The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com
April 1, 2010
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CXLIII | Issue 18
Athletes will receive credit starting in fall Matthew Brock News Editor
tarting next semester, varsity student-athletes will have the option of receiving an extra half credit for participating in a season of varsity sports. The decision was made by a majority vote of faculty members in their March 24 meeting. The proposal had previously been discussed in the Feb. 17 faculty meeting, but it was tabled until the March meeting as per the meeting’s regulations. According to Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette, who presides over the faculty meetings, in an e-mailed statement, “There was a siz-
“There was a sizable majority of faculty in favor of the proposal, but also a significant number of votes in opposition.” —Jonathan Chenette, Dean of the Faculty
Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News
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able majority in favor, but also a significant number of votes in opposition.” Vassar Student Association (VSA) Vice President for Academics Stephanie DamonMoore ’11 was surprised by the size of this majority. “Before the first meeting, I expected there to be much more opposition, and was pleased with the careful thought and openness to change that the faculty discussions and vote demonstrated.” The concerns raised by some members of the faculty still need to be ironed out, explained Chenette, but, overall, there are not any See ATHLETICS on page 4
Free Weezy: A Mug Night, an advertisement for which is pictured above, incited debate amongst members of the Vassar Community. The event was held on March 26 in Matthew’s Mug despite the controversy it caused in the days preceding it.
Mug night sparks debate The Mug night involved Southern rap music, specifically that of rapper Lil Wayne, who was recently sent to prison. Controversy arose primarily from the event’s publicity on Facebook and via fliers. The Facebook page used incorrect grammar and misspellings in an attempt to evoke stereotypical “ghetto” language, and the poster depicts cough syrup, a primary ingredient in “purple drank,” which
Aashim Usgaonkar
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Assistant News Editor
ontroversy erupted around the campus-wide event Free Weezy: A Mug Night, which took place in Matthew’s Mug on Friday, March 26. Several Vassar community members condemned the event for allegedly glorifying stereotypes of black communities through its advertising and promotion.
Student loans overhauled by Cheating at Vassar U.S. Congress Kelly Stout
Jillian Scharr
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News Editor
n Tuesday, March 30, President of the United States Barack Obama signed into law the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, which contains a provision to increase Pell Grant amounts and fundamentally
change the federal tuition loans system. The Act was passed following Obama’s signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23. Together, these two Acts make up the brunt of the Obama administration’s health care reform, See LOANS on page 3
flickr.com
President Barack Obama signs into law the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act on March 30 in Alexandria, Va.
Inside this issue
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NEWS
Vassar’s senior class gift comes in at no. 1 one amongst peers
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Features Editor
here are few Vassar College phenomena more taboo than cheating, but that doesn’t mean no one’s doing it. Vassar, unlike some of its peer institutions, is not governed by an honor code, and students are not required to affirm that they are turning in original work on each individual paper or test that they submit for evaluation. According to Student Chair of the Judicial Board Daniel Salton ’10, “It is a given at this school that anything you produce follows the guidelines on originality and attribution. It is assumed that once you have entered [the College] that you have made a contract with the [academic honesty] regulations.” But do Vassar students cheat more or less than students at our peer institutions? And why? Part of the answer lies in Vassar’s regulations, and part in campus attitudes towards cheating. Vassar’s academic honesty policies are outlined in the College Regulation Handbook, a weighty document re-
leased every academic year that enumerates the “rules and regulations of Vassar College to which all members of the college community agree to abide.” The Handbook is fairly specific in its governance, particularly with regard to academic honesty, but, according to Dean of Studies Joanne Long, the minutiae of College regulations can be overlooked by some students. Says Salton, “There is a definite lack of knowledge [among Vassar students]” about how the judicial process works. The judicial process usually begins when an instructor suspects a student of cheating and reports the incident to the Dean of Studies. Although students may report cheating as well, according to Salton, students are generally unlikely to “turn in” their peers. According to Catherine Fuller ’10, “I wouldn’t feel comfortable turning anyone in, but I would feel comfortable having a conversation about why cheating isn’t beneficial.” Students accused of cheating are required to appear before the Academic See CHEATING on page 6
“Our job on the Judicial Board is to find out the truth, but we take no particular pleasure in a finding out one way or another.” — Daniel Salton, Chair of the Judicial Board
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FEATURES
The Miscellany explores Vassar’s accessibility
20 SPORTS
is, according to the Journal of Drug Education, a mixture of codeine-based cough syrup and alcohol associated with the Southern U.S. hip-hop community. Anastasia Hardin ’10 was one of the first students to voice her resentment for the event. “I am tired of responding to inappropriate, inconsiderate, and, yes, racist or sexist events on campus. Each See WEEZY on page 3
Miami ViCE poster elicits controversy Carrie Hojnicki Arts Editor
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he availability of innumerable online images and the sheer ease of photo editing programs have transformed the craft of campus advertising into nothing more than a few clicks, copies and pastes. However, recent events show that this expedited process also requires increased discretion on the end of the creator. Such was the dispute surrounding the poster advertisement for Vassar College Entertainment’s (ViCE) Miami ViCE party. The event followed what might be deemed the campus standard for event publicity: a Facebook event, a Photoshopped poster and tabling in the College Center. But what caught the eye of concerned students and faculty members were not the methods by which the advertising was presented, but the imagery displayed on the poster itself. On ViCE’s poster was the image of three nude women running into an ocean, their bodies silhouetted against the orange glow of a setting sun. Although the three forms were partially blurred by shadow, the nudity was nonetheless apparent. See LOANS on page 3
Brewers earn first national ranking in men’s tennis
The Miscellany News
Page 2
April 1, 2010
Editor in Chief Ruby Cramer Senior Editor Molly Turpin
Contributing Editors Caitlin Halasz Chloe McConnell Elizabeth Pacheco
Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News
Photo of the Week: Returning from their Spring Break training trip to Ireland, the men’s rugby team plays the University of Albany on Wednesday, March 24. After a teammate was benched due to illness, the Brewers’ lineup was rearranged giving the squad an extra challenge.
Miscellany News Staff Editorial
Miscellany News to begin charging small fee for access to online content I
n light of the current economic climate, the Editorial Board of The Miscellany News would like to announce that we will begin charging for our online content starting in April. We sincerely appreciate the increase in active online readers this academic year, especially those that leave meaningful comments, but our integrity as a newspaper necessitates the funds that online subscriptions would provide. We must implement a small fee of $25 per academic year to balance funding that we have lost from other sources. The new online fee will compensate for numerous sources of revenue that we will soon lose, pending this public confession. The Editorial Board members have decided that we can no longer abide by secrecy or deceit. There are times when moral imperatives do exist, and we must heed this call. The Miscellany News has been called “the mouthpiece of the administration and the Vassar Student Association (VSA)” and though we hate to agree with anyone from the Campus Solidarity Working Group, it’s true. But our acceptance of funds from the upper echelons of the College administration and the Board of Trustees has been against our collective will. Since the fall of 2009, The Miscellany News has received enormous sums of money in exchange for our editorial compliance with their plan to make Vassar a place for athletes and scientists alone. By the wayside fall the arts and workers, and this lack of support has been on purpose. Credit for student athletes and the obliteration of the creative writing program are only the beginning, and we have stood blithely by and watched it happen. The time has come to blow the whistle on this system of lies and bribery that we have facilitated. We are as much to blame as President of the College Catherine Bond Hill herself, but in an effort to break away from fraudulent officials and complacent student
officials we have decided to fully disclose the facts. The following describes just a few of the bribes we have reaped in exchange for uncritical support. For our 3.24.10 editorial, which stated, “The Miscellany News would like to recognize the College and the Vassar Board of Trustees for their work on setting a 2010-2011 budget that maintains an impassioned commitment to financial aid and the need-blind admissions policy which has come to define our community since its onset in 2007,” the staff of the Miscellany received free muffin baskets.
“We must implement a small fee of $25 per academic year to balance funding that we have lost from other sources” For our editorial “supporting the proposal” to pass the academic credit for student-athletes, we received brand new computers for The Miscellany News office. In return for our editorial, “Cappy Hill looking good these days,” the President’s office financed our trip for a spring break “conference” in Aruba. We were reprimanded severely for our article demanding that Hill take a pay cut in light of the economic crisis; We were uninvited to that week’s dinner at the President’s house, and our luxury bathroom privileges have been permanently revoked. But the VSA is as much to blame as we are. They have aided and abetted a massive deceit of the Vassar student body. Acting as a liaison between the members of the Miscellany Editorial Board and the senior officers, not only have they failed to condemn, but
they have encouraged dishonest behavior to the tune of $1,800 per student, per academic year. The cautious reader will note that this is the same amount of dollars as the increase in student tuition for the 20102011 academic year. A coincidence? Not even close. The Miscellany has known about this tuition increase for several weeks now, and Hill informed us that this money will go to financing the VSA Executive Board’s annual holiday party/bender. Furthermore, why do you think the Backpage is gone? The politically sizzling jokes about the frisbee team as a “homogeneous blob” and getting hammered on thirsty Mondays were too much for the thin-skinned administration. It was hard hitting, and the administrators were getting bruised. For replacing the Backpage with an expanded Sports Section, we received matching “The Miscellany News team” sweatshirts, in which we look awesome. But the abuse doesn’t end here. We have been forced to attend “community forums” to lob easy questions at Dean of the College Christopher Roellke. Wondering who asked, “Why did you give Professor of English Don Foster tenure?” It was one of our reporters at large, coerced into it by fear and monetary gain. But we say “no mas!” Stephen Glass no more. For our limited remaining time at the Miscellany, we will be none but Woodward and Bernstein. We will dig up dirt. To you, we promise this. Our decision to come clean has come at a price. We are left destitute, with only stenograph machines and canned goods in what was once a flourishing and technologically badass office. As our idols at The New York Times have, we thus must charge online content. Our apologies. Please send $25 payable to The Miscellany News, Box 149. —The Staff Editorial reflects the opinion of at least two-thirds of the 21-member Editorial Board.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
News Matthew Brock Jillian Scharr Opinions Angela Aiuto Kelly Shortridge Features Kelly Stout Arts Carrie Hojnicki Erik Lorenzsonn Sports Andy Marmer Design Eric Estes Online Elizabeth Jordan Copy Katie Cornish Lila Teeters Photography Kathleen Mehocic Managing Eliza Hartley Assistant News Caitlin Clevenger Aashim Usgaonkar Assistant Opinions Joshua Rosen Assistant Sports Mitchell Gilburne Assistant Online Kara Voght Assistant Copy Katharine Austin Sammy Creath Sarah Marco Gretchen Maslin Assistant Photo Juliana Halpert Crossword Editor Jonathan Garfinkel Reporters Thea Ballard Matthew Bock Rachael Borné Esther Clowney Daniel Combs David Lopez Christie Musket Danielle Nedivi Xiaoyuan Ren Alexandra Sarrigeorgiou Columnists Martin Bergman Steve Keller Nate Silver Nik Trkulja Photographers Patricia Cruz Gabriel Kelly-Ramirez Jared Saunders 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.
NEWS
April 1, 2010
Page 3
Event compared to Compton Cookout of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger, Associate Professor of Geography Joseph Nevins and Vassar Student Association Vice President for Academics Stephanie DamonMoore ’11 among others. The creators of Free Weezy: A Mug Night also attended the meeting. “Reports of that meeting were positive. The students responsible for the poster were invited in to talk and agreed to post a statement on their Facebook page and to remove the offending materials,” said Associate Dean of the College Edward Pittman. “After having a nice discussion with members of the African Students Union, I believe that we worked out our differences and began to understand the misinterpretations of intent that had gone down on both sides,” said Nicholas Burrell ’12, one of the creators of the event. While apologetic about potentially offensive imagery, Burrell asks, “Just as much as I do not have the right to satire the outlandish aspects of Lil Wayne’s persona (as I ultimately will never be able to share his life experience as a black man from the ’hood), doesn’t it hold that those who criticized the Free Weezy Mug night without attending and seeing the fun mayhem that occurred cannot truly criticize the event for the same reason?” in an e-mailed statement. “I hope that rather than focus on the miscommunication of the whole pre-party marketing fiasco, the Vassar community acknowledges the success that our Mug night was on a purely visceral scale, which was our sole intent on the first place: to provide an environment where we could play Southern rap at loud volumes and where people could dance, hook up and have fun listening to the music they love,” concluded Burrell. The Davison Luau event, scheduled for Friday, April 16, has garnered a similar response. Comments on the event’s Facebook page, which urges invitees to “get leid,” paint the event as a commoditization and misrepresentation of Hawaiian culture. “This event is not Hawaiianthemed. It is intended to have a tropical feel, but it is not specific to any one place,” wrote Davison House President Louise Conner ’11.
Miscellany mischief The proceeding events are very serious, but this day has made us quite delirious, so we decided to break all of the rules to wish you a happy April Fools’. —Matthew Brock , News Editor Jillian Scharr, News Editor Aashim Usgaonkar, Assistant News Editor
Eggciting evening Image courtesy of Nick Burrell
WEEZY continued from page 1 time one of these small incidents occurs, students of color particularly are accused of being too sensitive, angry, irrational and even ‘reverse-racist,’” wrote Hardin later in an emailed statement. “We are students too and do not have time to respond to every dumb incident that occurs within these gates. It is time for white students who understand the problematic nature of events, such as the Weezy party, to step and put themselves on the line, in order to be in solidarity with students of color, who grow weak and tired of dealing with such incidents every year.” wrote Hardin. Some Vassar students have drawn a parallel between this event and the “Compton Cookout,” a party held on President’s Day in February of this year at the University of California, San Diego that used racial stereotypes in the event’s promotional fliers and Facebook page. According to a Feb. 17 opinion’s article in The Los Angeles Times, advertisements included references to blackface, “purple drank” and a dress code for female partygoers to dress according to a list of hateful racial stereotypes. Initially, responses from the Free Weezy: A Mug Night event creators centered on clarifying that their intention was to celebrate American rapper Dwayne Michael “Lil Wayne” Carter, Jr.—also called “Weezy”—and his music. The posters and decorations for the Mug night were meant to refer only to Lil Wayne and not to make statements about the black community. This response did not seem to assuage any of the offended students. Pointing out the apparent difference between perpetuation of black stereotypes by a rap artist as opposed to “privileged white boys,” Vassar student Ryan Greenlee ’10 commented on the Facebook event page, “There is meaning in privileged abuses of imagery and language that doesn’t amount to satire. It’ mockery, ridicule and fetishism that relies on the very systems of segregation that shape everyone’s lives to different outcomes.” In response to this strong reaction, the Campus Life Office called a meeting the Friday morning before the event that was attended by Dean
News Briefs
Security got a brand new car, the nicest car they’ve had so far, but someone egged it in the night, so now it looks like quite a fright. —M.B.
Laptop larceny Laptop stolen from the yearbook by a sneaky, no-good crook, but now Security’s on the case, and they have never lost a chase. —M.B. and A.U.
Posters for the Free Weezy: A Mug Night, as pictured above, offended some students because of the stereotypical elements some say it depicted. Explaining the College administration’s future course of action, Pittman indicates that his office intends to “frame several discussions about broader issues of campus life and how such incidents are certainly reflective of a need to have deeper conversations about race, gender, sexuality, class and culture.” These discussions, according to Pittman, “should go deeper than the incident and get at how we can set expectations for behaviors and attitudes within the campus community.” “[Just] because hip-hop and other popular cultural images are readily available for public consumption, it does not give permission to appropriate and not understand their impacts and the deep racist, sexist, classist or homophobic messages that are often embedded in what may appear to be harmless and fun gestures,” said Pittman, hopeful that the planned campus discussions will illuminate these critical issues and not “just respond to this particular incident.”
Party in...Rockefeller Hall? Security guard smells beer in Rocky, And calls his friends on a walky-talky, Lots of beer and pong were found, But no guilty student was around. —M.B. and A.U.
Chug-a-lug in the Mug One at the Mug did bring some booze— thinking there was no way that he could lose, until Security saw his drink and snatched it up in just a blink. —M.B. and A.U.
Retreat rascals Three students stole food from the Retreat on the twenty-fourth, hoping to cheat the system, but a Security guard, assigned to watch for acts of theft, their schemes did botch. —J.S.
Obama signs student loan reform bill
ViCE posters cause upset
LOANS continued from page 1 combining the House and Senate’s versions of the bill into one act. As part of a Congressional deal to pass both health care and student loan reform, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Health Care and the Education Reconciliation Act were bundled together. This is because supporters of both initiatives wished to use the reconciliation process, a means by which the Senate can discuss potentially contentious budget legislation without the threat of filibusters, to pass the bill with only a majority vote instead of the standard three-fifths majority. As only one reconciliation act can be passed per year, and because Senate Democrats lost their supermajority this January, reconciling both bills together was deemed necessary to ensure their success. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act will increase the amount for federally funded Pell Grants, bringing the maximum annual scholarship for students from $5,550 in 2010 to $5,975 by 2017. The Act also fundamentally restructures the way loans are handled: Having forced commercial banks out of the student loan market, the government will now directly dispense loans and grants rather than giving banks the subsidies to do so. This shift to direct lending is not expected to increase taxes. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, it will save taxpayers $61 billion over 10 years. As far as students are concerned, however, the change to direct lending has little immediate impact; colleges, not the students, choose which loan programs to make available to their students. Director of Financial Aid Michael Fraher confirms that there is “no direct financial benefit to individual [Vassar] students” because “we are committed to meeting 100 percent of the need of aided students.” In an e-mailed statement, he wrote that, “The benefit is more global in that any increase in Pell [Grants] aids the College in maintaining its commitment to access and meeting 100 percent of the assessed financial need of students.” The most important immediate benefit for students, said Fraher, is that “the [Act’s] loan provisions will make it less costly and easier for students to repay their loans in a tight job market.” The Act also contains provisions to make it easier for students to pay off loans; starting July 1, 2014, student borrowers will be required to pay back their loans at 10 per-
LOANS continued from page 1 “My initial reaction was ‘What is this poster about?’” explained Assistant Director for Campus Life Steve Lavoie ’08. “I looked more carefully and saw that it was a ViCE party, and I thought, ‘Well, this is concerning,’ because I didn’t understand why they picked this particular type of imagery.” Visiting Instructor of German Studies Peggy Piesche also expressed her surprise in regards to the imagery, citing the poster’s apparent objectification of women as a divergence from classroom dialogue. “I was surprised to see these images on a campus where I thought, beyond all political points of view, we do engage students in a deeper intellectual level to analyze this positioning of women,” explained Piesche. “I thought people would be more sensitive and more understanding, not particularly because of some kind of myth of political standpoint, but rather because of intellectual values which are offered in every class.” Director of ViCE Peter Denny ’10 explained that the presence of the nude females was purely intended as an auxiliary element of a broader impression the organization hoped to conjure. “ViCE designed the image from the inspiration of the party’s themes that we had been working with: Miami, nautical, spring evening, free-spirited and fun celebration, friends, etc. From the font to the color scheme, the sunset to the blurred naked women running into the ocean, the poster was conceived simply as a way to reflect those themes cohesively,” Denny wrote in an e-mailed statement. Denny also explained that despite ViCE’s belief in creating “respectful, quality publicity and respectful, quality events,” oversight is often the natural result of such large-scale planning. “Our publicity strategies to encourage interest in these entertainment events demand an equal level of consideration for the community we are trying to reach. This can sometimes be a difficult balancing act, however, as after months of preparations for specific events our focus can narrow our ability to foresee the range of possible perceptions of our events and advertising techniques,” explained Denny. Regardless, both Denny and ViCE’s co-Head of Publicity Alejandro Calcaño ’11 feel that engaging in respectful and thoughtful dialogue is the most constructive way to prevent future problems from occurring. “ViCE Publicity never tried to purposely attack, offend or hurt anyone with our advertising. We are sincerely saddened that this occurred, but welcome the opportunity to discuss the matter further… We welcome and encourage people to start a conversation with us in a respectful manner. Our meetings, Tuesdays at 9 p.m., are open to everyone.” Piesche and Lavoie also agreed that continued dialogue is the best means of preventing the use of harmful imaging in the future. “I think larger discussions are important to have either in [The Miscellany News] or also right away in the College Center; students have to be
cent of their annual income instead of 15 percent. The program by which private sector lenders managed federal student grants and loans, called the Federal Family Education Loan Program, has been going strong since its establishment in 1965 until very recently. Due to the 2008 economic downturn, the U.S. government bailed out the suffering private sector lenders in the Emergency Economic Stabilization At of 2008, despite Deputy UnderSecretary of Education Robert Shireman’s advice not to bail out the tuition loan industry which is already “on life support.” Despite this bailout, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act will now eliminate private-sector lender middlemen in the loans process, decreasing their power and influence on Capital Hill. These lenders will not die out, however, because as inflation increases, the need for non-federal loans will continue to rise as well. Private banks will still service federal loans, which means banks will be able to manage government loans through a competitive bidding process, but will not be able to loan federal funds. Cut from the bill was a provision to keep interest rates on loans steady past 2012; it would have been 3.4 percent, but, without this section of the bill to regulate it, inflation is set to increase to 6.8 percent past 2012. “This is a big day for middle class families in America,” said U.S. Representative and Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee George Miller of California. “We ended a longtime stranglehold that banks and insurance companies have had over policymaking, and chose to stand with the American people.” The House created what may be called the first step towards this bill’s creation, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, passed in the House on Nov. 7, 2009. In response, the Senate created the first draft of the recently passed Act. Attempts to make the Senate bill reconcile with the more liberal House version might have ensued, except that the Senate lost its Democratic supermajority; so, the House passed the Senate version, amended with a third bill. The legislation then went back to the Senate, which employed the legislative process of reconciliation to avoid filibusters and other oppositional techniques. From the Senate, the result of this reconciliation returned to the House, where it passed, then to the President’s desk, who signed it into law on March 23.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
NEWS
Page 4
April 1, 2010
Senior class gift largest Editor navigates difficulties among peer institutions A Caitlin Clevenger
Assistant News Editor
William Crane
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Guest Reporter
Spring ‘Break’ no break for some Xiaoyuan Ren
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Reporter
or many Vassar students, Spring Break was not a hiatus from classes and other extracurricular activities, but a chance to apply their knowledge and skills off campus in a variety of experiential learning opportunities. The International Studies Program took 29 students on a trip to Mexico as part of Indigenous Commodification and Resistance in Mexico: Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Yucatan, a course that aimed to provide a systematic multidisciplinary introduction to the social, cultural, religious, historical, geographic, political and economic aspects of Mexico, as well as study issues of concern to Mexico’s aboriginal peoples. “Every spring, we have an International Studies Department trip as a part of a semester-long course,” said Associate Professor of History and Chair of the History Department Leslie Offutt, one of the directors of the Mexico International Studies trip. “The course is very intense, and it took us two years to put together all the details.” Students enrolled in this course spend the first half of the semester studying different aspects of Mexico, then divide into several groups focusing on different projects that they would like to investigate about the country. After researching specific topics, the students were expecting to gain real-life experience as they arrived in Mexico to complete their projects. Topics that the students focused on include the teacher’s strike that has been going on since 2006, tourism, education and politics. “The trip is a perfect expansion of all the lectures of the past few months. The reality that the students experience in Mexico is a huge shift from the mental pictures that the students gain from classroom learning,” said Offutt. In Mexico, the students attended lectures by scholars, met with local activists, visited local artists and engaged themselves in many different ways to learn as much as they could about Mexico. However, students were wary of endorsing tourism franchises, which are often detrimental to the locals and commodify a complex culture for cheap entertainment. Students got back from the trip on the last day of Spring Break ready to dive back into their projects. Many students see Mexico in a very different way now than before they set off. Offutt described the trip as “a commitment to learning
out of the regular comfort zones.” Next year’s International Studies trip will be focusing on Spain and its immigration issues. Students in the Environmental Studies course Environmental Science in the Field, which focuses this year on the global decline of coral reef ecosystems, also went on a research field trip with the program. The group spent a week at the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences observing coral polyps and their effect on regulating the global climate. 12 students and four leading coordinators of the Vassar Haiti Project went on a trip to Haiti to revisit a school the Project has been supporting in the village of Chermaitre. They also went to check on a health clinic near the village that the Project has just financed to build up in the past two years. “Though the Project has been devoting a lot to Haiti, it takes much more time and effort to create a great impact,” said co-Chair Lila Meade. The group assessed the school’s structural integrity, the educational methods of the school and the health condition of its students. They compared the conditions to the images from two years ago and considered their accomplishments as well as aspects that require improvement. The students also helped to staff the newly-opened clinic and joined in games with local kids. They met with some of the local coordinators to talk about future possibilities of projects, such as giving families farm animals to induce sustainable improvements in life conditions, guiding water down to a reservoir for the school and finding a doctor who will work long-term for the clinic. “Everyone is doing their part and we make a pretty incredible team,” Claire Frohman ’12, coCoordinator of Activities for Vassar Haiti Project and member of the trip, commented on the experience. “We really are all so connected and even though, at times, Haiti seems worlds away from anything we are familiar with, when you look just a little closer, you realize how much we all have in common.” Other Vassar organizations that traveled during Spring Break include FlyPeople, who attended the Disney Performing Arts Workshop and performed with the Disney Magic Music Days Program in Disney World, Fla.; and Habitat for Humanity, who went on a habitat-building trip in Eustis, Fla. The groups all look forward to continuing their work back at school.
twitter.com/rakiathegreat
his year’s record breaking senior class gift currently ranks first among 21 reference colleges’ senior class gifts, reported Vassar Student Association (VSA) Vice President for Operations and Senior Class Gift Chair Brian Farkas ’10. Last year, among the same 21 colleges, Vassar ranked 19th. Further, they have raised more money than they did last year. Thus far, Vassar students represent 95 percent of the donors to the class gift of an endowed scholarship fund. Farkas said that so far the Class of 2010 has raised over $13,000 toward a goal of $15,000. The goal, he noted, is “really astronomical,” given that a similar fundraising campaign last year for the Class of 2009’s senior class gift succeeded in raising approximately $12,100 by the end of the academic year. The Class of 2010 has fundraised mostly among students for the gift but have pledges from alumni to match funds. According to Class of 2010 President Selina Strasburger, fundraising initiatives began in December with the senior event “99 Nights In,” and was continued with tabling in the College Center, writing personal letters to all seniors and drafting “numerous e-mails” requesting senior participation. The class gift also received funds from ticket sales for the Faculty-Student Basketball Game last month. A donation to the class gift “represents a real sacrifice from a student, as opposed to wealthy alumnae/i,” said Farkas. “We’re asking a lot from the student body,” he added, noting that 60 percent of Vassar students are on financial
aid, itself the purpose of raising money for the endowment. Nevertheless, the Class of 2010 has targeted students exclusively for fundraising in order to “get students into the habit of giving money” to Vassar, said Farkas, who added that he hopes the gesture of giving while they are students will encourage more to give to Vassar as alumnae/i. Strasburger added that the gift “is… supposed to be student driven; it’s supposed to be students joining together to give back to Vassar in appreciation of our time here and a desire to leave a legacy.” Farkas and Strasburger both stated that they see the success of the fundraising campaign among students as a result of the broad appeal of the idea of an endowment fund. “It’s a goal everyone can understand,” said Farkas. He noted that other class gifts that were “more exclusive” than an endowment fund received fewer contributions. “I think every student can really connect with the gift and its purpose,” said Strasburger. The gift, she said, “serves such an important purpose, and because of that, students are more willing to give.” Farkas noted that many of the contributors to the senior class gift have been non-seniors. “We’ve gotten a lot of interest from underclassmen,” he said. Farkas estimated that the average contribution from an underclassman averaged about $11, as opposed to the average senior contribution of $21. “Seniors feel more affiliated with the gift,” he said to this. He added that the class gift has received contributions from various faculty members, trustees and staff members.
spiring writers and editors gathered in the basement of Sanders Classroom Building on Monday March 29 to hear a lecture from Rakia Clark, a young freelance book editor. Clark, who has worked with authors such as Bill Cosby and Sue Monk Kidd, gave advice on how to have a successful career in the ever-shrinking book publishing industry. Clark, who moved to Atlanta, Ga. upon graduation to seek editing work, warned that her choice of location was a mistake. “If you want to work in publishing, move to New York. Entry level jobs don’t go to the smartest or most qualified person, they go to the person who is most available and most in your face.” Clark eventually took an unpaid internship at an Atlanta magazine, and then moved to New York City when she was accepted to the Columbia School of Journalism’s Publishing Course. The course, which Clark recommended to anyone who wishes to work in the publishing industry, gave her the contacts to land her first job in editing as an editorial assistant at HarperCollins. Clark lists networking as one of the most important factors in getting a job in publishing, and advised students to “rely on your Vassar alumni. There are lots of Vassar alums in the publishing industry.” Clark described the typical journey from an entry-level job to a full editing job as slow, requiring perseverance and luck as well as skill. “The publishing industry is going through a hard time, and on the bottom of the totem pole are book publishers,” said Clark. The industry’s negative growth has made new jobs a rarity. “The only way to get [promoted] is if someone leaves or they die,” Clark said. Junior-level jobs are not easy, either. Editorial assistants, as Clark puts it, “are the ‘do.’” They work long hours performing whatever tasks their bosses ask of them, making copies and coffee, and reading and writing reports on books from the “slush pile” of authors without agents. Highly educated assistants often suffer from a sense of entitlement, but, warns Clark, “You can be a really good student and then get into the editorial industry
Rakia Clark, a freelance book editor, pictured above, spoke to Vassar students on March 29. and be all thumbs.” Still, the rewards can be great. Once Clark had climbed through the ranks and was made an editor at Kensington Books, she had the freedom to choose which books to edit and received credit for their success. Clark worked on such books as Don’t Let the Lipstick Fool You by WNBA star Lisa Leslie. As an editor, Clark’s main advice for writers is that they stay out of the “slush pile” by hiring a reputable agent, and also cautioned, “Fiction is very competitive. From an editor’s standpoint, nonfiction is easier to sell.” Clark was not immune to the publishing industry’s hardships, and in Feb. 2009 she was laid off from Kensington. She now works as a freelance editor, but layoffs are still a common theme in her industry. Clark hopes that technology will reverse shrinking trends in book sales. “People are hoping that the Kindle will be a way for authors, especially new authors, to find a new audience. But it’s too new for us to know,” she concluded.
VSA proposal comes to fruition ATHLETICS continued from page 1 glaring problems. A major fear held by many members of the faculty is whether, now that varsity sports receive academic credit, they may be given priority over another class in the event of a scheduling conflict. “We need to pursue the concerns that were raised in the faculty discussion about some students not informing faculty in a timely way about athletic commitments, but this is not directly related to the credit proposal itself,” he wrote. “The [Athletics and Physical Education] Department members drafted the proposal because they believe that Vassar student-athletes should have the option of receiving physical education credit for their varsity athletic participation,” wrote Professor of Physical Education Kathy Campbell in an e-mailed statement. Support for this proposal was bolstered, in part, by the fact that varsity sports are the only activities at Vassar College with faculty oversight for which students do not receive academic credit. Other groups that do receive such credit include Drama Department shows, voice lessons, jazz ensembles and Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre. Intramural sports, which do not have faculty coaches, will not receive credit. That said, there was some concern that other student groups would begin requesting credit, such as The Miscellany News. However, according to Damon-Moore, “I do not anticipate other groups pursuing credit for their activities because there is
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simply no basis for the awarding of credit without faculty oversight. The only way that an additional student group could be given credit is if they connected with a faculty member who was interested in supervising them full-time and directing their activity.” The new system will allow studentathletes to count varsity sports towards the physical education maximum of two units, which should free up space in other physical education courses. Athletes may register to receive credit through the Office of the Registrar like any academic class requiring special permission. The course will be listed as PHED 320 and will have one section for each team, wrote Registrar Dan Giannini in an all-campus e-mail on March 30. Given that students will now receive credit for varsity sports, it will count towards their maximum courseload, meaning that student-athletes can only take 4.5 academic credits in addition to the halfcredit varsity sport. Under the old system they could take a maximum of 5. “I would have voted in favor of the proposal, but I recognize the validity of arguments made on both sides,” wrote Chenette. “The main thing, for me, is that we had a good discussion of important issues about the role of athletics at Vassar.” “I’m thrilled that the proposal was adopted, and look forward to the upcoming semester when the first athletes will have the opportunity to elect credit for their athletic participation,” wrote DamonMoore.
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April 1, 2010
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Full accessibility an ongoing goal for Vassar, peers Danielle Gensburg
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Reporter
Gabe Kelly-Ramirez/The Miscellany News
he Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed by Congress in 1990, derives its origins from the self-advocacy of the civil rights era of the 1960s, influenced by the American Civil Rights Movement’s advocacy for a just, free and inclusive society. For colleges and universities, however, realization of the Act’s provisions for community members with disabilities has been an ongoing process, and Vassar has not been immune to the changes and institutional selfreflection required by the ADA. This idea of inclusiveness, taking into consideration all human beings, became a fundamental ideal for the disability rights movement that began in the 1970s. Since then, activism among individuals with disabilities continues to the present as they fight for greater accessibility for themselves and their peers. Among the legislation that resulted from this movement was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of disability in programs managed by federal agencies or receiving federal financial assistance, which Vassar does. Vassar Professor of Sociology Marque Miringoff currently teaches a course titled Disability and Society, which investigates the disability rights movement. The class addresses the evolution in thinking about disability in terms of a social—as opposed to a medical—concept, the greater awareness and consciousness among the public, and how society constructs or deconstructs barriers preventing individuals with disabilities from living independent lives. Miringoff explained, “It’s not the disability that’s the issue; it’s the social environment. Today, disability is not thought of as a deficit, but more in terms of how to change the surrounding environment.” On college campuses, Miringoff explained, the importance of providing both social and physical accessibility to students with disabilities can be a complicated issue. At Vassar, the Office of Disability and Support Services (DSS) works to provide and create a variety of accommodations and services for students with disabilities. “It’s very important to have an office that provides such accommodations,” said Miringoff, praising DSS, “and it’s grown over the years. There’s greater knowledge on campus and greater flexibility for students with disabilities.” In compliance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and ADA, Vassar offers an array of support services and initiatives to students with disabilities, promoting nondiscrimination and full participation in College life. Associate Dean of the College and Director of Equal Opportunity Belinda Guthrie is in charge of creating a more inclusive environ-
ment for students with disabilities. Always looking for feedback and recognizing the complexity involved with eliminating obstacles to inclusion, Guthrie said, “There’s a shared responsibility on this campus to promote greater awareness among other students concerning accessibility for students with disabilities.” According to Guthrie, in 1996 and 1997, the Office of Disability and Support Services worked with around 87 students. Today, thanks to greater opportunity and awareness, DSS accommodates approximately 225 students with disabilities that include mobility impairments, visual and hearing impairments, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, psychiatric disabilities and severe chronic health conditions. Guthrie noted, however, that these are only semantic categories, and there’s a great deal of variation among them. DSS offers many programs and initiatives, such as classroom relocation and specialized furnishings, alternative print formats such as audio tape, library support services, course and program alterations, note-taker services, shuttle transportation with wheelchair ramps, peer mentoring programs and career consultation. Vassar also offers academic coaching, a resource that Guthrie says is unusual in comparison to other peer institutions. This coaching is designed to help students with disabilities become aware of their own unique learning style and give them opportunities to learn new skills in a supportive environment. In part, Guthrie noted, Vassar has its small size to thank for these opportunities to provide students with individualized attention, as well. Guthrie also listed many structural improvements that have taken place at Vassar over the years, including ramp and side exits at Chicago Hall, automatic door openers and elevators in Main Building, new sidewalks, a FM listening system in Hallie Flannigan Davis Powerhouse Theater, as well as the current renovations to Jewett and Davison Houses, specifically with respect to wheelchair accessibility, elevator access and accessible bathroom facilities. The College is also currently reviewing proposals concerning two proposed wheelchair accessible entrances at Cushing House. Vassar does pose challenges as a campus whose architecture, though pleasing to the eye, establishes many barriers in terms of accessibility. Recognizing that Vassar still has a ways to go, Guthrie is hopeful, and stated that many improvements and changes continue to take place. “The sky is endless in terms of what Vassar could do, and there’s been a lot of progress in the last 20 years with respect to greater inclusion of students with disabilities and altering of the very definition itself,” Guthrie said.
Parking, pictured above, is one of myriad areas where the College is continuing to work toward accessibility in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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Woodard a quiet art expert Lila Teeters
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Copy Editor
atthew Woodard, gallery guard and logistics manager for the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC), has been donning his blue uniform and golden nametag for the past 10 years. Responsible for safeguarding artwork from the FLLAC’s visitors, guiding and interacting with said people, and regulating the galleries’ temperatures and humidity, Woodard believes that “ending up working at [the FLLAC] was almost like fate.” “I grew up in the area, a block away, and I still live in the area,” says Woodard, “and Vassar was my backyard growing up. Even when I was a baby in a stroller, my mom would bring me here. And when I was growing up, I would fish for sunnies out of the lake, ride my bike around here…[Vassar] has always been a part of me.” So, too, has art, and Woodard clearly basks in the glory of being around art all day long. “I do really enjoy being around the artwork and getting to know about different art that we have,” said Woodard. “I have an intimate connection with the art here.” As a child, Woodard spent many hours sketching his own pieces, and while this hobby ended with his childhood days, Woodard still appreciates the chance to observe Vassar’s finest collections. When professors bring their classes into the FLLAC, Woodard particularly enjoys listening to their lectures and the subsequent conversations about the artwork. Woodard’s favorite recent exhibit was one focused on artists’ books, as Woodard himself is an avid book collector. Having accumulated over 1,000 books already, Woodard enjoyed seeing his passion reflected in the larger venue. Woodard’s commitment to the FLLAC and eye for art has caught the eye of FLLAC curators; while Woodard’s role is primarily that of a guard, he occasionally helps the Center’s curators during the preparation of exhibits. “I’m in the background,” says Woodard, “and every
once in a while, I can say something.” Not every moment is a dream come true, though, and his time at the FLLAC can be just as challenging as it is enjoyable. Without contest, the hardest part of Woodard’s job is making sure visitors keep their hands off the artwork. Children, Woodard asserts, are the most unpredictable. “You never know when they might take off headlong into an artwork,” laughs Woodard. Students, though, have provided the more memorable moments during his tenure. “There was a student who was doing a chicken run—he was in a chicken costume and [other students] had to tackle him. He tried to run through here, and I had to stop him,” recalls Woodard. Fortunately, no piece of artwork has been damaged while Woodard has been on staff; that is not to say the Center has been without close calls, though. The FLLAC has been the victim of a leaky roof, and while they will be getting a new roof at the end of the semester, Woodard and his co-workers have been paying special attention to the leak-prone areas. Animals, too, from time to time present additional pressure to Woodard’s workday. “I found a snake in the basement once…bats have been here…We have plenty of wildlife in here for some reason,” Woodard adds while laughing. Woodard waves these incidences off, stating that “being in the art world, you’re going to see strange things.” Indeed, Woodard claims that it takes a particular “mind” to make a successful guard. Uneventfulness rather than drama defines Woodard’s typical day, and while substituting guards find this tedious, Woodard finds comfort in the quiet corridors of the FLLAC. And while the occasional chicken-suited student adds color to Woodard’s week, spectacle usually remains outside of the FLLAC’s door. “We leave that stuff for the movies,” concludes Woodard with a smile.
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What students are saying about Afghanistan Sarah Begley
our months ago, President of the United States Barack Obama visited our neighbors at the United States Military Academy at West Point to announce the decision to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Comparisons between student reactions—or lack thereof—to the troop escalation in Afghanistan and student organizing during the Vietnam War are inevitable. But how much are students really talking about Afghanistan, and to what extent is the comparison accurate? According to Professor of History Robert Brigham, who teaches several courses on U.S. foreign policy, Vassar students are, at least in class, engaged in frequent discussion about the war in Afghanistan. Said Brigham, “All courses I teach on U.S. foreign relations are overenrolled and filled with energetic, curious and thoughtful students.” Brigham, whose research has focused on the Vietnam War and the Cold War in the United States, was quick to compare the reactions of different eras of Vassar students but highlighted a few major differences. Student anger over the Vietnam War was attributable to both the draft and the “nation within a nation” of baby boomers, for whom Vietnam became the “watershed event,” iterated Brigham. He also pointed out that the common conception of the anti-war protests as student-run is not entirely accurate: “Many of the most famous anti-war protestors were not students at all, but those who had become professional organizers following their college careers…it wasn’t just a student movement, and without those older organizers and the draft, there may not have been much of a movement at all.” Since Obama’s announcement at West Point, there have been no angry marches or flag-burnings at Vassar, but there have been some conversations outside of class. According to leaders of several political groups on campus, including the Moderate, Independent, Conservative Alliance (MICA), the College Democrats and the Forum for Political Thought, students in these organizations do hold discussions about the war on a regular basis, and always include varied opinions on the war. MICA President Jeremy Bright ’11 stated, “Our members’ views run the political gamut—left, right and center—questioning such facets as the efficacy of the surge, America’s purpose in the country, whether the war has been mishandled, the issue of withdrawal, how to best approach the larger ‘War on Terror,’ the war’s implications at home and abroad, and even its legitimacy.” College Democrats President Elsie Raymer ’12, commented, “Our opinions are fairly diverse regarding the war, usually with regards how long the United States should remain in Afghanistan and what sort of funding we should be allowing the war.” Raymer also noted that after Obama’s announcement in December, views altered only slightly: “There were some of us who believed that it is in our best interest to completely withdraw and others who believe that our efforts to dismantle al Qaeda require consistent military support.” Among leaders of campus political groups, there was no consensus as to how widespread discussion of the war is at Vassar. Agreeing with Brigham, Raymer added, “I think that Vassar is generally an informed body that keeps up to date on current events, U.S. foreign policy included.” But Alex Steele ’11, a member of the Forum for Political Thought, said, “In general, I don’t think that [Vassar students are] very well educated on the issues (myself included), and there certainly isn’t enough discussion on the topic.” Steele attributes this, in part, to the fact that Vassar students “supported Obama so actively and want him to succeed. I think we really tend to shy away from criticizing the decisions he makes.” According to Tim McCormick ’12, a political science major, conversation can fall by the wayside in favor of an abundance of other political topics to discuss. “I think nationally, political discourse has been dominated by the health care debate, the bailouts and other domestic issues,” said McCormick, adding that next to these topics, the war in Afghanistan, which has been going on for the better part of a decade, can seem lik old news. Associate Professor of Geography and Geology Joseph Nevins, who teaches a course Geographies of Mass Violence, communicated his perception that the students who take his course are “outliers.” On students’ lack of knowledge on the subject, he says, “My guess is a lot of students would have questions about it and would be critical of it, but that hasn’t resulted in mobilization… people feel there isn’t much they can do.” Nevertheless, Nevins encouraged students not to feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the scope of the implications of the war in Afghanistan, but to join the discourse in any way they can. Said Nevins, “Rather than feeling like you have to do it all, do something.”
Krishna’s Groceries a mixed plate Daniel Combs
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Reporter
rishna Groceries on Rt. 9 in Poughkeepsie is a South Asian grocery store that specializes in spices and produce that you can’t find in your run of the mill super market. Curry mixes, pastes, and leaves, fruit drinks up the wazoo, and a variety of frozen paneer (homemade cheese), and an amazing selection of clothes, jewelry and hard to find Bollywood films line the shelves of this store. Faithful readers will recall that I love to rave about restaurants. But I can’t do it all the time, and the truth is that Krishna is a bit of a mixed bag. But the fare—mediocre though it is—justifies the drive, and the variety of taste more than makes up for the so-so platters. The food cooked in Krishna’s hidden back room kitchen is a little underwhelming, but what keeps me coming back is that their menu changes daily with the whim of the cooks. Each day, four or five new traditional dishes, as you might find in an upper class Indian home, are scrawled in Sharpie on a specials board. You’re pretty much guaranteed to find something of amazing quality for an amazing price if you hunt for it. Because, trust me, the price is amazing and is really the reason to drive to the grocery store. Everything served comes in little Styrofoam take-out boxes. For $3.95, you get a veggie platter with rice and three large dollops of different dishes that alternate with the sun. A recent visit saw chana masala (spicy chickpeas with tomato and onion), palak paneer (green beans with cheese) and bhurtha (a zesty, saucy eggplant concoction). Come the next day and you’ll find three other instantiations of Indian-American culinary tradition taking their place. While the continual variety in taste is welcome and sometimes eyeopening, what makes the meals mediocre affairs is an obvious reheated quality. None of the ingredients taste truly fresh, and even the eatables clearly made in house— the pakoras and samosas, that, when hot, can open up an entire new world of fried food possibilities—are generally served with no gusto. They’re brought to lukewarm by being slightly reheated in a microwave, ensuring that any potential crispiness is completely removed. They’re then served without a hint of sauce to dip into. For those unfamiliar with the spicy vegetable and potato dumpling-like finger foods known as samosas, know that they have the potential to be the best fried food
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Guest Reporter
April 1, 2010
Krishna Groceries, whose logo is picture above, offers a variety of well-priced Indian goods, such as ingredients, an ever changing prepared foods menu and Bollywood movies. of your life. But Krishna turns the samosa into a cheap time bomb for your stomach. Paying an extra dollar for the meat platter doesn’t lead to bountiful endings either. Krishna simply substitutes a reheated drumstick in for one of your veggie dollops, drowned in a syrupy curry sauce to mask any pre-frozen taste and prepared to the best chewy meat texture possible. I hate slamming a place, and Krishna does have one amazing, serious, absolutely phenomenal redeeming quality, one that keeps me coming back, keeps me chatting for hours with the amazingly friendly couple behind the counter, keeps me raving to my friends about my lunch at Krishna: dosas. Dosas, dosas, dosas. Now, if you aren’t familiar with the sublime dosa (they don’t make them at the Indian restaurant Kismat, on Raymond Avenue,) don’t be embarrassed. Just get ready to have your world rocked. A dosa is a traditional dish from southern India, which is why most Indian restaurants, which typically specialize in northern or Punjab cuisine, fail to offer them on their menu. Known for its spice and use of fish and coconuts, southern Indian cuisine is, in my opinion, far more interesting and endlessly more variable than the heavier food in the north that is often characterized by an overuse of ghee (clarified butter) and heavier meats. That said, the north does lay claim to the tandoor oven, easily the all-time tastiest method for cooking chicken. But I digress. A dosa is in essence an Indian crepe. A rice batter is pressed thin and fried on
a griddle and then folded into a flattened tubular shape and filled—typically with dal (lentils), but with endless possible varieties. You can get onion dosas, potato dosas, egg dosas, open and unfolded dosas, cheese dosas, mint and vegetable dosas. As is the case with the French crepe, the dosa knows no bounds. It is eaten for breakfast or dinner, with sauce or without. But trust me, you want some sauce. Krishna sells masala dosas on Mondays and Fridays, one of the staples of cuisine in southern India. Masala is potato seasoned with a variety of spice. A delicious red chutney dipping sauce comes with it. Although, I’ve also been handed a browner, thicker dip as well, whose ingredients I couldn’t figure out. I don’t know what exactly they’re putting in those things to make them so addicting and good, but they are. They’re like sex good or ecstasy good or beach-inthe-summer good. What I’m trying to say is that I would put these dosas near the top of my “favorite things” list without the slightest hesitation, and it seems like I’m not the only one. I’ve seen the line out the door on more than one Friday afternoon. If you leave Poughkeepsie without trying one of these, you won’t only make me sad, you’ll miss out on gustatory nirvana. Whether you bike, bus or bum a ride, make your way to the grocery store on a Monday or Friday. Come for the dosas, and maybe stay for the Bollywood DVDs. Krishna Groceries opens every day at 10 a.m. Weekdays, the store closes at 9 p.m. and on weekends, at 10 p.m.
Vassar regulations make room for nuance CHEATING continued from page 1 Panel, a committee that consists of six voting members—three elected student representatives and three faculty members— and a seventh, non-voting member: the Dean of Studies. According to Salton, students are given the opportunity to speak in their own defense, as well as discuss the nature of the regulations that they are accused of violating. Says Salton, who currently sits on the Panel, “Our job is to find out the truth; we take no particular pleasure in a finding one way or another.” Students who are found guilty of a violation of academic honesty regulations face the possibilities of a failing grade on the assignment in question, a failing grade in the course or a semester-long suspension from the College. Expulsion, according to Salton, is both rare and extreme. “The specifics of the case are what really matter,” says Salton. Long reports that in her limited time as Dean of Studies, most cases that she has seen before the Judicial Board have been related to plagiarism, a violation that the College Regulations Handbook declines to define, stating instead that, “Quotations [in students’ written work] must be clearly marked and sources of information or of an idea or opinion not the student’s own
must be indicated clearly on all written work, including examinations. This applies to paraphrased ideas as well as direct quotations.” According to Long, students sometimes “don’t understand the regulations very well” and often cite misunderstanding of the rules of citation or stress as reasons for plagiarizing. Long affirms that students need to understand what constitutes plagiarism and how it undermines learning, because, “To be blunt about it,” she says, “it is cheating.” This includes “self-plagiarism,” or the act of submitting original work more than once without approval. Admits one student who wrote in an e-mailed statement on the condition of anonymity, “I have broken a few academic rules, but only by doing things like plagiarizing my own work, which I don’t actually see anything wrong with.” In reality, this student is guilty of cheating according College regulations. The same student adds, “Cheating for me really means doing something against the rules and getting caught.” The student views cheating not as an ethical violation, but rather frames academic dishonesty in terms of violations of regulations, stating, “If you figured out how to do better and not get caught, kudos to you, you probably deserve a higher grade anyway. Living in
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the world is like playing a game, in games good cheaters get ahead sometimes. I don’t see any reason why I should view school as any different.” However, this attitude does not seem to be representative of cheating culture at Vassar. Remarks Fuller, “I’ve never cheated at Vassar, but…I am not ready to take a moral or ‘fundamental’ stance on cheating. I do think that cheating doesn’t actually benefit anyone. The student who cheats doesn’t actually learn the material. The professor wastes her time teaching the material that the student isn’t fully engaged with.” Some Vassar students do question the rigidity of strict honor codes, accounting for differences in learning styles and moral frameworks. Says senior Emma Carmichael in an e-mailed statement, “I believe that cheating is fundamentally wrong, but for whatever reason, I’ve developed some obscure set of standards about what’s ‘okay’ to do and what’s definitely wrong. I really and strongly believe that everybody learns differently. If a student will ace the test if he writes a single formula on his palm, and fail miserably without it, does that mean he’s less intelligent, or a cheater, or could it mean that he learns and recalls and puts information together differently?” See HONOR CODE on page 7
April 1, 2010
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MeChA conference speaks to indigenous community issues Ellen Xie
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Guest Reporter
Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News
s the centerpiece of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Aztlán (MeChA) and Vassar American Culture Program’s weekendlong conference on indigenous issues, Saturday’s Indigenous Resistance through the Arts event took place among the Kenyon Club Room’s over-stuffed couches, breezy windows, antique lights and piles of Mexican quesadillas. The conference included two film screenings, a poetry reading, a lecture and a musical performance. Maya Acevedo ’11 and Anastasia Hardin ’10, representing the American Culture Program and MeChA, brought artists together at the event to promote awareness of indigenous communities and the contemporary issues they face. Assistant Professor of English Molly McGlennen began the conference in her mother’s native Ojibwe language. “I want to begin today by honoring all indigenous peoples,” she said, setting the tone for the event. McGlennen read from her debut book of poems, Fried Fish and Flour Biscuits, which will be released this summer. “There is food all over my poetry,” she kidded. “I don’t know what that says about me, but I like the idea of poetry as a recipe.” She certainly considers the poems food for thought about indigenous Americans. As her distinctive voice crescendoed and decrescendoed with the flowing narration, the themes of indigenous women’s issues, loss and family life became apparent. She lamented the divide from one’s heritage, and grieved the loss of countless indigenous people in genocide and war. The poems, which McGlennen called, “[forces] of resistance,” uncovered the past, asking the audience to re-examine current indigenous issues. According to McGlennen, “Artists are the first ones brave enough to hold a mirror to society.” An hour later, musicians Oscar Santillan and Carole Brill arrived. The couple soon unveiled to the audience a display of musical instruments—flutes made out of foot-long condor feathers, a drum of llama skin and a string instrument attached to a gourd. These musicians traveled from the Andean region of Ecuador carrying not only these instruments, but also with what they called a deep spiritual connec-
Oscar Santillan and Carole Brille bring an array of Andean musical instruments to share with the audience at MeChA’s Indigenous Resistance Through the Arts event on Saturday, March 27. Santillan played a pan flute and spoke about his ancestors who played the same instruments in the Andean region of Ecuador. tion with their Andean culture and the land of their ancestors. Santillan and his family come from a Kichwa village that—he was proud to say—has resisted conquerors throughout history. Once, he recalled, his relations hid their sacred instruments from the Spaniards, and, today, he continues to fight for the preservation of his culture. At a Center for music education Santillan runs in Ecuador, he teaches students how to make Kichwa instruments, hoping to reconnect them to their land and heritage. Santillan speaks minimal English, but the minute his lips touched the pan flute, translation became unnecessary; his sentiments could not be clearer. He described music as “a way for the things we share with each other to find a way into the heart.” The audience immediately connected with Santillan: Time blended
together and cultural divides seemed to momentarily soften. Even as the music dissipated, the awe remained. “The modern world is divorcing people [from the] ability to connect with nature,” said Santillan. Many, such as first-generation American Moises Rivera ’13, could relate this sentiment. Hoping to someday visit Ecuador, Rivera said, “We have this weird longing…What is it like to be on the other side?” This curiosity was part of what drew him to join MeChA. Other MeChA members participate in this active discourse of immigrant rights and the rights of indigenous communities, including Angelica Gutierrez ’13, who said of the indigenous issues, “They hit close to home.” Many MeChA members in attendance said they identify closely with their roots, and many considered them to
be a strong part of their present identity. Gutierrez said, “[indigenous resistance issues] are things I want to talk about because I’m talking about my great grandma.” MeChA hoped to promote awareness through this event, and their success came in the form of self-reflection and the hope that art creates understanding among strangers— human experience made manifest. Individual speakers brought up indigenous experiences of conquest, injustice and loss, and through music and poetry, performers hoped the audience could experience their raw sentiments. Everyone left with a slightly different experience. But everyone—teachers and students alike— walked out affected by the art, by a world of communities that suddenly seemed much closer.
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Honor codes sometimes restricting HONOR CODE continued from page 6 This nuanced view of academic dishonesty has become, in some ways, a hallmark of Vassar’s judicial system. Says Long, “Vassar’s framework is educational.” Although the judicial system is punitive, the Judicial Board treats accusations of cheating as opportunities to clarify and investigate what academic honesty means at Vassar. “To be called out on something that has to do with your integrity is distressing, and naturally so,” says Long. Salton, who believes cheating is “a violation of a person’s right to have individual thought,” adds, “I am very proud of the system we have right now. I’m proud of the people that currently serve in it…it’s a very progressive system.” While there is apparent pride in Vassar’s judicial system among students, administrators and faculty alike, alternative judicial models do exist at peer institutions—one well-known example being Haverford College. Students at Haverford are required to abide by a lengthy code of academic and social conduct that obligates students to confront others who they suspect of cheating. The goal of the honor code is to create a “culture of trust” on Haverford’s campus, an outcome that Haverford’s Honor Council co-Chair, senior Gabriel Schwartz, believes it successfully achieves. According to Schwartz, although the College’s famous honor code may not dissuade cheating in and of itself, its presence is connected to campus culture. Says Schwartz, “Students come to Haverford precisely because there’s an honor code…and that translates to students who are more ethically-conscious and therefore less likely to cheat.” However, Schwartz adds, “this doesn’t mean no one ever cheats.” At Princeton University, students are likewise held to an honor code, but, unlike Haverford’s system that is run entirely by students, at Princeton, students suspected of the vast majority of academic infractions must appear before the University’s Committee on Discipline, a group made up of fac-
ulty and administrators. The University also has an Honor Committee, comprised only of students, that hears cases involving only infractions on inclass examinations. According to Princeton Honor Committee Chair, senior Peter Dunbar, “Cheating is defined as any attempt to gain an unfair advantage. More broadly though, violations of the honor code also include failing to report another student’s cheating.” What makes Princeton’s system fairly unique is what Dunbar calls “a strong point in the honor system:” its new peer representative program, which was designed “as a way to give students in question someone to help them through the process,” says Molly Alarcon, a Princeton senior who serves as one of the Honor Committee’s peer representatives. “We are technically not advocates for one side or the other, and have no attorney-client privilege. Basically, we exist to tell students what their rights are, tell them what the hearing process is like and [to] reassure them that the system is fair,” says Alarcon. Whether this system would work at Vassar, however, seems unlikely. Says Alarcon, “A lot students on [Princeton’s] campus have the impression that the Honor Committee approaches things in a guilty until proven innocent fashion, which may or may not be warranted.” What is clear is that Vassar’s system of education and forgiveness for accused students differs greatly from Princeton’s, and, according to Salton, Vassar’s academic honesty philosophy doesn’t allow room for peer representatives. According to Salton, Vassar students are, “quite intelligent and quite capable of defending themselves.” “Honor codes can be very limiting,” says Salton, who is unable to say whether or not Vassar campus culture would change dramatically under an honor code. “It might be pie in the sky,” says Long, but the expectation is that at Vassar, students and faculty alike operate under “an implicit honor code based on trust.”
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OPINIONS
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Free Weezy Mug night not intended to offend Nick Burrell
Guest Columnist
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irst of all, let me say that those who did attend the Free Weezy: A Mug Night will no doubt attest to the success of the event. We created a safe space to play Southern hip-hop and a cool alternative party for those who were not attracted to the Miami ViCE party. With that said, let me also say this. I genuinely appreciate hip-hop music and culture, and was really psyched that everyone seemed to be supporting this music and our party over ViCE’s electro DJ party. However, it soon came to my attention that some of the posters my colleagues and I designed had offended some people within the Vassar community. Initially, I was hurt that people had misinterpreted my genuine appreciation for a music genre, and more specifically, for Lil Wayne, as a racially insensitive assault on black values, and I still honestly believe that the backlash against the event was misguided. For every potential criticism of our event, there is an explanation that will not only show how our critics were misguided into calling out what they perceived as racism, but how we were blinded by white privilege to the potential of our marketing scheme to be misinterpreted as such. We never intended to offend or harm. We only wanted to play Southern rap and have a fun party in Lil Wayne’s honor, given his recent incarceration. In marketing our event, we were thinking solely on a personal (not racial) level that appealed to our outlandish senses of humor and our infatuation with Lil Wayne: not Lil Wayne as a black man, but as an artist who maintains a public persona so outlandish that he even raps “we are not the same I am a martian,” and “you can’t get on my level, you’ll need a space shuttle or a ladder that’s forever”—a man who regularly incorporates drug use into his lyrics. He is, in a way, hiphop’s Hunter S. Thompson: creating a bizarre, drug-fueled persona that we cannot help but be attracted to for all the right and wrong reasons. That aside, he is a musical genius who often addresses more serious issues such as former President of the United States George W. Bush, Hurricane Katrina and the tragedy of the American ghetto. He is a man whose wordplay is impeccable and magnetic beyond its bizarre, marijuana-fueled eccentricities. But given that this was an event meant to be in good fun, we chose to focus on the bizarre side of Lil Wayne, thus the more fun side of Lil Wayne. As a person who appreciates art in all of its forms, I have always been particularly critical of the notion that we must analyze the intent of every piece of artwork and design. In my humble opinion, there are many things in this world that are beyond a deep investigation. They mean to provoke solely through the visceral reactions that one personalizes upon experiencing the medium. A cartoonish poster of Lil Wayne, the McDonalds character Grimace gripping codeine syrup, Bun B and Pimp C, is not meant to provoke any deep critical theory. It is meant to bring chuckles to people; what LSD was to the hippies, purple drank is to Southern rappers, a drug identifiable with a specific culture, often referenced in lyrics and artwork. Beyond our posters, what do I say to those who were offended by the word choice in our event description? It’s simple. I was inspired by the shoutouts that I heard on the hip-hop radio stations for club parties while driving through the South. Our description attempted to reflect upon this, as well as poke fun at goofy suburban white boys who attempt to emulate their hip-hop idols by awkwardly adopting their speech patterns. While I never intended to offend or to mock an entire culture let alone a race, it was brought to my attention how my comments and posters may have been seen as such through a discourse with many of the offended folks about white privilege and hip-hop in general. I unconsciously made posters appropriating the more humorous and cartoonishly magnetic elements of Lil Wayne’s personality that I myself am attracted to, without thinking about how palatable they would be to a general audience, let alone people who were not of
my color. The grammar we used in our event description, particularly the phrase “ghetto hood grammar,” was also seen as offensive. Although I was merely trying to pay tribute to a song by Memphis group Three 6 Mafia, in my ignorance of how others would perceive my campaign, I simply assumed that everyone would be in on the reference. Many were not, and I soon realized this as they came up to me and confronted me for apparently trivializing working-class black vernacular. I did not take into consideration how what I perceived as a pop culture reference could be seen as racism by others, especially considering who was throwing this event and how we expropriated symbols and phrases (essentially symbols and phrases belong to the black community) that could be seen as being condescending when used by a white person. Although this was not my fault as a person, the systems in which I have been raised have sadly never taught me to acknowledge this fact. In fact, I am glad that I had this experience, as it has given me a firsthand experience of the consequences of white privilege and has granted me the newfound knowledge and ability to recognize it in action and stop it. Moreover, while I have learned from my mistakes and would never again create a piece of art or an image that appropriated imagery or phrases that could be deemed as insensitive or offensive, I will say this. The Free Weezy Mug night was an attempt to celebrate one of our favorite musicians and to create a space where Southern hip-hop could be blasted incredibly loud in a judgment free environment, where sweating bodies and fun, dirty music created a night typical of the madness that goes down in Matthew’s Mug. We never meant to offend, merely to provoke and entice people to come to our event via loud, cartoonish imagery, guerilla marketing and a general reflection on the aesthetic of Southern rap in general—in particular, the cartoonish aesthetic of Southern rap mixtapes cover art. Just Google image Gucci Mane’s The Burrprint 3D or OJ Da Juiceman’s Orange or Paul Wall and Rick Ross’s collaboration Dirty Business. In the course of our party, people of all types told us how fun it was to finally have a Southern rap party in the Mug. Those who claimed that we were throwing a minstrel show in the vein of a “Compton Cookout” were thus misguided. Unlike the Compton Cookout, which was an exclusively white event, the Weezy Mug night was an allinclusive event and was always intended to be. Students of color had even voiced their excitement for the event before somebody chose to get offended. Can we not say that just as much as I do not have the right to satire the outlandish aspects of Lil Wayne’s persona, as I ultimately will never be able to share his life experience as a black man from the hood, those who criticized the Free Weezy Mug night without attending and seeing the fun mayhem that occurred can not truly criticize the event for the same reason? As I said before, I believe that within the field of art and criticism in general, people tend to overanalyze intent. Lil Wayne himself has constantly detracted reporters who analyze his work abstractly, calling him the next Elvis or the next Sammy Davis, Jr. As Weezy himself says, “I’m just me baby.” His work is not necessarily tied to any racial, social or economic construct (at least explicitly) other than the drug-fueled, eccentric world of his own creation. I hope that rather than focus on the whole miscommunication of the whole preparty marketing fiasco, the Vassar community acknowledges the success that our Mug night was on a purely visceral scale, which was our sole intent in the first place: to provide an environment where we could pay southern rap at loud volumes and where people could dance and hook up and have fun listening to the music they love. Think about it. Open your mind like I have mine to the ramifications of my otherwise well-minded actions. —Nick Burrell ’12 was “DJ Rubben Studdard” at the Free Weezy event.
April 1, 2010
Commentary on the recent event, Free Weezy: A Mug Night. For more information on this issue please see “Mug night sparks debate” on page one of this issue of the Miscellany.
Mug’s Free Weezy event misinterpreted Lil Wayne Sharon Onga Nana Guest Columnist
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il Wayne’s rhythmic description of the nature of his interactions as a black man in America is being misinterpreted and wrongly associated as a template for black culture in America. Lil Wayne is capitalizing on this fact, but where does our responsibility as educated men and women kick in? It does so in interpretation and message extraction. Maybe it’s ignorant of me to believe that there lies a lyrical genius behind the explicitly demeaning references made by Lil Wayne, but I recognize that while hip-hop is not the strongest mode of expression for black America, it’s the only one that white America has been able to appropriate, implant value within and pay attention to. So I want to now say that maybe I give Lil Wayne too much credit; maybe he doesn’t rhyme and rap to bring light to incoherent social ideologies and principles, to bring light to unjust social tendencies, but where does Lil Wayne say his experiences are the token experiences of black folk (mind you, I said experiences not treatment)? He doesn’t formulate that association, rather the media does. Let’s be clear, the association is a pure construct of a race-conscious mentality. Some of you will now say, “Well it’s the black community that cried foul at the poster, thus the black community drew the racist conclusions,” but the black community did not pay tribute to Lil Wayne with purple drinks and ghetto hood grammar. What does this stigmatizing imagery even begin to say about what aspects of black culture are glamorized?
Let’s now evaluate the way Lil Wayne was portrayed by the event in question, Free Weezy: A Mug Night. This was an ill-founded glorification of an incarcerated black man, one that disregarded the nature of his crime and bypassed the social implications of his infractions. The organizers were naively emulating a radical persona, unable to voice and perpetuate the contributions for which such a tribute should even be devoted to him. The organizers of this event were misattributing martyrdom rather than victimization as the root of their adoration and attention. Lil Wayne was presented as the black peoples’ artist, appreciated for his difference, placed in the race box and glorified within the confines of his race. Appreciation for him did not stem from being able to relate or even draw connections to his life experiences; rather, it stemmed from a commercialized exoticizing of blackness. Let me break it down for you, white boy. As offensive as it is for me to say this, ultimately this is what the Miscellany wants me to do. I have been asked to write this piece because somehow my thought pattern, my thinking, my deduction that the Free Weezy Mug night was “offensive” is a thought pattern only a person of my race, my ethnicity, my color can see and articulate. If only you knew the irony that this piece represents, you’d cry foul for the simple fact that being diffused with the propagation of my involvement is a stench of marginalization, prejudice and the perpetuation of inequality among races as far down as anatomical features span.
Letter: ‘Biodiversity’ for intellectual elite Marcy Schwartz
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Guest Columnist
n the Feb. 24 issue of The Miscellany News, Associate Professor of Geography Mary Ann Cunningham and Associate Professor of Biology Margaret Ronsheim defended Vassar College’s deer cull, partly in response to my guest column accusing the College of unnecessary cruelty (“Deer culling an ethical issue,” 02.18.10). Although not a member of the Vassar community, I do not view the decision to kill as that of a “large, faceless institution.” To the contrary, I understand that individuals made the decision, and that individuals bring their own biases to the table. In this case, the bias was deadly: disdain for the white-tailed deer. For example, Ronsheim termed the deer an “invasive species,” even though it is native to New York. Cunningham, for her part, roundly rejects my observation that the deer live peaceably among local residents, pointing to “tremendous damage to property, vehicles… and biodiversity,” without citing evidence of vast damage. In fact, the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve’s deer have roamed peacefully through our neighborhoods for years. Even more telling than what is overstated by the professors is what goes unsaid. I contended that the Vassar Farm and Ecological Preserve Oversight Committee failed to fully investigate non-lethal methods to prevent perceived deer damage, including the cost of fencing treed areas of the Farm, which is the simplest and most humane method available. There was no response to my request. Nothing crystallizes so clearly the Committee’s determination to bring in a sharpshooter who likens shooting deer to mowing grass, than the lip service given in the Committee’s June 12 memorandum to this non-lethal approach. Yet why would an academic committee at a liberal arts college rush to arms? You will learn of it first here. Vassar’s single-handed decimation of our local wildlife was founded in a new religion, which I term Orthodox Academic Ecology
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
(OAE). Because OAE flies this generation’s green flag of ecology, it is generally accepted at face value. But Vassar Farm now flies an even bigger red flag—that its wildlife thrived until it was deemed an “ecological preserve,” bringing it under the control of academics who accept OAE as true. The central belief of OAE is biodiversity, with a corollary tenet that All Living Organisms Are Equal. Seriously, we are not allowed to place a higher value on deer than, say, bugs, even though deer are highly intelligent and family-oriented beings. Indeed, Ronsheim proudly declares that Committee members “value all types of living organisms on the Ecological Preserve.” She includes fungi, insects and shrubs on her list of equal rights. Cunningham states outright that deer have no more of a right to exist on the Farm than other species do. Reading these words transports one, ironically, to George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where all animals are equal, except some are more equal than others. In OAE, this fiction is reversed. Disparate “living organisms”, ranging from mushrooms to insects to intelligent mammals, are considered equal, when intrinsically they are not. This moral equivalence results in the devaluing of highly intelligent, non-threatening deer. So when OAE declares the white-tailed deer as the enemy of biodiversity in the forests of the northeast United States because man has hunted its natural predators to local extinction, there is no compunction on the part of OAE adherents, like your College’s academics, to violently destroy the devil incarnate. To whitewash the inhumane method of baiting and shooting utilized by your school, which terrorizes as well as kills the deer, the professors cite the example of local preserves, Mohonk and Cary Institute. However, no matter how much Vassar College academics wish to play with the big boys, the Farm is simply not in the league of these much larger preserves. First, because Cary and Mohonk are many times the size of Vassar Farm, they open their land to hunting to reduce the deer population. The inhumane See DEER on page 9
OPINIONS
April 1, 2010
Page 9
Threat of credit downgrade a warning for fiscal responsibility Kelly Shortridge Opinions Editor
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n March 15, Moody’s Investors Service— which performs analysis on and rates corporate and government entities—warned that the United States would be downgraded from its AAA rating if the government did not manage its debt. This, of course, came days before the H.R. 3590, or Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, was signed into legislation by President Barack Obama—a huge victory for progressivism, but a stunning loss towards any hope of fiscal responsibility in the United States. The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) reports of H.R. 3590 reducing the deficit have been gobbled up by Democrats, who seemed to have ignored the other news: “The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that when you remove certain accounting gimmicks from the Democrats’ healthcare legislation, it actually increases the deficit.” And, furthermore, the CBO estimates assume that massive Medicare cuts would become part of future legislation, which really is the key ingredient to the Democrats’ claims that the bill will reduce the deficit; without these changes, the CBO attests that the deficit would increase by $600 billion in the second decade. And we all know how Congress’ promises of controlling costs have turned out in the past.
With Nancy Pelosi’s promise of more legislation to come, we must wonder if our current government is really looking out for our best interests. Just for a minute, imagine if our AAA rating was downgraded. The insurance on your deposits in the bank is backed by “the full faith and credit” of the U.S. government; massive quantities of foreign investment is a result of the belief that the United States’ ability to pay is as good as gold; our outstanding loans from other governments are at reasonable interest rates due to the sound belief that we will pay them back. If this belief is tarnished, if we are to be downgraded, there is little doubt that we will be in extreme economic trouble. If other countries begin increasing interest rates on our loans, or demand that we repay them in full immediately, we will be in a cycle of debt just as Greece is now. If foreign investments are taken out of the United States and placed somewhere more “stable,” our economy will continue to slow. And, if the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government does not seem reliable, depositors will begin pulling their funds out of financial institutions—just what Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve were trying to avoid during this last economic crisis. Though this may seem quite gloom-anddoom, the unfortunate reality is that excessive
spending, which will lead us into a deeper deficit, could spell out the dawn of a new—and much darker—economic age for the United States. This is not something that is partisan; former President George W. Bush did us no favors with his runaway spending. The Republicans are certainly not blameless, but the current administration and Congress seem—with the passing and signing in of H.R. 3590—to have ignored the blaring, flashing warning signs. How long can they keep doing this? How much longer can they increase government spending? Democrats might argue that taxes must be increased, and I am positive they will be. But taxes alone will not be able to cover the legislation’s resulting increase in the national debt. So where will this money come from? If our rating is downgraded, it will be much harder and much more costly to borrow from other countries, and the price tag for progressive programs will only prove to be even greater than previously thought. And if the government wants to continue the economic turn-around, the last thing they need to do is terrify investors by spending us into a budget crisis. The great irony of Obama and the Democrats ignoring these warnings of America’s wavering credit rating is that it is exactly the kind of practice they criticized “evil” and “greedy” Wall Street for. What exactly is the difference be-
Credit for varsity athletics will not detract from academics Stephanie Damon-Moore
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Guest Columnist
n Wednesday, March 24, when the faculty members voted in a substantial majority to adopt the proposal to grant academic credit to varsity athletics, a response rippled across the campus. Many students, both varsity athletes and otherwise, were thrilled by the news. To many, this shift is a refreshing instance of the College making a fairly significant change that will benefit some students; others are simply glad to see the College standardizing the policy of awarding academic credit for all faculty-supervised student experience. As the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Vice president for academics, I was happy to see a project to which my colleagues and I have committed time and energy come to fruition during a yearlong term that seems to be rapidly drawing to a close. But it would be shortsighted as a student representative and as a member of this diverse community to assume that the overwhelming response has been celebratory. In last week’s issue of The Miscellany News, for example, a well-articulated editorial captured sentiments that I have heard all over campus since Wednesday’s faculty meeting (“Argument for athletic credit flawed,” 03.25.10). Among the views expressed there—and more broadly throughout the student body—are concerns that athletic participation should be strictly voluntary and motivated only by the proverbial “love of the game,” that other student activities are equally deserving of credit, and that we are in some way tarnishing the Vassar diploma by making varsity athletic participation credit-bearing. These are all qualms that the VSA Council and other student representatives considered before endorsing the proposal, and they are significant issues to confront. But each point was countered by a prevailing view of the value of this shift for the College and for the student body. For that reason, the student representatives who came in contact with this project were largely supportive of the initiative. The conviction that students should pursue athletics out of personal motivation and not credit incentives is a powerful one, and I am glad that the current policy awards optional credit so that students who believe that receiving credit would taint their participation can choose accordingly. However, I also firmly believe that academic credit in no way diminishes the personal commitment of students; indeed, that argument is rarely if ever applied to other forms of credit-bearing experiential learning such as field work, music ensembles, theater productions and so on. To suggest that the work that students have done in these fields is tarnished by their association with academic credit is a disservice to the fantastic engagement and accomplish-
ments of students and faculty members in these areas and in athletics. The paradoxical argument to the “love of the game” view is that many more forms of student involvement merit academic credit. That one could prioritize varsity athletics over, for instance, engagement with mentoring programs, The Miscellany News, VSA club sports and other extracurricular programs seems inequitable to many. And yet, such disparities have long been a part of our institution in areas such as theater and music. Without the oversight and expectations of faculty members, it is logistically impossible to award credit to students. And although many students spend a huge amount of time on non-athletic extracurricular activities, the time commitment required of varsity participation is seldom rivaled by any other single activity. In addition, I have heard complaints that varsity athletics are not sufficiently educational or mentally stimulating to deserve the honor of Vassar credits. However, while I’m no athlete—really, you should see me try to throw a ball—I have great regard for the cultivation of communication, cooperation and physical skills that are gained through athletics. While it may be nontraditional for Vassar College to pay homage to athletics, I believe strongly that many forms of education that take place outside of classrooms are incredibly valuable. The excellence of a Vassar education is a priority of mine as much as anyone else, and I believe part of a strong institution is a respect for diverse learning experiences. Finally, I encourage all students, whether they are in support of this change or critical of it, to view the adoption of the proposal with some perspective. It remains true that students can receive only two total credits from athletic or physical education courses over the course of their Vassar careers. No student is going to somehow coast by because of their athletic involvement; it is much more likely that athletes will elect to receive credit rather than enrolling in a different physical education course, perhaps taking pressure off consistently over-enrolled courses. The vote to award academic credit to athletics means that all forms of student experience overseen by faculty members are now eligible for credit, in my mind a logical policy standardization. This shift also validates athletic participation as a learning experience that is at least as legitimate as a physical education course. It is highly unlikely that this will shake the foundation of the institution; instead it is a small but meaningful gesture of recognition for the value of athletic participation as one component of a liberal arts education. —Stephanie Damon-Moore ’11 is the Vassar Student Association Vice President for Academics.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
tween selfishness for political gain versus financial gain? One can be labeled “for the good of the people” in vague terms, while the other is much more earnest in its self-interest. I’ll take the slick Wall Street banker who is upfront about his practices over the slick politician who waltzes around Washington, D.C. pandering and wearing a mask of altruism. Moreover, in the most recent crisis, subprime mortgages, packaged as mortgage-backed securities, were given fantastic ratings in order for the financial sector to make more money off of them. If Obama uses our (potentially temporary) perfect credit rating to push through more programs that will require increases in government spending and fulfill the Democrats’ agenda, how is that different from Wall Street using great ratings to make gains for themselves? Obama’s currently spending plan, according to the CBO, will have the government spending 25.2 percent of gross domestic product while only collecting 19.6 percent in revenue 10 years from now. As is plainly evident, the projected spending plan will only provide further evidence that Moody’s should downgrade the U.S. credit rating. When will someone step up to the plate for the American people and battle for fiscal responsibility? I’m afraid that by the time someone does, it will be far too late.
Deer on Farm a priority DEER continued from page 8 practice of baiting and shooting is banned. Second, both Cary and Mohonk are in relatively unpopulated areas, unlike Vassar Farm which is in the midst of residential neighborhoods. The deer killed by Vassar College were therefore unique in that they had adjusted to life among humans, and were known by many local residents. And here lies the crux of the matter: Vassar Farm is a 500-acre parcel of open fields and treed areas in the middle of Poughkeepsie; it is not thousands of acres of forestland in the countryside. The deer of Vassar Farm have therefore evolved naturally and admirably to adapt to human encroachment, due to the last 50 years of development in our area. Yet following the strictures
of OAE, the Committee is trying to impose an intellectual ideal of biodiversity, a notion which has not existed on the ground for over 75 years, if ever. Moreover, these mass-shootings are to be done repeatedly so that the deer never exceed a politically correct number set by OAE. While biodiversity may make sense in academia, in our little neck of the woods it makes no sense to slaughter the few wild animals we have left to achieve an academic model of nature. It is therefore past time that Vassar College face the serious harm caused by its hubris in killing our deer, and announce that this ruthless exercise will not be repeated. —Marcy Schwartz is a local resident of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and is the founder of Save Our Deer.
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OPINIONS
Page 10 Commentary on Vassar’s decision to consider a campus smoking ban. For more information on this issue please see “Vassar considers smoking ban” in the Feb. 25 issue of the Miscellany.
Alternatives to smoking must be considered Josh Solomon
I
Guest Columnist
am not a cigarette smoker. In fact, my mom’s health issues made me averse to cigarettes and gave me a first-hand look at the dangers of tobacco and secondhand smoke. Still, I feel that the proposed three-step smoking reduction from the Drug and Alcohol Education Committee (DEC) at Vassar is unfair in its infringement on individual students. Instead of restriction and a possible ban on smoking, the Committee should be focused on educational efforts in its attempt to reduce smoking on campus. The three-step proposal has an intent that I agree with. Reducing smoking on campus will have a beneficial impact on the health and wellbeing of every Vassar student. This is why the excellent policy of banning smoking within fifty feet of dorms and other buildings is in place. This rule respects both the rights of non-smokers and the choices of smokers. As stated in the article “Vassar Considers Smoking Ban,” (2.25.10) communication of the 50-foot rule could be improved as it is both not enforced and unclear to many students due to the errors in campus signage. I also do not have a problem with a proposed fine if this rule is broken. The fine would be fitting considering that the rule is directly related to the health of the student body. It is only when we designate places to smoke instead of places not to smoke that students’ rights are violated and Vassar’s efforts become problematic. Then, inconvenience is necessary to fulfill a habit that is very hard to break. Most Vassar students, smokers and non-smokers, have very busy schedules and forcing those who usually smoke on the way to class to walk to a designated gazebo to light up reduces their positive impact on the Vassar community. Specifically, students who smoke would have less time to complete work and participate in meaningful extra-curricular activities. An outright smoking ban on Vassar’s campus would only accentuate this problem and lead to unauthorized smoking in the dorms. This ensures that secondhand smoke becomes an even larger concern. Ultimately, secondhand smoke will remain a relatively minor problem if it is contained to outside areas. Students always have the choice to walk away and experience the smoke for only a brief time. With the proposed changes, this may not be the case as illicit dorm smoking becomes more common. I think that the College’s goal of reducing smoking would be more effective through alternative methods. Irina Kaplan’s points about education are accurate. If the college wants to reduce smoking, then reaching out is a way that is both helpful to the entire student body and respectful to those who do smoke. The smoking cessation classes are a great tactic, but they are poorly advertised. For instance, I was not aware that they existed before they were mentioned in the Miscellany’s “Vassar Considers Smoking Ban” article. Other methods of reducing secondhand smoke could include making a particular dorm closed to students who smoke cigarettes. This way, students who feel particularly bothered by secondhand smoke have a residence option that ensures the safest possible environment. Reducing smoking at Vassar is a goal that the majority of students, faculty and administrators can get behind. I simply have issues with the approach of the DEC in achieving this goal. Restricting smoking near dorms has an entirely different effect than containing smoking to a few areas on campus. It crosses the line between courtesy and intrusion. Instead of invading students’ personal preferences, Vassar should focus on ways of reducing smoking through education and alternate methods that reduce secondhand smoke without interfering deeply into the day-to-day lives of students who choose to smoke. This approach will result in the least amount of resistance and the greatest degree of unity in creating a healthier campus.
April 1, 2010
Enforcement key to smoking issue Leo Rubiano
Guest Columnist
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he article “Vassar Considers Smoking Ban” published approximately a month ago in The Miscellany News brought the student body’s attention to new proposals and recommendations by the Drug and Alcohol Education Committee (DEC) regarding on-campus smoking. The DEC noted that, although there are signs on buildings that state students must remain 50 feet from buildings while smoking, these signs often go unnoticed. Though security officers are allowed to fine students a $25 fee for breaking the 50-foot rule, many are reluctant to do so given that many students are unaware of the fines and punishments that can follow from such violations. Additionally, the DEC proposed two further possible steps: the elimination of smoking in certain key areas of campus and a fullout ban of on-campus smoking. The 50-foot rule is completely reasonable. A required distance from buildings makes it less likely for cigarette butts to be dumped too close to buildings, and a distribution of ashtrays farther away from buildings would act as a reminder of the rule. With smokers relatively far away from doorways and windows, it is pretty easy for non-smokers to walk in and out without having to put up with clouds of smoke. All that’s needed is the enforcement by Security officers. The elimination of smoking in certain areas of the campus also seems logical. Walker Field House and Baldwin House are destinations for a portion of the Vassar community that might be adverse to cigarette smoke (the athletically-inclined and the ill, respectively). Additionally, heavily trafficked areas like the College Center Circle are good places to institute a smoking ban in order to avoid inconveniencing non-smokers. While writing this column, I was under the impression that the required smoking distance from a building was 25 feet and that smoking in the College Center Circle was permitted. As it turns out, the current policy requires a 50-foot distance,
and smoking is banned in the College Center Circle; this highlights the issue that Security and the College aren’t enforcing the smoking rules as well as they should be, and that students need to be made much more aware of these rules. Any steps taken beyond the ones currently in place to diminish smoking, however, seem ineffective and somewhat unfair. One recommendation by the DEC is a possible smoking ban on most of campus with the exception of smoking-designated gazebos. The Committee argues that these gazebos would “emphasize the social aspect of smoking” while giving smokers a retreat from inclement weather conditions. A policy allowing for smoking only in highly restrictive designated areas only hampers the social aspect of smoking, as smokers are currently allowed to smoke where they please and socialize as much as they want simultaneously, be it out on Joss beach or while out for a walk with friends. A gazebo-like zone providing protection from bad weather is very welcome, but it does not appear that the College is willing to provide these for that reason alone; I think many smokers would prefer having the liberty to smoke in open areas around campus to the restrictive aspects of a gazebo smoking only policy. Some argue that people should be allowed to do as they wish as long as they do not infringe upon the comfort of others and that secondhand smoke violates this norm. While it is true that secondhand smoke is extremely unpleasant and has serious health consequences for non-smokers, I also believe that it is a small issue on this campus. Vassar is hardly a congested space, and a little consideration on smokers’ part when blowing smoke out as well as an enforced 50-foot rule would be enough to allow both parties their enjoyment and comfort. Beyond the gazebo idea, the College is toying with the possibility of making Vassar a smoke-free campus. The aforementioned article did not explicitly state why the College is considering such an option, and I assume here that it is concern for the general
health of the Vassar community. I speak for myself when I say that I received extensive health education in middle and high school about the dangers of tobacco use, and, as an informed 19-year-old, I know the health risks and consequences of smoking. I think it is safe to assume the student body at large does too. As long as the use of tobacco products such as cigarettes and hookah remain legal by federal and state law, it seems absurd to force them out of a student’s life, especially when he or she has made a conscious and willing decision to use tobacco products. The freedom to do so becomes even more fundamental if consideration for non-smokers is shown and the buildingproximity rule is followed and enforced. An outright ban would do very little to decrease tobacco use, as people who enjoy smoking do not want to quit and those seeking to quit have already been provided the tools to do so via counseling, patches, etc. A ban would not make it any easier for those struggling either mentally or physically to overcome addiction, and those who want to smoke would continue to do so illicitly. Alcohol consumption by people under 21 is illegal by federal law, and Part E of the Student Handbook explicitly forbids non-sanctioned alcohol-related activities in the dorms or open areas of campus; even so, alcohol consumption is common on campus. A smoking ban would drive smokers inside, where they are less likely to be detected (much like the drinking that goes on during the weekends) and more likely to simultaneously increase discomfort for non-smokers and increase the fire risks. The discomfort and consequences of a restrictive “gazebo” policy and an outright smoking ban seem to outweigh any possible benefits given smokers’ decision to smoke and their enjoyment of the activity. The school should focus on enforcing the already-established and admittedly fair 50foot policy and on increasing awareness of health risks posed by tobacco, giving nonsmokers the space they need and smokers the freedom to continue smoking.
Smoking ban would preserve health of others Joshua Rosen
Assistant Opinions Editor
T
he right of others to smoke ends where my nose begins. This is perhaps the fundamental principle of a civil society, for it ensures that my need to consume clean air is not interfered with by the right of another person or group to contaminate it. The right of individuals to breathe, however, is being assaulted—this collective right, no different than the right to physical security, and indeed, a subset of it, is being selfishly infringed on. In Michael Reback’s column in The Miscellany News (03.24.2010), he makes the unassailable claim that “it’s my prerogative as a living being to do with my body what I will.” Similarly, he correctly recognizes the corollary, that his right to smoke is limited because it can affect others. However, as the surgeon general’s 2006 report “The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke” states, there is a scientific consensus on the “serious and deadly health effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke.” Reback may not “buy” this argument, but it is a matter of fact that the collective scientific expertise of the United States Centers for Disease Control that secondhand smoke is costly to this country in both dollars and blood. If the matter of restricting smoking was simply one of the opposition of a majority to the right of a minority to participate in a recreational activity, I have no doubt that the student body—and even the College itself— would be in favor of protecting the rights of the minority. However, Reback’s argument hinges upon his unsubstantiated belief that a smoking ban is merely based upon the idea that “some people just don’t like smoking.” This might be correct. Many people—myself
included—do not like smoking. The rationale for disapproving of smoking, however, is one that is scientifically valid: Smoking is harmful to individuals and communities. Thus, mediating this harm is in the interest of the community—particularly a community like Vassar, a substantial part of whose mission is to produce a “community where all members feel valued and are fully empowered to claim a place in—and responsibility for—our shared working, living and learning.” The unfortunate reality is that smoking kills. Smokers and non-smokers alike know this: It’s why smoking is not permitted indoors. It’s why cigarettes are taxed so highly. In light of this, then, for what reason do I have to walk through a plume of smoke to enter the Thompson Memorial Library? Why do residence halls smell like smoke? Reback is correct in his assertion that restricting smoking—especially to the degree of a ban—will drive smokers to “continue their habit in private.” However, I would hope that with judicious enforcement of restrictions on smoking, especially those already in College regulations—and recognition of smokers’ privilege to smoke in an area that does not place non-smokers at risk of exposure—smoking rates would decrease, just as they have on a national scale. Failing that, at the very least, smoking would not affect those who do not wish to be exposed, certainly not to the degree that it does now. Enforcement of fines, in particular, would be a most instructive exercise in disincentivizing smoking. Fines, just like the taxes on cigarettes that Americans are familiar with, are merely levied to protect other individuals from the excesses of others. More directly, they account for the negative externality
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
caused by smoking, by addressing the cost imposed by cigarettes on those of us who are not party to the purchase of smoked tobacco products. By enforcing rules that proscribe smoking within 50 feet of a building, among other rules related to smoking, Vassar is fulfilling it mission to educate us. As befitting this, I object to Reback’s claim that fines are unacceptable due to reasons of “privilege.” He states, “Fines would turn smoking into a class privilege,” and I have no objections to the factual accuracy of his statement. In fact, I agree— much like cigarette taxes, these fines would be regressive. However, if these fines serve to reduce or restrict a behavior that is harmful overall, they are achieving their mission to educate, and, in a sense, they benefit the greater good. For example, fines could be used to fund smoking gazebos or even free smoking cessation programs, just like cigarette taxes are used to fund health care costs, especially for smokers themselves. Regarding Reback’s comment on selfishness, I believe that it is very true that it is “selfish” on the part of non-smokers to mandate that smokers cease exposing persons who are not willing participants in their recreational activity to secondhand smoke, as Reback says. However, “selfish” need not be pejorative. It is, rather, enlightened selfinterest to avoid physical harm imposed by others. However, it is my prerogative as an individual to defend the physiological integrity of my person. It is on these selfish grounds that I encourage the College and community at large to start protecting the greater good—in a manner that does not totally prohibit the right of smokers to harm themselves.
April 1, 2010
OPINIONS
Health care bill an attack on U.S. values E
ditor’s Note: Steve Keller is on vacation this week celebrating the passage of health care reform. His cousin, Stephen Keller is writing this week in opposition to the bill. I want to be among the first to express my extreme outrage at the new health reform bill. There are several things in this bill that I find to be extremely socialist and un-American. Quite frankly, it infringes on my rights. This health care bill must be repealed for the following unconscionable reasons contained within the legislation. Let’s start off with this: I don’t want kids to be able to stay on their parents’ insurance until they’re 26. In a recession like this, don’t you think that kids ought to have an extra incentive to get a job that provides health insurance coverage? As Phil Gramm, one of Senator John McCain’s economic advisers during the 2008 campaign said, we are in a “mental recession.” And just like Arizona Senator Jon Kyl said about unemployment insurance—that it makes people not want to get a job—so too will allowing kids to stay on their parents’ insurance. Speaking of kids, I’m outraged that they will no longer be able to be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. I’m a little happier that it will be okay to deny adults coverage until 2014, but to ban it for kids now is inexcusable and socialist. What’s really unfortunate is that for the time being, adults who are denied coverage will be able to join a high-risk pool to bargain for insurance. Yes, you read that right. A high-risk pool. Who put that in there, Bill Ayers? More evidence of socialism: Insurers won’t be able to drop you if you get sick.
Yes, if you get sick, the insurance companies are going to have to pay money to make you well again. No, I know that’s not fair, and it’s not American. The America I used to know would let you get sick and die if it would mean more money for the insurance companies. And one more thing: I’ve grumbled and moaned about deficit spending more in the last 16 months than since our deficit spending began to take off under Reagan. But I am going to give you some straight talk here. Expanding the deficit is okay when it’s $2 trillion for the Iraq War, or $2 trillion for tax cuts for the rich. It’s not okay when it’s $950 billion over 10 years to reform the health insurance industry, no matter that the Congressional Budget Office said it would actually reduce the deficit. I just don’t believe them. Why? A bunch of people on the blogs I read told me so. Look, I think we all know what socialism is. It can creep into our society in many ways. It doesn’t have to be through an actual government-run health care plan you’re not even forced to buy into. All that needs to happen is that we implement the restrictions I mentioned above. Let me repeat that: Restrictions are socialist. That’s why I only eat uninspected meat. And you know what? I’m goddamn healthier for it. It’s why I also refused to go to public school from a young age. When there was a fire at my house, I didn’t call the fire department—I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and put it out myself. And I didn’t use public water taps. I went to the river and collected water in the buckets I pee in—you know, so I can avoid using city water. Like many fellow tea partiers, I intentionally drive through the
woods to avoid using public roads. I also go to my elderly grandparents’ mailbox each week to intercept any Social Security or Medicare benefits they might receive. That’s what the liberal media misunderstands about us Tea Party protesters. We just want to live alone, without government restrictions. We all live like this and violently reject government intervention in other areas of our lives—why is the media acting surprised when we do it now? You see, what happens when you start restricting one thing, it won’t be long until everything is restricted. That’s because we don’t have nuances in this country. We go all the way, because we’re American. I think its pretty much an established fact that communist governments start when you regulate the insurance industry. It’s how Stalin got going. The bottom line is this: The America that I live in is an America where it’s more important for me to hold onto my money than for sick people to get better. That’s capitalism. I think it’s pretty clear that everyone in the upper class worked hard for their money, and I think it’s also pretty true that all the poor people are just lazy. Why should I have to pay one or two percent more in taxes because some lazy poor person’s kid got sick? We all remember what our most fundamental rights as Americans are. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. How can I possibly pursue my happiness if I have to contribute money to save your life?
Mazi Kazemi
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hat happens approximately three times a semester on college campuses, including our humble abode? People pull open their drawers and yank out their little Ziploc bags or cases filled with Adderall pills, a prescription drug intended for use by people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Midterms and finals are the most popular times for students to use this pill, but that does not mean Adderall use ceases to exist throughout the school year. The question is: Why do people feel the need to take this potentially dangerous amphetamine? There are three main reasons. Adderall curbs one’s appetite, so some people use it as weight loss method. Also, as a stimulant, Adderall has its recreational users. However, it is taken most often by those without prescriptions as a study drug. Certainly, the other two uses can cause serious health issues as well, but I will choose to address its existence as a study drug in this piece. And so we come to another question of “why?” Why do students need a mind-altering substance just to get their work done? Are all professors vindictive harpies trying to take control of every waking hour of our lives by filling them with work? This is, by most accounts, unlikely. Of course, many students do not take the drug at all, and this writer is willing to bet that you would not find any correlation between Adderall use and grades. The answer is simply that students across this country do not have efficient study habits. Even if someone has the worst possible
study habits imaginable, I have bad news for them: Adderall is going to do more damage than good, and it may actually not help them at all. In my middle school history class, my teacher explained an interesting historical fact that I have found can be applied to everyday events. Eons ago, before reading and writing were commonplace, or even in existence, people recounted stories, news and poetry by word of mouth. The people who told these tales had to remember every last word, because there was no way to record it in a book. In that time, people’s memories were much better than ours today. We do not need to remember as much information, because we can just write it down. I am not arguing against literacy, of course, but I am giving a factual example of the saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” When a student always uses Adderall to complete difficult, or even not so difficult tasks, how can he or she expect to be able to do any of those tasks in the future without the drug? We can forget how to rely on our own mental facilities that are fully capable of completing the jobs at hand, and we can become dependent on a drug. Of course, there is the fact that Adderall is an amphetamine, or speed. If someone does not have ADHD, then the drug may not considerably improve that person’s focus. The only study benefit it may have is that it can keep someone awake longer. However, once one is studying to the point that she can no longer stay awake without a drug, then almost none of the material is being retained. So, in the end, Adderall, for non-prescription users, is merely a place-
What would be your school-wide April Fools prank? “Tell everyone Lady Gaga is coming but bring Snooki”
Janosz Dewberry ’13 and Vee Benard ’13
“Putting saran wrap over all the toilet seats”
Melissa McClung ’12
“Make ACDC food palatable”
—Steve Keller ’11 is a political science major editorializing on American politics this semester.
Non-prescription usage of Adderall dangerous, detrimental to academics Guest Columnist
Page 11
bo, if not detrimental to studying. Students would not even have the urge to take this drug if their study habits did not, essentially, force them to. If you surveyed the student population and asked them at what point in the day they spend most of their time studying, I almost guarantee that the majority would claim they did most of their studying at night. This is an old habit most of us retained from high school. Doing work at night was a feasible way to go about life back then, but not so anymore. My advice, and it has worked well for me this past semester, is to accomplish as much studying during the day as possible. Many of us have decently long breaks between classes, and there is almost no better time to study. Our minds are still in an academic state from class, and we will be able to work efficiently. It may not seem like you have enough time during the light hours, but if you take the time to actually schedule your class day, you may find most of your work done by dinner. For those of you who want make big changes in your study habits, I recommend author and blogger Cal Newport. As I just mentioned, his tips have greatly benefited me already this year. As this article and many more before have stated, unless one is prescribed Adderall, it will not have the desired effect of increased focus on anyone. Those are the straightforward, scientific facts. I am an economics major, and one of the most important ideas in the discipline is the concept of efficiency. I believe that striving for efficiency in our work lives can only lead to a less stressful and happier state of mind.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Andrew Spencer ’11
“Three pigs, labeled one, two and four”
Iz Nash ’13 “We would ruin peoples’ lives, or we would fill all the hand sanitizers with cream cheese.”
Akari Anderson ’12 and Jack Smart ’12
“Putting out fliers that the Flaming Lips concert is canceled”
Stephen Kozey ’12 —Kelly Shortridge Opinions Editor
HUMOR & SATIRE
Page 13
April 1, 2010
OPINIONS
Spring Break 2010: going offline A public apology Luke Leavitt
Alanna Okun
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Guest Columnist
ver Spring Break, I decided to go on a weeklong technology hiatus. I was visiting a friend in Nicaragua, where my cell phone would be in perma-useless mode anyway, so I left my laptop at home and embarked on a mission of wireless selfrighteousness. I figured that with no Facebook, Twitter, texting, sexting, e-mail or blogging*, I’d be able to reach a higher plane of relaxation and better commune with the natural world. This irritating enthusiasm lasted roughly the length of my flight. As soon as we stepped off the plane in Managua, I seized the laptop of one of the two friends I was traveling with and sent an “I’m alive and not kidnapped or robbed of all my earthly belongings” e-mail to my mom. For good measure, I checked Facebook and updated my status with some carefully-crafted one-liner. I would have Tweeted, too, except my friend wisely reclaimed her computer in order to Skype our host and tell her we were there. We’d been in Nicaragua for under twenty minutes and already it was a technology fandango. ¿Cómo se dice “I am an enormous hypocrite”? Part of the reason I wanted to cut myself off from the Internet in particular is a recent discovery I made. I found out that there’s a feature on your computer where you can see exactly how many times you’ve visited a certain website; just as an example, this tool will inform you if you have been to Facebook OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES. I’ve punched my card over at Twitter and Tumblr a little too often as well (and of course, let’s not forget Friendster), but the Good ’Book takes the damn cake. That morbidly obese number includes every wall-to-wall I’ve stalked, every snarky comment I’ve left, and every photo I’ve clicked through of drunk kids-who-I-went-to-high-school-with-and-had-no-interestin-then-and-sure-as-hell-don’t-care-about-now-so-wait-whydid-I-just-look-through-their-entire-Thanksgiving-Break’07-album. It’s exhausting work, but somebody has to do it. The sad truth is that the Internet is actually kind of a boring place to hang out; after logging a few hours in front of my computer, I generally feel like it was a massive waste of time. I mean, I like to read a handful of sassy blogs, and I usually spend Fridays catching up on all the low-budget sitcoms I’ve missed throughout the week, and when I’m really feeling crazy I’ll stream an episode of “This American Life,” but other than that it’s pretty lamesauce. When did the last remotely earth-shattering revelation occur over Facebook? Last week I found out that my seventh-grade brother is now in a relation-
ship (God forbid he should tell this information in person to the benevolent sister who drove him to and from camp every single day last summer.) The week before I was gleefully informed via not-so-private message that the bully of my second grade class is now pregnant. Other than those little tidbits, however? Nothing good. And yet we fritter our lives away, waiting for that one luminous status update that will garner all the Likes of everyone we have ever met, that single page invitation which will change the world as we know it. Ultimately, I did manage to stay unplugged for most of my time in Nicaragua. I checked my e-mail a few times and watched Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” video because, hi, I’m a human, but mostly I read magazines and spoke offensively high-pitched Spanish and burned crucial patches of my skin. We swam in the only freshwater lake in the world that’s inhabited by sharks and walked around an active volcano and determined that Nicaraguan McDonald’s is indeed better than the American version. One of my friends drank a cocktail that was on fire, and we didn’t even photograph the moment for Internet posterity. Small victories. And now I’m back at Vassar, where we are expected to maintain umbilical-cord-esque attachments to our V-mail accounts. We’re asked to treat Moodle like it’s an actual academic platform when we all know the name is derived from the Latin for “man noodle.” We text people sitting across the dinner table from us, we order dresses online during Art History, and we look at porn when our roommates are at baseball practice. For better or worse, we’re plugged in for good. Maybe the real challenge shouldn’t be cutting ourselves off from technology cold-turkey, but finding a way to make room for some non-electronic means of communication and entertainment. It’s as simple as walking up a few flights of stairs to see what a friend is up to rather than sending out a mass text message, or stalking that cute girl from your chemistry class in real life instead of via Facebook photos. You know, wholesome stuff like that. I was going to do something all cute and reportorial and count how many times I interrupted the writing of this column to check the Internet, but I lost track after infinity. Tweet that, fools. *It boggles my mind that Microsoft Word still doesn’t recognize “Facebook,” “texting” and “blogging.” Come on, Bill Gates, pretty much your only job is to be slightly aware of all the hijinx the media gets up to.
I
Guest Columnist
n keeping this preamble short, all I have to say is that this is an admission of guilt, an apology, an exercise in cleansing. We have all had the urge to swerve into the oncoming traffic or jump off the highest bridge. Myself, I’ve always wanted to write on the bathroom stalls, to join the legion of humorists who relieve us from the mundanity of studying while we relieve ourselves of the pressures in our bellies. And so the other night I came up with the idea of writing “girls don’t poop” on a bathroom stall. But that’s not all: Underneath this, I would also write “hipsters don’t poop,” at which an arrow would be pointing, accompanied by the text, “a hipster is reading this and pooping.” Ever so post-ironic. Of course, the only way this prank would make any kind of sense would be if a different person wrote each part. So I planned on writing with different handwriting and with different writing utensils. I know that this is intricate, self-indulgent, to the point of being absurd and pathetic. That is perhaps why, when the moment came for me to actually execute my plan, I was overly nervous. I was new to the world of vandalism, so the experience was relatively novel. But nevertheless, I had to do it. I left my studies for a brief reprieve, and headed for the genderneutral bathroom by the Reserve Room—the one with only one stall. I went potty, and when I was done, I buttoned up my pants and whipped out my pencil. Putting pencil to stall, I felt a thrill pass
through me that only exacerbated my nervousness. I wrote out “girls don’t poop,” in big loopy, girly, letters. Then, in more compact type, I wrote “hipsters don’t poop.” Unfortunately I had only one pencil, so I had to pay special attention to my handwriting, erasing and rewriting my Ps so they wouldn’t look similar to the ones in the first line. I hope people don’t notice the smudge marks, I thought. Just as I finished this minor editing, I heard the bathroom door open. I jumped out of the stall in blind fear, almost bumping into, yes, the quintessential hipster; beautiful, well-dressed, a small hint of mint and dance in his step. We paused in front of each other for a moment without exchanging any words, only sharing a glance at the incriminating pencil extended in my hand, in self-defense. Only as the door shut behind me did I realize that, in my hurry, not only had I forgotten to wash my hands, but I had also left the toilet unflushed. No doubt a gift unappreciated by my brief bathroom partner. So I apologize to the public for my participation in vandalism— this experience has taught me that sometimes us thrill-seekers should rein in our compulsions for the better good. And I apologize to you, my new bathroom friend, innocent stranger, for involving you in an incident that is potentially embarrassing for both of us. In the least, we can rejoice in the fact that this shared story is also “so Vassar”—one that involves hipsters, the library bathroom stalls and a load of crap. —Alexander Poop
Crossword by Jonathan Garfinkel ACROSS 1. “Entourage” agent Gold 4. Tom, Dick, and Harry, say (abbr.) 7. Party on the left, briefly 10. Certain 39-Down, briefly 13. ___-Hur 14. Early 1st century year 15. Pitcher’s stat 16. ___ of war 17. Corn unit 18. Supportive 22. ___ diavolo sauce 23. Vied
25. Color 26. Aspirin company 28. Famous pharaoh 30. Certain nav. officer 31. “The Joy Luck Club” author, Amy ___ 32. Iroquois tribe 35. Eau de junior high, say 36. Toothy member of a sea-monster duo 40. Buckeyes of the NCAA 41. Group with no desire for scrubs 43. “___ humbug” 44. Be sick 45. Sterilize 47. Half man, half horse
Answers to last week’s puzzle
51. “There was a time...” 52. “I’m ___ boat!” 53. Takes charge 54. Do as wine, say 55. Certain mischievous Shakespearean 56. Agree to marry 58. Hies hence 60. Pittsburgh-Philadelphia dir. 61. Weep 62. Avatar actor, Worthington 64. Orbiting habitation (abbr.) 65. Strike from the record 67. Partner of flow 70. Awe 72. “Quiet!” 73. No seats left, briefly 74. Take to court 75. Lassitude 78. Roadside assistance org. 79. “Ignition (_____)” (R. Kelly masterpiece) 83. Parisian’s “me” 84. Art practiced in the 90-Across 89. Cash machine (abbr.) 90. (Matthew’s) pit of debauchery, perhaps 91. Deface 92. Lament 93. Take advantage of
94. Remains after a fire 95. Sault ___ Marie, MI 96. Rapper, Cudi 97. Item in a thesaurus entry, briefly DOWN 1. Assist 2. Back 3. Inscription on a cross 4. Bridge 5. Lapel item 6. [“not my mistake”] 7. Federal narcs 8. Mess up 9. German luxury automaker 10. Hit-or-miss 11. Little hole 12. Lab nutrient 19. Thought 20. Wild kitty 21. ____-majeste 24. Season to visit the Cote d’Azur 27. Whichever 29. Baby powder 31. Winter Palace ruler 32. Help!, briefly 33. Promote 34. Subtle 37. Lazy 38. Permission 39. Beer type 42. Perez Hilton subject
43. Heady sculptures? 46. Himalayan bovine 48. (The) interwebs 49. Content of certain L.A. pits 50. Afoot 51. Paddle 55. Each 56. All of two 57. Partner of hems
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
59. Khazakstan for one, formerly (abbr.) 61. Rifts 63. Sat shiva 66. Tempe sch. 67. Biblical ginger twin 68. Bric-a-____ 69. Tabletop vessel 71. Born (fr.) 75. Jane Austen comedy
76. Intellect 77. Near 80. Spiegelman Pulitzerwinning graphic novel 81. Tiny 82. Wolverine et. al. 85. Consume 86. Lyrical Dr. 87. Peeve 88. Aye (fr.)
HUMOR & SATIRE
April 1, 2010
Page 13
OPINIONS
Hidden gems of the Vassar course catalogue: part two Michael Mestitz Guest Columnist
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t’s that thrilling and depressing time again when we look at our schedules for next year and desperately try to preregister for courses that will fulfill our major requirements. Last semester, I sifted through the course catalogue to bring you some classes that might have slipped through the cracks as you were putting together your schedule (“The hidden gems of the course catalogue,” 11.19.09). I’ve picked through Ask Banner again this semester to help you out; even if you’re spending all your grant money on Franzia, you’ve got to take something!
ART-117: Public Art
Because art is a dialogue with the audience and a commentary on the world around us, public art offers an intriguing and relevant opportunity to engage in discourse with the everyday through an installation piece. In this class, we will discuss and create pieces that interact profoundly with students on Vassar’s campus without explaining the message, the purpose or, in many cases, that it is art at all. Our goal is to leave the average viewer to surmise that the mysterious pile of detritus that has appeared is indeed art based solely on the fact that it remains there day after day. MWF, 12:00-1:15 p.m., all the hell over the place
MATH-110: Exposure Therapy
We recognize that not everyone can be a math major; there are all sorts of letters where numbers should be (sometimes in Greek!) and lots of crazy equations to memorize. This course aims to familiarize more arithmophobic humanities majors with simple arithmetic in order to prepare them better for the real world; they’ll have to count their food stamps somehow. MWF, 10:00-10:50 a.m. CLLA-220: Conversational Latin
Whether you’re writing home from Gallia, telling your slaves to prepare swan for dinner or just hanging by the palaestra, Latin has become an invaluable language in today’s modern, cultured society. This class will serve as an introduction to conversational vocabulary and grammar, and focus on the everyday Latin skills a person needs in order to navigate comfortably in society. No longer will you have to worry about using the Conjuntivus Imperfecti where you ought to have used the Indicativus Plusquamperfecti! MTWRF, 9:00-9:50 a.m. EDUC-253: Montessori Method and Theory
This course will focus on the Mountessori method of allowing children the liberty to engage in self-directed learning, but only if the students in this class want it to. TR, 1:30-2:45 p.m. HIST-319: Really Old Things
That’s a crazy island, guys. This seminar explores the Island from LOST and its terrifying, terrifying geology, landscape and history. There will be a strong focus on the study of paranormal geohazards and the ways in which secrets that man was not meant to know can warp space-time as we know it. This course will culminate in a field work trip to the Island, from which only a few of us will return. W, 3:10-5:10 p.m.
Really Old Things have shaped modernity in many ways. In this seminar, we’ll study Really Old Things and maybe some Dead People. Sometimes, we’ll read things they wrote or other documents that existed back when the Old Things happened. From the time of Old Collapsed Empire all the way to An Event That Happened Fairly Recently, the Really Old Things we’ll discuss will give us new insight into the way contemporary culture springs from the past. M, 3:10-5:10 p.m.
MEDS-270: Blogging
PHYS-235: Irresistible Forces
The Internet Age has revolutionized the way we interact with media as a discursive element of our modern existence; every day, we check email and read news online, connecting us to our global neighbors as never before. This class focuses on blogging culture and the underlying assumptions thereof. Students will start their own blog and publish their thoughts online, casting their fears and aspirations into the great, uncaring abyss that is the Internet and hoping beyond hope that somewhere out there, someone cares. TR, 3:10-4:25 p.m.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but Newton says I should be drawn to you with a force inversely proportional to the square of the distance between us. Still, baby, we’ve got chemistry, so let’s move on to physics. It’s a good thing I know thermodynamics because you’re so hot it puts me under pressure. Let’s have a magnetic moment. Cross-listed with the Astronomy Department because you’ve got a heavenly body. R, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Limited enrollment; you know who you are.
ESCI-342: The Island from LOST
Begin your Vassar career today! Kelly Stout
Features Editor
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elcome, American high schoolers from all income brackets! And welcome, wealthy international teens! Congratulations on your acceptances at a highly selective liberal arts college located in the scenic Hudson Valley. Sorry you got waitlisted at Brown, but don’t despair; we’re need-blind for domestic students, and people smoke weed and intern at huge financial firms at Vassar, too. We’re ecstatic that you’re here! It’s high school spring break season, and that means crowded admissions tours. Plus, your mom is probably really anxious to get to Tufts by this afternoon, so we know that it’s not always possible to snag an officially sanctioned campus tour. While it’ll never be the same as having a cheery redhead walk backwards at the head of a restless crowd of visitors (“Let me know if I’m about to trip over a freshman!”—this is your cue to chuckle good-naturedly, Dad) and tell you why our astronomy program is second to none, I think you’ll find this (annotated) selfguided walking tour of Vassar College indispensable, and a fairly adequate replacement. It all begins at the Kautz Admissions House. On your left you’ll see: The Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film: Your tour guide will tell you this is where the famous Meryl Streep performed as an undergrad. We get a lot of mileage out of her. It’s unclear if she likes this or not, although I have my guesses. To current students, this building is known more commonly as a great place to meet insufferably hip/unfriendly film and drama majors so annoying you’ll wish you had never agreed to see your dumb friend’s production of “The Seagull.” Mudd Chemistry Building: This building is for chemistry majors who think they’re better than everyone else. You’ll never go in there. Don’t worry. Followed by, Ferry House: Designed in the distinctive Bauhaus style, this is where you’ll live sophomore year/party like a vegan/learn who Garry Winegrand is. That is, if you’re into drinking out of jars, wearing ugly sweaters, living collectively and riding rickety roadsters all over campus. Up next, Main Building: Home of the famous Rose Parlor, where you’ll find the even more famous daily tea. Also, here you can listen to a capella groups singing wretched, wretched songs by Mandy Moore in a very public place, as if to ask, “Do I sound awesome enough?!” Rockefeller Hall: They don’t heat this damn building in the winter. (Uh-oh, budget cutz???)
Weekly Calendar: 4/1 - 4/7 THURSDAY, 4/1 1 p.m. President Obama guest-teaches your poli-sci seminar. Come find out the real dramz between Newt Gingrich
by Kelly Stout, Features Editor
a committed, sexually and emotionally fulfilling relationship with a smart, funny, handsome Vassar student who loves you for your mind. The Artist’s Palate Restaurant.
and Nancy Pelosi. Rocky 308.
SUNDAY, 4/4 3 p.m. Tea. “So, where you living next year?” Rose Parlor.
FRIDAY, 4/2
1 p.m. Brunch with Weezy. This week Lil Wayne’s servin’ up his special just for you: Codeine-chip pancakes with cough syrup drizzle. Mmmmm. ACDC.
3 p.m. Tea. “Well, my house was just so sick of all the se-
nior housing drama that we decided to boycott the whole thing.” Rose Parlor. 4 p.m. Cap-sicles. In celebration of our budget surplus for
the 2010-11 academic year, President Hill will hand out free popsicles—dipped in liquid gold! Main Circle Tulip Ring. 10 p.m. Beyoncé Concert. All my single ladies are invited.
10 p.m. Board of Trustees Jammie Club! It’s time for a little girl talk and truth-or-dare at a sleepover with the Board. OMG Meryl, like, who do you have a crush on? Your TH.
1 p.m. Burrito Picnic with Lady Gaga. My only bad romance
is with La Cabanita tortillas on Main Street. Can I get an amen, Lady G? Quad lawn. 3 p.m. Tea. “Sort of. We’ve decided to live off campus
where it’s more expensive and less convenient, and we’ll have a landlord to deal with instead of Luis Inoa and Rich Horowitz. But I think it’ll be worth it because we won’t have to deal with Security anymore, and people will think we’re cooler.” Rose Parlor.
12 p.m. Change in Policy. The senior thesis is no longer re-
quired at Vassar College. Theses are not strictly forbidden, but “frowned upon,” says Dean of Studies. Main Building.
WEDNESDAY, 4/7
3 p.m. Tea. “What does that mean? Can you do that?” Rose
Parlor.
8 p.m. Brewers in the Final Four. Vassar goes head-to-head
against Michigan State and we’re favored to win! Walker Field House.
TUESDAY, 4/6
11 p.m. Study Break. Golden retriever puppies that really want to cuddle with you released en masse in the libez. Thompson Memorial Library.
MONDAY, 4/5
My TH.
SATURDAY, 4/3
The lecture halls in this building will also be the sites for “town hall” meetings with highlevel administrators. (Uh-oh, budget cutz???) Head across the quad to Davison House: Newly remodeled Davison House is where you’ll lose your virginity to a guy from the baseball team with creepy facial hair. You’ll see him in the co-ed bathroom ALL THE TIME in subsequent weeks. It’ll be mad awk., but you’ll consider hitting that again when you are forced to watch him finally shave his fu manchu while you’re brushing your teeth. And it’s on to Jewett House: On behalf of the hungover and thesis blitz’d senior interns over at the Admission House, I want to ask you this: Does Williams have a dualpurpose elevator/industrial meat locker in the middle of any of its dorms? Thought not. Next stop, the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC): Your tour guide will tell you this is where big name bands play when they come to campus. This is true, but the ACDC also serves as the location for the horrifyingly uncomfortable breakfast you’ll have after a one-night stand at one of these shows. (To the guy with whom I went home after the M.I.A. concert sophomore year: I’ve never forgotten our magical night together or the egg sandwiches we ate the next morning.) Take a big detour to Walker Field House and the Athletic and Fitness Center: I’ve only been to the gym like, four times since matriculating at Vassar, but your tour guide will tell you that the facilities are state-of-the-art. I can’t really confirm that, but I will tell you that in Vassar’s prerecession days, the Atrium café made absolutely scrumptious pesto sandwiches. Head back toward campus to see the Lehman Loeb Art Center: Are you from TriBeCa? Wish you were? Do you someday hope to move to Greenpoint and smoke clove cigarettes while sippin’ on Jack? Are you carrying a Polaroid camera on you right now? If you’re a budding hipster, you’re going to grow to hate the Loeb because it’s so...pedestrian. The Thompson Memorial Library: OMFGosh. I know. Here you’ll experience the joys and tragedies of VPrint, you’ll learn how to recall books from me even when I really needed them for my thesis (thanks a lot), and you’ll learn what a “red-eye” is. Here is where you’ll writhe in self-loathing and panic the night before many a research paper is due, and maybe, just maybe, get lucky in the meditation room. (I’m still waiting.) Seriously, high school classes of 2010, there is no reason to go to Wesleyan.
3:10 Your English seminar is cancelled and it’s sunny. Time to hit up that Sunset Lake shit. Awwwww yeah. Sanders 017.
10 p.m. Date with your boyfriend. Feel happy that you’re in
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
10 a.m. Game Change. Decision to move Olympiad XXX from London to Walker Field House after endorsement from Gordon Brown, Cappy, Mitt Romney and Ministry of Magic. Walker Field House. 3 p.m. Tea. “You’re so radical. I really admire your intrepid
spirit.” Rose Parlor.
ARTS
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April 1, 2010
Philaletheis to stage double-header this weekend David Lopez
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Reporter
Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News
very semester, the Philaletheis Society stages an array of memorable productions giving talented actors, crew members and directors the chance to come together to tell a story. The story may be offbeat and packed with snappy dialogue, or it can be dripping with tragedy and reallife portraits. “Reasons to be Pretty,” by Neil LaBute, and “Baby with the Bathwater,” by Christopher Durang, are two Philaletheis productions to be performed this weekend that take elements from both of these categories. Aaron Green ’12 will direct “Baby with the Bathwater,” a dark comedy about what makes a parent good or bad. The story depicts the childhood of a boy named Daisy who has two pillpopping and binge-drinking parents. “In his satire, however, Durang also reveals a more personal story behind Daisy’s upbringing; he makes us laugh and shudder simultaneously,” wrote Green in an e-mailed statement. Like many of Durang’s plays, “Baby with the Bathwater” depicts a strange picture of family life that has moments of laughter and of sheer uneasiness. Childhood is something everyone has experienced, and many people still carry the good, bad and ugly of the past with them. “Childhood can be rough, and you witness one of the roughest childhoods in existence when following Daisy’s tumultuous journey through life,” wrote Green. “But we all have different ways of dealing with the past, and Daisy’s struggles expose a truth that we can all relate to.” “Reasons to be Pretty,” directed by Amanda Giglio ’11 and Julianna Gonzalez ’11, also deals with issues of development, but in a different
Carley Moseley ’10, Alix Rosenfeld ’11 and Tara Mazer ’12 rehearse for the upcoming production of Christopher Durang’s play, “Baby with the Bathwater,” which will be performed in Sanders Classroom Spitzer Auditorium on April 1, April 3 and April 4. way. The play immerses itself in our society’s growing body dysmorphia: Relationship insecurities and infidelities often arise because of other people’s comments about what is deemed “pretty.” “The show focuses on Greg, a character who makes a passing remark about his girlfriend Steph’s ‘regular’ face. Greg’s friend, Kent, makes matters more complicated when he offers his two cents about what he considers important in a relationship, which is mainly
based on physical characteristics,” elaborated Giglio and Gonzalez in a joint e-mailed statement. “The rest of the play deals with these characters’ struggles with their insecurities about themselves and their relationships.” Giglio and Gonzalez chose to direct this show because of its resonance with Vassar students who often struggle to feel comfortable in their own skin. “We chose ‘Reasons to be Pretty’ because it is a play writ-
ten in 2008 and, as a result, is very in tune with the current culture: its obsession with physical beauty and perpetuation of self-doubt. We believe that the ideal audience for this play is college-aged individuals (convenient, right?) who are immersed in a culture where the media has created such a strict definition of beauty for them,” wrote Giglio and Gonzalez. “The insecurities that these characters face mirror those of our own. The acknowledgement of their pres-
ence on stage will, we believe, create a dialogue within the community as well as within ourselves.” Since the show takes place in the here and now, the directors thought it was only natural for the play’s aesthetic to be representative of the world we live in. The costumes, visuals and sounds of the play strive to depict an accurate account of how people live in and perceive the world today. “Our awesome costume designer, Kathee Buxton [’12] has really successfully embraced each actor’s perspective of their character and expresses those perspectives, as well as her own design, in the costumes. This show is certainly all over the spectrum. Our emotions during rehearsals have really run the gamut, and that’s another thing that we love about this play,” explained Giglio and Gonzalez. “Obviously, because of time constraints and the myriad opportunities presented by the Shiva [Theater]’s versatility, it has been a very large time commitment for everyone involved. We believe, however, that it’s a labor of love.” The cast and crew involved with “Reasons to be Pretty” and “Baby with the Bathwater” are anticipating presenting their work to the public with great excitement. Said Green: “In the last weeks before the show, we are all feeling the excitement and adrenaline inherent in putting on a play. And that energy has definitely brought us closer and helped us work hard.” “Baby with the Bathwater” will be performed in Sanders Classroom’s Spitzer Auditorium April 1 at 8 p.m.; April 3 at 2 p.m.; and April 4 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. “Reasons to be Pretty” will be performed in the Shiva Theater on April 1 through 3 at 8 p.m.
Flawless drag pageant bends gender archetypes Esther Clowney Reporter
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Kathleen Mehocic/The Miscellany News
omen have been wearing pants for decades, but men are still ostracized from the skirt and dress community. The flamboyant spectacle of the drag show allows men to appear in public, sans pants. With only two days left before the show, contestants in the Queer Coalition of Vassar College’s (QCVC) annual drag show, Flawless Extravaganza, are ramping up their preparations. Mitchell Gilburne ’12, whose drag queen name is Medea, has been using the fifth floor of Main House as his personal rehearsal space, crawling on the floor with three backup dancers to a Ke$ha number choreographed by Greg Shapiro ’12. Meanwhile, first-time performer Nate GorlinCrenshaw ’13 has been practicing his harmonica act as he gazes at the new pair of high heels challenging him from their post on his dresser. Drag has been an integral part of American queer culture for a long time. During the late 19th century, it became common for actors in the New York City theater scene to adopt cross-gender personas onstage. During the Stonewall Riots in 1969, drag kings and queens allegedly threw quarters at the police to incite them. “You get more shit for dressing in drag, but the people who do it are very strong individuals,” said QCVC president Brandon Logans ’12. “Drag can be a way for people to empower themselves to stand against injustice.” Overt politics don’t factor into everyone’s interest in drag. “Dressing in drag means different things to different people,” said GorlinCrenshaw. “For me, it’s about dressing beautifully and entertaining myself and others.” Gorlin-Crenshaw was invited to participate by his roommate, Brandon Green ’13, who happens to be emceeing the event and designing GorlinCrenshaw’s outfit. “Brandon hasn’t finished my dress yet, but I’m really excited to see it,” he said. The show’s cash prizes may also be a motivation for the drag kings and queens to participate—$100 for the winner and $50 for the runner up. Other enticements include an appearance by
Hudson Valley drag queen Isis Vermouth and an after-party hosted by a pair of Canadian DJs. “Making Flawless Extravaganza into this fun all-campus event brings everyone into contact with drag, including people who’ve never seen a drag show before,” said Kevin Choe ’12, a member of QCVC and one of the event’s judges. Drag culture is steeped in tradition. Conventions such as impersonations of female celebrities, lip-syncing and exaggerations of the female gender type lie at the core of such performances. Flawless Extravaganza will embrace and, at times, bend the archetype. Women as well as men were invited to participate, and sexual orientation is not a factor. Erin Clarke ’11, a transwoman and member of QCVC, is performing in Flawless Extravaganza for her first time. “I’m putting a twist on traditional drag performance and trying to dress as androgynously as possible,” Clarke said. For the contest’s talent portion, she is thinking about performing a strip dance to a song by David Bowie, who is famous for his gender-bending androgynous style. Clarke is currently undergoing hormone therapy. “At this point in my transition, my body isn’t clearly male or female,” said Clarke. “By stripping, I hope to show people that both sex and gender are mutable.” “I’m a little bit conflicted about the drag tradition. I like that drag shows give people the opportunity to experiment with gender play, but I find the idea of a gender binary sort of troublesome. By portraying myself as androgynous, I’ve found a way around that,” Clarke said. There aren’t many opportunities in life to participate in gender play in a condoned environment. Even Marc Jacobs gets made fun of by his boyfriend when he wears skirts. “If you saw me in my street clothes, I don’t think you’d expect me to do something like this,” said Gorlin-Crenshaw. Other participants include Nathan Horton ’13, Devon Isakow ’13, Sam Schrader ’11 and Joey Army ’10. The Flawless Extravaganza will take place on Saturday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of the Students’ Building.
QCVC is hosting their annual drag show, Flawless Extravaganza, a poster for which is pictured above. The event will be on the second floor of the Students’ Building on April 3.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
ARTS
April 1, 2010
Page 15
Prison reunion to screen documentary on activist Sydney Hessel
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Guest Reporter
disturbingtheuniverse.com
magine having a lawyer who decided to defend the man responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombings as your father. Imagine that he also fought for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, and had connections to the Chicago Seven, the Attica Prison riot and the American Indian Movement. Such was life for Emily and Sarah Kunstler, daughters of radical civil rights lawyer William Kunstler. The sisters have paid homage to their father in their 2009 documentary feature, William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe. Coinciding with this weekend’s 31st annual Green Haven Prison Program will be a screening of this critically acclaimed documentary and a talk-back with Emily, a former Vassar student herself, and Sarah. The screening is sponsored by the Africana Studies Program and the Film Department, and will take place tomorrow, Friday, April 2 at 7 p.m. in Sanders Classroom’s Spitzer Auditorium. William Kunstler was a civil rights activist and one of the most notorious lawyers of the last century. His successful defense of the Chicago Seven charged with conspiracy to riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention catapulted him to fame. He went on to defend members of many other social movements, once stating, “I only defend those whose goals I share. I’m not a lawyer for hire. I only defend those I love.” “Those he loved” included an impressive range of clients, from members of the Black Panther Party to the Weather Underground. He quickly became the “go-to guy,” as a Sundance synopsis so aptly puts it, for the political left during a significant time of change in America’s history. In 2000, Emily and Sarah co-founded Off Center Media, a company that
produces documentaries exposing injustice in the criminal justice system. William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe is their first documentary feature, though they have created numerous other pieces together. The film tells the story of Kunstler’s changing public and private persona, a deeply personal journey for the women who lost their father in 1995 when they were only teens. The piece has garnered extensive critical acclaim: The sisters were awarded the L’Oreal Women of Worth Vision Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize for Best New Filmmakers at Traverse City Film Festival. Professor of Religion and Africana Studies Lawrence Mamiya was Emily Kunstler’s pre-major advisor in her freshman year at Vassar before she transferred to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He played a large role in organizing the screening, which will also include a discussion on the making of the documentary by the sisters. Another screening will take place at the Green Haven Reunion, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the Aula of Ely Hall, accompanied by public events including a panel discussion featuring four men and women recently released from prison discussing their experience in prison. William Kunstler has particular relevance to the New York state prison system, which underwent significant changes thanks to his role in the Attica Prison riots, the bloodiest prison uprising in American history. Kunstler’s successful defense of a prisoner charged with killing a guard brought the lawyer to nationwide fame. But Mamiya thinks Kunstler has a universal relevance, as well. “[Kunstler was] important because he presents to everyone—formerly incarcerated individuals and Vassar students alike—how a person committed to social justice can act in a courageous way,” said Mamiya.
Activist-lawyer William Kunstler addresses a crowd in Pittsburgh, Pa. on Oct. 22, 1970. Kunstler’s daughters will present a screening of the documentary William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe on April 2 in Sanders Classroom’s Spitzer Auditorium. Not all of Kunstler’s work has been branded as “courageous;” accused rapists, terrorists and mafia bosses were among those he represented in court. Criticism of Kunstler’s work had a direct impact on his family; controversy was literally brought home, as protestors frequently showed up at the Kusntler residence. “Ultimately, the film is more about our challenges and questions, not necessarily the criticisms of others,” Emily Kunstler explained in a phone interview. Emily Kunstler decided to become a documentary filmmaker during her time at Vassar, realizing that she could use media to express her poli-
tics. She also worked with the Green Haven Prison Program in her undergraduate years and looks forward to the reunion on Saturday. William Kunstler’s experience is truly a great way to tell a story of American courage, inclusive of histories that are not always covered in textbooks. “My father’s life moved through so many arenas,” Emily reflected. After his death, the family did the best they could to cope with an astounding loss. In many ways, “making this film was definitely a powerful experience for both me and my sister. It gave us an opportunity to look back and understand,” she added. Kunstler’s fascination with Michel-
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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
angelo’s “David,” the sculpted marble Renaissance masterpiece of the warrior before his battle with Goliath, is something Emily mentioned that most do not know about. “He thought that we each had our own ‘David moments,’” she explained. The film is about having the courage to take a stand, even if it means risking everything. And the sisters certainly took their own chances in creating the piece itself. Emily and Sarah look forward to coming to Vassar, and, through their work, specifically hope to inspire students to act out when they see injustice. It doesn’t take a Kunstler-style “David moment” to realize that this screening will be one to see.
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April 1, 2010
Ives covers all in ‘All in theTiming’ Army a triple threat: dance, drama, drag Alexandra Sarrigeorgiou Reporter
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Reporter
hen asked “what do you want to be when you grow up?” most preschoolers are proud to say a princess, an astronaut, a fairy or even a millionaire. For young Joey Army ’10, the answer was always “an actor!” “When I was four and my brother was seven, he decided he wanted to do theater,” explained Army. “And because I admired my older brother, I, of course, wanted to do theater as well—that’s where it all started.” Army has come a long way since preschool, but his devotion to the performing arts has remained the same. When Army came to Vassar, he had plans of focusing on theater, but quickly became involved with the Department of Dance when he literally slipped into a bit of luck. “During Serenading my freshman year, Ballantine Field was muddy, slippery and wet. I slipped into this really great split, and a senior asked me to audition for FlyPeople. That’s where my dance career started—at Serenading, completely covered in chocolate sauce and whipped cream,” he said. After joining FlyPeople, Army was hooked: “I took as many dance classes as I could, auditioned for VRDT [Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre] the next year and haven’t really looked back since,” he said. Today, Army not only dances in VRDT performances but has also choreographed pieces himself. For this year’s 28th annual VRDT performance at the Bardavon Opera House, Army and Caitlyn Lamdin ’11 choreographed a piece entitled “Social Darwinism.” Army also choreographed a dance to “Be Italian,” from the 2009 musical Nine. The piece will be in FlyPeople’s year-end performance on April 23 and 24. Faculty dance instructors and student dancers at Vassar are no doubt talented, but Army thinks
Campus Canvas
the most appealing aspect of Vassar’s dance scene is the positive attitude behind the moves. “Vassar dance, specifically VRDT, and…FlyPeople as well, is all about learning, growing and producing good, quality dance, but it’s not about competing. It’s about friendship and community,” he said. Army added: “At Vassar, there’s so much opportunity to do different kinds of dance. You’re not restricted to anything; you can take whatever class you want. As I’ve grown as a dancer, it hasn’t been in just one field. I’ve been able to branch out into jazz, modern and ballet all at once.” In addition to his dancing, Army has also continued pursuing his childhood acting aspiration through participation in Drama Department productions. The drama major was the only freshman in the 2007 Department production of “Quills”; He went on to act in other Department shows, including the 2008 productions of “Merrily We Roll Along” and “The Skriker.” He also played Angel in Vassar’s production of “RENT” last semester. “It’s been a struggle, a great and very worthwhile struggle, to budget my time between VRDT and the Drama Department,” said Army. For the past three years, Army’s arts endeavors have extended to a more obscure type of performing arts at Vassar—the annual drag show. He won the competition his sophomore year after creating the memorable persona of Katerina Dasbigboobovitch, a fierce Russian ballerina now forced to perform freelance. Army’s talent was point, a skill that surprised and thrilled audience members. It’s rare for men to attempt point, let alone execute a flawless dyingswan number on stage. Army now takes the advanced point class at Vassar. Despite the time constraints of a
Courtesy of Joey Army
hillip Glass, David Mamet, a madeup language, Philadelphia, a loaf of bread, mini-golf. What do these things have in common, you ask? They’re all part of the absurd world of David Ives’ collection of short plays “All in the Timing.” Produced by Unbound and directed by Michael Hirsch ’11, “All in the Timing” will go up in Taylor Auditorium at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 2, and 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 3. While some of Ives’s one-act plays have been staged individually in the past as part of Philaletheis’ Directing Workshops, this is the first time they will be produced as a collection at Vassar. “I wanted to give David Ives and the plays the credit and the genius that I feel that they deserve,” said Hirsch. The plays in “All in the Timing” share a whimsical quality that makes them very unique. “[Ives] does things on stage that are really not seen elsewhere,” explained Hirsch, who first saw Ives’ plays when he was in high school. “It had a profound impact on my theater-going life.” While similar in style, the plays deal with a wide variety of topics. “The plays have absolutely no connection to one another in terms of characters and themes. They range from the political to being about relationships and love,” said Hirsch, “and most of them are pretty light-hearted in nature.” Actress Alexandra Wong ’12 said, “My favorite part about the plays is that they are about everyday activities, yet they are very unique and quirky.” Indeed, the plays’ topics are for the most part very simple and ordinary. One play, for example, is called “Phillip Glass buys a loaf of bread,” and that is literally the entire plot of the play. These everyday themes, however, are treated with such playfulness and imagination that they become extraordinary and surprising. “All of the David Ives plays work around a rhythm or beat,” explained actress Danielle Lemieux ’13. “He plays with time and language; it’s very interesting to see how his mind works.” Hirsch agreed: “He takes the everyday and blows it up to absurdity.” The production of the play is just as unique as the works themselves. “We cast the play with no interest in who’s playing what,” explained Hirsch. “We didn’t even know which plays we were going to do.” Instead, Hirsch focused on putting together an ensemble that would then make collective decisions about the production. Once that ensemble had come together, the specific plays were chosen and inter-ensemble auditions were held. “I wanted to have a free, comfortable theater environment,” said Hirsch, and indeed it seems that the ensemble has formed close-knit ties. “Everyone gets a chance to direct,” said Wong, who will be directing “The Philadelphia” with Lemieux. “It eliminates the barrier between actor and director,” explained Lemieux. “When people have an idea, they’re not afraid to say it.” The group is enjoying the freedom and ease of this production so much that they seem saddened by the fact that their work together is almost finished. “Can we please make this a permanent ensemble?” Wong asked jokingly. “All in the Timing” will undoubtedly make for a fun theater experience. “Don’t come to the show expecting the most tear-jerking experience of your lives,” joked Lemieux. “It’s got drama, but it’s always laced with comedy,” added Wong, and Hirsch agreed: “The audience should definitely expect to be surprised.”
Rachael Borné
Joey Army ’10 performs in “Sentinel” during rehearsals for the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre’s Bardavon Gala. Army also dances with FlyPeople. very busy senior year, Army plans on breaking out Ms. Dasbigboobovitch for one last round in the spotlight. “I’ve done it for three years, and this year is my last year. I figure, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it right,” he said. Army’s career as a Vassar College drag queen may be coming to a close, but he has high hopes to pursue a performing arts career after graduation. “I’ve already been doing auditions. I just went to Boston to do an audition for Disney World. I have a minor obsession with Disney, and by minor, I don’t really mean minor,” he said. “My intention is to get as much experience auditioning while I’m still in school because we’re so
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close to New York [City]. I plan on moving there when I graduate,” he said. “If that doesn’t work out, I’ll pursue another outlet through law school or teaching—my other major is political science, since the performing arts path is not the best to follow for occupations.” Army knows the dance and theater biz is a discouragingly competitive industry, but with such experience and commitment, he has the confidence to give it all he’s got. “I’ve been pursuing performing in some variety since I was very young, and I know if I don’t give it my best shot, I’ll regret it somewhere down the road,” he said. “I never want to look back and say that I didn’t try.”
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Madeline Zappala ’12 is currently enrolled in a Basic Drawing class; three of her pieces are highlighted above. The current Palmer Gallery exhibits work from Vassar’s six sections of Basic Drawing, taught by professors Richard Bosman, Peter Charlap, Laura Newman and Gina Ruggeri.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
April 1, 2010
ARTS
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Singles of spring a pleasant surprise S
pring’s here, so get ready for a useless filler sentence about the weather. In addition to sunbathing on the quad, the warmer temperatures mean a slew of new albums in the next couple of months. But since the album is supposedly dead, and no one has the attention span to listen to 12 songs in a row, I’m going to focus on a few singles. In the world of hip-hop, we have three Wu-Tang stalwarts striking out on their own and a severely underrated southern rapper returning from prison. In the world of indie-rock, we have a fresh-faced group from the Garden State bucking the sophomore slump trend and a taste of the new album from longtime favorites The Hold Steady. So break out your sundresses and Ray-Bans, because this is another filler sentence about the weather. Last year saw great records from both Ghostface Killah and Raekwon the Chef, not too bad for a couple of throwbacks pushing 40 years of age. But if you thought these guys would slow down, you’re dead wrong. Later this month, Ghost, Rae and their Wu-Tang crewmate Method Man will release their own album, the redundantly titled Wu Massacre. The first single is “Our Dreams,” and it gives no indication that the Wu have decided to switch gears and change up their style. Based on a lusciously sung hook and smooth soul track to match, the three masters do what they do best: dishing on their respective lady friends and the struggles they’ve faced to get to where they’re at. If you’re a card-carrying Wu-Tang fanatic, it goes without saying that there’s plenty here to like. If not, then you probably won’t have much incentive to pick up Wu Massacre. Some might argue that its hard for Ghost, Meth and Rae to stay relevant when they haven’t changed much in close to 20 years, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
When a well-loved band releases a new record, you hope for one of two things: that the band will successfully venture into new territory and expand their repertoire, or that they will stick to their bread and butter and satisfy the seasoned fans. From the sound of its first single, “Hurricane J,” The Hold Steady’s new record, Heaven Is Whenever, should do the latter. Filled with their trademark bar-band guitars and anthemic “ohs” and “ahs,” lead scribe Craig Finn spins a familiar yarn about a wayward girl and her deleterious encounters with not-so-nice boys. For Finn, the devil is always in the details, and he’s got the eye of a novelist, giving his cast of rapscallions all the nuances they need to come to life. But simply describing a bunch of grungy kids is no miracle; Finn gives his stories heart. And after being swept up by The Hold Steady’s rolling, rollicking jam, you’ll care about the title character as much as Finn does. Next up, in a similar vein, is Titus Andronicus with “A More Perfect Union” from their excellent sophomore record, The Monitor. The album is supposed to be some sort of concept record about the Civil War, but aside from the title of the track in question and a few recordings of Civil War battle speeches dispersed throughout the songs, The Monitor stands on its own without any gimmicks. These guys know how to push all the right lyrical buttons, name dropping the Garden State Parkway and paying homage to the patron saint of New Jersey with the delightfully half-screamed line, “Tramps like us/Baby we were born to die!” (If you don’t get the reference, you don’t deserve to have it explained to you.) I can’t say enough about the raggedy and propulsive aesthetic Andronicus has conjured up on “A More
Perfect Union,” complete with orchestral, multi-part song structures and emotion-laden-about-to-explode vocal hijinks. The effect is a more streamlined and less whiney take on one of Conor Oberst’s less-known earlier bands, Desaparecidos. For all the shit that gets dumped on the fine state of New Jersey, Andronicus gives New York’s armpit something to be proud of. Switching back to the world of rap, we have a flurry of jail sentences, but only one release from prison, courtesy of T.I. You’ve got to hand it to him: the rapper picked the absolute worst time to get released from prison, thanks to the press Lil Wayne and Gucci Mane have been getting for their jail sentences. It’s no surprise that his comeback single is titled “I’m Back”; you get the sense he’s angry that he has to remind people he’s not the only southern rapper dealing with the penal system. Lil Wayne notwithstanding, “I’m Back” proves that T.I. never really left. The beat is a classic slice of thumping bass and horror-movie synth that moves along just fast enough to get both T.I.’s flow and the dance floor moving. Though the lyrics aren’t anything groundbreaking—its mostly filled with the same old gangsta platitudes— T.I. shows once again that his vocal talents are nothing to scoff at. His normally giddy inflection has been replaced with a contemptuous growl, the verbal equivalent of a middle finger held high. “I’m Back” sounds like a year’s worth of backed-up talent rushing out of T.I.’s mouth like a tsunami ready to topple a city, and if you didn’t see it coming, he definitely did. —Martin Bergman ’12 is a Jewish studies major writing a bi-weekly column on recently released albums.
‘Agnes of God’ a brooding, eerie production Gabby Gottleib
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Guest Reporter
n ecclesiastical transformation took place in the Chapel last Thursday, March 25. Row after row of pews stretched through the dark environment, while faraway candles flickered in ghostly gusts of air. Usually opaque at this late hour, the illuminated stain glass windows created an eerie aura as I entered the space. The normally subdued and nondenominational chapel had become a magnificent Catholic cathedral, a peaceful convent, an impersonal psychologist’s office, and the home of the characters of “Agnes of God,” a play written by John Pielmeier and directed by Ben Davis ’10. The play’s story centers around Agnes (Barbara Ely ‘11), a young nun who is accused of infanticide after her baby is found strangled in her room. Dr. Livingstone (Laura Dooling ’10) is the psychiatrist charged with identifying whether Agnes is insane or not, while Mother Miriam (Kathryn Kozlark ’11) feels obligated to protect the young nun from prosecution and does everything in her power to sway Livingstone’s assessment. As new information about the nun’s dark history is revealed piece by piece, the audience gets ever closer to finding out the truth behind Sister Agnes’s saintly exterior. Dr. Livingstone and Mother Miriam clash again and again regarding the fate of Sister Agnes; The psychologist wants to bring Agnes out of her naïve shell and discover whether she is innocent or not, while Mother Miriam, who has shielded Agnes from the world, wants to protect Agnes from the horrible truth of the crime. The tension was palpable for the entire performance, rising to a fever pitch at the climax of the play. The play makes no pretense of having a happy ending. Child abuse, molestation, rape, mental illness and infanticide are discussed
by the characters onstage, and the only hope we get comes from Dr. Livingstone, whose numb existence is brightened by her contact with the vulnerable and trusting Sister Agnes. Dooling conveyed the stoniness of her character well and did a believable job of falling under Agnes’s spell of innocence. But I wanted her character to show more growth by the end of the play. The final scene left me dazed and wondering whether there was any good left in the world. Kozlark’s performance as Mother Miriam stood out in particular. She and Ely had a strong physical connection onstage and her thinly veiled maternal feelings for Agnes came across successfully without being overdone. After a few stiff moments in the initial scene, I became enthralled with her performance. She did an excellent job of avoiding the stereotypical “tough love” nun character and brought depth and maturity to a role that deserved it. Ely had the difficult task of portraying the title role, which pushed her as an actress to different extremes of emotion. One minute she had to play a pure and childlike girl, unaware of any of the evils of the world, and in the next scene she would have to lose that innocence through her anger with God, her mother and the broken world she was thrust into at an early age. I was impressed with Ely’s range as an actress and her ability to let go and display unfiltered rage, sorrow and fear onstage. This production used the Chapel in a way I had never experienced before. The audience sat toward the front of the chapel, facing a sea of pews used as the performance space. As I looked out at such a vast expanse of darkness lit only by flickering candlelight, my breath caught in my chest, and I felt overwhelmed by the weight of the story. The pews and balcony of the chapel became the nun’s area of worship
and solitude; when Mother Miriam or Sister Agnes left the stage they would retreat into the darkness of the pews, still visible to the audience the entire time. The slow, steady walking pace they adopted and the candles that lit their faces gave them an eerie quality that put them out of time and place. The playing space was comparatively small, uncomfortably so for the audience during the more gruesome scenes. The audience sat in rows on the raised portion of the stage and on risers on each side of the action, making the space feel like a courtroom where the audience played the jury. The lighting was simple and tasteful. Specials of white light differentiated flashbacks and memories from the warm glow of the rest of the scenes. I was most impressed with the way that the Chapel’s stained glass windows were lit from outside during the show. This effect emphasized key moments in the action without looking overdone. The sound design was also elegant in its simplicity. Oftentimes I didn’t know whether I was hearing an especially eerie sound effect or just the creaking of the Chapel itself. The production was incredibly successful at conveying a certain place and feeling—the nuns even wore real habits. Through creativity and imagination, the crew of “Agnes of God” was able to create a complete world out of minimalist resources. Anything else would have distracted from the incredibly charged message of the play. Even though sometimes such theater makes us squirm uncomfortably in our seats and eye the door, this production walked the thin line between nauseainducing imagery and powerful truths successfully. This play succeeded in pushing the audience outside of their comfort zone to see the full scope of the darkness of humanity, something that is too often neglected in our selective view of the world.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
“I read The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks.”
Melissa McClung ’12 “The Quidditch team had a 24-hour Harry Potter reading. We got through two and a half books.”
Molly St. Clair ’12
“The Rape of Nanking. Not for light reading.”
Eli Stiefel ’12
“Anthropology of an American Girl, by Hilary Thayer Hamann.”
Hadley Keohane ’13
“I read an interesting article for class about the status of Black Muslim Americans, post-1930.”
Ali Jamil ’10 “I read an article about Somalia; Pirates recently created their own stock market thingy. I thought it was funny.”
Kyun Kim ’12 —Erik Lorenzsonn Arts Editor
SPORTS
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April 1, 2010
Approved athletic credit proposal in question by some at the College Mitchell Gilburne
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Sports Editor
Courtesy of Sports Information
onflict is the way of the world, and scheduling conflicts are but one of the many hurdles that rear up to make life just a little bit more difficult. At Vassar, the resolution of academic scheduling conflicts has been comfortably nestled into the specific context of academic coursework. Vassar College is first and foremost an academic institution. One would be hard pressed to find a student or faculty member willing to say that it is or should be otherwise. The College’s high academic standing, however, has not made it immune to occasional challenges brought on by varsity athletic schedules. This truth may only become more apparent after the recent decision to award academic credit to varsity athletes, where one of the premier critiques of the policy was the reconciliation of academic and athletic schedules. How now, when conflicts arise, will they be dealt with? Is it possible to value one credit over another? How will this impact student behavior and attitudes towards both pursuits? A veritable maelstrom of troubling factors arise from the seemingly innocuous decision to give credit to our varsity athletes. Ask around, and you will find no shortage of complaints and anecdotes that pit students against unwavering professors and coaches. People have missed games, skipped classes and rearranged their schedules to no great fanfare, however, the majority of these cases are quietly resolved with all parties leaving negotiations feeling satisfied, well represented and respected. Ask a student what the athletic credit might do to this balance, and you will see neutral expressions will turn speculative as the answer to this question has historically been in the hands of the faculty. While policy maintains the preeminence of academic achievement, the athletic credit is still capable of affecting attitudes of students, coaches and professors. The majority of campus seems to fall on either side of the issue of athletic credit, but rarely too far from the middle. Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger explains, “Some students I talk to, and some faculty, love the fact that varsity athletes do it out of the sheer love of the sport, and there’s some fear there that motive will be watered down.” Kitzinger, however, feels that there is a stronger argument for the validity of athletic credit, noting the parallel with giving credit for physical education classes. She says, “Start with the argument that liberal arts colleges believe in the connection between mind and body and educating the whole student, and there’s a really good argument for training the body. Furthermore, we give credit, correctly, for physical education classes. It’s hard to see why the commitment of a varsity athlete is not worthy of a credit. Secondly, emphasis at Vassar is to honor experiential learning. Learning that involves engagement in different kinds of activity and community building, and varsity athletics falls into the category, and it’s a part of our curriculum that we’re trying to strengthen.” Kitzinger speaks against resistance to the adoption of the athletic credit, writing objections off to fear. Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette shares this sentiment and states, “People worry about whether this would change the nature of Vassar. Which credit would be valued over the other?” It is exactly this worry concerning pitting credit against credit that makes Lab Coordinator of Biology, Professor Elizabeth Collins, tentative in her support of the athletic credit. “Awarding physical education credit makes sense,” she says, “but non-athletic commitments take priority, so if awarding credit makes athletics equal to academic classes then I would not support this.” Chair of Neuroscience and Behavior and Professor of Biology Kathleen Susman expands upon these worries and introduces a few of her own. She mused in an e-mailed statement, “The potential would be there for more serious conflicts between students, coaches and professors. It is possible that the students would have to make
choices between loss of academic credit in a course and loss of credit in a sport. For example, what if all practices and game attendance were mandatory for a given sport, such that absence leads to a failing grade? What if a student participating in that sport were also taking a course where attendance is mandatory (many courses have this policy)? That conflict puts the student in a more difficult situation than if the varsity sport did not award academic credit, and the priorities, from a College point of view, are clear.” While the aforementioned concerns are primarily those that would be influenced by the actions and attitudes of faculty members, it is important not to neglect the student’s approach to the issue. Dean Chenette suggested, “The problem is that occasionally students don’t fulfill their responsibilities.” Though scheduling conflicts have been handled with relative ease in the past, there have always been and will always be individuals who prevent the process from running smoothly. Previously, these individuals have been those who have neglected to communicate the particulars of their schedules with their coaches and professors. The athletic credit, however, provides new possibilities for miscommunication between students and departments, as some professors like Susman worry. Of course, communication is the name of the game, and responsibility rules the day. Associate Director of Physical Education and women’s tennis Head Coach Kathy Campbell calmly explained, “I think that we try to make it very clear to our student-athletes that the priority is always academics first; I don’t think that giving athletic credit is going to change anything. If a student is receiving credit for a sport, the coach and the student should communicate if they foresee a conflict.” Susman expressed a willingness to explore the reevaluation of laboratory schedules to make serious conflict even more rare than it already is, and Dean of Studies Joanne Long emphasized a necessity to make schedules available as early as possible so that conflicts may be identified and resolved before they can truly even be named as such. Long, along with others, was confident that the Vassar experience will remain largely unchanged.
Elizabeth Forbes ’12 and Samantha Creath ’12 compete in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Early Outdoor Invitational on March 27. The team will next compete at the Mount Holyoke Invitational.
Strong start for track and field at RPI’s Invitational Kristine Olson
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Guest Reporter
he track and field preseason finally came to an end last week, and despite a few remaining stubborn patches of snow, the team was able to escape the brutal Walker Field House Bays and move out to Prentiss Field. As captain Nina Huang ‘10 remarked “I think we’re becoming a more well-rounded and closely-knit team. Rather than being throwers, sprinters, middle distance and distance runners, it feels like we will be more unified as a team this year.” As usual, the various divisions of the team split up to practice. This could cause problems concerning team dynamic, but recent practices have yielded a sense of unity as teammates encouraged each other during their respective workouts. It’s this camaraderie that will play a key role in the team’s development and success during the season. Captains for the women (Leslie Hamilton ’10, Huang ’10 and Katy Hwang ’12) and men (Ges Adams ’10 and Zach Ward ’11)
are partially responsible for binding the team. Concerning team unity, Brittany Davis ’11 added that the team’s annual spring break trip was a big help, “This is the closest our team has ever gotten, especially since Arizona.” The team, along with Head Coach James McCowan, and Assistant Sprints and Hurdles Coach John Brooks went to Arizona over spring break. The trip generally entails camping and running in the desert and concludes with the Willie Williams Classic hosted by University of Arizona at Tucson. This year’s trip served to showcase personal talent and potential of the athletes, as well as improve the unity of the team. Now back at Vassar, the team is looking ahead. First up, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Invitational last Saturday, March 27. The air was frigid in Troy, N.Y., and the only consolation was the blue sky above with no chance of rain. Enduring the numbing wind in warm-ups was pleasurable compared to the See TRACK on page 20
What will ticket prices be in the year 3000? T
he NCAA has been running a new set of advertisements this past week inviting people to sign up for the 2011 Final Four ticket draw. At first, it seemed pretty simple to me. After all, who doesn’t want to get Final Four tickets? It took me a couple of minutes to realize what I was being invited to do. It’s March 2010, and here I am sitting in front of yet another stellar CBS broadcast of March Madness, being asked to sign up for the opportunity to be allowed to purchase tickets for what really amounts to, at best, three basketball games, featuring unknown teams, to be played in 2011. What happened to just buying tickets normally? Maybe it’s because I’m foreign or from a small island, but somehow I have always felt that sports are meant to be accessible to all fans, to the masses. They are supposed to be an underpriced form of potentially endless entertainment that is best enjoyed in the presence of thousands of strangers who are compressed into overfilled spaces all while screaming, cheering and generally having a great time. Countless times growing up, I’d open up the newspaper on a Friday or Saturday night, see which local teams were playing and head over to the stadium for the start of what would undoubtedly be a great night ev-
ery time. It was simple, it was easy and it was great fun, but somehow here in the United States I’ve lost that connection with sports. Sure, at any given time, any one of us can enjoy sports here at school, but really I’m talking about professional leagues. It seems as if simply watching a game live has become a logistical nightmare, especially if you want to watch two truly competitive teams. The process now involves not only purchasing the tickets months in advance just so you can get more than two seats next to each other, but also saving up for weeks ahead of that so you can afford the ridiculous $50 nosebleed seats for the “incredible” 30-win New York Knicks. In the meantime, if you are working on a student budget, you might as well forget all NFL games. I feel like for that sort of money, considering the value of the spectacle on display, I should at least be allowed to voice as much disapproval as I please. But not even that is allowed; there are spectator rules of conduct. The worst story comes from New Jersey, where, quite rightly, a frustrated fan, who undoubtedly overpaid for his ticket, wore a paper bag over his head to a New Jersey Nets game before being verbally harassed by the team’s owner Bruce
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Katner for the “disrespect” he showed the worst team in sports, the 10-win Nets. If you bought pretty much anything in this country and were not happy with it, you could at the very least voice as much displeasure as you choose to a customer service representative, if not get your money back. So why shouldn’t that same logic apply to sports? If the Nets lost by more than 30 points, I say there should be a clause in the ticket purchase which states that I am entitled to at least 50 percent of my money back, or a free ticket to another game down the road when the Nets host a “make it up to the fans” night. Unfortunately, I’m all too aware that I’m simply dreaming. In a world where tickets for prime seats cost well above $1,000 or, in the case of the New York Yankees, over $2,000, regardless of performance, I must be crazy if I think I can get some sort of value for my money. To make matters worse, it’s a trend that has steadily been getting worse and will only continue in the future, as constantly increasing demand for watching live games supersedes any sort of quality or accountability demands. Interestingly, the situation is best summed up by an article from The Progress-Index written in 1967, entitled “Hard Times FacSee OUT OF BOUNDS on page 19
SPORTS
April 1, 2010
Page 19
Weak in the Tennis wins Seven Sisters Prices grow knees from with number the Rumble of sports fans Kelly Capehart Guest Columnist
s I left the Rumble in the Valley at the late hour of 11:45 p.m. on Saturday night, all I could think was that boxing had been both everything and nothing I had expected it to be. Like many people my age, my image of boxing is rooted squarely in the ’60s and ’70s, the era of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, images that are marked by glamorous crowds wearing their finest at storied arenas to see legends duke it out. This is not exactly the image that prevailed on Saturday night, but I actually think the reality might have exceeded the dream. I expected a certain amount of romance when I arrived at the venue, but as I stood in line outside the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, I sensed that I was doomed to be disappointed. The building is not exactly glamorous; it’s hard to envision anything more thrilling than an open skate night taking place on the Center’s ice rink. But I was in for a surprise. No, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the interior architecture or floored by the ambience of the breezeway; it was the sight of the boxing ring that got me. There are few things in life like walking into a dingy regional civic center and seeing a boxing ring, lit ethereally from above, caged in by ropes, waiting quietly for the promised blood and sweat and satisfying “pap-pap-pap” sound of glove meeting muscle. While an ordinary boxing ring doesn’t have the historical pull of a Yankee Stadium or the same emotional tug as a storied college basketball court, there is something almost religiously engrossing, something richly, viscerally pure that happens when you see a boxing ring for the first time, even—or perhaps especially—when this ring is in the middle of downtown Poughkeepsie. “Are you ready to lay some leather?” the announcer opened. This was another moment when I sensed that my expectations would be exploded. I had expected violence—this is, after all, a sport focused on two human beings punching each other—but I couldn’t quite anticipate what I was about to see. It’s one thing to watch the famous old reels of Cassius Clay in his epic battles, because, while they might be frightening in that moment, you can still rest assured that you already know what happens in the end. But with live boxing, when the fighters aren’t historical figures but police sergeants from nearby towns or local boys who went to high school with some of the spectators, there is a chilling sense of uncertainty. There were two knockouts in the evening—one for Yonkers Police Sergeant Bryant Pappas and another for the stunning Luis del Valle in the evening’s penultimate fight—but the moment that had me gasping came just before a technical knockout, when Ryan Shay failed to answer the third-round bell. Kimdo Bethel delivered the blow that left Shay staggering at the end of the second round, and from my seat in the bleachers, I had a particularly clear line of sight to Shay as he tried—and failed—to stand up. To see a grown man—a grown man who likely would easily destroy most members of regular humanity in a fight—kneel of the floor of the ring, swaying back and forth as he tried to focus his swollen eyes on the referee, was a shocking thing. In that instant, I realized that what these men were asking their bodies to sustain—night after night, day after day of pummeling and violence— was incredible, almost inhuman. That they survived was even more unbelievable. That boxing was, obviously, fundamentally a sport in which two guys beat each other was something I had always known intellectually, but it wasn’t until I sat helplessly in my seat and watched Shay fall and then fail to stand, despite all his obvious efforts, that it dawned on me exactly what I was witnessing.
Image courtesy of Sports Information
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Nicole Block ’12 won all three sets of her match at no. 6 singles against Pomona-Pitzer College on March 12. The women’s tennis team, which was on tour in California during Spring Break, lost the meet 5-4. Ethan Shanley
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Guest Reporter
he no. 22 nationally ranked (in Division III) Vassar women’s tennis team lived up to the hype last weekend, winning the annual Seven Sisters Tournament for the first time since 2005. Vassar narrowly defeated perennial rival and four-time champion Wellesley College by a score of 3-2. Going into the Tournament, the Brewers knew that in order to come away with a victory, they would have to unseat Wellesley. “We have been talking about beating Wellesley in this tournament since we lost to them 3-2 in the finals last year, so to get this win really meant a lot to us,” said Joy Backer ’12. Though the Brewers haven’t won the Seven Sisters Tournament in a number of years, success is nothing new to this team. In her 25th year at Vassar, four-time Liberty League Coach of the Year Kathy Campbell has established a storied tradition. Campbell has led the Brewers to the NCAA tournament in eight of the last nine years and to eight straight Liberty League championships. This year, the Brewers are ranked 22nd in the country and sixth in the Northeast region. Even with all the success, Campbell tries not to focus on rankings and records: “We do have a strong tradition, [but] we try not to dwell on outcomes and rankings. [We] just try to focus on what we need to do to get better each day and let the outcome take care of itself.” The secret to success for the team lies in their incredible camaraderie. The Brewers are a tight-knit group who support each other and feed off the positive energy both in practices and during matches. “The team has such a great chemistry, which I believe contributes to our success in competition,” says Jennifer Beckerman ’12. Creating a close team is something that Campbell strives for every year: “As a coach, I think that one of the biggest challenges in coaching an individual sport in a team setting is making the team the primary importance, and finding ways to foster that attitude among the players.” Tennis is inherently an individual sport and a lot of the players come from high school or junior tennis programs in which they really had no team. “Coach Campbell and her assistants, Mark [Chace] and Steve [Guernsey] as well as Captains Nicole [Pontee ’10] and Caroline [Dunn-Rankin ’11] have really done a lot to keep the team spirit and friendship thriving,” says Nicole Block ’12. Her classmate Beckerman reiterates these sentiments, “The team is a tight circle of life-long friends who have really shaped my Vassar experience. I am forever grateful for each and every one of them!” Another key to success for the Brewers lies in the depth of their team. Led by senior Captain Nicole Pontee, the team is extremely tough from top to bottom. Pontee is currently ranked no. 25 in Division III in singles play. Earlier this year, she advanced to the semifinals of the ITA New England Championship, and currently holds a 17-2 record in singles this year, with a 12-4 doubles record. “[Pontee] has definitely stepped up to the plate this semester and she’s really helped us
out with chemistry.” says Pontee’s doubles partner Backer. Backer herself is putting up a monster season as well. Coach Campbell spoke very highly of the sophomore. “Earlier this year she actually had a tough loss in her singles match against Fordham [University] and has made some huge strides in improvement in her singles,” says Campbell. “She’s really on a hot streak.” Backer is currently 12-5 for the year in singles. Fellow classmates Beckerman and Block have enjoyed success both in singles and as a tandem in doubles. Beckerman was Liberty League Player of the Week this week and is 11-5 in singles on the season. Block is also doing well, compiling a 6-0 record in singles; however, when paired together, the two are extremely dominant and exude confidence, racking up a 13-4 record in the season thus far. The Brewers are also receiving important contributions from their freshmen. Recent Liberty League Rookie of the Week, Jennifer Ruther ’13, is now 13-1 on the year, and Natalie Santiago ’13 is 10-3. So far, the Brewers are 13-2. They are coming off of a very successful Spring Break trip to California. “We dominated in California,” says Beckerman. During the trip, they went 4-1, beating Occidental College 9-0, California Lutheran University 9-0, Colorado College 9-0 and Westmont College 8-1. Their only loss of the trip came against no. 9 nationally ranked Pomona-Pitzer College, a team who defeated the Brewers 9-0 last year. “We lost all three doubles against Pomona-Pitzer, so we went into the singles down 0-3. Mentally, that can be a tough challenge and they just went out and battled,” says Coach Campbell. The Brewers proceeded to win four of the six singles matches to finish the match very close to Pomona at 5-4. Even though they didn’t win the match, the Brewers still look to it as a highlight of the year. “Everyone made huge contributions to that tough match and how well we did, and I give the players the utmost credit,” says Coach Campbell. Not only was the trip successful on the court, but off the court it brought the team much closer together. “Spring Break week was really good team bonding time for us,” says Backer. “The freshmen really came out of their shells.” Looking ahead, the team hopes for victories against Skidmore College on April 11 and in their senior match against Massachusetts Institute of Technology on April 18. “Skidmore is a top priority right now,” says Backer. “Ultimately, we want to defend our title in Liberty Leagues [Championships] and get another [NCAA] qualification.” An NCAA qualification this season would make it nine out of the last 10 years for the Brewers. This year’s women’s tennis team has both the on the court skills and off the court presence to do that. “They just have such a passion for the sport and they really have fun with it,” says Campbell, “It’s a small group and they’re very different from one another as people, and I think [the players] think that it’s really a cool thing that they can kind of have their differences in terms of personality and styles be a binding thing. What they do share universally is a passion for the game and a dedication to excellence and hard work.”
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
OUT OF BOUNDS continued from page 18 ing Joe Fan.” In the piece, the author tries to envision what sort of future sports fans face in the year 2000, in a world where more and more want to watch the games of a limited number of teams. In a world of 150,000-seat stadiums servicing millions of fans in huge cities, with increasing quantities of leisure time on their hands, the author correctly predicts how tickets would be sold out months in advance and how “the average fan [will] need influence as well as affluence” just to be able to enjoy a game live. But what’s most shocking is that even in this exaggerated world of extremes, written more as a satirical piece, the author underestimated the increase in ticket prices. Where he saw bleacher prices for football games increasing from $2 to $8, or about $50 after adjusting for inflation in his extreme world, the real increase has been more than double, with bleacher seats to a simple New York Giants game now running in excess of $120 in most cases. The result is that the rare, unbelievably exploited “average Joe Fan” that does end up going to the game is really incurring a truly unreasonable cost for what essentially is no longer a form of entertainment geared toward people like him or within his price range. Instead, watching professional games live has increasingly become an exclusive event, one which you entertain yourself with rarely and then try your best to enjoy because of the cost incurred. Where once it was regular, easy and fun, as it still is at the minor levels and in small communities, it has now become a stressful hassle that in many cases you run the risk of regretting hugely, especially in the New York/ New Jersey area during basketball season. But what about in the year 3000, where do we go from here? To tell you the truth, I don’t know. Some say that we have reached a price point maximum, pointing to the Yankees’ decision to lower prices for their “legend” section seats. Still, others claim we have a way to go, as demand continues to increase and player wages go up. However, I personally don’t know. I certainly don’t think prices are about to fall, at least not here in the United States, because, like it or not, there are just too many fans who are more than willing to pay any amount to watch teams as bad as the Nets. There are, quite simply, too many people for each team, and, as such, the teams are in a position of almost absolute power, knowing that they pretty much monopolize their sport within the state, and, thus, have the ability to charge whatever they please. In the meantime, they know full well that die-hard fans will pay because they love their team. Their team who exploits them, disappoints them and then in many cases simply deserts them for further profits, just ask Seattle Sonics fans. Personally, I feel the only hope we have is to start holding our teams accountable. If you want to overcharge me, then I want you to perform, and if you don’t, then I want my money back. And no, we don’t need to beat up the players like the fans of Croatian soccer league champions Dinamo Zagreb did when they lost a series of games, nor do we need to start burning jerseys like the fans of Manchester United have started doing in protest of the financial situation of their team. All we have to do is stick together, demand what we deserve and do something as simple as put paper bags over our heads. Now if only we could find some tickets to the game…. —Nik Trkulja ’11 is and economics and political science double major. This semester he will be editorializing on social issues surrounding sports outside of the Vassar athletics realm.
SPORTS
Page 20
April 1, 2010
Men’s tennis earns first nat’l ranking in history Mitchell Gilburne
Assistant Sports Editor
W
Image courtesy of Shane Donahue
hile a select few chosen types sat down for the first night of Passover Seders, Vassar’s men’s tennis team, fueled only by unleavened carbohydrates, may well have experienced a small Pesach miracle as their win over Drew University propelled them to a disarmingly impressive streak of 11 victories, continuing their perfect record for the season. Nationally ranked for the first time in school history, at a cozy no. 22 (as of March 29) position, the Brewers’ star is burning bright and does not appear to be coming back to earth any time soon. Senior counterpuncher Jeremy Arthur attributes his own personal success to the camaraderie he feels with his team, noting, “I think without a doubt it’s the other guys on the team. There are 12 guys on the team, and that’s the largest it’s ever been in my time here, and you spend 15 to 20 hours a week together. If you like your teammates, it’s the greatest thing in the world.” This year not only features Vassar’s largest tennis team in recent history but also a strikingly new dynamic, and it may just be the diverse nature of the current line up that has allowed the Brewers to compete so successfully. Arthur says, “This is a special year. We have five freshmen on the team, and that’s a huge percentage out of 12. It’s really bottom heavy in terms of age.” Head Coach Ki Kroll weighs in on his young team in an e-mailed statement, explaining, “I always try to recruit players that fit in with our team dynamic, and the upperclassmen have a lot of say in whom I push for in the recruiting process.” Captain, two-time All-Liberty League Selection, 2007 Liberty League Rookie of the Year and former Miscellany News Athlete of the Week Mike Mattelson ’10 simply states, “This has been the most winning oriented team we’ve ever had.” With a team of experienced veterans and rookies hand picked by both their coach and their teammates, the Brewers were destined to have a seamlessly cohesive force and are nearly assured continued dominance in games to come. When asked about the propelling incident that ignited the season’s success, Arthur responded that this moment “without a doubt came against a team called Christopher Newport [University]. They’re a very strong team,” he said, “and it had been hyped up that they’re a real power house. This was our first real moment to prove ourselves not only to ourselves but also to the entirety of Division III that we’re a national contending team for the first time ever, and we re-
ally crushed them, winning eight out of nine matches and raising the bar.” And while this may have been a defining moment for the team, nothing feels better than taking down an old rival. Mattelson revels in the consequences of a victory against the Brewers’ long time rivals at Skidmore College. “We beat Skidmore 9-0. And then we got nationally ranked,” Mattelson said with an ever broadening smile. And after two consecutive losses against Skidmore during Liberty League finals no less, the Brewers have found this victory all the more sweet. To Arthur, this triumph is particularly grand as he feels that “for the first time, we can see over their horizon and there are other powerful teams out there that we can take on which opens the playing field for us.” Rivalries, however, mean slightly less to sophomore transfer Ben Guzick whose aspirations focus on taking the NCAA by storm. “As a transfer,” he says, “and not being as connected to the team’s past, my ultimate goal for the year is to win an NCAA title.” While many of the team’s goals revolve around Liberty League glory, senior Shane Donahue, who insists that his ideal imaginary doubles partner would be James Gandolfini, reminds, “There are layers of goals: we have daily performance goals, intermediate matchspecific goals and broader NCAA goals.” Coach Kroll emphasizes this point, explaining, “As a coach, I try to encourage performance goals, which are small in the overall picture, but help you to play your best. Keeping each player focused on footwork, or watching the ball, or playing the ball to smart parts of the court, has a much bigger effect on the outcome of a match as opposed to an outcome goal like winning the Liberty League Championships or an individual match. I believe if everyone works hard at playing their best, the rest will take care of itself. I get excited about every match we play. I always look forward to seeing my players compete, and especially watching their growth towards becoming better players. Each match is a highlight in itself. Everybody works especially hard, so being a part of their success on the court is a lot of fun, but as we’ve made the NCAA tournament for the past two years, I would have to say that earning the right to compete there again this year is at the top of my list.” With their goals in place and their talent at astronomical, history-making highs, the Brewers have trampled through the opening weeks of their spring season clearing a path to greatness, the likes of which have rarely been known to grace Vassar’s trophy case.
Gregory Katz ’11 competes against The College of New Jersey. The men’s tennis team won against the team for the first time in program history with a five-hour 5-4 win on Tuesday, March 30 , at Lake Cane Tennis Center.
Track and field shows depth TRACK continued from page 18 steeplechase, where competitors had to jump over a hurdle, only to be greeted by a cold water pit lap-after-lap. And yet, through cold wind and water, Davis ran a personal best (12:08) and set the school record. On the bus ride home, McCowan exclaimed: “Britt, BIG race!” On the men’s side, Christopher Lloyd ’13 ran the same event in his first college race. Making the feat all the more impressive is the fact that he had practiced just twice with hurdles this year. Even though the temperature was unfavorable, especially for sprinters, the performances showed great promise for the season and the program. “The work you’ve done in the winter has begun to pay off,” said Assistant Throwing Coach Bryan Lundy, addressing his team. He added, “but remember that you only have a short season.” Saturday’s results prove Vassar’s ability to accomplish much in a short period of time. From the start of the meet, there were two Eastern Conference Athletic Championship qualifiers in the 10k: Johanna Spangler ’12 finished second (37:40.29, 10 seconds off the National qualifying mark of 37:30) and Elizabeth Forbes ’12 was the fifth female finisher (39:08.56)—an
Volleyball wins Metro Division Championship Andy Marmer
T
Sports Editor
he men’s volleyball team won the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association (NECVA) Metro Division championship. Last Friday, Vassar defeated The College of Mount St. Vincent 3-0 (30-16, 30-26, 30-26) to complete divisional play with a perfect 9-0 record. Vassar’s divisional dominance comes as part of a general streak of success. The Brewers have won 11 of their past 12 matches, beginning on Feb. 17 where Vassar routed Sage College 3-0 (30-14, 30-14, 30-18). The run includes six victories over divisional foes and four at the Vassar Invitational, where the team emerged victorious. Also during this run, from Feb. 17 until March 23, the team maintained a nine-game winning streak, which was eventually snapped by New York University, when Vassar suffered a 3-1 setback. Success in the NECVA Metro Division is not a rarity for the Brewers. This is Vassar’s second division title in just three years competing in the NECVA; the other title came in 2008, Vassar’s inaugural season in the conference. In the past three years, Vassar is 25-2 against divisional foes with the losses com-
ing last year to Ramapo College and Stevens Institute of Technology. The divisional title ensures Vassar a number of benefits. The Brewers are first guaranteed an automatic bid to the NECVA Conference Tournament. Furthermore, they are guaranteed to be seeded higher than every other team in the NECVA Metro Division. Essentially, the Brewers’ divisional success assures them of a high seed in the NECVA Tournament. Noted libero Christian La Du ’13, “Being undefeated in the Metro was an early goal for us, and we’re very proud to have accomplished it. Now it’s time for us to gear up for the postseason.” After concluding their season on Wednesday, the Brewers are now gearing up for a trip to the NECVA Tournament in at the Hyannis Youth and Conference Center Cape Cod, Mass. This will be the first time the Tournament is not being hosted by a school. If the Brewers can persevere over the 16-team field, they will earn a trip to the Molten Division III Final Four hosted by Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. The Molten Final Four features the host institution, the division champion of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, an at-large school from the Midwest or
West and the champion of the NECVA. The winner of that four-team field is crowned the Division III National Champion. In conquering the Metro Division, the Brewers not only won, but they won easily. Vassar dropped just four total sets in divisional play: one each to Bard College and Ramapo College, and two to State University of New York at New Paltz. In the winning streak, they also dropped sets to Philadelphia Biblical University and Johnson and Wales University. Head Coach Antonia Sweet attributes the winning streak to more than just on the court play. The Brewers’ streak of success was caused by “a lot of work off the court, in terms of people finding out what it is to be a teammate. What it is to be a part of this program. All the way from how we put our bags behind the bench to how we want to block,” said Sweet. She further believes that the team will continue to develop and learn in these areas as well. Five out of Vassar’s 11 players are freshmen, and postseason experience can only benefit them down the line. Still, the no. 9 nationally ranked Brewers will be a force as they shape up for postseason play.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
outstanding first go for both. Record-breaking performances in the field events included a first place, school-record throw in the shot put by Philip McDermott ’12 (10.4m), a school record in the javelin by first timer Laura Van Eerde (35.0 m) ’13 and a personal record in the javelin for Hwang (28.97 m) ‘12. For the long jumpers, RPI was their second time on the runway and first time taking full jumps. Freshmen Tiffany Marchell and Kate Warrick are proving to be important assets to the hurdles and jumps, especially with the absence of Jenica Law ’11 who was unable to participate due to an injury. Mathue Duhaney ’13 was busy last Saturday. He ran the 100m (11.98), 4x100 (46.51, breaking the school record), 4x400 and the 200 (24.5)—finishing behind Ward (22.36). Other strong races on the men’s side were a personal best for Sam Wagner ’13 who finished sixth in the 1,500m (4:14.95)—behind Zach Williams ’12 (4:13.65)—and ran a 2:03.09 in the 800m. In the 5k, Will Healy ’12 and Roni Teich ’13 ran 16:14.14 and 16:22.45, respectively. McCowan has expressed great excitement in the depth of the men’s and women’s teams. Reflecting on the women’s 5k, in particular, McCowan noted to his team that, “Previously, it was a big deal for anyone to run close to 20 minutes [in the 5k] on the track, and now so many of you are doing it, and as freshmen! Big deal guys, big deal.” Due to their record-breaking performances, Spangler, Davis and Kelly Holmes ’13 are expected to contribute a lot to the longer distances this season. Hwang will be a big point-earner in the sprints, hurdles, jumps and javelin. The men’s side is equally talented and diverse, looking to Duhaney to earn points in his multiple events, McDermott in the shot put, and Williams, Wagner, Teich and many others in the distance races. “I am very proud of how our team has been stepping up in the power events as well as the endurance events. People to watch certainly include Spangler and Forbes, [Hwang] in the hurdles, jumps and throws, [Marchell] and [Warrick] in the sprints, and certainly [Van Eerde] in the throws. The women’s team has some great depth,” said McCowan. For the men, “[McDermott] has made big improvements...[Wagner], [Teich] and [Williams] are doing a great job. [Duhaney] is a great addition to the sprint squad led by [Ward].” Now looking ahead, Davis says, “I’m looking forward to Liberty Leagues because it’s always a good group of competition near our range of ability.” Huang is also looking forward to Liberty League Championships, since the team performed well there the past three seasons and the team has continued to improve. During his recap of the day’s events and results, McCowan assured the team, “This is only the beginning, this is not the ceiling of our potential…Let’s keep getting better. This is just the beginning.”