The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com
February 17, 2011
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CXLIV | Issue 15
Faculty host teach-in on Egyptian protests Joey Rearick Reporter
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ust hours after Hosni Mubarak resigned the presidency of Egypt after three decades in power, hundreds of students gathered to participate in a teach-in about the struggle for democratic reform fomenting across the Middle East. Led by a panel of experts that included Vassar faculty and distinguished guests—the gathering on Friday, Feb. 11 was an optimistic celebration of solidarity with the popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Hosted in the packed Spitzer Auditorium in the Sanders Classroom building, the teach-in represented the culmination of extensive collaboration between several academic departments and student organizations. Nine departments, ranging from Africana Studies to Education, were attached to the project in some way, and just as many student clubs
helped plan programming and publicize the event. This widespread communal involvement helped explain the unexpectedly high attendance, which had students sitting against walls and in aisles just to be a part of the moment. The event started with a presentation with several students reading passages from a blog written by Professor at American University of Cairo Dina Bassiouny, a close friend to Assistant Professor of Education Maria Hantzopoulos, who coordinated the event. Bassiouny had been writing movingly of the massive protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for more than two weeks, posting updates about the revolution faithfully since the event started getting attention in national and international media. As students recited her work, the audience gleaned compelling details about the See TEACH-IN on page 4
The Higher Education Research Institute Faculty Survey indicates that in 2008, Vassar faculty spent 41.9 percent more time in committee work than they spent in 2005. This data emerges in the context of a re-evaluation of the College’s Governance.
Dallas Robinson/The Miscellany News
HERI survey raises questions Faculty indicate more time in committees Molly Turpin, Editor in Chief Angela Aiuto, Senior Editor
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ecent data from the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) Faculty survey indicating that Vassar faculty may be spending more time than ever in committee and administrative work raises as many questions as it answers. The emerging data fits squarely within a
Vassar considers image
larger discussion and review of the College’s committee structure and of its Governance as a whole. The survey, which is conducted every three years, demonstrates that between 2004-2005 and 2007-2008, the amount of time faculty spent weekly on committee work on average rose from 3.32 to 4.71 hours, a change of 41.9 percent. The increase
Emma Daniels Reporter
Mary Huber
Features Editor
s students, we are all intimately familiar with what it means to go to Vassar. Vassar students are privileged in that they get to experience the College first hand. From the rigor of the College’s academics to the timbre of its social life, members of Vassar’s distinct community are among the few who can say with confidence that they truly “know” Vassar. For the world at large, Vassar’s identity is comprised of the information that is produced and distributed primarily by the College’s Admissions and Communications Offices. Now, in Vassar’s sesquicentennial year, the College’s emphasis on the face it presents to prospective students, alumnae/i and those with collegiate curiosities is increasingly prominent. Between published material, traveling shows and the See GAY LIFE on page 8
Assistant Features Editor
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nyone familiar with the Greenhaven Prison Internship probably knows that Vassar has some unique interactions with local prisons and prisoners, but there are other, less obvious connections between Vassar and the local prison population. Vassar’s very own radio station WVKR, for instance, has a significant prison listenership. The main attraction is likely the Fancy Broccoli Show, a withstanding program described as, “definitely before my time,” by WVKR General Manager Leander Brotz ’11. The prison and jazz themed radio show, according to Brotz, “Gets a lot of mail from prisons,” he adds, “If it’s appropriate we’ll read some of it on the air. We also have parolees and ex-cons interviewed on the show sometimes.” See WVKR on page 6
Inside this issue
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FEATURES
Sanders Classroom’s Spitzer Auditorium was packed last Friday as students and faculty attended a teach-in on the struggle for democratic reform in Egypt.
Prisoners Weekend of laughs on horizon tune in to T WVKR
Mitchell Gilburne
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was even more marked for other administrative work, where the survey indicates that the average time spent on other administrative work rose from 2.21 to 4.06 hours, a shift of 83.7 percent. At the same time, the amount of time spent in teaching fell slightly, but not significantly, and the See HERI on page 7
Mathematicians on the cutting edge at Vassar
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FEATURES
his Sunday, Vassar students won’t need to get their comedy fix by watching Saturday Night Live clips on Hulu. Instead, with three comedy groups performing this weekend, they can satisfy their humor cravings on Friday and Saturday nights by going out and about
right here on Vassar’s campus. Each group will showcase a different form of comedy: No Offense will be doing sketch, Indecent Exposure will be doing stand up and Improv will be doing, well, improvisation. Not only will each group bring their distinct personality to their performances, but the vast array of comedic genres will also keep
the shows unique and exciting. On Friday in Rockefeller Hall 300 from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., Indecent Exposure, Vassar’s only all-female comedy troupe, will take the stage. “It’s a way to dip our toes back in the water this semester,” said Leonard, “and doing an all stand up show is fun because its not as much work See COMEDY on page 16
No Offense, Indecent Exposure and Improv will be performing in separate shows this Friday and Saturday evenings. Sketch comedy group No Offense, pictured performing above, will perform on Friday and Saturday night at 9 p.m. in Sanders Auditorium.
Vassar steps into spotlight of popular culture
14 ARTS
Theory of Flight a thoroughly student-made album
The Miscellany News
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February 17, 2011
Editor in Chief Molly Turpin Senior Editor Angela Aiuto
Contributing Editors Matthew Brock Lila Teeters
News Caitlin Clevenger Aashim Usgaonkar Features Mitchell Gilburne Jillian Scharr Opinions Joshua Rosen Humor & Satire Alanna Okun Arts Rachael Borné Sports Corey Cohn Andy Marmer Copy Katharine Austin Design Eric Estes Photography Juliana Halpert Online Erik Lorenzsonn Social Media Marie Dugo
On Feb. 20, 1935 the faculty passed a new vision for the curriculum, which included most significantly “tutorial guidance” beginning in the sophomore year, a senior exam or thesis, and a reduction in teaching load for faculty from five courses to four in a year to account for the time spent in tutorial. In the same week, students traveled to Albany to protest the Nunan Bill, which would have required all students to swear to uphold the state and federal constitutions.
This Week in Vassar History
By Dean Emeritus Colton Johnson
Feb. 22, 1875
Feb. 22, 1913
The first decade of Vassar was celebrated by the formal opening of the new Museum of Natural History, housed in the former Riding Academy. The Art Gallery was transferred from Main to new quarters in the Museum where it remained for forty years. Among the guests were Peter Cooper, founder of Cooper Union, and Louisa M. Alcott.
Responding to an outbreak of diphtheria at Vassar Brothers Hospital, Dr. Elizabeth Thelberg restricted students’ off-campus activities. No movies or similar entertainments were permitted.
Feb. 22, 1897
In perhaps the first mass student protest in the history of the college, students challenged the faculty’s decision, taken two years earlier, that George Washington’s birthday would no longer be a holiday at Vassar. Feb. 21, 1901
At 11:00 p.m. Ida Watson, ‘01, a Vassar senior, discovered a new star in Perseus at the same time as Dr. T. D. Anderson of Edinburgh.
Feb. 23, 1921
Juniors and seniors were allowed to go with men to the movies unchaperoned and could motor unchaperoned with them during the daylight hours. In every case, the driver had to have the approval of a warden. Feb. 22-23, 1929
The third intercollegiate model assembly of the League of Nations was held at Vassar under the auspices of the Political Association. Nineteen colleges were represented. Professor Royal Meeker of Yale and Dr. James G. McDonald of the Foreign Policy Association spoke. A Vassar-Yale debate, “Resolved, that the Governments Should Adopt a System of Compul-
sory Arbitration,” was won by Vassar, supporting the affirmative. The New York Times Feb. 21, 1949
The college released President Blanding’s annual report for 1947-1948, in which she addressed the inequalities of access to private colleges for racial minorities and the importance of strengthening resources for scholarship aid. “There has been much in the press of late,” she noted, “concerning equal opportunities for Negro students, and I should like to…say that Vassar would welcome more applications from well-qualified Negro students.” “We rejoice,” she declared, “that at Vassar our admissions system makes no distinction as to race, creed or color.” The New York Times Feb. 20, 1950
President Blanding announced a gift of $200,000 from Dexter M. Ferry Jr. for the design and construction of a cooperative living unit on campus, to be designed by Marcel Breuer.
CORRECTIONS A photocaption on page 14 of the 2.10.11 issue failed to identify Media Specialist Brandon Deichler, who was pictured working with Professor Yvonne Elet on an Art 105/106 lecture.
An article on page 7 of the 2.10.11 issue incorrectly stated that it is legal to paint a dorm room on campus, provided it be painted back at the end of the year. According to College Regulations, “College property may not be painted.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Assistant Features Matthew Bock Danielle Bukowski Mary Huber Assistant Copy Katie Cornish Stephen Loder Gretchen Maslin Assistant Photo Madeline Zappala Crossword Editor Jonathan Garfinkel Reporters Vee Benard Ruth Bolster Adam Buchsbaum Emma Daniels Shruti Manian Kristine Olson Connor O’Neill Chelsea Peterson- Salahuddin Joseph Rearick Dave Rosenkranz Nathan Tauger Columnists Hannah Blume Brittany Hunt Michael Mestitz Tom Renjilian Andy Sussman Nik Trkulja Photographers Christie Chea Katie de Heras Carlos Hernandez Jared Saunders Eric Schuman
LETTERS POLICY
The Miscellany News is Vassar College’s weekly open forum for discussion of campus, local and national issues, and welcomes letters and opinions submissions from all readers. Letters to the Editor should not exceed 450 words, and they usually respond to a particular item or debate from the previous week’s issue. Opinions articles are longer pieces, up to 800 words, and take the form of a longer column. No letter or opinions article may be printed anonymously. If you are interested in contributing, e-mail misc@vassar.edu.
The Editorial Board holds weekly meetings every Sunday at 9 p.m. in the Rose Parlor. All members of the Vassar community interested in joining the newspaper’s staff or in a critique of the current issue are welcome. The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented in the Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board. The Miscellany News is published weekly by the students of Vassar College. The Miscellany News office is located in College Center Room 303, Vassar College.
February 17, 2011
NEWS
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Mind the Gap stresses Annual Fund importance NSO holds
11th annual NonCon
Caitlin Clevenger
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News Editor
Dave Rosenkranz Reporter
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Rachael Borné/The Miscellany News
assar alumnae and alumni return to campus this Thursday, Feb. 17 to commemorate Mind the Gap Day. Mind the Gap Day recognizes the day when 53 percent of the academic year has passed, at which point tuition and room and board payments cease to cover the College’s operating costs. For the remaining 47 percent of the school year the Annual Fund, made up in large part by gifts from alumnae/i and friends of the College, pays for professor’s salaries, heat in the buildings, financial aid, and all the other costs of a Vassar education. “The common perception is that, financial aid or not, students and their families are already paying Vassar a ton of money, and that’s true—but what people don’t always realize is that without the Annual Fund, our tuition would be over $80,000,” wrote Vassar Student Association Vice President for Operations Ruby Cramer ’12 in an emailed statement. The event’s registration through the Alumnae & Alumni of Vassar College (AAVC) website has sold out, with 60 Vassar graduates from classes spanning 60 years in attendance. The guests will attend classes and eat lunch at the All Campus Dining Center with students in order to experience the college life that their gifts to the Annual Fund have helped to make possible. Though Mind the Gap Day honors alumnae/i and contributors to the Annual Fund every year, with advent of the Vassar 150: World Changing $400 million fundraising campaign, which has marked supporting the Annual Fund as one of its three major goals, the Annual Fund is particularly relevant to members of the College past and present. In addition, Mind the Gap “dovetailed so nicely with the 2011 All-School Gift, which supports the Annual Fund and the new Annual Fund designation category for Sustainability,” wrote Cramer. The Annual Fund supports every aspect of the college, but donors can designate their gift towards a specific category of the College’s needs, such as athletics or residential life. As a part of the 2011 All-School Gift, donors can now designate their gift to be used towards sustainability efforts. In an effort to raise awareness, the Council on Alumnae/i-Student Advancement (CASA) is working to promote Mind the Gap Day to students. CASA has organized a “Thankathon” table in the Retreat for part of Mind the Gap Day, at which students will be asked to fill out a thank-you card to alumanae/i that have donated to the Annual Fund in exchange for an entry into a raffle with prizes of gift cards to
Today is Mind the Gap Day, the day when tuition and room and board payments cease to cover the College’s operating costs. Those costs will now be paid for with money from the Annual Fund. Pizzeria Baccio, My Market, and Juliet Cafe & Billiards. Each day this week, CASA has hung a large poster in the College Center counting down the days until Mind the Gap Day and asking “Have you made your gift yet?”. Flyers promoted the 53%-47% split that Mind the Gap Day commemorates and encouraged students to recognize that the everyday minutia of their Vassar experience is provided for in part by the Annual Fund. In addition to being aware of and grateful for the gifts of others, on this day students are asked to consider making their own contributions, even small ones, to the Annual Fund as part of the 2011 All-School Gift, which has a participation goal of 1861 students. Posters hung in the College Center boast, “Last year, Vassar’s Annual Fund raised $8,778,426 from 10,295 individuals, including gifts of $5 or less”. Returning alumnae/i make their visit to campus not only to see their money put to
good use and to remember their own Vassar experiences, but also to “promote a culture and understanding of philanthropy on campus,” according to the AAVC description of the event. Development Intern and CASA member Abby Raskin ’11 wrote in an e-mailed statement, “I think a lot of times it’s easy to forget (I certainly do) that supporting the College is about more than ‘giving back’—it makes a tangible difference here on campus.” The event’s organizers hope that through consciousness of the direct effect that gifts to the College can have, future graduates will commit themselves to supporting the Annual Fund in the future. Raskin continued, “Mind the Gap Day is great because it provides the entire student body on campus with that reminder of the importance of alumnae/i gifts, and for seniors in particular, it helps us consider that importance on a personal level as we move closer to graduation and becoming [alumnae/i] ourselves.”
Chess National Master Jake Miller lectures Breanna Amodé Reporter
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hess National Master and Vassar applicant Jake Miller lectured about his experience in organized chess tournaments on Saturday, Feb. 12. The lecture was hosted by the Department of Mathematics and Jewett House, the latter hosting it in its multi-purpose room. The highest title one can win within the chess world is Grand Master, a rank determined by a point system. Points are awarded based on an algorithm that considers the relative strength of opponents in United States Chess Federation play. This unusual occurrence, an applicant coming to speak to current students, occurred through the fortuitous friendship of current student Justin Warren ‘14. They meet at the Westchester County Championships last year and have according to Miller “become chess traveling buddies—we share hotel rooms and transportation, etc.” Miller was excited to have the opportunity to speak to the Vassar community about a subject that he was so passionate about. At the time of the lecture, Miller was a Candidate Master just nine points away from becoming a Master, with a running score of 2,190. He advanced to his current rank following a tournament on Monday, Feb. 14. Miller has been playing since he was six, started his own chess club in high school and won third place
at the 2009 High School Chess Championships and tied for second at the 2010 National High School Chess Championships. Miller began his lecture by describing the three phases of a game of chess. The first is “opening theory,” which “requires memorizations of standard setups.” The second part, “middle game,” is more psychological and is heavily based on feel and tactics. Finally, the end game is a mix of both memorized techniques and feel for the game. He then went on to describe the famous game of Paul Morphy— an American chess player in the 1800s—against a Duke and a Count while blindfolded and listening to an opera. Morphy spent years in isolation to perfect his game and created inventive moves within the game, which Miller has tried to incorporate into his own game. Miller also described two games in which he himself played: the Liberty Bell Open, which ended in a draw for him, and his win during the National High School Chess Championships. There are over 10120 moves within the game, and, according to Miller, “in almost every position there is always more than one good move.” He talked about specific moves, but he also talked in great detail about the psychological component of the game. His method for each game he plays is to “[individualize] each strategy for each person” he plays, with the goal of getting his opponent “out of their comfort zone, where they are more likely to make mis-
takes.” After his lecture, Miller played simultaneous exhibition matches with 11 other chess players. The lecture was organized by the Vassar Student Chess Club (VSCC), currently an organization without Vassar Student Association (VSA) certification. Justin Warren ’14, David Gonzalez ’14 and Aiden Hite ’14, founders of the VSCC, are currently in the process of making their club an official organization by receiving authorization from the VSA. VSCC— with a strength of five members—meets every Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. in Strong House and and is open to new members of any skill or experience level. “The purpose of starting a student run organization,” according to Gonzalez, is to have something that is “a little more flexible and responsive to Vassar students.” He feels that chess is vital to the intellectual life at any college or university and, as a result, should be student run and with active student participation . Once they do receive official recognition from the VSA, they hope to not only meet weekly to play and practice, but also to teach the game and strategy to beginners and perhaps enter tournaments, as well as expand their membership by reaching more people. At the beginning of his lecture, Miller said having fairly informal school clubs “greatly helped to improve [his] game,” and, at the end, he wished the VSCC “Best of luck!” in its formation.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
his weekend, Vassar’s No Such Organization (NSO) will hold its 11th annual No Such Convention, also known as NonCon. “NonCon is the NSO taking over the College Center and putting on an event of wonderfully nerdy proportions,” explained NSO President and NonCon Publicity Chair Carolyn Grabill ’11. NonCon is an annual, three-day-long celebration of animé, comics, gaming, Sci-Fi, video games, Magic: The Gathering and much more. Each year, NonCon typically includes presentations from famous game designers or musicians. This year’s guest list promises to be more exciting than ever. Pixar’s Vice President of Software and Vassar alumnus Eben Ostby ’77 will give a question and answer session about his experiences in the digital filmmaking industry. Sandeeph Parikh, known for playing Zaboo in the award winning webseries “The Guild” and for writing/directing “The Legend of Neil,” will also make his way to Vassar this weekend. The guest list also includes Dirk. I. Tiede, the creator of the webcomic Paradigm Shift. Following last year’s success, NonCon 2011 will feature another musical guest. Famous for songs such as “Ocarina of Rhyme” and “Vinyl Fantasy 7,” Tim Jacques will perform on Saturday night in the Villard Room. According to NonCon’s website, he “makes remixes of rap songs using samples from all over the place—including, but not limited to, video game music.” Dozens of student panels will set up throughout the College Center this weekend. These panels will showcase everything from Star Wars and Pokemon to a “Fandom Dating Game” where students will meet the animé character of their dreams. Video games like Super Smash Brothers Melee will also be free to play both casually and competitively throughout the convention. This year, for the very first time, NonCon will also feature an air guitar contest where, according to NonCon’s website, “the winner shall receive a solid gold air guitar.” NonCon 2011 will also have fun things to do for the uninitiated. “We’ve got a lot of panels intended for people who are new at this stuff. We’ve got a ‘Learn How to Play Magic: The Gathering’ panel, for instance, and ‘Learn How to Make Chainmail.’ So not all of it is intended for people with a lot of experience,” commented Grabill. “There’s a lot to do by just walking around and seeing things,” concurred NonCon Programming Chair Ben Reichman ’11. Thematic vendors will be selling their wares on site, including pocky from Asian Snacktime, costuming materials from Fabric Dragon, and handmade jewelry by Amber Lynn Hawkinson. The Convention chairs expect that, because of increased advertising both on campus and off, the College Center will be packed tight with upwards of 400 attendees. “It’s rare that Vassar interacts with the surrounding environment. However, this is one of the rare opportunities that bring people from outside Vassar in. Kids from Poughkeepsie and Marist always find their way here,” said Reichman. NonCon Hospitality Chair Francesca Veres ’11 believes that the convention is particularly important because, for Vassar students, it can be hard to attend anything like it. “There’s no real big [convention] around here. It’s like $30 just to get into the city, and anybody who is into any of these genres usually likes to attend some kind of convention once a year, so if you don’t have the opportunity to because you’re at Vassar, you’ve got this!” exclaimed Veres. Outside guests have to pay $15 for threeday access, but Vassar students enter free with their V-Cards. “You don’t get to just like play video games with a bunch of people that often, so come play for free all day,” encouraged Veres.
NEWS
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News Briefs Pell Grants, NSF to benefit from Obama’s 2012 Fiscal Budget
Holy smoke!
Never darken my door again Following the 100 Nights celebration, on the morning of Sunday, Feb. 13 a stall door in the second floor men’s bathroom of the College Center was found broken in half. —CC and AU
Face the music The vibrations of the music from the 100 Nights party on Feb. 13 caused a piece of stained glass in the Villard Room to shatter and fall to the floor at approximately 1:50 a.m. —CC and AU
License to steal A Safety & Security Officer encountered a group of students walking outside of Jewett House at 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 13. The students were carrying “2 Hour Only” signs taken from College Avenue and a New York license plate. The signs were returned and the license plate confiscated until it can be returned to its owner. —CC and AU
Caitlin Clevenger News Editor
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assar students packed the seats, floors, tables and ledges of the Students’ Building’s second and third floors at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15 to catch a behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of America’s most popular public radio shows, This American Life. Ira Glass, the host and producer of This American Life, began his delivery of the Alex Krieger ’95 Memorial Lecture in complete darkness, explaining that he was mimicking the “invisibility of radio.” Glass sees the lack of visual stimuli in radio broadcasts as an advantage in some cases. “On the radio,” said Glass, “you hear somebody talk about something that means something to you, and it goes right to your heart.” After the lights were restored, Glass, sitting at a radio switchboard, discussed the role his show plays in modern news media. “We thought it was important that the show be entertaining, which in the context of public radio was a great breakthrough,” said Glass. “There isn’t enough said about the importance of amusing yourself. It’s actually one of the most important things you can do.” Glass recalled reporting from a naval aircraft carrier shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and scoffing at the stories other news shows were broadcasting from the same vessel. Most news reporters, he said, “are selling a fake gravitas; there’s a know-it-all aspect to it.” Rather than report, like others, on the patriotism or bravery of military men and women, Glass found that the ship was somewhat akin to a “giant nuclear armed dormitory.” Glass interviewed the woman on the ship whose full-time job was to fill up vending machines, adding, “Say what you want about the war, but when it came to Cheez-Its® we totally had the Taliban beat.” Glass tries to look for the humorous element even in these grave situations, saying, “In a serious story, for somebody to be funny, that’s incredibly rare in news media. There’s a strict segregation.” Glass started working at National Public Radio (NPR) in Washington, DC as an intern at age 19 and later talked his way into a full-time job. He spent his early years in radio trying to follow mainstream news media, but came out bland. “In all my early stories I sounded like a stiff. I sounded like a robot. I sounded like somebody trying to be a reporter,” said Glass. Later he found a formula for a good narrative structure that he uses to build stories for This American Life. ”At its core, a story is just a se-
Ira Glass of This American Life delivered the Alex Krieger ’95 Memorial Lecture in the Students’ Building last Tuesday. Above, Glass gives $2 to a student so she can buy an episode of his tv show off iTunes. quence of actions. It’s not about argument or reason or persuasion; it’s entirely about motion.” He continued, “Any story at its heart is a mystery. You’re looking for the solution. You can create suspense just by accreting action.” He traces this narrative strategy as far back as the Bible, but notes that writers are never taught to use it. “I blame the topic sentence,” said Glass, decrying the five-paragraph essay structure necessary to master the SAT. “The job of journalism is to describe what is,” said Glass, claiming that most television and print news organizations leave out important parts of every story through an affected seriousness. “What they do is make the world seem way smaller and stupider than it actually is. To remove everything that makes life worth living just seems like an incredibly dullard move.” According to Glass, this lack of engagement has led American audiences to be disillusioned by the news. “Opinions is kicking the ass of fact-based journalism,” said Glass. “You can tell something is wrong with factbased journalism when 20 percent of the country think the president is a Muslim when he’s not. For us to kick their asses back we have to talk like them.” To a rallying cheer, Glass commanded the audience to “be part of our war on
bullshit.” Turning his discussion to helpful tips for the creatively inclined, Glass said, “There are a few things I wish someone had said to me when I set out to do creative work.” His first tip: “It’s normal to not be good at your job for a really long time.” To prove his point, Glass played a piece from when he was 26 years old, his ninth year in radio journalism. “My child self of me could not get an internship on my show today,” said Glass, throwing up his hands. Success takes years of hard, dedicated work. ”The great thing about most creative work is you don’t need permission from anybody else to do it”, said Glass. Glass’s second tip was to actively search for inspiration. “I always assumed ideas would just drop out of the sky. That’s not where ideas come from. It is my job partly to find something to write a story about”, explained Glass. Glass closed his lecture by producing a balloon poodle, which he handed to President of the College Catharine Bond Hill, and then with a reference to Scheherazade, the woman who saved her life through story telling in One Thousand and One Nights, warning his audience to “remember the things I’m telling you here today. These are survival tools.”
History of conflict in Egypt explained TEACH-IN continued from page 1 situation on the ground that were overlooked by other media organizations. Bassiouny’s narratives related the violence suffered by protestors at the hands of Mubarak’s hired thugs, the shortages of water and medical attention, and the ultimately triumphant spirit of the Egyptian people. At particularly poignant moments, the crowd burst into applause at the patience and conviction of the protestors. In light of Mubarak’s very recent resignation, the panelists spoke mostly extemporaneously about their hopes for the region. Visiting Professor of Africana Studies Mootacem Mhiri, a Tunisian, was moved by the events of the last few weeks. “It feels good to be an Arab today,” he said. “This is really emotional for me; it’s really hard [to speak about recent events].” He went on to say that he had returned home during break and experienced the beginnings of the political tension that would lead to revolution in Tunisia. Since returning to the United States, he has been encouraged by the dedication of his countrymen since Ben-Ali’s removal from power. “On [Jan. 14] we ousted a dictator, but since then Tunisians assembled every day trying to dismantle
the apparatus of dictatorship,” he said, hopeful that the “revolutions’ goals would translate to a lasting, democratic future.” Post Doctoral Fellow of Film Tarik El-Seewi also spoke optimistically about the future of his home country Egypt. He noted that the movement in Cairo would not have been possible if not for the recent influx of social media in Egypt. “This is a revolution of the imagination,” he said, referring to the way in which Facebook, YouTube and American cable channels have expanded the means of communication in Egypt, where literacy rates remain low. “Before this change, the reality of the situation was never approximated by the corrupt state media. That level of being able to create and contribute to the conversation—you can’t stop this.” There were some moments, however, that called into question the United States’ record of support for Mubarak’s regime, despite the fact that his government was riddled by corruption and dictatorial election regulations. The United States was criticized for supporting the regime, and such concerns were echoed by the panelists. Mellon Post-doctorate Fellow in Peace and Justice Studies of American Culture Khadija
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Dallas Robinson/The Miscellany News
A Safety & Security officer patrolling the third floor of Lathrop House at 8:38 p.m. on Feb. 11 smelled a strong odor of marijuana. In the offending room the officer found and confiscated marijuana roaches, pipes, rolling papers, a grinder, incense, candles and ashes. The officer also removed hazardous Christmas lights hanging from the sprinklers. —Caitlin Clevenger and AU, News Editors
Glass comments on state of news media
Katie De Heras/The Miscellany News
President Barack Obama submitted the 2012 United States Fiscal Budget to Congress on Monday, Feb. 14. The budget estimates a total revenue amount of $2.627 trillion, total expenditures of $3.729 trillion and a deficit of $1.101 trillion. In the field of higher education, the budget left several aspects unaffected, with a zero percent increase in government spending on those sectors. The unaffected areas include Pell Grant awards, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Federal Work-Study, aid to historically black colleges, aid to Hispanicserving institutions and the government program Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. Pell Grants—federal aid for families for funding post-secondary education—fund nearly 30 percent of the tuition for its recipients. While federal aid helps to fund a number of Vassar educations, it does not form a major component of Vassar’s financial aid budget: The total federal funding for financial aid received by Vassar in 2009-10 was only $2,347,696, roughly five percent of Vassar’s total aid budget. The total amount to be spent on the operation of the Pell Grant programs increased by 0.8 percent. The TRIO programs for disadvantaged students also saw a 7.9 percent increase. The only program to be eliminated is the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) program. According to its website, LEAP “[provided] grants to states to assist them in providing need-based grants and community service work-study assistance to eligible postsecondary students.” The National Science Foundation— which has provided Vassar with grants to the tune of $2.8 million last year—will receive a 13 percent increase in its funding from the government. Other scientific agencies that have received an increase in government funding include the National Institutes of Health and the Energy Department Office of Science, with increases of 3.3 and 9.1 percent, respectively. The National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, however, will see 12.7 percent respective decreases in their funding. —Aashim Usgaonkar, News Editor
February 17, 2011
Last Friday’s teach-in included a panel lecture featuring Vassar faculty in addition to community members from Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County. Fritsch-El Alaoui spoke openly about American complacency with oppressive Middle Eastern regimes as long as they maintained stability for American interests in the region. “The connection between the United States and those regimes is so direct, so blunt,” she said. “The United States has done everything to prevent change or manage it. This is a moment for the United States to free itself from the colonial imagination and thinking about either managing or preventing this change.”
But these notes did not damper the general spirit of the gathering, and certain panelists remained optimistic. “Egyptian democracy will not be an enemy to the United States, but neither will it be a colony, which it was until this morning,” said El-Seewi. Vassar’s Arabic Language Fellow Amira Hegazy, an Egyptian, was happy with the support her nation’s revolution received at Vassar. “Mabrook le-Masr!” she said. “Congratulations to Egypt! This was all the result of magnificent teamwork.”
February 17, 2011
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Vassar’s mathematicians pursue research, theory, art Jillian Scharr
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Features Editor
Eric Schuman/The Miscellany News
he Vassar College Mathematics Department has produced some illustrious American mathematicians, including former professors Grace Hopper ’28 and Winifred Asprey ’38—mathematicians whose work broke ground in the field of computer science. “Many of the early Ph.D.s in mathematics in this country are Vassar alumnae,” said Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette, and still today, he opined, Vassar’s mathematics faculty include some of the brightest minds in the field. Professor of Mathematics and Chair of the Department John McCleary is a specialist in algebraic topology. Although he loves teaching mathematics, McCleary is also active in his own personal research. One of his current projects is a 100-yearold algebraic conjecture: Given any simple, closed, curvy shape, be it a circle or the Nickelodeon logo, can one find four points on the curve that make a square? Using a circle, the problem is pretty easy, but as the curved shapes get more complicated, it gets harder and harder to find a square. McCleary and his team of researchers want to know for certain: Will there always be a square? It’s harder than it sounds. And, no, it doesn’t have any practical applications. “Good mathematics is good mathematics,” said McCleary. He believes his research is leading him to find a way to define an exception: in other words, conditions under which it is impossible to find a square in a certain type of curved shape. “The field of mathematics develops on its own steam, chasing its own muses, as it were,” said McCleary. “There are ways in which mathematics can be applied and of course it does a lot of good in that way, but most of us in the department don’t look for the application of the subject. We just follow our muse.” Sometimes, however, practical applications arise where the mathematician didn’t expect them to, which opens up the possibility for interdisciplinary work. Professor of Mathematics Charles Steinhorn is a specialist in mathematical logic and an officer of the Association for Symbolic Logic, an organization that works in disciplines such as philosophy, linguistics and computer science as well as mathematics. His research on model theory led him to economics. Steinhorn was able to model consumers’
Professor of Mathematics and Chair of the Department John McCleary, pictured above in his Rockefeller Hall office, conducts his research in the area of algebraic topology. preferences and the utility values thereof on a coordinate plane, and from this “give a very complete description of a very broad class [of commodities].” But for Steinhorn, “one of the beautiful things about mathematics is its ‘unreasonable effectiveness in the world,’ to quote Eugene Wigner.” “Try to imagine yourself as [Isaac] Newton,” said Steinhorn, “and you’re the one who derives from first principles that the orbits of the heavenly bodies are conic sections under the force of gravitation. Try to imagine what it was like to have done this as a young man, and look up at the heavens and realize you’ve understood something that big.” This awe for the breadth and scope of mathematics informs Steinhorm’s beliefs about teaching and advising. “I want students to extend themselves, to experiment, to strengthen themselves in areas that might not come as easily to them.” This doesn’t necessarily mean mathematics, although of course Steinhorn would stress the importance of mathematics to a complete liberal arts education. “I doubt if any Vassar student would say, ‘I’ve satisfied [the freshman writing seminar requirement] and now I’m a proficient college-level writer.’ It’s in some sense the very beginning of developing
certain skill levels. I think one has to view the quantitative requirement in much the same way.” Professor of Mathematics Peter Pappas was one of the original drafters of the quantitative requirement at Vassar College. An algebraist by training, Pappas has been working on a problem called the unit conjecture for many years. “It is well known within algebraic circles as a rather notorious problem,” said Pappas. “There’s been no headway made in the last 30 to 40 years, and during my last visit at Oxford I had a breakthrough.” Pappas spoke at length about the frustrations of research. “But,” he added, “while the work remains difficult…I am working on the side with really talented Vassar students in my capacity as an [Undergraduate Research Summer Institute at Vassar College] mentor, achieving results, keeping myself active, coming up with new ideas and new results, and I think that that has had a very important effect upon me, not directly as it pertains to the unit conjecture, but to me as a working mathematician.” Because Vassar is not a research institution, all of the professors in the Math Department have to balance undergraduate-level teaching with high-level research. However,
Pappas praised the balance between research and teaching that Vassar requires of its professors. “There has to be intellectual curiosity, there has to be that enthusiasm for your subject, because bright students pick up on this. If you’re not excited about your subject how can they be?” he said. “I do mathematics because I have to. Mathematics is in my nature,” Pappas said. “I’m not happy unless I’m doing mathematics, but my students benefit from that selfishness because they see—hopefully—their crazy professor come and explain what I’ve been working on and how excited I’ve been or how depressed I’ve been.” In fact, for some professors, mathematics is a creative process, even an art form. Associate Professor of Mathematics Natalie Frank specializes in tiling, using simple geometric shapes to create patterns on a two-dimensional plane. It is, in a sense, a mathematical approach to the art of mosaics and other similar art forms. The fields of crystallography, mathematical physics and theoretical computer science have also benefited from theories developed with tiling. “I’ve always enjoyed creating art from my mathematics,” Frank wrote in an e-mailed statement. “The images help keep me motivated, and in creating them I often notice details I wouldn’t have learned about otherwise.” The dynamism with which professors in the Math Department approach mathematical teaching, research and art is not lost on its students. Mathematics and drama double major Barbara Ely ’11 is currently working on a colloquium supported by the Math Department, the intention of which, said Ely, is to “encourage mathematicians to think for themselves as writers and communicators instead of computers.” “My professors have really emphasized how math is a tool for communication rather than a process for finding the right answer … It’s a mechanism for communication, and my theater education is the same thing.” McCleary expressed similar views on mathematics and art. “If you think about it, artists master tools that allow them to express ideas they have about all sorts of things. That’s exactly what mathematicians do … The scientist’s creativity lies in their triumphs over the restrictions [of nature]. Ours lies in the joys of pure invention.”
Two years past renovation, Davison comes to life Samantha Thompson
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Guest Reporter
Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News
o the untrained eye, Vassar’s four quad dormitories, or “houses” as they are called—Strong, Lathrop, Raymond, and Davison—might seem perfectly indistinguishable. Certainly, with their uniform brick exteriors and Elizabethan-style architecture, the dormitories overlooking the quad are marked by their similarity. Though each dorm has the same basic offerings (MPR, kitchen, parlor, piano, snack machines), their physical appearances and, one might even say, their “personalities” are far from homogenous. Davison House, the youngest of the Quad dorms, was built under the supervision of James Monroe Taylor, Vassar’s fourth president. Taylor’s 28-year tenure, often referred to as “The Period of Expansion,” was characterized by Taylor’s insatiable determination to maintain Vassar’s position as a serious and respected academic institution alongside newly instated institutions such as Bryn Mawr, Wellesley, Smith and Mount Holyoke Colleges. With its outdated facilities, high cost of tuition and stiff admissions policies, Vassar had to struggle to keep pace with its competition. As they faced an enrollment crisis and subsequent financial difficulties, Taylor devised a program of both curricular and architectural rejuvenation that would restore Vassar’s reputation as a respected institution, which included the construction of various academic and residential facilities. Taylor’s success in re-establishing Vassar’s focus on its principle mission resulted in the need for more buildings
to accommodate the newly augmented student body. Taylor championed a period of construction that involved the segregation of academic and residential buildings so as to divide campus into areas of living and areas of learning. Despite their similarities, the quad dormitories were not originally planned as a group. Though all four buildings were built within the same 10-year period, the addition of each subsequent dormitory was made in direct response to the steadily growing number of students. Following the construction of Strong in 1893, Raymond in 1897 and Lathrop in 1901, Davison House—the final addition to the Quad cluster—was completed in 1902. Funded by trustee John D. Rockefeller and designed by architect Francis Allen, Davison follows the model of the other quad dorms, with residential areas concentrated primarily on the upper levels and the recreational areas on the ground floor. Davison is known as the “newest” of the quad dorms, not because it was the last to be built, but because of its recent renovation. After an entire year of construction, during which the building’s interior was gutted, the new-andimproved Davison House was unveiled at the beginning of the 2009 academic year. The refurbished Davison offers state-of-the art facilities while still remaining faithful to the building’s historic architectural traits. While the majority of Davison’s rooms are intended for double occupancy, the size of these rooms more than makes up for the dorm’s lack of singles. Each room has wood-paneled floors, large windows, cream-colored walls and brandnew desks and chairs, all of which are enough to
Davison House, the youngest of the dormitories on the Residential Quad, was closed for renovations for the duration of the 2008-09 academic year, reopening with a new look in the fall of 2009. make residents of other dorms green with envy. The lucky residents’ of Davison’s fifth floor also have sloped ceilings with skylights. Each floor now boasts its own communal study space, with motion-sensing lights that are consistent with Vassar’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The brick walls in the stairwells and study spaces are reminiscent of the building’s exterior, and the newly renovated bathrooms have spacious shower stalls, marble sink areas and tiled floors.
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Davison contains a higher population of freshmen than Vassar’s other dorms, and its small fellow groups make for a smooth transition to college life. Though its population reaches almost 200 residents, the Davison community remains tight-knit and familial, with weekly study breaks and dorm activities that give students the opportunity to connect with people outside their hallways and fellow groups.
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Show ‘Fancy Broccoli’ plays jailhouse rock
Decades of Vassar cameos in mass media Danielle Bukowski
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Assistant Features Editor
hroughout the past century and a half, Vassar college has become a permanent fixture on the landscape of collegiate Americana. Along with developing a distinct reputation, with roots in both fact and fallacy, Vassar has been embraced in comic circles as the butt of lighthearted jests and jibes that look to satirize its unique identity as an elite women’s college. Nowadays some of the jokes are clichés: women go to Vassar to marry Yale men, the students are nonconformists, there is liberal sexuality. But these popculture references were born as early as the 1900s, however misconstrued or overblown. Acting Editorial “The way Vassar College has been represented has changed over time,” said Director of College Relations Julia Van Develder, citing some classic films of the early 20th century, which represent Vassar in a “quaint” style. Though she acknowledges the context surrounding this characterization, Van Develder recognizes it as dated. Vice President for Communications Susan DeKrey said, “There are a couple of the old movies, where a man would ask the woman how she would live on her own, how she would expect to do that by herself, and the woman responds something like: ‘I went to Vassar; of course I can do it.’” In these films, female characters that are strongwilled, independent and intelligent are portrayed as attending Vassar or about to enroll. In the 1954 classic film Sabrina, David (William Holden) tells his brother Linus (Humphrey Bogart) that Sabrina (Audrey Hepburn) has kissed him. Linus replies that she “could lecture on that at Vassar.” A large list of Vassar references in popular culture—and
where many of the mentioned references for this article were found—is compiled at vassarmedia.blogspot.com by a 1995 alum. The blog has no affiliation with Vassar, but Van Develder stated that “we [the Office of Communications] love that site.” Hundreds of clips from movies and television shows from the 1950’s into the 21st century are included. Watching the humorous clips is a fun way to spend an hour, but overall it shows just how popular Vassar is as a popculture reference. The capacity in which Vassar is mentioned varies dramatically. There are quite a few offhand references: in Law & Order; a couple of episodes include the detectives speaking to a witness who was the victim’s roommate at Vassar. In another episode, a detective declares a witness to have “more credibility than the proverbial busload of nuns,” as she was “suma at Vassar” and in law review at Cornell University. In a 2001 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, back when Stephen Colbert was a “reporter,” he played the Marshall McLuhan Professor of Broadcast Media Culture at Vassar for a piece about the first Jackass film. Colbert’s character is an elitist-type who uses the phrase “smugly bemused,” and denounces the media for enjoying the clips while showing over and over a scene from the movie. One of the most well known Vassar references in television comes from The Simpsons. Many of the writers went to Harvard University, and had connections with Vassar. The daughter Lisa is an aspiring Vassar girl. In the episode “I’m Spelling As Fast As I Can,” Lisa is given the chance to throw a spelling bee and “get a free ride” to any of the Seven Sisters. In her dream, the colleges are personified as Greek goddesses. Mount Ho-
Courtesy of The Vassar Quarterly
WVKR continued from page 1 On Sunday, Feb. 13, the show continued its relationship with incarcerated individuals through an interview with a former inmate named George. “I didn’t get many visitors except my brother once every six months. It gets very depressing,” said George of his prison experience. “It didn’t hit me until I got to downstate, where you’re locked up 23 hours a day... you have a lot of time to think.” George credited that time to think, plus his family’s support, prison therapy and anger management programs, with helping him get back on “the straight and narrow.” A couple of letters the show had received were also read, one from a prisoner claiming his innocence and hoping for representation, the other a moving poem by an unnamed prisoner. The show exposes listeners unfamiliar with prison life to the burdens incarceration puts on both the imprisoned and their families. Vassar Prison Initiative (VPI) leader Stephanie Damon-Moore ’11 expressed the value of testimonies like George’s, noting, “Part of what [the VPI] would like to do is get people to see prisons as more than just places where ‘the bad guys’ go.” Brotz, while familiar with the program, insisted that he is far from an expert on prison life, not having taken any of the prison internships or classes Vassar offers. When asked why he thinks the local prison population tunes into WVKR, he said, “This is all conjecture, but it probably has something to do with the fact we have relatively diverse programming you often can’t get on commercial radio...and as an independent station, we’re a lot more open to communication with prisoners.” After all, having a show dedicated to the incarcerated and prison is a risk few commercial stations would take. However, Brotz remained ambivalent about the role the prison demographic plays in programming. When asked if that aspect of their listenership affects the decisions WVKR makes, he stated, “The fact that we have a show dedicated to prison means I can’t deny that... but it’s not that we try to target any specific demographic.” One of the most fascinating aspects of WVKR’s relationship with the prison population is that the DJs consider their incarcerated listeners as just another demographic. Brotz claimed he wanted prisoners to get what any other listener would from the station: “Exposure to music you wouldn’t hear otherwise, and, as far as that is culture, culture.” However, Brotz also realized the importance that stations like WVKR hold for prisoners. “Radio is one of the few forms of media that are transmitted into prisons,” said Brotz, and the Fancy Broccoli Show is one of the few outlets prisoners have with the world outside of prison, a world that often acts as though they don’t exist.” When asked if they ever had issues with having prisoners as a significant part of their fan base, Brotz explained: “As a student DJ at Vassar, we have DJ boxes where anyone can send us letters.” He added, “Prison mail is a real eye-opener. In rough form, prison sucks,” The Fancy Broccoli Show, in Brotz’s words, “gives a personal form to the jailed ‘other’ that a non-convicted person can’t really understand otherwise.” Damon-Moore asserted the importance of prison issues like those discussed on WVKR, especially as they pertain to Vassar students: “Prison issues are salient for everyone to learn about, but Vassar is within a half hour of eight prison facilities.” The Vassar Prison Initiative’s mission can be summed up as a push for greater awareness, especially of the fact that the United States jails about a quarter of the world’s imprisoned population. Damon-Moore concluded with her appreciation for WVKR, which she feels is part of an exchange between Vassar and the local prison population. “I really like the idea of local prison population getting to enjoy WVKR as a resource,” said Damon-Moore, “because I know Vassar faculty and students have gotten a lot out of being able to connect with people in prisons.”
February 17, 2011
Above, Lisa Simpson is featured on the cover of an issue of the Vassar Quarterly. One of the most well-known Vassar references came from The Simpsons. lyoke is a drunken partier and Smith is a burly lacrosse player. Vassar declares herself a nonconformist and reveals hairy armpits, presumably referencing the blurring of gender stereotypes. In another episode, while the PTA is on strike, Lisa laments, “I’ll never get into an Ivy League school now! At this rate I won’t even get into Vassar.” Susan DeKrey said she has “not really seen a trend in the references. Some messages are repeated over and over. At this point, contemporary television and music references are not so much harkening back to the old days of Vassar, but just Vassar as a school, period.” Since Vassar has gone coeducational, the references to “Vassar girls” have
remained, while jokes about the male/female ratio have increased. Van Develder said about the references: “we don’t always agree, but the fact that Vassar appears so often is an indication of its iconic stature in higher education.” The references are usually a reflection of where society is, and where Vassar is in relation to the society. “The male/female ratio joke is played out in a lot of them.” While the image of a girl going to Vassar College only to become paired up with a wealthy Yale graduate may be dated, the idea of independent, opinionated and varied students coming to Vassar to learn from each other and the faculty is still very much a part of today’s culture.
One year later: Compost a growing effort Ruth Bolster
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Reporter
t’s been over a year since the College began composting waste in the Retreat. Now the success of this initiative has lead to the establishment of the first sustainability bucket within the Annual Fund in the history of the College via this year’s All-Campus Gift. The Sustainability Committee is looking forward to further expanding Vassar’s ‘green’ efforts. It is reviewing the possibility of introducing bins, such as those in the Retreat, into the dormitories and certain academic buildings. However, where these bins are placed is contingent upon both interest and practicality. For the past five years, composting has been an integral part of daily life at Vassar. First instituted at the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC), this sustainable method of disposing of food scraps was then established at the Retreat in 2009. During this time, the ACDC specifically diverted over 250,000 lbs of compostable material from entering landfills. Although there are currently ongoing negotiations about possibly increasing sustainability at Express Lunch, there are no immediate plans to extend composting to either UpC or Matthew’s Mug. This is due in part to the relatively lower level of waste produced in comparison to the Retreat and the ACDC, as well as the uncertain feasibility of collecting such waste. However, as Luke Leavitt ’12, an intern for the College Committee on Sustainability and an authority on campus composting, noted, the system is not without flaws:
“100 percent of the food in the Retreat is aimed at composting and 100 percent of the food in the [ACDC] is composted. The discrepancy is that students at the Retreat are the ones composting, but they don’t know how to put things into the right bins.” Despite any imperfections this system has in the realm of students sorting their own compost, “I know the Biology Department is interested in composting,” stated Professor of Earth Science and Chair of the College Committee on Sustainability Jeff Walker. “They have a composting bin there, and they have enough faculty members who are interested. They also have a loading dock, which will make the compost easier to collect.” In terms of the dormitories on the Residential Quad, the Committee notes that it could be feasible to place large compost bins between dorms near the dumpsters. It may also be reasonable to place a large compost bin between Noyes and Cushing Houses. However, the question of whether it would be practical for the custodial staff to collect this compost from the dormitories is raised. Furthermore, it should also be noted that, as of yet, these plans are not concrete. Although the Committee on College Sustainability’s future plans for composting are not yet solidified, it is clear that composting at Vassar is here to stay. Not only has it proven to be an effective method of environmental conservation, but it is also monetarily advantageous. For example. Vassar pays by the pound to
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have trash transported away from campus. By removing the thousands of pounds of food scraps the College community produces, which would have ended up with the general trash in the past, Vassar ultimately saves money by composting. The environmental benefits are also important. “One of the big issues has to do with the amount of carbon dioxide we put into the atmosphere,” began Walker. “It appears that it is warming the atmosphere and changes the weather systems and raises sea levels. Food waste is a lot of carbon, and the two options we have here are to put it in the trash or to compost it. If we put it in the trash, it goes into an incinerator, which produces carbon dioxide.” When the food is composted, however, instead of incinerated, it becomes soil, and then the plants that regrow in it consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Although composting may seem like a small effort, Walker cautions against underestimating its impact. “In an environmental aspect, some people kind of take sustainability as a take-it-or-leave-it, there is an option,” Walker further noted. “I think that it is becoming increasingly clear that for a socially conscious person, it isn’t an option. It also is becoming clear that doing things in an environmentally responsible way in the end saves money. So in all aspects it is not something that is optional. If you waste stuff, you waste money. So that is why I think sustainability is the broader issue than just the environment. Everything is interconnected.”
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Impact of financial crisis on faculty time unclear HERI continued from page 1 average time spent on research and scholarship fell by 13.5 percent (for more on the survey see “Faculty survey reveals shift in distribution of time,” 2.10.11). While the HERI data indicate some interesting, and perhaps concerning trends, the survey itself does not reveal any causes for the shifts. Director of Institutional Research David Davis-Van Atta posited some explanations for the shifts, but with the understanding that no one factor can account for them. “I think it’s possible that the time scheduled teaching, why that went down, is because we did increase the size of the faculty from ’05 to ’07-’08,” said Davis Van Atta. “So it wouldn’t surprise me that average teaching time went down because you have more people doing the same job. It did surprise me that in research and scholarship time, on average, there was a real drop.” This drop, along with the increase in committee and administrative time, varied as the data was broken down by faculty rank. Full professors, on average, spent more time in committees and less time on research than assistants. This pattern is consistent with the 2004-2005 data, except for the overall increase in committee time across the board. The average professor in 20072008 spent 4.17 hours in committees, an associate professor spent 3.95 and an assistant 2.88. For research time, the pattern is opposite. Assistant professors on average spent 9.64 hours per week on scholarly work, while associate and full professors spent 6.35 and 7.62 hours on it respectively. This data is consistent with the fact that many more committee positions are reserved for tenured faculty members. As to the second area where faculty spent more time, “other administrative work,” it is ambiguous what counts as in that category. Faculty responses, then would have been subjective, and Davis-Van Atta noted that it is possible that there are overlaps between time spent on, say, e-mail, time with students and time spent on administrative work. Still, as the questions have not changed, counting some activities twice cannot account for the near doubling of the statistic. This data emerges at a time when the governing structure of the College is already in the process of evaluation. In the fall, the College began the preliminary stages of revising the College Governance (see “College begins process of Governance revision,” 10.27.10), a process that is sure to include a close look at the committee structure. Beyond this review, the recognition that Vassar’s committee structure has inefficiencies is not a new observation (see “College begins examination of tangled committee structure,” 02.04.09). “Right now there are many efforts going on to investigate the committee structure and to try to change it,” said Professor of Political Science and Elections Officer of the Committee on Committees (COC) Richard Born, “and so we’re kind of a part of this.” For committee work, the rise in time may be at least partially attributable to an increase in the number of committees that exist on campus, so much so that keeping up with them at all has proven difficult. While there are 25 committees listed in the College’s Governance— a subject of scrutiny in itself—there are at least as many more that are unlisted. These committees, loosely defined as ad hoc, include some with
a clear mandate, such as the steering committees of multi-disciplinary programs as well as others that are unclear or likely duplicative. “It’s actually impossible trying to find out how many ad hoc committees actually exist,” said Born. The creation of additional committees may, then, be a drain on faculty time, and one that is difficult to measure or prove. “This is something that [the Middle States Commission on Higher Education]”—the organization that conducted the reaccreditation of the College in 2008-09—“was very, very strong about, was the need to streamline the committee system,” noted Born. “You can see that some of them are probably doing really important things, that they’re cutting into the jurisdiction of a governance committee that’s elected, but they’re not responsible to anybody,” Born continued. Despite not being in the Governance, many of the committees have a fairly recognizable place on campus, such as the Committee on Inclusion and Excellence, which published a cultural audit last semester, while the names of others suggest that they fill niche roles, such as the Fall Leadership Conference Committee. They all tend to fall under a division of the administration, and many fall under the Dean of the College division, which especially includes joint committees with student, faculty, and administrative membership. In an attempt to assess this sprawling committee structure, Vassar Student Association Vice President for Operations Ruby Cramer ’12 worked with the COC and the Faculty Policy and Conference Committee last semester to assemble a master list, which had never previously existed. The COC is seeking to remedy this by working with College Relations and Computer Information Services to set up a website, committees.vassar.edu, where Associate Professor of Religion and Chair of the COC Michael Walsh hopes that all of the committees—including the ad hocs—will someday be listed, along with brief information about each committee and its activities. The website is expected to go live this April. Walsh recognized that this goal may not be completely realized, noting that the COC cannot compel other committees to interact with the website. However, he suggested that the organized presentation of committee information in a public place might put greater pressure on committees to participate. “That way there’s accountability, there’s a record of everything that we’re doing,” he said. Streamlining the committee structure is a process that will involve not only identifying and evaluating the ad hocs, but also ensuring that all committees operate with maximum effectiveness. “Not every committee has a clear sense of mission, nor deadlines for fulfilling these goals, so time may not always be spent productively,” wrote Professor of Film and Chair of the Faculty Appointments and Salary Committee (FASC) Sarah Kozloff in an e-mailed statement. One factor that can influence a committee’s overall effectiveness is its structure. Professor of Political Science and Faculty Parliamentarian Peter Stillman brought up the specific example of the Committee on Curricular Policies (CCP), a joint student-faculty committee that evaluates and initiates curricular policies; a first reading of a revision to the Committee’s structure—which proposes cutting the membership
Though a vast majority of faculty indicated in the HERI Faculty Survey that service to the College was “Very Important,” a sizeable majority would also like to see a reduction in the amount of time spent by faculty members in committee meetings. of the committee in half, from 12 to six—was included in Wednesday’s faculty floor agenda. “I think you could say that we all know that CCP is broken, partly because it has too many people on it, so it can’t really discuss important items,” Stillman said. “So let’s change it, let’s make it smaller.” But Stillman also raised the larger, more nebulous question of what the limits of faculty governance should be. He brought up the example of admissions decisions, which used to be determined by the faculty. While admissions decisions were once fairly simple, he says, the process has grown more complicated as colleges and universities have become more professionalized, requiring a more specialized administrative structure. “I cannot tell you how glad I am that there is an Admissions office, and how necessary it is,” he said. “That’s kind of an obvious example, but some of the problem for me is trying to figure out in what areas and to what an extent the faculty should play an ongoing role.” Despite the fact that a majority of the faculty has consistently claimed that too much of their time is devoted to committee work, Walsh anticipates that any specific reforms will meet a lot of resistance on the faculty floor. “I think it’s just sheer momentum. We’ve been doing it this way for decades in some cases,” Walsh said, posing the hypothetical question, “If it’s not clear that the system’s broken, why are we trying to fix it?” Stillman said that personal and departmental interests might also contribute to this resistance to change. “Any kind of change, I think, always raises the question or the possibility of individual members of faculty asking themselves, ‘Does this help me? Does this help my department?’” he said. Another measure that might be considered is how faculty value the amount of time spent working for committees. While a majority of faculty indicated on the HERI survey that they experienced at least “somewhat too much committee time,” nearly 70 percent of faculty also responded that service to the College was either “essential” or “very im-
portant.” These apparently contrary data suggest that the sheer amount of time spent on a committee does not reflect on its value. Kozloff noted that FASC service— a considerable time commitment ranging from 10 to sometimes 30 or 40 hours a week—comes with course release, which she claims has allowed her to effectively balance teaching with committee work. “This year I am teaching only one course each semester,” she wrote. “Thus, I believe that I am able to give that course my full attention and perhaps have even more than typical energy.” Nevertheless, she acknowledged that committee work could have effects that extend beyond simply those classes taught by committee members. “The actual negative impact of my FASC service has been to my department’s curriculum,” she explained. “Film has not been able to offer as many courses in film history and theory as normal during my years on FASC.” Kozloff also noted that, while she has managed to stay productive, her FASC responsibilities have interfered with research conducted over breaks and summers. She claims that her fellow faculty members have experienced similar difficulties balancing scholarship and committee work. “As a FASC member reviewing my colleagues’ activities reports, I worry that those who are too involved in service are not saving enough time for their research.” Speaking more generally about the demands of service, Stillman claims to have had occasional difficulty in switching quickly between the different modes of thought required by administrative and teaching positions. “You can imagine that one of the things that I do as a committee member is I try to argue my point of view. When I’m a chair, I’m trying to make sure there’s consensus and agreement, and that I know what my committee thinks,” he explained. “Both of these seem to be ways of acting and thinking that are different than in the classroom, which is when I’m trying to evoke interesting ideas from students.” While the HERI data is relevant to the evaluations of the current
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
committee structure of the College now taking place, it is also completely retrospective. Since the spring of 2008, when the survey was issued, the College faced the global recession. The exact impact of the recession on faculty time demands remains unclear. In theory, as Dean of the Faculty Jon Chenette explained, since 20072008 the amount of work spent in committees should have gone down as a result of reductions in course releases for committee work. However, he admitted that in practice, this may not be the case. “That’s the important question,” said Chenette. “I’m concerned about the impact of the course reductions and whether we’re actually finding ways to lighten administrative burdens for people to avoid overwhelming them by less time to do more work.” Chenette arrived at Vassar in the summer of 2008, just months after the administration of the survey. “One thing that was very noticeable to me, compared to where I had been previously, was the amount of faculty teaching load equivalency [FTE] that was going into administrative work in the form of course releases,” he said. FTE’s are one measure of employment, and when some are allocated to course releases for committee or administrative work, the course releases necessarily mean that the recipient spends less time teaching. Facing a financial crisis, the College sought to reduce the number of course releases available for committee work in order to preserve more of the curriculum. There is even the possibility that the next survey may indicate an even greater increase in time spent on committee and administrative work. With fewer staff, faculty may find themselves doing more administrative work within their departments, and some committees, such as FASC, had an even greater role to play as a direct result of the financial crisis. The next HERI Faculty Survey will be issued to faculty on Feb. 20 and may indicate whether the allocation of faculty time is an evergrowing concern or a recent, isolated trend.
FEATURES
Page 8
February 17, 2011
How far we go for a cup of joe, to Mexico for Café Justo Jessica Tarantine
F
Reporter
Courtesy of The Catholic Sun
rom early morning classes to late night studying sessions, it’s as if coffee is the lifeblood of the average college student. But the coffee we choose to sip has consequences far beyond our next caffeine hit. Removing many of the middlemen such as independent roasters and distributors, the coffee which is sold in the Retreat is sent directly by Café Justo (Just Coffee), a small coffee co-op owned by farmers located in Salvador Urbina, Chiapas, Mexico. The College’s patronage, equal to roughly 130 pounds of coffee weekly, supports the five families who operate the farm in Salvador Urbina, Chiapas, Mexico. While the price of the coffee does not exceed that of non-fair trade coffee, the additional money ensures a fair price for the coffee so that the farmers and their workers will receive health insurance and retirement benefits. The money supports the coffee co-op’s mission, as stated on their website (www.cafejusto. org): “We market a pure, organic coffee which is grown, harvested and marketed in the spirit of justice. Our goal is to provide incentives for people to remain on their family lands,” thereby reducing the often dangerous migration to the United States in search of sustainable employment. The benefit of the coffee does extend beyond that of ensuring economic justice to that of environmental justice. In explanation, the company states that its coffee beans “are organically grown, with no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. The coffee trees are cultivated beneath shade trees which allows for a better tasting, more environmentally friendly coffee.” It was this combined mission of environmental and social justice which caused the College to switch to Café Justo. Summarizing the College’s stance, Director of Marketing and Sustainability for Campus Dining Kenneth Oldehoff stated simply, “Better for the grower, better for the environment.”
The College made the switch to fair trade coffee in 2007 after a group of students from a geography class headed by Associate Professor of Geography and Geology Joseph Nevins and Assistant Dean of Campus Life for Religious and Spiritual Life Samuel Speers visited the U. S. -Mexican border and, through their studies in the class and experiences during the Spring Break trip to the border, were alerted to a growing crisis in the coffee sector. Namely, sharp decreases in coffee prices forced small, family-owned companies into competition with larger corporations. Facing few opportunities for capital and therefore expansion, many small farmers have been forced out of business and incentivized to migrate to the United States for opportunities that do not present themselves in Mexico due to the low prices set by large international corporations facing economies of scale. In response to the growing global coffee supply and dwindling prices, Fair Trade USA, a third-party organization that provides certification of fair trade status to coffee vendors, sets a price floor and regulatory conditions for coffee growing in exchange for the Fair Trade label. “Just Coffee is a little different from Fair Trade,” said Vassar graduate Dylan Cate ’08 about the company that provides Vassar with coffee. “They’re not certified by [Fair Trade USA] because it’s too expensive, and rather than selling their coffee to a major international brand to be sold under a Fair Trade label, they market directly to consumers.” In this way Café Justo also avoids paying extra for the Fair Trade certification. The International Coffee Organization (ICO), the result of the United Nations’ 1962 International Coffee Agreement, had long regulated prices in the coffee market, keeping the prices high in accordance with the Agreement. Fair Trade Coffee began to attract popularity in the early 1990s when the price controls set forth by the ICO were not renewed, resulting in a flooding of the market and all-time low prices
The Retreat buys its coffee from Café Justo, or Just Coffee, a small cofee co-op owned by farmers in Salvador Urbina, Chiapas, Mexico. The College purchases roughly 130 pounds of coffee each week. between 1990 and 1993. Increased competition with U.S. suppliers worsened the problem for coffee sellers in Mexico, said Cate, who had visited the U.S.-Mexico border with Nevins’ class. “Competition with heavily subsidized American agricultural corporations has driven hundreds of thousands of farmers in Latin America out of business, and is one of the principle causes of the huge upswing in immigration to the United States from that region in the last two decades,” he said. “Dirtcheap agricultural products imported from the United States are flooding domestic markets in Mexico and other countries,” which, he ex-
plained, further drove down the price of coffee in even domestic Mexican markets. This is why Fair Trade USA establishes set prices. Even so, the company is slow to increase its price floor, often resulting in a floor that is below that of the market price, says Cate. This, along with low growing standards, causes Fair Trade USA to be labeled by many as insufficiently progressive. So next time you stop by the Retreat to grab your daily cup of coffee, know that you are not only supporting your caffeine habit, but also five families and their dedication to environmental stewardship and social justice.
Campus LGBTQ culture complicated by outreach efforts GAY LIFE continued from page 1 general celebration surrounding the celebration of Vassar’s 150th birthday, offices that used to exist on the outskirts of student life are taking a more prominent role in the campus consciousness. Diversity is undoubtedly a buzzword that characterizes the way that the College frames many of its initiatives. Associate Dean of the College for Campus Life Edward Pittman explained, “The role of diversity on a campus beyond creating a critical mass is to be of educational benefit to everyone. The ability of students to interact and learn from each other, whether in a classroom or an extracurricular way, is really about taking something away [from the experiences of others].” Pittman’s office “is trying to give voice to any community that feels marginalized or feels that it doesn’t have a presence and to make available whatever resources campus life can provide.” Pittman explains his role in terms of how it relates to vassar’s image, noting, “I think part of our job is to convey as much of what we hear about students [to the Offices of Admissions and Communications],” adding, “Formally, we may not be consulted as much as we like, but our goal is to put that info in front of whoever’s job is to create the best image for Vassar.” Despite this commitment to diversity, as well as the presence of a thriving LGBTQ community on campus, Vassar’s LGBTQ population is not always explicitly mentioned in the College’s projections into the world at large. Aside from oblique references to the College’s “uniqueness,” Vassar often relies on word of mouth to emphasize the role of it’s LGBTQ population. According to Borus, “I think we have a reputation as a school where gay and lesbian students can feel comfortable, but I don’t think its an issue per se for the Admissions Office one way or the other; it’s simply a part of the public perception of who we are as an institution.” “We’re trying to communicate accurately about the College all the time,” said Vice
President for Communications Susan Dekrey of the ongoing goal of her office, which, she noted, does not receive directives from other areas of the College administration to portray Vassar in a particular light. “When we’re working on a major admission publication we want to make sure we have a lot of racial diversity, ethnic diversity, diversity between people studying the arts, humanities, athletics, extracurriculars, theater, filed work. We’re trying to give stories that give you the range of possibilities here.” Dean of Admissions David Borus explains his Office’s work as “a process of trying to assemble the most academically able, diverse, interesting and engaged group that we can put together.” Dekrey and Borus thus strive to do justice to Vassar’s deeply rooted history through various recruiting and communication initiatives that often go unnoticed by Vassar’s current inhabitants, who, though they may not be the intended audience, are fundamental contributors to the content of the information that defines the college in the public eye. Dekrey explains her role as one that is ultimately concerned with narrative, stating, “We want to tell stories. That seems to be how we do our best work here; we serve as a conduit for the stories of students, faculty and alums. We aim to tell their stories and to tell a variety of stories, that reflect a variety of lifestyles, [and] a variety of orientations and values.” Assistant Director for Campus Life and LGBT programs Steve Lavoie also appreciates the autonomy of Vassar’s spirit. “I think that Vassar historically, from it’s very founding, has been strongly committed to a sense of social consciousness,” he said, “and this mindset has not only attracted a certain individual, but has cultivated a certain atmosphere at Vassar. There’s definitely something in our history about how we are unique and I think it’s important to celebrate that.” Nonetheless, the unique nature of Vassar’s LGBTQ community is not traditionally high-
lighted among the diversity at Vassar in its Admissions materials. Pittman responded to this phenomenon, noting, “I suspect that Admissions might say we do convey Vassar as a gay friendly school. To be quite frank, [the promotion of Vassar’s LGBTQ history and identity] has never, to my knowledge, been a direct conversation that I’ve been involved in, so it’s in many ways been a matter of perception and what people read into publications.” He continued, “Often times there is a gap between the public view of who we are and our own sense of who we are. People within can help define that.” Pittman encouraged the College to seek ways to take ownership of the entirety of campus life, asking, “How does Vassar own its inclusion of the LGBT community? How do we own that and say, ‘Yes, this is who we are, and we embrace that?’” He concluded, “When we hear about that gap, it’s our job to inform and make Admissions aware and keep that present in the best way we can as colleagues.” Lavoie, however, sees the relationship as slightly more complicated, particularly in the context of the diversity of the LGBTQ community on campus. He cites the particular squeamishness of older members of the homosexual community to adopt the term “queer”—a word charged with a great deal of venom before it was embraced by the homosexual community at large. “I think a lot of times when the College has to navigate its markings, it has to do it in a way that doesn’t alienate specific members of the community, and that might be why it might seem like a particular voice is not being heard,” he surmised. However, Lavoie noted that silence is not the best way to engage a population, either, explaining, “Just as if we don’t paint with the broadest brushstrokes we are liable to leave something out or paint someone in a way that they don’t wish to be painted, we simultaneously may seem like we’re not giving voice, and the question becomes, ‘Why aren’t we talking about these dimensions of our history?’”
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Director of Development Communication Lance Ringel, the creator of the touring “Vassar Voices” performance piece, aims to give audiences “a sense that we’re part of a continuum, and [that] we may have more in common with folks from 20, 60, or 100 years ago than we think.” Unsurprisingly, Ringel is also keyed into Vassar’s unique nature, noting, “There’s a certain spirit here that’s always been present. When you hear the much older alumnae [in the program] talk about ‘feeling light with the gift of freedom’ when she comes back [to Vassar], I think alot of alumnae/i, particularly older alumnae/i, can identify with that.” Ringel too, however, noticed a discrepancy between the College’s history and campus identity, and the stories it is promoting and producing. Even when reflecting upon original drafts of the “Vassar Voices” program, Ringel noticed “parts of the [Vassar] experience that were not covered.” He cited Vassar’s LGBTQ history as “one of the areas that we identified during the rehearsal process that didn’t seem to be addressed from the beginning.” With the help of student and alumnae/i input, Ringel was able to edit the program to more fully encapsulate the Vassar experience. Such revisions, along with Lavoie’s current efforts with the Women’s Studies Department to “promote the queer dimension of Vassar’s history,” are heartening efforts to reveal a segment of the Vassar community that is often not addressed in the College’s promotional materials. Lavoie concluded, “We can say that in relation to Vassar being labeled a gay school or a queer school, that’s a label that Vassar has carried for a long time, and I think if we look historically, if we look at old Miscellany articles, if we talk to [alumnae/i], that the College has had a complicated relationship with that labeling and it’s had a hard time navigating precisely how to uphold the accuracy of that label, but also not to erase the other dimensions of what it is like to be a student at Vassar.”
OPINIONS
February 17, 2011
Page 9
Miscellany News Staff Editorial
Egypt teach-in an excellent model for future events M
embers of the Vassar community crowded into Sanders Classroom’s Spitzer Auditorium on Friday, Feb. 11, for a teach-in event entitled “Communities in Revolt: Tunisia, Egypt, and Beyond.” The teach-in marked an impressive collaboration between several student organizations, numerous academic departments, individual faculty members and students, as well as community members from Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County. The Editorial Board of The Miscellany News would like to commend the organizers of the event and to call for future discussion of the same format. This team of departments, faculty members and students managed to overcome many obstacles to organize this amazing event. They managed to put it together over a few short weeks and were able to provide up-to-date information despite the ever-changing political situation in Egypt. Ultimately, their program met their goals— succeeding in educating community members about the events in the Middle East— and the event was well attended by both the Vassar community and local Poughkeepsie residents. This program drew strength from its cross-disciplinary approach, its community outreach and its constant reminder that this event was only the start of an ongoing educational process. The teach-in was able to provide a very complete view of the events in the Middle East by drawing on experts from such fields as history and political science to lend both background information and context to the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. These portions of the program went beyond what was pro-
vided in newspaper reports of the events to analyze the issues in depth and to prepare students for what they could expect to come out of the protests on a national and international level. The program was also remarkable in its incorporation of people from outside the Vassar population. Such people, who had immediate experience in Tunisia and Egypt, gave valuable first-person accounts of what it was like to formerly live and work in the area. Furthermore, by drawing on first-person narratives—in the form of blog posts—the organizers helped students understand not only the chronology of events in Egypt but also what it was like to be on the ground and part of this movement. Last, the members of the Editorial Board appreciated the way in which organizers pointed participants towards credible sources by which they could keep themselves informed. This teach-in, the organizers seemed to emphasize, would only be the first step towards educating one’s self about the protests and, while this was a good jumping off point, it was up to the participants to keep themselves engaged and informed. We believe that this exemplifies the purpose of the Vassar education: To help students learn the appropriate tools and methodologies to utilize when approaching unfamiliar territory. In short, this event represents a successful collaboration between student organizations, academic departments and the Poughkeepsie community. Such collaborations, The Miscellany News believes, should happen more often. The Vassar and Poughkeepsie communities represent a hub of academic and social engagement that, when concentrated
on a single topic, can help its members understand otherwise overwhelmingly complex issues. To not explore complimentary approaches and varying viewpoints in the context of events such as teach-ins is to underutilize Vassar’s resources and institutional potential. Teach-ins are not without precedent on Vassar’s campus. In the wake of the 2008 financial collapse, for example, members of the Vassar community, including the Economics Department and Senior Lecturer in International Studies Timothy Koechlin, banded together to bring their individual expertise to bear on an important, but hard-to-understand series of events. One need only to point to the large turnouts at both these financial lectures and the “Communities in Revolt” teachin to prove that these events are not only necessary but in high demand. The Vassar community—professors, students, administrators and staff members alike—all recognize the benefit of such events and seek the ability to better understand the momentous events happening right now in the world around them. The recent teach-in provides an excellent model future events focusing on current issues, and we applaud the groups involved in its success. The members of The Miscellany News Editorial Board also encourage other groups both on and off campus to come together to replicate its success in addressing other issues critical to Vassar’s engagement with the world around it.
C
Senior Editor
onservatives triumphed in the 2010 midterm elections—gaining 63 seats in the House and six seats in the Senate—largely on a platform of ending “runaway government spending.” Why, then, are they now using their newfound power to scrutinize such insignificant expenditures? Consider the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, originally introduced by Representative Chris Smith (R-N.J.) in January. The bill sought to make permanent the Hyde Amendment—a rule that limits federal funding of abortion to only those pregnancies conceived through rape or incest, as well as those that pose a threat to the mother’s life—which currently must be renewed every year. Rather than replicating the language of the Hyde Amendment, however, Smith inserted a change in wording, limiting the exemption to “forcible rape.” To many progressives, the Smith bill and legislation like it—including an attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, as well as the proposed elimination of Title X, a federal program that provides family planning services to low-income women—were seen as routine, thinly veiled attempts by congressional Republicans to attempt to curtail reproductive rights and abortion access. But Speaker of the House John Boehner (ROhio) spun the legislation as an example of the fiscal responsibility that Republicans had promised during the elections. Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Boehner, told the press, “Republicans are focused on creating a better environment for economic growth and job creation, and that is reflected in the legislation the House is passing.” A statement from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) affirmed this interpretation of the legislation, framing it as “obviously very important in terms of the priorities we set out initially in our pledge to America.” But conservatives’ targeting of federal funds spent on abortion ignores the small scope of the expenses. According to the Guttmacher Institute, federal funding paid for a whopping total of 191 abortions in 2006. The report also
noted that while federal and state governments spent a total of $89 million on abortion procedures that year, federal appropriations comprised less than one percent of that sum, at a cost to each taxpayer of tenths of a penny. To put these expenditures in another context, consider the $2.5 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2006, which included $244.2 billion in deficit spending. The less than $1 million in federal funds devoted to abortion procedures seems even more infinitesimal in comparison. The reduction of our national spending—and at the same time, our national budget deficit— is not an immediately objectionable goal, nor an easy task; however, if conservatives in Congress plan to pursue it in earnest, they should probably start thinking bigger. Legislation introduced by Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which provides some funding to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), was similarly shortsighted. “This effort to cut government spending should be part of the larger push from the new Republican Congress to cut spending and get our nation’s fiscal house in order,” said Lamborn. Indeed, with a proposed budget of $3.73 trillion for fiscal year 2012, perhaps it is time to get our nation’s fiscal house in order. Nevertheless, it seems odd that the CPB was the first thing to be singled out by Lamborn as a “luxury we cannot afford.” After all, the organization requires a mere $430 million in federal funding annually, a paltry sum in the context of the entire budget. And the returns of public media are arguably more necessary than Lamborn suggests: In an American media landscape increasingly dominated by ideologically-driven political programming, a 2010 national Roper poll determined PBS to be “the most trusted and unbiased institution among nationally known organizations,” as well as “the most trusted and unbiased source of news and public affairs among broadcast and cable sources.” To their credit, the GOP’s recently released plan to reduce spending in 2011 by $61 billion pays more than lip service to the notion of fiscal responsibility. Nevertheless, all of the cuts came from the 15 percent of the federal budget
“Ira Glass!”
Conor Gallagher ’13
“The cast of Modern Family as a collective whole.”
Amanda Giglio ’11
“My mom, cause she’s awesome..”
—The Staff Editorial represents the opinion of at least two thirds of the 15-member Miscellany News Editorial Board.
GOP’s ‘fiscal restraint’ amounts to opportunism Angela Aiuto
If you could elect anyone president, who would it be and why?
devoted to nondefense discretionary spending, ignoring the fast-growing entitlement programs and bloated defense spending that make up the bulk of the budget. Republicans themselves have recognized that these cuts lack great significance; Representative Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) noted, “Democrats don’t like [the proposal], but don’t call it slashing and burning.” What’s more, some of these cuts are counterintuitive to a significant leg of the Republicans’ 2010 platform: job creation. The GOP had lambasted President Obama and the Democrats during the midterm elections for failing to significantly reduce the unemployment rate following the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Republicans also took aim at the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the “job killing health care bill.” Boehner recently affirmed, “The American people expect Washington to cut spending in order to grow jobs in America.” But he was singing a different tune on Tuesday. “In the last two years, under President Obama, the federal government has added 200,000 new federal jobs. If some of those jobs are lost in this, so be it,” said Boehner in regard to the proposed cuts. “We’re broke.” Speaker Boehner’s “if” was charitable at best. The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute estimated that 800,000 jobs would be cut as a result of the cuts; even if this estimate is high, Boehner’s own words should be taken as an affirmation that jobs are not—and likely never were—a high priority for the Republican Party. Meanwhile, President Obama has put forth his own set of budget reductions, one lacking the political opportunism that has formed the basis of Republican proposals. Obama’s plan seeks to reduce projected deficits by $1.1 trillion over the next 10 years; while by no means perfect, the proposal—which includes reductions in defense spending as well as those social programs that Obama himself supports—at least reflect his willingness to reconcile conservative and liberal priorities in the name of progress. Let’s hope the GOP finally learns by his example. —Angela Aiuto ’11 is senior editor of The Miscellany News. She is a political science major.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Jerry Dieudonne ’13
“I mean, probably myself.”
Carolyn Soley ’13
“John Mayer.”
Chris Connors ’12 —Juliana Halpert, Photography Editor Alanna Okun, Humor & Satire Editor
Word on the cordeliadillon
Cordelia McGee-Tubb ’11
As it’s our 150th, I feel obliged to say: “MATTHEW VASSAR FOR PRESIDENT.” (Also, every prez needs a good top hat.) 2:04 PM Feb 1st via web
comments Jenna Konstantine I want FDR again. Sunday at 3:14pm —Marie Dugo, Social Media Editor
OPINIONS
Page 10
February 17, 2011
Letter: Vassar should be Akerlof lecture dubious, fails mindful of buffer disturbance to support identity economics Doreen Tignanelli
I
Guest Columnist
have been following Miscellany News articles on the proposed Science building. As a Town of Poughkeepsie resident, I would like to offer some personal thoughts on the project relating to aquatic resources. I am sure that Vassar will follow all federal, state and local regulations that apply to stream, wetland and buffer disturbance. [Editor’s Note: Buffer disturbance is the use of land within the areas—buffers—surrounding wetlands.] However, I would hope that Vassar goes beyond minimum requirements, particularly when it comes to buffer disturbance. Buffer protection under the Town of Poughkeepsie Aquatic Resource Protection Law is woefully inadequate. The buffer for all streams other than the Wappinger Creek is only 25 feet. This inadequacy was brought to the town’s attention by the Vassar Environmental Research Institute (VERI) in 2006 when the Town of Poughkeepsie Master Plan was being updated. Stream buffers were mentioned as one of VERI’s “three greatest concerns.” The VERI report noted, “stream buffer width and length are directly correlated with stream health” and “the minimum width of buffer for our creeks to flow clean is 100 feet on each side of the creek.” Additionally, the 2009 “Health of the Casperkill” docu-
ment, listing Vassar faculty members Associate Professor of Geography Mary Ann Cunningham and Associate Professor of Earth Science Kirsten Menking as primary authors, recommends the town strengthen the Aquatic Resources Protection Law by increasing buffer protection to “at least 100 feet in width.” The document also recommends the town “avoid granting variances to its Aquatic Resources Protection Law.” An additional publication listing Cunningham as an author, “Biological Resources and Diversity of Dutchess County,” states, “a buffer of 100 feet or more is of value for stream health,” and, “runoff of nutrients, sediment and other contaminants is affected by development within 300 feet or more.” I believe these were all good recommendations, consistent with other studies I have seen. When constructing the Science building, Vassar should apply their own scientific evidence and avoid buffer disturbance within the 100 feet noted for stream health versus the required 25 feet. Additionally, variances to the Town’s Aquatic Resource Protection Law should not be sought. After all, it would not set a very good example if Vassar does not follow its own scientific recommendations to the town. —Doreen Tignanelli is a resident of the Town of Poughkeepsie.
Williams-Bolar exemplifies problems of urban education Juan Thompson Guest Columnist
I
n 2006, Kelley Williams-Bolar enrolled her two daughters in a middle school in the Copley-Fairlawn district on the west side of Akron, Ohio. Williams-Bolar chose the Copley-Fairlawn district because the district has an outstanding record of academic excellence. As with most school districts across the nation, a student must reside in the school district he or she attends. Williams-Bolar’s father lives within the Copley-Fairlawn district and she used his address to meet the residency requirement. She also granted her father power of attorney over her daughter’s affairs with the hope that these legal steps would meet the requirements. The children, according to Williams-Bolar, spent some nights at her house outside the district and occasionally the entire family would spend nights at the grandfather’s home within the district. This, unbelievably, was not good enough for the district. CopleyFairlawn has an aggressive residency enforcement policy. At a time when districts across the nation are drowning in debt, Copley-Fairlawn is offering $100 to families who report other families who may not reside in the district. They also hire private investigators to trail students, who are under suspicion of not living within the district’s boundaries, to ascertain whether the students actually reside within the district. To label these policies outlandish would be an understatement. They have apparently paid off, because Copley-Fairlawn superintendent Brian Poe told National Public Radio (NPR) that the district has dealt with 48 residency-related cases since 2005 and that the Williams-Bolar case is the only one they’ve been unable to resolve. Because after the district determines that a student does not meet the residency requirement, the student has to leave the school in the district, move into the district or pay tuition at the rate of $6,900. Williams-Bolar’s children were withdrawn from the district’s school, and after refusing, because she is low income, to pay some $30,000 in back tuition, the district handed her case over to the local prosecutor who charged Williams-Bolar with a felony for lying and tampering with school records. I understand the argument that school districts are financed through the tax dollars that come from the residents
who live within the district. And the appendage to this argument is that parents like Williams-Bolar are, essentially, stealing an education. Yet within this sort of rhetoric lies the all-important question: Why should Williams-Bolar even be in a position where she would have to shuttle her children across town every other night so they could enjoy a solid education? Furthermore, if the district is worried about money why are they bribing parents with money to snitch on other parents? And why are they hiring private investigators, to behave like some totalitarian state police force, and flush out students who may not reside in the district? As a result of the district’s disturbing tactics and a heartless prosecution, Williams-Bolar was convicted of a felony and sentenced to five years in prison last month. The five years were reduced to nine days and she was released a few weeks ago. Nonetheless, Williams-Bolar is a single mother who works and goes to school. Unlike a lot of parents in failing urban schools who give up, she took the steps necessary to give her daughters a better education. She did not deserve to be locked up like a common criminal and her children did not deserve to be booted from Copley-Fairlawn. If they lived with their grandfather part-time that should have been good enough for the district. This episode tells us so much about the disparities in public education. It gives us further evidence of a racist criminal justice system where the single, working-class, black mother gets slapped with a felony conviction but the white parents who improperly enrolled their children do not. But most importantly, it illustrates the utter hopelessness of urban public education. Williams-Bolar was so desperate to give her children a shot that she risked everything. And it shouldn’t be that way. Vouchers, charter schools and a renewed focus on improving urban public schools are all parts of the solution. What should not be part of the solution is locking up desperate parents. Williams-Bolar told NPR’s Michele Martin, “I’m not perfect. I’m just a mom. And I raise my girls. I love my girls.” For that devotion she deserves accolades and support, not felony convictions.
Carson Robinson Guest Columnist
O
n Wednesday, Feb. 9, economist George A. Akerlof gave a very well attended lecture in Blodgett Hall. Akerlof won a Nobel prize for his theory of asymmetrical information, presented in his 1970 paper published in The Quarterly Journal of Economics, “The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism.” According to Google Scholar, this paper has been cited nearly 8,000 times. It discusses instances in which traders’ knowledge about a given product is not equally accurate or complete. Sellers of used cars, for example, know much more about the cars than their customers do. Akerlof shows that such situations can theoretically lead to major problems. Recently, Akerlof has been promoting the practice of what he terms “identity economics,” which uses identity-related factors to make predictions about human behavior. Standard economics makes predictions based on hedonistic factors, such as monetary incentives. Akerlof argues that this is incomplete, as people also make economic decisions based on social norms. Unfortunately, his discussion of social norms left much to be desired in terms of sophistication. Indeed, Akerlof failed to show that he understood social norms any better than a layperson. I am currently taking my very first economics class—Introduction to Microeconomics—and I find it fascinating. Akerlof’s lecture was intellectually awkward for me, because just as I was being introduced to economics, Akerlof was arguing that a great deal of economic theory is misguided. Like any exciting discipline, economics makes many highly counterintuitive claims. But Akerlof believes that when economists account for identity, economic predictions will begin to sound like common sense. I am a psychology major, and if an eminent psychologist were to tell me that a simple revision would suddenly render the great psychological theories unremarkable, I would be very disappointed.
Truth be told, I cannot possibly convey how unremarkable Akerlof’s arguments were. He spent considerable time providing evidence for the existence of norms, using observations of children on merry-go-rounds. Supposedly, young children (aged four or five) fully express their enjoyment on a merry-go-round. But older children (aged six or seven) inhibit their excitement in a display of maturity. Akerlof then spoke about a time that he was watching a child on a merry-goround. The child was somewhat old for this activity, and so he was riding the merry-go-round very discreetly. The child was so sneaky that Akerlof lost sight of him while he was leaving the merrygo-round. Akerlof was apparently astonished by the power of norms in this situation. The problem was that Akerlof had yet to provide any evidence that such norms even exist. Norms are unwritten rules for how to think and act, which individuals adopt based on how others typically think and act. Children on a merry-goround, for instance, look within themselves to determine how they should behave on the merry-goround. At some level, older children are thinking, “I’m seven, and seven-year-olds don’t enjoy merrygo-rounds, so I shouldn’t be enjoying this.” Thus, their identity is guiding their behavior, leading them to look bored or frown while riding the merry-goround. To use a more familiar example, a college student may binge drink because that is what they think that college students are supposed to do. Although the concept of norms seems extremely simple, discussions of norms are often befuddled by problems. Laypeople sometimes use the term “norm” to denote a behavior itself, such as binge drinking or frowning on merry-gorounds. In actuality, norms are the internalized rules that cause these behaviors. The behavior itself is not a norm. Also, when people discuss norms, they often fall into what is known as circular reasoning. For example, suppose that I told you that college students binge drink because binge drinking is a norm. The problem See AKERLOF on page 12
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—Juan Thompson ’13 is a political science major.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
February 17, 2011
OPINIONS
Page 11
Emphasis on home ownership causes perverse incentives Joshua Rosen
I
Opinions Editor
t’s time to give up on the American ideal of universal home ownership. It may be saddening, but there is no need for every American to own a home. From 1900 to 1940, less than half of all Americans owned their own home, yet since 1950, home ownership rates—often encouraged by generous government-backed home loans—has increased consistently. Today, over 67 percent of Americans own their homes, as Thomas J. Sugrue, a Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote in The Wall Street Journal. Of course, increasing home ownership is in large part a consequence of social engineering: federal policy ever since the New Deal has encouraged home ownership. Government sponsored enterprises (GSE) such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), as well as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), provide government guarantees for mortgages, and even the Veterans’ Administration offers loans for homes. Over time, this has created perverse incentives for Americans, who not only buy homes, but, as the sub-prime crisis revealed, took advantage of reduced underwriting standards— lowered standards for evaluation of default risk that allowed banks to lend to high-risk borrowers—to buy homes they could not afford. Additionally, easy money policies pursued by the Federal Reserve—which lead to low interest rates—encouraged inexpensive loans, even for many non-creditworthy borrowers. As Edward L. Glaeser, a Professor of Economics at Harvard University writes in The New York Times, “pro-home ownership policies have encouraged millions of Ameri-
cans to make vast leveraged bets on housing prices,” resulting in catastrophic levels of foreclosures . Today, as Glaeser notes, the federal government caused many of the perverse incentives in the housing market. For example, government guarantees for mortgages, such as those provided by the FHA, dramatically “under-prices risk,” in the words of economist Anthony Randazzo, writing in The Wall Street Journal . This underpricing, Randazzo notes, is the direct effect of the lending subsidy, and the under-priced risk is borne by both the taxpayers as well as those borrowers who take out home loans at lower rates than they would in the absence of the guarantee—resulting in increased risk of default. If anything, federal policies to encourage home ownership harm homeowners, many of whom would be better off holding other assets, such as low-interest but extremely low-risk Treasury bonds. After all, according to Joseph Gyourko, a professor at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, Treasury bonds grew at a rate of two percent from 1975 to 2008, while home prices rose at only one percent during the same period. Similarly, the low down payments—as low as five percent—required for home mortgages known as “conventional loans,” meaning those that can be insured by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,set an extremely low floor for most mortgages’ down payments. This, according to a report published in 2009 by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, results in higher rates of default, as people who make low down payments have less to lose if and when they default. Evidently, governmentsponsored, taxpayer-backed inducements to own a home create a number of problematic incentives in the housing markets.
The solution to the perverse incentive structures is plain: End the GSEs and government policies of social engineering towards the goal of increasing home ownership as we know them. While the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the burst of the housing bubble has prompted some talk—especially at this time of federal budget setting—about abandoning the GSEs, it is revealing that there has not been a general repudiation of government’s role in encouraging home ownership. Home ownership, admittedly, is a trend at the least, if not an ingrained cultural value. It is not a habit that must be broken, but the ease of which home ownership can be achieved ought to decrease. To achieve this, the government must exit the business of real estate, particularly in terms of subsidies for home ownership and related financial products such as home loans. If the government is to end a large portion of its involvement in distorting the housing markets, home ownership would become increasingly difficult. However, in the absence of a true market failure, there is little role for government intervention, except perhaps in creating some standards for lending and verifying income statements. This free market stance, though, is likely politically untenable, what with the federal tax deduction for interest mortgage payments as popular—and costly, $131 billion in fiscal year 2012, according to the Tax Policy Center —much like other home-ownership-encouraging programs. Thus, I suggest that Congress consider the report produced by the Department of the Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development entitled “Reforming America’s Housing Finance Market.” The report encourages private markets—subject to government oversight and financial assistance for low- and mid-
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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
dle-income Americans—to “primary source of mortgage credit and bear the burden for losses.” Such a bold statement should be followed up with firm policy action, including restricting government guarantees for home loans and increased enforcement of stricter underwriting standards—a move that would particularly benefit low and middle income Americans from receiving loans that they cannot feasibly afford to pay back. Additionally, it would be reasonable for the federal government and GSEs to cease assistance for the purchase of million-dollar homes, an unnecessary subsidy for high earners, according to American Enterprise Institute financial markets scholar Peter Wallison, writing in The Wall Street Journal. Generally, the goal of changes in the structure of housing markets is to move towards a market primarily composed of prime loans— loans for creditworthy borrowers, which are consistently good investments, according to Wallison. Surprisingly, these high-quality borrowers represent 85 percent of American homeowners, so it is quite possible that few Americans will be harmed; and even those who are harmed may, in the long run, benefit, as they are less likely to be wiped out due to high rates of subprime loans. As a matter of policy and ethics, the United States must wean itself off of cheap home loans and back to a time where conventional loans had interest rates in the 20- and even 30-percent range. This will protect the housing market from the perverse incentives caused by excessive government intervention and help all Americans—nudging those who want a home to save and work towards that goal. —Joshua Rosen ’13 is Opinions Editor of The Miscellany News. He is an economics major.
OPINIONS
Page 12
February 17, 2011
Akerlof fails Athletes not above the law, moral code to address social norms H Harrison Remler Guest Columnist
AKERLOF continued from page 10 with this statement is that it is like saying that the sky is blue because it is blue. Akerlof’s discussion was afflicted by a more straightforward problem. We cannot know whether the age differences in merrygo-round behavior are truly due to norms. Perhaps children actually enjoy merry-gorounds less as they get older, or perhaps their emotional expressions change. Both of these explanations are entirely plausible. Akerlof should have pointed to phenomena that can only be explained by norms. Researchers can do this by carefully constructing laboratory situations in which norms are the only acceptable explanation for a given pattern of results. This was carried out in 1935 by social psychologist Muzafer Sherif in a study entitled “A Study of Some Social Factors in Perception.” The subjects watched a point of light in a dark room. They believed that the light was moving, and they estimated how far the light moved. In fact, the light was completely still, but appeared to move due to the autokinetic effect. When subjects did this task individually, their estimates ranged up to 10 inches. However, when subjects were in groups of three and reported their estimates out loud, the estimates within a group converged over repeated trials. A week later, subjects returned and did the task again, individually. Even then, their estimates conformed to their group’s norm. I honestly have no idea how identity economics addresses social norms; I do not think Akerlof conveyed this in his lecture. However, it was clear that social norms were important to his overall argument. Unfortunately, Akerlof failed to cite any of the available research that has established the existence and importance of norms. —Carson Robinson ’12 is a psychology major.
oratio Alger set the literary standard for the American Dream. His works emphasized the American Dream, a success story that follows a “rags-to-riches” theme. The American sports scene has altered the dream of Alger. (Of course, this presupposes that we can consider American athletes to be living the American Dream.) Actions of prominent superstars have challenged the value of a second chance. It very well could have been that Ben Roethlisberger, a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, might have been soaking in the best feeling of professional sports on the night after 2011’s Super Bowl XLV. However he came up resiliently short to a heroic Aaron Rodgers as Big Ben begins the dreaded Super Bowl hangover. Nonetheless, sports alone are only a small portion of the media landscape. It is time for the American people to re-evaluate their opinions of sports figures. Roethlisberger, NBA player Kobe Bryant, and professional golfer Tiger Woods are just some of the athletes in America who have reached the pinnacle of their sport while surviving national scandal. Despite the case of Woods, who recently began his first few years of rebuilding his image after a series of highly public trysts, many erring professional athletes have been given a second chance. When we look at Bryant making short work of NBA defenders, do we have the right to ignore the fact that he was involved in a legitimate rape scandal? How can millions put their eyes on Roethlisberger if he were to hold up the Lombardi trophy on
national television and just forget that he has serious troubles controlling his drinking habits? How can we separate the athlete from the person, when there is clearly a unified whole? After all, if America were to ignore Roethlisberger’s faults and embrace him as a world champion, it would be both naïve and shallow. And Woods is now so tainted that we cannot rightfully dissociate his infidelity from his golf swing. Bryant, like Roethlisberger, does not appear to be able to make a simple right from wrong decision, as suggested by the allegations of rape he faced. How can that be? Why can a star athlete’s poor personal decisions be glossed over? Take the case of George Huguely as an example. Huguely was a phenomenal lacrosse player on a larger-than-life program: the University of Virginia (UVA) men’s lacrosse team. As a result of his status as a lacrosse player, his intrapersonal violence issues were not addressed. The University, his coaches and teammates ignored his faults. This permissive environment made Huguely feel comfortable enough to—allegedly—
murder his girlfriend, fellow UVA student Yeardley Love. How many Loves is it going to take for American athletes to make better choices? There is no way around it: Professional athletes need to realize that they are accountable for their actions. After all, the children of America are depending on these athletes for role models, so there is little room for error in an athlete’s personal life. In the real world, second chances are hard to come by. In no way does Huguely deserve for his actions to be expunged from the public memory. Rather, we must continue to evaluate these athletes as people—not just for their athletic abilities. While the national media does an impressive job of making athletes these larger than life figures, they are just as human as the rest of us. Even those athletes who represent our nation at the Olympic games and bring home gold medals, smiling while the National Anthem plays, might have trouble controlling their sexual desires, as the case of Bryant makes plain. While the claims and wishes
are quite extreme, hopefully these ideas can inspire just an attempt to re-evaluate how we venerate athletes. Athletes are people, they need to live by the law, and they need to be leaders in their communities, not just on their teams. Just because I’m sitting on the couch and enjoying my umpteenth buffalo wing on Super Bowl Sunday critiquing every throw Roethlisberger makes doesn’t mean I can just recklessly do what he does. Why respect and adore athletes who can’t abide by the simple societal laws the rest of us follow? Alger wouldn’t be too happy. But, yet again, the times have changed. I’m sure he’d just step back and take a look. That’s all America needs to do. So while you are enjoying your halftime sub and a cold beer, just don’t forget that sports are merely part of our culture—and that those who play them must be evaluated as people first, and athletes second. —Harrison Remler ’14 is a student at Vassar College and a pitcher on the Vassar College baseball team.
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Crossword by Jonathan Garfinkel ACROSS 1. Morse code “dash” 4. “By car, plane, train, _____” 9. Bit 11. *Wine 14. Bubble 15. *Love and Lust 17. Step after “lather” 18. Baby’s cry 20. Eau 21. “Run ___” (“It’s Tricky” group) 22. Chinese philosopher Lao and others 24. Also-___(insignificant loser)
26. Mother sheep 27. Eyjafjallajokull output 28. Relaxed 30. An original sinner 31. Directional suffix 32. Burning bit 34. Russian mountain range 37. *Light, music, the arts 40. Partner of vigor 43. *King 44. Swiss peak 45. Ugandan rebels (briefly) 47. *Queen 48. Gerund ending
Answers to last week’s puzzle
49. *Wisdom 51. Plow pullers 52. Pretentious, perhaps 54. “The Chronic” genre 56. Regret 57. Comedian Richard _____ 60. What Greece’s bond rating is NOT 63. Date-rape drug, briefly 66. Paths (abbr.) 67. Bridge (Fr.) 68. Gun-toters unite! (abbr.) 69. Certain upper chambers 71. British cash, slangily 73. _____ v. Vitale (Prayer in schools case) 75. Home of the answers to the starred clues (and the name formed by properly arranging the circled letters) 78. Mr. Fudd and others 80. *The sea 81. Common folk 82. “____ a hatter” 83. HELP!!! (briefly) DOWN 1. *Harvest 2. Number one 3. *Messenger (and
handbags) 4. Partner of “ahh” 5. Vaca. activity, say 6. “For sale _______” (sign) 7. Meat grader 8. Flat 9. (Just a) tiny bit 10. FBChat msgs. 11. Hoover for one 12. Certain beer type, briefly 13. Hearty soup 14. “The ____” (highly addictive RPG) 16. Poet’s before 17. Nutrition facts datum, briefly 19. Enzyme ending 23. Yemeni capital 24. Like some Christians 25. N-S NYC thoroughfare 29. Ctrl+Alt+___ 31. Trains over your head, briefly 33. Parisian “Ms.” 34. Israeli submachine gun 35. Stimpy’s pal 36. Mo. No. 8 38. Metal sheets 39. Chooses 40. Puzzle
41. Rage 42. Blue ___ Group 46. Actor Eckhart 47. Jump 50. “Big Three” inits. 52. Laid out 53. Where one may be stuck 55. *The hunt 58. Troy sch.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
59. Sings in the Alps (or convenience store pastries) 60. Livid 61. *War 62. “Up in the Air” carrier, briefly 63. Leg 64. URL starting string 65. Witch’s whip, say
70. Rick’s love interest 71. Status ___ 72. Annapolis academy org. 74. Fishing implement 76. Lost, briefly 77. Law enforcement agcys. 79. One living next to Vietnam
HUMOR & SATIRE
February 17, 2011
Page 13
OPINIONS
A Thank You letter Vassar vs. Vaasa: Doppelgang-war to Our Lady of Gaga Alanna Okun
Humor & Satire Editor
Tom Renjilian Columnist
A
s the Official President of the Gay Community (You all forgot to vote because Hillary wasn’t running, so I won by default. LOL, sorry.), I have the responsibility of issuing an Official “OMG Thank You” to our Grand Empress and Sole Representative to the Straight Community Lady Gaga, whose new song “Born This Way” is guaranteed to liberate us from all forms of oppression and discrimination. Lady Gaga’s hot new single “Born This Way” is being heralded as a new gay anthem, finally replacing the previous gay anthem “With Arms Wide Open” by acclaimed homosexual rock band Creed. This new anthem, with unique and inspirational lyrics such as “I was born this way” and “Baby, I was born this way,” is sure to inspire the gay masses and also anyone else who was born weird! (I was born with three thumbs and a lime green penis. I COUNT TOO, RIGHT?) “Born This Way” brilliantly mixes two elements that we homosexuals find irresistible—Madonna Plagiarism and Terrible Music—in order to create what some are calling “the best new song since they sang ‘Defying Gravity’ on Glee!” The revolutionary song has prompted comment from notoriously staunch social conservative and creator of the heavens and Earth, God. In an e-mailed statement, the Lord said, “Wait I totally get it now! I’ve been wrong all this time! Well shit, guys, now I really wish I’d voted ‘no’ on Prop 8.” It is universally agreed upon that “Born This Way” will usher in a new era in the fight for gay rights. “Born This Way” isn’t Gaga’s first foray into the campaign for equality. In case any plebeians don’t know about her past activism, I’ll provide a brief biography. The Prophet
known as Lady Gaga was born June 28, 1969, during the Stonewall Riots. She emerged gracefully from her (transgendered, DUH) mother’s womb, wearing Kermit the Frog heads and glasses made of cigarettes. Almost immediately, Gaga took to the streets to fight for gay equality. Although she was just a (sexually liberated) baby, she managed to beat up a few homophobic New York City cops and at the same time, release her first two singles “Just Dance” and “Pokerface,” which celebrate two of the most popular gay pastimes, “Just Dancing!” and “Playing Cards.” Following these early successes advocating for gay rights, Lady Gaga made some unfortunate missteps. In 2010, she was spotted attending a baseball game, thereby alienating much of her core audience who associate the sport with “failing to meet their father’s expectations” and “getting beat up in gym class.” Fortunately, Gaga redeemed herself in the eyes of the Gay Community by wearing a dress made out of raw meat to support “Gay rights!—Seriously guys—that’s what it’s for. Why don’t you get it?” Other recent political victories for Gaga include the overturning of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the legalization of gay marriage in Connecticut, Iowa and Sweden. In conclusion, the Gay Community would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Lady Gaga for leading us through dark periods of harsh oppression to our current zenith of equality. I may just be one gay man, but I feel justified in speaking for all of your fans when I say: Lady Gaga, you make us proud to be who we were born to be—superficial gay boys covered from head to toe in glitter and shame who have truly awful taste in music and are easily seduced by excessive, flagrant pandering to the gay community.
A
s anyone who’s anyone knows, this past week Vassar participated in its first-ever international Quidditch tournament. The Butterbeer Broooers faced off against a group of students from Finland, which is actually first and foremost a Model U.N. club and only moonlights as a Quidditch team. (Please note that no part of the previous sentence was made up. Please also note that sometimes my job is just too easy.) As of press time, I don’t know who won, but luckily I also don’t really care. The strange and beautiful coincidence that brought these two motley crües together lies in their
About Vaasa UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS Vaasa College is a highly selective, residential, coeducational liberal arts college located in the scenic Hudsaamupalaverihuone Valley. The school boasts a diverse student body from all 336 parliamentary republican municipalities, as well as an idyllic 1,000-acre campus comprised entirely of geysers. Vaasa employs more than 290 faculty members, virtually all holding a doctorate or its equivalent (i.e. the North Pole Crest of Honor). More than 70 percent of the faculty live on campus or nearby; one or two faculty families live in each residence fjord as house fellows. Notable alumnae/i include Knut Frederick Idestam, founder of Nokia; Eero Saarinen, the architect most well-known for building an unbelievably hideous building in some noname town in New York; and Santa Claus. Vaasa’s ninth president, Catherine Bond Hilerioppilastakotooloneso, affectionately known as “Cäppÿ,” has a well-known affinity for beige pantsuits and skinning reindeer for sport. Non-Discrimination Policy: Vaasa College does not discriminate on the basis of race,
Weekly Calendar: 2/17 - 2/23 Thursday, 2/17 3 p.m. Tea. “So, how many summer internships are you ap-
plying to?” Rose Parlor.
what’s going on with your face, and your race, gender, creed, color and religion pretty much embody everything I find repulsive in this world. No offense!” Sanders Auditorium. 10 p.m. “Everyone Loves a Jewish Kid” Mug Night. They’re
6 p.m. Pour Some Sugar On Me. Actually, please don’t. Aula.
missing the second half of this event name: “Until s/he Doesn’t Invite You to His/Her Bar/Bat Mitzvah Because the Rubber Bands on Your Braces Are Bright Orange Instead of an Innocuous Shade of Grey.” Mug.
Friday, 2/18
Sunday, 2/20
3 p.m. Tea. “Gosh, I’m not sure. Is that even a thing yet?”
2 p.m. Development Training. I can’t be the only person out
Rose Parlor.
there who consistently associates the word “development” with “training bras.” Sanders Auditorium.
10 p.m. Improv Show. Same dilemma as Late Night—I’d really rather not have to curb-stomp biddies in order to get an actual seat, but it would be a travesty if the Vassar student body were denied the vision that is Conrad Schott ’11 pretending to be a 16-year-old junior varsity cheerleader. Taylor 203.
Saturday, 2/19 9 p.m. No Offense Sketch Comedy. “So like, you’re totally lumpy in all the wrong places, and I don’t even know
Lotta Dahlskog ‘11 enters the Vaasa All-Campus Dining Center
color, religious belief, how much seal blubber you consume on a daily basis, sex, marital status, whether or not you’re on the Naughty List, national or ethnic origin, or jyväskyl. Campus visits are strongly encouraged; tours and information sessions are offered weekdays year-round, and on most fall Saturdays except during the week of the midnight sun. Popular student activities include crosscountry skiing, a cappella (be sure to check out the oldest group, the Night Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers) and correcting all the idiot international students who mispronounce Finnish words. Notice, prospective students, how Quidditch did not make the cut. Don’t worry, even in the Arctic Circle it’s not a real sport. The facts speak for themselves. They’re the superior, robust, annoyingly healthy and literate version of us. Within a year’s time, I posit, we’ll all be Finnished.
by Alanna Okun, Humor & Satire Editor
5 p.m. Late Night at the Lehman Loeb. I’m always reticent to
publicize this because I want all the cheese cubes and outof-season berries for myself. But I decided I would because I’m SUCH a good friend. FLLAC.
names: While our school, as you may be aware, is called “Vassar,” the Finns hail from “Vaasa.” WHAT IS THIS NORDIC MADNESS. I have a salient and well-thoughtout explanation: It’s not uncommon to see pairs of doppelgängers at Vassar, right? This year’s freshman class contains a host of people who look uncannily like preexisting students, which makes drunkenly yelling at that guy you only kind of know from your Cog Sci class that much more harrowing. This Vaasa-Vassar business appears to be just one more example of creepy-twin-syndrome, albeit on a college-wide scale. In the interest of journalistic integrity/conspiracy theories, I visited the Vaasa admissions website to find out more.
Monday, 2/21
her dorm to her first class over the treacherous, frozen tundra? Mug.
Tuesday, 2/22 3 p.m. Tea. “Yikes, I didn’t know that! I guess I’ll get my resume together and write a few cover letters or something.” Rose Parlor.
Wednesday, 2/23 12 p.m. Vassar Abroad Presentation. “Here’s a picture of the bar where I made out with that Polish street-cleaner. Here’s where I threw up peppermint schnapps—you’re right, that IS where James Joyce is buried! Oh, and this one’s of me and my friends on a backpacking trip, except by ‘backpacking’ obviously I mean ‘three-suitcases-and-a-Louis-Vuittonpursing.’” Palmer Gallery.
3 p.m. Tea. “Oh, you poor uninformed slut. Don’t you real-
3 p.m. Tea. “I mean, I’M applying to nine publishing hous-
ize that you’re going to end up interning at like, Arby’s or a literary agency if you don’t get on your applications soon?” Rose Parlor.
es, 12 literary magazines, 17 newspapers, six weekly newspapers, three biweekly newspapers, one triweekly newspaper, six public radio stations, eight consulting firms and a hedge-fund-slash-bakery run by a B-list actor. But you should do whatever makes you happy.” “Oh. Well. Fuck you.” Rose Parlor.
10 p.m. Trivia Night. Question #74: How many freshmen
does it take to carry a 125-pound junior English major from
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
ARTS
Page 14
February 17, 2011
Student exhibition fills art spaces, rejuvenates Catskill Adam Buchsbaum
E
Reporter
Series to link music, urban landscapes Jack Owen
Guest Reporter
M
ost everyone has a favorite song or a favorite genre of music. However, few people have an awareness of their adored music’s greater implications in society, or how their musical taste might be reflected in the urban landscape. Fortunately for the Vassar community, though, the Musical Urbanism Series, organized by the Urban Studies Department, will shed light on the relationship between popular music in cities and culture and representation. Comprised of a film screening and two guest lectures, the three events will be informative and distinct, yet loosely tied together. The first event, a screening of the documentary Joy Division—directed by Grant Gee, an accomplished British film director—will occur Monday, Feb. 21 at 8 p.m. in Sanders Classroom 212, Spitzer Auditorium. “Music reflects particular times and places,” explained Leonard Nevarez, who is co-teacher of the Urban Studies Department’s Musical Urbanism class and an associate professor of sociology. The series will be fascinating to anyone who would like to know more about music’s role in urbanization, and why we associate reggae with Jamaica, Motown with Detroit and dance music with New York City. It provides what Nevarez describes as an “opportunity to think critically of these associations of cities and their musical histories.” “Joy Division explores the vibrant rock scene in Manchester, England and how it grew to become ‘Madchester’ in the ’80s and ’90s,” explained Nevarez. The film tells the story of the influential, late’70s Manchester band of the same name, and how it affected the city’s music scene. Though the lecture series is related to the Musical Urbanism class offered through the Urban Studies Department, it is certainly not exclusive—all students attracted to music and cities are bound to See URBANISM on page 16
Courtesy of Noah Lourie Mosher
mpty buildings line Main Street in Catskill, N.Y. The town has a rich history, as beautiful 19th-century façades grace each building’s exterior, and less than a mile away is the former home of Thomas Cole, the founder of the Hudson River School. No longer will these buildings be empty, however, as a new project, Masters on Main Street, plans to fill these vacant spaces with art. The project consists of 10 student art exhibitions, one of which will highlight the work of Vassar’s Art Department. Masters on Main Street came about in October 2010 with the help of Vassar graduate Purcell Palmer ’62 and Fawn Potash, the Visual Arts Director for the Greene County Council on the Arts (GCCA). The GCCA devotes itself to promoting art within Greene County, which includes Catskill. Potash contacted Professor of Art Harry Roseman, and he brought up the project to students at the bimonthly studio art major’s critique. Russell Webner ’11 volunteered to be the student liaison who would work with Potash and Palmer to involve Vassar student art work with the Masters on Main Street project. The project provides a rare opportunity for students to display their works in an environment off campus, in a real gallery setting. In this case, the gallery is located in a two-story, historic, naturally lit building. In fact, this is the first time in his four years at Vassar that Webner recalls there being any significant off-campus show featuring Vassar students. “I think in many ways it’s some-
thing students are uncomfortable doing because they don’t have that confidence, but I don’t think that they’re right,” Webner said. “I think the work people are making is great and they should be excited to show in this setting,” Webner explained. Student work will primarily be sculpture and painting, though some will show off larger installations. Students will share the space, set up the exhibit by themselves and self-curate. “As an art major at Vassar you show work in different settings all the time, but this is exciting,” Webner said. Webner decided to help with this exhibition partly because of his experience at home. As an Ohioan, he is from the Rust Belt, and witnessed the economic devastation of formerly vibrant areas. He sympathizes with the project, as it aims to turn around Catskill’s empty and depressed Main Street. “Catskill is a little more down on its luck,” Webner said. “They lost a lot of business and this is going to help revitalize their Main Street.” Potash noted the troubles that have hit Catskill as well. There is a reason, after all, for the empty buildings that dot Main Street. “Part of this was to attract more interest in our Main Street and part of it was to enlarge our art audience for the exhibitions already there,” Potash said. Potash hopes that the project will attract people to Catskill. “I think that the participating artists and institutions will see that this town is supportive of its artists and want to live here and create here,” Potash said. In addition to benefiting student artists, Palmer has also been running the Catwalk Artist Residency program to attract, promote and assist artists in Catskill. For the program,
The Masters on Main Streeet Project provides art students at Vassar with the unique opportunity to showcase their work in an off-campus setting. Their work will be displayed at 396 Main Street in Catskill, N.Y. from Feb. 22 through May 31. Palmer allots property as studio space for artists to work in and develop their art. Students from Vassar have been making trips to Catskill to set up their exhibit. “It’s going to be a dynamic space for painting and sculpture,” Webner said. “It’s going to take some work to inhabit it, but it’s going to be really worth the effort.” Potash too feels confident in the project. “I think people will start patronizing the town a little more,” Potash said. “I think the buildings that are vacant won’t be vacant in a year.” Currently, 15 students plan to exhibit their art-
work at Masters of Main Street. The artists involved with the project are all in college or recent graduates. Masters of Fine Arst students and Bachelors of Fine Arts alumni of the School of Visual Arts, a Bard graduate student, SUNY New Paltz alumni, College of St. Rose Master of Arts alumnae, and School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Vassar alumnae will be there in addition to current Vassar students. “I don’t doubt we’ll be able to go in there and hold our own against graduate programs even though we’re just undergrads ourselves,” Webner said.
The project launches on Saturday, Feb. 22 and will be accompanied by festivities from 5 to 7 p.m. Vassar students will exhibit at 396 Main Street, Catskill, N.Y As well as gallery openings all along Main Street, the project’s first day will also feature the local radio station, live from 2 to 6 p.m. and assorted community activities like food and live music. A dance party will follow from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Brik Gallery on Main Street. The project will run from until May 31. “Vassar’s confidence and cooperation were a big help to us,” Potash concluded.
One senior’s artistic, southern odyssey Connor O’Neill
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Columnist
hen it comes down to it, I came down here to Mississippi for a story and I guess this is it. I wrote in my grant proposal for the trip that: “I want to write with the South’s dirt in my nails and its song in my head.” By the time I got off the bus in Clarksdale, Miss., I had bit my nails to the quick and it was too early in the morning to have anything but static in my head. By the time I got on the plane to come back to New York, I had stories about stories to scratch at, clattering around in my head, bumping into and calling out to each other. I had eaten tamales with the chief firefighter/amateur historian in a former plantation commissary-turnedbar filled with Elvis busts and the original Blues Brothers car parked out front. I had watched Mick Jagger tell stories about Muddy Waters on a flatscreen TV in Muddy’s reconstructed sharecropping cabin. I had seen women as old as my mother stand in front of a stage whose walls had been signed by everyone from the Smu Frat Boys to Taj Mahal while the guitarist leaned down over to me to tell that that hip-hop shit ain’t got no soul. I spent more time sleeping on buses, trains, couches and benches than I did in beds, and had watched the sun come up in Washington, D.C., Clarksdale, New Orleans and Jackson. Stories were the currency of the trip. Everyone down there’s got their own story to tell, their own way to tell it and is in the business of swapping them, full- or parttime. Looking for a story could get me into a closed record shop, and having one of my own could get me into the back room. And like I said, I guess I was down there to find my own, so it’s lucky that coming off the bus I more or less stumbled directly onto one. The bus station in Clarksdale is a sorry looking one-story, brick building, opened only when a bus comes in, and sometimes not even then. I had the luck of being the ex-
ception to that rule and found myself standing alone on the side of Highway 61, with no map and no clue which way town was, biting my lip and wishing I had checked the weather to know how cold it would be down there. The bus heaved out of the parking lot—I was the only one to get off there—and I saw it turn right and accelerate up the ramp back onto the interstate. I took my chances going left and trudged down the line, hoping that I was headed in the right direction. I had been in transit for 36 hours and at almost any other point during that time I would have traded my half-eaten bag of barbeque potato chips for the chance to stretch my legs, vagabonding it down a famous highway. But seeing as it was 6:30 a.m. and the sun still only a purple cuff on the deep blue cloak of night, I was a little less enthused. Not to mention I had spent the hours from 2 to 5 a.m. curled on a metal wire bench in the Memphis bus station like a ratty shirt sitting forgotten on the floor. But, travel blues notwithstanding, I had made it to Mississippi, had escaped the storm that was pounding the Northeast, and was hoping to finish my thesis. But to do it, I needed a story. Dread had mounted in me the closer I got to the end of the bus trip. The end of the ride meant the end of the quiet, passive travel. I was going to have to head out into the delta, with only a half-formed idea of where I was going and even less of an idea of what I would do once I got there. But for now it was as easy as one foot in front of the other. I was surprised to see snow line the roadside in gray-brown flaking crystals. I crunched through it in my sneakers, satisfied at the sound. I began to feel more confident that I was headed in the right direction as the shoulder of the highway turned to gravel parking lots for strip malls and dive bars. The dread uncurled a little more when a car finally passed me, headed the same way I was. I heard it before I saw it—trunk rattling with bass, words in-
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
audible. It was a boat of a Buick, a rusted gold color, set up on what had to be 24-inch, shining, chrome rims. Civilization kept emerging as the sun kept lifting and the water kept seeping into my shoes. When the road banked to the right I stopped short and felt the sock squish against the top of my foot, releasing its water. Not 100 feet in front of me was an intersection, marked with three large model guitars. I had stumbled onto the crossroads of highways 61 and 49—that mythical intersection where folks say Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his guitar-playing skills. Lots of deals looked to be going down by the time I arrived some 80 years later, but they were happening at the Crossroads Furniture Store, the Bud and Beer Grocery, the Grab and Go Mini Mart, and the Delta Donut shop. My watch was to the right side of seven now and the intersection was crowded. I skipped out in front of a pick-up truck to get to the donut shop and ordered a glazed and a small coffee. No place to eat inside so I headed for the curb at the side of the highway. I dunked my donut in the coffee and watched the purplish blue oil swirl in the thick black liquid. I hadn’t had a square meal in more than 24 hours, but didn’t feel like I needed one. My hands were too cold to write—I had forgotten gloves—and I just sat there and let the cars rush past as I filled up with the sight. A few days later I wound up at the foot of Johnson’s grave. It’s in a impromptu cemetery on the front lawn of a church outside of Greenwood, Miss. Across the street, a barren cotton field was packed with geese who had migrated south for the summer. They call out in the background as I stood at his grave and read the inscription, a lyric from one of his songs: “When I leave this town, I’m gon’ bid you fare, farewell/And when I return again, you’ll have a great long story to tell.”
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Inner peace has a waitlist in meditation workshops Ellen Xie
Guest Reporter
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Carlos Hernandez/The Miscellany News
ois Peak became a Buddhist 22 years ago, and since then she has acquired another name: Ani Kunga Chodron, meaning sister, joy and dharma lamp. This semester, she will be on Vassar’s campus to teach a class called Meditation to Reduce Stress: Techniques from Tibet. Held every Monday and Wednesday in the Vassar Library Meditation Room, the class is offered to the entire Vassar community for free. Already, the spots are filling up—the Wednesday class even has a waitlist. Co-sponsored by the Vassar Religious and Spiritual Life Office, the Department of Athletics and Physical Education, the Life Fitness In the Pink Program and the Office of Field Work, this class deviates from the usual academic course. The homework, tests, reading and grades are all replaced by an intensely spiritual element. However, the goal of the class is not to convert people to Buddhism, but rather to improve daily life via a Buddhist philosophy. The class will focus on meditation techniques for overcoming the stress produced by procrastination, competition, inappropriate cravings, irritations and dealings with different people. For college students, and members of the staff and faculty, these techniques are extremely beneficial. With tons of long papers to write, a ceaseless compilation of “catchup” work and the dramas inherent in the close dorm environment, students are more than familiar with stress. However, these sources of stress extend and are perhaps even magnified after college. Chodron said, “Most people at Vassar are generally pretty intelligent and most of them go on to do very important things. This
Ani Kunga Chodron is teaching an on-campus class this semester called Meditation to Reduce Stress: Techniques from Tibet. The class meets every Monday and Wednesday in the Vassar Library Meditation Room. [class will help] keep the boat steady when the sea gets rough.” Arial Shogren ’13, one of the leaders of the Buddhist Sangha weekly meditations, said, “I think that people at Vassar get kind of flighty or worked up when you bring up religion.” Regardless, Buddhism does seem to spark some interest on campus, as seen through the well attended Sangha Club and the widely popular Religions of Asia class. With striking correlations to physics, psychology and philosophy, Buddhism is defi-
nitely a religion that places special emphasis on knowledge. Chodron noted, “Like Eskimos talking about snow…the Buddhists have a lot of words for mind.” No doubt the meditation workshops will give students a recess from the strict academic mind-work they’re accustomed to. Questions about the way the knower apprehends knowledge and the process of knowing sound similar to Western philosophy. Questions concerning what makes the mind happy and what makes the mind suffer share more of
a relationship with modern psychology. In addition to gaining a refreshing and healthy perspective on knowledge, philosophy and psychology, students may walk away from the meditation workshop with better physical health. Researchers report that people who meditate show a reduction of gray matter in the amygdala, a region located deep within the temporal lobes that deals with anxiety and stress. The research is still limited, so this is not completely grounded. However, in a world where the mind is constantly spinning, analyzing, worrying and musing, there’s no denying that meditation forces the mind into a much needed state of rest and relaxation. All scientific research aside, meditators can tell you. They feel rejuvenated. Sitting cross-legged on pillows, the roughly 10-member class sits in silence staring at a blue and white flower. Blue is supposed to inspire peace. Students are instructed to breathe in, breathe out; to focus on nothing but the flower. The class offers a completely welcoming environment, as absolutely no experience is necessary to join. “Meditating is like learning how to ride a bicycle,” Chodron said. She tells the class to take deeper breathes and to take in less air as the mind begins to wander. The class struggles, expressing their frustration in the two-minute break. Yet, the teacher is patient and tells them that her first mediation experience was equally excruciating. Chodron reassures the class by stating, “the goal [is]…if it’s helpful, use it.” Through the meditation workshops, religious, secular, intellectual thought will co-exist every Monday and Wednesday for a period of selfreflection, contemplation and relaxation.
Theory of Flight produces album from bottom up Laci Dent
Guest Reporter
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Courtesy of Nina Yvedin
songwriter that performed at Los Angeles’s Viper Room, a photographer whose work has been featured in New York Magazine, a producer whose compositions have been broadcast on television, a professional software developer, a glockenspiel player—these are some of the talented artists at Vassar College and beyond that make up the student-run Theory of Flight project. It is a dedicated group of people led by senior and founder Nina Vyedin, whose goal is to open up the process of producing and releasing an independent music album to the public. Vyedin explained: “If you get enough talented people together on one project, you can make something really big happen. This seems pretty intuitive, but projects like this one are not as common as you’d think.” The project focuses on a mode of music production that places power in the hands of the musicians and individuals directly involved. “Music, and most art that manages to reach the market, becomes the territory of professionals with large funds and marketing contacts. But it doesn’t have to be that way!,” said Vyedin. Vyedin wanted to make an album her entire Vassar career, and stumbled upon the idea and the title for the project while at a Border’s bookstore in her home town. She came across an old German aerodynamics textbook called Theory of Flight and was immediately captured by the unfamiliarity and difficulty of the topic. She realized that this feeling of “exchanging the place where one is comfortable for the unknown and the unfamiliar” would be a great starting point for an album. Now, the band at the heart of Theory of Flight, Nina Vyedin and the Undergraduates, is doing just that. With recordings taking place each week at Skinner Hall, produced by Adjunct Professor of Music Terry Champlin, the band hopes to release the Theory
of Flight album on May 13. Around the release date, the group also plans to do an all-campus concert. Students that make up Theory of Flight include the band members— songwriter Vyedin, back-up vocalist Samantha Smith ’14, piano player Will Healy ’12, guitarist Chris Connors ’12, bass guitarist Bill Leith ’14, drummer Erik Snow ’12 and singer Amelia Couture ’12. Those working on other aspects of the project include photographers Katie De Heras ’13 and Sophie Newman ’13,design consultant Kelsey Forest ’11, media manager Andy Dymond ’12, engineer Ben Englert and sound engineer Eliza Waldman ’12. While the project is currently a busy and vibrant collaboration between musicians, designers, photographers and engineers, Vyedin says most of the writing for the album is already complete. “A lot of the creative work had to be done beforehand because you have to develop a very clear picture of where the work is headed,” she explained, adding, “It’s a really beautiful first moment when you realize you have something like a concept uniting your work, which becomes the album.” The concept of flight is central to the storyline, and the album features a set of characters that help explain all the different meanings of the word. “Amelia Earhart’s in there, the Wright brothers are in there. Also totally unrelated people like Doris Day and Bette Davis,” Vyedin added. When asked about the band’s genre, Vyedin responded laughingly, “It sounds like: Joni Mitchell and Franz Schumann’s illegitimate child meets Josh Ritter in a British pub. Beautiful things ensue.” From the public’s standpoint, the project’s main goal is transparency. Members of the project aim to deviate from the traditional methods of production, ones that often distort or exclude the incredible amount of work that go into an album. “I wanted to release the album with college
Nina Vyedin ’11, center, and Samantha Smith ’14, Will Healy ’12, Bill Leith ’14, Erik Snow ’12 and Chris Connors ’12, are the members of Nina Vyedin and the Undergraduates. The group is currently working on an album called Theory of Flight. students for a different perspective. We wanted to show exactly how many people are involved and give audiences a transparent view of the whole process and how much collaboration actually takes place to make a work of art,” said Vyedin. The straightforward nature of the project is best seen through its website, which includes personal bios of everyone involved and a clear mention of each member’s work. In addition, the website will feature video footage, track samples and photos taken in the studio—all of which will help listeners understand every step of the production process. While the idea of releasing an album and creating music may seem fun, it obviously requires ton of work and is very expensive. While most of the work on the album—including everything from sound engineering
to photography to public relations and web design—is done by student volunteers, certain costs like mastering, distribution and web hosting have to be covered. The cost of making and mastering Theory of Flight is estimated at around $3,000. The Theory of Flight Project Kickstarter Fund allows any supporters or inquirers about the project to make a direct donation to the album. Students of Vassar College will also be able to pre-order the album online by donating $10, and get it sent directly to their mailboxes in May. The link to the fund is found through the project website, theoryofflightproject.org, and their Facebook page.The album will also be made available on iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby. The group is looking for support and people who are willing to help
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
them explore the process of making something big. The project is open to anyone who wants to participate. Different people with creative ideas, talents and abilities are encouraged to help spring forward this endeavor. You can investigate this project yourself, and download the free song “Homecoming” on their website . Some albums may exist just to be collections of good songs, but the Undergraduates want to make a larger statement with their music. “I think that what we are doing is not just making an album of music, but building a time machine,” said Vyedin. “When you hear a particular song, you are transported back to the time you first heard it. This album is a time machine into the past for me— and these songs are going to anchor time into the future for anyone that listens.”
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Cavalcade of comedy on the way
Singer Herzog dabbles in jazz, improv Shruti Manian Reporter
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assar is full of students who are musically talented, but what sets Jenny Herzog ’13 apart is her zany and unorthodox approach to music. A trained classical singer, Herzog has decided to push boundaries and experiment with music she finds truly fascinating. With her zest for the unconventional, she seems to be on just the right track. “Wow, I’ve never been interviewed ever before! I feel like a real artist now,” laughed Herzog. Coming from a musical family, Herzog’s musical inclinations are simply an intrinsic part of her vibrant personality. “My father is a jazz pianist, and I grew up with all his bizarre jazz playing,” said Herzog. Herzog holds that her father has had a very deep impact on the choices she has made as a musician. In elementary school, she sang for musical theater and continued all the way through middle school, before discovering that her passions lay in other directions. “I decided that musical theater was too plastic and rehearsed for me. I realized it was too predetermined for my taste,” said Herzog. When she came to Vassar, Herzog initially took a number of classical and opera music lessons. But she soon realized that jazz was her true calling. “It was a hard decision to make, and it took so long because I was getting so much as a singer from classical training—the discipline it imparted was outstanding,” said Herzog. At this point Herzog took a semester off, and seriously considered going to music school but decided against it. “I realized that music school is really too structured. They change the way you think about music. And I did not want to be assimilated into their musical sculpture. On the other hand, Vassar offers so much more freedom,” said Herzog, who is not only musically talented, but also an enthusiastic philosophy major. Herzog spent her semester off in Brooklyn, where she decided to pursue tap dancing. “I had tap danced earlier in middle school, but now I really feel connected to the movement in the music,” she said, adding “I love tap dance because even though your feet are playing a rhythm, your body is free to move.” Herzog is planning to put on a performance with the Vassar Dance Department at their end of the year show. While on her semester off, Herzog met Jai Clayton, a jazz music teacher, who now plays a key role in directing Herzog’s creative energies. Under Clayton’s guidance, Herzog became absolutely sure that she wanted to seriously pursue jazz. “I quit all my classical music classes. I knew then that the direction I wanted to go in musically was improvisation. I felt more connected to the music if I made it up on the spot. What comes out is not planned, so it is more honest.” said Herzog.
Carlos Hernandez/The Miscellany News
COMEDY continued from page 1 as an all sketch or stand up and sketch show.” The next day, after students have seen what Indecent Exposure has to offer, the group will hold auditions. Leonard said, “The show is a way for prospective members to see what being a part of the troupe is like.” Each comedian will perform material they wrote on their own and then workshopped with the group. “We work collectively,” said Leonard. Because it’s all stand up, the show, titled “Love Don’t Cost a Thing—But Donations are Accepted,” doesn’t necessarily have a common theme. While Leonard did not discuss her piece, she did reveal: “It’s based on an article I read for a sociology and women’s studies class about clothing.” She noted that Indecent Exposure’s subject matter, though—in general and for Friday’s show—is broader than solely female oriented issues. “Even though we’re an allfemale group, all our material isn’t focused on women.” The group hopes the show will be the perfect pre-game for any student’s Friday night. “Doing just stand up is fun,” said Leonard. “It’s not a lot of pressure, and it should be a nice little burst of laughter on Friday night if people want something to do before partying or doing homework.” For a different flavor of comedy, No Offense’s show will take place on both Friday and Saturday night at 9 p.m. in Sanders Auditorium. Member Andi Sharavsky ’11 defined the group in simple terms when she said, “We’re people who like comedy, and like each other.” The show this weekend will be the third of the four comedy sketch and video shows they collaboratively write, perform, edit, direct and produce annually. According to Sharavsky, “We never pick a theme for our performances, but somehow all the sketches seem to fit together. In general, we all like a lot of interesting, crazy and weird characters.” No Offense, like Indecent Exposure, works collaboratively to generate material. Sharavsky commented, “This year has been more collaborative than ever—there’s definitely a different vibe. We do improv to get ideas, and write and edit in groups and pairs, and all of us do props and costumes.” Although she was wary of giving anything away about this particular show, she did divulge a small detail about the performance. “In honor of the sesquicentennial, the show will feature a recognizable character on the Vassar campus,” she said. She also noted, “Audiences should expect the usual chaos and hilarity. If you’re interested in straight up sketch comedy, you should come.” Vassar’s Improv troupe will perform on Friday at 10 p.m. in Taylor Hall 203. According to its mission statement, “Improv is an improvisational-based performance group whose sole and never-ending mission is to bring laughter and good cheer to an otherwise dull world.” The show promises to deliver comedy in both short form and a 20-minute long form. As always, each act will be based on audience suggestions and completely made up on the spot. Improv counts on the audience’s active and enthusiastic energy to create strange narratives and play games as hilarity ensues. The fact that so many events are going on this weekend confirms that the comedy community at Vassar is hyped up for the Spring semester. Now, the only problem students face is choosing which show to attend. Luckily, both Friday and Saturday night present some laughing opportunities. “It makes me excited that so much comedy is going on on campus; it’s all really different, but still all comedy, so obviously all fun. It’s great that students can get a taste of everything,” said Leonard.
February 17, 2011
Jenny Herzog ’13, pictured above, aspires to be a musician after graduating from Vassar. She enjoys jazz improvisation, and is a member of the all-female a capella group, the Night Owls. When she got back to Vassar, Herzog was accepted into the all female a capella group Night Owls. “Definitely singing with other people is a great way to connect. People who sing together, feel together,” said Herzog. The Night Owls is the only Vassar group that Herzog is currently involved in because she wants to concentrate on her individual musical tastes and create her own personal type of music. “I’ve been a part of many music groups before, and what I’ve realized is that it takes up so much of my time and I am not making the kind of progress I want to make,” said Herzog. Herzog experienced one of her most musically rewarding moments last year in Matthew’s Mug as she was performing with the Jazz Combo for an audience of about five people at 1 a.m. in the morning. “We began to sing this piece we hadn’t really practiced, and I improvised and it sounded and felt so great. I think all my music is for moments like that,” said Herzog. No doubt Herzog understands the critical
role a singer plays, but she stresses the bottom line of any creative musical endeavor as the strong backbone--the rhythm and sound, something that should not be overshadowed by an individal’s agenda. “I think the job of a singer is to get out of the way of the music. If the singer’s ego gets in the way, the music is corrupted and trivialized. The music cannot be about the performer—it has to be about the music,” she explained. Though she recognizes it’s a lofty goal, Herzog aspires to be a musician after Vassar. She explained her heartfelt passion rooted in the universal connections facilitated by music, “Why and how music is important to me: it cuts through the intellect and reason, and i think touches the core of what it means to be human, or more specifically, to be alive.” Herzog’s approach to music and singing is so experimental that she strives to essentially create her own distinct genre: “A lot of times I feel like this type of music doesn’t exist, but I have to create it because it needs to exist,” she said.
Lectures to define musical urbanism URBANISM continued from page 14 find interesting material, regardless of their academic pursuits. The lectures will “definitely provide historical context and they’ll illustrate different theoretical or critical approaches to material,” said Nevarez. The second event, “Spin Doctors: Filipino American Mobile Disc Jockey Crews,” will be a lecture given by Oliver Wang, a professor in the Sociology Department at California State University-Long Beach, on March 28 in Sanders Classroom 212, Spitzer Auditorium. Wang will discuss the ways in which Asian American rappers and DJs have changed their “strategies” in expressing themselves culturally and ethnically, as well as their struggle with gaining visibility within the hip hop community. Wang is a “big music blogger,” said Nevarez, and he has been writing on popular music and society since 1994 for many publications, including Vibe and LA Weekly. Wang specializes in the history of Asian Americans in popular culture, and many of his previous talks have
delved into Asian American influence on hiphop. For more information on Wang, check out his website: www.o-dub.com. The third event, “Sustained Decay: The Ecology of Miami Bass,” is a lecture given by Dave Tompkins, a writer whose work is mainly focused on hip-hop and popular music. It will take place at 6:30 p.m. on April 12 in Taylor Hall 203. Tompkins was a columnist for The Wire, and his writing has been featured in many other notable publications, such as The Believer, Wax Poetics and The Village Voice. He is also the author of the book How to Wreck a Nice Beach, which details the history of the vocoder during the 20th and 21st centuries, and how the electronic voice has affected culture and music. For more information on Tompkins, check out his blog: www. howtowreckanicebeach.com. The guest lecturers are “really great at what they do,” said Nevarez, and they “do their own research on music and society.” For students who are not only interested in
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
the series, but also in the Musical Urbanism course, it is a seminar in cultural analysis within the Urban Studies Department, co-taught by Nevarez and Assistant Professor of English Hua Hsu. Key themes explored include the implications of 20th-century music and popular music, classical, rock, soul and reggae. “It is a very interdisciplinary class,” said Nevarez, and it covers a wide variety of topics. The different sections of the course include: A History of Industrial Music, The First Days of Disco and Music Criticism, to name only a few. In addition, attending the series would be a great way to gain a better grasp of the concept of musical urbanism, and hence a better understanding of what the class is like. Vassar’s vivacious arts and music scene is definitely one of its staples outside of the classroom, and interdisciplinary analysis is always in high demand. For those who want to push their love and knowledge of music even further, the Musical Urbanism Series will undoubtedly be a great opportunity to do so.
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Oberst album predictably uninspired The People’s Key Bright Eyes [Saddle Creek]
Graham Mayshark Guest Columnist
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onor Oberst devotees hoping for a departure from his synth-laden and upbeat 2009 solo album Outer South will be greatly disappointed by The People’s Key, his latest and supposedly final effort under the Bright Eyes moniker. Not that anyone should be too surprised. In promoting the album, Oberst recently stated to Billboard.com that he “was really burnt out on that rootsy Americana shit.” And who could blame him? The sound is what propelled him and Bright Eyes—consisting essentially of Oberst and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis alongside a cadre of rotating musicians—to a mainstream audience beginning with 2002’s Lifted and peaking when he achieved indie heartthrob status after 2005’s I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning. After all, a songwriter can only be expected to play saccharine and sentimental songs like “First Day of My Life” and “Lua” for so long before the self-loathing and disillusionment set in. As an artist, a reputation like that is precisely the type of thing that kills your creativity and freedom. That’s part of the reason why on the same day in 2005 that Oberst released I’m Wide Awake he also released Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, a synthy and electronic album that was about as folky and acoustic as the title suggests. By releasing the two albums on the same
Campus Canvas
day, it was as though Oberst was testing his audience to see what sound they preferred. Undeniably, I’m Wide Awake won out, and like any good capitalist he followed it up with a similarly rootsy and Neil-Young-esque Cassadaga in 2007 and a folk-rock solo album in 2008. But the problem on The People’s Key is not the simple difference from his more earnest and popular work; it’s the result of his transformation. It doesn’t work. It’s flat out not good. It’s bland, shallow, even annoying at times. The affair starts out familiar enough with opening track “Firewall.” The song begins with a spoken-word segment, standard procedure for a Bright Eyes album, this time around from Texan musician and potential doofus Denny Brewer. Brewer rambles a while about reptiles and the Book of Genesis and some unifying dimensional force between human beings, but you get the general theme of the album: unity of the people. The song fades into Oberst’s best stab at a Nirvana guitar riff and pretty stellar electronic beat, and one has the impression that Oberst is on the path he didn’t follow after Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, expectedly ignoring all that “rootsy, Americana shit” he’s best known for. Unfortunately, from there all hopes of revisiting the bleak electronica of Digital Ash are sunk. Part of this has to do with Oberst’s voice. It’s good now. Not just listenable—which on some of his songs before Lifted was rarely the case—but he sings in on-key melodies and in a good tone. Gone are the Robert-Smith-ish, moody croaks of “Lover I Don’t Have to Love” from Lifted and the outright screams of “Road to Joy” on I’m Wide Awake. This could be the result of working on 2009’s folk supergroup effort Monsters of Folk
with better singers M. Ward and Jim James, forcing his voice to hit the notes required of that album’s harmonies and background vocals. But on People’s Key, against the upbeat, Apples in Stereo-like synth pop of “Jejune Stars” and “Triple Spiral,” a good voice actually detracts. It makes the familiarity of the synth lines, uptempo drums and vocal melody even more forgettable. A couple songs stand up to his best work. “A Machine Spiritual (in the People’s Key)” is admittedly a bit folky, but his angsty and reverbed voice shines here in a way that it doesn’t throughout much of the album. “One for You, One for Me” works despite the song’s U2 atmosphere because lyrically he does what he has always done best: take a universal concept and hyperbolize it through unnecessarily specific references—without Bono’s cloying preaching. For the most part, though, Oberst seems a bit lyrically lost here. And a lot of this has to do with the music. The Rastafarian ideas in “Haile Selassie” reek with the day-old stench of stale cheese rather than sing against the song’s sunny pop guitar. (Imagine Jason Mraz singing about transcendentalism, and you’re probably a little past there.) To transition his sound, it appears to have been also necessary for Oberst to transition his words. Nothing makes pop suck more than pretentious lyrics. (I point again to Bono.) But Oberst didn’t do it. It’s something Bob Dylan understood well on his old-school country rehaul Nashville Skyline. If you’re looking for an artistic makeover, you go all in. Oberst didn’t take it far enough here. Here’s hoping that Oberst’s next thing, be it Bright Eyes or otherwise, is different; if not for his original fans, then at least for himself.
“The Black Keys.”
Evan Becker ’13
“iwrestledabearonce.”
Parker Reeves ’14
“‘The End of a Spark’ by Tokyo Police Club.”
Ben Conant ’12 A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists
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“Joan Armatrading.”
Olivia May ’14
“The Soviet National Anthem in English.”
Ethan Madore ’12
“Resistance by Muse.” Throughout the seven years of dedicating myself to studying the art of 35-mm, black-and-white film photography, I have been involved in numerous debates on the merits of photography as a fine art. This long-standing debate might be the impetus to the meticulous and detail-oriented work that I thrust upon myself. I pride myself in the deconstruction of photographs and the subsequent reconstruction of them into something entirely new. Yes, anyone can push the shutter release and be lucky enough to end up with a beautiful image. But to merge multiple images, to measure and cut and assemble over weeks after the single instance of exposure, that is true art. This image was nothing special at first—a seemingly mundane stone planter with a cherubic façade. After multiple prints, measuring and cutting more than 180 one-cm-by one-cm squares, and reassembling the images in layers, a simple print is raised to a higher art form. —Jared Saunders
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Michelle Cantos ’11 —Rachael Borné Arts Editor
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February 17, 2011
Vassar hosts first intercontinental quidditch match Andy Marmer Sports Editor
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Previewing the NBA Western Conference Andy Sussman Columnist
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ast week, I previewed the Eastern Conference NBA All-Star roster for the Feb. 20 extravaganza that will feature more alley-oops than screens. Today I give you the Western Conference, where, unlike the East, more than four teams are actually represented. Starting point guard: Chris Paul. Due to the Big Three in Miami, the Big Four in Boston, and the big…Shaq, Paul’s stellar season has largely been overlooked by casual fans. Despite not being 100 percent healed from a knee injury last season, Paul is still third in the league in Player Efficiency Rating (PER), which denotes a player’s effectiveness per minute based on the pace of the game. More importantly, Paul has his New Orleans Hornets in prime playoff position after missing out last year. Also, “Chris Paul” has become synonymous with “shut up,” as in: Person 1: Derrick Rose is the best point guard in the NBA. Person 2: Chris Paul! Starting shooting guard: Kobe Bryant. Bryant makes his 13th All-Star Game appearance as the Los Angeles Lakers continue to look like a championship-caliber team. He may not play as many minutes as he did five years ago, but Bryant can still score as well as anybody in the NBA. Since he is hyper-competitive at everything, expect him to go for 100 points in the All-Star Game, put on a Michael Jordan jersey and cry. Then, expect him to buy a four million dollar ring for every fan in attendance so they pretend that he never cried. Starting small forward: Carmelo Anthony. The former Denver Nugget…wait, what!? You’re telling me he’s STILL on the Nuggets? After demanding a trade five months ago, and with half the teams in the NBA interested in
him? Indeed, Anthony is still in Denver, whether he likes it or not, and he is still a supremely talented scorer and clutch shooter. Even though his body language makes Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh stories look as enthusiastic as Spongebob Squarepants, Anthony currently has the Nuggets in the Western Conference playoffs. I am still not discounting the possibility that he gets traded to the Eastern Conference at the end of the first half, gets traded back at the end of the third quarter, spends the fourth quarter playing for the Harlem Globetrotters then decides to follow Allen Iverson to Turkey. Starting power forward: Kevin Durant. While there is nothing powerful about his game, Durant is one of the most exciting and best young players in the NBA. In addition to the fact that he is going for back-to-back scoring titles at only 22 years old, he also is known for his great attitude on and off the court. In fact, Durant is so popular that Yasser Arafat came back from the dead to give Durant his Nobel Peace Prize because Durant deserved it more. Starting center: Your guess is as good as mine. Like every other season in his career, the fans voted Yao Ming as the starting center. And like nearly every season in his career, Yao is hurt and cannot play in the All-Star Game. Western Conference Head Coach Gregg Popovich will decide which of his big men he wants to start. Whomever he chooses to start, however, will be only the second-best center in the Western Conference, behind Gregg Popovich, according to himself. Now let us discuss the bench players, one of whom will be starting on Sunday, Tim Duncan: Dependable, consistent, fundamentally sound, a very smart player and still bores fans as much as he ever has, a remarkable See NBA on page 19
Courtesy of Centaur.fi
uidditch has existed as an intercollegiate sport since Fall 2007 when Vassar College lost the premier Quidditch World Cup to Middlebury College. Now, Vassar is once again making its way into the annals of quidditch history. Yesterday, the Butterbeer Broooers hosted Finland’s only quidditch team, the University of Vaasa Centaurs, in the first-ever intercontinental quidditch match, in Kenyon Hall. The Centaurs’ roster actually consists of members of three schools—The University of Vaasa, Åbo Akademi Vaasa and Hanken School of Economics—and while the team masquerades as a quidditch squad, they actually have another identity. Vassar quidditch Captain Sandy Wood ’13 explained, “I believe it’s the Model [United Nations (UN)] team.” Wood continued, noting that the Butterbeer Broooers received an e-mail in late 2010 stating, “[Vaasa was] planning on coming to the United States in February and they [wanted] to arrange to play us.” The Vaasa roster consists of 11 players from five different countries: Finland, France, Italy, Portugal and Mexico. The team was initially introduced to the sport just months ago, when as Wood explained, a member of the team happened to discover online videos showcasing the sport. The game quickly spread in Finland, and just a few months later the country’s first quidditch team is already facing international competition. International director of the International Quidditch Association (IQA) Andrea Hill confirmed in an e-mailed statement, “The Centaurs are playing in the United States because most players are on a National Model [United Nations (NMUN)] team traveling to
Boston for the NMUN at Harvard [University] in February. Individuals from the team traveling to the States for this event decided to get some game time in while they were in America.” Vassar will not be the only team facing Vaasa when the Finnish squad visits the United States; they will also face a number of Boston-area teams, including 2010 runner-up Tufts University and Stony Brook University. However, Vassar will be both their first American opponent, as well as their first intercollegiate opponent. Hill writes: “The Vaasa Centaurs team formed in December 2010 so the team is quite young. However, team members have been practicing diligently in the past months in between studying and preparing for the NMUN. The games in the United States will be the first they play against other teams.” Although the Centaurs will be spending the lionshare of their time in Boston, they decided to go out of their way to face the Broooers. Wood claimed Vaasa’s decision to visit Vassar is one inspired by the similarities in their names. When prodded to elaborate by fellow Captain Nathan Hoston ’13, she continued, “Well, I think that must have been part of what makes it fun.“ Hoston offered a different explanation: “I would like to think it was because of our reputation.” The reputation, Hoston added, is one of skill, sportsmanship and friendliness. He did, however, relent that the similarities in the names might have also been a factor. Hill, though, offered another explanation. “Teams were chosen on a first-come basis. Vassar volunteered first and offered to host players,” she wrote in an e-mailed statement. Those within the IQA are hopeful that this
The University of Vaasa Centaurs, pictured above, faced off against the Butterbeer Broooers in the first ever intercontinental quidditch match last night in Kenyon Hall. The Centaurs are visiting from Finland. international expansion is a lasting trend. Hill writes, “We have a number of teams across the world, including teams in Australia, New Zealand, India, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, France, Germany and the United Kingdom and we hope to encourage some of these teams to travel to the United States.” Commissioner of the International Quidditch Association Alex Benepe is hopeful that this international presence might manifest itself at the 2011 World Cup, the IQA’s next signature event. He wrote in an e-mailed
statement, “Both Vaasa and a team [from] Auckland, New Zealand hope to attend the 2011 World Cup.” Although in the Harry Potter books it is easy for wizards and witches to assemble from across the planet for a quidditch match, in the muggle world the same feat is challenging. Still, with Vaasa’s visit to Poughkeepsie and the United States, perhaps a trend is beginning, just as a trend began three-and-a-half years ago on a field at Middlebury College.
Sports Information connects Vassar teams with their public Luke Gehorsam Guest Reporter
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ven the most avid sports buff would have difficulty following all 27 intercollegiate teams at Vassar. There are just too many games, too many players, too many coaches. That’s where Vassar’s Sports Information Department comes in. To succinctly define Sports Information is difficult, even for its employees, both full-time and student. But Assistant Sports Information Director Shane Donahue ’10 took on the challenge: “It’s [public relations] for the Athletics Department, and its statistics, releases, recaps and images pertaining to athletics.” If you’ve never heard of the Sports Information Department, you’re not alone; their contributions to Vassar take place behind the scenes. Sports Information writes player biographies, tracks their statistics and promotes them to local newspapers like The Poughkeepsie Journal. They also nominate athletes for potential awards within the conference and nationally. Additionally, high school newspapers like to follow their beloved athletes through their college years, and they will ask Sports Information for stories. Any sports enthusiast would tell you that statistics are a vital component of sports. As the official stat trackers of games, the folks at Sports Information will sit at the scorer’s booth, intently recording every free throw, fielding error or goal that occurs. Tracking a game is a two-person job: one person watches the game, calling out statistically relevant events to another Sports Information worker, who enters the data into a computer. Of course, there’s more to a game than just the numbers. After a game ends, the Sports Information employee only has a limited amount of time—often less than an hour—to craft a comprehensive, accurate recap of the contest for the Athletics website. In fact, everything on the Vassar Athletics website is produced by Sports Information—from the live stats down to the player portraits. This is why Sports Information employs around eight Vassar students each year. Assistant Director of Athletics: Communications, Marketing & Promotions Robin Deutsch is very selective about whom he hires, looking for students with a passion for athletics that fit into the team environment of the office.
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“There are a lot of intricacies,” remarked Sports Information Student Assistant Christina Verdirame ’13. “Everything we do is taken seriously because we have to have accurate files.” But like the athletes they cover, Sports Information is quick and flexible. Their office door is usually open, people flowing in and out. They have to be responsive to requests from coaches, newspapers and other schools’ Sports Information Directors. “There are so many aspects to Sports Information,” said Sports Information Student Assistant Kate Warrik ’13. “It’s always changing. There’s always work to be done. It’s never boring,” explained Warrik. Because of their constant activity and communication, the Sports Information staff has developed a noticeable rapport with each other. “We’re always in a team environment,” said Sports Information Student Assistant Keiko Kurita ’13. Deutsch became the head coach of this team in 2004, arriving after working 13 years at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Explained Deutsch, “I got involved in sports at a young age. I started writing Little League Baseball for my weekly newspaper for $5 a week when I was 10 years old because I wanted to be a sports writer. And I just continued to follow my passion, which was sports and sports writing.” Vassar didn’t have an official Sports Information Department until it joined the Liberty League in 2000, due to league mandations. This policy was designed to ensure coverage of all games, regardless of location. Vassar’s Sports Information Department also communicates with the equivalent offices of other schools. When one of Vassar’s teams travels to Skidmore College, Deutsch can’t go with them, so instead his office relies upon Skidmore’s Sports Information Department for accurate game information. Apart from the day-to-day rigors of publicizing and promoting, there are specific challenges in trying to promote a Division III school like Vassar. While Division I sports often receive more attention, Deutsch insists that Vassar’s Sports Information Department works as hard as any Division I office. Although the position requires Deutsch to commit significant time, including some evenings and weekends, he insists: “It’s a labor of love.” And Vassar’s community is truly the beneficiary of it.
SPORTS
February 17, 2011
Page 19
Parker continues to build Vassar squash program Corey Cohn
Sports Editor
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noticed squash’s growth, especially in the United States. She cited a “transition period,” when most colleges began to convert to international squash courts, which are wider and use a softer ball. Vassar itself eliminated their three remaining narrow courts in 2005, constructing the current locker rooms in their place. This upgrade in facilities, she feels, demonstrates the more prominent presence of the sport in this country. Still, however, Parker acknowledged that squash is somewhat of an “Ivy League sport,” meaning that Vassar has some big-name programs to compete with when it comes time for recruiting. “A lot [of students] want to go to an Ivy League school,” she said “But a lot also want to go to a NESCAC [New England Small College Athletic Conference] school.” NESCAC is an 11-team conference that includes institutions like Amherst, Middlebury and Williams Colleges. For right now, though, Parker is focused on the players she has and the season that is soon coming to a close. Going into last weekend’s matches, Parker had said that she wanted the women’s team to beat College Squash Association (CSA) No. 24 Tufts University. She called it a “psychological challenge—you don’t want to lose to a school ranked lower [than you].” (The Vassar women’s team is currently ranked No. 22.) Her team complied, defeating Tufts 6-3 on Sunday. During Saturday’s Vassar Team Challenge, however, the team lost to two higher-ranked teams, CSA No. 14 Columbia University (final score 8-1) and CSA No. 19 Wesleyan University (7-2). The men’s team, currently ranked No. 42, was swept at the Vassar Challenge as well, losing to both Columbia (CSA No. 20) and Wesleyan (CSA No. 22) by a score of 9-0. The next two weekends, both teams will be competing for national championships. Parker’s main goal is
Laura Smith/The Miscellany News
ften, college athletics programs will hire coaches who have playing experience, the thought process being that, given his or her ability to relate to the players, combined with an increased feel for the game, the new coach will be able to provide a unique and beneficial perspective. Whether or not that was the reasoning behind Vassar College’s decision to hire squash Head Coach Jane Parker before the 2000-2001 season, it has proven to be a wholly productive move. Parker has had a tremendous impact on both the men’s and women’s teams, highlighted by a current streak of three straight Liberty League Championship titles (2008-2010) for the latter. A native of England, Parker was first introduced to the sport at age 12, when her family moved from Pontefract, Yorkshire to Broadstairs, Kent. Their new home was only a quarter of a mile from the Thanet Squash Club. “My parents played [squash], and I just fell in love with it,” Parker recalled. Her passion and natural skill translated into incredible success. Parker finished her playing career as the No. 16 player in England and No. 34 in the world. But as much as she enjoyed competing, another element of the sport gradually caught her interest: teaching others the ins and outs of the game. In England, Parker did a remarkable job coaching the boys’ and girls’ national teams. She led the under-19 squad to victory in the 1998 European Championships and the under-16 team to three Home International event wins. She also spent the five years prior to coming to Vassar as the director of squash for the Bermuda Squash Rackets Association. Parker led the under-19 team to its highest finish ever in the 1998 World Championships. It was also in Bermuda where Parker’s career
would take an unexpected turn, leading her to the path she is on today. For it was here that she received recruiting letters from Craig ThorpeClark, then Vassar’s squash head coach, asking for junior players. At the time, Vassar squash teams were embarking on training trips to Bermuda (the men’s team in 1997, the women in 1998). Thorpe-Clark couldn’t make it, so Parker trained the students for him. Parker said Thorpe-Clark is a “long-time friend. We had a lot of interactions as coaches in the [United Kingdom].” So it was not much of a surprise when Thorpe-Clark called her after he took the head coaching job at the University of Pennsylvania in 1999, leaving his previous position open. Parker was intrigued by the opportunity. “I really enjoyed working with the Vassar teams when they came to Bermuda,” she said. “It seemed like a good career move to come to the United States.” Parker commented that it is a much different experience coaching for a college program, mostly because of the amount of administration involved. Still, she has sincerely enjoyed her time thus far and has valued her interaction with the students. “It’s great to be able to work with all levels, from [Physical Education] classes teaching beginners, to teams competing against other colleges,” she remarked. “[I like] trying to get each person to reach their potential during their four years at Vassar.” In turn, Parker said, the students’ commitment to the game has evolved during her tenure. “When I first got here,” she recalled, “it was basically, ‘Hang up your squash racket in March and let it go until October.’” Since then, though, Parker has noticed a change in attitude, with teams practicing more often and taking it upon themselves to improve. Perhaps this reflects a simultaneous jump in popularity for the sport as a whole. Parker has
Jane Parker, head coach of Vassar’s squash teams, has led the women’s team through three straight Liberty League Championship titles. for her teams to improve their overall rankings. No matter how they finish, Parker just hopes her players have the valuable experience playing squash that she herself still appreciates. “I want to get them to enjoy the game and get the most out of it that they can,” she stated. Parker is no longer able to play due to knee surgeries, which she said were needed because of her constant high-energy play on the court. She cherishes her opportunity to remain involved in the game, however. Helping the students develop and grow “makes up for me not being able to play,” she said, “but I do miss it.”
Sports see shifts in aging trends Conference roster Nik Trkulja
T
Columnist
here is nothing athletes fear more than aging. Age is the careerender, the destroyer of dreams and there’s nothing anyone can do to avoid it. Each sport has its particular age thresholds. Football players seem to last into their early 30s, hockey players can go until 40 and baseball’s “athletes” seem to retire by simply becoming “designated hitters.” But the planet’s two most popular sports have seen an interesting change in the age profile of their players. Soccer, it seems, has become younger while basketball seems to be aging. Brazillian soccer star Ronaldo’s retirement on Monday serves as a perfect example of what’s happening in soccer. Ronaldo is possibly the sport’s most prolific striker. A two-time Ballon d’Or winner, three-time FIFA Player of the Year, two-time World Cup winner and the competition’s highest all-time scorer, Ronaldo holds incredible records. To list his accomplishments would take forever. He’s scored over 300 goals for the world’s biggest clubs, won every competition there is to win and yet for the past three years, he’s been a non-entity in the world’s most popular game. Now, at the age of just 34, Ronaldo has walked away from the game, citing hypothyroidism and a body too worn and beaten to keep playing. He’s not alone. In recent years, soccer has seen its premier athletes go from heroes to, well, zeroes. Ronaldinho, at one point the sport’s biggest star, has fizzled into obscurity at age 30, as has French superstar Thierry Henry, who’s now plugging away for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer. Soccer, it seems, has no room for the “elderly.” Once a player reaches 30, he’s in trouble. The pace of the game, the timing and grace needed have meant that there is simply no place for players who
are slowing down. While goalkeepers and defenders can possibly continue to play, the sport’s most prolific athletes, attackers and midfielders, are getting ever younger. What’s interesting, though, is that basketball has seen the opposite trend. The NBA is now filled with stars above the age of 30. Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and almost the entire Boston Celtics’ and San Antonio Spurs’ rosters are over 30 years old. But rather than beginning to fade, these players are dominating. In a sport that requires as much, if not more, physical prowess than soccer, age seems to be becoming less of a factor. At first glance, it seems almost counter-intuitive. A star soccer player might play around 50-60 games in a year. An NBA player will play at least 82 regular season games, and then playoff games and international appearances. While a soccer game may last longer, an NBA game moves at a faster pace and requires both bulk and grace, meaning that each player is putting more pressure on his body. If anything, basketball should be less accommodating to worn bodies. Why, then, are basketball players retiring later than soccer stars? Well, it seems it might have something to do with the origin of the athletes. If you take away Dirk Nowitzki and Manu Ginobili, you will see that most foreign NBA superstars are actually fading around the same age as their soccer counterparts. Players like Peja Stojakovic, Nenad Krstic, Hedo Turkoglu and Yao Ming have, if anything, aged prematurely. Peja, for instance, is the NBA’s fourth-best all-time threepoint shooter, and was once on pace to eclipse Reggie Miller’s record average of three 3-pointers a game. This season, however, he’s appeared in just 19 games, averaging just eight points per match. He, like his foreign counterparts, has simply disappeared. But
why have foreign players been falling earlier? The answer’s not clear. It could be that they start playing at a higher level earlier, putting more miles on their body at a younger age. After all, many foreign athletes begin to compete professionally at around 16 years of age, and then tend to play both at the junior and professional levels. There’s also the issue of funding. Many teams outside of the United States simply don’t have the money necessary for modern facilities and support staff. Sports medicine lags far behind U.S. standards and it is also not as sought out. While American athletes visit the team’s trainers regularly, many foreign players simply do not have a trainer to go to. In turn, many nagging injuries are allowed to become much more severe over time. There’s also the issue of practice. While it’s not uncommon for professional soccer and basketball players to practice multiple times in a day, especially at the lower levels, in the United States that almost never happens. In-season practices tend to be toned down to protect the athletes, but in the rest of the world that’s not generally the case. Obviously though, these are just speculative answers to what’s nonetheless an interesting question. The world’s most popular games seem to be changing and with those changes we will likely see a mix of outcomes. Soccer will become younger, but older records will be harder to beat, leaving those already enshrined as legends safe in their spots. Basketball, on the other hand, will see the opposite development. As Lebron James and Kevin Durant continue to play for far longer than Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson did, so too will we see new records set and debates erupt over who the best ever were. The world’s most popular games are changing; let’s just hope it’s all for the better.
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mixes young, old NBA continued from page 18 achievement. While Duncan has not played many minutes for the San Antonio Spurs this season, he has not had to, because the Spurs have the best record in the NBA. Duncan is a big reason why, and not just because he is two feet taller than Danny DeVito. Manu Ginobili: The best flopper who doesn’t play soccer, Ginobili has played fantastically in a starting shooting guard role with the Spurs. He plays hard on both sides of the floor, gets to the free throw line all the time and his real name is Emmanuel. These three things are equally important to the Spurs’ success this season. Pau Gasol: The Lakers’ sevenfooter started out the season as possibly the best player in the NBA. He has since slowed down, but is still playing at a very high level. He compliments Bryant very well, even complaining when Bryant gets tired of whining himself. Blake Griffin: Like every NBA fan, I love Blake Griffin. His dunks are unparalleled, he lets his game do the talking and he has made the Clippers interesting. Unfortunately, Griffin will soon be ruled ineligible to play in the NBA because he is actually a member of the Monstars team from Space Jam that narrowly lost to Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes in 1997. Kevin Love: Love may be on the pathetic Minnesota Timberwolves, but his extraordinary play cannot be ignored. He leads the league in rebounds per
game by three more than the nearest competitor, and is averaging over 20 points per game on 43 percent shooting from the three-point line. Love gives all stocky, six-foot-nine sons of former NBA players and nephews of former Beach Boys singers hope. Dirk Nowitzki: When Nowitzki went down with a knee injury earlier this season, his Dallas Mavericks played like the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. (Look it up, they were really bad.) However, the Mavericks are currently the second seed in the West, mainly thanks to the brilliant play by Nowitzki. He may never win a championship, but he can safely say that he is the best German basketball player ever. Russell Westbrook: Durant may be the face of the Oklahoma City Thunder, but Westbrook is the reason that the team has made such strides in the past two seasons. The electric point guard is incredibly athletic and quick, allowing him to improve his defense rather dramatically. Westbrook may turn the ball over 23 times in a game, but he’ll still have 39 points and 24 assists. Deron Williams: He may have caused longtime Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan to resign, but Williams is one talented point guard. With the departure of Carlos Boozer, Williams has taken an increased role on offense, particularly with his scoring. All he needs to do now is change the spelling of his name to “Darren” so people will finally start pronouncing it correctly.
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February 17, 2011
Students avenge defeat in second annual basketball game Kristine Olson
T
Reporter
Madeline Zappala/The Miscellany News
ied 36-36 at the buzzer, the students powered their way through three minutes of overtime to defeat “Old School,” 49-41 last Thursday night to win the second annual Student-FacultyBasketball Game. It was an “Extravaganza, Baby!” just like Dean of Students Chris Roellke promised. Roellke and the Class of 2010 organized the inaugural game last year in an effort to raise funds for the Senior Class Gift. In that game, the faculty beat the students, 66-65; but this year, despite valiant efforts, Old School was worn out by the students’ speed, youth and endurance. Thursday’s game was underway with a tip-off by President of the College Catharine “Cappy” Bond Hill. From the onset, as Wilson Platt ’14 immediately tipped it to Old School, there was no telling who would win. And with teams of over 20 players— of varied skill, speed, fitness, size and age—it was a miracle that everyone had playing time. Student players Kendall Coleman ’11 (#6) and Ryan Grimme ’14 (#23) proved to be huge for the student team in regulation, securing them a three-minute overtime that led to their win. The faculty didn’t fade quickly, though, putting up a fight til the very end. Instrumental to team Old School were Carlos Alamo (“C Se Puede,” #11, Assistant Professor of Sociology),
Roellke (“Rolks,” #7) and Jonathan Kahn (“Wrath,” #8, Assistant Professor of Religion) on offense, and Tyrone Simpson (“Simps,” #17, Assistant Professor of English), Ed Pittman (“Steady,” #21, Associate Dean for Campus Life and Diversity), and Brian Silvers (“Silvers,” #31, warehouse clerk) on defense— making the students work for every point. But what team Old School lacked in the advantages of youth, they made up for it in determination and genuine swagger. From the pushing, elbowing and dramatized arguing between players, coaches and referees, this was almost a legitimate game of basketball. A quarter-time show led by Cappy and a troupe of Senior Officers masquerading as cheerleaders evoked a quintessential Vassar vibe. The inaudible singing accompanied by a trumpet and the incoherently flashed letter signs were a success at subliminal messaging: sesquicentennial. The halftime show, featuring the student dance group Hype, had something slightly more explicit to state: sexycentennial. Not to be left out, the Office of Health and Education also did their part to engage the crowd by holding a basketball-dribbling relay race among students ranging from elementary school to college as well as a free throw shooting contest pitting Vassar students against faculty. After a short rest, both staff and
The students avenged their 2010 loss to “Old School” at last week’s Student-Faculty Basketball Game, winning in overtime with a score of 49-41. The game also included a quarter-time show led by Cappy, as well as a halftime show by HYPE. students put on an exciting performance of their own in the second half. The students were able to extend their lead to as many as seven points in the third quarter but Old School battled back to take their first lead, 31-30 with 6:12 remaining in the contest. The two teams traded baskets, with the students tying the game at 36 in the final minute. The students dominated in overtime, as Nik Trkulja ’11 (Disclosure:
Nik Trkulja is a columnist for The Miscellany News) (#24) scored 12 of the team’s 13 points in the extra session prompting an all-out chant: “M-V-P!” Old School didn’t go down without a fight. Most notably, “C Se Puede” shut down students’ shots and passes, proving that, yes, he could. At the end of the day, the students evened the series at one game apiece, sealing the victory.
Vassar students won, but Vassar College won, too. As Class of 2011 President Moe Byrne announced at the beginning of the game, the purpose of the Student-Faculty Basketball Game is to build community and to raise funds for the 2011 AllSchool Gift. This year, the funds from ticket sales and donations will be used to create a new budget for sustainability for the first time in Vassar’s history.
Basketball seniors reflect on time playing at Vassar Nathan Tauger Reporter
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Courtesy of Sports Information
ast Saturday, seniors Carolyn Crampton, Tyler Maland and Chris Whitney played the last home basketball game of their Vassar careers. But just listing the scoring and rebounding average of these athletes would not do justice to their time here. When Whitney arrived at Vassar four years ago, he had one trait in common with other Vassar freshmen—he was full of potential—and one dissimilar: He is 6 foot 8 inches tall. “I’ve always been tall and when you’re tall, coordination can lag behind growth,” wrote Whitney in an e-mailed statement. But Whitney was able to work and improve his game. “During college, I finally stopped growing and had the chance to become a little more coordinated, a little faster and a little more athletic.” Whitney’s athletic development helped not only his defense—85 career blocked shots as of Feb. 17—but other aspects of his game too: “I handle the ball much more competently and make a play on offense from time to time. And though I haven’t done it in a game, I can throw down a sick dunk these days. Catch me in the gym this spring for a demonstration.” Crampton’s story is also one of evolving to become a strong defender. She wrote in an emailed statement, “When I first got here...I was looked at as a scorer and a top offensive threat. As we grew, better players were recruited (which I’m very grateful for) and my role as a scorer was significantly reduced.” But Crampton’s lower scoring output didn’t diminish her impact on the court. “My game has changed to being more of a defensive presence on the floor and a distributor of the basketball. I’m still a threat on offense, but my job has developed from finding my own best shot to finding the best shot possible on the court in a given situation, utilizing the talent of my teammates.” The 5 foot 6 inches Crampton has also proved malleable to a new task. “This year, I’ve had to play ‘big’ for an extremely undersized team. My game has changed from playing around the perimeter to mixing it up inside with some of the bigger players in the league and rebounding consistently despite my height.” Maland’s experience with Vassar basketball differed considerably from his classmates.
Maland joined the team his junior year after playing three years for his high school varsity team. Maland wrote in an e-mailed statement, “I love basketball, and to play it competitively in a good league at the college level is in itself a privilege.” Despite competing only two years on the collegiate level, Maland believes his experience has led to notable improvement. “My defense has changed the most since I started playing. Your offense can fluctuate night in and night out, but I take pride in being a good defender every day,” he wrote. “I want to guard the opposing team’s best guard and see if I can shut him down.” Crampton’s athletic development intertwined with the performance of the team, which improved over her four years at Vassar. “I came into a losing program and it was really hard to maintain a mindset that winning was a possibility and should be expected and not surprising. No one likes to lose and as an extremely competitive person, I detest it.” Crampton’s detestation of losing served as fuel to a current Vassar squad that could now be described as on fire. “In my junior and senior seasons we have set all sorts of records and accomplished a great deal, and to be able to have a hand in turning a program around and leaving it in much better shape than it was in when I arrived is a great feeling.” Crampton can tangibly remember one particular victory: “Beating Saint Lawrence [University] in double [overtime] this January at home.” Whitney’s experience with the men’s team unfortunately follows the opposite direction of Crampton’s. “When I was a freshman, we had a very talented team and won a lot of games. We made it to the Liberty League Championships. My role on that team was minimal—the coach just asked me to work hard in practice and develop my skills for future seasons. After that season, we lost five seniors including Lawrence Avitabile, the league MVP.” In the past three years the men’s basketball team has experienced a downslide. “We’ve won only a small handful of games in the past two years. While I don’t play basketball just to win, it’s hard to lose so much.” But developing a future team is something that Whitney can smile upon. “We’ve got a young team and the experience that our younger players are getting now will
Christ Whitney and Tyler Maland, pictured above, are both members of the Class of 2011 and the men’s basketball team. Last Saturday, they played the last basketball home game of their Vassar careers. serve them well in the future. I look forward to hearing about more wins in the years to come.” Crampton, Whitney and Maland have found the time to balance their basketball development with academic growth. Maland wrote, “Since I started playing, my academic life has become much more structured. I need to plan ahead when I can get work done so that if I have a three-game week or a long weekend road trip, I won’t fall behind on my studies.” Crampton explained the personal change she experienced. “My academic life has changed over the course of my four years here in that I’ve become comfortable in the academic setting,” Crampton wrote. She was once intimidated by Vassar’s prestige, but now has “an extreme sense of comfort in my classes. I have been able to build relationships with my professors and engage them outside of the classroom. That is undoubtedly one of the best things about the Vassar academic experience and I’m glad I’ve learned to take advantage of it.” While Crampton found academic comfort in confidence, Whitney found comfort in finding
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himself. “I had no idea what I wanted to study when I came to Vassar. Finding my niche in the social sciences was a relief. Focusing on studying what I was interested in helped me become a more competent student and a better writer—I’m really glad that I’ll be able to take these skills with me to the world outside of Vassar.” The future for Crampton, Whitney and Maland looks like a continuation of their experience at Vassar: challenging and engaging. While Whitney is seeking gainful employment and autonomy in the long run, he is currently seeking a job with a non-profit organization close to home. Maland hopes to continue in the field of sports journalism, something he has already gotten a taste for while working in the Sports Information Department at Vassar. Crampton is hoping to find employment in public relations and eventually coach basketball at the collegiate level. But as bright as the future is for these three, sweet time remains at Vassar. Crampton expresses the sentiment best: “Right now I’m really not looking into the future too much; I want to soak up every minute I have left at this incredible place!”