (The New York Times, “ART REVIEW; The Hudson Valley, Inside and Out,” 07.30.1999). The Loeb, a Vassar institution since it opened in 1864 under the name “Vassar College Art Gallery,” has been in a state of flux this year (The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, “About the FLLAC,”
12.08.2010). Last fall, James Mundy, the Anne Hendricks Bass Director of the Loeb, announced his impending spring retirement. The search for his successor concluded on Tuesday, April 2, when President Elizabeth Bradley announced via email that T. Barton Thurber, the current Associate Director for Collections and Exhibitions at the Princeton University Art Museum, has been selected to fill the post. Thurber will assume his new position on Monday, Aug. 5. See LOEB DIRECTOR on page 8
Women’s tennis keeps on rolling As four recipes display, green can go gourmet Kelly Pushie
were able to host an opponent in Poughkeepsie. he women’s tennis team is Vassar started off the match Tamika Whitenack riding the wave of a domistrong, posting victories at all Guest Columnist nant five-game winning streak in six singles positions in straight which they’ve dropped only eight sets. Sophomore Frances Cornhen I talk about food, I combined matches across singles wall, playing at No. 1, had a strong inevitably start talking and doubles play. Ranked number 6-2, 6-3 win. Sarra Yekta, anoth- about colors. I often praise the or38 in the nation, the Brewers want See TENNIS on page 19 ange foods, professing my love of sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash and satsuma mandarins. Red is another treasured color, represented by strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes and bell peppers. But at the end of the day, I find that the best food color is green. Green boasts the cruciferous wonders of broccoli and brussels sprouts, the emerald beauties of green grapes and kiwi, the mighty avocado and, of course, the myriad of leafy vegetables commonly referred to as greens—spinach, collards and kale, to name a few. String beans, snap peas, zucchini, cucumbers, asparagus and celery are other lucky members of the green food family. To this list I add my favorite Asian vegetables: bok choy and gai lan (Chinese broccoli). In the fruit department, we have Anjou pears, honeydew melPictured above, Joyce Park of women’s tennis returns a serve in a recent match. VC has won five straight, on, Granny Smith apples, limes. including its first three in conference. In those three wins, the team has lost only three total matches. What’s more, the bounty of Guest Reporter
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to keep it in high gear and shoot even higher up the rankings. This past weekend, the Brewers faced RPI for their third straight Liberty League contest, having won the prior two against Ithaca and William Smith 9-0 and 7-2, respectively. After seven straight away contests, the Brewers finally
W
Courtesy of VC Athletic Communications
Inside this issue
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President Bradley responds to SJP OPINIONS op-ed in Letter to the Editor
16
Dabbling in knightly strife: MRST major HUMOR reveals day in feudal life
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green food extends far beyond fruits and vegetables. Many culinary herbs are also green; I think of basil, oregano, rosemary, mint. With regard to protein, I adore pistachios, pumpkin seeds and edamame. The color green even lays claim to one of the trendiest superfoods of our time: matcha. Green is such a notorious food color, it even manages to be featured in Dr. Seuss’s classic children’s book, “Green Eggs and Ham.” The diverse array of green foods allows for a wide variety of recipes that feature green ingredients. I find great visual satisfaction in creating dishes that center on a singular color, and green food is perfect for such masterpieces. Furthermore, the verdant versatility of the following recipes reveals the ability of green foods to satisfy at any meal of the day. Be it a nutrient-packed breakfast smoothie, delicate lunch salad, nourishing dinner stir-fry or an ethereal matcha dessert, green foods deliver flavorful and fun fare for all occasions! See GREEN on page 10
Sports writers with basketball addictions present SPORTS NBA playoff predictions
The Miscellany News
Page 2
April 11, 2019
The Miscellany News Presents: Leadership Elections!
Executive Board applications due Sunday, April 14, by 8 p.m. to misc@vassar.edu.
Editor-in-Chief Leah Cates
Senior Editors
Sasha Gopalakrishnan Mack Liederman
Executive Board interviews held on Wednesday, April 17, at 7 p.m.
Contributing Editors
Talya Phelps Noah Purdy Charlotte Varcoe-Wolfson Laila Volpe
Editorial Board applications due Sunday, April 21, by 8 p.m. via the Misc website.
News Features Opinions Humor and Satire Arts
Editorial Board interviews held on Wednesday, April 24, at 7 p.m.
Sports Design Copy Online Assistant Features Assistant Opinions Assistant Humor Assistant Social Media Assistant Online Assistant Copy Web Master
Contact misc@vassar.edu for more info!
The Miscellany News 11
April
Thursday
Weekender_ 12 April
Gender Inclusivity in STEM Community Dinner
Senior Recital: Isabel Morrison, viola
5:00 p.m. | The Aula | GIiS, Strong House, Women’s Center
5:00 p.m. | SH Martel Recital Hall | Music Dept.
Late Night at the Lehman Loeb
Vass Shakers Spring Show
5:00 p.m. | The Loeb Atrium | The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
13
Friday
April
7:00 p.m. | KH Dance Theater | Vass Shakers
The Northern Skies
Saturday
14 April
Sunday
Students of Sobriety Group
Tennis (M) vs. St. Lawrence
9:30 a.m. | RH 211 | AA Poughkeepsie
10:00 a.m. | Joss Tennis Courts | Athletics
Tennis (M) vs. RPI
Rugby (M) vs. VC Invitational 7s
10:00 a.m. | Joss Tennis Courts | Athletics
Lacrosse (W) vs. William Smith
11:00 a.m. | Rugby Field at the Farm | Athletics
Baseball vs. Skidmore
1:00 p.m. | Prentiss Turf Field | Athletics
13:00 p.m. | Prentiss Baseball Field | Athletics
5:00 p.m. | NE 105 | Career Development Office
Breaking into Medical School Alumnae/i Panel
From Darkness to the Light
Ribicoff Lecture
1:00 p.m. | RH 300- Auditorium | Career Development Office
Negotiating Job Offers & Understanding Benefits
8:00 p.m. | Vogelstein Center 106-Martel Theater | Drama Dept.
5:30 p.m. | TH 203- Auditorium | Art Dept.
Breaking into Law School Alumnae/i Panel
Qin Gao Lecture
8:00 p.m. | Vogelstein Center 106-Martel Theater | Drama Dept.
Reporters Ariana Gravinese Tiana Headley Aena Khan Columnists Catherine Bither Jimmy Christon Christian Flemm Jesser Horowitz Dean Kopitsky Emmett O’Malley Sylvan Perlmutter Taylor Stewart Blair Webber Copy Adelaide Backhus Anastasia Koutavas Anna Blake Natalie Bober Samantha Cavagnolo Madeline Seibel Dean Amanda Herring Phoebe Jacoby Caitlin Patterson Gillian Redstone Mina Turunc Photo Yijia Hu Cartoonist Frank
9:00 p.m. | Rose Parlor | The Miscellany News
Hop on over to Vass Shakers’ Spring Show this Friday! You will be delighted by their choreography and ingenuity.
Senior Recital: Bianca Barragan, soprano Courtesy of BFM Facebook
The Northern Skies
Courtesy of Kimberly Nguyen
8:00 p.m. | CC Villard Room | Campus Activities
Paper Critique
Duncan Aronson Jonas Trostle Izzy Migani Patrick Tanella Chris Allen Lucy Leonard Steven Park
1:00 p.m. | RH 200- Auditorium | Career Development Office
5:30 p.m. | RH 200- Auditorium | Political Science Dept.
Alex Krieger’ 95 Memorial lecture - Jamaica Kincaid
3:30 p.m. | SH Martel Recital Hall | Music Dept.
Jessica Moss Frankie Knuckles Steven Park Hannah Gaven Holly Shulman Abby Tarwater Myles Olmsted Rose Parker Lilly Tipton Teddy Chmyz Anastasia Koutavas
1:30 p.m. | SH Martel Recital Hall | Music Dept.
Tennis (W) vs. St. Lawrence 2:30 p.m. | Joss Tennis Courts | Athletics
BFM Spring Fire Show 7:30 p.m. | Quad | Barefoot Monkeys.
The Northern Skies 8:00 p.m. | Vogelstein Center 106-Martel Theater | Drama Dept.
Come with your friends to the Spring show this Saturday! There will be hot chocolate, dazzling fire and monkeys.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
CORRECTION POLICY The Miscellany News will only accept corrections for any misquotes, misrepresentations or factual errors for an article within the semester it is printed. The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
April 11, 2019
NEWS
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Hudson Valley deportations devastate local communities DEPORTATIONS continued
Martinez was deported twice. A 2014 misdemeanor DUI charge in which he did not post bail could have offered the ICE a chance to deport him a third time. In 2016, Martinez filed for a U-visa, which are granted to victims of crimes who cooperate with the police, after witnessing the murder of his brother in 1999. Requests for such visas have increased exponentially since 2016 (The River Newsroom, “Undocumented”). Martinez’s story has garnered much attention due to his presence in his community. His construction business, alongside his restaurant, La Charla, employ dozens of people in New Paltz and New York City. He donates to St. Joseph’s Church, helps coach youth basketball and soccer leagues and donates more than four tons of food each year to low-income communities through Healthy Ulster (The River Newsroom, “Undocumented”). Yastion felt compelled to show her support for Martinez after reading about his detainment in an article. Martinez’s son, Luis, is friends with her own son. “He was just another dad in our community and it was shocking and disturbing that he had been dragged off,” she shared in an email. Yastion organized rallies of support for Martinez at his restaurant and the Newburgh ICE office, where a petition with 1,000 signatures was hand-delivered to the office. She has collaborated with New Paltz Councilman Daniel Torres to create the One-Pulse New Paltz fund to aid other families affected by the ICE detainments. According to Yastion, those detained are typically the breadwinners of their families; as a result, they have been forced to leave their families behind to face economic hardship. The individuals whose stories have been
spotlighted by Hudson Valley news media are some of many stories of those detained by ICE in the region. Agents have imprisoned many other community members over the years, frequently outside courthouses and probation offices (The River, “Voice from behind Bars,” 03.29.2019). “It really has to do with if you’re involved in the community because if you’re not, it’s hard for people to know you,” Ulster County Organizer for Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson (NLMH) Diana Lopez explained. NLMH organizers have protested at several demonstrations for Martinez, including outside the Orange County jail and the Newburgh ICE office, and started a petition on his behalf. Lopez stressed the importance of protecting all undocumented immigrants in the community, adding, “[NLMH] still help people who are not [as involved] in the community, because we’re all human, we all deserve rights and we all need dignity and respect.” As a result, the organization has petitioned for municipal identification programs in cities across the Mid-Hudson.
Like other undocumented immigrants, Martinez was frustrated by the lengthy, costly process of seeking out immigration lawyers and filing paperwork to gain legal status. Founder of the undocumented youth organization Adelante Student Voices Gabriella Quintanilla felt similar frustration once she attained her Green Card after arriving undocumented from El Salvador at age 13. “When I got [the Green Card] in the mail I just felt, ‘ugh, I hate this so much.’ It’s just a piece of plastic that means so much to my life. The moment I had that [card] in my hands, my whole life changed,” she expressed. Much like Martinez, Quintanilla spent her life contributing to her local community despite her status. She feels that the current immigration system is a broken system that works, explaining, “When we need workers, we call on the immigrants to do the labor that Americans don’t wanna do. When it gets too much, they say ‘Well, it’s time for you to go home. They’re rapists. They’re bad people.’”
Courtesy of Ronnie Yastion
from page 1 out immigrant communities, including the Hudson Valley, as ICE agents sweep the homes and workplaces of undocumented immigrants without criminal records (The Washington Post, “Immigration enforcement raids include the Hudson Valley,” 02.12.2017). Over the past two years, the stories of several high profile members of Hudson Valley communities have received considerable media coverage. In 2017, Kingston restaurant owner Leo Santos fled for Mexico in fear of deportation, leaving behind his business and family. In December 2018, a head chef of the restaurant Anchor, Juan Carlos Alonzo, left for Mexico under “voluntary departure” status after being detained by ICE agents. New Paltz resident Matthew Rojas, a “dreamer” brought to the United States as an undocumented child, was detained in by ICE agents outside the New Paltz Justice Court on his hearing date for a previous arrest for drug possession (The River Newsroom, “ICE in the Hudson Valley,” 02.13.2019). Arguably the most high-profile arrest made in the Hudson Valley is that of Owner of New Paltz construction company Lalo Group Luis Martinez. Martinez was detained outside his office on Jan. 16, 2018 and is jailed at the Orange County Correctional Facility. Throughout his life, he has tried to attain legal status, yet repeatedly encountered conditions that have complicated the process. After the murder of his father, his mother fled to the U.S. to claim asylum and was eventually granted citizenship. Martinez was not and subsequently filed for a Green Card (The River Newsroom, “Undocumented in the Hudson-Valley: The Luis Martinez Story,” 03.25.2019).
Outside of the Newburgh ICE office, rally protesters requested the immediate release of Luis Martinez, who is currently being held in the Orange County Correctional Facility. Organizers brought a petition for his release and a copy of the Constitution.
Language program fosters transnational communication CONNECTIONS continued
from page 1 nations highlighted the need to establish a uniform European response. In October and November, two asylum-seeking groups of 19 and 30 individuals were relocated to Sweden and Luxembourg, respectively, in a joint effort by national authorities. By December, more than 911,000 individuals had arrived in Europe within the year. Roughly 3,550 lives had been lost on the journey there (UNHCR, “2015: The year of Europe’s refugee crisis,” 08.12.2015). With administrative responses being somewhat inadequate, and humanitarian responses somewhat victimizing, Elise Shea ’19 confronted this climate with one question: “How can Vassar students engage meaningfully with forcibly displaced communities?” This thought inspired her to join staff with the co-founders of Vassar Refugee Solidarity, Professor of History Maria Höhn and Anish Kanoria ’18 to establish the non-profit Conversations Unbound (CU). CU is a language-learning program that enables students to practice their conversational Arabic or Spanish skills online with tutors who have a forced displacement background. All tutors are paid hourly. These sessions aspire to both assist students in their academic endeavors and formulate transnational relationships that deconstruct barriers across distance, borders and languages. Shea was connected with Jim Leu ’94, the General Manager at the Taiwan Office for italki.com, a language learning platform, to develop the idea of a pen-pal digital project wherein forcibly displaced individuals and students could connect with one another. This connection is where she first nurtured the initiative to connect Vassar’s Arabic lan-
guage learners with forcibly displaced native speakers. The project’s partnership with Small Projects Istanbul and Jamie Stevenson ‘10, a Vassar alum living in Paris, enabled CU to connect with their first team of Arabic language tutors. In 2017, the project grew to a six-person team and won the $5,000 OZY Genius Award. It officially adopted the name “Conversations Unbound” and entered the non-profit sector. Recounting her early connections with native speakers, Shea said: “We were often cold-calling organizations trying to connect with relevant populations, and many times interested individuals lacked reliable internet access. Ultimately, it was through connecting with organizations and people who were already doing important work to support these populations that allowed us to succeed.” Shea also explained that tutor safety is of utmost importance to CU. The project has worked in close cooperation with italki to ensure that the tutors remain protected on their online platform and to build trust. “All students and tutors who participate in CU programming are provided with a cultural sensitivity training before their conversation sessions begin to ensure that both parties know how to thoughtfully engage with each other,” she explained. “One of our original tutors is now on our Board of Directors to ensure that our tutors’ voices are represented within our organization’s structure.” When asked about potential difficulties that CU may encounter, Shea remained transparent. She explained the challenge of maintaining balance between fulfilling Vassar professors’ goals in the project and providing tutors with a sustainable source of in-
come: “This led us to develop a model where CU is incorporated into classes as a required component of students’ coursework in the effort to ensure lessons are completed and tutors start earning money.” Beyond the online platform, CU also brought its founders into direct contact with the individuals they pledge to support. In her study-abroad semester in Paris, Shea met with one of the founding CU Arabic tutors. During her Ford Scholar research project in Berlin with Professor of History Maria Höhn, Shea and CU Assistant Director Jessica Schwed met with future CU tutors, the conversations with whom have inspired her future work with CU. Professor of Hispanic Studies Eva Woods Peiró, a key faculty advisor to CU, further commented on how the project turned students’ academic need to transcend linguistic barriers into an opportunity to foster social connection and understanding. “This kind of a project empowers both students and community participants,” she explained. “Within this framework of CU, the latter, positioned as experts in the target language, become knowledge producers and horizontalize the hierarchies of learning and knowledge production. The former gain invaluable experience in the organization, maintenance and sustenance of non-profit organizing.” Peiró also praised CU’s providing student volunteers with both a dynamic working entity and a spiritual haven where they can engage in community service, without disrupting academic endeavors. One student volunteer, Spanish Program Assistant Paola Castaneda ’22, shared that the organization brought her and her colleagues not only invaluable experience working in a startup
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
environment, but also a cause to serve. “I believe CU is a small grain of sand in the huge effort being made by many to unite humanity. The conversations...allow for a unique bond between two individuals that would have never met each other otherwise,” she illuminated. “Not only does CU make an effort to change the rhetoric of first-world heroism, it does so through genuine human connection.” Currently, the project has expanded to Michigan State University and University of Richmond, encompassing 344 students, facilitating 1255 lessons that equate to 629 lesson hours and offering tutors earnings of over $7,000. It has collaborated with tutors from Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Mexico and Venezuela who now reside in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Germany, Mexico and the U.S. At Vassar, CU is an integral part of language classes that count toward students’ final grades. According to Shea, “Student participation is high regardless of the requirements, and we think this is because students value this opportunity to learn one-on-one from their tutor and share in these cross-cultural experiences.” Peiró also shared that participating feedbacks to their lessons have been overwhelmingly positive on the grounds of intellectual, academic and personal development. In the future, CU promises to expand to universities and colleges across the nation and to encompass programs for other languages. There is a common agreement among the CU team, tutors and participating students that what lies at the marrow of the project is for tutors and students to learn from each other, forging mutually respectful and long-lasting partnerships.
NEWS
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April 11, 2019
Vassar establishes new Professional Development office Olivia Watson
Guest Reporter
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n response to President Bradley’s vision for more opportunities for personal and occupational growth for employees, Vassar initiated the Professional Development Office last July. Located within the Dean of College division, this office works to promote inclusion on campus by providing support and resources for employees, particularly those working in student-interacting offices. Dean of the College Carlos Alamo-Pastrana indicated that this new office serves to implement resources for employees, including a curriculum for bias training.
Courtesy of Vassar Alumnae/i Quarterly Above is a photo of Senior Associate Dean for the Office of Professional Development Ed Pittman ’82, taken from the Vassar Alumnae/i Quarterly. Pittman began his new role as the Dean nine months ago.
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l Round a c i it Ae n a K h a n
In our Headlines… Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Sunday that Congressional Democrats will never see President Donald Trump’s tax returns, belying previous statements that they could not be released because the tax returns were under audit. This development comes only several days after House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-M.A.) formally requested at least six years worth of Trump’s personal tax returns from the IRS. In a letter sent last Wednesday, he also requested the tax returns of eight of Trump’s businesses. Mulvaney stated that the request was a political stunt by liberals, to which the White House would not concede. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told CNN’s Jake Tapper that there is a statute mandating that the IRS “shall provide these returns to the Congress upon request” (CNN, “Mulvaney says Democrats will ‘never’ obtain Trump’s tax returns,” 04.07.2019). On April 7, 2019, Trump announced via Twitter that Kirstjen Nielsen had resigned from her position as Secretary of Homeland Security. In her letter of resignation, abrupt in timing because of the lack of a deputy to take over the department, she stated, “[I have] determined that it is the right time for me to step aside.” Nielsen became infamous for her role in, and subsequent denial of, the separation
This emergent curriculum will guide administrators in improving their job performance and better supporting students. Alamo-Pastrana summarized in an email interview, “It ensures that administrators in the Dean of College area are continuously developing skills as administrators and in their respective areas, and...enables us to continue improving how we engage with students.” Senior Associate Dean for the Office of Professional Development Edward Pittman ’82 began his role in this office nine months ago. In his time at the College, Pittman has engaged primarily with students in the student life division and campus life and diversity. “I’ve worked very intentionally to build inclusive environments for students and oversaw several student resource centers,” he explained. “The transition into this work for me is an extension of the work I’ve done.” This office seeks to create a sense of belonging among employees, as well as to offer workshops and retreats on issues that promote equity and inclusion for students. While administrators often discuss student well-being, this office ensures it for employees as well. “We created the office because we learned from some administrators that the College offered very little by way of professional development for administrators and support staff who work at the college,” Alamo-Pastrana said. “Professional development within the College was a crucial gap that needed to be addressed.” The office focuses on the on-boarding process—the orientation process for new employees—viewing it as integral to en-
suring that new employees become a part of the campus community. It also assists new administrators in accomplishing their professional goals. For example, Pittman holds a lunch and dialogue for new student life administrators three times a semester to orient them to campus.
Further, the Professional Development Office organizes retreats and workshops to encourage learning about important issues related to campus life, as well as providing opportunities for self growth and reflection. One of these retreats, titled “The Power of You: Women Taking the Lead,” offered attendees the opportunity to reflect on female leadership. Associate Dean of the College for Student Growth and Engagement Wendy Maragh Taylor facilitated the event. “My intent was to give women-identifying, as well as non-binary and gender non-conforming, administrators the opportunity to go on a journey that would provide them some self-discovery, professionally and personally,” she shared over email. Maragh Taylor feels that these sorts of retreats are important for employees, as they encourage them to explore their iden-
tities in relation to their new position. “We spend far too much time as human doings and not human beings,” she said. “These administrators were given a chance...to gain insight about how they lead and how they tap into ‘power’ to do the work they’ve been hired to do here.” Director of Safety and Security Arlene Sabo participated in anti-bias, leadership and conflict resolution workshops. She felt that these experiences influenced both her personal and professional life, observing, “[They] gave me practical skills...relating more deeply to others helps me to dig into problems and find the best possible solutions or better yet prevent issues altogether,” she explained. She hopes that this work will persist for years to come, anticipating that it will have a positive impact on the campus community. “I think if we continue developing ourselves professionally, we will look back in ten years and be able to see the large impact continued education had on our outlook, our job performance, our relationships, and overall life in general,” she reflected. The future goals of The Professional Development Office include developing a curriculum for bias training and new workshops. Pittman expects the work to be enduring. “One of the problems with inclusion and diversity work is that sometimes it’s presented as okay we’ve done it and now we’re finished, and it’s never that way. The work is ongoing,” Pittman said. “Our goal is to build a curriculum that will extend through the first [year], second year, and beyond.”
of families and the establishment of camps along the southern border; hundreds of families remain separated. Only several days earlier, Trump expressed anger at the increasing number of migrants at the southern border and withdrew the nomination of a possible head of ICE, to instead find a more aggressive candidate. Nielsen’s resignation sparked concern among critics of Homeland Security and ICE, because of the sentiment that she was not “tough enough” on immigration, in spite of the blatant human rights violations that occurred under her supervision, and worries that her successor might be even harsher (The New York Times, “Kirstjen Nielsen Resigns as Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary,” 04.07.2019). Louisiana Police are treating four fires that destroyed three Black churches across the southern part of the state as suspicious. The cause of the first fire, which took place on March 26 at St. Landry Parish, remains undetermined, though arson was not ruled out. Likewise, no connection between the three incidents has yet been determined. The other affected churches are the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, the Greater Union Baptist Church and the St. Mary Baptist Church. A statement from the State Fire Marshal said, “There is clearly something happening in this community…That is why it is imperative that the citizens of this community be part of our effort to figure out what it is.” The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as the FBI, joined local police (NPR, “‘There Is Clearly Something Happening’: Fires Destroy 3 Black Churches In Louisiana,” 04.06.2019).
his right-wing BJP party, which has often come under fire for spreading Hindu nationalism. On April 8, 2019, they vowed to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special privileges. The majority-Muslim state was the center of heightened tensions between India and Pakistan as many Kashmiris ask for self-determination or for unification with Pakistan’s Azad-e-Kashmir. The BJP is expected to retain power ahead of Thursday’s elections, despite the revelation of the highest unemployment rates in decades under Modi earlier this year. The conflict with Pakistan–and the return of a shot-down pilot released by Pakistan Armed Forces–increased the popularity of Modi and his new economic plan, which promises to spend 100 million rupees on infrastructure over the next five years. There are many voices calling for the revocation of Kashmir’s autonomous status amidst ultra-nationalism (Reuters, “Ahead of Indian election, Modi’s party vows to strip Kashmir of special rights,” 04.08.2019). An airstrike on Monday closed the only functioning airport in Tripoli, Libya, in a move condemned by the UN for violating humanitarian law. General Khalifa Hafter, a commander in the eastern part of the country and leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA), is attempting to seize the capital from the UN-backed government. The airport is the base for much of the country’s militia and is a point of focus in the fighting alongside the now-inactive Tripoli International airport. He stated via a spokesman that no civilian planes were targeted, and Reuters reported that no casualties occurred in the strike. Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj accused Hafter of orchestrating a coup d’etat. However, al-Sarraj is one of Libya’s leaders who struggles to maintain balance, particularly
after the deposition of long-time dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi in 2011 left the country unstable. There is the risk of civilians becoming cut off from vital services, and 2,800 people have fled fighting around Tripoli thus far (BBC, “Libya crisis: Air strike at Tripoli airport as thousands flee clashes,” 04.09.2019). Ahead of Israel’s general elections on Tuesday, April 9, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the ultimate campaign promise to annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. As of Tuesday, there is a tie between Netanyahu and newcomer Benny Gantz. Historically, the West Bank was associated with the ancient kingdom of Israel, but after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, it was annexed by the area of Transjordan. After the establishment of Israel in 1948, many Palestinian Arabs fled to it as a part of the “Nakba,” or their forced displacement. Thus, such a policy change would potentially damage Palestinian hopes for an independent state. Netanyahu’s current administration began by paying public attention to hopes of a two-state solution, a position that changed dramatically over the past decade. The Jewish settler movement in Palestinian territories increased with his return to office in 2009, after having been elected the youngest prime minister of Israel in 1996. In January, the settler movement successfully lobbied Netanyahu to expel a group whose job it was to keep Palestinians in the city safe after the 1994 Purim massacre. Netanyahu has long been accused of moving Israeli politics further to the right; earlier this year, he successfully convinced Trump to recognize Israeli authority over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights (NPR, “After A Decade Of Netanyahu, Hopes Fade For A Palestinian State,” 04.09.2019).
Around the World… India’s general elections loom over Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
“Professional development within the college was a crucial gap that needed to be addressed.”
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
April 11, 2019
NEWS
Page 5
Gala promotes anti-trafficking awareness, advocacy Frankie Knuckles and Jessica Moss Features Editor and News Editor
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Courtesy of Vassar Underground
n the morning of Friday, April 5, the Vassar community woke to an unusual sight: Overnight, numerous sidewalk cracks around campus had been filled with red sand. Following a tradition established last spring, participants spread sand across campus to conclude the Red Sand Gala, an event raising awareness of the 40.3 million people enslaved globally (The Global Slavery Index, “Unraveling the Numbers”). Broadly, the Red Sand Project is a participatory art piece highlighting the omnipotence of human trafficking. On her project, Founder of The Red Sand Project Molly Gochman summarized, “Human trafficking is hidden in plain sight. Well, sidewalk cracks are, too…The red sand project brings human trafficking into public dialogue.” She also emphasized that because of the interactive nature of the project, it has transformed as more individuals have adopted it for themselves. Gochman’s presentation depicted examples of various iterations of the project enacted all over the world. Vassar’s version of the project involves not only spreading sand, but also the Red Sand Gala. The event is organized by Vassar Underground, an org dedicated to raising awareness about human trafficking. The gala was designed as a space for education and advocacy. The project first came to Vassar in the spring of 2017, when Grace Roebuck ’20 and other students created an initial installation of the sand, brought a speaker from Free the Slaves and organized a student-curated exhibition on trafficking. According to Roebuck, the project expanded into The Underground, which is now its parent org. “We decided that we didn’t want the Red Sand Project to be a one time event, and so we started the Underground to maintain anti-trafficking advocacy on Vassar’s campus,” she explained in an email interview. This year’s gala took place on Thursday, April 4 in the Aula. It featured tabling by Vassar Underground, SAVP, Give Way to Freedom, Love146, Amnesty International and the Sungate Foundation, as well as four speakers. The first was Gochman, who explained the role of art in activism and her inspiration for beginning the Red Sand Project. The second was Founder and President of Give Way to Freedom Courtney Albert, who was followed by Head of Dutchess County Anti-Trafficking Task Force David Garcia. Albert and Garcia focused on the sheer variety of types of exploitation that exist under the umbrella term of trafficking,
Following the formal portion of the second annual Red Sand Gala, organizers and speakers alike gathered to take a group photo in solidarity with human trafficking survivors. The event aimed to create a space for dialogue about modern-day slavery. including but not limited to minors in sex trafficking; adults coerced, forced or fraudulently manipulated into sex trafficking; and forced labor. After distinguishing between trafficking and smuggling—the first of which violates human rights, and the second of which violates borders and necessarily involves transportation, often with the consent of the smuggled person—Albert connected what is often perceived as an international issue to the local Poughkeepsie community. Albert showed a photograph of a yellow house in Poughkeepsie, in which an international sex trafficking ring was found in 2013. According to Garcia, Dutchess County alone had 42 youth who are considered potential trafficking victims. They further spoke about the many structural factors that lead to human trafficking, as well as signs of a potential victim. These include brandings, stories that don’t add up and the presence of an older significant other. Moreover, Albert emphasized the vulnerabilities that traffickers exploit, such as poverty, racial inequality and a background with the foster care system. Just as the risk factors are manifold, so are possible methods of alleviating the issue. As Roebuck and Shah later explained, “Anything that combats societal inequality or any of the many ‘isms’ will also help to combat human trafficking.” The presentations paused for a brief intermission, after which Roebuck introduced the next speaker, Chief Executive Author of the Sungate Foundation Shamere McKenzie. Roebuck described McKenzie’s
Courtesy of Vassar Underground To break up the three talks that took place, attendees and organizers alike enjoyed a dinner of chicken tikka masala or grilled eggplant confit, catered by Twisted Soul.
work, which included training government groups such as the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security on methods of identifying and responding to victims of trafficking. Following Roebuck’s introduction, McKenzie invited the audience, “Forget about everything you’ve read about me. Forget about what is written in the program. And just know that I’m Shamere McKenzie, and I am a human being.” This preamble, she later explained, is necessary because survivors of trafficking are often dehumanized, not only by traffickers, but also by those who seek to help or choose to remain ignorant. Although the Gala was the main campus event, Vassar Underground leaders Roebuck and Sonali Shah ’20 hoped to engage in community outreach. According to Shah, McKenzie spoke with Vassar Underground org members, a Vassar class and 200+ students at Poughkeepsie high school. Shah related, “She resonated with each and every kid in there,” explaining how McKenzie connected with a large population of kids who were also Jamaican: “We had a line of 20+ kids come just to shake her hand or give her a hug. Some students even opened up for the first time about their own personal hardships.” McKenzie also called attention to a less-noted problem for survivors of sex trafficking in particular: criminal charges. McKenzie herself was tried as a co-defendant with her trafficker because she was forced to drive the car used to transport minors across state lines for illegal purposes. Such cases are not unique. “Trafficking victims are, oftentimes, criminalized as a direct result of their victimization,” McKenzie stated. She then described that although 40 states now have laws that allow trafficking survivors to get their charges vacated, no such legislation exists federally. McKenzie explained, “For victims who have been charged at a federal level, the only remedy is a presidential pardon. Now let me tell you about the presidential pardon. If you apply for a presidential pardon, you are saying ‘I am sorry, please forgive me for the crimes I have committed.’” In order to have her charges vacated, McKenzie would need to legally identify herself as a the perpetrator of a crime, rather than a victim of one. Furthermore, McKenzie noted, “Because of my criminal conviction, in some states I must register as a sex offender.” These legal problems block trafficking survivors from restorative services and prevent them from gaining security in employment and housing. In addition to adding to the stigma sur-
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vivors experience, criminal charges prevent survivors from passing background checks. Following closing remarks from Roebuck, attendees and speakers alike received burlap-wrapped packets of red sand, with which they filled cracks in sidewalks, hoping that the following morning, the campus community would look down and notice what usually remains overlooked. McKenzie highlighted the need for people to take notice of the prevalence of human trafficking: “This is not a Donald Trump issue; this is not a law enforcement issue; this is our problem. We collectively have to do something about it.” The Vassar community has both the capacity and responsibility to reduce human trafficking—locally and beyond. Gochman has chosen to cultivate shared dialogue via artwork; Albert and Garcia, to council and help heal survivors; McKenzie, to educate and petition the government to provide justice for survivors. Each speaker emphasized that awareness of the issue itself and further nurturing of communal understanding is vital. As Roebuck and Shah urged, “Just talk about it—so many people either don’t know it exists [or] think it happens elsewhere but not here…Awareness of the issue, warning signs, and how to recognize it is incredibly important.” By participating in various anti-trafficking organizations or seeking an education to solve one of the issue areas that leads to the vulnerabilities that make certain populations susceptible to trafficking, Vassar students can take action to reducing trafficking. McKenzie implored, “You need to look in the mirror and say to yourself, what am I going to do about this problem? Change starts with you. Say to yourself, change starts with me.”
VSA Updates Updates from the VSA meeting of April 7, 2019 Consensus Agenda – Passed Allocations 16/16 for VC PAWS 87/87 for Vassar Democrats Approved Full Organizations VC Paws Health Care Industry Club (HIC) Approved Pre-Organizations Just…Write Portrait: Vassar’s Asian/Asian American Students’ Magazine Vassar Knitwits Japanese Association for Students Vassar Law Club Vassar Friends Vassar Quizbowl Vassar Philhellenic Society VSA Elections Voting in VSA elections will begin this Wednesday, April 10, and conclude on Friday, April 12, at noon. Results to be posted Friday evening. Forum with Dean of Studies Ben Lotto Discussed intensives and the rebalanced curriculum. —Julian Corbett, VSA General Intern
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‘Acid Rap’ mixtape launched careers, influenced genre Charlie Summa Guest Columnist Acid Rap
Chance the Rapper Independent lsbel
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t was my first year of high school when a friend of mine sent me a link to a song off a mixtape called “Acid Rap” (2013). Intrigued by the cover art, I decided to start at the beginning of the tape. Lili K’s soulful refrain, “even better than I was the last time baby,” immediately hit my ears, and by the end of “Good Ass Intro,” I knew this was all that would inhabit my earbuds for months—and maybe years—to come. Little did I know, this tape would define my high school, college and life experience. Wherever I went, I would go with an earbud in and the transformative masterpiece of “Acid Rap” at my side. The mixtape is euphoric, melancholy, hazy, loving, manic and reassuring in its masterful 53 minutes and 52 seconds. The critically-acclaimed mixtape was more than the sophomore effort of an up-and-coming Chance the Rapper; it was a gloriously personal meditation on the trials and tribulations of adolescence. Fusing the arms-wideopen joy of teenage years with the looming complexities of adult life, Chance on “Acid Rap” feels as much an easygoing friend as he does the ghost of innocence past. Energies change with every track, as the listener jumps from the hectic spirit of “Juice,” a groovy celebration of the rapper’s meteoric emergence, to the despondent vibe of “Lost,” a somber ballad of unrequited love. From heavy social commentary on his day-to-day life in South Side Chicago to deeply personal ruminations on loneliness and drug abuse, the profound vulnerability of “Acid Rap” is what makes the unique tale of an aspiring West Chatham rapper so endlessly relatable. Start to finish, Chance’s breakout mixtape is a product of pure youthful ambition. Like
his debut tape, “10 Day,” the emcee beautifully captures the budding talents of his Chicagoan peers to make an authentic and timeless sound. However, “Acid Rap” surpasses its predecessor, growing from the “10 Day” precedent by flawlessly utilizing features from Childish Gambino, Action Bronson, Ab-Soul and producer Ludwig Goransson. While Chance’s star certainly burned the brightest, the platform that “Acid Rap” provided ignited the career of his childhood friend, rapper Vic Mensa, and critically lauded Noname, while also showcasing some of rap’s best up-and-comers (referenced above). Working the soundboard is a who’s who of talented young producers, headlined by Chance’s frequent collaborator Nate Fox, who would go on to sign as a songwriter and producer at Disney Music Group. Fox can be credited for the lush psychedelic samples that bolster Chance’s unique delivery across the tape. As each track vibrates off your eardrums, the fluctuation from upbeat absurdism to deeply poignant lyricism, paired with masterfully layered production, fuels one of the most musically expressive mixtapes to date. Yet, while the collection benefits greatly from its emotional ebb and flow, Chance’s sophomore effort is far from melancholy. Rife with tracks capable of lifting any mood on a dime, “Acid Rap” harnesses the embellished highlights of adolescence into a series of upbeat bangers. Kicking off on a high note, “Good Ass Intro” combines the sonorous gospel stylings of Peter Cottontale and Lili K with Chance’s frantic prose, creating a joyful retelling of the rapper’s debaucherous road to stardom. Juvenile optimism abounds, most notably when Chance brags that he “did a ton of drugs and did better than all my alma mater” over infectious vocals sampled from Kanye West’s “Freshmen Adjustment 2 Intro.” In his “Good Ass Intro,” Chance wastes no time letting the listener know that, despite his whimsical wordplay, he is rapping amidst his transition from kid to star.
This theme continues in later tracks like “Juice” and “Pusha Man,” during which the confidence of the barely 20-year-old artist serves as conceptual lifeblood. Chance’s self-assuredness is as evident in his bars as it is in his unique deliveries across the tape. For example, in “Pusha Man,” despite the uplifting message and production, Chance takes a few lines to highlight how he has grown. When spitting, “I’m the new Nitty, fuck it, Nitty the old me/So I’mma tell the buyer what Nitty told me,” Chance is reflecting on prior instances of having to sell weed, functioning as a Nitty, or dealer, for studio time, and how he has matured beyond that habit. Although the tape has a fair share of blissful tunes, Acid Rap is a showcase of Chance’s willingness to display vulnerability and substance in his work. In “Cocoa Butter Kisses,” Chance meditates on his nostalgic desires while simultaneously introducing the audience to his vocal range as a singer. Longing for a simpler time, Chance recognizes his lost innocence over a slow-moving beat crafted by jazz pianist and producer Peter Cottontale and producer Cam O’bi. For most, hearing a youthful Chancelor Bennett dreamily refrain “cigarettes on cigarettes my momma think I stank” makes a listener reminisce about a simpler time; one free of the perpetual turbulence quintessentially unique to letting go of juvenescence. Throughout the track, Chance invokes imagery of youth in the shape of his hoodies, classic cartoons and religious icons. “Cocoa Butter Kisses” and the tape’s other reflective tracks strongly contrast with the happy-golucky persona driving the lyricism of songs like “Juice” and “Good Ass Intro.” Such contemplative songs depict the less pronounced growing pains of maturing. Never is this clearer than in “Paranoia,” a poignant ballad in which Chance contemplates gun violence in the Chicago summer while desperately clinging to the blunt on his lip. To conclude his masterpiece, Chance embarks on an introspectively triumphant
victory lap. Unlike the buoyant and braggadocious bangers or the melancholic sounds of his earlier meditations, the final tracks of Acid Rap see Chance come of age through his music. In “Chain Smoker,” Chance, supported by the spectacular production of Nate Fox, highlights his uniquely youthful artistic traits. Although the album contends with heavy topics, “Chain Smoker” pays homage to the juvenile ambition that drives the rapper, while also putting his musical career in perspective. Since “Chain Smoker” is the last song before “Good Ass Outro (Everything’s Good),” Chance spits that he sincerely, if it were to be his last song, “[Hopes] you love all of my shit, I hope you love all of my shit.” By putting his priorities in place, Chance is, on the mixtape’s final song, ready to depart after taking stock of life one last time—from a different context. After an interlude, structured like a call from his dad in which he expresses pride in his son’s accomplishments, Chance shows his gratitude to the forces that shaped him—from J Dilla to Fruit Snack candies—in a final ode to his contentedness towards the future. Today, Chance the Rapper is a critically acclaimed artist whose debut album “Coloring Book” led to his first Grammy award. While he remains a figurehead of contemporary rap, the legacy of “Acid Rap” has proven inescapable: Many rappers and producers featured on the mixtape have emerged as success stories of their own. Rappers like Childish Gambino (who happens to be featured on the track “Favorite Song”) or Ab-Soul have gone on to become household names and industry staples, and local Chicago emcees such as Saba and Noname used the station of Acid Rap to launch their distinct and lauded solo careers. Both artists have produced outstanding albums, Noname’s “Telefone” and Saba’s “CARE FOR ME,” and they are discussing reuniting for an album as a trio featuring another Midwestern rapper known as Smino. Additionally, Chance is reported to be at work on a new project due out in July.
KISS embarks on energetic, electrifying farewell tour Alex Barnard
Guest Columnist One Last KISS: End of the Road
KISS Independent label
fter 46 years in the music industry, the self-proclaimed “hottest band in the world” will be hanging up their platform boots and makeup brushes. Classic hard rock and heavy metal group KISS kicked off 2019 by embarking on their last-ever tour, aptly titled, “One Last KISS: End of the Road.” In true KISS fashion, they are going out with a bang. Having sold out most of the dates on the tour already, it is refreshing to see that, given the current oversaturation of mumble rappers and industry plants in the music business, the world still has room for a band like KISS. KISS formed in New York City in 1973 as the brainchild of rhythm guitarist/lead singer Paul Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons, the only original members in the band’s current lineup. Following their decision to recruit Peter Criss for drums and Ace Frehley for lead guitar, the band started performing in the city, cultivating a reputation for their theatrical live performances and iconic makeup. After selling countless hit records, experimenting with new styles (including a decade of performing without the makeup) and
as the opening riff to their 1976 hit, “Detroit Rock City,” blasted through the Garden’s sound system, coaxing everyone to leave their seats and move to their feet. Paul Stanley’s singing was the only aspect of his performance that revealed his age; he can no longer hit the notes with the same strength he held in his youth. Next came their arena-rock anthem, “Shout It Out Loud,” which had the whole stadium singing along, followed by the fan-favorite, “Deuce,” a live staple since their original tours in the 70s. The band incorporated much of their signature stage act during the show, including their choreographed swaying during “Deuce,” and Gene’s fire breathing and blood-spitting at the end of “War Machine” and in the beginning of “God of Thunder.” Eric Singer’s drum set fluctuated during his solo in the middle of “100,000 Years,” Tommy Thayer’s guitar shot fireworks during his solo and Paul Stanley took a zip-line into the middle of the audience to “play for the people” during “Love Gun.” For the most part, the setlist was stellar. The band played incredibly tight renditions of hits such as “Lick It Up,” “Heaven’s On Fire,” “Calling Dr. Love,” and they even gave a nod to Ace Frehley by playing his song, “Cold Gin.” The only head-scratcher in the set list was “Say Yeah,” a song off the band’s horrifically bland 2009 album “Sonic Boom.” The track sounds like something Journey would write, that standard pop-rock chord progression with generic lyrics.
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Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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surviving lineup changes, KISS decided that they would embark on their Farewell Tour in the year 2000, as tensions resurfaced among the members of the recently reunited “classic” group. Although this tour was marketed as the band’s “last tour ever,” after Frehley and Criss quit for a second time, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons decided they would continue regardless, recording two albums with new recruits Tommy Thayer on lead guitar and Eric Singer on drums. The band members decided to keep the makeup for this last portion of their careers, with Thayer and Singer performing with Frehley and Criss’s trademark looks, respectively. This time, however, it seems that the band is sincere in their message that this tour will be their last. With Simmons turning 70 this year, it is no wonder that he has no desire to continue wearing over 30 pounds of gear each night on stage. So, if you have never been to a KISS concert and want to see what they are all about, this will be your last chance. (Side note: the opener, however, is something to be skipped. Instead of getting a band to open for them like most established acts do, KISS decided to have live painter David Garibaldi open for them, which is about as boring as an opening act can get.) During their show at Madison Square Garden, KISS was in rare form. They played with the same energy and charisma as they did when they were a rough and raw young band starting out in the early 70s. The group began the show by lowering from the ceiling
Hard rock and heavy metal band KISS is currently on their last-ever tour, titled “One Last KISS: End of the Road.” They’ve decided to perform in their classic, iconic makeup and platform boots. The group has been in the industry for 46 years. All in all, the show was a shot of adrenaline from start to finish, with the band ending with their most well-known song, “Rock and Roll All Nite.” My advice to everyone reading this article: Go see the show. There will never be another band as dynamic as KISS.
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Lecture explores Artificial Intelligence in photography Taylor Stewart Columnist
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enabled computers to see and take photos autonomously. Images can be generated automatically and no longer require a human viewer. Increasingly, pictures are taken by machines, for machines. For example, CCTV, satellites and cameras on drones take pictures independently, and not for human aesthetic appreciation. Even images taken by humans involve nonhuman elements, like the camera, editing software and cultural algorithms—subject matter the photographer is “programmed” to think is valuable or beautiful. This requires humans to reevaluate their role in artmaking, which Zylinska revealed to be smaller than many
Courtesy of Joanna Zylinska via Flickr
n the poster for her lecture “Nonhuman Photography,” Professor Joanna Zylinska clutches a film camera. There is a puff of smoke covering her eyes. This picture by electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer is cryptic upon first glance, but in light of Zylinska’s research, it illustrates the modern-day relationship between computers and people. With the mechanization of factory jobs and agriculture, viral videos of the social robot developed by Hanson Robotics named Sophia, more nuanced portrayals of artificial intelligence in popular films like Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina” and increasing hysteria about the robot takeover, it is easy to consider AI an enemy of humankind, a grave mistake. Zylinska delivered the talk, sponsored by the Media Studies program and Vassar College Journal of Philosophy, on Wednesday, April 3 in Sanders Auditorium. She is a Professor of New Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College, University of London, as well as a curator and a photomedia artist. She has presented her work at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Serpentine Galleries in London and the art and digital culture festival in Berlin, called “transmediale.” She is also an author of seven books, including “Minimal Ethics for Anthropocene,” “The End of Man: A Feminist Counterapocalypse” and the titular “Nonhuman Photography.” Vassar Professor of Philosophy and Director of Media Studies Giovanna Borradori introduced Zylinska with gusto, calling her a “magical creature and a magical scholar.” At the beginning, the lecturer acknowledged the contemporary interest that likely brought people to the event: “AI is kind of a big buzzword at the moment.” Then she showed a promotional poster for a photography contest held by the technology company Huawei in July 2018. The Huawei P20 smartphone uses AI photography and, according to the company’s website, the camera recognizes more than 500 objects and categorizes pictures into 19 scenes. Opening with this introduction to AI photography, she encouraged consideration of the
fact that the algorithm itself is, in fact, the artist. Zylinska emphasized machine learning in the artistic realm and the relationship between robots and humans who are equally creative. She argued that image-making, including photography, has always been artificially intelligent in that it necessitates a mechanical apparatus; one cannot take pictures without a camera, or edit and process the pictures without algorithms. As if to help reconcile the startlingly large role of machines in image-making, Zylinska likened the parergon-ergon relationship in visual art to that between robots and the pictures they create. Jacques Derrida distin-
Professor of New Media and Communications at the University of London Joanna Zylinska is a writer, lecturer, artist and curator. She delivered her lecture “Nonhuman Photography” on Wednesday, April 3 in the Sanders Auditorium. guished between the ergon, or the work of art itself, the picture, and the parergon, or its frame, an accessory that embellishes the ergon and defines its limits but necessarily cooperates with it. The frame of a painting is just as beautiful as the painting itself and is part of the painting. The outside comes into the inside. Likewise, in photography the frame or ergon includes the creative machines that take the pictures and cultural commentaries about the pictures. Today, algorithms and AI networks have
think, and their relationship to AI. “It Began as a Military Experiment” is a 2017 piece by Trevor Paglen. It is a set of ten pigment prints of American government employees curated by Facial Recognition Technology, a database of thousands of these employees photographed between 1993 and 1996. “Humans cannot sift through all these data sets,” said the lecturer. Zylinska’s own art illustrates the possibilities of machine vision. For her project “View from a Window,” she used Amazon Mechanical
Turk (MTurk), a crowdsourcing marketplace which allows users to commission employees online to do anything, from survey participation to, say, writing poetry or drawing—a fluid labor force that forms part of the cloud. She got 100 MTurk workers to take a photo outside of the room they were in at the time and made a flipbook of their creations. The parergon of nonhuman photography not only includes image-making apparatuses, but also the socioeconomic consequences of machines performing “human” activities. Zylinska said that instead of concerns about robots taking our jobs, the world should begin to take heed of crowdsourcing and gig technology in labor, because of the emergence of services like MTurk and Uber which monetize daily activities. When such legions perform labor, workers are subject to exploitation and wealth is further concentrated in the hands of a few. These are subpar conditions for making art. Consider the entertainment and fashion industries, in which one person is often hailed as the sole creator of a company’s corpus. Accordingly, the lecturer urged attendees—as university students, consumers of gig services and users of social media—to resist the sharing economy and disengage a little without being a “technophobe.” Assistant Professor of Music Justin Patch inquired about machine hearing: “Robots have produced things people want to look at, but [they] haven’t produced things people want to listen to.” Although this is “in an age when anything can sound perfect,” he mentioned that people enjoyed the “random deviations that…animate human behavior” and distinguish sounds made by people from those made by robots. The positions of Patch and Zylinska, however, intersect: Cooperation between humans and AI in art-making is necessary to consider, yes, but equally important is the creation of conditions that allow humans to satisfy their creative needs alongside AI. Reconsidering machine vision, computational photography and technology-facilitated services, she asked, “How can we act better in the world?” How can humans function optimally in the age of AI?
Warmer weather warrants top-notch tunes: A playlist Playlist courtesy of Abby Tarwater, Arts Editor After what has seemed like an endless winter, I finally feel confident in declaring that spring has sprung—notwithstanding that it snowed just a few days ago. As we all acclimate to the warmer weather, it’s time to trade our desolate winter playlists for some sunnier songs. Here are a few suggested tracks to play in the background of finals study sessions, through light-hearted afternoons on the quad and during all the other joys my favorite season has to offer. “Holy”- Jamila Woods As we approach the gradual increase in work leading up to finals, it’s more important now than ever to remember to practice self-care. “Holy” is the ultimate self-adoration anthem: When Woods proclaims “Woke up this morning with my mind set on loving me,” her power and positivity are infectious. Like spring, this song feels like a rebirth.
“Sunny Duet”- Noname featuring TheMIND As the title suggests, this track is luminous. Rapper Noname and singer TheMIND vibrantly and cofidently croon of the elation that comes from all-consuming love; TheMIND professes, “[D]on’t call me crazy/Rain don’t feel like rain/It’s been so calming lately.” The song captures a certain joy that applies not only to an infatuating new romance, but also to the magic of a rejuvenating spring day.
“At the Bottom of Everything”- Bright Eyes This track is the opener of “I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning,” which will always be one of my favorite albums to listen to during the springtime. Despite the gloominess of much of Bright Eyes’ discography, this record perfectly balances hopefulness with cynicism. When singer Conor Oberst quavers “Oh my morning’s coming back/The whole world’s waking up,” the result is both energizing and inspirational.
“Somewhere a Judge”- Hop Along Like many of Hop Along frontwoman Frances Quinlan’s lyrics, “Somewhere a Judge” features cryptic yet evocative imagery. The line “Afternoon vanilla sun crawls away across the lawn” in particular reminds me of the long, languid days that are a hallmark of spring and summer. The song also conveys the certain angst that can come with seasonal changes, as Quinlan explores the complexities of relationships, death and regret.
“First Love/Late Spring”- Mitski Although a fairly obvious choice due to its title, Mitski’s breakout song is also one of her most masterful. Imagery of night breezes and peach trees, along with Mitski’s distinctive and poignant vocals, give the song an atmosphere that is both dreamy and sentimental. She uses the often difficult transition from spring to summer as a metaphor for the dismantling of a tempestuous and naive relationship, and her seasonal anxiety relates to the apprehension many college students face as we all approach the end of the semester.
“Reflections After Jane”- The Clientele With spring comes an increase in rainy days, and The Clientele’s album “Suburban Light” is tailor-made for cozy afternoons spent looking out the window. “Reflections After Jane” is particularly enchanting, with vivid lyrics such as “Butterflies with gilded wings this morning/ Touched the red sun and the rain.” The song is melancholy, romantic and calming—like rain, its tranquility has the effect of a lullaby.
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April 11, 2019
Kanye’s Korner Installment IV: ‘808s and Heartbreak’ Jimmy Christon Columnist
The following is the fourth in an eightpart series documenting the discography of Kanye West. Each week, Arts will feature a piece detailing the merits of one of West’s albums, in chronological order. f you want prime breakup music, go listen to Bjork or D’angelo—not Kanye West’s “808s and Heartbreak.” Both artists are more successful at conveying heavy emotions than West is on this release. That being said, I love this album. How could I not? When my first girlfriend broke my heart in my second year of high school, how could I have survived without the cold, warbling artefacts of “Street Lights”? How could I have really thought about my life without the long, voiceless outros of “Bad News” and “Say You Will”? During all the lengthy, lonely times in my car throughout my adolescence, “808s” was there for me. If you think this appreciation is sappy, I can assure you that my high school life was much sappier. There’s a sadness here that feels distinctly modern. In its best moments, “808s” resonates in an (auto)tune in which we can all find solace. Like a lens, I can look through these songs and see my life from a new perspective. But this lens is flawed and cracked. Its main fault is that “808s and Heartbreak” is inspired by misogyny. Unfortunately, what powers the emotional reverence that many fans have for this album is Kanye’s consistent degradation of women.
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Kanye has not addressed this problem, but it is a common thread throughout his career. The artist did release a touching song about his relationship with women on his last solo project, “Ye”—but he later announced on Twitter that it was written by a ghost writer. I honestly think that Mr. West cannot write about women in a positive manner. I think his sexism runs too deep. This problem is only exacerbated when we compare him to other, less misogynistic male writers. D’angelo’s “Voodoo” is an epic that focuses on finding the feminine within the masculine. Kendrick Lamar’s “These Walls” displays introspection that Kanye has never approached. And Frank Ocean revels in the deconstruction of misogyny through his alternative conceptions of masculinity. Examples that totally blow this album out of the water include Roberta Flack’s “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” SZA’s “CTRL” and any album by Bjork (except “Volta”). Each of these albums displays a higher level of emotional depth and musical excellence than what Kanye showcases here. Kanye West gets a lot of undue reverence, and this album is a prime example. I love “808s and Heartbreak,” but I will be the first to admit it’s not much better than mediocre. And when it’s not mediocre, it is downright toxic. “Mrs. So Fly crash-lands in my room/ Can’t waste no time, she might leave soon,” Kanye croons on the opener “Say You Will.” What a great way to start off a breakup album. Now, I am not saying that Kanye West is talking about raping someone here, but I
am saying that this line has a certain undertone to it which could be interpreted that way. The latter part of the line is certainly embedded with very dark readings, and I think to not hold Kanye accountable for this is a symptom of toxic artist obsession. Even if you don’t agree with my reading, I would encourage you to question from where the emotional weight in this line comes. And even if you think I am being too picky or too concerned about what art I consume, I would argue that it is incontestable that this album is popular precisely because it resides in this complex emotional state wherein darker thoughts are given validity. Breakup albums necessarily have to console us in our darker thoughts, but this album’s “breakup” is fueled by toxic masculinity. Kanye talks a lot about being in love, but I don’t see true love anywhere here. Let’s move on. “Heartless” is a magnificent song, yet it also applies to the argument I’m putting forward. Kanye is detailing a complex fracturing of a relationship. But come on, it’s always felt heartless of Kanye to air his dirty laundry on a track like this. Then again, breakups are complicated, and I don’t want to police feelings here. But I will argue that the rule of cool presides over this song, and that the track’s swagger comes from Kanye’s misogyny. This isn’t Kanye addressing his feelings, it’s him denigrating a woman. It makes me uncomfortable, and it stops me from listening on repeat. But, hey, “Heartless” is fantastic. It’s honestly probably one of the best on the album:
soaring vocals, crooning auto-tunes, powerful sense of flow and drama. However, it also rubs me the wrong way. This album makes me feel as confused as an actual breakup. So let’s talk about elements that aren’t so confusing: “Robocop” isn’t that good of a song. The production is too simple and distorted, the lyrics aren’t funny enough to save the track, Kanye again falls back on a misogynistic trope and the chorus is lazy and sucks. Okay, okay, women are robots when they don’t let Kanye do what he wants. I also find the ending hilarious where Kanye starts punching down, “You spoiled little L.A. girl/you’re just an L.A. girl/You need to stop it now.” I find it hilarious that Kanye wrote this, put it on wax and then proceeded to completely inhabit the role of spoiled pop star for the rest of his career (“The Life of Pablo” is the musical equivalent of a spoiled kid’s tummy ache). I’m running out of space here, so let’s go rapid fire: “Street Lights” and “Bad News” are the only songs on here with which I don’t have problems. The Jeezy feature on “Amazing” is fire, and he completely outshines Kanye. “See You in My Nightmares” has an awful burp-sample embedded in the beat, “Paranoid” is a horrendous attempt at a lighter song. And “Coldest Winter” showcases Kanye’s lackluster talent as a singer. But still, I love this album. I grew up with it. It has the emotional intelligence of a dull brick, and it is fueled by misogyny, but it holds sentimental value. Seriously, go listen to Bjork or D’angelo instead.
Bradley announces new Loeb leadership after 28 years Courtesy of Wikipedia The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is a key attraction of Vassar’s campus. The museum opened in 1864, three years after the college. At that time, it was the “Vassar College Art Gallery.” For the past 28 years, James Mundy has served as the center’s director. LOEB DIRECTOR continued
from page 1 Mundy leaves big shoes to fill. As the longest-serving director of the Loeb, having held the position for 28 years, he has been with the museum since the current building opened in 1993. He was therefore instrumental in the process of guiding the center toward the impressive collection it now holds, which has nearly doubled under his leadership, growing from 11,000 pieces to over 21,000 (Vassar Info, “James Mundy, Anne Hendricks Bass Director of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, to Retire after Twenty-Eight Years,” 10.09.2018). His vast contributions to the Loeb will be celebrated with an exhibit at the museum entitled “An Era of Opportunity: Three Decades of Acquisitions.” The exhibition opens April 26 and closes Sept. 8 (Vassar Info, “James Mundy”). Although this legacy might seem daunting to some, Thurber decided to apply for the job precisely because he saw opportunity for further growth, as he elucidated in an email interview: “I was already familiar with some of its exceptional collections, such as the British and American paintings and works
on paper acquired by Matthew Vassar in 1864 from Elias Magoon. As I continued to research the rich holdings and myriad activities, as well as learning more about the central role of art education since the founding of the College, I saw enormous potential for further growth and development based on the institution’s already solid foundations.” In the application pool, Thurber faced competition from other museum experts with similarly ambitious visions. The selection process incorporated a wide range of Vassar community members, as Dean of Strategic Planning and Academic Resources and Associate Professor of Chemistry Marianne H. Begemann described in an email interview: “The search was led by a search committee comprised of faculty, administrators, alum, and members of the Frances Lehman Loeb Advisory Board.” Begemann went on to explain that there were 45-50 applicants, nine of whom were selected for interviews on the platform Zoom. Of that group, only a few were invited to campus: “The three finalists met with staff of the Loeb, faculty in Art and other Departments, students,
the search committee and the President, as well as taking a full guided tour of the Art Center galleries, storage and other spaces.” In the end, Begemann and the rest of the search committee considered the feedback of all the groups involved and made their recommendation to President Bradley, who ultimately selected Thurber for the post. Megan Horn ’19 was one of the students who sat with applicants. She described the process in an email correspondence: “Each time we met with candidates we usually had a conversation to meet each candidate, get a sense of what their goals for the Art Center would be should they get the position, and especially how they envisioned the relation of the Loeb to the rest of the campus, the community, and for the students.” Horn explained why it is important that student input is included: “The opportunity for students to meet with candidates was really a chance to get a sense of how each might connect the museum to the campus community and a chance for us to share how we use the art center and what direction we would hope to see it go in the future.” Like Horn and her peers, Thurber holds a clear vision for the Loeb. He explained: “I want to help support greater faculty and student engagement, increased alumni and public outreach, and new research and scholarship.” According to Thurber, these goals were born from over 20 years of work at two different collegiate museums: Dartmouth’s and Princeton’s. His plans for the Loeb are steeped in knowledge accumulated over many years in the business. Begemann affirmed that familiarity in the field was a main criterion for the committee, although other factors were also important: “The search committee looked for deep and broad experience with museum collections,
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
management expertise, fundraising and collection development acumen, and a vision for the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center that recognizes its importance within the setting of a Liberal Arts College, especially one like Vassar with a commitment to inclusion, equity and the use of original materials in teaching and learning.” While Begemann noted that all of the candidates were exceptional, Thurber’s respect for the values outlined above stood out. His background in this type of setting is clear from his description of the parallels between his current employer and his future one: “[The Princeton University Art Museum and the Loeb] share similar missions to educate, challenge, and inspire; they both care for, interpret, and publish their globe-spanning collections; and they each grapple with how can academic museums adapt to the digital age with new tools for achieving the fullest impact.” The emphasis on modernization is key: The Loeb, now in its 155th year, still serves as an educational hub and a defining monument of the school. As Thurber takes the reins this summer, the Vassar community waits to see what this new Loeb era will bring. Begemann assures that the museum is in safe hands: “In Bart Thurber we believe we have a Director who will use his unique combination of deep art historical and museum knowledge, creative interests, and management expertise to lead the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center forward as an integral part of our campus community while strengthening its position as an excellent academic art museum locally, nationally and globally.” Regardless of the changes that are doubtless imminent, it is certain that prospective students will continue to gaze upon the building with starry eyes.
April 11, 2019
ARTS
Campus Canvas A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists
Page 9 submit to misc@vassar.edu
Excuse me, What animal are you?
“An owl with a cat head. Like the Egyptians.” — Chloe Catoya ’20
“The ‘I’m a giraffe’ Vine guy.” —Cassie Jain ’20
“Uh, I’m a dog.” — Philip Macaluso ’19
“I’m like, uh, a blue jay.” — Julien Peck ’22
“A nautilus, those floaty weird snail things.” — Edward Cai ’22
“I’m a jack o’ lantern.” —Barsha Saha ’21
Rivers Liu Class of 2022 They/them/theirs “My work is largely inspired by New York City and trying to capture beauty within fleeting, anonymous moments. I am intent on creating all-encompassing atmospheres filled with smaller mundane details that allow viewers to move in and out of the work.” MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire Izzy Migani, Assistant Humor & Satire Hannah Benton, Photography
FEATURES
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Quite Frankly Frankie Knuckles
Features Editor Quality Advice-Giver
Have a question you want answered? Submit your quandaries at http://bit.ly/2RFnXfk Hey Frankie,
Sincerely, Uneasy Underclassman Dear Underclassman,
Q
continued from page 1 333333333333333 Green Smoothie Green smoothies increasingly grace the shelves of health food aisles and corner cafes, but they are equally easy to create at home! As an added benefit, homemade smoothies can be adjusted to suit individual tastes. This recipe makes use of a broad flavor spectrum of green foods: tart apples, sweet kiwis, bitter lime, refreshing mint and spinach to lend additional vitamins. Ingredients • 1 green apple, diced • 1 kiwi, diced • Juice from 1 lime • 2-3 cups spinach • Leaves of mint, to taste • Sweetener (i.e. agave), to taste • Handful of ice Instructions 1. Blend everything together! 2. Taste and adjust flavoring. 333333333333333 Spring Green Stir-Fry Stir-fries are one of the best ways to include lots of different vegetables in a single dish. This spring mix includes greens, asparagus, two types of peas and edamame for protein. Flavorful (and green!) scallions add a bit of kick to help meld the flavors into a well-composed and delicious light dinner dish. Ingredients • Kosher salt • 3 cups (9-1/2 oz.) sugar snap peas, cleaned • 14 oz. (1 bunch) asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces on the diagonal • 1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen peas • 1 cup shelled edamame • 6 oz. (about 1/2 bunch) rainbow chard, stems cut into 1-inch pieces on a diagonal, leaves coarsely chopped • 5 cups (5 oz.) baby spinach • 4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil • 6 oz. (1 bunch) scallions, coarsely chopped • 2 medium cloves garlic, minced • Freshly ground black pepper • Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon Instructions 1. In a 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add the scallions and garlic, season with 1/2 tsp. kosher salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. 2. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. 3. Add the sugar snap peas and asparagus. 4. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-5
GREEN
Above, the final product of the last recipe in this vibrant series. Although many foodies might automatically associate the color green with vegetables, this tasty sensation proves that green belongs in the realm of dessert, as well as health food. minutes. Add peas and edamame, and cook for 3-5 minutes more. 6. Add chard and spinach, and stir until greens are wilted. 7. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with flaky sea salt, adjust to taste. 333333333333333 Light Green Salad I love green foods because they come in so many different shades, ranging from the deep forest tone of collards to the pale jade hue of kiwi flesh. In addition to a variety of textures, this salad features the lighter end of the green spectrum, with butter lettuces, cucumbers, avocado and pistachios. Ingredients • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil • 1 Tbs. lemon juice • 1 Tbs. honey • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper • 1 large head butter lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried • 1 cucumber, thinly sliced • 1 avocado, chopped • 1/4 crushed pistachios Instructions 1. In a small bowl, whisk the oil, lemon juice, honey, 1/4 tsp. salt and a pinch of pepper. 2. Cut or tear the lettuce into bitesize pieces, and add to a large bowl, along with the cucumbers. 3. Toss with just enough dressing to coat lightly. 5.
Courtesy of Kari Sullivan via Wikimedia Commons
uite frankly, this situation is going to suck no matter what advice I give you. In this collegiate stage of our young lives, many of our interpersonal relationships seem to function in accordance with a countdown clock to graduation. On top of all the usual difficult partings that come with graduation, you’re probably feeling a sort of regret here. You might feel that you’ve missed out on possible time with your new friends. That’s not a good feeling, and nothing I say can really make it better. I can, however, provide some hope. While it’s true that graduation is an end, it doesn’t have to be the end. In fact, it’s not the end. It’s easy to think that once your friends graduate and move on to their “real” lives you’ll somehow matter less to them, but that’s almost definitely not true. Of course they’re likely to have less time to chat with you, and they’ll relate less to your complaints about college life. They might have their own newfound complaints about post-grad life about which you aren’t really equipped to comment. I’m hoping I can ease your mind a bit by analogy. We’ve all graduated from high school before. For many of us, that meant leaving behind a group of compatriots. However, I’m willing to bet that you didn’t just dropkick all your underclassmen friends from high school. To use myself as an example: Sure, I don’t text my high school friends every single day, or nearly as often as I did when we inhabited the same ugly brick building for hours at a time. But when they reach out to me, I get really excited to catch up, and when I see a good, niche meme, I send it their way. All this to say, I highly doubt that your senior friends will forget you exist when they depart the hallowed halls of Vassar College. You’ll probably have to work a bit harder to maintain your connection with them, but I doubt they’ll totally ignore you. Your friendships will likely change after graduation, but evolution is not the same as elimination.
Columnist curates culinary color category
Courtesy of Tamika Whitenack
I’m currently a sophomore and recently met a really awesome group of friends who are super fun to hang out with and are good people. There is just one problem: They are all graduating in six weeks. I’m worried that once they graduate they will be so busy with life that they forget I exist, but I don’t want it to feel like I am pestering them when they are trying to get established with life after Vassar. Any advice?
Best Wishes, Frankie P.S. There are a number of pretty cool ways to do low-effort long distance hangouts; for example, you can establish a tradition of watching the same show when you each have time, then texting or calling to chat about it.
April 11, 2019
What could be simpler than a refreshing green smoothie? Simply add all of the listed ingredients into a blender, and you’ll soon be enjoying this healthy grab-and-go treat.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
4. Add avocado and pistachios, and toss lightly again. 5. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve with any remaining dressing on the side. 333333333333333 Matcha Roll Cake Compared to its dominance in vegetable dishes, green makes considerably fewer appearances in the pages of dessert cookbooks. However, the rise of matcha in bakeries and cafes across the country has finally given green a chance to shine in sweet treats such as this fluffy roulade. Ingredients For Swiss Roll Cake: • 3 egg yolks • 3 egg whites • 1/4 cup fine sugar • 1/2 cup cake Flour plus 2 tsp matcha powder • 2 tablespoons butter, melted For Filling: • 1/2 cups whipping cream • 1 tablespoon sugar Instructions To make the filling: 1. Whip the cream with sugar until creamy and thick. 2. Keep in the refrigerator to chill. To make the Cake: 1. Preheat oven to 230 Celsius or 440 Fahrenheit. 2. Grease a 10” x 12” rectangle pan and line with parchment paper. 3. Beat the egg yolks and 1/2 the sugar until thick and pale. 4. In another bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining sugar until stiff. 5. Fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg white. 6. Fold in the flour mixture and melted butter. 7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 10 minutes. 8. Remove from the oven, and let it cool for 10 minutes. To assemble the cake: 1. Remove the cake on the piece of parchment paper. 2. Spread a clean dish towel over the cake and gently roll it. 3. Let sit for 10 min to hold the shape. 4. Unroll the cake and spread an even layer of cream onto the cake. 5. Roll up the cake from the long end. 6. Once it is firmly rolled up, cover and refrigerate it for at least an hour before serving. 333333333333333
FEATURES
April 11, 2019
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Outing Club members cite sites for adventurous hikes Gillian Redstone Copy Staffer
A
sunrise or sunset. Giant’s Ledge / The Catskills Charles Hooghkirk ’19 Hooghkirk, one of the organization’s co-presidents, gushed to me about an underrated nearby natural treasure: the Catskills. “There are so many different hikes to do there and so many little towns to explore, and it’s hard to choose one. But I want to talk about Giant’s Ledge,” he told me. The hike’s trailhead is less than an hour and a half from Vassar, and the hike itself is 3.2 miles up and back. Hooghkirk says that the hike is one of the tougher ones in the Outing Club’s regular repertoire but that the beautiful views into valleys are worth it. He encourages potential hikers to explore the many different trails in the Catskills if they are looking for something of a different length or difficulty. Another favorite of his is Slide Mountain, an intermediate trail. “One time I went on a backpacking trip, and I was up on top of [the] mountain, and I found a tent in the woods, and now it’s mine!” Hooghkirk happily explained when I asked about a favorite anecdote from his time in the Catskills. He also recommends taking some extra time to explore the nearby towns of Woodstock and Phoenicia. The Labyrinth / Mohonk Preserve Colby Morrison ’20 After Morrison described this hike to me, I could understand why its moniker is such a daunting one: “[The hike] is super rocky, so you can just scramble up the rocks...but
the coolest part is that you get to go up these ladders. There’s a part that’s just a sheer face, and they put up these ladders in between the rocks, so it’s like a tunnel, and it’s really fun.” If you can get past the ladders and tight squeezes, a reward awaits at the top: a tower to climb for even more beautiful views of the river below. The hike itself is a 5.5 mile loop, and it is only a 40-minute drive from Vassar, nestled in Mohonk Preserve just outside of New Paltz. The preserve hosts a variety of trails and a day pass costs 15 dollars.
Courtesy of karlnorling via Flickr
s the days get longer and warmer, Vassar students can be found gallivanting on the Quad, playing volleyball or frisbee, studying and generally enjoying the Vitamin D intake. But sometimes, getting off campus and enjoying the beauty that our very own scenic Hudson Valley has to offer is the perfect mini-escape. And what better way to do so than with a hike? The Outing Club hosts all sorts of exciting excursions and activities for a variety of skill levels, from overnight trips and easy bike rides to visiting local farms and preparing dehydrated food. Regardless of the activity, the organization’s leaders are passionate about connecting with the outdoors and exuberantly shared with me some of their favorite hikes that Vassar students can tackle, either with the club or on their own time. Jenny Lane / Minnewaska State Park Ethan Pierce ’20 Minnewaska State Park is around a 40-minute drive from Vassar and boasts over 20 designated trails of different lengths for a variety of skill levels. Pierce, one of the organization’s co-presidents, loves the simplicity of the Jenny Lane Trail: “It’s around two miles, and it’s pretty easy. It also has a good mix of coniferous and deciduous trees. There’s interesting landscapes with lots of hills and brooks.” The hike also features a lake that you can access by car and in which you can swim. Pierce emphasized the acces-
sibility of this hike, but warned that it can be icy in the winter and early springtime. However, these potentially hazardous conditions can occasionally prove advantageous to those wishing to create snow angels on the frozen-over lake—as he has done. Pierce noted how much of an impact the Outing Club, and being outdoors in general, has had on him: “To be able to help others foster connections [with] where we are in a geological and ecological sense is the most important thing in the world. People need to foster personal connections with the climate and make that introduction into nature.” Breakneck Ridge Stella Gryler ’21 In the words of Gryler, the organization’s Gear Leader, Breakneck Ridge is “an Outing Club classic.” The hike sits on Route 9D right next to the Hudson River, about 40 minutes from Vassar. The 3.7 mile looping trail and its views of the river are beautiful any time of day, but she particularly enjoys the trek at sunrise or sunset and has fond memories of such trips: “I led out a sunset hike one time, and we brought a picnic dinner and ate while watching [the] beautiful sunset.” Potential hikers can easily bring a backpack full of outdoors-y goodies like trail mix, cheese or fruit if they have the same idea. Breakneck involves some fun rock scrambling at the start, but the rest of the hike is very standard. Gryler recommends that potential hikers wear sturdy shoes with good traction and bring a flashlight or headlamp if they plan to hike at
Shown above is a brook along Jenny Lane in Minnewaska State Park. The trail features beautiful landscapes and is easy enough for a burgeoning hiking enthusiast to tackle.
Advisor Spotlight: McGhee promotes identity analysis Tori Lubin
Guest Reporter
F
or House Advisor Atiya McGhee, every day is a busy one. When they’re not planning zodiac nights, Super Smash Bros. tournaments, smoothie gatherings and food study breaks for Davi and Joss Houses, they are engaging in meetings and activities all over campus. If it’s a Thursday, McGhee is likely chatting with a student or perhaps with their cat Jinxy, who has office hours in Joss. “I meet every single student possible before Friday hits, and they leave campus,” McGhee said, emphasizing their focus on interacting with students. McGhee grew up in the Bronx before attending Wheaton College as a low-income, first-generation college student. In addition to their undergraduate degree, they also earned a masters degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from the University of Vermont. Prior to working at Vassar, McGhee was Assistant Residence Director at Vermont, and then Coordinator for Social
Courtesy of Joshua Trowbridge McGhee’s typical day as House Advisor to Joss and Davi includes engaging with students to try to meet any needs residents might have, ResLife related or otherwise.
Justice Initiatives in Residence Education at Oberlin College. During their educational endeavors, McGhee discovered a fondness for the smallschool experience. This made accepting a job at Vassar less than a year ago an easy choice, because the college’s size allows for deeper personal connections. “I knew I was good at ResLife, and I get to connect with students on a one-on-one basis,” McGhee explained. Although Oberlin and Vassar share the status of small liberal arts college, McGhee has noticed significant differences between the two institutions. The use of House Advisors, House Fellows and Student Fellows instead of Resident Assistants (RAs) is unique to the Vassar experience. “To come to a school that doesn’t have RAs meant changing my framework for working with students, which is something I’m still learning a lot about and working through,” McGhee commented. McGhee also praised Vassar’s shared governance model. Shared governance means that when it comes to decision making on campus, Vassar is student-centric. This is particularly evident in student organizations on campus, which are, in fact, completely run by students. McGhee enjoys taking advantage of the shared governance model to connect with students more deeply. “I want things to come from student orgs in a way that is not me giving information, but we are constructing things together,” McGhee emphasized. They highlighted the importance of collaboration for a flourishing campus community. Currently, McGhee and fellow House Advisor Elizabeth Jáuregui are working on a decolonizing fat-phobia workshop, which the two advisors hope to eventually transform into a long-term retreat. “One of the things I want to work with campus partners on is how [to] counsel people to
not be ashamed of where their body currently is at,” McGhee said, laying out their aims for the workshop. “You don’t owe anyone a state of healthiness or you don’t owe anyone a state of ‘perfect body.’” Discussing body image is indicative of McGhee’s philosophy as a student affairs professional; they believe in vulnerability, story-sharing, social equity and curiosity. “I don’t necessarily care about inclusion, because inclusion to me means inclusion into white supremacist spaces, usually patriarchal,” McGhee noted. “If the space wasn’t created for me, I would rather you just destroy the space and and create a space from scratch that is actually welcoming to all.” Building spaces for all students is just one part of McGhee’s role at Vassar. They also advise residents on matters reaching far beyond ResLife. As a House Advisor, McGhee often encounters students at their most vulnerable. “I’ve seen a lot of times where I’m checking on people who are always crying or who are emotionally distraught, or mute,” McGhee said. “I’m rarely getting to see those people, in those crisis moments, at their peak happiness.” McGhee explained how, unlike other faculty, House Advisors see students at all times and places. “I get to see you at 8 a.m., and I get to see you at 8 p.m.,” they commented. McGhee perceives themself as an approachable person to whom distressed students open up. McGhee described of students who come to speak with them, “For the most part it’s like, ‘Hey, I’m sad, and I hear you’re a good person to talk to.’” McGhee builds community through a foundation of individual relationships with students. They introduce students to each other and to organizations based on their individual interests. McGhee also pegged themself as the “geek” House Advisor. “I can talk to you about anime, video games. It’s not that [other House Ad-
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
visors] don’t watch anime or play video games, but I super play video games and watch anime, okay?” These interests allow McGhee to bond with students over geeky conversations. McGhee’s ideology as someone working in an educational setting also includes “healthy play.” This means that people should be able to explore their self-expression—whether it be dress, gender expression or any other identity—without being categorized. McGhee elaborated by explaining that healthy play is someone saying, “I want to figure out my journey with you. I want to practice a new haircut, a new makeup, and it not be seen in a negative light.” In the future, McGhee has aspirations to be a director of a multicultural and identity-based center. McGhee is also interested in getting a PhD, where they could research how social justice educators create social justice in practice. Another research interest of McGhee’s is the development of conflicting identities. “I identify as asexual, and I’m also fat and Black,” McGhee said, using themself as an example of what they are looking to research. “The image of the mammy in my head has always made me feel like I can’t have short hair, and I can’t be asexual. But if that’s who I am, and it confirms a stereotype about you, how hard am I working to fight that stereotype while also denying my identity?” In other words, according to McGhee, nobody should feel like they need to conform to or contradict with any model that is traditionally associated with their identity. McGhee’s dedication to authentic identity is further exhibited through their approach to working with students. “If someone’s like, ‘I haven’t met someone who can listen to me in my fullness,’ I say welcome. I think I could be that person,” McGhee said. “And if I can’t, I will challenge myself to be more open to be that person.”
FEATURES
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Misc Quiz by Duncan Aronson
submit to misc@vassar.edu
Test your Vassar Mental Map! Can your inner compass point you the right way? 1) Straight ahead due east, Vassar’s central building looms in the distance. To my right is the entrance to collections of diverse artworks. To my left is a place of study and books exemplifying Gothic architecture. Behind me is a roundabout. Where am I? 2) Looking due south, Chicago Hall squats to the right of two dormitories. Another dormitory flanks me from behind. The grass beneath me has felt its fair share of picnic blankets and Quidditch players. Where am I?
April 11, 2019
Word
on the street
“Depends on if I’m hungry or not.” — Mike Jaklitsch ’21
“Hell yeah, brother.” — Alden Pierson Smela ’22
3) I look out a window facing east. On the far left of my field of vision lies the dance studios, volleyball gyms and squash courts. On the far right lies the building home to departments like Economics, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society. In the middle stands the Wimpfheimer Nursery School. Where am I?
“The Devil himself would have to force it down my throat in Hell.” — Adlai BrandtOgman ’21
4) I turn back to face westward, knowing that beyond the hill I just climbed, a large body of water rests peacefully. Sloping roof lines lurk behind. If I were energetic enough to climb the hill to my left, I might have the chance to stargaze with some cutting-edge technology. Where am I? 5) Looking northeast down a set of stone steps and across a small bridge spanning a stream, I see the sunlight shine on various potted plants. Adjacent, the home of bird taxidermies. Connected to the left of that, a many-paned building boasts one of Meryl Streep’s alumni contributions. Where am I? 6) Standing on grass and looking past a two-pronged goal post, I admire the neat rows of crops ahead of me to the east. Snaking in front of it, off to my right, is a gravel road leading to Collin’s Field Station. In the distance behind me is the entrance to the North Trail, marked by a couple of benches and a sign. It is designated in a red color on the trail map. Where am I?
1) Main Gate 2) Joss Beach 3) Cushing House
4) Ballentine Field 5) Lower entrance to Skinner Hall
6) Rugby Field (on the Vassar College Farm and Ecological Preserve)
“Blasphemous.” — Caleb Klein ’22
“Big Hawaiian fan.” — Alec Yeaney ’21
“I guess I’m all about putting fruit in places it doesn’t belong.” — Lucy Sinclair ’21
Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire Izzy Migani, Assistant Humor & Satire Hannah Benton, Photography
Answers:
“Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans”
How do you feel about pineapple pizza?
The Miscellany Puzzle by Benjamin Costa
Competition among the candy wizards is fierce, but all of these flavors sound terrible. They’re all riffing on only three different flavors - come up with a better one! Angelina Healey-Bloomcious Dinosaur Fossils!” “Rusty Razors. Free with a tetanus Nemesis Plumjumper shot!!” “Fruity Pebbles! Muggles seem to like it. Zachary-Elliot FrancisSamuel Harmon-Drill “Quartz Pebbles. It’s the schist!” “Origami Squirrel. Tastes better than it Lila Culvert looks, I promise.” “Today’s headline: Magazine Clippings Eli Lappare delicious!” “For a good all-around flavor, try Swiss Edison Chandler Army Knife!” “Prune your taste buds with Garden Shears.” Eliana Lorden-Imperati “Love that new-book smell? You’ll love that New Book taste!” Francine Mourningsly “Rock candy is so last week. Try Candied Rock!” Zaza Billings “Liberté, egalité, sucré! Let them eat Guillotine!” Eliza-Bella Sarah-Jane Years of excavation has yielded deli-
Lucy Lockwood “The Power Of Crystals”. It really does work, I swear!” Katarina Isleblight “For a delicious and crafty treat, try Paper Maché .” Vladimir Voss “Diamonds Are Your Tongue’s Best Friend. The name says it all.”
Answer to last week’s puzzle
Tina Ursu-Rime “The New York Times. All the news that’s fit to eat.” Gabriel Hart-Tillman“I’ve already won this whole thing. I’m sharp as a blade, a cut above the rest. Just look at the line-up of the people I was up against, initially, then look at me the same way.”
Gabriel
Answer: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OPINIONS
April 11, 2019
Letter to the Editor
Page 13 ADVERTISEMENT
News, “Israel Apartheid Week highlights Palestinian oppression,” 04.04.2019). Courtesy of John Abbot/Vassar College Elizabeth Bradley is the 11th president of Vassar. She has served for two years.
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n my role as the President of Vassar College, I very much value academic freedom and the open exchange of ideas. We do not all need to agree on every issue, and, in fact, true learning occurs when we hear viewpoints different from our own. The truth is equally important, however. One of Vassar’s earliest faculty members, Maria Mitchell, taught that the way one finds truth is to “go to the source.” I would like to correct some of the statements made about me and about Vassar in the opinion piece entitled “Israel Apartheid Week highlights Palestinian oppression” (The Miscellany
In the summer of 2018, I traveled to Jordan, Israel and Ramallah to better understand their models of higher education, particularly in the liberal arts. I met with the leadership of Palestinian and Israeli universities, and in Jordan I met with the leadership of a high school that teaches liberal arts. In addition, as a public health scholar, I was eager to meet with key health leaders throughout the region. I was also able to host a Vassar alumnae/i event, which is something I do throughout my travels. I also met with dozens of other people from the region, including Israeli and Palestinian students, educational and human rights advocates and local leaders, including Israel Nitzan, who was the incoming Deputy Counsel General and was to begin his work in New York City in fall of 2018. I had never traveled to the region before and welcomed learning as much as I could from them. It was a rewarding experience for me, and one that is helping me in my work here. Vassar will continue to connect and work with a diversity of academics—Israelis, Palestinians and others across the world—in order to provide our students the best educational opportunities, and I am pleased that Vassar is a place where we can use our knowledge to openly debate and discuss all kinds of topics. Elizabeth H. Bradley, President
SJP’s protests against partnerships harm Poughkeepsie Jesser Horowitz Columnist
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ook to your left, look to your right. Of every five people you see in the city of Poughkeepsie, at least one of them is most likely living in poverty. But you won’t see that person around Vassar College, because our campus is intentionally segregated from the rest of the city; it is in a better school district, with more businesses, with more jobs and with wealthier residents. So, it’s easy to forget that the poverty rate in the city of Poughkeepsie is over six percent higher than the average across New York State. It’s easy to forget that almost one-third of children under the age of six in this city are growing up in poverty. (Welfareinfo.org, “Poverty in Poughkeepsie, New York,” 2019). It’s easy to forget that Vassar oftentimes is a drain to the community, rather than a benefit: For example, we significantly deplete the fire department’s resources, costing the city considerably more money than we give in taxes (The Miscellany News, “Vassar puts strain on Arlington Fire District budget,” 11.15.2017). It’s easy to forget that the city of Poughkeepsie is desperately looking for economic development, and even easier to moralize about how it does so. In late 2017, Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, alongside Deputy County Executive Ronald Hicks and Dutchess Tourism Inc. President Mary Kay Vrba, made a trip to Israel to meet with various government officials and corporations, in the hopes of fostering economic development in Poughkeepsie. This year, Molinaro has upped his efforts, encouraging business collaboration with Israeli companies, promoting Israeli investment in the region and looking to partner Dutchess County farmers with Israeli agri-tech firms. This was framed in largely economic terms. Molina-
ro stated, “The Jewish people and those who have a loyalty to Israel are a major consumer and to open up agricultural opportunities here, some manufacturing and commercial opportunities here, knowing that the Jewish people and those loyal to the state of Israel in the New York City region want to have access to those products creates a business opportunity and we are growing that in Dutchess.” This economic relationship largely began when Israel’s Deputy Consul General in New York met Vassar College President Elizabeth Bradley on a trip she took to Israel last year (Mid-Hudson News, “Dutchess officials further trade relationships with Israel,” 03.23.2019). Enter Vassar College’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an activist group dedicated to ending what its members believe is an Israeli apartheid against Palestinians, armed with a moral superiority unlike any that I have ever seen and a troubling tendency to share Nazi propaganda on social media (Jewish Telegraph Agency, “Vassar pro-Palestinian group under review for Nazi cartoon,” 05.16.2014). Three years ago, in the midst of the BDS debate, my articles received national notoriety (one was even shared by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic) for their attack against the group for anti-Semitism, racism and a shocking misunderstanding of history. While stifled by its complete failure to pass BDS on a campus without so much as a pro-Israel org, SJP didn’t end its efforts there. Much like the mythological Hydra, it came back with more heads. The first week of April was Israeli Apartheid Week, during which the organization held a series of events discussing the conflict and expressing particular concern about this economic partnership between Dutchess County and Israel. SJP urged the school to “Join Students for Justice in Palestine in demanding, at a bare minimum...that
Vassar plays no role in whatever economic partnership emerges” (The Miscellany News, “Israeli Apartheid Week highlights Palestinian oppression,” 04.03.2019). Essentially, Vassar College should play no significant part in rebuilding the city’s economy despite being a giant tax-exempt drain on resources. I’m not going to spend today arguing against SJP’s ideology—I’ve done that enough already. I’ve written article (Miscellany News, “BDS proposal ignores economic side effects,” 02.24.2016) after article (Miscellany News, “SJP ignores nuances of BDS resolution,” 03.02.2016) after article (Miscellany News, “Antisemitism present in antizionist rhetoric,” 02.10.2016) after article (Miscellany News, “Claims of ‘pinkwashing’ rely on toxic, antisemitic tropes,” 10.05.2016) on the subject. Rather, I simply want to express my concern for its members: It takes a certain kind of ideological obsession to condemn almost 7,000 people, over a third of all children in Poughkeepsie, to poverty in pursuit of moral purity. I’m concerned about how they’ll function in the real world, outside of Vassar, when sometimes they’ll have to compromise their philosophical consistency due to practical concerns. I’m even more concerned, however, for what should happen if somehow their demands proved successful. Poughkeepsie is not a dead city, but it is one which was hit far deeper by the economic crashes than many other cities throughout the nation and the state. Admittedly, this is not necessarily true of all of Dutchess County. While the unemployment rate has increased in the county since November 2016, it still ranks among the counties with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation (Poughkeepsie Journal, “Unemployment rates rise in Dutchess: Report,” 12.28.2017). However, Poughkeepsie, our home, has the highest poverty rate
in the county and an especially high one for its minority population. According to the Dutchess County government, 56.5 percent of racial and ethnic minorities in the city of Poughkeepsie live in poverty (Dutchess County Government, “Dutchess County/ City of Poughkeepsie 2013-2017 Consolidated Plan Executive Summary”). And so, I ask, what right does SJP have to demand that the city of Poughkeepsie say no to development? And what right does it have to demand that the administration say no to being a good neighbor by helping facilitate this relationship? I’m not claiming that Israel is the answer to all of Poughkeepsie’s economic problems or that SJP’s actions would be inherently destructive. I am only saying that the members of SJP are ignoring the economic realities in the city, either because they do not know or because they do not care. I am also saying that, with the amount of money Poughkeepsie is forced to spend on us, the least we could do is help coordinate economic relationships that could revitalize the area. Let me pose to you a question. Suppose you are a member of a poor household in the city of Poughkeepsie. You’re struggling to raise your children. The fire department takes longer to get to your house because the firefighters are constantly busy rushing to a nearby elite college campus. Your local government is working with the Israeli government to try to create economic partnerships that could lift you and your neighbors out of poverty. Then, pseudo-intellectual armchair activists from Vassar College cry racism because they don’t like Israel. They convince Vassar College to drop out of the project, and without its help, the project falls through. Would you feel like we were good neighbors? Would you like us? Vassar College owes an enormous debt to its community—it’s a shame that some of us would rather politically pander than pay it.
The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OPINIONS
Page 14
April 11, 2019
Vassar Admissions exhibits gender bias against women Kimberly Nguyen Guest Coumnist
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few weeks ago, Vassar sent out decisions to the Class of 2023, and in response, Instagram posts with the hashtag #Vassar2023 have started to trickle in as accepted students celebrate their admissions. At the same time, rejected high school seniors who had their sights set on Vassar may be reviewing their credentials and wondering why they weren’t accepted. Was it the number of extracurriculars? Was it their GPA? Schools rarely release the reasons why they choose to accept or reject an applicant, but a recent analysis of data has led me to believe that admissions may have a gender bias. Although Vassar first opened in 1861 as an all-women’s college, the school continues to maintain that reputation even after going coed in 1969. When I mention Vassar in conversation outside of campus, people often ask whether Vassar is still an all-women’s school. As such, it is not surprising that far more women apply to Vassar each year than men. But despite the fact that more women apply and the fact that Vassar’s history is built around the advancement of women, men are accepted to Vassar at a significantly higher rate than women. For example, for this year’s Class of 2022, 2,511 men and 5,801 women applied. However, of those applicants, 828 men and 1,215 women were admitted. This means that for the current first-year class—when considering gender alone—men were admitted to Vassar at a rate of 33.0 percent, while women were admitted at rate of only 20.9 percent (Vassar, “Common Data Set 2018/19”). For the Class of 2020, the gap is even wider: 1,169 out of 2,112 men were admitted, while only 795 out of 5,172 women were let in. In other words, the acceptance rate for men that year was 55.3 percent, while the acceptance rate for women was 15.4 percent (Vassar, “Common Data Set 2016/17”). When looking at these numbers, it appears that there is a gender bias in favor of men. Of course, there is the possibility that every year, somehow, the men who apply to Vassar are more “qualified” than the women who apply. However, clear patterns in
the data show otherwise. According to an article published in Nature, girls on average have higher grades than boys by 6.3 percent overall (Nature, “Gender differences in individual variation in academic grades fail to fit expected patterns for STEM,” 09.28.2018). In terms of standardized testing, Vassar women also outperformed Vassar men. According to statistical data collected from the Class of 2012 to the Class of 2021, women scored 13.1 points higher than men on average on their combined SAT score. For the Class of 2021, on which Vassar has most recently reported, the average SAT score difference was 70 points, yielding a three percent gap. However, Vassar doesn’t just consider test scores and grades. The personal statement is equally crucial. Perhaps men write better essays than women? But again, the data shows otherwise. Looking specifically at the SAT writing scores broken down by gender at Vassar over the past 10 years, women on average scored 18.6 points higher than men. For the Class of 2021, women scored on average 27 points higher than men, or four percent more (Vassar, “The Vassar College Factbook,” 11.2017). If women have higher grades than men, perform better on their SATs and write as effectively as their writing scores suggest, women should be admitted at a higher rate than men. Given the sheer volume of women who apply, then should constitute a larger percentage of the students accepted. It is highly improbable that Vassar’s male applicants are such standouts that they should warrant nearly 70 percent of admitted students for the Class of 2022, despite only making up 30 percent of applicants (Vassar, “Common Data Set 2018/19”). I suspect that this discrepancy is designed to keep the gender makeup of Vassar “balanced.” Over the years, Vassar has maintained a male-to-female ratio of roughly 40:60, and this is due to the fact that fewer men choose to enroll compared to women. According to the Common Data Set for the Class of 2022, only 281 out of 828 men accepted their Vassar offer compared to 404 out of 1,215 women (Vassar, “Common Data Set 2018/19”). In contrast, our peer institutions
Please, Tell Us More! Carlos Alamo-Pastrana Dean of the College
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“Vassar does not report the admissions statistics for non-binary/trans applications, so any other kinds of gender bias that occurs remains unreported.” While the College may argue that keeping the gender ratio balanced promotes diversity, this mindset toward admissions can create a bias against women. Even worse, we don’t know exactly how this bias manifests, because it occurs behind closed doors. Whether there is an unspoken cap on the number of women admitted or a subconscious inclination toward favoring male students over female students when it comes down to the last few spots, no one but the Office of Admissions at Vassar knows. Additionally, Vassar does not report the admissions statistics for non-binary/trans applications, so any other kinds of gender bias that occur remain unreported. The Vassar Admissions’ website is also not transparent about their desire to keep the
gender ratio balanced. In a section labeled “Selection Criteria,” they write, “Admission to Vassar is highly selective. Although we weigh a number of factors in the admission decision, the most important is academic ability, as demonstrated by performance in high school” (Vassar, “Apply”). This statement implies that admission is based primarily on merit, dodging any mention of maintaining a balance of gender. Applicants pay a nonrefundable $65 to apply to Vassar, take a painstaking amount of time to write their essays, prepare thoroughly for their standardized tests and submit multiple necessary components for their applications. If gender is indeed a factor in their decisions, these students have the right to know, and they have the right to know before they apply. Admissions should revise their statement to make prospective students aware that they may be surrendering their spot to a male applicant—all in the name of gender balance. Additionally, if Vassar has no legal obligation to uphold an equal amount of men and women, changing the gender makeup to be largely female would provide several benefits. With the current admissions trend, women must hit higher benchmarks than men in order to gain acceptance, as proven by their test scores. Eliminating the tendency toward keeping a gender ratio balanced would eliminate this hurdle for women. Even if this causes the gender ratio to shift toward a larger female majority, it’s truly not the end of the world if Vassar is 80 percent women and 20 percent male. Most career fields are male-dominated, so if men start to feel outnumbered by women at Vassar, they can rest assured that they won’t be outnumbered anywhere else. Given that our peer institutions do not report large gaps in their acceptance rates by gender, Vassar should strive to follow their example. In the wake of the college admissions scandals, it’s time for Vassar to overhaul their admissions processes. Vassar was originally created to prioritize women and their educations, and we should do everything we can to honor that historical commitment.
Professors: What is a topic, idea, theory or breakthrough related to your field of study that you find absolutely fascinating or feel very passionate about? Explain why. me see myself as a crucial and valued mem- John and I continued to dream together and ber of an educational system that is often make plans for the days ahead. lacking in diverse and engaged voices. Most importantly, I learned that some of the most transformative moments in a student’s career in learning about the world and themselves happen beyond the classroom and inside an office. The way students feel and are engaged in my office matters to me because I know what the stakes are—where I am today is the direct result of a one-hour meeting twenty years ago. Two weeks ago, I traveled to South Jersey to celebrate being a part of a living memorial in honor of Professor Miller’s life. John, as I now refer to him, has battled cancer for the last ten years, and he recently learned that his cancer is now terminal and has spread throughout his body. As I sat with John Miller (right) at his living John that night, we laughed and cried as we memorial with his partner Robert Bixler reminisced about our time together. For a (left) and Carlos Alamo-Pastrana brief moment, it felt like we were back in his (center). Alamo describes Miller as a old office. A mentor, through and through, mentor who taught him how to dream.
Courtesy of Carlos Alamo-Pastrana
vividly remember the day some 20 years ago when my Spanish Professor, John Miller, demanded I see him in his office shortly after our seminar on U.S. Latina/o Literature. Assuming I had done something wrong, I was mortified. I followed Professor Miller to his office, and as he opened his door, he looked at me and said that we needed to discuss what my career plans were. I looked at him a bit puzzled. No one had ever bothered to ask me such a question. I sat down and nervously mumbled some words about possibly being a high school history teacher and football coach. He returned my puzzled look. “Well what about graduate school?” he finally mustered. As a first-generation low-income college student, the idea of graduate school never entered my world of possibilities. Even more honestly, I had no idea what he was talking about or what graduate school even
was. In the hour that followed, El Profe, as I came to call Professor Miller affectionately, spoke to me about pursuing higher education and thinking of the ways I could explore in more detail all the topics and ideas that I raised in his classes. No one had ever told me my ideas were interesting or important. To be told that I had something important to say as a young Latinx student meant the world to me. More than anything, in that hour, El Profe taught me to dream. At every stage of my academic career, I’ve been fortunate enough to have incredible mentors who have helped me dream, find value in my ideas and work through difficult moments in their offices. Sometimes these mentors have looked like me, and sometimes they haven’t. None of them have ever formally identified themselves as “my mentor.” Instead, they’ve modeled and offered their support in ways that always felt comfortable and organic—never paternalistic. These mentors have always helped
that also have more female applicants than male applicants do not have the same gap in admission rates that we do. For example, analyzing the most recently reported data, the gap between the acceptance rates for men and women at Bowdoin College is only 1.2 percentage points, where 433 out of 3,741 men and 499 out of 5,340 women were admitted (Bowdoin, “Common Data Set 2018/19”). Williams College has a gap of 0.2 percentage points with 577 out of 4,488 men and 663 out of 5,072 women admitted (Williams, “Common Data Set 2018 - 2019”). At Amherst College, the gap is less than 0.1 percentage points, where 592 out of 4342 men and 654 out of 5,382 women were admitted (Amherst, “Common Data Set 2018/19”). In comparison, the gender gap in acceptance rates for the Vassar Class of 2022 is 12.1 percentage points.
This segment is designed to be a space in which professors are invited to talk about any topic related to their work that they find fascinating. If you are interested in contributing, please write a response of 300 words or more, to the question above, and email your piece to Steven Park at eupark@@ @ vassar.edu, along with a picture of yourself or something relevant to your topic (examples include research projects, independent work or labs). The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
April 11, 2019
OPINIONS
Page 15
Despite excitement, Space Force requires further planning Sylvan Perlmutter Columnist
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hen President Donald Trump first expressed his intention to form a Space Force as a separate service branch of the armed forces that would be equal to the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Army and Air Force, my initial reaction was, “Whoa, that’s actually kind of cool.” Perhaps growing up watching the original Star Wars trilogy on VCR had conditioned me to associate cosmic militarism with unproblematic heroism and the innocence of childhood. However, when I began to look more deeply into the proposal, my thoughts on Space Force grew more complicated. Although a Space Force might one day be necessary to safeguard the interests of the United States, it would be, at the moment, a wasteful expenditure. The billions of dollars that would be spent on upgrading the U.S. Air Force Space Command into its own department could be better spent on the civilian agency-led projects of NASA. There are legitimate issues with how the United States conducts its space-related operations. While the Air Force receives 80 percent of unclassified space funding, there are numerous other organizations in the military and intelligence services that control key elements of space acquisitions and space-related infrastructures, such as ground control systems, satellites and personnel. No single agency has a definitive say on space-related matters, which slows the pace of decision-making and leads to incoherence in space policy. Furthermore, because space is not the
primary responsibility of any armed service branch, none of them will prioritize space capabilities in their funding. Advocates for a Space Force claim that only through centralizing all space organizations and personnel can a coherent and successful space policy finally take shape (Center for Strategic and International Studies, “Why We Need a Space Force,” 10.03.2018). Nevertheless, there is a risk that this proposed solution may create more problems down the road. Fred Kaplan, focusing on the importance of satellites to the operations of individual branches of the US military, writes in Slate, “Placing these vital assets under the command of a four-star general in a separate service—and imbuing its officers and enlisted personnel with the élan of an elite force that doesn’t answer to the other services of the armed forces and that, in fact, competes with them for resources—would run counter to the nation’s needs” (Slate, “Space Farce,” 06.21.2018). The creation of a separate branch of the military, which would require thousands of personnel and the construction of its own offices and facilities, would cost billions of dollars and add further bureaucratic complexity to an already gargantuan entity. In 2017, then Secretary of Defense James Mattis voiced his objection to a new Space Force, writing, “I oppose the creation of a new military service and additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint warfighting functions” (The Hill, “Pentagon: Mattis originally opposed creating space force over budgetary concerns,” 08.10.2018). Air Force Secretary
Heather Wilson estimated that the government would need at least 13 billion dollars—not including pre-existing space expenditures—to establish the Department of the Space Force and fund it for a five-year period (Space News, “Wilson: $13 billion Space Force cost estimate is ‘conservative,’” 09.18.2018). In addition, the deepening and loudly signaled militarization of the United States’ space operations risks antagonizing China and Russia, countries that are both developing their own space-fighting capabilities. Space militarization does not only encompass the creation of the Space Force but also the proposal—championed by the likes of Senator Ted Cruz—to develop spacebased missile defense systems of questionable effectiveness (Politico, “How Trump’s ‘Space Force’ Could Set Off a Dangerous Arms Race,” 06.22.2018). A space arms race would waste our resources and provide yet another risk factor in an increasingly unstable international order. Taking into account the aforementioned problems, it would be more advisable for the U.S. government to adopt a more incremental approach to the possible development of a space force. Kaitlyn Johnson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggests reestablishing the U.S. Space Command (SPACECOM), an interagency command that would consolidate operational space authority and promote skilled space personnel without the massive expenditures of establishing a new branch. She writes: “Rushing to establish a Space Force by 2020 does not give ample time to
test and synchronize SPACECOM with the rest of the combatant commands and the Services’ space infrastructures. It may well be that another organizational construct fits the bill better than a Space Force, but without first testing—and providing ample time to test—a re-established SPACECOM, policymakers will not be able to make an informed decision on how to move forward” (Center for Strategic and International Studies, “Why a Space Force Can Wait,” 10.03.2018). While policymakers examine the merits of a Space Force, they should not neglect the opportunity to fund non-military space ventures, particularly NASA. The United States’ peaceful exploration of the cosmos has been a great source of national pride. In addition, it has spurred numerous innovations like the camera phone, wireless headsets and CAT scans, many of which have influenced our daily lives (NASA, “20 Inventions We Wouldn’t Have Without Space Travel”). Congressman Ralph Hall writes, “Many Americans may be surprised to learn that NASA’s budget is only a fraction of 1 percent of the overall federal budget, currently hovering around 0.6 percent. Arguably, this relatively small investment provides a greater dollar-for-dollar economic and strategic return than any other civilian government program” (The Hill, “Increased funding for NASA would stimulate economy,” 03.11.2009). Perhaps the U.S. government should seek to increase the return on this investment rather than tack more billions on to the world’s largest military budget. Better to go to Mars than to go to war!
Why Manafort’s 47-month prison sentence makes sense Jonas Trostle
Assistant Opinions Editor
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n March 7, 2019, Judge T.S. Ellis III sentenced Paul Manafort to 47 months in prison for tax and bank fraud. There are a few different ways to look at that 47-month sentence. The first is to consider the maximum possible sentence for Manafort’s eight convictions. Theoretically, Judge Ellis could have sentenced Manafort 80 years in prison for his crimes (CNN, “Paul Manafort Found Guilty On 8 Counts,” 08.22.2018). Viewed in this light, 47 months seems a ludicrous amount of time for him to actually serve. That being said, using the maximum sentence as a benchmark for the actual sentence is misguided at best. For one thing, the maximum sentence is heavily dependent on how many counts a person is charged with, a number that is entirely at the discretion of the prosecutor, not the judge who will be giving the sentence. Believe it or not, the actual number of convictions has little effect on the actual sentence. A long maximum sentence also implies that all the sentences will run consecutively rather than concurrently, which rarely happens in cases where the defendant has competent counsel. A better, more accurate way to examine the 47 months is with respect to the federal sentencing guidelines for the case. These guidelines were originally established in 1984 to make the sentences that federal judges handed down consistent, no matter where they were in the country. In fact, judges were required to adhere to the sentence mandated by the guidelines up until 2005 when the Supreme Court ruled that
this law violated the Sixth Amendment’s right to a jury trial (Scotusblog, “Opinion Analysis: Plain Sentencing Guidelines Errors Ordinarily Justify Relief,” 06.19.2018). Since then, the guidelines have been just that: guidelines. They serve only as an advisory for what judges should consider. The guidelines are, to say the least, incredibly complicated. Former federal prosecutor Ken White once compared them to filling out a tax return for a moderately sized corporation. Within the guidelines are dozens of sentencing upgrades—like hate-crime statutes—as well as sentencing downgrades for mitigating factors such as contriteness and acceptance of responsibility. With that in mind, the sentencing guidelines’ recommended sentence for Manafort’s case was a range of 19 to 24 years. How did Manafort’s sentence go from a recommended minimum of 19 years down to just over four? This all comes down to the fact that the guidelines aren’t mandatory. Judges have a very broad discretion in what sentences they choose for criminals. Judge Ellis in particular has a history of departing from the sentencing guidelines, usually downward. In 2009, William Jefferson was given the longest sentence of any congressperson for corruption when he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. That 13-year sentence was significantly lower than the 27- to 33-year range recommended by the guidelines. The judge on that case? T.S. Ellis III (The Washington Post, “Ex-Rep. Jefferson (D-La.) gets 13 years in freezer cash case,” 11.14.2009). If you look around, you will see statements like, “In July 2018, [Ellis] made national headlines when sentencing 37-year-
old Frederick Turner to prison for 40 years for dealing methamphetamines,” which is true (The Washington Post, “Judge Laments 40 Year Sentence For Meth Dealer As Excessive,” 07.02.2018). Judge Ellis did sentence Frederick Turner to 40 years. What is not true is that Ellis had any say in the matter. Drug crime, particularly when it involves firearms, almost always has a mandatory minimum attached to it. Unlike federal sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimums are non-negotiable. If the mandatory minimum is 40 years, as it was for Turner, then the judge has no choice but to impose a sentence of at least 40 years. On the other hand, white-collar crime very rarely has mandatory minimums. The judicial branch is not responsible for this discrepancy. Rather, it is a result of the legislative branch trying to assert its value system. Drugs and guns: bad; money laundering: more iffy. Judge Ellis has actually been one of the most vocal opponents of mandatory minimums, commenting, “This situation presents me with something I have no discretion to change and the only thing I can do is express my displeasure.” He even went so far as to appoint additional pro bono counsel for a criminal whom he viewed as receiving far too severe a sentence (Politco, “Manafort Judge Emerges As Skeptic Of Long Mandatory Minimum Sentences,” 07.06.2018). It should also be noted that Judge Ellis was the first of two judges who had to sentence Paul Manafort. The second, Judge Amy Berman Jackson, imposed an additional 43 months to Manafort’s sentence. Therefore, the sentence is 47 months, nine of which he had already served, as well as a
73-month sentence with 30 of those months concurrently. With a 15 percent reduction for good behavior he would only have to serve 85 percent of his sentence, meaning he would be in prison for at least 67.5 more months. Manafort has also been indicted in state court, so his legal troubles are not over yet. This brings me to the last way to look at Judge Ellis’ 47-month sentence. You will spend approximately 32 months at Vassar in your life. If you were to go to jail instead, everybody you know—friends, acquaintances, classmates, romantic partners— you would never have met. Birthdays and chances to watch family members grow up would all disappear. Forty-seven months is a long time. Not only that, if you feel angered by Manafort’s relatively short sentence, don’t forget that you’re still young with a life expectancy of approximately 60 years, at least according to data from the U.S. Social Security Administration. Manafort has approximately 14 years left. A prison sentence of 67.5 months is 41 percent of his remaining life (U.S. Social Security Administration, “Actuarial Life Table,” 2015). I’m not saying we should all weep for Manafort and his ostrich-jacketed 70-yearold body. I’m not saying that white-collar crime isn’t under-punished. What I am saying is that maybe Paul Manafort’s sentence isn’t too low, and that we shouldn’t pillory a judge for being lenient. Maybe we should consider that the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the developed world, and that maybe our severe sentencing has something to do with that. Maybe, just maybe, 47 months is enough.
The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
HUMOR & SATIRE
Page 16
April 11, 2019
Breaking News
From the desk of Hannah Gaven, Humor & Satire Editor
Student mercilessly follows PB around, gets caught in President’s home waiting to spot her texting while walking Vegetarian at Deece resorts to feasting on spiritual guidance Blair Webber
Bravely Vegetarian
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Frank/The Miscellany News
eat is hard. It’s hard on the environment, my digestive system and (by extension) Vassar’s plumbing. But for the last year, I’ve been trying a radical new diet: vegetarianism. This is a complex concept, but I only ask that everyone at least tries to be compassionate, even if the details aren’t fully comprehensible. Essentially, I eat no meat—neither beasts of the land nor beasts of the sea. I know what you’re all thinking: “Blair! How brave you are, how big a change you make in the world by no longer eating neither fish nor fowl!” And to that I respond: “Yes! I AM BRAVE!” It hasn’t been an easy diet to maintain over the course of this school year. I’ve never cared for tempeh or seitan, and there’s a nasty rumor floating around that tofu raises your estrogen levels. I haven’t bothered to google this—but I’m not taking any chances. Unfortunately, these seem to be the only plant protein sources that the Deece is capable of serving. Unless you want to eat a black bean burger three times a day, options are limited. It took me a while to figure out a good system of eating, but I think I’ve conquered meat-free hunger in Vassar’s jungle of corporate-contracted dining services. For those who want to remain on the meal plan and eat at the Deece regularly, you have to get creative. Even if you’re resorting to a salad for the millionth time that week, try to spice it up with a protein source you wouldn’t normally choose. The go-to at the salad bar is tofu and chickpeas, but traverse over to Coffee and Sweets, and you’ll find the protein-packed sunflower butter eagerly awaiting a place in your salad. It may come as a surprise, but sunbutter pairs quite nicely
with spinach and ranch. Slap a big ole dollop on top the next time you’re tired of the same boring salad you make every single time. Day after day. After day. After day. After week. You can find alternative ways to sustain yourself. Maybe you’re not hungry for food, maybe you’re actually hungry for, say, revenge or spiritual guidance. These are easy ways to a better diet: Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but it’s also something you can pursue single-mindedly allowing it to consume you. Spiritual guidance, on the other hand, is a direct solution to both emotional and physical hunger, since the Bayit cooks homemade vegan dinners every Friday for Shabbat. A final way to approach the problem is some introspection: Why are you vegetarian in the first place? For many people, the answer lies in the horrific environmental impact of Big Meat. Animals are often kept inhumanely, and their waste pollutes the natural surroundings where they’re held captive. If this is you, get back to the roots of your dietary choice: nature. Don’t be afraid to forage. The campus proper is rich in twigs, bark and dirt. Although it’s a trek, the ecological preserve offers an even wider variety of grasses, mosses, rocks and even a branch or two. The options are truly endless, and a hunter-gatherer lifestyle is a fun and healthy way to release stress and escape from modern inconveniences, like grocery stores and refrigerators. This guide is far from complete: there are many, many other vegetarian and vegan options offered by Vassar’s dining service. The Express, for example, occasionally has bananas. For students considering switching to veganism or vegetarianism, or simply scrounging to get by on what is already available, I hope I can make some small difference.
Frank’s Womp-Womp World
I’ve decided that my body will break first because I never go to the gym. With just a little shove, I’ll fall down and cry. I guess that means that my spirit and body will break simultaneously because I am weak and Womp-womps are ruthless.
MRST major reflects on their plagued 12th-century life Etched in stone by Rachel Walker
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o I’m one of fewer than five Medieval and Renaissance Studies majors here on campus. This often leads to some weird conversations and experiences throughout my day. Wanna follow along with me and learn more about this endangered major? You might be surprised to learn that it’s not all knights in shining armor and princesses stuck in towers. I also get to learn about plagues and terrifying death rates! My days should start before the dawn to sing Matins (the first service of the day in a Medieval Monastery), but I usually don’t end up surfacing until Terce (or 9 a.m., the third service of the day). I know, I am often a terrible medievalist! Anyhow, then it’s time for breakfast, and it is only fitting that I eat a pile of meat from a wooden board just like the Vikings. But I’m missing the salty air and plundering of villages. I spend a huge portion of each day thinking about how my life would’ve been if I had been born in the 12th century. I always assume
that I would have been a part of a noble family with a majestic castle. I’d own a fancy horse and would ride it through the woods in search of adventure. However, it is much more likely that my family would have been peasants and worked the fields for some lord and lady. Also, I’m the sixth child, so there’s a good chance I would’ve been put in a monastery at a young age so my parents wouldn’t have to worry about finding someone to marry me. Back to my current life. MRST is an interdisciplinary so I’m constantly running all over campus. But hopefully this is good training if I ever have to go fight a duel with a knight. I spend so many hours of every day reading stuff that was written at least 500 years ago—wait, usually more like 1,000 years ago. While, yes, reading primary sources is super important and informative, it also can be hilarious. Sometimes I get to read about medieval architecture plummeting to the ground because
the vaults aren’t strong enough, and other times I learn about a saint who was beheaded but kept talking! Honestly, if I don’t read about at least one pope in a day, I’m concerned. Seriously, throughout the entire millennium that we study, there was so much drama going on with the papacy. When I am not reading about the Middle Ages, I’m usually trying to sing or play some medieval or Renaissance music (I basically live in Skinner Hall). But here’s the thing: The music of these time periods is either about the church, going to war or exploring love. While I really like singing these love songs, they sometimes make my single heart sad. I don’t blame Disney for my unrealistic expectations of romance. I blame troubadours or Medieval French love poets. I just want someone to pine after me and say that, you know, the sun is dark in their eyes without me. Basically, sometimes I wish I was a beautiful medieval Scottish princess and had a bunch of
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
handsome knights all jousting for my love. I like to go down to the river and beat my clothes to clean them. This experience really takes me back to the 12th century, and a bonus is that my clothes then have that nice dirty river smell. It’s fun to go into a medieval literature class smelling like a real medieval peasant. I especially like debating people who are only in MRST classes to fill a requirement and are not excited about the subject! I must give off a rather scary and barbaric vibe when I tell them that the Renaissance was nothing like the Renaissance fair they visited this summer. After a long day of medievalistsing, I wind down with mead, obviously brewed by myself, and work on battle scheming or illumination of manuscripts. There really isn’t any in-between as a medievalist—I’m either a gentle artist or a Viking warrior. So, if you see me around campus, maybe watch out? I might fight you or chew your ears off about EVERYTHING MEDIEVAL!
HUMOR & SATIRE
April 11, 2019
Page 17
Harry Potter fanfic author avoids spies while Draco dies Izzy Migani
Not A Twilight Fan
F
Courtesy of Juliana Bencze
or those of you who are not aware, I used to be an avid fanfiction writer. Those days are long gone, yet I look back on them with slightly disgusted fondness. As a way to relive this nostalgia, I decided to interview the “mysterious” writer of a Harry Potter fanfic who has been through the same trials and tribulations as myself, to reminisce about the great works our writings once were. The Miscellany News: Where did you get most of your inspiration? Why Harry Potter? Harry Potter Fanfic Writer: Well, okay. Um, uh, my writing style inspiration came from the authors I read at the time. Since I was very pretentious, it was George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and other authors who wrote very, very well but very, very wordy pieces that caught my fancy. Because I was a child, I emulated absolutely none of the skillful or good parts of their writings, and I just used words to try to sound really fancy. My content was just stuff that I thought sounded cool as a twelve-year-old, so I crafted all of the characters in ways that I thought would be cool for them to act. In retrospect, this made for a very accurate depiction of all these characters because I was writing them as twelve-yearolds, and I was twelve, so it worked out pretty well. That’s just how middle school was I guess. Other than that, I just thought Draco Malfoy was really hot. The way I
Above is a very professional and very well-designed insignia of a very secret but very groundbreaking Harry Potter fanfiction. While only parts one, two and three are currently available, you can contact J.K. Rowling for an exclusive look at the final installation. thought to express that emotion was to kill off his character often and mercilessly bring him back to life. Harry Potter Fanfic Writer: Okay, I know this is off-topic, but I have three fanfic accounts, and this was the first one I made, and it was literally just a list of my favorite things: My favorite Harry Potter pairing was apparently Drarry (Draco/ Harry), uh, my favorite characters were Draco and Luna, and under the “random info” section of the bio the only info I had was “not a Twilight fan.” The Misc: What was the community dynamic of these forums? Harry Potter Fanfic Writer: The first fanfiction site I posted on was (I think)
called muggle.net, which had a weirdly high standard for grammar. So, my first piece of fanfiction was sent back because I didn’t capitalize the word “Muggle.” You also had to go through and manually add in the HTML because otherwise, no italics would show up, and without italics, the story kind of got a little weird. There was also a, uh, forum attached to this particular archive in which the one way I would contribute would be to design banners to link to other works I’ve done. I made some truly bad banners using Adobe Photoshop for the iPad. Everyone was very nice though and didn’t tell me when my stuff looked like absolute garbage. Harry Potter Fanfic Writer: Back
HOROSCOPES
when I started writing fanfiction, I was kind of worried it would be found by people from my future, so I would put excessive asterisks where swear words would be, and only I would know in my heart what swear words were supposed to go there. I started writing fanfictions on the notes app of my iPod Touch 3, so any time I think about my first work I see it in that first notes app font with the yellow and the lines. The Misc: What is your favorite excerpt of fanfiction you’ve ever written? Harry Potter Fanfic Writer: The name of this fanfiction in this notes app was “HPFFGHS-PGT/T” because I decided that I had to live my life in code words and assign my fanfiction a movie rating. This one in particular was PG-13 because I never got around to writing the salacious bits because I was too scared. Oh my God, let me read you this line of dialogue, it’s literally how I thought middle schoolers should act as a middle schooler. “‘Hey Malfoy,’ Jenny put in, ‘No one here likes you, so why do you even show up? If it’s just to make fun of our clothes and stuff, that’s just, like, idiotic. Just like, go away!’” Oh! Another good one would be, “Tatiana scrunched closer to the train wall as Pansy carved letters onto the tabletop. ‘The Darke Is Rising Hide Or Run Or You Die.’ ‘Just because I stick my tongue down your throat every other day doesn’t give you any right to know anything I’m doing!’ Draco’s face was screwed up in anger.” I can’t remember if the last quote is a euphemism for making out or something else, not sure if I want to know.
Hannah Gaven
amateur astrologist
ARIES
March 21 | April 19
TAURUS
April 20 | May 20
GEMINI
May 21 | June 20
CANCER
June 21 | July 22
LEO
July 23 | August 22
VIRGO
August 23 | September 22
I’m in the Vass Shakers show this Friday. Thus, you will be going to the Vass Shakers show this Friday. I better see you there, and you better be screaming my name, or the stars will predict the death of your family next week.
Things are looking bad. The Office Depot I worked at last summer closed. I just can’t believe I was such an influential and important employee that the store couldn’t survive without me. Be a useless employee this summer so the company is still there for you next summer. I don’t know what to do with myself when I actually have an hour of free time. I can’t even go to a study break because there isn’t one. My friends aren’t around, and I don’t want to talk to my parents. The only option is to lie in bed. Look up at the ceiling. Be unproductive this week. We all deserve it. It’s instinct for me to grab as many chocolate chip cookies as humanly possible whenever I see them in the Deece. I have seven in my room right now. Let this horoscope serve to remind you of the competitive nature of humans. You must fight to the death! Sometimes all you need is a little petting. Not heavy petting, just some light touching. Although you will not be heavily pet this week, the stars say that vomiting is a good way to get some soothing pets from your friends. I hate when you have to watch a movie for class. That’s fun and all, but nobody has time for that. I mean, who doesn’t watch every video at double speed? Your task this week is to speed up your life by watching everything twice as fast. You’ve been wasting your life.
LIBRA
September 23 | October 22
SCORPIO
October 23 | November 21
SAGITTARIUS
November 22 | December 21
Don’t you hate when you think you know the words to a song, but you actually don’t? But you were drunk, so you had a lot of self-esteem for once. This led you to scream the words. Alone. In the quad. At 3 a.m. Just stop. I live on the quad, and I don’t want to hear you screeching. Be bold this week. Bold your entire essay because everything you have to say is important, and you need to make sure that people listen. Bold your emails. Bold the text that you are sending with your dick pic. Listening to music you loved in 2015 will be a throwback, but it will also make you cringe at your old self. Especially because the playlist you are listening to was made by your ex that you had a falling out with. Remind yourself of the good old days.
I don’t know what is the appropriate re-
CAPRICORN sponse when acquaintances post nudes on
December 22 | their Instagram. Do I just like it? Should I January 19 comment if their caption is funny? Test it out this week by posting a nude and then putting a couple reaction polls on your story.
AQUARIUS
January 20 | February 18
PISCES
February 19 | March 20
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Allergy season is here, which means it’s time to lock every door, close all of your windows and seal yourself off from the world. Goodbye friendships, hello “Friends” on Netflix. If you don’t want to do something, just don’t do it. I’m going to make merch that competes with Nike and says “Just DON’T do it.” I don’t know what I would replace the swoosh with.
Page 18
SPORTS
April 11, 2019
Speculative sports junkies predict NBA playoff results Myles Olmsted, Mack Liederman Emmett O’Malley Sports Editor, Senior Editor, Columnist
he NBA regular season is finally over. Let me repeat that: THE NBA REGULAR SEASON IS FINALLY, MERCIFULLY, THANK GODIDLY OVER! NBA fans such as myself are stumbling out of the never-ending desert that is the final month or two of the 82-game season, starving, parched, baked by the sun (My camel died weeks ago). On Saturday, however, we’ll arrive at the promised land that is the NBA playoffs. We’ll fall into the waiting arms of compelling matchups and games with actual stakes, crying out for rest and sustenance. “Slow down! Slow down!” the nurse will implore as I guzzle playoff basketball through cracked lips. No, seriously, the NBA regular season is waaayyy too long. Eighty-two games is just obscene. Results stop mattering, star players sit out marquee matchups and the Bulls trot out a starting five of Robin Lopez, Ryan Arcidiacono, Wayne Selden, Shaquille Henderson and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (I’m sorry, I should have given a NSFW warning before that sentence). I suppose one could argue that the marathon season makes the arrival of the playoffs all the sweeter. Maybe the playoffs will taste better through cracked lips. I’m not sure. Regardless of the season that came before, the NBA playoffs are magical. I’m far more excited for this year’s playoffs than last year’s, largely due to the new-look Eastern Conference. With LeBron James hanging out near a few bottles of red wine in Los Angeles, the East is suddenly wide open. What’s more, whereas the East was strikingly weak last season, the improvement of the Bucks, Raptors and 76ers (and maybe my beloved Celtics) dramatically bumps fans’ expectations for the playoffs. Have any of these Eastern Conference teams raised their level enough to challenge the Warriors? Can any West teams dethrone the two-time defending champs? Below, myself, Senior Editor Mack Liederman and columnist Emmett O’Malley make our predictions for the playoffs, answering these questions and more with sunburnt hands and heads dizzy from basketball dehydration. - Myles Olmsted, Sports Editor
EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS:
Myles Olmsted: The Toronto Raptors. The Bucks have been unbelievable. Giannis Antetokounmpo is unstoppable, and all the stats suggest they’re clearly deserving of the East’s top seed. But there’s a question if Malcolm Brogdon will return from injury in time, and I don’t trust Eric Bledsoe at all. My Celtics just aren’t that good, and I don’t trust the Sixers’ fit come playoff time. The Raptors, meanwhile, are nearly a 60-win team despite Kawhi Leonard’s missing over 20 games. Pascal Siakam is turning into one of the game’s best young players, and the Raptors have a point differential of +16 per 100 possessions with new-acquisition Marc
ML: Kevin Durant is the best scorer in the world, and when defense locks down in the Finals and points are a little harder to come by, the star of this elite scorer burns even brighter. Also, the storyline is just simply an Giannis Antetokounmpo’s MVP-caliber year has led the Milwaukee Bucks to the NBA’s NBA fan’s indulgence. Imagine capturing best record. Is the team around him good enough to get past the Raptors, Sixers and Celtics? three-straight Finals MVPs—and still not Could the Greek Freak (pictured) trouble the Warriors in a potential Finals matchup? being appreciated as the best player in the game, or even the face of your own team. Gasol on the floor. I still don’t trust Kyle it’s unfortunate that the Warriors continue In free agency this summer, Durant is going Lowry, but I like the Raptors’ depth more to be the juggernaut that brings the season to have to define his legacy. Another Finals than that of the Bucks. to its predictable conclusion. No first-time MVP award would make that decision just a contender emerging from the East is going little more interesting. Mack Liederman: Give me the Sixers. As to be ready to compete with the Warriors head coach Brett Brown may be way too on their stage. eager to tout, this group still doesn’t have TEAM THAT WILL BE THE BIGGEST enough games under their belt for there MO: *sighs louder* The Golden State DISSAPOINTMENT: to be complete chemistry. After a pending Warriors. Come on, it’s inevitable. The steamroll through the first round, I imagine emergence of Siakam could make things MO: The Denver Nuggets. (I WILL NOT all their elements will start clicking, and interesting, but the Steph Curry, Kevin Du- PICK MY CELTICS. I WILL NOT.) The The Process will officially stop processing. rant, Klay Thompson trio is too good. No, Nuggets were awesome all year and Nikola The Bucks are fragile, with a shallow ros- seriously, stop thinking so hard. The three- Jokic has deployed his unique skill set brilter of guys all indispensable to their system, peat is happening. liantly. But I don’t see the Nugs’ game transand the Raptors in the playoffs are...the Raplating well to the playoffs. I think they might tors in the playoffs. Joel Embiid is a offen- EO: The Golden State Warriors. Ugh. struggle in their round one matchup, and sive force who knows how to win games, Fine. It’s true. They’re the best team ever. even if they make round two, James Harden with knockdown shooters, playmakers and will eat them up. a deep bench to support him. The Sixers can afford one or two main guys to have an off FINALS MVP: ML: I watched the Nuggets play a counight—every other team in the East cannot. ple games recently, simply out of my pure MO: I think it’s Steph Curry time. Steph, perplexity over how they have managed to somehow, still hasn’t won a Finals MVP. stick at the top of the West. Simply put, this WESTERN CONFERENCE That’ll change this year. Durant is an assas- team looks good on paper, but does not pass CHAMPIONS: sin, but Steph is what makes the Warriors the eyeball test. What I saw was very meditruly special. ocre basketball. The first head-to-head playMO: *sighs* The Golden State Warriors. off clash with star power will be the death of Don’t overthink this. I know the champs EO: Giannis Antetokounmpo. In the 2015 the Nuggets this year. have had an underwhelming and messy fi- NBA Finals, LeBron averaged 36 points, 13 nal month, but the Nuggets matchup terri- rebounds and 9 assists. He lost the Finals EO: The Portland Trail Blazers. At bly against the Warriors, the Thunder are a MVP to Andre Iguodala, who averaged 16 some point in the next two months, the mess and the Blazers aren’t that good. The points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. That exam- Portland Trail Blazers are going to lose an Rockets may be capable of giving Golden ple shows just how hard it is to win the Fi- NBA Playoff Series. And every time that State another scare, but a series win seems nals MVP without winning the actual Finals. happens, I am inconsolable. Wait—you improbable. The Rockets would probably But I think that Giannis can do it, because I mean dissapoint me, right? look to target Demarcus Cousins in the pick and roll, but on the other side of the ball, Cousins can bully Clint Capela. EO: The Golden State Warriors. Ugh. Fine. It’s true. They’re the best team ever. ML: Hate to echo the safe calls of everyone else, but there’s frankly no one in the Western Conference this year that’s even close to giving the Golden State Warriors the run for their money that they got last year. I foresee smooth sailing in the Bay Area, with lots of bench-sitting for Curry, Durant and Thompson, and lots of garbage minutes for Jonas Jerebko. Good for you, Jonas!
FINALS CHAMPIONS:
Courtesy of Keith Allison via Wikimedia Commons
Emmett O’Malley: The Milwaukee Bucks. Giannis Antetokounmpo has assumed the torch that LeBron was forced to (momentarily) pass. He is now the transcendent, otherworldly talent with the unique potential to take down the Warriors. And I think he’ll get the chance...because I think the Bucks are the only legitimately good basketball team in the Eastern Conference.
Courtesy of Keith Allison via Wikimedia Commons
T
think that the expectations have shifted so fully since 2015 (because the Warriors are the best team ever). If the Bucks could take the Warriors to six games—like LeBron did in 2015—it would and should be considered an epic triumph. And I think such a pyrrhic triumph will be rewarded. In three games against Philadelphia this year, Giannis is averaging 43 points, 16 rebounds and 8 assists. If he can replicate those statistics against the Warriors in the Finals and push the series to six or more games...then perhaps we can have another year to make fun of Stephen Curry for never winning a Finals MVP.
ML: The Golden State Warriors. They’ve been there. They know how to handle pressure. They play as a team. They trot out five all-star-caliber players. FIVE! Not one, not Despite late season sloppiness, the Golden State Warriors enter the playoffs as the two, not three...you get the point. While the favorites. The play of Steph Curry (above) has something to do with it. If the Warriors NBA’s parity has been captivating this year, reach the Finals and triumph for the third straight year, could Curry win Finals MVP?
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
April 11, 2019
SPORTS
Page 19
Farm hosts high-stakes, color-clad sevens tournament Jonah Frere-Holmes Guest Reporter
O
Courtesy of VC Athletic Communications
n a beautiful Sunday afternoon at the Vassar Farm, the men’s rugby team hosted the Tri-State 7s Championship. After dropping their first game to Molloy College, the Brewers battled to within inches of a game two win, but a post-try conversion rattled the crossbar, leaving the Brewers two points shy of topping SUNY New Paltz and eliminating them from contention for single-elimination play. Despite their disappointment, Vassar closed group play with a resounding 24-0 takedown of Bard. The Farm was blanketed by a clear blue sky as teams from across the tri-state area did battle on the two neighboring fields. Sporting loud color combinations and designs, schools like William Paterson University (the eventual champions), Seton Hall, Marist and Hofstra created a hectic mural on the Farm’s deep green canvas. The gray and orange digi-camo uniforms of WPU, in particular, were as tough to look at as their wearers were to score on; in winning six straight games to take the Tri-State Title, the Pioneers didn’t allow a single point. The hosting Brewers—clad in sleek maroon jerseys that made them the aesthetic favorite in every game they played—struggled early. In the first game, Vassar never led and was unable to catch up to the Lions of Molloy, falling 29-12. The Brewers fell behind 12-0 to New Paltz, before storming back to within a two-point conversion of a tie. The conversion attempt fell short, however, and the Brewers were 0-2 on the day when I caught up with them. Encouraged by the improvements made from the first game to the second, sophomore flanker Ali Sadek acknowledged the importance of strategy when faced with an uphill battle, explaining, “A set game plan is super important, especially when other teams are so athletic.” The cohesion of the team was a consistent theme in the Brewers’ remarks. Although it’s true that emphasizing the need for unity is a cliché in sports, watching rugby sevens, where the field is far more
open than in traditional rugby of 15-aside, all it takes is one mistake for an opponent to be racing to the try zone with nothing but daylight ahead of them. As Sadek said about sevens, “A mistake is highlighted, but so is a good decision.” For non-rugby fans, a comparison could be made between a traditional basketball game and three-on-three, where all the extra space means that offense dominates and each player has more opportunities to make plays with the ball, clamp down on defense or make mistakes. Junior prop Ankit Khosla anatomized the concept to its simplest terms, saying, “It comes down to the individual.” Prior to the Vassar’s final game against Bard, junior flyhalf Nate Cuson predicted that Bard was already attuned to the importance of a sound gameplan in the face of athletic disadvantages: “It’s going to come down to game awareness. Bard has good shape.” Cuson did his part against the overmatched Raptors, scoring a try and two conversions. The old adage of “look good, play good” apparently held true as well. As Cuson discussed the first two games of the afternoon with me, senior Max Henderson interjected, “Nate looked damn sexy.” The Tri-State tournament (and the sport of sevens rugby in general) offers an athletic experience unlike any other Vassar can provide. For one, the tackling in the sport represents the kind of physicality that football offers, but without the reckless, head-first blows that prevent football players from retaining their sentience in retirement. Vassar is proud to field 27 varsity sports teams, but without a football team, the next closest thing to a good ole-fashioned tackle a Brewer fan can witness is a fundamentally pristine box-out from a basketball player or a hearty shove from a member of one of the lacrosse teams. We’re still waiting on baseball’s first bench-clearing brawl of the season; until then, rugby holds the monopoly on all Spartan qualities in the Vassar sports world. Another appealing aspect of sevens rug-
Vassar sophomore fullback James Christensen rushes toward the try line. While the Brewers failed to progress beyond group play in the Tri-State 7s Championship at home on the Farm, Christensen scored in all three games in which Vassar competed. by is the aforementioned space, both on the field and in the world. The farm, with a haunting treeline as its backdrop, provides fresh air, architectural sparsity and the pure smells of nature that are harder to come by on Vassar’s campus. Furthermore, there are only 14 people on the field at a time, so ball carriers can run a lot further before a defender tackles them. The tournament format also offers a look at a far greater number of schools, colorways and cultures than any other sport: Vassar doesn’t host many track and field or swim tournaments, and the golf team doesn’t host its first invitational until the weekend of April 20. The fencing team did host Cleveland State and Detroit Mercy in the Vassar Invitational, and basketball inaugurated the Tip-Off Tournament in 2019, but neither of these events drew as many teams as the 16deep Tri-State event. What’s more, no other team plays in a location as picturesque as the Farm and Ecological Preserve. Sitting behind the William Paterson
bench as the Pioneers dusted Seton Hall 330, the energy of the substitutes and coaches reflected their bright orange and gray camouflage. After figuring out how to set up a tripod to film the afternoon’s games, the Pioneers were a swole, full-throated group to be reckoned with. Coaches from Drew University, on the neighboring field, displayed a penchant for running down the sidelines with their players as they drove to the try zone. The New Paltz coach, valiantly trying to praise one member of his flock from a distance of no less than 120 yards, bellowed, “That’s an excellent play!” for everyone but the intended target to hear. The energy of competition and primal joy of a capital-C Contact sport, set on a pristine Sunday afternoon at the farm, made for an athletic experience that any sports fan would be ill-advised to miss. After an hour and change at this correspondent’s first rugby tournament, a strong argument is raised: Ignore sevens rugby if you want, but the loss is yours.
Preparation pays off as women’s tennis wins fifth straight TENNIS continued
been working on managing their mistakes, staying composed, being encouraging of one another and taking advantage of opportunities to attack and put away wellplaced shots during matches. Edwards weighed in on how the team prepared for RPI. She was very proud of the way the team performed and explained that the team did not know exactly what to expect. Given that the Engineers did not have a lot of returners, they were difficult to scout. “Our goal was to go into every match focusing on how we were playing and to not worry about our opponents and how they were playing,” Edwards explained via email. “Also, because the match was inside when we’ve been mostly practicing outside, the team did a great job of not letting that affect us and staying positive throughout the entire match even if we didn’t feel 100 percent.” Edwards noted that the team has adapted well to playing in different conditions. “This is something that we’ve been working on the whole season and had done a great job with the past two weeks after coming back from spring break.” To help improve as a team, Edwards explained that the group climate has been a point of emphasis. “Throughout the season, we have been focusing on our team dynamic and support while playing matches, practicing
and off the court as well,” Edwards commented. “We have also been working on staying positive and as [Coach Campbell] says, ‘being comfortable in uncomfortable situations.’” In preparation for their upcoming match against St. Lawrence, Cornwall explained that the team is going to be keeping up the intensity this week and building off the dominant win against RPI. “We’ll continue to work hard in practice and continue to improve our shots and shot selection,” Cornwall commented. Coach Campbell added to this practice plan, explaining that the team is going to put an emphasis on realistic game situations, “This week we’ll be working more on actual point play and moving forward in singles and doubles.” The Brewers have tough matches coming up, with the most difficult duel of the season coming in two weeks against Skidmore, who is currently ranked third in the country. With three Liberty League matches left in the regular season, Coach Campbell showed her appreciation for the effort that the team has put in thus far. “This team continues to work hard to expand their games and it is paying dividends,” Campbell said. The Brewers have set very clear objectives for themselves. As Cornwall explained, “Our team goals this season are
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
to create an even stronger team bond, continue to work hard in practice every day and win the Liberty League. championship.”
Courtesy of Nick Jallat
from page 1 er sophomore, picked up a 6-4, 6-1 win at the No. 2 spot, and junior captain Tara Edwards got the win at No. 3 by a score of 6-4, 6-1. First-year Melina Stavropoulos put together a dominant performance at No. 4 singles, winning 6-1, 6-0, and senior Morgane Flournoy and sophomore Meghan Rodick won at the No. 5 and No. 6 singles positions as well. In doubles play, Cornwall and Edwards posted an 8-0 sweep at the No. 1 position, and Flournoy and junior Ashley Fair won a tight 8-7 match at the No. 3 spot. The only matchup in which RPI bested Vassar was No. 2 doubles, where Yekta and Stavropoulos fell 8-2. With such a dominant win against RPI, it is no surprise that the team has been feeling confident these past few weeks. In an email, Head Coach Kathy Campbell said this positivity started picking up during the team’s spring break trip out in California. There, the team matched up against some tough opponents, specifically nationally ranked Chapman, against whom the Brewers pulled out a 5-4 win. “As a group we executed a lot of things we had been focusing on, played with composure and played well under pressure,” Campbell noted. Campbell explained that the team has
Junior Ashley Fair (pictured) teamed with senior captain Morgane Flournoy to win at No. 3 doubles against RPI, 8-7. The duo helped Vassar defeat the Engineers 8-1.
SPORTS
Page 20
April 11, 2019
Gender imbalance persists in college hoops coaching ranks Dean Kopitsky Columnist
T
wo days before tipoff of the women’s basketball NCAA championship between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Baylor Bears, a video of Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw sounding off on the gender imbalance in collegiate coaching went viral on Twitter. In succession, she railed against a broad number of issues with not only with the NCAA’s poor representation of women, but also failures in broader structures: “We’ve had a record number of women running for office and winning, and still we have 23 percent of the House and 25 percent of the Senate. I’m getting tired of the novelty of the first female gov-
ernor of this state…Right now, less than five percent of women are CEOs in Fortune 500 companies.” Politicians and economists alike often treat sports as a case study to prove strategies and theories, and if the professional gender gap is most evident anywhere, it is in college and professional sports. In the four major North American sports leagues—NHL, NFL, NBA and MLB— there are exactly zero head female coaches. In McGraw’s field, only three percent of male collegiate teams have a female head coach. The greatest indicator of the gap lies in women’s sports; just over 40 percent of women’s collegiate teams are headed by female coaches (NCAA.org,
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Senator Birch Bayh runs with athletes from Purdue University in the early 1970s. In 1972, Bayh introduced the Title IX legislation, a milestone for women’s sports in the U.S.
“Where Are the Women?,” 12.2017). On this alarming statistic, the Malcolm Gladwells and Charles Wheelans of the world have been silent. In men’s sports, female coaches remain an afterthought, and the stigma runs deeper than just the high-powered jobs. In 2003, Kara Lawson was making the transition from accomplished WNBA player to coach. She asked for permission to sit in on a Sacramento Kings practice, simply to observe and learn. At the time, the Kings posed one of the only formidable threats to the early 2000’s Lakers dynasty. However, Lawson’s request was denied by the team. It took her three tries to earn access to observe Kings practice, to learn at the highest level of her sport. When she finally made it to a practice, she was invited to sit with media members, behind a one-way mirror from where she couldn’t hear a thing happening on the floor (High Post Hoops, “Kara Lawson: Sacramento Kings Called Me Distraction, Kept Me Out Of Practice,” 04.04.2017). In the NFL, there are just three women working as full-time coaches. In the MLB, there are no coaching positions held by women. In the time since Kara Lawson was deemed too much of a “distraction” to stand on the sidelines, the NBA has become somewhat of a vanguard for women yielding the marker and whiteboard. Jenny Boucek and Nancy Lieberman occupy lead roles as assistant coaches in the NBA and as head coaches in the G-League, the NBA’s development league. Becky Hammon, a former professional basketball player, became the first woman to coach an NBA team in Summer League. She led the 2015 Spurs summer squad to the championship. Her success is notable
Women’s Lacrosse
in that it hasn’t received much notoriety at all. She’s just another coach on the bench, and a great one at that, according to her players. (Players Tribune, “Pau Gasol, An Open Letter About Female Coaches,” 05.11.2018). Last summer, she made a short list of candidates for the Milwaukee Bucks head job. But in the area in which ostensibly the most progress would be made, the most regression has taken place. In 1972, Title IX made it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of sex in any educational program that receives federal funding. The legislation was a landmark in women’s athletics and is constantly referenced today. However, since then, the proportion of female head coaches of women’s teams has cratered from nearly 90 percent to just over 40 percent in 2016 (NCAA.org, “Where Are the Women,” 12.2017). Perhaps as a result of women’s sports becoming more competitive, men vied for more coaching spots. Or, as McGraw pointed out, the athletic directors that make coaching hires are around 80 percent male (McKnight Associates, “National Trends Tracing Female Employment as College Athletic Directors,” 10.11.2018). Sport holds the privilege of escapism, a space to put aside societal issues and relish in comradery, competition and fellowship. To that end, it is an abomination to sports that the failings of society siphon opportunities for female coaches at all levels of competition. Continually using strategies and systems long outdated is a market failure. Imagine halving your hiring pool based on crude assumptions of both men and women. Whether the powers at be want to know it or not, the fans, the leagues and the market demand change.
Men’s Volleyball
Vassar College 12, Rochester 10
Vassar College 0, Springfield College 3
April 7, 2019
April 6, 2019
Looking to bounce back from a 19-15 loss to RIT the previous day, the Brewers earned their second conference win of the season in a tight 12-10 contest with the University of Rochester Yellowjackets. Rochester had come back from three goals down to tie it at 10, but late goals from VC junior Kelly Pushie (pictured) and first-year Caeli Porette went unmatched. Pushie and sophomore Alessandra Fable scored three apiece for the Brewers, who sit at 5-4 overall on the year at time of writing.
The men’s volleyball team headed into their Senior Day having won only two of their previous eight matches. Springfield College—the defending national champion—awaited, so things weren’t getting any easier. Thanks in part to 14 kills from sophomore Jefferson Waters, Vassar hung tough against the Pride, especially in the second and third sets, but ultimately fell 0-3. Luckily, the Brewers had another chance to save Senior Day, and later defeated the Daemen Wildcats, 3-1.
Men’s Baseball
Vassar College 5, Rensselaer Polytechnic 4
Men’s Lacrosse
Vassar College 17, Bard College 2
April 7, 2019
April 3, 2019
After splitting a tight Saturday doubleheader with RPI and then dropping the first game of Sunday’s slate against the Engineers, Vassar baseball needed a ninth inning RBI single from sophomore Jason Salerno (pictured) to salvage the four-game series. The win keeps Coach Mathew Righter’s team—victims of a fourgame series sweep the previous weekend—above water. The Brewers will need juniors Evan Trausch (.379 BA) and Matt Martino (.356 BA) to keep producing offensively. Written by Myles Olmsted, Sports Editor Photos courtesy of VC Athletic Communications
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
It turns out, the best way to stop the bleeding of a five-game losing streak is a visit to Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. Coach John McCreery’s squad scored the first 15 goals of the game against Bard en route to a 17-2 rout. First-year Logan Hyde (pictured) led Vassar with three goals, bringing him to nine on the year, good for second on the team. Team leader Michael Mullen added two. The win was Vassar’s first in the Liberty League after opening their slate of conference duels 0-3. The Brewers are 3-6 on the season.