The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
Volume CLI | Issue 8
November 1, 2018
Davi hosts Halloween festival
Rally broadens sexual assault conversation Jessica Moss COPY EDITOR
Ariana Gravinese GUEST REPORTER
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Chair of Academics May Venkat ’20 kicks off the academics forum held on Sunday, Oct. 28. At the meeting, Professors Bjork, Chenette and Garrett answered students’ questions regarding the forthcoming curricular rebalance.
[CW: This article makes mention of sexual violence.] [Editor’s Note: Due to the highly personal nature of this event, The Miscellany News chose not to report on the specifics of what speakers shared during the rally. All quotes in this article are from interviews.] n Thursday, Oct. 25, Vassar students gathered in the College Center Circle for the third annual Take Back the Night rally. Women’s Center organizers intentionally scheduled the event at the beginning of Halloweekend due to the correlation between intoxication and increased rates of sexual assault. Take Back the Night is an inter-
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national organization committed to reducing relationship abuse and sexual assault worldwide. The on-campus rally is a yearly component of the organization’s programming brought to Vassar in 2016 by Darci Siegel ’20, who was a Women’s Center Intern at the time. This year, current Women’s Center Intern Cecilia Bobbitt ’19 organized the Take Back the Night event. This year’s rally followed a similar trajectory to those of years past. It began with tabling by the Sexual Assault and Violence Prevention Office (SAVP), CHOICE, Vassar Voices for Planned Parenthood, Health Education, VSA Health and Wellness, Big Night In, Project.Period and the TradiSee RALLY on page 3
VSA, admins present XC teams fall short in Rebalanced Curriculum League Championship Noah Purdy and Charlotte Varcoe-Wolfson CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
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s students anticipate adding a new crop of classes for the spring semester during pre-registration next week, the College is looking further ahead at bigger changes to the curriculum. In October of 2016, the faculty passed the so-called “2-2-1,” or “dash-1,” policy, aiming to address overload on the part of both faculty and students and to streamline the curriculum on the whole. Because departments cannot add
faculty tracks on their own to alleviate overload, the professors who proposed the plan instead addressed the issue in the context of the curriculum. The initial solution was to change professors’ course loads, with faculty teaching two courses each semester plus one additional course, the titular “dash-1,” instead of three during one semester and two the next. Since passing the policy, the faculty and administrators involved in designing the new cur-
Courtesy of Joe Clifford
See HALLOWEEN on page 11
Courtesy of Yijia Hu
alloweekend is a magical time not only for Vassar students, but also for children in the community. One of the events that connected the College to the larger Poughkeepsie area this season was Davison House’s Halloween Fest, which took place on Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Walker Field House. The Town of Poughkeepsie Parks and Recreation Department initiated the Halloween Fest 12 years ago, and former Davison House Fellow and Associate Professor of Education Colette Cann became involved a few years later. Cann, along with her House Fellow Intern team and the Good Neighbors Partnership (a committee that provides grants to Vassar students, staff and faculty who collaborate with the local community), made Halloween Fest a Davison House tradition. This year, Davison House’s new House Fellows, Maritza Del Razo and Assistant Professor of Education Jaime Del Razo, continued the ritual with support from local businesses and the Town of Poughkeepsie Parks and Recreation. Davison House Fellow Interns (HFIs) Brenna Douthitt ’20 and Kevin Fernandez ’20 took the lead in organizing the event, alongside their colleagues on house team Thuy Le ’21 and Lorice Rodney
See CURRICULUM on page 4
Event to highlight female scholar Abby Tarwater REPORTER
Courtesy of Tamar Thibodeau/ Vassar College
On Nov. 9, honoring Vassar’s history and the library’s iconic stainedglass window, the Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library will feature a celebration of the first woman to earn a doctorate.
Inside this issue
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ARTS
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
WoCo program reflects mission, lifts up female musicians
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erhaps the most memorable moment of any Vassar tour is when the guide brings visitors into the Thompson Memorial Library to see the stunning central stainedglass window depicting Lady Elena Cornaro Piscopia, the first woman to earn a doctorate in European history, defending her thesis to an enraptured audience of formerly skeptical male scholars. However, even students who pass by the window on a daily basis may be unaware of the story of the central figure depicted in this iconic emblem of Vassar’s campus. On Friday, Nov. 9, the Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library will present a celSee CORNARO on page 7
Identical or fraternal, twin bond proves FEATURES eternal
Sophomore Peter Ferreter led the way for the men’s cross country team in the Liberty League Championships on Oct. 27., finishing 21st overall en route to a fifth-place result for Vassar. Daniel Bonfiglio GUEST REPORTER
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layoff time is here. This Saturday, Oct. 27, the Vassar men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the Liberty League Championships in Potsdam, NY, both programs bidding for their first league titles. While neither program ultimately brought home the championship, the men’s and women’s teams finished fifth and third respectively, each boasting strong individual performances and impressive teamwork indicative of
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the groups’ positive team culture and unity. The men’s team had hoped for better than a fifth-place finish. Head Coach James McCowan said: “The men’s race went a bit flat for us, and we didn’t finish as high up as we would have liked. From what we could see it looked like everyone was engaged and racing tough, we just didn’t quite get out well enough in the first two miles to be in range to close down on our rivals.” Yet even in disappointment, See CROSS COUNTRY on page 18
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