The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com
December 2, 2010
Volume CXLIV | Issue 10
Plans for sciences progress
Alternative space expected in January Joseph Rearick Reporter
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College plans for enhanced interdisciplinary opportunities Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News
Molly Turpin
Editor in Chief
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On the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 23, a student was sexually assaulted in the computer room of an unspecified dormitory. Security apprehended the suspect on Sunday.
Suspect in assault case apprehended by Security Aashim Usgaonkar
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News Editor
he Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department arrested the prime suspect in a sexual assault case that occurred on campus before Thanksgiving break on Sunday, Nov. 18. “A student in Main House reported a suspicious individual to the [Campus Response Center], and we found him after a brief
chase,” said Director of Safety and Security Don Marsala. The man was reported to the Police Department, which responded and arrested the individual, against whom they already had an “outstanding warrant.” The assault—which was made public by Marsala in an all-campus advisory e-mail dated Wednesday, Nov. 24—took See ASSAULT on page 4
‘Angels’ graces Powerhouse Theater Shruti Manian Reporter
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Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News
The Drama Department is staging Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America: Perestroika” from Dec. 2-4 in the Powerhouse Theater. the play is their semester’s headline production.
Inside this issue
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NEWS
s soon as January, Vassar students could have a new, alcohol-free hangout spot at their disposal. For the past few months, the College administration and the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council have been investigating options for the creation of a venue that would provide a relaxed environment for students to use on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. This space would alleviate the absence of spaces on campus that are not used by student organizations for specific programming, and provide an alternative to the drinking culture that precedes many all-campus events. Many students requested a space that would be consistently
available for relaxed recreation as opposed to the programmed parties and performances that take place in the Students’ Building and the Villard Room. That interest coincided with a rash of alcohol-related hospitalizations in the first weeks of school, which many students described as the result of intensive drinking prior to all-College parties, or “pre-gaming.” The idea for the space came about as the result of the Town Hall meetings that Dean of the College Christopher Roellke and President of the College Catharine Bond Hill conducted in the first month of the school year in residential houses across campus. Roellke and Hill created a committee in order to produce a consistently un-programmed space See SPACE on page 4
Students, faculty debate laptop use in class
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FEATURES
Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News
he plans for a new integrated science center are nearing completion as the College hopes to break ground for the new and renovated facilities in the summer of 2013. The current plan proposes a group of buildings that integrate the psychology, biology, chemistry, physics and computer science departments as well as spaces for other programs to use. The current plans, designed by Ennead Architects, calls for the construction of a large “bridge” building for laboratory space over the Fonteynkill between Olmsted Hall and Skinner Hall of Music as well as for renovations of New England Building, Sanders Physics and Olmsted. The renovation of New England and its dedication to the psychology department represents a change in space and cost from earlier iterations of the project, which included a significant, and more expensive, addition onto the back of Sanders Physics. The bridge building itself is slated for LEED Gold certification
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
ony Kushner’s iconic play “Angels in America: Perestroika,” is the toast of Broadway this week. But Vassar students are lucky enough to get to watch this illustrious play without the pain or expense of a twohour-long train ride to New York City. Vassar’s Drama Department brings “Angels in America: Perestroika,” their semester’s headline production, to be performed on Dec. 2, 3 and 4 in the Powerhouse Theater at 8 p.m. Undertaking the phenomenal task of recreating such a widely acclaimed play as “Angels in America,” also a much-applauded HBO miniseries, is a daunting challenge. But it is one that the Drama Department and students are more than willing to accept: “The challenge was to make our production different. Our production reflects our interpretations and we delve into the text and bring out so many minute details,” said Meredith Mueller ’11, the stage manager. The play is complex in both its storyline and the socio-cultural See ANGELS on page 16
Cooking with Challah for Hunger
The Aula, pictured above, and the Student’s Building are the two leading candidates for the alternative space. The space will most likely open early in 2011.
Use of ‘study drugs’ called into question Mitchell Gilburne
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Features Editor
he 21st century has seen numerous advances in the fields of psychology and medicine. Perhaps most definitive of the last decade of progress has been the rise to prominence of focus-enhancing medications such as Ritalin and Adderall for the treatment of the attention deficit disorder and other learning differences. In addition to the debates that have sprung up around today’s medicated youth, focus-enhancing drugs have developed an alternative, unofficial use as study aids. The popularity of such “study drugs” has risen to such a degree that they have become a key blip on the radar of academic culture in both second-
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ary schools and institutions of higher learning. In the wake of the recent, ultimately unsuccessful but thought provoking nonetheless, crusade of Wesleyan University senior, Bradley Spahn, to classify the use of study drugs as cheating, the highest of academic offenses, and the swiftly approaching study period that characterizes the semester’s end, it is perhaps time to consider the prevalence and ethics behind the use and abuse of study drugs at Vassar. However, when it comes to dialogues concerning the abuse of study drugs, the College has been relatively silent. Is this rapidly popularizing culture truly so discreet, or does the abuse of study See ADDERALL on page 5
A Miscellany guide to holiday events