Misc 09.10.2020

The Miscellany News miscellanynews.org

Vassar College’s student newspaper of record since 1866 Volume 154 | Issue 2

September 10, 2020

Poughkeepsie debates police review

Remote learning frustrates

Dean Kopitsky

Olivia Watson

T

News Editor

Sports Editor

he killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor called the nation to action this summer.

Demonstrators across the United States mobilized during a global pandemic in enormous numbers to protest the ongoing injustice of police violence.

Poughkeepsie Common Council member Evan Menist said the protests awakened him to the reality of racial injustices he had been sheltered from as white man. “We’ve seen throughout the entire country there are systemic problems with the criminal justice system and as a representative here in the city of Poughkeepsie, I understand that I have a duty to represent the people of the second Ward and to seek to reform,” said Menist.

See POLICE on page 3

Inside this issue

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A class convenes in Tent 4, located outside Blodgett Hall. Grace Rousell/The Miscellany News .

Classrooms undergo transformations Lucille Brewster Guest Reporter

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s September begins, students and faculty are partaking in all the usual back-to-school rituals: finalizing schedules, searching for the right classrooms in disorienting academic buildings and seeing familiar faces around campus. Yet the transition from summer break into fall semester looks very different this

Ben Scharf

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Teen romance “Chemical Hearts” knows it’s tropey and does not care.

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OPINIONS

Is remote learning a permanent fixture in education? One columnist considers its inherent inequalities.

14 SPORTS

Sticking to sports: How will the NFL respond to pandemics and protests?

on by quarantine, returning to Vassar is refreshing for many.

“It feels great to be back on campus, almost exhilarating,” explained Professor of Religion Jonathon Kahn, who is teaching in an on-campus tent. “I know I was craving being together with others, and being able to do this in-class, under a tent, feels thrilling.” Sophia Gaffney ’22, who See Classrooms on page 4

STUdent MUsic scene adapts to pandemic Live Events Chairperson

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year, as students and professors log into Zoom or find their seats under outdoor classroom tents.

While the spring semester was thrown completely off course by COVID-19, students and professors this fall are trying to rebuild a semblance of normality. With just three active cases on campus as of Sept. 6, many hope this risk is paying off.

After the isolation brought

race Han ’21 spent her entire junior year abroad at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

Upon returning to the United States, she made the difficult decision to spend yet another semester away from Vassar. This time, she would spend it about two hours away from campus.

“My family and I had extensive conversations as to what this semester would look like for me and my younger brother, who is a rising sophomore at Vassar,” said Han. The family eventually decided that given the circumstances, it was safest for Han to study from their New York City home.

According to Dean of the College Carlos Alamo-Pastrana, of the approximately 2,400 students enrolled this semester, 400 have chosen to study remotely. Vassar equipped classrooms with video See Remote on page 3

f you moved into a dorm this semester, you probably caught a glimpse of a guitar case or keyboard among the endless heaps of baggage and bedding. To what rooms are these instruments going? Who keeps them played and polished and, most importantly, might they be down to jam later?

With students prohibited from meeting in dorm rooms

or MPRs to share interests and instruments, Vassar’s music scene might appear to have gone into hibernation, or disappeared completely—but the music hasn’t gone anywhere. Biking across campus, I often hear a violin wafting from the top of Jewett, or the sounds of speakers spread out along Sunset Lake, boasting the thoughtfully curated Spotify queues of new friend groups.

Electric guitars sing down my

hallway, the volume tuned delicately so as not to wake sleepy neighbors.

Despite the prevalence of artists and creatives of all media on campus, Vassar can be a tough place to assemble a band. Musicians may recall lugging gear down the precarious spiral staircase into the Mug, just to lug it back up again after their alltoo-short hour-long slot. Other groups may romanticize count-

less late nights spent sneaking into Skinner Hall after hours, the empty building set ablaze with raucous, high-energy rehearsals.

It wasn’t until StuMu (Vassar Student Musicians’ Union) stepped in a few semesters ago that the possibility of group practice opened to all—not just Mug managers or nocturnal jazz students with key access. In the winter of 2018, StuMu opened up See StuMu on page 5

COVID-era work-study poses new challenges Alysa Chen Reporter

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lasses aren’t the only things going hybrid this semester.

For those studying on campus or within New York State, Vassar employers have found ways to adapt and offer many of the same job opportunities during this transitory period.

Despite Vassar Together’s guidelines for reduced indoor activity, most jobs on campus are returning to a degree of normalcy. For many in-person employees, such as library assistants, dining workers and lifeguards, job training now includes additional safety practices and measures to comply with the new standards of social distancing.

Emma Iadanza ’22, who has worked as Special Collections Assistant at the Main Library for two years, said the job itself hasn’t really changed for her.

She is still putting books back on

the shelves, fetching things for her boss, filling out call slips and making exhibition lists. While interactions with students, patrons and classes will not be the same anymore, Iadanza is still happy to be surrounded by books again. “There aren’t that many people down in the library basement or Special Collections on a regular day during a regular year, so I was never worried about too much contact or anything,” she said. “When patrons do start coming, we have a threeday period after being taken from the shelves that the books won’t be touched, so there’s no cross contamination. This means there will need to be a bit more foresight and planning on our part, but it shouldn’t be an issue. It’s a small price to pay for safety.”

Hailey Osika ’23, who works as a circulation desk assistant at the library, interacts with

The organic chemistry lab (above) is operating under new safety guidelines this semester. Courtesy of Cassie Cauwels. visitors through the plexiglass surrounding her desk. “A lot of thought has been put into the protocol and there is very limited contact with patrons or even

other employees. I don’t think I am at more risk working at the library than I am going to class or being on campus in general,” she See Work Study on page 9

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September 10, 2020

COVID19 AT VASSAR 4,630

Total Tests Administered

22

Total Student Cases

SEPTEMBER 10TH DATA VIA VASSAR TOGETHER

02

Total Employee Cases

02

Total Active Cases

For daily updates on Vassar's testing and cases, visit https://www.vassar.ed u/together/dashboard

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CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

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Tiana Headley Olivia Watson Janet Song FEATURES EDITOR ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR Gillian Redstone Jonas Trostle OPINIONS EDITOR Meghan Hayfield ARTS EDITOR Isabella Migani HUMOR EDITOR Alex Eisert SPORTS EDITORS Dean Kopitsky Natalie Bober SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR Alison Carranza ASSISTANT SOCIAL MEDIA Sherry Liao ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS Grace Rousell Jacqueline Gill COPY EDITORS Caitlin Patterson Phoebe Jacoby ASSISTANT COPY EDITOR Julián Aguilar GRAPHICS EDITORS Juliette Pope Alexis Cerritos VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER Alex Barnard AUDIO EDITOR Ben Scharf LIVE EVENTS CHAIRPERSON Emma Tanner BUSINESS MANAGER NEWS EDITORS

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Delila Ames Alysa Chen Carissa Clough Olivia Diallo Rayan El Amine Sara Lawler Leila Raines Francisco Andrade Sawyer Bush Madison Caress Doug Cobb Rohan Dutta Helen Johnson Xin Rui Ong Nina Ajemian Taylor Gee Jason Han Jake Johnson Emma Kahn Tiffany Trumble Frank

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. Staff editorials are the only articles that reflect the opinion of a two-thirds majority of the Editorial Board.

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

September 10, 2020

NEWS

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Common Council weighs bill on civilian oversight of police Continued from Police on page 1 Menist took the grievances of his constituents seriously. At the Aug. 24 Common Council meeting, he co-introduced legislation that seeks to reform the lack of accountability in the City of Poughkeepsie Police Department (CPPD). The department has been involved in several high-profile cases of police misconduct in the past 20 years. The bill proposes the creation of a Poughkeepsie Civilian Review Board to investigate all policing complaints, conduct hearings, make findings and recommend further actions, with the power to receive and investigate findings, defined by an overview of what occurred and whether the reported behavior constituted misconduct, before recommending actions upon complaints made by the public against members of the police department.

Menist is a fresh face on the Poughkeepsie Common Council. Elected in November 2019, he began the job this past January. During his bid for the Common Council, Menist spoke with members of the community who shared personal interactions with officers that contradicted Menist’s more placid view of the police at the time. Now he admits, “To deny that negative encounters happen is doing a disservice to the hard work that I think is done by the entire force.”

Many within and outside Poughkeepsie recall a local instance of police brutality that took place in March 2019, when CPPD officer John Williams was filmed throwing 12-year-old Julissa Dawkins to the ground after responding to reports of a fight among teenagers that was broken up upon their arrival. When Julissa’s sister, Jamelia Barnett, ran to her aid, she was thrown off by another officer with enough force to dislocate her shoulder. The CPPD charged the two sisters with resisting arrest, inciting a year-and-a-half long legal battle to get the charges dropped.

Williams was at the center of a case alleging civil rights violations 10 years earlier. In 2009, Jayvon Elting and Jarquez Dancy were 17 and 18 years old, respectively. On Oct. 2 at around 11 p.m., the two were walking down Main Street when officer Greg McGinley stopped them, believing they fit the profile of a man wanted for burglary. Officer Williams arrived

at the scene later. After a dispute between the two teenagers and the McGinley, Elting was forced to the ground and punched by officers who had arrived at the scene minutes later, according to case documents.

While Elting was on the ground, Williams pushed Dancy against a police car.

Dancy received a fracture that required his jaw to be wired shut for approximately six weeks. Their case wound through appeals processes until 2016, when the United State Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Dancy and Elting. The two officers were found to have made a false arrest and to have used excessive force. In the words of the court: “No reasonable officer would have arrested Elting in the circumstances presented.” Yet Williams remained on the force long enough to throw a pre-teen to the ground.

As it stands now, officer misconduct is handled by the City of Poughkeepsie police department. Menist believes it would make more sense to have external oversight. “Bias [occurs] during the investigation on the part of whichever officer or superior is conducting that investigation because the person they’re investigating is their coworker, is their friend, is someone that they’re working with on a daily basis,” he elaborated.

Poughkeepsie law would seemingly agree. Over half a century ago, a law passed creating a trial commission that would punish police officers for misconduct.The law calls for a trial commission to be formed by the mayor in cases of police misconduct. The law’s stated purpose was to ensure public safety, as well as due process for police officers. Yet, teenagers like Dawkins, Barnett, Elting and Dancy are continuously forced to advocate for the protection of their own civil rights.

Poughkeepsie mayor Rob Rolison never formed trial commissions in response to the cases raised by Barnett and Dawkins nor did his predecessor for Dancy and Elting.

In June, Poughkeepsie resident and CEO of Equitable Future Inc., Brian Robinson, was contacted by Menist to draft legislation that would turn around the civilian complaint law. Robinson used the trial commission law as foundation for a civilian review board, which would pro-

cess complaints against the CPPD and recommend charges to a trial commission.

The new Civilian Review Board would be composed of seven members: three to be selected by the Common Council, another three to be appointed by the mayor, and one with law enforcement experience, appointed by the chief of police.

The addition of external oversight is especially needed to protect people of color, according to Robinson,who said, “There is a clear history of policing the white community and the Black community differently.” He continued, “I don’t think it’s any coincidence that all the plaintiffs in these civil rights cases against the CPPD are people of color. There are no white people alleging that their civil rights have been violated.”

The legislation was introduced in the August 24 Common Council meeting.

Both Robinson and Menist spoke on behalf of the bill. Several citizens were hopeful that the Civilian Review Board would get everyday residents more involved with the CPPD. “The Civilian Review Board would be a great first step in getting the people who do represent the community at large to have a say in communal police accountability,” said one attendee. “A CRB will get the citizens involved.” Earl Brown, also a member of ENJAN, also endorsed the Board, largely because he believes it would build trust between the community and police: “To me it’s all about transparency. Once you have transparency you can build trust. You can’t have trust if no one knows what’s going on.”

But to some citizens, the Board is tantamount to a police for the police force.

“The council should not have any more strategies to micro-manage our police department,” said Queen City resident Pat Miller. “Let the department follow their documented protocols for discipline, suspension and termination.”

For another Poughkeepsie resident, the police do enough to earn that trust. “The department is already involved with the community. So if unity is what you want with the police department, get involved and be a part of the solution.”

Last week, the Poughkeepsie chapter of the Police Benevolent Association issued a press release sternly against the legislation, and took no confidence in Council

Chairperson At-Large, Sarah Salem, who supports the bill. The CCPD PBA argues that Salem’s previous DWI arrest makes them unfit to vote on legislation seeking to establish more oversight of the police department. The press release demands that Salem recuse themself.

In a MidHudson News article last month, Detective and PBA Vice President Chris Libolt denounced the bill’s two supporters: “Salem and Councilmember Evan Menist have priorities that focus on defunding the police, passing the Right to Know Act and the formation of a Civilian Review Board.” He also insisted that the Board would cause crime to go up.

Poughkeepsie Police Benevolent Association member Sean Fitzgerald complained that the Council was hypocritical in attempting to create another ethics board while not enforcing its own. “This council voted on an ethics committee and then has done nothing to make sure the ethics committee can oversee the council’s actions.” He continued, “It’s my understanding that people on the ethics committee have reached out trying to get a meeting, trying to gain some traction, and have met with no or little response from the council.”

Menist emphasized his support for the police, and complained that much of the criticism was due to misinformation or confusion on the part of its detractors.

“I’ve never once pushed for defunding the police,” he said. “So far the City Council this year we’ve passed budget cuts across the board for every department in the city except for first responders, police and fire.” Some in Monday’s Zoom call were under the impression that the board would be both untrained and paid. Yet the bill specifically calls for all members to be paid and nowhere does it stipulate a salary for any of the two year terms.

Councilmember Chris Petsas, a former police officer, gave his perspective on the bill Monday night. “Being a police officer during this time in our nation is a very difficult job and I don’t envy them. However, there are demands from a lot of people across the nation. These reforms are not anti-police.”

After discussion, the Council took a vote to hold a public hearing on the bill.

Deliberations on the bill are far from over.

Remote students face challenges, FOMO Continued from REMOTE on page 1 cameras to allow virtual students to watch and participate in classes in real time from their home computers. Alamo-Pastrana explained that students had various reasons for choosing to study online, but that most students felt confident they could effectively continue their studies via Zoom because of the experience they gained from studying remotely for the second half of the Spring 2020 semester.

Some students arrived easily at their decision to study remotely. “This was not a dif-

Via Getty Images.

ficult decision for me because I didn’t have a choice,” said Alexandria Ortiz ’22. “The main reason why I decided not to return to campus was because students would not be able to leave campus. I need a part-time job, in addition to work study, in order to pay for my expenses.”

Like Ortiz, Nicole Stern ’22 also found the decision to be relatively clear. “My mom lives alone and is high-risk, so me being able to go run errands for her and get groceries or— God forbid—take care of her if she were to get sick is important,” she explained. Stern also felt there would be too many temptations to socialize on campus.

But for many, the process of studying remotely is anything but simple. Hella Zhou ’22 is living in Chengdu, China, where the 12-hour time difference between her home and New York creates an obstacle for attending live classes. Most professors offer recordings of their classes, but Zhou emphasized that adapting to an unusual academic schedule can be difficult.

Vassar’s typically flexible scheduling pro-

cess has also been altered, creating novel complications. New, COVID-19-based restrictions against over-enrolling, as well as a larger number of registered juniors due to canceled international programs, have created an overwhelming demand for courses.

As a result, Ortiz found that the administration was more reticent than usual to approve course overload requests. She expressed her frustration: “I don’t understand why they are giving me such a hard time, because the instructor of the class I want to take and my major advisor have approved of me joining the class.”

Several students said they felt disconnected from the campus community. While students can participate in many extracurriculars from home via Zoom, this has its limitations.

Last year, Ortiz founded a campus organization, Vassar Cosmetics, a beauty and cosmetics organization on campus, but has found it difficult to lead an org from home.

“It is going to be hard to be the community leader from home, especially when Vassar

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

starts Phase 2 and orgs can meet in-person outside and in the tents,” she said. “Luckily I have amazing people on the executive board that can keep the org running. But it really sucks because this org is my baby and I can’t be hands-on to help it grow.”

Stern decided to combat her loneliness by creating an online community for virtual students. “When I started feeling the FOMO kick in, I decided to make a Facebook group called ‘Vassar Online’ to give a more communal space for students who are not on campus this semester to feel like they are still part of the Vassar community,” she said. “Having people to share recipes with, remote learning tips, or just vent about our current situation can be really useful for the mental health of those who don’t have our normal support structures.”

While the beginning of any school year requires adjustments, this year proves to be extra challenging for all students. However, both in-person and online students are figuring out ways to reap the most from this semester.

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September 10, 2020

Classes bring technical difficulties, pedagogical reimaginings Continued from Classrooms on page 1 is taking in-person and remote classes on campus, is also happy to be back. “It feels great to have the structure of class again,” she explained. “But it’s definitely still a transition after being away from campus for so long.”

Adapting to social distancing measures has also introduced technological challenges that have forced professors to rethink models of teaching they have practiced for years. Professor of English Susan Zlotnick is teaching her classes in a tent, but has found the combination of students on Zoom and in person is not conducive to the discussion-based model of teaching she is used to, mainly because students on Zoom cannot hear students speaking in the tent. “Several of my colleagues in English met with Media Resources and CIS [Computing & Information Services], who have been heroic, and we’ve come up with a protocol that might allow for nearly everyone to be on a laptop or phone in the tent zooming with those who

“For me, the ‘professorcentered’ model of learning isn’t going to work this semester.”

are remote,” Zlotnick explained.

Yet she acknowledged that this approach has not been working for her larger classes.

“I’ve given up on trying to combine in-tent students with those who are remote, and have rearranged my courses so that sometimes we are all on Zoom together, sometimes I meet with a small group in the tent and with another small group on Zoom,” said Zlotnick.

Caeli Porette ’22, who is studying remotely, described similar barriers to participating in classes as a student on Zoom. “We can’t hear anything that the students are saying in the tent so we can’t interact with them,” Porette said. “The adjustment period has been weird, usually the beginning of classes also comes along with being back on campus and seeing friends, but this time the only difference is that classes have started.”

Professors are experimenting with different ways to better integrate in-person and online students. For Kahn, the challenges brought on by social distancing protocols and technological barriers have caused him to re-imagine pedagogy. “For me, the ‘professor-centered’ model of learning isn’t going to work this semester,” Kahn explained.

“The model that places me at the center of things just does not comport with how I think education works, what is possible right now, or what, frankly, we need in this moment.”

This semester, Kahn’s classes will consist of groups of four or five students sitting outside and working together. Kahn hopes a “student-centered” model of teaching will foster a relationship-driven model of learning. “The goals of my class now in-

“I’ve given up on trying to combine intent students with those who are remote, and have rearranged my courses so that sometimes we are all on Zoom together, sometimes I meet with a small group in the tent and with another small group on Zoom.” clude asking: how well do you know what your neighbor thinks about the issues we’re raising in class? How does your neighbor’s views affect your own?”

Some classes are more adaptable to outdoor learning than others. Chloe Kellner ’22, who is taking two laboratory classes in soil science and plant biology, is optimistic about the semester. “The labs have to be outside, which I think makes us connect the science to real life in a much stronger way than we might otherwise,” she commented.

“We have less lab time but are working in smaller groups, which gives each student more individual attention.” Other science labs are splitting students into groups where they alternate between in-person and online labs every other week.

Physical Education and Dance classes have also had to adapt to the new conditions of learning this semester. Chair of the Dance Department Professor Stephen Rooks is teaching classes in-person in Kenyon Hall.

He voiced some of the same concerns that others have about the hybrid of Zoom and

in-person. “Some of my students are synchronous, and some are asynchronous,” he said. “ I have to constantly remind myself to interface with my online students as vigorously as the students who are taking the class in the studio.” Some PE classes, such as the squash classes, have been canceled.

While faculty and students have been flexible in meeting the moment’s challenges, significant questions still loom. What will happen when it is too cold to learn outside? Will classes be forced to go completely online in the event of a severe COVID-19 outbreak? How will students adapt to completing finals off-campus?

Yet many feel the uncertainty has been a reminder to not take anything for granted.

“In many ways I think that this ‘new normal’ has made us all more appreciative of and hungry for human interaction,” explained Rooks. “I have always enjoyed my students here at the college, but I have noticed an even higher sense of gratitude for the classes, and the opportunity for us to interact— albeit socially distanced—to one another.”

Democrat Karen Smythe makes bid in rematch for Serino’s seat Alex Wilson

Guest Reporter

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or the most part, New York State basked in the so-called “blue wave” of the 2018 election, as Democrats flipped eight state senate seats and took control of the chamber for the first time in a decade, three GOP congressional incumbents were toppled and Governor Andrew Cuomo coasted to victory in his bid for a third term.

However, Democrats saw their hopes fizzle in New York’s 41st State Senate District, which spans most of Dutchess and Putnam counties. In a battle for the Senate seat that locals closely watched, Democratic businesswoman and Vassar alum Karen Smythe ’82 came 0.6-points away from unseating GOP incumbent Sue Serino. Serino lost critical footing in a district that, with little exception, has long been held by Republicans. Nonetheless, in an election cycle that seemed nothing short of miraculous for upstate Democrats, Smythe’s bid came up short.

This year, Smythe is back—and by the looks of it, with the makings for another competitive bid to flip the seat that carries Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s legacy.

“A simple campaign strategy denouncing Trump’s party probably will not cut it.”

As she battles Smythe for a second time, Serino’s politics look familiar: a public platform sticking close to an inoffensive, bipartisan brand of conservatism with a voting record that ultimately allies with the GOP establishment.

Serino recently spoke out against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s bail reform measures for their inconsideration of the safety of domestic violence victims, but she also voted against Senate Bill S8121, which sought to keep firearms out of the hands of domestic violence offenders, in 2018. In this past term, Serino has periodically crossed party lines. She voted to prohibit 3D-printed firearms and require that menstrual product packaging lists ingredients, both Democrat-led initiatives. But more often than not, Serino has stuck with her party, voting to oppose bills that capped penalties for marijuana possession and authorized expungement of certain marijuana-related convictions, expanded eviction protections, and extended the voter registration cutoff (Vote Smart, “Sue Serino’s Voting Records”).

On the other hand, Smythe’s platform aligns with Democratic Party stances on hot-button issues. It says that health care should not be tied to employment, that women must have full access to reproductive health care and that schools must implement anti-racist curricula at every level. Smythe also insists that her business background gives her the know-how needed to revamp the Hudson Valley’s economy.

Smythe’s objections to Serino’s leadership are by no means strictly partisan—the senator’s tug-of-war between bipartisanism and strict party politics presents voters with a puzzling picture. But the question remains: Is this year any more advantageous for Smythe than 2018? The answer is somewhat mystifying.

Perhaps most importantly, 2020 is an opportunity for Smythe to build off of the mo-

Courtesy of Karen Smythe for U.S. Senate. mentum that she gathered as a first-time candidate in 2018, and she only has a 0.6-point deficit to fill. Additionally, common logic would hold that with a presidential election skewing towards the Democratic nominee, Smythe would stand to benefit considerably from a presidential “coattail” effect, or Joe Biden’s positive effect on Democratic down-ballot races.

Nonetheless, such a prediction neglects one big difference from two years ago: The New York State government is now controlled by a Democratic trifecta. A simple campaign strategy denouncing Trump’s party probably will not cut it. With Democrats in total control of the state, it is likely that some voters, in an effort to balance their tickets, will skew towards the opposite party of whom they believe to be the winner of the presidential race.

In fact, the higher the pre-election odds are for

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

a Democrat winning the presidency, the more the vote share for Democratic down-ballot candidates declines—potentially by up to 3.5 points. Moreover, Biden is on course to perform as well in New York as Hillary Clinton in 2016, the same year that Serino won a nearly 11-point victory over former Democratic Senator Terry Gipson, whom she had unseated by only four points just two years prior (Ballotpedia, “Susan J. Serino”).

At the end of the day, the result will be an answer to the question of whether the Hudson Valley is ready for political change. In a historically conservative district that increasingly toes the party line, Serino and Smythe’s rematch should be a nailbiter—and with little public polling information in SD-41, it is still unclear exactly where Serino and Smythe stand. We know one thing for certain, though: this is either woman’s race.

September 10, 2020

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Through hell or high water, StuMu wants you Continued from StuMu on page 1 a practice space in the basement of Blodgett, generously equipped with a drum set, guitar and bass amps, keyboards and a full PA system.

StuMu President Liam Manion ’22, band leader of the folk rock juggernaut Pattern Addict (Give their stellar 2020 release, “Someday, Some Afternoon” a listen), told me he once could only dream of such a space on campus.

“It started off pretty rough. You would have to book out the Mug, hoping that no one was using it. So many groups wanted to work there, always vying for time,” Manion said. “The Blodgett practice room was huge because it was a space specifically equipped for band rehearsals that could be democratically booked out every week by anybody.

I also like its location in the basement of Blodgett; it kinda feels like you’re not at Vassar anymore. Going down into the boiler room—that’s pretty punk!”

Brook-The-Band, Vassar’s premier high octane indie rock outfit made up of sophomores Nathan Asbury, Ben Holmes, Miles Shulman, Max Weiner and Duc Dang, were some of the first students to hone their sound in Blodgett. After meeting through Facebook, a game of capture the flag and the line at the Registrar, respectively, the band took advantage of the new practice space.

“Our first rehearsal was in the Blodgett practice room, which was definitely the best spot on campus,” said guitarist Ben Holmes ’23. “We’d practice on weekends, not caring about being loud or anything. Really just having a space to let loose. That’s how we first found our footing, just jamming out and playing loud.”

Countless other bands followed suit, rehearsing regularly for upcoming campus gigs, both with and apart from StuMu. Thursday night showcases in the Mug featured diverse lineups of bands, both old and new. The Halloween cover show, for example, is now a Halloweekend staple, where costumed student ensembles impersonate bands such as Radiohead, Fleetwood Mac and Paramore.

Debuting as a concert space in the Fall of 2019, TH 148 (The Arts Commune)

soon blossomed into the premier DIY venue on campus. With capped-out cover shows and ripping DJ sets most weekends, its events soon began to blur the line between school-sanctioned shows and weekend nightlife. From there, the shows just kept coming, with new artists and venues emerging every week. Brook-The-Band found themselves on the cutting edge of Vassar’s DIY scene when they fronted an underground rock show in an abandoned greenhouse outside Skinner Hall. Opening with Car Seat Headrest’s “Fill in the Blank,” they blew the roof off of the place.

“That was our drummer Miles’ idea,” recalls frontman Nate Asbury ’23. “He had said that we were gonna play a show in the bike shop, we were down—then three days until the show, he said, ‘By the way, it’s gonna be in a greenhouse.’ Well what the fuck is the greenhouse?”

Holmes ’23 was equally confused. “He didn’t tell us anything about it until we got there, so we kinda had to go through with it, which was good,” he admitted. “We might have backed out if we knew in advance just how sketchy it would be…[The greenhouse] was in pretty poor condition, not to mention that it was raining. We had to cover the speakers in plastic bags, just like at festivals, but it ended up turning into something really special.”

The landscape has undeniably changed.

COVID-19 precautions have made sneaking into Skinner Hall an impossibility. Key access to the building is heavily restricted.

Large gatherings such as indoor shows and DJ sets are a safety hazard. While it has become painfully clear that Vassar’s campus will be unable to facilitate the same packed indoor concerts this year as they did last, StuMu is as motivated as ever to continue cultivating a strong platform for musicians.

When asked about his goals for this semester, Manion responded emphatically.

“What we hope to do is empower student musicians,” he stated. “That’s everything from providing a practice space, providing workshops for people to meet each other, providing a database, providing showcases, anything that you can do within the confines of Vassar to try to make the dream a re-

PANDER plays a packed show last semester. Ben Scharf/The Miscellany News. ality in terms of starting a band and getting music out there.”

Manion brings a remarkable level of dedication to all of his work with StuMu, creating for others the spaces and resources that he would have wanted in his first years on campus, fueled by his passion for music.

“Music, for people who are well acquainted with it, is just how you bond with other people, on a level that is normally not reachable through conversations or other means,” Manion mused. “Coming to Vassar and meeting other musicians was a vital part of my experience, both socially and musically. I would definitely say that our work is as important as ever…people still want to put themselves out there to meet like minded individuals, so we‘re doing our best to facilitate that on the music front.”

Specifically, StuMu is encouraging students to join their Google spreadsheet-generated database of musicians as a means of discovering and reaching out to possible jam members. They will also be organizing small, outdoor, socially distanced jam circles once restrictions ease up a bit. In terms of reopening the Blodgett practice space, Manion is cautiously optimistic. The upcoming second phase of the Vassar Together plan will allow groups of 25 or less to gather outdoors for jam circles, and small groups to gather indoors, specifically in Blodgett for rehearsal. A max occupancy limit and strict cleaning procedures will be enforced,

but Manion hopes to see the space open up within the month.

However, for the time being, bands might have to get a bit more creative in finding practice venues. This weekend, you might even hear a Brook-The-Band rehearsal out your dorm room window.

“We’re planning on practicing outside— Nate and I with acoustic guitars, Duc has a mini speaker for his synth and Max has an amp for his bass. Basically any outdoor, empty space with outlets is fair game. Miles was even drumming up near the golf course the other day. No one likes schlepping their gear around, but you gotta do what you gotta do,” said Holmes.

I’ve found myself out on the library lawn most afternoons, guitar in hand, with my friend Rivers on the banjo. Together, we play our favorite folk and indie rock songs: Bob Dylan, Alex G, Phoebe Bridgers, even some Chicks (formerly known as the Dixie Chicks). Friends congregate, singing along with the choruses. Acoustic jam sessions are easy to organize, and infinitely rewarding.

However, for supersonic volume junkies like Brook-The-Band, electric rehearsals are still feasible. Finding open space and power outlets seems to be the name of the game.

Manion agrees: “Keep your eyes peeled when you walk to class, spot some outlets, bring a rug out there maybe, bring a couple amps and extension cords…It takes a bit of commitment, but commitment is key.”

“Chemical Hearts” subverts tired teen tropes Meghan Hayfield

O

Arts Editor

n a recent Saturday morning—the kind where the cloud cover is high and the only source of entertainment is watching my pour-over coffee drip, drip into a mug, during the kind of lethargic stretch that could almost be melancholy if it wasn’t so satisfying—I watched the movie Chemical Hearts.

Even if you haven’t heard of Chemical Hearts, its premise is familiar. It begins with a voice-over of a high school senior lamenting teenage life. There are familiar scenes of kids walking through hallways and filling chemistry beakers and drinking from red solo cups. But Henry, our lanky protagonist, tells us he’s still awaiting the electrifying moments promised in teenage lore, the tragic love and adventure we are told ensues at the age of 17.

Enter Grace, a pouty, pretty girl with the kind of sad beauty that indicates Henry’s hopes for adventure hinge on tortured romance. Henry and Grace, a transfer student who walks with a cane (her physical brokenness embodies her tragic past) are assigned to be co-editors of the school newspaper.

And after Henry asks for a ride home from school, he is consumed with piecing togeth-

er her past, with figuring out her pain.

But while Chemical Hearts is ridden with cliche and platitudes, it also subverts these banalities by wearing them on its sleeve. It does not try to hide its source material, or cloak itself in false ingenuity. It mocks its own reliance on a manic pixie dream girl to breathe life into a suburban 17-year-old boy’s fantasies.

There’s no dearth ofromanticized accounts of teenagerhood. Films (Say Anything, The Breakfast Club, The Fault in Our Stars), music (Lorde’s “Melodrama,” most of Taylor Swift’s discography, Billie Eilish), books (Chemical Hearts name-checks titles from Romeo and Juliet to Catcher in the Rye, with plenty in between), all piece together an exaggerated narrative of what it means to be a young adult.

Chemical Hearts knows it’s just shouting into the void of harried teenage angst. Henry is not an overly interesting character; the film is located in nondescript suburban New Jersey; even the vehicle of a school newspaper to drive the plot is derivative. But what’s unique about the film is that it doesn’t allow Grace to change Henry. It insists that the “dream girl” is a multifaceted individual whose consciousness exists outside of “sensitive” male characters’ someone else’s imagi-

nation.

One embodied metaphor is Henry’s hobby of gluing together broken shards of pottery. It’s a Japanese art form called kintsugi, and it’s one of the more obvious symbolisms of Henry’s desire to put Grace back together.

Interestingly, the film imagines that Henry’s efforts work. Through unremarkable montages, real but unreliable because of Henry’s warped view of things, viewers watch as Grace lets Henry in—she sits next to him in the cafeteria, takes her headphones out at the newspaper meeting and shows up to a Halloween party. There’s hints that Henry’s dreams are being realized, that Grace is the love he’s been waiting for.

Because the film is shown through Henry’s nearsighted perspective, most images are blurred by foggy glasses. There are messy shapes, frayed edges, semblances of people.

Nothing is sturdy or reliable enough to tell a complete story. Reality lies on the other side of Henry’s reveries, in the moments where people’s exteriors begin to crack and real human emotion begins to flow like lava.

One such moment arrives in an abandoned warehouse, where Grace dons a wedding dress and flower crown, her own crushed dreams eradicating Henry’s fixation on mutual love.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

And soon enough, the seemingly unblemished romance proves unstable. People are more complicated than fractured pottery. Romance cannot be manifested with glue. As Grace resists Henry’s suffocating attention, her own grief swallows her whole. And the fogged glasses we’re looking through clear up: in plain sight, Grace’s damage is not a romantic puzzle to solve, it’s just mental illness.

All of this is to say there is value in Chemical Hearts’ hackneyed approach. The tragic teen romance narrative is common, but somehow not tired. There must be a reason we are all drawn to stories of the fleeting first moments of heartache. That we continue to rewrite different musings on the inevitability of adolescent sadness. That we demarcate our first feelings of love and heartbreak as intensely formative and affecting.

We’ve all watched as depictions of fleeting, imagined love fall apart; reality isn’t as magical as the inventive world. But Chemical Heart’s conscious adaptation of fantasy is deeply felt in ways most other films can’t achieve. In critiquing its own genre it humanizes the instincts to romanticize someone else’s interior world. But it also humanizes that dream girl trope, composing her of matter.

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September 10, 2020

Father Koi conquers angst in ‘Late Afternoon National Anthem’ Taylor Stewart Senior Editor

T

he crucial act of adolescence is not angst itself, but the expression of angst. Kara Lu ’22 (alias Father Koi) has scaled the mountain of her teens with her first full-length album, “Late Afternoon National Anthem,” assembled over the course of four years and released Friday, May 22. Her clever songwriting and production sense make this album a must-listen, but her emotional intelligence and authenticity shine above all.

Slow, anticipatory snare drums open the album in “Boxer,” followed by swelling strings, the ding-ding of a boxing bell, bouncy acoustic guitar and energetic piano. Although the song eases you in for a few deceptively simple seconds, the rest of the musical ensemble’s arrival makes clear this is not just accompaniment for the artist’s anecdotes or confessions. The instrumentation is just as integral as her lyrics to worldbuilding, evoking the sweetness of childhood and its moments of trepidation and change too, suggesting the general time (late adolescence I believe), place (home) and conflict (she has had a good time but departure is imminent). In such tracks, Father Koi does not transcribe her memories in a straightforward way. Instead, she opts for vignettes; she explores the feeling of, say, driving late at night, never explaining how she got in the car in the first place. You get hints of backstory in the form of details both biographically precise (“Trying to find out who you were as a sophomore/Paper thin stockings at the dollar store”) and hauntingly symbolic (“Cynicism, cyanide, close your eyes they’re one the same/Who will mourn the dead and gone when there’s nobody left to blame”).

Because of this balance between biography and poetry, “Late Afternoon National Anthem” is highly nostalgic. You reflect with a romantic instinct; all memories exaggerate the good and the bad, the beautiful

and the ugly, while diminishing the boring.

What is extraordinary about Father Koi’s nostalgia is that it romanticizes the ordinary moments as well. “Indian Burns and Cage,” for example, is about the fervent, fast-paced camaraderie of teenage friendship; the dynamics of the relationship Koi describes in the song are matched by its tempo and playful guitar riffs, but the lyrics are incredibly intimate in their sheer averageness. She smiles and rolls her eyes amicably at her younger self: “My mother shaved your hair a layer of jet black hair/Fake tats and piercings and cage ‘cause well/Nothing dies in a world of me and you.” As I listened to this, a half-embarrassed, half-wistful feeling creeped through me. She reminded me that the kind of embarrassment I feel for my high school self is akin to the annoyance and unwavering protectiveness you might feel towards a younger sibling.

When I spoke to Lu about her song-making process, I puzzled over how such a highly personal album stirs up nostalgia in a detached listener. She revealed that each song in “Late Afternoon” conjures a certain memory or time in her life, like a diary entry, and I learned that a lot of the songs were written contemporaneously rather than retrospectively. For example, she wrote “Eighteen” the night of her 18th birthday—a conscious effort to document a moment in time. While she was writing “Eighteen,” she accounted for how she would feel about that night years later: “It was the end of the world, when I turned eighteen/Didn’t really think about it, didn’t really want to talk about it.” To assume a voice that isn’t yours takes immense maturity and artistry. Not to mention the most difficult character to imagine is your future self; you are intimately tied to this person, but must somehow postulate how you will change.

It’s not like Lu and I share all the experiences described in “Late Afternoon,” but

The album cover for “Late Afternoon National Anthem.”

Courtesy of Kara Lu. certain emotional states—being entertained and exasperated by your previous immaturity, or the push-and-pull between vulnerability and bashfulness we hear in “Icarus”— will resound with many. In this way, Lu shares her process of remembering with us.

Her instrumentation also acts as a universal language for the sensation of growing up.

The build up in the last third of “Icarus,” from lone bass line to acoustic guitar to Lu’s fluid voice to a whiny electric guitar, simulates, for me, flight. You’ve said goodbye to someone you won’t see for a long time, you

get on the train, the train feels like it’s going a million miles an hour.

I could go on about Lu’s clever songwriting and production sense, but above all her emotional intelligence and authenticity shine. As I bombarded her with questions about how she makes her musical decisions (When to introduce a tempo change? Why this kind of percussion here?), I got the impression that “Late Afternoon,” in all its verbal and instrumental poetry, came naturally to her—the natural resolution to a chapter of heartbreak, anxiety and giddiness.

Orchestral and vocal performers adapt to campus mandates Leila Raines Reporter

S

ix months ago, music would consistently flood Skinner Hall. On any given day, the sound of students practicing floated out of open windows while ensembles gathered in the recital hall to share their passion for performing. However, Skinner fell silent after classes shifted online and many students moved back home. With the in-person fall semester now in motion, larger music ensembles have had to adapt to the parameters of the new semester, working hard to revive the musical experience.

Many of the instrumental and vocal ensembles at Vassar, including the Vassar College Orchestra, the Vassar College and Community Wind Ensemble and the Vassar College Choir, contain dozens of students.

Ever since the college shut down in March, music directors have been planning for the fall semester, figuring out how they can safely reunite the musicians.

Rehearsals are right around the corner for Orchestral students. However, students will be separated into smaller groups, with string players rehearsing in the Villard Room and wind players meeting in Skinner Hall, as Director of Orchestral Activities Eduardo Navega explained in an email interview. This new arrangement will be an adjustment from pre-pandemic rehearsals on the grand stage of Skinner’s recital hall, where strings, winds, and brass players all practiced together.

Some ensembles have already started re-

hearsing. Students of the Wind Ensemble have reunited in small groups of less than 10 underneath a tent on Commencement Hill, enjoying the view of Sunset Lake while diving into new pieces. However, despite the familiarity of playing with one another, these rehearsals look a lot different from those of previous semesters; when not playing, musicians wear masks and maintain at least a twelve foot distance from each other.

“It will be a challenging semester with our large ensembles being unable to rehearse as one big unit, and we will have to get used to playing far apart from our fellow musicians, but I think that we will appreciate being together next year more than ever,” Director of the Jazz and Wind Ensembles James Osborn shared in an email correspondence.

The Wind Ensemble consists of a combination of student, faculty and community musicians, but with the Vassar campus closed to visitors, the ensemble finds itself missing a vital portion of its members.

“I am hopeful that most of our student musicians will continue to play throughout their adult lives and I believe that seeing our community wind ensemble members do that will inspire them to do the same,” Osborn added. “Unfortunately, the community members will be unable to participate until the pandemic ends, but they are practicing their parts at home while we wait for that to happen.”

Meanwhile, the Vassar College Choir is using Zoom as a platform for rehearsals.

“The general gist is that we are rehearsing over Zoom on mute, and then each singing our individual part,” explained Madi Donat ’23 [Note: Donat is a Columnist at The Miscellany News], who is involved in various faculty-run choirs on campus. “Once Phase Two starts, we are going to start meeting in small groups like quartets or groups of 10 or fewer.”

Directors and students have worked hard to revive the ensemble experience this semester in one form or another, but the students miss the social aspect of meeting in

“I like singing on my own, but I don’t love it. I love the sound of a choir and I love being a part of making that sound.” person.

“A lot of my friends are in choir, and yeah, I see them over Zoom, but it’s something really special to be in a room and to be singing and making music with people,” Donat shared. “I like singing on my own, but I don’t love it. I love the sound of a choir and I

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

love being a part of making that sound.”

Although these groups have found creative, safe ways to reassemble and rehearse, ensembles will not be able to perform for live audiences this semester. “The absence of live performances is difficult for our ensembles, as the pressure of a performance usually inspires musicians to intensify their efforts to learn difficult music and come together as a cohesive team,” Osborn commented.

While the possibility of virtual performances stands, the exhilaration that comes from performing in front of a group of people is irreplaceable. “One of the main driving forces in a music ensemble is the excitement of playing for an audience,” Navega said. “It has been a challenge to keep the students engaged to play in our ensembles even though we might not be performing live concerts anytime soon.”

With students returning to individual practice rooms, the sound music is slowly starting to awaken within Skinner Hall once again—but things will not be completely normal for a while.

“In times like these, we are forced to remember that music provides essential nourishment to the human soul. It is the most universal language, and not being able to make music with others, really [makes] us realize how important music is in our lives,” Navega said. “We are all doing what we can, but we are really looking forward to the day when we can perform on stage in front of an enthusiastic audience.”

ARTS

February 13, 2020

Page 7

Notes on a Playlist: “that one day in October 2017” Lena Stevens Class of 2021

Black Grief Take time to feel every passing.

Tangle yourself in empty sheets and

weep into pillows that wreak of jojoba and love lost.

Feel the waxy texture of weathered photographs between your fingertips and

watch each memory unfold in your trembling hands.

Stand in the doorway of an empty bedroom filled with dust and

mourn every moment spent on the outside of that threshold.

Sit alone in a crowded room and watch shadows dance across the floor

while hours fall around you like rain.

Collapse in the shower and

let every droplet of water daub you with sorrow.

Cry hard.

Claw at your chest.

Gasp for air between gut-wrenching sobs.

Mourn every soul taken like it was your own.

Because it is.

Trigger Warning If you are going to kill me, turn your camera off.

Let no Black children stumble across my execution, hold my life in the palm of their hands, and weep into pixelated portrayals of my passing.

Let no parents fall to their knees during the morning news, Then again at six, and again at ten.

Let no lover scroll through endless gunfire everytime they unlock their phone.

Let me lace my fingers behind my head, feel the gravel pierce my knees, and make one last request.

If you are going to kill me, do it only once.

Turn your camera off.

Banner design by Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

On a random weekday in October, a pretty cold one if I remember correctly,I sat for hours in a velvet window seat at a coffee shop in Fargo, ND, working on Chinese and AP Chemistry homework. It was my senior year of high school. The day didn’t feel significant at the time. And it wasn’t—with school done for the day and no tennis practice or dance rehearsal that night, I had a rare afternoon to myself. The kind of afternoon that was so mundane, it was special.

This time in my life was a whirlwind; it felt like juggling two different worlds. After a tumultuous junior year and summer, I was still settling back into myself. I had begun my “lasts” of high school, yet I was in the midst of applying to colleges and imagining what my life would be like in a year’s time. I was concluding my childhood and adolescence in one town, yet carefully crafting a plan that would allow me to leave the following year. I was living one life, yet imagining another. As a result, I was feeling very weightless, detached from reality.

One playlist ended, and I just let the recommended songs play, allowing my mind to wander while I stared out the window at a busy street (as busy as it gets in Fargo).

People watching always makes me feel at peace. In catching glimpses of other’s lives, I feel more content with my own. It distances me from the deep, overthinking part of my brain in which I spend much of the day. This is what I remember most from that day: feeling at peace.

Most of the songs are easy on the ears, and remind me of feeling like I was floating through life in the best way. In “Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)” by the Decemberists, a sweet chorus of harmonizing male and female singers invokes a warm beige. In “I’m Here Now (Bonus Track)” by Motopony, gentle background guitar plucking and an untroubled beat is accompanied by a comforting, crooning voice. In “Garden Grays” by Wildcat!

Wildcat!, the repeating falsetto lyric “play while you’re still young” conjures teenage nostalgia. In “Lily of the Valley” by Francis Moon, the raw guitar, distant vocals and building bassline practically begs for zoned-out contemplation. And when I reminisce about this afternoon, a one-liner from “Dizzy On the Comedown” by Turnover immediately comes to mind: “How do you pass the days?”

The mundanity of coffee shops and of a weekday where nothing extraordinary happens— these moments are where life is found. It’s not always the most anticipated moments, like graduations or milestones or “first days,” but in the simple passage of time. Usually, mundanity makes me sad. But on this ordinary October afternoon , it made me happy.

Contact misc@vassar.edu to have your playlist featured in “Notes on a Playlist.”

Page 8

A Normal Summer Photos and Concept: Sherry Liao/The Miscellany News

FEATURES

September 10, 2020

This original photo segment presents a look into life at Vassar and beyond through the lens of Misc photographers. Bi-weekly, we’ll use photography to spotlight an issue, explore a narrative or put forth a voice. Styles vary from creative to journalistic to slice-of-life. This week, Assisant Photo Editor Sherry Liao ’23 shares, .“These are really pieces of a normal summer. I returned home, took photos every time I saw this same pink sky, went to a few cute coffee shops and a nice exhibition, and celebrated my mom’s birthday with her. By ‘normal’ I mean this virus does not really influence me much. But it does for many people, and these many people are probably the same persons as I am. And they are supposed to go through a ‘normal summer.’ They are not just numbers. They go back home, celebrate birthdays and are accustomed to taking photos when they see something cute. I hope this summer remembers these people always.”

Submit your photos for Through the Lens to jsong@vassar.edu.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

September 10, 2020

FEATURES

Page 9

Student employees adapt to new normal, hybridized jobs Continued from Work Study on page 1 said. Books are now returned in drop boxes, where they are quarantined for a week.

All library workers wear masks and gloves at the desk and sanitize their keyboard and workspace before and after each shift.

Measures have also been put in place to provide a safe in-person lab experience this semester. Cassie Cauwels ’22, the organic chemistry lab technician’s assistant, will need to work around new guidelines that involve coming in as early as 8 a.m. and not being in the lab as often. “My safety really depends on the safety of the students that take the laboratory this semester. It is their responsibility to wipe down their hoods and even then the professors, interns, lab technicians and myself double check to make sure that it is a clean workspace,” she said, emphasizing the interdependency required of these special circumstances. At the same time, Cauwels will need to work more independently this semester than she did before, as she will have limited contact with her boss, labs professors and the technician’s office. Despite these challenges, Cauwels hopes that students can take advantage of the fact that this lab is open at all this semester.

Other on-campus jobs require a lot of in-person engagement. Parker Fairfield ’24, the photographer for the Drama de-

partment, and Christopher Cortazo ’24, a central dining worker, will be constantly engaging with groups of people throughout the semester. Both face a lot of unknowns. Cortazo, who has previously worked in a pizzeria for three years, doesn’t know what to expect. “All the jobs around campus have been affected by this pandemic so it’s only reasonable that no one can give a concrete description of how a job will be because things may change,” Cortazo said. Fairfield is aware he will be working both in-person and online, but those conditions are subject to change. He said, “I’ll be photographing rehearsals behind the scenes and the final shows when those happen. To my knowledge, the rehearsals are usually on stage. But for now, they’ll be happening outside and in groups fewer than ten.”

While on-campus positions are finding ways to incorporate in-person job experience, remote work comes with its own unique set of challenges. Hannah Thompson ’23, who works as a remote Wellness Peer Educator with the Office of Health Promotion and Education, is concerned about screen fatigue. Combining the hours of screen time she’ll spend on remote classes and her job, she will be spending most hours of her day in front of a computer.

Fortunately, because Thompson is on cam-

pus, she is allowed to come into the office at scheduled times throughout the week in order to complete some work in person. “I am looking forward to promoting the best ways to stay healthy and safe during this challenging time. I hope I can help ease some people’s anxieties about the pandemic and campus life,” she said.

Zoë Zahariadis ’21, an academic intern for the French and Francophone Studies (FFS) department, anticipates that traditional activities will be difficult to facilitate. Zahariadis knows that she would find it hard to focus in a tent with so many distractions around. Socially distanced group projects also complicate the already challenging process of learning a new language. To accommodate for these challenges, she plans on splitting up her hours by conducting conversation lessons in-person and office hours online. “While this isn’t what I had intended to be doing or necessarily wanted to be doing, I am so thankful that the FFS department has worked to adapt to the current situation. I think by combining critical in-person instruction with online office hours allows for students to really be able to work on their language skills while leaving the online work for more targeted questions,” Zahariadis shared.

In addition to traditional classroom ac-

tivities that now have been heavily compromised by social distancing, the Writing Center and Q-Center (for math, economics, chemistry and physics help) now offer remote alternatives to their once in-person services. Mrin Somani ’23, a Writing Center intern this semester, is worried about how helpful she can be since she won’t be able to sit down and work together with students. Instead of booking an in-person session in the Writing Center room in the library, students now book a date and upload their paper to the Writing Center’s website. Interns then get 24 hours to review it, give feedback and send it back to the student. Somani anticipates that when students send in more papers towards the middle and end of the semester, it will be more difficult for people who submit their papers on the day of their submission deadline. “I’m honestly not too thrilled about it, because having conversations with people about their essays, or even just brainstorming, is a big part of the writing process. I am happy, however, that I get to keep my job,” she said.

Most importantly, despite all the challenges faced by our new normal, many students on campus are still able to get paid this semester—one of the few things that is providing stability during these very unstable times.

Pandemic proves technological strain to Vassar online services Rohan Dutta Columnist

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n March 12, 2020, Vassar College announced that all classes would be conducted online for the rest of the semester to comply with New York State COVID-19 guidelines. Ever since, Vassar’s technology has been essential to everyone in the community. However, during the recent resurgence of students back onto campus, computer systems have suffered a series of issues.

Vassar has relied on web services to accomplish its day-to-day tasks for several years now. Students use Ask Banner to register for courses, Moodle to access course materials and their Vassar email accounts to ask professors questions after class. This amount of digital systems is not easy to control, yet Computing and Information Services (CIS) does wonders to keep the many systems of Vassar College up and running.

However, add a pandemic to the mix, and suddenly the school needs services such as a daily health checkup system, online classes and systems for scheduling swab tests. On top of all the other services that need to be maintained, it’s no wonder the school experienced so many early difficulties.

However, failures of needed services are still somewhat common. Failures with Vassar’s current services still unfortunately remain somewhat common. Issues with Moodle, hyperlinks to mandatory forms and Zoom are problems that originate from outside Vassar and cannot be fixed on campus, but still affect the ability of the student body to stay connected with their schoolwork. One notable example is Ask Banner, which has faced temporary issues with class registration and changing your Vassar password. Part of what causes most of these issues is strain from high usage, and is likely to not be a problem when traffic slows.

Brandon Hong ‘23 noted that Ask Banner functioned normally before it encountered heavy usage. “It was fine during the summer when I tried to use it. However, when

everyone was using it at the same time... there were a lot of problems,” he shared.

Vassar’s WiFi connectivity has never been perfect, and temporary shutdowns hurt more than ever now that all of our lives are online. Several students reported that their WiFi credentials didn’t work for one to two days after arriving on campus.

Occasional total WiFi shutdowns occured, especially in the first weeks of students returning, but were quickly fixed.

“Tech is supposed to work when you need it to…when it doesn’t, it puts a break in your workflow,” said Jason Lee ’22. “You get frustrated wondering why it doesn’t work.”

Carlos Garcia, the Chief Information Of-

to use the app to reserve spots in popular locations (e.g. the Deece or the Residential Operations Center, although neither has yet filled to the capacity to require reservation) and to fill out the mandatory daily health form. While load times have greatly improved after several recent patches, the app was initially notorious for being slow to load.

All of Vassar’s services, however, have performed remarkably well in comparison to Healow, the mobile app students must use to schedule medical appointments and speak with medical professionals. Needing a way to schedule students’ swab tests, Vassar opted to use Healow as the service

Juliette Pope/The Miscellany News. ficer of CIS, shares some of students’ frustration. “There is never enough time,” he lamented. Typically, CIS tests features and services for a period of time, before rolling them out to Vassar. Garcia said, “We had no such luxuries this time around, after the scramble to support going online in the spring and the aggressive timeline to prep for this semester.”

Part of the problem is also the services themselves. The Vassar Mobile app, released on May 18 on Android and iOS, is designed to provide users easy access to Vassar information and forms. During this semester, students have been encouraged

that would coordinate all of the mandatory tests provided for each student. Of course, manually sorting out appointment times would be very inefficient, so using an app was undeniably the right choice. The only problem with this strategy is that Healow is a chronically flawed and often unusable service, owing to its many technical issues (like appointment slots not showing up) and impressively slow loading times.

Returning students were instructed to register for Healow and make a swab test appointment for the day they arrived on campus. However, most students never received an email from Healow they needed

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

to set up their accounts, and so were unable to schedule their appointments.While the issue was eventually resolved, the app still remained virtually unusable for a period of time. “There was a period where Healow was down or the server was really slow,” Lee said. “It was very frustrating trying to log in to see if I had COVID or not.”

Lee wasn’t alone—on Aug. 25, the amount of complaints rose to a level where CIS put out a statement to the entire student body.

“We are aware of performance issues with WMC portal and Healow app,” CIS wrote.

“WMC is working with their server provider to improve performance.” Healow’s functionality eventually improved.

Vassar’s online services have likewise experienced this pattern of patchwork improvement. While the Vassar Mobile app has had its issues, the quality and performance of the app have improved drastically as CIS has unceasingly pushed patch after patch to improve performance and functionality. Ask Banner and Moodle have remained continuously functional and fast for several weeks now, and WiFi problems have seemingly disappeared. “The first few weeks were rough, but everything actually got a lot better,” Hong recalled. “At this point, there’s not much more left to complain about. I think we’ll be good.” Even though problems in systems are inevitable, CIS’ responses have been consistently prompt, with multiple instances of issues with Moodle and Ask Banner being fixed within a few hours.

The time and patience these performance issues took from the students and staff is substantial. The technology built to streamline our new lifestyle is one of our larger current annoyances, but the issues that remain should be fixed soon. “Hopefully we are through the worst of it,” Garcia said. “Although we are prepared for more surprises during this unusual academic year.” For the time being, all we can do is hold on and pray these tech issues don’t come back to haunt us during midterms.

HUMOR

Page 10

September 10, 2020

Breaking News

From the desk of Izzy Migani, Humor Editor

Student begs peers to stop mentioning their mis-matched socks, says it was “a fashion choice.”

A brief look at this past summer Francisco Andrade

Ex-Editor Extrodinaire

I

t has been a marvelous week at Vassar College, as after nearly seven months of a mostly empty campus, students have returned to remind the Vassar Security team why they really dislike their jobs.

As someone who has spent his entire summer in Poughkeepsie (and feels as if he’s lived 30 times over due to it) I think it would be wise to backtrack a bit. Reflect on how we got here. In the beginning of November 2019, the United States became aware of the coronavirus threat and immediately sprang into action...four and a half months later. From that moment on, everyone started wearing a mask, staying indoors, and respecting the lives of their fellow human beings. Somehow, though, this virus mutated and caused weird mind control effects that made people want to remove their masks and made them believe that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people across the country and world were not a good enough reason to get their shit together for a few days and maybe not to go to the beach. Anywhom, this global pandemic caused Vassar College and Disney World to close down at the height of spring break (I only bunch these

ARIES

two together because I was upset over their closures, not due to their similarities in being historically white institutions that cost a lot of money and drastically affect the local community). This online transition meant that many students who were home for break remained there for the rest of the semester and summer while students who were on campus had to try to safely return home. Though leaving friends behind is a total drag, many were excited to return to their parents and be able to study and learn from the comfort of their rooms, where their parents coincidentally could much more easily invade their space.

Online learning for Vassar was overall a big success. Professors came together and learned new teaching methods, and most were very lenient with grades and absences, while the students did their part by paying attention as they would in regular class and totally did not turn off their cameras so they could rip a bong during instructional time. The transition to Zoom learning also allowed a weird insight into the lives of students and professors, from the spaces they inhabited to what clothes they slept in, as I assume 80 percent of students woke up exactly 13 seconds before classes started. But most interesting of all was

HOROSCOPES

March 21 | April 19

TAURUS

April 20 | May 20

GEMINI

May 21 | June 20

Go on an adventure and explore new worlds.

Create when you’re tired. Exist in this moment, and then the next, and then the next, and so on forever. Remember, doubtlessly, who knows you, and why.

Existentialists think that because life has no meaning, we give it meaning. I want to take pictures of trees and love my friends. Maybe you’d like watching every movie, or caring for animals. Or trains.

August 23 | September 22

LIBRA

Are you grateful for bugs? I am. Most of the ones

September 23 | we don’t like eat all the ones that actually cause problems. Like how spiders eat mosquitoes. Even October 22 wasps and hornets make honey. Catch my drift?

SCORPIO

October 23 | November 21

November 22 | December 21

So you don’t know who you are. Nor do I or anyone I know! I know that I like rocks and the color yellow, but little else. Draw a picture of the moon and remember that nobody has all the answers

This is a time of learning restraint. We have all been denied at one point or another, so now is a reminder of what it’s like to live without. Be like a monk: wake up, pray, copy down ancient texts, repeat.

CAPRICORN

I love sunrises but I never get to see them because I wake up too late. I know that the feeling of not getting enough sleep is worse than the feeling of not seeing something beautiful. Make sense?

Fruit is good because it has Vitamin C and prevents scurvy. That means you’ll keep your teeth, at least for now. Your brain needs healthy things, too.

Be kind to your mind, or else your teeth will fall out.

AQUARIUS

Discussion questions: If you were a superhero, who would you tell your secret identity to, and why? Have you ever been on the roof of a building at night? Do you know who loves you? Do you know who doesn’t?

Resist the urge to lash out on those who you perceive are telling you how to feel. The way to combat it isn’t to internalize. There’s a line between confiding in friends and your private Twitter. Walk it.

PISCES

Being kind is never the wrong thing to do, and there isn’t one easy way to do it. But remember: A friend to all is a true friend to none. Where do your loyalties lie? With whom can you sit in the water?

LEO

VIRGO

Madi Donat

Astral Projector

SAGITTARIUS

Say what you mean! No use waffling, unless you use “waffling” as a synonym for “making and/ or consuming waffles,” in which case, do that. Regardless, knowing what you want is never a bad thing.

July 23 | August 22

excited to return to school. It is almost as if spending day after day, hour after hour, with your parents or family, with no possibility of getting out, and still having to maintain a full school schedule without any of the activities that make you happy readily available to you can be a bit… much.

But folks, we made it. Whether you are back to campus or still doing it online, the fall semester is upon us. Take a step back, relax and get ready for this new experience. Actually, take a few more steps back.

Around five steps should be fine. Perfect, thanks. Can’t be too careful these days.

A canoe, an object that can apparently be made during a Zoom class. Via Pikist.

Enthusiasm will take you far, but don’t confuse energy for optimism. Allow yourself to experience all emotions, even the ugly ones. Without anger, sadness and jealousy, what kind of humans would we be?

CANCER

June 21 | July 22

how the weeks became more and more unorthodox as the online learning environment progressed. For example, I Zoomed from my bathtub at one point (I was fully clothed and it was drained, I promise) because I live in a shared space, and it was the only space where it was completely quiet.

I also witnessed a classmate leave his camera on, plug in headphones so he could listen to the class and literally build a canoe.

Seriously a canoe, like out of wood. Overall, faculty and students alike were trying to make the most out of a bad situation.

And though summer felt a bit longer than usual, never have I seen so many people so

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

December 22 | January 19

January 20 | February 18

February 19 | March 20

HUMOR

September 10, 2020

Page 11

Panicked senior reads a CDO email Blair Webber Career Guru

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enior year: the last year of college.

What comes next? The Void? Backpacking through Europe? The Abyss?

Moving back in with your parents? Who’s to say? Certainly not graduating senior Mira Mooreland ’21.

For Mooreland, who has yet to declare her second major in either philosophy or biology (she hasn’t quite decided which, but she figures she has time), the reality that her days at Vassar are rapidly coming to an end slowly dawned on her last Monday, when classes began.

“It changed me,” Mooreland said. “The sun shone through my window like it does every day, I sat up in bed like I do every morning, but this time something was different. I knew in my gut big changes were coming that day, I just didn’t know what.

And then it hit me: I have to figure out what I’m going to do after college.”

The change in Mooreland was not simply big: it was monumental. For the first time in her storied four-year Vassar career, Mooreland opened an email from the CDO. “Honestly, I was scared. I didn’t know what to expect. I’d never opened one before,” Moreland explained. “What font would they use? Would they put important information in bold so I didn’t actually have to read the whole email? The hardest part was the not knowing.”

For those of our readers who have also not opened these emails, the CDO (for-

Despite the smiling man in this graphic, physically hurling Linkedin materials at others is no laughing matter. Via Pixabay. mally known as “Career Development Office”) helps prepare students for life beyond Vassar by hosting alumnae/i speakers and helping with resumes and cover letters.

Their emails include a mix of information about programming and increasingly aggressive demands to join Vassar Handshake.

Mooreland described what it was like for her to read the email for the first time.

“I’ve never seen so many internships for STEM majors listed in one place before.

It was a sea of comp sci and research internships. So many of them were paid, I couldn’t believe it,” Mooreland commented.

Since reading the CDO email, Mooreland’s outlook on her future after graduation has changed completely.

“Before reading their email, I’d been thinking about applying to grad school,

but honestly with all the resources and connections Vassar alums have to offer, why waste my time studying when I could be networking?”

Mooreland launched herself into career planning: updating her resume, posting her resume to Handshake, posting her resume to LinkedIn and posting her Handshake to LinkedIn. “The idea is breadth and depth and also breadth. I need companies to be able to find me just by Googling ‘person,’” Mooreland shared. “I’m already way behind because I’ve only done one internship each summer when I should have known better. I can’t believe I didn’t read the CDO emails sooner.”

Brimming wxaith enthusiasm for her future as yet unspecified career, Mooreland has been racing around campus distributing her business cards, which she cut into

the shape of throwing stars to maintain safe social distance.

“The shape is aerodynamic. I just fling it and it practically hits the person itself.

I’ve only gouged out three people’s eyes, so that’s pretty good. Plus it leaves an impression—you’re never going to forget the person whose business card blinded you in one eye,” Mooreland boasted.

Mooreland’s proactiveness in preparing for her future has not gone unnoticed by students or school administrators. The administration has updated the Daily Health Questionnaire in order to effectively reach those who have been paper cut or worse by her business cards.

“I don’t know how she has all the time to do this,” one administrator commented, “or where she got the idea. I don’t think the CDO has ever recommended this kind of strategy.”

Mooreland’s other strategies have not been quite so analog.

“It’s 2020, people don’t just read pieces of paper any more. So while I like the tactility of a business card, I’ve also been spending my time guessing Zoom call numbers and passwords. It doesn’t matter whose meeting I get into—once I show up, I can give my elevator pitch and get out. I’m trying to work smarter with getting my resume out there, not harder,” Mooreland said.

In response, the CDO’s next Zoom workshop will be on etiquette in a job search and how to have a balanced approach to life after Vassar.

Frog and Toad are Frenemies

by Julianna + Olivia

Vassar Bitch Chronicles

by Emily Leserogol

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

OPINIONS

Page 12

September 10, 2020

Remote learning highlights inequality en route to takeover Danielle Recco

Guest Columnist

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n March 16, New York saw many of its city schools close. What began as a temporary shutdown for cleaning purposes turned out to be much more dire—students and faculty alike could have never predicted the tumult of COVID-19.

It was clear that our school system had to undergo a rehaul, as in-person learning became too dangerous in light of the pandemic. Students struggled to adapt to remote learning as teachers struggled to keep up with the demands of preparing those students for exams and finishing coursework. Teachers who, for decades, had given lectures in a classroom with little to no technology now found themselves fumbling through Google Classroom and Zoom lectures.

Students reported various obstacles encountered while adapting to remote learning, including lack of motivation, difficulty balancing courses with home responsibilities, lack of social interaction, internet connectivity issues and inability to adapt due to economic hardships. These issues do not affect all students equally. According to a poll from WCET Frontiers, an organization that promotes technology in education, internet access was one of the major problems encountered in remote learning. This finding shows that remote learning was hastily adopted with little regard for class disparities already present in society. Another poll by ParentsTogether found that “the lowest-income parents, making less than $25,000 a year, were 10 times more likely than families making six figures and above to say their kids are doing little or no remote learning (38 percent vs. 3.7 percent).” The laptops and phones that so many of us take for granted are luxuries for other students. While schools used to be able to (more or less) provide these resources equitably, remote learning has exacerbated the divide between the rich and the poor. How can we

pride ourselves on our education system when it cannot, in collectively traumatic and unprecedented times, provide equal access to education?

Despite these hardships faced by students, it seems that faculty have shifted their mindset regarding remote learning.

WCET Frontiers cited in its findings that “Many faculty came away with more positive sentiments about digital learning.”

Thousands of school districts, including Poughkeepsie’s, have opted for a remote learning system this fall. Other districts have adopted a hybrid approach, in which some days are remote and some days are in-person. As the pandemic continues, some forms of virtual learning must be implemented. But online education has been instituted in a way that has not addressed the needs of low income students.

Education inequality remains a major issue that needs to be tackled, not brushed aside by modern technology.

COVID may have accelerated the change, but, regardless, it’s not surprising that our education has shifted to an online platform. It seems like a natural progression, as education has had to constantly shift its practices to account for the society in which it takes root. I’m sure most of us remember those old nostalgic projectors that took over blackboards, and then SmartBoards that rendered the projectors obsolete, and so on. It’s clear that education must keep advancing in order to provide students with the best opportunities possible.

But who decides what that “best” option is? Usually, this decision is made by upper-class officials who seek to cut funds where they can, and not for the sake of helping low income students. Right now, though, remote learning seems to be split across party lines. Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville) stated that “Schools offering only virtual learning should not expect to be fully funded,” and President Trump stated that

Courtesy of ParentsTogether via SurveyMonkey

virtual learning has “proven to be terrible.”

California governor Gavin Newsom ordered that 5.5 million California students must have their classes held online. It nonetheless currently appears that schools offering a hybrid model will be equally funded—but for how long? At a time when schools critically need funds in order to operate safely in-person, the federal government is threatening to cut funds unless schools ignore the safety of their students.

This, in turn, means that schools will have to find ways to make up the difference, which could lead to an even greater level of remote learning in the future—not for safety reasons, but budgetary ones.

As both students and faculty grow accustomed to remote learning, it becomes difficult to envision remote education once again being removed from the classroom entirely. Perhaps a teacher is absent and

asks the class to go on Zoom, or perhaps some schools, as previously mentioned, need to cut costs and decide to permanently implement a hybrid approach. It is uncertain exactly how remote learning will change the scope of the education system, but now that it has been implemented, it seems difficult to imagine it ever diminishing completely. As remote learning becomes more ingrained in society, we must seek collaboration between students, faculty and policymakers in order to create a more equitable system—but currently the inequalities in our education system are more glaring than ever. For now, it remains a question of whether politicians and administrators are willing to bridge the gap between low-income students and more affluent students. If not, the future of education appears bleak, as does the future society that it fosters.

The irony of sending our children back to school Sawyer Bush Columnist

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cross the country, school boards and administrations are holding Zoom meetings to discuss how to safely phase children back into the classrooms. The main concern of parents and teachers alike seems to be that students will fall behind if they study remotely again in the fall, with many unable to catch up. Remote learning also places a financial and logistical burden on the many parents who rely on schools to feed and house their children during work hours. Many schools, however, are ill-equipped to receive students in the midst of a pandemic.

A great irony presents itself as schools strategize how to reopen their classrooms.

The vast majority of these discussions are taking place over Zoom or, in some cases, a select few members of school boards are choosing to meet in person for limited spans of time.

Moreover, in these strictly socially distanced and most often remote meetings, principals, administrators, parents and board members alike discuss sending children back to school where they will be in small, often poorly ventilated classrooms.

In the Southern Berkshire Regional School District in southwestern Massachusetts, the school board had to end a meeting abruptly because the in-person members had been in a meeting room together for more than the set two-hour limit. These members failed to

see or acknowledge the disconnect that they were worried about being in a large, sparsely occupied room together for two hours, while they were at the same time preparing to send their children into classrooms with dozens of other students for hours at a time.

It is nearly impossible to guarantee that children will follow the six feet social distancing guidelines and wear their masks at all times. Photos have already surfaced of packed school hallways, without a single mask in sight. How is it that parents and administrators are worried about meeting in large rooms spread out from one another, yet do not see that they are forcing their students into far riskier environments than those for up to eight hours each day?

We have received constant messaging and advising that we do not need to worry about children getting the virus and becoming sick.

However, although children are less likely to fall dangerously ill from COVID-19, they are just as likely as adults to contract and transmit the virus. Media outlets and health advisers alike need to cease their emphasis on the fact that children have a lower fatality rate from the virus. It perpetuates a dangerous belief that they are somehow immune to it altogether—a blatant untruth that implies that they are incapable of transmitting it to others.

In the moments when teachers are unable to supervise the students, there is nothing to stop students from congregating in groups

without masks or social distancing. Even in places where we would expect students to be more mature and understand the dangers involved, such as college campuses, safety guidelines have been ignored and cases have spiked. SUNY Oneonta was forced to shut down until Sept. 13 after 105 students tested positive for COVID-19 following parties held over the weekend. While the situation is itself bad, this spread was contained to a single campus; a similar situation would be much more dangerous if it was children in classrooms at K-12 schools who go home to their families every day.

The United States has repeatedly demonstrated a deep misunderstanding of this virus and of pandemics at large. Misinformation has been passed from the top down as public officials (particularly those in conservative areas) downplay the virus’ threat, and countless researchers seek to prove that children are less likely to contract the virus—all in an effort to accelerate the process of reopening schools and the economy. We will not be finished with this virus until either the case load is zero or a cure or vaccine has been found.

There is no functioning economy in a pandemic. The process of schools reopening has only reaffirmed this reality. Our determination to keep our students “on track” (at an arbitrary and predetermined quantitative and qualitative level) and speed up our return to a sense of normalcy has blinded us to the re-

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

alities of this virus. Students were sent home in March when there were fewer than 4000 confirmed cases. Yet now, with 44,000 new cases every day, students at schools across the country are being thrown back into the classrooms, even as we continue to suffer a severe shortage of personal protective equipment across the country.

I acknowledge the irony that I, myself, am guilty of returning back to campus in order to restore some semblance of normalcy to my life. I made this decision, however, based on three crucial realities: first, I knew Vassar was developing a well thought-out plan for a structured return to campus; second, campus is largely contained within a “bubble,” making it easier to ensure that the student body remains insular; and third, I knew I was going to be entering a situation in which I would not see my family or anyone else outside of Vassar for three months and would thus not risk exposing anyone off-campus. I acknowledge the immense privilege I have to be able to feel comfortable that if I returned to my school’s campus, I would not be putting anyone else at risk. This is not the reality, however, for the vast majority of students across the country.

If students at public schools and private day schools continue in-person classes, we will inevitably see a nationwide spike in case numbers, thus ensuring we will not be able to return to a “new normal” any time soon.

September 10, 2020

OPINIONS

Page 13

TikTok ban heralds new era of internet policing, social upheaval Rohan Dutta Columnist

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he popular video-sharing app TikTok has recently come under fire in many countries, allegedly for user privacy issues. First, India banned it entirely, alongside 59 other Chinese-owned mobile apps. Shortly after, news broke that Australia was considering similar bans. Now, the U.S. federal government has presented TikTok and the highly popular messaging app WeChat an ultimatum—be sold to a U.S. company, or be banned from operating in the United States.

Given that the app’s data theft has not been confirmed, these actions seem to be less about the app and more about responding to the growing global influence of China. In the face of recent skirmishes between the People’s Liberation Army and the Indian Armed Forces that left dozens dead at the Sino-Indian border, increasing Chinese interference in external politics and a burgeoning conflict between India, China and the United States, it’s easy to dismiss the TikTok incident as a sideshow to the main tension. I believe, though, that what happens to TikTok will determine the trajectory of the next age in our digital world.

Governments banning mobile apps or barring companies from operating is far from new, but typically they are banned for specific legal violations, such as infringing copyright or aiding in unlawful assembly.

Think Huawei, the phone company that was banned for violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.

The TikTok/WeChat situation in the United States, in contrast, is ostensibly a measure to protect citizen data from Chinese intelligence.

From a national security perspective, this isn’t inherently a bad idea—limiting the ability of foreign powers to potentially influence and spy on your people through the internet could theoretically do wonders. However, it’s

also very unlike the Open Internet standards that the United States pioneered and continues to champion. Shutting out foreign internet services to protect the state is ironically much more like modern China. The Chinese government’s Great Firewall is effectively the same ban, but applied to nearly all foreign content, and is currently one of the most well-known features of Chinese society.

While it may be a one-off decision, an action so drastic suggests the U.S. government is now open to the idea of blocking off large swathes of the internet. If that’s the case, previously outlandish ideas of the United States cutting residents off from interacting with the people of rival countries now seem highly probable. Add in the general isolationism and concerns over fake news of the Trump administration, and our free internet suddenly looks much less safe now than it did before.

The potential TikTok ban also raises concerns about competing states pressuring individual companies to pick a side. Typically, states economically harm each other with tariffs and trade wars, targeting sectors but not individual companies. As a result, businesses do suffer, but are never specially pressured into bowing down to a rival government to survive. After all, they’re just collateral damage in a fight between higher powers. In this case, however, the Trump administration is forcing TikTok to choose—be bought by a U.S. company, which would ensure a ban in China, or stay with China and part with the U.S. market. In other words, pick a side in the world’s largest current geopolitical conflict.

If the app stays with China, as it’s likely to do, it will suffer financially, but the company and the world at large aren’t substantially affected. If TikTok’s owners decide greater profit is to be found siding with the United States, however, massive repercussions would en-

sue. Besides being a largely impactful political gesture, TikTok siding with the United States would effectively endorse the country as the better market for businesses. With lots of China’s power in relation to the United States stemming from its hugely significant economy, such a large stain on its reputation would pose a threat to its ability to maintain its astronomical growth and global standing.

To be clear, TikTok siding with the United States is very unlikely. If it happens, it would show the ultimatum tactic to be effective, and thus make it very attractive to both countries. I find it likely in such a scenario that both countries would subsequently push similar threats onto other corporations, forcing dozens of large businesses to make very difficult decisions. After all, the NBA is a quintessentially American company, but the amount of basketball players in China is reportedly the size of the United States’ entire population. From a profit perspective, it’s possible that the group might find China the better country for them in the long run.

Similarly, many U.S. goods and services have strong ties to China. Popular American services like League of Legends, Clash of Clans and AMC Theatres (the largest theater chain in the world) are entirely owned by Chinese companies. Additionally, the cheap price and lax labor laws of Chinese manufacturing are essential to the business models of many American multinational corporations. If any of these organizations had to choose, there’s no guarantee they would stay with the United States. If the world powers see reason to keep pushing companies in this way, the economic impact of hundreds of companies leaving their homes could be disastrous.

These possibilities are contingent on TikTok caving into United States pressure, which makes the social media company’s current actions all the more important. Regardless of what it decides, however, I believe the ul-

timatum itself demonstrates a newfound and very ominous display of internet understanding by the U.S. federal government. It means the internet could be used as an avenue for much more policing. In the past, the U.S. federal government repeatedly demonstrated a rudimentary understanding of the digital world, of which the FCC attempting to abandon net neutrality and the confusion at Facebook hearings in 2018 are particularly famous examples. However, technology and social media can be hugely useful to law enforcement—for example, smaller U.S. police departments have used Snapchat stories to bust underage parties, and have tried to pair facial recognition with social media posts to arrest protesters and rioters. The sudden shift from the U.S. government chronically misunderstanding the digital age to being cognizant of, and taking action over, data theft at the highest levels of government—plus the heavily covered meetings between Trump and Big Tech leaders—shows that the U.S. government has finally started to catch up.

Coupled with the presence of a government that has shown authoritarian aspirations, I think it’s very likely the TikTok ban signals the beginning of a new age of increased digital surveillance in this country.

At the end of the day, the Trump administration banning TikTok, in and of itself, is likely something we’ll forget in the years to come. A rival social media site will supplant it in whatever country it leaves behind, and the world will move on. I think, however, that it is the canary in the coal mine, signaling the coming of a new era in the information age. Depending on how the end of 2020 plays out, with strife amplified by the concerns of the pandemic, border skirmishes and a globally receding economy, the Tik Tok ultimatum could be the start of a much more turbulent and much more surveilled digital age worldwide.

Progressives should be heartened by a Biden cabinet Henry Mitchell Guest Columnist

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t is no secret that many progressives are not exactly enthusiastic about supporting Joe Biden in the upcoming election. To be sure, Biden has staked out a position firmly on the party’s moderate wing during his almost 50 years of public service. However, often overlooked by both the media and voters alike during the frenzied circus that is an American presidential election is the importance of presidential appointees in shaping the administration’s agenda.

In fact, Cabinet members and other executive branch appointees often exert substantial influence over executive branch policies. One need only observe the chaos wrought by Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to understand the power wielded even by less prominent appointees. But just as Trump has the ability to appoint dangerous and unqualified sycophants to the executive branch, a President Biden would be able to right many of the dangerous actions taken by Trump Cabinet members.

Fortunately for progressives, if history is any guide, many of Biden’s Cabinet appointees will be substantially more left-wing than the candidate himself. Neither of the party’s past two presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, were exactly darlings of the left. However, despite hailing from the party’s moderate wing, both appointed influential progressive figures to key Cabinet positions.

Bill Clinton was the figurehead of the “New Democrats,” a centrist faction of the Democratic Party that sought to move the party in a more moderate direction.

Despite this, many of Clinton’s Cabinet appointees were significantly to his left.

One example was Robert Reich, the Secretary of Labor during Clinton’s first term.

Reich was an early advocate of a universal basic income, and successfully pushed for a raise to the federal minimum wage while in office. Since leaving office he has been a voice for progressive labor reform and (surprise!) endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in 2016 and 2020.

Another progressive Clinton administration official was Carol Browner, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator for the entirety of his eight years in office. She was a strong advocate for reducing air pollution, and “almost single-handedly” fought against opposition from Congress and White House economic advisors to convince Clinton to significantly tighten restrictions on permissible levels of ground-level ozone. For this achievement, which led to dramatically reduced smog levels in U.S. cities, she was dubbed the “Queen of Clean Air” by Time Magazine. She was also the first EPA director to take direct action to reduce carbon emissions and has been a vocal proponent of the Green New Deal.

The Obama administration also contained prominent progressives, the most notable being Julian Castro, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

(HUD). While at HUD, Castro took significant steps to finally fully implement the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prevents discrimination in the sale or rental of homes, and made ending homlessness a top priority. Castro later ran for president on a bold progressive platform emphasizing comprehensive immigration reform before eventually endorsing Elizabeth Warren.

So, what will a Biden Cabinet look like?

It will certainly contain its fair share of moderates. But if Bill Clinton’s administration contained progressives at a time when they made up a much smaller portion of his constituency, they will likely be even more heavily represented in Biden’s Cabinet. This is evidenced by Biden’s transition team itself, which includes Julie Siegal, a senior Elizabeth Warren advisor, and Gautam Raghavan, chief of staff to Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Senator Warren herself, a leader of the progressive wing of the party, has been described as a virtual lock for a Cabinet position if she wants one. Her potential selection as Treasury Secretary would give her significant influence in the White House, with Biden “likely delegating to her primary responsibility for financial and economic policy,” according to one research firm.

While this would be cause for consternation on Wall Street, it would be a welcome change for many progressives who have been calling for increased financial regulation for years.

The opinions expressed above do not represent those of The Miscellany News as a whole.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Other potential administration officials could do much to advance the policy goals of the progressive movement without either of its preferred candidates at the top of the ticket. Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who made climate change the central issue of his 2020 presidential campaign, would be a breath of fresh air after the current EPA Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, who was a coal lobbyist before taking office. Appointing an Attorney General like Vanita Gupta, the former head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), would be a similarly welcome departure from the demagoguery of William Barr and show the Biden Justice Department’s commitment to voting rights reform and upholding civil liberties.

In sum, there is much for progressives to look forward to in a potential Biden administration. Indeed, these potential picks are evidence of the success of working within the Democratic party to achieve progressive goals rather than rejecting the party.

The successful presidential bids of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren allowed them and their staffs to influence the future Biden administration precisely because they proved they represented a substantial portion of the party’s voter base.

A progressive Cabinet member will be in a substantially better position to influence policy than a failed third-party candidate.

And, until Democrats nominate a progressive candidate, it will give the movement something to get excited about: a voice.

SPORTS

Page 14

September 10, 2020

Fears of NFL’s resistance to change loom over week one hopes Matthew Little

Guest Columnist

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s America exits a summer marked equally by protest and pandemic, many, including myself, are eager for fall and football. But just because football is back does not mean the issues the country has tackled (or perhaps more accurately, run from) have disappeared. Far from disappearing, in fact, they have infiltrated stadiums from New York to Los Angeles: the NFL, will be tested by their response this season to COVID-19 and systematic racism. Unfortunately, their plans for dealing with these issues do not inspire much confidence.

It is safe to say that training camps, scheduled team practices before the season begins, exceeded expectations for the NFL’s response to COVID-19. Despite the league’s decision to not enforce a bubble as the NBA and NHL did, the number of infections remained consistently low. With over 2,000 rostered players, there were only 20 players on the newly implemented COVID-19 exempt list as of Sept. 4. NFL teams deserve praise for their rigorous approaches to testing and restrictions that allowed training camp to complete without serious interruption. However, just as a team’s good performance in practice does not guarantee success in regulation, the NFL’s success in combating COVID-19 in training camp does not mean the season will see similar results. There are several key differences between training camp and the season itself. First and foremost, teams do not travel for training camp, but every game this season will have at least one team traveling.

Covid-19 hit baseball’s Miami Marlins hard in late July as they traveled to play games in Philadelphia. The Marlins registered 20 positive cases and despite the MLB postponing games, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned that the entire season could be in jeopardy.

Ultimately, the MLB managed to adjust.

But the NFL is a different animal. Football, unlike baseball, is a highly physical contact-sport. Any outbreak has a higher chance

of spreading to the players and support staff of opposing teams, meaning any gameday outbreak could be catastrophic to overall league health. While the NFL plans to test players and team staff throughout the season, players and coaches will not be tested on the day of a game; they are hoping a negative test the day before will suffice. It may be improbable that a player will suddenly become infectious less than 24 hours after a negative test, but it is not impossible due to the nature of this disease.

This oversight, along with an increased danger of exposure due to travel and teams lacking the same control over their players during the regular season that they had in training camps, could cause any singular outbreak to spread quickly throughout the league.

There is also the question of fans attending games this season. The majority of teams have decided against seating fans for the first few games, and the Washington Football Team has gone as far as canceling fan attendance for the entire season. However, some teams have decided to push ahead and seat thousands of fans in the middle of a pandemic for the Week One kickoff. The Jacksonville Jaguars plan to seat 17,000 (25 percent capacity), the Kansas City Chiefs want 16,000 (22 percent) and the Miami Dolphins 13,000 (20 percent). Additionally, the Dallas Cowboys have planned to seat fans without revealing the total number—but knowing the antics of owner Jerry Jones, I wouldn’t be surprised if theirs is the highest yet.

Even if social distancing and mask wearing mandates for fans are enforced, the mere fact that teams want to seat tens of thousands of people in one space is irresponsible at best.

The NFL’s oversight with testing and travel may very well cause an outbreak, but the decision by some teams to seat fans by some teams will undoubtedly lead to the spread of the virus. If the NFL truly wanted to avoid COVID-19 affecting its season, it should have chosen a bubble approach in the first place, but in lieu of that, they should at least eliminate testing gaps and enforce a league-wide

no-fan policy rather than letting individual teams and states decide for themselves. We have seen a similar patchwork of local-level policies fail to curtail the pandemic for the country as a whole, so this lack of initiative on the NFL’s part is frightening.

The NFL’s response to the American conversation on systemic racism and injustice is similarly lacking. During a summer of outrage and protest, the NFL decided to commit $250 million over ten years to combating racial injustice. They also chose to allow players to wear decals honoring victims of systematic racism, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, throughout the season, in addition to stenciling “It takes all of us” and “End Racism” into the endzones and playing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” for every Week One game. Although it is nice to see the NFL finally acknowledge systematic racism, these efforts are too little and too late, especially for a league with such an infamous history of hostile responses to player protest concerning systemic racism: The league voted to ban players and team staff from kneeling during the national anthem in 2019 after allegedly blacklisting Colin Kaepernick over his kneeling. Consequently, many players have voiced frustration that the NFL appears content to adopt token anti-racism measures over anything substantial. Former NFL superstar and hall-of-famer Ed Reed, upon hearing of the league’s plan to address systemic racism, remarked, “We’ve been knowing these messages…what are we really doing?” Many current NFL players agree with Reed: in response to NBA players boycotting games after Jacob Blake’s shooting, New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley and receiver Sterling Shepard announced that the Giants had not ruled out a boycott during the season. Finally, while donating $250 million is a good step, like the league’s other efforts, it is just the bare minimum of what should be expected.

In fact, for each team, it comes down to less than $200 thousand more than the league minimum salary for one player per year.

These are pennies in the NFL’s deep pockets.

The NFL’s reluctance to support social change could further harm its image and profits among more socially conscious fans should it fail to respond mindfully to players. If nothing else, the NFL has proven that profit is its main motivator, so hopefully this is putting things in terms they will understand.

Considering that there are only two nonwhite and no Black team owners, it remains to be seen if the NFL and its franchises have the will or capacity to do anything beyond paying lip service to anti-racist efforts. For the sake of the NFL I hope to be proven wrong.

However, like its COVID-19 guidelines, the NFL’s anti-racism plan continues to raise more doubts than reassurances.

Should worse come to worst, it will be increasingly difficult for Americans who believe in the virtues of science and equality to support the National Football League.

Like the rest of the country, the NFL is facing a crossroads. With the disparate political leanings of its fanbase, the NFL can choose to double down on its facade of a “patriotism” that excludes minorities and bemoans peaceful protest, much like our president has, or take substantive steps towards the correct side of history while maintaining a large chunk of their fanbase. Even if they make the right decision, be wary; their lust for profit at the expense of their players’ and fans’ health has revealed what their true incentives are.

Courtesy of Michael Zagaris.

Forced to adapt, coaches weigh in on COVID-19 changes Jackie Molloy

Assistant Sports Editor

O

n July 22, Vassar announced that athletic teams would not be participating in any intercollegiate competitions through December 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The news was bittersweet for coaches and athletes alike. “It was a painful combination of sorrow and relief,” Cross Country Head Coach James McCowan acknowledged via email. “I was sad for my students who worked so hard, for our seniors who would miss their final season, and disappointed to not be able to provide the same kind of experience. I was relieved as I knew it was the right thing to do, and the safest call for our students.”

Although athletes will not return to competition this fall, they may now practice and train with their teams as Vassar enters Phase 2 of the return to campus plan. VassarTogether, a website that outlines the College’s plan for preventing their own COVID-19 outbreak, states that Phase 2 will allow “varsity athletic teams to begin non-contact practices with a focus on small group work/ instruction maintaining a minimum of six feet of distance at all times. Teams with larger rosters will subdivide practices into smaller groups. All practices will be supervised by coaches to ensure all appropriate health and safety protocols are followed.” But what exactly will this look like for teams?

For baseball, tennis and other low-con-

tact sports, the return to play will be similar to a pre-COVID practice. Baseball Head Coach Matthew Righter wrote that the team will be split into groups of 10 or fewer for the first few weeks, but that he’s hopeful for some semblance of intrasquad competition to begin between weeks four and six. While he and the team have managed to maintain a positive outlook, he acknowledged the disappointment inherent in a canceled season.

Luckily, Righter is no stranger to a good morale booster—last spring, he organized Zoom calls with professional players and managers for his own players. “The players got to ask questions and get to know the people,” Righter recalled, adding, “I think everyone really enjoyed those discussions!”

On the other hand, high-contact sports such as soccer and basketball are likely to move to more individualized drills and fewer full-team scrimmages. “We’re all having to be very creative and adaptable during this time. We are working hard to ensure everyone’s safety while adapting drills, and activities to be fun and competitive,” explained women’s soccer Head Coach Corey Holton via email. The soccer team will continue to participate in the Zoom calls they began in the spring and transition to small, socially-distanced training sessions. Despite their imminent reunion, the aftermath of losing a season still hit hard for the women’s soccer team. “As with any loss, the players are ex-

periencing a myriad of emotions,” admitted Holton. “Each player is processing the loss of the competitive season differently. As we move through this time, we are supporting one another as best as possible.”

Cross Country, a sport that doesn’t fit neatly into either contact-based category, faces unique challenges. When discussing plans for practices, McCowan emphasized safety above all else, stressing the importance of keeping six feet apart and wearing masks. “Cross Country runners are used to covering ground, so it’s an adjustment to be in a small space,” he said, referencing the guidelines that prevent students from venturing off campus. Members of the Cross Country team will at least be able to use the Vassar Farm and ecological preserve as another practice space.

Yet practice is only one aspect of a changing athletic landscape. Strength and conditioning has moved from the basement of Kenyon to outside the newly constructed storage building in the Prentiss Sports Complex. For the Fitness Center and Pool, once open to all students, use will be by appointment only.

Vassar College will reevaluate whether to resume intercollegiate competition next year at an appropriate time, and will take into consideration the state of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the NCAA and Liberty League decisions. Campus and community

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

safety will be the most important determinants for a normal return to play, possibly including a partial winter season. Social distancing standards and group-size limits during and outside of practice will have to be acknowledged and imposed by coaches.

The difficulty of maintaining these rules— and at the same time still trying to plan an efficient and fun practice—will be felt by all coaches this fall.

Coaches this semester are tasked with managing their own reactions to disruptions in the athletic community, as well as adhering to the needs of their teams. McCowan described how identifying core values is important in uniting a team in these uncertain times: “We can still continue to develop and grow as athletes, as people, as a community, and that is what we will be focusing on doing.” Righter posited that “Perhaps all of this will help people become more compassionate overall and help to use skills such as empathy and patience when we are put in a tough spot moving forward.”

In any case, this fall will answer another question plaguing athletes and coaches across the country: What does it mean to be a team without competing? The uncertainty we all face both eagerly and fearfully can be summed up simply by a line from Coach McCowan: “In terms of what it means to live, train and race post pandemic, only the future will show!”

September 10, 2020

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Page 15

Athletes critique harmful sports culture, lack of sanction [CW: mentions of sexual misconduct, sexual violence, racism, transphobia and discrimination.]

This article was co-written by five current and former Vassar student-athletes: Claire Basler-Chang (volleyball), Lena Stevens (formerly volleyball), Reis Kissel (soccer), Liam Condon (squash) and Kai Mawougbe (track and field).

Culture and Standards As discussed in the prior sections regarding athlete privilege, athletes are supposedly held to a “higher standard.”

Coaches and other athletic department staff often use this expression during trainings, meetings, practices and games, and it is accepted and often internalized by student-athletes. But what is this “higher standard” that the athletic community claims to abide by? In athletics, an individual has the power to represent the whole.

Consider this example: A soccer player from Vassar swears at a referee on the pitch. The opposing team, fans and said referee will now view Vassar Athletics in a negative light, even though the actions of the individual may not necessarily represent the values of the rest of the Athletic Department. Due to the responsibility of being an athlete, our behavior is put under a microscope. Thus, each athlete’s attitude, respectfulness, mindfulness, kindness and other attributes/characteristics must be especially well-mannered because they represent more than just themselves.

We would argue that because athletes most frequently represent Vassar when they depart campus for games and other team events, they should indeed hold themselves and their actions to high standards of respect. Unfortunately, off campus is where “higher standards” are primarily enforced and enacted. In reality, for many athletes, these standards become twisted and manipulated into a culture that allows greater athlete privilege, leeway, freedoms and entitlement when on campus. In other words, Vassar Athletics’ attempt to hold athletes to a “higher standard” in practice translates to athletes facing a separate system of accountability than other students; one which is deeply flawed.

What are these “higher standards,” how do they get manipulated into a harmful culture, and how does this translate into a separate system of accountability?

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Buzz Bissinger articulates the phenomenon of athlete privilege and its many faces in an excellent editorial titled “The Boys in the Clubhouse.” Elements of the culture within Vassar Athletics are analogous and at times almost identical to the themes Bissinger examines.

When discussing a year spent with the St. Louis Cardinals, Bissinger illustrates how he was struck by the cocoon of insularity and extreme pampering seen throughout the team’s clubhouse. He says, “Sadly, and too often with tragic repercussions, athletes don’t distinguish right from wrong because they actually have no idea of what is right and what is wrong.

Rules don’t apply. Acceptable standards of behavior don’t apply. Little infractions become bigger ones, and adults turn a blind eye. If someone gets into trouble, the first move is for an authority figure, usually in the form of a coach, to get them out of it. When that doesn’t work, whether they’re high school quarterbacks or proball pitchers, one of two things happens.

Sometimes, especially at the high school level, the community rallies around the

accused, wanting to believe that ‘boys will be boys.’ … If and when the tide turns against players, they are immediately cast as bad apples, single exceptions to an otherwise acceptable moral status quo...We don’t want to admit that in all these stories, it’s not about the individual, or the individual sport, but about the culture we have allowed to grow around them (The New York Times, “The Boys in the Clubhouse,” 10.18.2014).”

The specific examples from professional sports are far removed from a Division III school like Vassar, but the prevailing themes still remain: atmospheres of willful ignorance; the prioritization of victory, reputation and economic well-being over morals, ethics and justice; lack of personal accountability in the face of a severe transgression (meaning: modest to no punishment or disciplinary action); deflection of blame; and many others. These systems of accountability and privilege are inextricably linked, giving athletes special rights and advantages that other members of the Vassar community do not have.

There are connections that can be drawn. First, athletes are held to a supposed higher standard. This standard gives athletes a separate system of accountability for when they commit a transgression.

This “system of accountability” includes more than just the individual athlete; because the reputation and economic well-being of the other members of the team, coaching staff, athletic administration, and the entire institution are threatened, it is within the best interest of all parties involved (excluding the victim), to use their institutional power to give preferential treatment to the alleged assailant. This “preferential treatment” can be equated to privilege. Privilege, as defined

by Merriam-Webster, is a “right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor.” This right or immunity can be attached specifically to a group of people (i.e., Vassar athletes), as well as assigning a “higher value” or “superior position” to one mode of discourse over another. For example, an athlete accused of sexual misconduct has multiple layers of protection coming from the coaching staff, athletic administration and the school itself, while a non-student-athlete generally only has oneself and their individual resources. In other words, the way in which a sexual misconduct case would be approached and dealt with for a student-athlete is drastically different for a non-athlete. What happens when Vassar athletes are treated in such a way where acceptable standards of behavior do not apply? The recent submissions to the Instagram accounts @vassarsurvivors and @blackatvassar, where survivors of sexual violence and antiblack racism may anonymously submit their stories, demonstrates how apodictic this culture is; student-athletes are featured frequently as perpetrators of violence.

Moreover, white male athletes appear to be the predominantly featured assailants. Whether the athlete is conscious of the consequences of their actions or not, this privilege creates a culture of harm in which those who are outside of the athlete bubble are subject to the indubitable violence of Vassar Athletics.

We understand that painting the entire athletics community with a single brush stroke is an oversimplification and is unproductive when engaging in constructive dialogue that promotes meaningful change. However, the harmful cultures created by systems of privilege and in-

justice that have remained for years in Vassar Athletics exists, and, in turn, has marked the entire athletics community with a reputation of toxicity. Whether you have committed an injustice, remained complicit or are actively fighting existing systems, this reputation includes all of us. Although not intended, this is part of all our identities. The aperture between positive intentions and positive impact on the BIPOC community at Vassar is cavernous and continues to expand. The loud silence that the Vassar community has felt from the Athletic Department regarding the events that took place this summer— the email sent to President Bradley from members of Men’s Baseball, the Vassar Insider article, COVID-19 fall planning— have left people confused, concerned and deflated. Not once were student-athletes asked about whether or not they felt safe competing in the fall, and not once were they asked for input on how to safely participate in competition during a global pandemic, a failure of communication that resulted in many athletes believing they would be faced with the possibility of deciding whether to put themselves and others at risk by competing or quit their teams. After advocating for safety, inclusion and anti-racism initiatives, the silence from the Athletic Department makes it appear that they are falling short of their proposed goals. By ignoring clear trends of harm within Vassar Athletics, the Athletic Department has enabled athletes, especially white athletes, to ignore and dismiss the impact of their actions and perpetuate a harmful culture.

What does a harmful culture entail?

Culture encompasses a myriad of elements, some of which are highly visible, while other aspects are mostly unconscious, even instinctive. A culture of whiteness and homogeneity has developed within the Athletics Department, in which rape culture, sexism, misogyny, racism, toxic masculinity and classism have found ways to flourish. Members of the athletic community have not proactively analyzed these norms to the extent where tangible steps in uprooting this behavior from campus can be taken. Although harm may be enacted by few, silence enables the culture to thrive. Examples of behavior by coaches and athletes that have shaped this toxic culture include, but are not limited to, the tolerance of sexual harassment within the “hush-hush” attitude when a teammate is accused of sexual misconduct (where dialogue towards anything related to the perpetrator and their alleged sexual crime is frowned upon); objectifying and degrading others at sports-affiliated TA or TH parties; and shrugging off a teammate saying the N-word in the locker room because it was in a song.

To provide a more detailed example of the manifestation of this culture, we will share a recent example of an incident from a current team at Vassar, while using no names, ages, identities or any other specific information in order to protect the anonymity of the involved parties.

A player was involved in a sexual misconduct case, and their teammates were made aware of this by a coach during a team meeting prior to their season. The story was brief and was presented by the coach as being highly off the record and classified. The information was presented surreptitiously—too surreptitiously to be objective. Any team member who brought up this information would be socially outcast within the team environment and

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

subject to unknown backlash. The discussion concluded with “advice” given from the coach cautioning his players about how to interact with women, because people “are out to get you.” Rather than promoting consent and care, the coach maintained patriarchal views of assault, telling his players to proceed with caution because of potential consequences instead of centering the safety and well-being of the people his players were interacting with. While the language of the Student Athlete Handbook prevents coaches from administering athletic-based punishment or evaluation when a player is involved in a Title IX case, there is no legal barrier to condemning sexual violence. Coaches need to consistently reevaluate their team culture, habits and norms. This thinly disguised misogyny centers the assailant, which, although not explicitly stated by the coach, further supports and feeds into the cultural norms and institutions that protect perpetrators of violence. This promotes a vicious cycle of impunity, shaming and blaming victims, and teaching men how to avoid “catching a case” rather than teaching men not to rape. This “advice” further suggests to the group of athletes that it is okay to tolerate sexual violence, because it is framed in a way that encourages the rest of the team to protect the perpetrator’s feelings and suggests consequences for speaking of their crime. Clearly, these issues are not being approached properly.

What is the best way to approach these issues? A great place to start would be to integrate a proactive educational approach on sexual assault prevention (which evidently needs to be more effective than the current workshops for athletes). This could integrate a combination of education (including unlearning accumulated inner-biases or preconceptions), non-judgmental discourse, accountability for prior complacency, forgoing the discriminative nature of a heteronormative approach and other forms of prevention strategies into practice sessions. However, the discussion of sexual violence should not end within the confines of practice; these discussions should become the new norm within the team environment, which could hopefully create a domino effect in which first an individual, then a full team, then the entire Athletics Department can actively fight against sexual violence in all other aspects of their lives.

Ultimately, by examining the actions and inactions of the Athletics Department, we can see the process of the maintenance, and arguably promotion, of harmful cultures that student-athletes, coaches and administration perpetuate. The obvious insular, self-segregating nature of athletics is not the fault of one individual, a group of individuals, or frankly, even an entire team. Although it would be easy to scapegoat a few teams, we must instead think about the ideological conditions that led up to the manifestation of this culture, how these standards are backed by systems of power and what can be done to dismantle them. The current athletic culture is a product of policy and culture seen on all levels of Vassar Athletics, which, time and time again, has enabled the perpetuation of white privilege, athlete privilege, sexual misconduct, and ignorance.

This article is the second of a four-part series on community and institutional failures in Vassar’s Athletics Department. Click here to read the full version of this piece.

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September 10, 2020

‘The bubble resumed once more’: the NBA’s take on police brutality Dean Kopitsky Sports Editor

T

he Los Angeles Clippers stopped warming up just minutes before tip-off of Game 5 of the 2014 conference semifinals. With the glossy spotlights of the Staples Center spilling down upon them, they huddled around the ball rack. All at once, they unbuttoned their blue warm-up jackets which they tossed into a heap on the ground, revealing red long-sleeves flipped inside out to mask the Clippers name and insignia. They then finished warming up and played ball.

The act of protest was directed towards team owner Donald Sterling, although obliquely so. Days prior, a now infamous phone call revealed Sterling’s racist outburst against his girlfriend for appearing in a picture with Laker great Magic Johnson.

A half decade later, the Sterling affair triggers a small blip on the things-to-be-outraged-at radar. Every other week another tenet of democracy falls, another 10,000 succumb to COVID-19, another video of a Black man’s murder is tumbled carelessly across the 24-hour news cycle.

It was under this national duress that the NBA formed a quarantine bubble in Orlando, where all of this season’s games would be held. But even from inside the bubble, the league wanted to call attention to the movement unfolding across the rest of the country. Black Lives Matter was inscribed on the floor of every arena in Disney World. Players could also choose to print a slogan related to civil rights on their jerseys. “We can be very vocal and use our platform to help this movement,” said Lakers coach Frank Vogel.

When Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha, Wisconsin police officer, in a strange turn of events, the league was at the whim of the players. Sure the players want to fight for a championship, and sure, they stand to lose major salary cap if they don’t finish the season, but the owners were the ones who had the league airlifted to Orlando to save their massive TV deals. These empowered players were in their literal display case at Disney with the outside world looking in on them saying,

“won’t you do something?”

When reading about the actions taken by the NBA, I thought back to a protest I attended in high school—one that faced considerably less resistance. After the shooting at Marjory-Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, students at my school staged a walkout alongside students everywhere in America. The day of, I was lost in a statistics worksheet when my teacher caught my attention. Her eyes gestured toward the door, urging me to walk out of class. I did.

At the demonstration, our principal commended us for our actions. We knew no one was going to penalize us for skipping class.

The school’s institutional endorsement of our protest felt to me like our message was disempowered. I’ve always wondered since, if my classmates and I had pushed harder, gone outside the lines, maybe we would’ve accomplished something more than a pat on the back.

The NBA’s protest begs the same question. Of the 29 slogans players could choose from, not one mentioned police brutality by name. NBA players could write “equality,” “freedom” or “peace” on the back of their jerseys. The word “equality” is not remotely controversial, which makes it a perfectly empty place to start a conversation about police brutality, racism or any form of systemic oppression. This is why words like it were picked for the players to wear. Disagree with “equality” or “freedom” and you tell on yourself for being racist, which no one in America thinks they are because no one wants to have an honest conversation about race and why people actually have unequal opportunities in the first place. The cycle continues.

Even when players and the NBA display phrases like “Black Lives Matter” and “I can’t breathe,” the full significance of the protest is conveniently distilled—the phrases are only signifiers of the whole conversation.

The special power of the phrase “Black Lives Matter” is that it doesn’t feed into notions of formal equality—it highlights the Black experience. The slogan is an ostensibly obvious statement that begins, not ends, a conversation because its connotations are curiously controversial. The impact of pow-

erful Black men using their platform to tell Black people they matter should not be discounted. But despite the fact that it succeeds in bringing visibility, the moment I saw the bolded black letters of “Black Lives Matter’’ in plain sight of TV cameras, neatly filling space between advertisements for multinational corporations, I thought back to my school’s lukewarm protest. Networks that air games from the bubble aren’t interested in having a discussion on civil rights, so they pat the league on the back. The cycle continues.

Every year on Martin Luther King day, the NBA schedules a set of marquee matchups -prime time. During pauses in the game and commercial breaks, players deliver reflections on the civil rights leader’s legacy and hopes for “equality” in the “future.” Teams get customizable MLK jerseys to rock, which they boast on social media. The stars in the league wear specialty MLK editions of their signature shoes. The excess and profiteering seen here is a very American way to commemorate a man, a self-professed Democratic Socialist, who was once the most hated person in the country.

But of course it’s this way. Wouldn’t it be off if instead, they replayed some of his anti-war speeches or highlighted the Poor People’s Campaign? Like the rest of the country, we remember him for his mercurial dream—the idealized thing that dances just out of arm’s reach. As long as the players co-signed their well-manicured press statement, the league’s progressive bonafides wouldn’t be critically interrogated. And we learn that dismantling racism only happens in dreams. The cycle continues.

In the most recent iteration of “in an unprecedented move,” The Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott their game last Wednesday night against the Orlando Magic. The shooting was especially important to the Bucks because it took place locally. “We shouldn’t have even come to this damn place to be honest,” said Bucks guard George Hill.

The next day, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Clippers—who once shrank from the moment and made a Quibi movie about it six years later—voted to vacate the playoffs

The Throwback Crossword ACROSS 1. Troy, N.Y. sch.

4. Alfred Neuman’s mag.

7. It may be Solo 10. Baby bear 13. Singer Garfunkel 14. Deuce follower 16. ____ mater 17. Sugar suffix 18. Way off 19. “Meh” 20. Salsas and swims 21. “To see,” si?

22. “Stop!”

24. Messrs. Draper and

Sterling, say 26. Iso_____ (certain map feature) 28. Author Wharton 29. Put back to work 30. Electrolyte component 31. Photographer Dorothea _____ 32. NYP’s upstairs neighbor 33. “To have” in Rio 34. Film awards org.

36. Archaeology’s department 41. Pothead’s delight?

Answer to last week’s puzzle

44. O.G./M.D.?

46. Above, poetically 47. PA port city 48. Wilder’s “___ Town” 49. Chinese prefix 51. “____ Jail” 53. Biofuel? (Abbr.)

54. Opening 56. “Science Guy” Bill 57. Doze 58. Trap 59. Midsummer T-shirt, perhaps 61. - (abbr.)

63. “Duck Hunt” console 64. Swiss peak 67. Difficulty 71. Feathery accessory 72. Mike Bloomberg, for one 74. Gin flavorer 75. Grant 77. Languor 78. See 68-down 79. ___ alai 80. Queen of Scots 82. Cross inscription 84. “You ___ my fire” 85. Piercing tool 86. “Casablanca” femme 87. “Outer” prefix 88. “Closer” group 89. Dorm authority

entirely. The bubble popped.

What I take from Hill’s quote is an assessment of the bubble that is the very physical realization of the limitations of protest and sports. A player’s agency is usually inversely entrenched in their pocketbook. The NBA is a league, like all other leagues, where players are expected to be everything and nothing to fans: Be their heroes. Be their entertainers. Fight for something as long as that thing is a perfectly inoffensive platitude.

Hill and others realized that they couldn’t protest and play ball, so they chose to sit out.

Then, after two days of heated debate in a ballroom on the Disney campus, in which LeBron James stormed out, Patrick Beverly screamed at someone, unsurprisingly, and Dwight Howard did more or less, nothing, the players emerged with a plan to turn arenas into voting sites, an idea that James apparently got from Obama, and a promise from the owners to invest $300 million dollars over ten years in economic growth in the Black community—mind you the least valuable team in the league, the Grizzlies, is worth $1.3 billion alone. And like nothing had happened, the bubble resumed once more.

Should we have expected anything more?

You only need to look at the coverage of the boycott to get that answer. I know I got notifications celebrating the return to play like it was the main issue. Sports media didn’t think we could handle a pause to talk about police brutality for more than two days. Like a lot of protests in sports, the boycott was the fleeting subject. It’s will Kaepernick stand, it’s will Rapinoe visit the White House, it’s “I agree that black lives matter but why do they loot, wait what were they protesting again?”

In recent memory, protest in sport hasn’t amounted to significant change. Whether that is because of the opioid-like escapist nature of sports, or due to limitations players face as employees for a league that looks for any reason to cut them, for now the cycle will continue. Empty praise for dulled protest. The Clippers turned their jerseys inside out, the Bucks took them off. What would happen if the players decided to burn them next time?

September 4, 2010 by Jonathan Garfinkel

figures 90. Evil Empire fighters 91. Sunset time, to Shakespeare 92. Mar-Nov adjusment DOWN 1. Ace Nadal 2. Russian daily 3. Broadway-7th Ave. line 4. Where the puzzlemaster’s title may be found 5. Fuss 6. Render safe 7. Continuum 8. “Blue!”, briefly 9. Sticky stripper accoutrements 10. Witch’s circle 11. Operator 12. Man made ridge 15. Con necting points 16. Some refreshments 23. Tour de France divisions (abbr.)

25. Hold up in the street 27. It may be beat after death, idiomatically 33. A clan’s colors 35. Does as one might in the Mug 36. Certain machine bit

37. “Notion” group Kings of ____ 38. Modern Persia 39. Use as evidence 40. Lucky one in Lyon 41. Throw 42. Big name in TV online 43. Blood foe, perhaps 45. Musician accompanying “Lord of the Rings” 50. Logophile’s bible, perhaps (abbr.)

52. Children’s game with a Charley horse and a bread basket 55. Pavarotti for one 60. Let back in 62. Ubiquitous pizzeria namesake 64. “Atlas Shrugged” author Rand 65. When repeated, a Richard Berry rock standard 66. Machiavellian title subject

68. With 78-across, this puzzlemaker’s favorite 69. King of the Egyptian afterlife 70. Of late 71. Gets outta there 72. Cause for an “It’s European!!”, slangily 73. Actress/athlete Major of Apple’s “1984” ad 75. Open 76. “Hoagiefest” chain 81. “The Greatest” 83. Path, briefly