The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com
April 7, 2011
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CXLIV | Issue 19
Voting on Campaign revisions to reforms begin today proposed Aashim Usgaonkar
Caitlin Clevenger
he Vassar Student Association (VSA) Board of Elections (BOE) ruled on Monday, April 4 that the proposed amendment to the VSA Constitution shall be deemed to have passed in a referendum vote if it achieves a simple majority of those who cast ballots, excluding abstentions. The online voting will begin at 5 p.m. on Thursday. The Judicial Board, represented by Chair Shouvik Bhattacharya ’11, offered its advice at last Sunday’s VSA Council meeting. The Judicial Board based its decision on Article VI, Section 8, part F of the VSA Bylaws, which states, “In a referendum vote, the article shall be deemed to have passed if a simple majority of the VSA has voted in favor of the article, not including abstentions.” Basing its suggestion on this language, the Board recommended that the See REFERENDUM on page 4
he Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council will vote in its next meeting, Sunday, April 10, on an amendment to the VSA Bylaws that would extend filing and campaigning periods during VSA elections. Under the proposed amendment, which applies to Article VI of the VSA Bylaws, the filing period, in which candidates officially announce their candidacy for positions, would be extended from five days to two weeks. The filing period would end seven days before voting began. The amendment also significantly proposes that campaigning begin at the same time that the filing period opens, so that a student could announce his or her candidacy even after others had begun campaigning. Under the current Bylaws, candidates are prohibited from campaigning until the end of See ELECTIONS on page 3
News Editor
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News Editor
The Miscellany News
Former Vassar Project Manager Arthur H. Fisher, pictured in front of the new Touwn Houses during their construction, was charged with felony grand larceny following allegations that the pair embezzled $1.98 million from College construction projects.
Students protest Cuomo Fisher accused of $1.98 million theft budget cuts in Albany Molly Turpin
Editor in Chief
Angela Aiuto Senior Editor
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group of about 30 Vassar students travelled to the State Capitol in Albany on Wednesday, March 30 to participate in a planned protest against Governor Andrew Cuomo’s state budget plan, which included deep cuts to education and health care. The protest took place as lawmakers scrambled to finalize the budget, which passed both houses by the following morning. The $132.5 billion spending plan is quite simi-
lar to that first proposed by Cuomo, closing a $10 billion deficit without introducing new taxes or increasing debt. Instead, total spending fell by two percent; a $1.2 billion reduction in state aid to local school districts and a $2.8 reduction in Medicaid spending were among the largest cuts. Cuomo has come under fire in recent weeks for pressing the necessity of such cuts while allowing taxes on the wealthy—a surcharge on singles earning more See ALBANY on page 4
Inside this issue
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NEWS
Billy Bob’s BBQ moves into Dutch Cabin restaurant
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ormer Vassar Project Manager Arthur H. Fisher and his wife Jennifer Fisher were charged with felony grand larceny following an accusation of embezzling $1.98 million from Vassar construction projects following their arrest on Friday, April 1. Fisher
Manager from 2005 until December 2010. The arrest led President Catharine Bond Hill to send an all-campus email on Monday afternoon. She wrote that the arrest of a former employee followed the discovery of “financial irregularities in a limited number of campus See THEFT on page 4
“The Cradle Will Rock” tonight Laci Dent
Guest Reporter
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amilies visiting for the annual Parents Weekend might save a spot for the Drama Department’s staging of “The Cradle Will Rock” in mind when filling their dance cards for the weekend’s activities. The production will take the stage on April 7, 8, 9, at 8 p.m., and April 9, 3 p.m. Directed by Drama Department Chair and Professor of Drama Chris Grabowski, “The Cradle Will Rock” is a 1937 musical originally written by Marc Blitzstein and directed by Orson Welles. When the play debuted under the Federal Theatre Project, it was greeted with issues of controversy and censorship, as it was such a radical response to an industrial landscape. Set in the 1930s, the narrative of the play follows the efforts of the character Larry Foreman to disrupt the status quo of “Steeltown, USA.” Foreman rallies together the town’s union workers in an attempt to challenge and eventually overturn the corrupt bigwig, Mr. Man, a greedy businessman in control of the town’s factory, press and social organization. Mr. Man and his entire family are symbolic of the downturn of society during the period of rapid in-
FEATURES
VC student participates in Bike and Build
Katie De Heras/The Miscellany News
Courtesy of Nicholas Korody
Vassar students travelled to Albany on Wednesday, March 30 to protest deep cuts to protest Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal.
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may also face charges for unregistered weapons and false law enforcement badges found in his Ossining home. Bail for Fisher was set at $100,000 cash or $200,000 bond. He remains in the Dutchess County Jail. As of Monday, April 3, Jennifer Fisher had posted a $50,000 cash bail. Fisher had worked as Project
The Drama Department’s production of “The Cradle Will Rock” will be performed in the Powerhouse Theater from today through Saturday, April 9. dustrialization. The liberty committee, made up of actors who have sold their souls to Mr. Man, are content upholding the status quo and exist in direct opposition to the union. They are the people that inhabit “the cradle,”
14 ARTS
and who would love to see society remain unchanged; however, like the title implies, things must change— the cradle will rock. According to Grabowski, his desire to direct “The Cradle Will Rock” See CRADLE on page 16
Georgian prints make way to Lehman Loeb
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The Miscellany News
April 7, 2011
Editor in Chief Molly Turpin Senior Editor Angela Aiuto
Contributing Editors Matthew Brock Lila Teeters
News Caitlin Clevenger Aashim Usgaonkar Features Mitchell Gilburne Jillian Scharr Opinions Joshua Rosen Humor & Satire Alanna Okun Arts Rachael Borné Sports Corey Cohn Andy Marmer Copy Katharine Austin Design Eric Estes Photography Juliana Halpert Online Erik Lorenzsonn Social Media Marie Dugo
On April 7, 1968 Vassar canceled classes so that students and faculty would be able to take part in a memorial march through Poughkeepsie in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. As The Miscellany News noted, students also participated in a letter-writing campaign, teach-in and concert in support of civil rights.
This Week in Vassar History 1810, Spring Matthew Vassar, aged 18, returned to Poughkeepsie with $150, “the nett earnings of his Foreign Service.” He took over the bookkeeping for his father’s brewery business. 1855, April Under a New York State charter, Elmira Collegiate Institute became Elmira Female College, and although the college building was unfinished and the institution lacked a president, the first students enrolled the following October. “Elmira is the oldest existing women’s college in the United States which succeeded in attaining standards in a fair degree comparable with men’s colleges at the very beginning of her career. Vassar, ten years thereafter, likewise attained fairly comparable standards and was the first women’s college that was adequately endowed.” Thomas Woody, A History of Women’s Education in the United States 1917, April 7 Pressed by students, the board of wardens reconsidered the status of students’ fathers. Henceforth they would be permitted to visit their daughters’ rooms unchaperoned and be considered adequate chaperones for motor trips and parties. 1920, April 13 “So great is the interest in baseball at Vassar College this Spring,” The New York Times reported, “ that it is likely that the Athletic Association will make the game a major sport to
By Dean Emeritus Colton Johnson
rank with hockey and basket ball.” 1924, April 14 The college announced an anonymous $10,000 gift to establish an “international peace scholarship” for foreign students. 1934, April 13 President MacCracken led trustees, faculty and about 300 students in a peace march through Poughkeepsie, the first time such an event had happened since 1917, when the object was to convince President Wilson to go to war. 1936, April 8 Catherine Stillman of the astronomy department was among the 20 members of a Harvard-MIT expedition who embarked on the Washington to observe the total eclipse of the sun that occurred in the Soviet Union on June 19. Stillman and two research assistants at the Harvard Observatory—Henrietta Swope and Emily Hughes Boyce—were the only working astronomers among the eight women in the expedition. 1937, April 8 Workmen finished the conversion of the old gymnasium in Ely Hall— known as the Alumnae Gymnasium before the opening of Kenyon Hall—for a new home for the geology department. 1945, April 12 President Roosevelt died at Warm Springs,
Georgia. A community memorial service was held at Vassar for the former trustee (19231933), honorary trustee (1933-1945) and friend of the college. 1959, April 11 The reorganization of the College Government Association, suspended since February, 1958, was completed with the election of officers. The Senate and Legislative Assembly, along with cumbersome processes for the formation and disbanding of student groups were abandoned The Community Religious Association became the Inter Club Council. 1968, April 7 The college canceled classes in order to allow students and faculty to participate in a memorial march through Poughkeepsie to honor the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. 1970, April 13 The college affirmed that Kendrick House would informally become an all-black residence for interested upper-classmen in fall of 1970. 1972, April 9-15 Vassar students held a weeklong program of protest against IBM’s military contracts with the United States government. 1972, April 11 The Vassar Gay Liberation Front, the College’s first official gay-student organization, held an organizational meeting.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Assistant News Joey Rearick Assistant Features Matthew Bock Danielle Bukowski Mary Huber Assistant Opinions Hannah Blume Assistant Arts Adam Buchsbaum Connor O’Neill Assistant Copy Katie Cornish Stephen Loder Gretchen Maslin Assistant Photo Madeline Zappala Crossword Editor Jonathan Garfinkel Reporters Vee Benard Ruth Bolster Adam Buchsbaum Emma Daniels Shruti Manian Kristine Olson Connor O’Neill Chelsea Peterson- Salahuddin Joseph Rearick Dave Rosenkranz Jessica Tarantine Nathan Tauger Columnists Brittany Hunt Michael Mestitz Tom Renjilian Andy Sussman Nik Trkulja Photographers Christie Chea Katie de Heras Carlos Hernandez Jared Saunders Eric Schuman LETTERS POLICY
The Miscellany News is Vassar College’s weekly open forum for discussion of campus, local and national issues, and welcomes letters and opinions submissions from all readers. Letters to the Editor should not exceed 450 words, and they usually respond to a particular item or debate from the previous week’s issue. Opinions articles are longer pieces, up to 800 words, and take the form of a longer column. No letter or opinions article may be printed anonymously. If you are interested in contributing, e-mail misc@vassar.edu.
The Editorial Board holds weekly meetings every Sunday at 9 p.m. in the Rose Parlor. All members of the Vassar community interested in joining the newspaper’s staff or in a critique of the current issue are welcome. The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented in the Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board. The Miscellany News is published weekly by the students of Vassar College. The Miscellany News office is located in College Center Room 303, Vassar College.
NEWS
April 7, 2011
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Registrar Dan Giannini to retire this spring Amendment would extend R filing period Caitlin Clevenger News Editor
Courtesy of Jason Casey, Flickr.com
egistrar Dan Giannini will retire at the close of the 2010-2011 academic year after 25 years of service at Vassar. Giannini was hired as registrar in 1986 specifically to lead the implementation of a computerbased records system and the transition from paper records. “I was also asked at that time to devise a registration process that was perceived by students as fair and equitable, and one that did not penalize students based on when they submitted their registration choices. The current registration process, which obviously has been modified and upgraded over the years, grew out of this mandate,” said Giannini in an emailed statement. Many of Giannini’s other accomplishments at Vassar include updating online systems related to the Registar’s Office. Giannini became Chair of the Banner Implementation Steering Committee in 1995, developing the first version of Ask Banner in 1997 and overseeing the system since then. Under his tenure as registrar, the Vassar Catalogue
appeared online in 1998, all student records dating back to 1865 were digitized in 2000, event and classroom scheduling moved into an online system in 2001, and the peer advising system went online in 2010. “In 1998 I began the process of formalizing the Institutional Research functions of the College,” recalled Giannini. In the following year he published the first Vassar Fact Book, an annual document providing extensive statistical data on the school, including data on admissions, finances and course enrollment. In 2001, he helped to implement the first annual senior survey, a measure he believed would “better help us understand the needs and concerns of our students,” according to an emailed statement. Giannini oversaw these and other Institutional Research activities until the creation of Vassar’s Office of Institutional Research in 2005, and continued to oversee the Fact Book until 2008. In addition, Giannini served as Acting Director of Computing and Information Services for most of the 1996-1997 year.
Registrar Dan Giannini will retire at the end of the spring semester. Above, Giannini attends the 1997 Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium. He has served on the Classroom Committee, which plans renovations and improvements of teaching spaces, since its creation in 1997. The Registrar Search Committee, which includes Dean of Faculty Jon Chenette, Dean of Studies Joanne Long, Vice President for Computing and Information Services Bret Ingerman,
and Vassar Student Association Vice President for Academics Laura Riker ’11 will be considering applications and conducting interviews for a new registrar this spring. “We definitely hope to have a recommendation to the president [Catharine Bond Hill] by the beginning to middle of May,” wrote Riker in an emailed statement.
Billy Bob’s takes over Dutch Cabin space Mitchell Gilburne, Features Editor Marie Dugo, Social Media Editor illy Bob’s Barbeque came to town with a mission of providing “Good friends, great drinks and simply the best barbeque around!” as it proudly expresses on the menu’s cover. Culinary Institute of America graduate, executive chef and part-owner Bob Kistner, after learning that The Dutch Cabin was up for sale, saw the site’s potential and fired up the grills at 35 Fairmont Avenue soon after the official closing of “The Dutch” on March 26. The new owners closed the restaurant for a week while converting the Mexican restaurant into a barbeque restaurant. Changes included the installation of a smoker in the kitchen and the removal of a half-wall that divided the restaurant area from the bar area. While Billy Bob’s may seem like an overnight sensation from the student perspective, its arrival in Arlington has been a long time in the making, and it hasn’t been easy. Kistner describes the serendipitous circumstances that allowed him to follow his dreams, sharing, “About a year and a half ago with the bad economy, me and my father were both laid off at the same time.” Kistner and his father, Billy Kistner, began planning the next phase of their careers and lives. Kistner continued, “I found this place for sale, and I called my father. We had talked about [starting a restaurant] for years, that when he was retiring he’d do something with me in the food business, and barbeque is my passion. It’s something I’ve always done on the side.” Working 20-hour days and maintaining a commitment to excellent service, Kistner is confident that his latest endeavor will be a success because he sees barbeque as a universally appealing way to bring the community together. “Everyone loves barbeque,” said Kistner, “from lawyers to doctors to struggling artists, we’re trying to make affordable food that people love.” Kistner works to pack that love into every bite. Kistner’s experience includes work in kitchens as far abroad as Puerto Rico and as far above the average students’ price point as upscale French restaurants. Despite his prowess and versatility, Kistner just wants people to feel comfortable, get messy if necessary and not be shy to dive into the paper towels, of which he assures his patrons there are plenty. Kistner’s style of barbeque may not be haute cuisine, but it’s certainly not fast food either. He explained, “We use the low [temperature] and slow method to produce that
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Marie Dugo/The Miscellany News
Billy and Bob Kistner, a father-son duo, opened “Billy Bob’s Barbeque” at 35 Fairmont Avenue last week. The location used to be home to The Dutch Cabin, which closed its doors on March 26. tender, moist, delicious smokey flavor. Our briskets cook up to 14 hours. You can’t rush barbeque!” Meals at Billy Bob’s Barbeque cost as low as $10, and the menu includes traditional barbeque food such as pulled pork, brisket, and macaroni and cheese, as well as bar fare such as nachos and chicken wings. Remembering the venue’s former status, Kistner explained, “I knew [The Dutch Cabin] had a reputation and I saw what it used to be and thought it still had the potential there. We want to bring it back to its heyday.” On Saturday, March 26, “The Dutch,“ closed its doors for the last time, leaving a large gap in the Vassar social scene. Best known for providing cheap beer and a space with off-campus attitude mere steps away from Vassar’s borders, the bar embedded itself in Vassar tradition. However, Thursdays at the 35 Fairmont Avenue locale aren’t going anywhere. Kistner and his father are committed to serving the student community that lives so close to their doors. Billy Bob’s still offers the Dutch
Cabin’s famous “Thirsty Thursday” special with $1 draft beers. Kistner also expressed his hopes to expand late-night dining and beverage specials beyond Thursday night, and has already begun by offering karaoke every Friday evening. In addition, the Thursday night employees that students will surely recognize will maintain their posts, with the addition of a few new faces. One such new recruit, Denise Olsen, is excited for the future of Billy Bob’s Barbeque. “I think it looks like a really awesome place, everyone seems really friendly!” She continued, “I tried the macaroni and cheese with the pulled pork,” she pauses to describe the dish and decides upon, “banging!” Having served 120 dinners this past Saturday night alone, things are looking fingerlicking good for Billy Bob’s Barbeque. Sarah Morrison ’11 commented, “I never thought I could be obsessed with something more than the Dutch, but I am!” Billy Bob’s Barbeque promises the trifecta of food, friends and fun, and its growing popularity seems to show it delivers on all three fronts.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
ELECTIONS continued from page 1 the filing period, and then may use posters, the Internet or door-to-door campaigning to promote themselves for three to seven days, until 5 p.m. on the first day of voting. The amendment proposes that during the first week of campaigning and filing, three weeks before voting, candidates would be prohibited from using posters or the Internet as campaigning tools. The amendment states, “Promotional materials may be distributed during the course of direct contact between the candidate (or his/ her representative) and the recipient.” Flyers or other documents could only reach the student body in this week if distributed by hand. For the final two weeks of campaigning, posters and use of the Internet, including Facebook and other social media, would be permitted. If the amendment were adopted, candidates would still be required to attend a candidate’s meeting after the close of the filing period. If the candidates chose to campaign before that meeting, they would have to present themselves at the VSA office and verify that they had read and understood the article of the Bylaws pertaining to elections. The amendment was written by Seth Warner ’14, who believes the changes can make elections “more fair, more competitive and more substantive,” as he said in a Council meeting on Sunday, April 3, when the amendment was presented. In an emailed statement, he elaborated that, “The legislation raises awareness of elections among students and gives us a chance to run before it’s too late to file. This will increase much-needed competition in our elections. Meanwhile, minor rules changes de-emphasize impersonal campaigning in favor of more substantive, face-toface contact.” Warner stressed that the amendment, if enacted, would not greatly disturb the electoral process, saying it would be “great in effect but small in change.” He has created a website, www.vsaelections.co.cc, to explain the proposed amendment and to urge students to contact their representatives about it. One of the goals of the new amendment is to incentivize direct, face-to-face campaigning about issues, as opposed to mass promotion through media. President of Lathrop House Samantha Garcia ’13 commented that this was a more meaningful form of campaigning, saying, “People do remember the people who come to their door. People still talk about [VSA President Mat Leonard ’11] coming to Lathrop, and that had a huge impact on the vote in my house.” Class of 2014 President Michael Moore ’14 concurred, stating and referring to the student referendum (See “Voting on revisions to begin today,” on page 1), “If in the future we are to work with a more issues-based system, which I hope we will, personal interaction is paramount.” Though the filing period would be extended by over a week and the campaigning period by two weeks, because the periods would overlap, the electoral process would only be extended by one week. Some Council members expressed concern that longer campaigning periods would lessen the enthusiasm around election time: “If someone wants to go door-to-door week one, then it’s easy to forget. For some reason Vassar students don’t have long-term memory,” said VSA Vice President for Student Life Samin Shehab ’11. Warner argued that an additional week would not drastically lessen election hype. President of the Terrace Apartments Samantha Allen ’11, agreed, saying, “A longer campaign period combined with the filing period raises awareness that campaigning and filing are going on.” VSA Council will vote to include or discard the amendment in a Council meeting on Sunday, April 10. If the amendment is passed by a twothirds majority, the amendment will go into effect immediately and the upcoming spring elections will have a concurrent filing period and campaigning period. However, in order to ensure elections begin after the April 8 referendum, the filing period will be shortened to one week. Promised Warner, “These improvements will go a long way toward making VSA elections and the VSA a much stronger and more effective democratic institution.”
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NEWS
April 7, 2011
Proceedings Capitol protesters disagreed on tactics to resume in late April Courtesy of Nicholas Korody
THEFT continued from page 1 construction accounts.” “The College cooperated fully with a police investigtation,” she wrote. Vassar submitted a complaint to the police on March 10 and filed a civil case against Fisher on April 1 after weeks of a police investigation, which is still ongoing. According to Director of Media Relations Jeff Kosmacher, the College was alerted to budget discrepancies while recently reviewing one of the projects that Fisher had managed. “There was a project that was being revisited because they were expecting to do more work with the project,” said Kosmacher. “What had been spent did not jibe with what the College expected to find.” This, Kosmacher said, was the red flag that led the College to further examine the finances of Fisher’s other projects. The full $1.98 million scope of the theft came from a review of multiple jobs. After continuing to review the finances, Kosmacher said that there was eventually enough evidence for the College to hand the investigation over to the Town of Poughkeepsie Police. In cooperation with a request from the Town of Poughkeepsie Police, administrators were not able to comment on the ongoing investigation. In her email, Hill wrote that this incident has caused the College to review its financial controls: “We are taking all available steps to recover the funds. In light of this discovery, the College is evaluating its financial and operating controls, and has already taken steps to enhance their effectiveness.” Kosmacher could not say specifically if Vassar has a process of financial review after the completion of a construction. “After the fact, I don’t know,” he said. He also could not say specifically how Vassar oversees budgets during construction projects, but he added, “These projects are very closely scrutinized,” including a vetting project for private contractors. The civil case that Vassar filed against Fisher and his wife names two false companies which Fisher used to siphon off funds for personal use, C & R Construction Services and G. Shepherds. The suit alleges that Fisher pulled money from projects by “creating and submitting false requisitions in the name of a fictitious company/entity named C & R Construction Services (“C & R”) which purported to provide labor, materials and/or services to Plaintiff [Vassar] for projects on which defendant Fisher served as Vassar’s project manager and (b) approving payment of such false requisitions.” “In fact, C & R never provided any labor, materials or services to Plaintiff [Vassar],” the case states next. Fisher should not have been contracting with firms with which he was associated anyway. According to Kosmacher, “Contractors must be prequalified for work even before projects are put out to bid. Evidence suggests that this project manager found a way to circumvent the pre-qualification process.” “Also, importantly, because of Vassar’s conflict of interest policies a project manager cannot be associated with a company that we do business with,” Kosmacher added. One project Fisher managed was the construction of the new Town Houses, which were completed at the end of 2008. In a video interview with The Miscellany News, Fisher walked Miscellany reporters through the progress of the construction that fall. The College could not divulge the full list of projects that Fisher worked on because they are considered evidence in the investigation. Town of Poughkeepsie Police Captain Paul Lecomte described the ongoing investigation as a “cooperative effort between us and the College.” According to Lecomte, “We’ll be looking at the time before and after he was there.” He said this step would “make sure there were no other issues.” The police investigation is also concerned with the weapons and false identifications found in the Fishers’ home. Police found 10 unregistered handguns, one .223-caliber rifle with a grenade launcher and a collection of false law enforcement identifications, according to various reports. The police also seized four BMWs, a Ford F-150 truck and three Rolex watches. “We’ll be looking into that,” Lecomte said of unregistered weapons. The firm Van De Water and Van De Water is representing the College. According to a report in The Poughkeepsie Journal, Attorney Andrew Rubin is representing Fisher. The next hearings for both Arthur and Jennifer Fisher have been set for April 25.
ALBANY continued from page 1 than $200,000 annually and couples earning more than $300,000 annually—to expire at the end of the year. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his fellow Democrats, opposed to this measure, proposed an 8.7 percent tax on New Yorkers earning $1 million as a means of mitigating the harsh cuts to education and health care; Cuomo resisted, however, having promised during his campaign to close the state’s deficit without raising taxes. The Albany protesters rallied primarily against this disparity, filling the Capitol building with loud chants of “Tax the rich, not the poor!” Fellow protesters included students from State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany and New Paltz, institutions hit particularly hard by recent budgets. This year, SUNY lost $289 million from its operating budget, adding to the total loss of over $1.4 billion in state aid over the past four years. “When we were there we really realized that as Vassar kids we were not being affected by the budget cuts, but at the same time we came out of solidarity for other students” said Nicholas Korody ’13, one of the trip’s main organizers. “While the cuts don’t directly affect our lives, they affect society, and we belong to that society.” As the day progressed, however, disagreements about how best to take action against the cuts arose among the protesters. According to Matthew Hammel ’13, another main organizer of the trip, organizers from SUNY Albany and New York City had hoped to evoke memories of the recent Wisconsin protests in their own demonstrations—planning a sleepover in the Capitol building and ordering pizzas—as a means of rallying support. In order to secure these symbolic actions, the organizers had discussed the protest with Capitol officials and police in advance. “From my perspective, it really came down to them wanting to have a slumber party that was going to turn into Wisconsin,” said Hammel, who noted that the New
Protesters rallied against a budget proposal that made deep cuts to education and health care spending but allowed taxes on the wealthy to expire, chanting, “Tax the rich, not the poor!” York protests were much smaller than those that were held in Madison. “We had what, maybe a thousand people if you’re being generous? The prospects for a Wisconsinstyle extended occupation were ludicrous. And once we realized that, we started planning more significant, loud, direct action that we could do with less people.” According to Hammel, a group of students had planned to occupy the Assembly in order to delay or prevent a vote on the budget. This demonstration was complicated, however, by the other group of protestors. Some had been recently arrested, formerly incarcerated or elderly, and thus unwilling to engage in any action that would risk arrest. “It created this tension where they were trying to stop us from taking a serious action because it would make it so that weren’t able to operate as cooperatively with the police, stay the night in the Capitol and get their pizza,” Hammel explained. He added that the prior notification of the police and Capitol officials also prevented bolder action. “There
was a huge police presence, which really shut down a lot of our plans.” Despite the cooperation of organizers, those present were barred from entering the Senate and Assembly viewing galleries due to worries that their presence would delay the adoption of the budget. According to Korody, students in attendance were treated disrespectfully. “We looked through the glass, and there were the assemblymen just laughing at us. Taking videos on their iPhones, laughing—making essentially a mockery of it,” Korody recalled. Despite these setbacks and the ultimate passing of the budget, Korody regards the effort positively. “There was a general feeling of anger on Wednesday, and I think that’s really promising,” Korody said, charging that Americans are currently engaged in a class war. “It marks a turning point, I think. It’s part of the larger turniéng point of 2011 that is people realizing that this is something to be angry about, but also that they can do mass action and cause change.”
Vote to be decided by simple majority of voters REFERENDUM continued from page 1 amendment be ratified if 51 percent of the entire student body voted in favor of the amendment. The Judicial Board arrived at this decision by essentially following a process of elimination. Aside from the above clause, the VSA’s governing documents mention the process of referenda two other times, both in its Constitution. Article XIV, Section 1, clause D of the VSA’s Constitution says, “If there is an objection(s) signed by at least 5 percent of the VSA membership, then the VSA Council must call for a referendum vote to be conducted by the Board of Elections. A simple majority of those casting ballots, regardless of abstentions, shall be required to either pass or defeat the amendment.” Then, clause E of the same section says that “any proposed amendment not supported by the VSA Council may be brought to a referendum with a petition signed by 15 percent of the VSA.” The Board deemed that Council did not support the amendment because it voted it down at its meeting on March 27, therefore the latter clause applies to the current referendum. It was for this reason that the student body needed to collect 360 signatures (15 percent of the student body) rather than 133 signatures (five percent of student body) in order to bring the referendum to vote. It is also for this reason that the Judicial Board was hesitant to allow only a simple majority of participating voters to pass the amendment. The bylaw that applies to the current situation makes no stipulation for any kind of threshold. The Judicial Board was also worried that the application of clause D would also create the possibility of a less-than-democratic election. The Judicial Board was uncomfortable with allowing only a simple majority of participants to decide the vote: “This way, even if only three students vote, two of them could pass the bylaw,” said Bhattacharya giving an example of an undemocratic vote. The problem with following clause E and requiring a majority of all students to pass the revision, however, is that in the previous clause, it
does not explicitly reject the need for a threshold voting participation, or a minimum voter participation rate. “After a lot of discussion, we decided that we cannot just come up with a random threshold,” said Bhattacharya. Therefore, the Board went to the Bylaws upon which it based its final recommendation. The language in this document called for a simple majority of the entire VSA membership to ratify the changes. In order to explain why a threshold does not exist, VSA Vice President for Operations and co-Chair of the BOE Ruby Cramer ’12 commented that there was a lapse in introducing referendum language into the Bylaws the previous year that would have effectively set a threshold for a referendum. “In the spring of 2009, Caitlin Ly ’10, the VSA Vice President for Operations at the time, passed a motion to create a ‘Student Referendum’ section in our VSA Bylaws. Our minutes show that Council passed the motion successfully, but for some reason the ‘Student Referendum’ section was never actually added to the print or electronic copies of the Bylaws,” she said. “We don’t know what happened to the language over the course of the last year and a half,” she concluded. The Judicial Board felt that a clause that was not available to the entire student body should not be used to guide Council’s operations. Therefore, the Judicial Board recommended that Council follow the language that is available to the student body. It has since recommended to the Council that the amended language be introduced into that set of governing documents that is available to the student body online. “With the economic crisis last year, bylaw edits probably got lost against the backdrop of much larger issues,” wrote VSA Vice President for Operations ’09-’10 Brian Farkas ’10 in an emailed statement. “The truth is,” he continued, “I don’t think the VSA Bylaws and Constitution are maintained as carefully as they could be. Just in my time at Vassar, I’ve seen Council debate and approve amendments that never make it into the following year’s document. What tends
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
to happen is that amendments are drafted in separate text files, and aren’t always integrated into the ‘full’ document. Or if they are, they’re sometimes not edited to reflect language that was changed during the Council meetings before the vote,” explained Farkas. Being informed of the Judicial Board’s recommendation and opinions on the missing language, the Operations Committee suggested going forward with determing the referendum by a simple majority of those students who cast a ballot based on area of the Bylaws. While it “acted under the advisement of Judicial Board,” the Operations Committee noted that “51 percent of the student body barely even votes during spring elections, so expecting that number to vote on the referendum is not practical,” said Cramer. “Everyone, including the representatives from the Judicial Board, agreed that we could not establish a random threshold because of a lack of precedent in our governing documents. When we ruled out the option of establishing a threshold, we turned to our two options at hand: to require a simple majority of all students, or a simple majority of those casting ballots,” wrote Cramer in a statement that provided a rationale to the Board Of Elections’ ruling. “We turned to our VSA Bylaws, Article VI, Section 8, Part B of the VSA Bylaws, which outlines guidelines for declaring the winner of any VSA election: ‘To be declared the winner of any election for which there will be only one declared winner, the winning candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the votes cast by the relevant constituency, not including abstentions,’” said Cramer. The Board Of Elections felt that this clause “[established] a precedent which we could apply to the Board of Elections’ ruling on the referendum issue. The group reached consensus that this was the most, and essentially only, fair way to proceed.” Voting on this referendum will take place during a 48-hour period from Thursday, April 7, at 5 p.m. to Saturday at 5 p.m.
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April 7, 2011
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House Presidents comment on definition of position Jessica Tarantine
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he recent measures taken to reform the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council’s structure have raised many questions about the efficacy of a residence-based system of representation. Although, as the constitution reads currently, house presidents serve the dual role of spearheading residential projects within their dorms as well as sitting on the VSA Council, the proposed restructuring would split these duties. The new system would create the separate positions of house president and class senator, only the latter of which would sit on the VSA council. The theory, then, is that in the proposed system both house presidents and VSA Council senators will be able to commit all their time to these respective duties instead of trying to balance the two. But some feel that to separate these duties is a mistake, arguing that they naturally support and balance each other. The opinions among current house presidents vary widely. “For me, the position I hold on VSA and my position as house president often have little to do with each other,” said Jewett House President Mariah Minigan ’13. “I can’t represent Jewett as I process fund applications for organizations or help to edit out typos in the VSA’s Constitution.” Minigan, who supports the constitutional revisions, went on to state that this compilation of unrelated powers had an adverse effect, “I definitely feel that it detracts from my own ability and the ability of the [Board of House Presidents] to get things done that would directly impact our constituents.” Others, however, feel that house presidents are best suited to represent students since they are more accessible to their constituents through their shared housing. “I believe that
communication through the house teams, either directly to the president or through student fellows and the other officers, is more effective because these people are closer,” said President of Strong Sophia Wasserman ’13. Raymond House President Lita Sacks ’12 disagrees. “Most of my constituents don’t know who their class president is. I am only acquainted with mine because of VSA Council,” she said. “I think that both bodies could benefit from having representatives who have more time to devote to them.” While Sacks and Wasserman felt that house presidents are more accessible than class presidents, the sentiment was not fully shared by Minigan, who stated that while she thought that many students felt comfortable talking with their house presidents in general, they didn’t bring up VSA-related issues.“I personally haven’t heard much from anyone with greater concerns that they wanted to see brought to VSA [Council],” she said. Minigan was also concerned that students in general might not even be bringing issues to their VSA representatives. Instead she suggested that students seek change through other means, such as campus organizations that might be more dedicated to specific issues. President of the Town Houses Sam Seymour ’11 also said that many of his constituents do not often bring concerns to their representatives and by extension to the VSA Council. “I have noticed, though, that seniors living in the apartment areas seem less likely in general to raise concerns,” he said. “This may just be a manifestation of living in the apartment areas where students are fairly removed from everyday campus life.” In fact, it is usually the Council members who contact their constituents, not the other way around. Noyes House President Jenna
Konstantine ’13 explained her methods of communication: “The easiest and most consistent way that I talk to my constituents as a mass is through email. I also have a lot of contact with them during House Team meetings, Study Breaks and everyday conversations in Noyes.” Sacks added, “When the issue is of great importance, my constituents usually stop me at house events or around campus to tell me what they think and get my take on it.” The idea that House Team events, and the house presidents themselves, provide an important conduit between dorm life and schoolwide VSA issues is often cited as an argument against the proposed VSA Constitution changes, although the very distinction between these two aspects of students’ lives is difficult to define. However, others argue that any negative impacts to this nebulous balance might be outweighed by other benefits the VSA changes could bring. Because these two responsibilities are both large time commitments and have little to do with each other, Minigan argued, their separation would be beneficial for both the representatives and their constituents. “I think that if the responsibilities were separated, the House Team and other house residents would be able to see more dorm issues addressed effectively and that the members of VSA internal committees, largely class senators, would have the time to focus on their sub-committees without the added pressure of running a House Team with multiple weekly and monthly events.” Lathrop House President Samantha Garcia ’13 shared this sentiment, saying of her dual responsibilities as house president and VSA representative, “They do [conflict] at times, just because VSA and being a house president are two very substantial commitments. I would say that I prioritize VSA over my house president
responsibilities.” But while Garcia generally tended to side with the VSA Council when conflicts arise due to large responsibilities, presidents such as Sacks found other tendencies: “It is rare that they conflict. On the rare occasion that they do conflict, I generally side with my House Team. But again, this has happened maybe once or twice this year.” Overall, the majority of house presidents who spoke to The Miscellany News, would side with their House Team over their responsibilities to the VSA Council. “My experience on House Team has been a much more fulfilling and productive one than my experience on the VSA Council,” said Sacks. “If this weren’t my final year living in Raymond, there is no doubt in my mind that I would run for another House Team position.” Wasserman, however, was the exception, stating that the roles were most effective when placed together. “Were I to do this again, I would not want to do one without the other,” she said. “Despite the amount of work and stress, the combination of responsibilities has been an incredibly rewarding experience.” In contrast, Sacks defended the proposed constitutional changes, saying “I think the best way to go about this would be to comprise a council of VSA representatives elected from each house and senior housing unit who could then report back to the House Team and the house about the goings-on on Council.” But regardless of the issues and varying experiences faced by house presidents, Minigan remained optimistic for the future of the VSA as a whole. “I think VSA Council has the potential to be an extremely effective body, and I do hope that changes to its structure will take place either in the next few weeks or at the start of the next semester.”
Glover to spend summer building, biking across nation Jillian Scharr
Features Editor
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Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News
his summer, one Vassar senior’s passion for increased access to affordable housing has led her to a cross-country biking odyssey, following in the tradition of many other Vassar graduates since 2002. Elysia Glover ’11 will be participating in Bike and Build, a program that organizes cycling trips to various construction sites throughout the country. So, starting in Portland, Maine, on June 18, Glover will ride 3,842 miles in 10 weeks, stopping for 12 construction projects throughout the United States along the way, including one on Poughkeepsie, N.Y.’s Main Street, with Hudson River Housing. The last stop on the trip will be Santa Barbara, Calif. on Aug. 27. Although Glover is the only Vassar student on the trip this year, the College has always been represented in Bike and Build rides. Last year, Vassar alumnae Lindsay Magida ’10 and Willa Conway ’10 did the same route. In fact, it was from Conway that Glover first heard about the program. “What really drew me to this project is that you’re working for organizations that are trying to help people … You work with families who want to work, too; they want to take pride in where they live, take pride in their homes and have a sense of ownership over where they live … It’s helping people help themselves.” Other factors in Glover’s Vassar experience led her to the Bike and Build program as well. An urban studies major, she has also worked at Legal Services in Hudson Valley on foreclosure cases. “I saw people who were unable to keep their houses and stay in their houses due to their inability to get affordable credit, and people in risky rental situations who are constantly having to move and live in poor conditions.” Having lived in affordable govern-
Elysia Glover ’11 will be participating in Bike and Build, a summer program dedicated to increasing access to affordable housing. Participants bike across the country, stopping to participate in construction projects along the way. ment-sponsored housing early in her life, Glover could relate to the experiences she saw in Poughkeepsie. “Being Canadian, I came to the [United] States and saw how urban versus suburban areas had such different achievement outcomes and seemed quite racially divided,” Glover said. “I wanted to see how school districting works and how it’s related to housing policy.” “I was [in Poughkeepsie] last summer, too, working on a Ford Project related to education,” Glover added. “So everything has been very Poughkeepsie-based. So I was really excited to see that we’d be riding through Poughkeepsie [with Bike and Build], because it seemed like a nice way to physically make an impact.”
The Bike and Build program was founded in 2002 as a way to raise money for local Habitat for Humanity projects throughout the U.S. and to raise awareness about the national need for increased access to affordable housing. Vassar graduate Chris Webber ’05 was one of the first program directors. In 2007, at age 25, Webber was killed in a pedestrian accident in New York City. Bike and Build still holds rides and other events in his memory. “That’s why they try to have routes come through Poughkeepsie,” Glover explained. “It’s in his memory.” Past Vassar cyclists also noted that Webber continues to be remembered by Bike and Build and its programs. “Our route was in his honor,” Magida
told the Vassar Admissions newsletter last year (vol. 25 no. 2). “We stayed in Andover where he was from and had dinner at his parents’ house. They kept sending us cookies throughout the trip, and we sent them postcards. It was really cool to ride in his honor, and you could tell the impact that he had on both the community where he grew up and at Vassar.” In addition, Magida said, all the riders on her trip wore Webber’s initials “CW” on their jerseys in his honor. Perhaps most surprising is not what Glover has done, but what she has not. “Cycling is completely brand new to me,” she admitted. “I used to commute to work on a $100 mountain bike, and that was it. It’s a steep
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learning curve.” To participate in the program, riders are required to train for at least 500 miles before the ride, and complete one consecutive 65-mile ride. Assistant Swimming and Diving Coach Dan Decker has been helping Glover train for the event. “Our basic plan was to start out around 15 or so miles per day on a bike three days a week with a longer ride—20 or 25 miles—once a week,” Decker wrote in an emailed statement. “The idea is to work up and add to that until the summer so that her body is accustomed to that,” Decker elaborated. “It’s an interesting thing, too, because it’s not a race, so we don’t really need to worry about peaking performance. The primary thought I have is that we are trying to make sure she is ready to ride for as long as she will need to and to prevent injury.” Aside from training, Glover is also working to raise the $4,000 she needs to fund her trip; she currently has approximately $2500. Of that total, $500 is to go to an affordable housing project of the rider’s choosing. Since she will be cycling through Poughkeepsie and working on a construction project here, Glover has decided to give her $500 to the Habitat for Humanity in Newburgh. And the community’s reaching back to Glover, too. Mahoney’s is hosting one of Glover’s fundraising events, called Have One for Housing, on April 29 from 6 to 9 p.m. There will be live music and free appetizers, and all proceeds will go towards Glover’s rider donation total. “Unless you have a roof over your head and heat and a safe place to live, everything else is compromised,” said Glover. “It doesn’t matter what your age, gender, religious beliefs, social orientation [are]; if you don’t have a safe place to live it’s going to be tough.”
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April 7, 2011
Blegens leave unconventional legacy as scholars and family Ruth Bolster Reporter
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Courtesy of Eushavia Bogan
he Blegen family has contributed its name to both a visiting professorship position within the Greek and Roman Studies Department and the former headquarters for Vassar’s LGBTQ community. Yet who were the Blegens? And in what ways were they connected to the Greek and Roman Studies Department and the LGBTQ population? In his March 31 lecture entitled “Carl and Libbie and Bert and Ida: Re-defining Family,” Professor Emeritus of Greek and Roman Studies Robert Pounder gave both professors and students a glimpse into the personal and academic lives of two of Vassar’s most prominent faculty members and alumnae: Ida Thallon Hill, Class of 1897, and Elizabeth “Libbie” Pierce Blegen, Class of 1910. By reading from their letters to one another, as well as from the letters exchanged by their future husbands, Pounder was able to highlight the two professors’ love affair, their unconventional family and their contributions to the archeological discipline. The Blegens’ connection with Vassar began when Elizabeth Pierce, or “Libbie” as she was called, matriculated into the college in 1906. A bright student who excelled in Latin, Pierce grew close to Professor Ida Carlton Thallon of the Greek and Roman Studies Department, and the two eventually formed an intimate studentmentor relationship. After obtaining both her Masters degree and Ph.D. in Latin from Columbia University, as well as a certain expertise on ancient pottery and sculpture, Pierce returned to Vassar to teach in 1915. It was during this time that her relationship with Thallon blossomed into a love affair that was acknowledged in both their letters to each other, as well as in letters written by their colleagues. Referring to their relationship as a “Boston Marriage,” the couple lived together in Davison House on campus before Pierce left the country for Athens, Greece, to attend the American School of Classical Studies. In Athens, Pierce met Carl Blegen, a Yale graduate, and his mentor Bert Hodge Hill, both of whom were prominent archeologists working at the American school. As Pounder noted in his lecture, there was evidence in Hill’s letters
to Blegen that the former had romantic feelings for his student. However, there was no evidence that Blegen reciprocated these feelings. Pierce and Blegen eventually fell passionately in love with one another, prompting Blegen to propose marriage to her. Although she initially accepted the offer, thoughts of hurting Thallon forced Pierce to break the engagement upon returning to the United States. Despite this, the two corresponded regularly, and, with the help of Hill, they eventually formulated a plan that would allow them all to live as one family. They referred to the idea as “pro-power,” or the professional partnership. Essentially, Pierce and Blegen would marry while Hill would propose to Thallon; the two couples married in 1924, and, as promised, lived and worked together in Athens under the same roof, calling themselves “the Quartet.” Pounder’s lecture, then, discussed both Thallon and Pierce’s work in Greek and Roman Studies, as well as the unusual family they created for themselves with Pierce and Blegen during the first half of the twentieth century. Largely attended by professors, the lecture itself was favorably received as an intimate portrait of the personal lives of the Blegens and Hills. “I thought it was a brilliant talk,” began Associate Professor of History and Vassar alumna Lydia Murdoch ’92 in reaction to the lecture. “That they had a relationship and that they lived in a quasi marriage—I thought was a brilliant detail.” Although Pounder gave a similar lecture on the Blegens’ and Hills’ professional work in 2009, many in attendance were neither aware of the extent of Elizabeth Pierce Blegen’s and Ida Thallon Hill’s relationship, nor of their unconventional family. With a prominent LGBTQ presence on campus, questions have been raised as to why this particular aspect of Vassar’s history has not been widely explored until now. Evidently, Pounder’s excavation of the Blegens’ and Hills’ personal lives proved to be as rich as an archeological dig. Although until now the true nature of their relationships remained in obscurity, Pounder has nevertheless brought their triumphs in love and in academia to light once more through his expert scholarship and thoughtful attention to detail.
The Vassar Experimental Garden, located in the circle of Vassar’s Town Houses, is a student-run initiative that seeks to provide students with first-hand gardening experience.
Community gardening a growing effort for students Matthew Bock
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he Vassar Experimental Garden (VEG) is a communal garden located in the circle of Vassar’s Town Houses for which any interested student may volunteer. Though funded by the Office of Residential Life as part of its Cooperative Living Program, VEG is entirely student-run. This, garden directors Ariel Diliberto ’11 and Logan Nelson ’11 stressed, differentiates VEG from other agricultural opportunities at Vassar such as the Poughkeepsie Farm Project. Diliberto and Nelson began directing VEG in Fall 2009, after the farm’s founding in March 2009, as ResLife’s Cooperative Living Interns. They saw a need for a venue in which students interested in agriculture “could learn about gardening through firsthand experience and experimentation,” they said. “Though the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, located on the Vassar Farm, is a wonderful resource that teaches student volunteers, field workers and work-study employees valuable information about farming,” the two explained in an e-mailed statement, “VEG [uniquely] affords students the opportunity to be actively involved in the decision-making process regarding what to grow and how to grow it.” The VEG group—comprised of about 15 regulars from various residences throughout the campus—meets every week to select crops, design the layout and devise the planting schedule for the garden, as well as to harvest, maintain and cultivate the garden’s plants. Members also cook together— dinners replete with freshly grown vegetables, fruits and herbs—and take educational field trips where they learn from professionals. “There is something to be said for the bonds formed through working collectively and sharing meals. I think it’s a bond unique from those fostered by most other activities at Vassar,” Diliberto said. David Orkin ’13, who will direct the garden next year along with Rachael Borné ’13 [disclosure: Borné is The Miscellany News Arts Editor] and Robert Onstott ’12, similarly remarked, “It’s so satisfying to put work into something as a group and then share the tasty results. Just by eating something I’ve grown and prepared once a month, I’ve also changed the way I think about food.”
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The timing of the academic year—which conflicts with the conventional growing season—has forced the VEG group to be unusually creative with its agricultural techniques. “Through appropriate crop selection and use of season-extending structures—such as greenhouses, hoophouses—greenhouselike constructs built to trap sunlight—and cold frames,” Nelson reported, “we have managed to grow arugula, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, mâche, bok choy, kale, collards, mustard greens, potatoes, broccoli, leeks, onions, garlic, mint, parsley, cilantro, carrots, turnips, radishes, beets and parsnips, among other vegetables, throughout the year.” As well as other crops during the summer, when ResLife provides funding for interested students to tend to the garden so that it can stay weed-free, watered and protected. Diliberto and Nelson stressed VEG’s cooperative attitude towards the Vassar and Poughkeepsie communities. The group has collaborated with several other organizations on campus, including Slow Food and the Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics, with whom they have shared meals. They have also made the garden available to students working on relevant senior theses and independent studies. VEG also recently began selling its produce to Crave, a restaurant and lounge in Poughkeepsie that is directed by graduates of the Culinary Institute of America. The garden is funded by the Office of Residential Life as part of its Cooperative Living Program, and is supervised by Director of Residential Life Luis Inoa. It was started in March of 2009 by Vassar student Suzanne Sweetnam (who subsequently dropped out of the College), because she was interested in having a venue for students interested in learning to grow their own food and share gardening skills to have one, according to the office of Residential Life’s website, but was taken over that following summer by Diliberto and Nelson who felt that Sweetnam’s interest was a relevant and important one. It is designed as a cooperative for students and non-students within the Vassar Community and is one of the only student-run spaces on campus (like the Shiva Theater). “It doesn’t matter if anyone has had experience or not,” Orkin added. “They should come by the garden or to our next dinner.”
April 7, 2011
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Lola’s Café a hidden gem, local haven Fundraising
elicits varied approaches
Mitchell Gilburne Features Editor
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Courtesy of Lola’s Café
esting under the flavorless shadow of Crave, Lola’s Café of 131 Washington St., stands as a beacon of hope for Poughkeepsie’s food scene. Featuring a menu of well-conceived salads and sandwiches complimented by fresh, flavorful ingredients and affordable prices, Lola’s Café is a treat for your stomach and your wallet. With dishes ranging from $6 to $9, the entire menu is fair game at any price point, and all items are accompanied by your choice of spicy peanut noodles, pasta salad, fruit salad, black bean and corn salad, Couscous, macaroni salad or French fries. Painted in soothing shades of green and featuring a simple layout with a prominent counter, comfortable seating and humming coolers of various sodas and juices, Lola’s Café nevertheless hardly looks as good as the culinary experience it provides. While the décor is a far cry from fabulous, it certainly does not detract from the cuisine or conversation. In any case, who is to say that this shouldn’t be the case in every eatery? Furthermore, Lola’s conveniently delivers to Vassar College and the surrounding areas during business hours, though they advise placing delivery orders between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.—perfect for a picnic! During my initial foray into Lola’s Café I was thrilled to be accompanied by my mother as well as my dear friend Zan Schmidt ’12. I ordered the butternut squash turkey panini with fries; my mom, feeling vegetarian, went for the tomato, mozzarella and avocado panini with couscous; and Schmidt tried the tempting curry chicken salad special with the black bean and corn salad. Though orders are placed at the counter, the staff was attentive, friendly and quick. Everyone wore a beaming smile and seemed to care as much about our culinary contentedness as a doting grandmother would. The first signs of just how good this lunch would be came from the French fries that I immediately squirreled away into my mouth as I waited for my companions to be served. They were fried to perfection—crisp without and soft within, and bursting with that
Lola’s Café, located at 131 Washington St., serves affordable yet satisfying salads and sandwiches, and makes deliveries to the College from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. An entreé from Lola’s is pictured above. comforting French fried flavor. The butternut squash turkey panini was a symphony of flavor. Embellished with melted Swiss cheese, apple cranberry chutney and mixed greens, this sandwich masterfully blended flavor and texture while balancing the ingredients against each other in perfect proportions. Surprisingly, the butternut squash manifested in an aioli, which, though initially disarming, proved to be a brilliant move in crafting a satisfying and unique sandwich that packed a hidden punch. The curry chicken salad also packed a hidden surprise. Unlike its name suggested, this dish did not feature chicken salad as it is typically conceived. Instead, a perfectly seasoned chicken breast was presented atop a bed of greens that were coated without excess in a tangy dressing. While the flavor of the poultry was similar to a typical curry chicken salad, the greens made the dish special and added brightness to the flavor and a contrast to the texture that was truly delightful.
Quality ingredients, thoughtful portions and expert balancing equally served the tomato, mozzarella and avocado panini. Light, yet filling, and friendly to alternative eating choices, this panini reflected my general impression of Lola’s Café. Thoughtfulness permeates every dish from the freshness of the fruit to the tenderness of the meat, and into the way that each component of every dish plays off of the others. In fact, Lola’s Café was so scrumptious that one visit simply wasn’t enough. After learning of their delivery option, I knew that I would be taking my next lunch courtesy of Lola’s the moment I finished my first. Ultimately, Lola’s Café is an underutilized gem that pummels the pasta out of Babycakes, puts its aggressively upscale neighbor Crave to shame and absolutely dazzles as the finest eatery Poughkeepsie has to offer all while remaining budget-friendly. If you’re going to venture off campus, you owe it to yourself to give Lola’s Café a shot.
Drawing lines between art, art history Danielle Bukowski
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he Art Department at Vassar comprises both studio art and art history concentrations, two fields of study which do overlap, but also demand very different skill sets and focuses. Studio art majors are required to begin with Art 102-103, a year-long introduction to drawing course; and art history majors are required to begin with Art 105-106, a yearlong introduction to the history of art. All studio art majors are also required to take Art 105-106 and two other 200-level art history courses; however, there is no requirement for art history majors to take studio art courses. This has become a possible source of contention within these two sections of the Art Department. While not an immediate issue, it is an interesting academic and theoretical quandary with which students and professors of art at Vassar continue to wrestle. Professors of Art Brian Lukacher and Nicholas Adams noted that this perceived unfairness to studio art majors comes up periodically in discussions within the Art Department, but also commented that there is no great debate between students or professors about the requirements. “Since art history courses are mostly lecture-based, enrollment is not an issue. But problems of staffing, and the availability of basic drawing supplies, would come up if we required all art history majors to take Basic Drawing and Design [Art 102-103],” Lukacher said. In other words, while one professor can teach 200 students in an art history lecture, studio art classes are much more handson and therefore class sizes must be kept smaller in order for professors to provide individualized support. Art history classes are therefore more financially feasible than studio art classes. All art history majors
are, however, encouraged to take studio art classes, and art history students may transfer two courses in studio art or architectural design to count towards their concentration. “Basic Drawing and Design is already very difficult to enroll in as a freshman, and if all art history majors had to take the class, at least two to three more sections would have to be opened up,” Lukacher said. As this would put a lot of strain on funding and the department staff, and there haven’t been major issues with the current system, it is currently not a priority for the Art Department. Studio art major Annika Bastacky ’11 believes that all art history majors should take a few courses in the studio arts. She enjoyed her art history classes enough to take more than the required four. “It’s really important for artists to take art history, because whether you are referencing a work or actually borrowing from the work are very different things, and taking art history classes help to determine this difference,” she said. Similarly, “Art history majors are taught to try and decode art, to look for clues … when you make art, in addition to what you planned there are accidents, and people will often project things onto your work,” she stated. “The making of art and the analyzing of art are so different, you really should have experience doing both.” Studio art majors are also expected to analyze their own work and that of their peers, and Bastacky praised the department for its wide range of perspectives and goals in teaching students to handle criticism. She said, “My senior project in painting is a culmination of what I’ve been doing the past three years, and we get monthly or bi-monthly critiques on our work. Our work is shown the week before graduation and the weekend of graduation.” Art history majors, similarly, complete their four years of study at Vassar with seminars
based on their focus at the 200-levels. Adams pointed out that the studio art major is relatively new to Vassar’s history, as the making of art “used to be seen as a craft activity and not ‘true liberal arts,’ especially for a school that aspired to the standards of Yale [University].” When the College was founded, the fine arts were taught in two extra-collegiate departments: the Schools of Art and Music. Both were meant to train women artists through serious study. Henry Van Ingen (after whom the Art Library was named in 1935) was in charge of the School of Art and the first professor of art at Vassar. Van Ingen also brought in the first art history lecturer, Professor Corning, in 1878. By 1892 the separate schools were closed, and art and music classes were opened only to juniors and seniors in accordance with how these subjects were taught at Harvard University. Clarence Kerr Chatterton, who would create Vassar’s Studio Art Program, came to the College in 1915. He taught painting classes, which were originally not for academic credit. The studio art major is relatively new to Vassar, but this year, there are 13 graduating studio art majors, while last year there were five. Although the separation between art history and studio art within Vassar’s Art Department, and the class requirements complicit therein, have been a source of tension, it has also enriched art students’ experiences. Said Branch, “I think it’s very important to have that background, so that in looking at different works one can decipher different strokes, techniques and how the artist came about representing their vision.” That is why these two concentrations are housed within the same department to begin with; this amalgamation of studio art’s creativity and art history’s intellectualism is what makes the Art Department colorful.
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Assistant Features Editor
t seems just about every organization on campus—from small, student-run groups to the Vassar administration—is trying to raise money in numerous ways these days. Most Vassar students have received letters asking for contributions for the 2011 All-School Gift, and a brief walk through the Student Center will reveal numerous booths selling baked goods, tickets and clothing as part of various fundraising efforts. At one booth, members of the Class of 2012 sold pink boxers with Vassar buzzwords like “heteronormative” and “eggs all day” as part of the class’s fundraising. There was even a poll of the junior class to choose the quotes. But few of the set-ups go as far as the rowing team’s tables of baked goods and crazy spandex, not to mention the neighboring rowing machines. Dan Kessler ’14 pointed out that the machines were there for the 24-hour Erg-a-thon. “We each have a pledge sheet...We have a goal of [raising] $125 per person.” Such intense fundraising is essential for crew, which had its budget slashed by 60 percent last year. “We’ve been pretty consistent [in fundraising],” said Kessler, “but it’s always a little nerve-wracking at the end.” Taking a slightly different approach to fundraising, student organizations frequently sell tickets to events rather than products. Although these types of organizations are certainly not the only ones to engage in this type of fundraising—the Hunger Banquet held by Hunger Action and Operation Donation is a notable example—for religious and cultural organizations dinners and shows are a particularly savvy move, as they serve the dual purpose of raising awareness of the groups’ goals and heritage as well as raising money. Contessa Mwedzi ’13 explained how the African Students Union planned to raise funds through its annual dinner and show. “It’s a showcase of African culture and cuisine,” she said. “Our members sign up to cook, and we cater it all ourselves.” The evening also includes a fashion show in which the members model African clothing, as well as a musical performance by M*Power. Ticket sales, Mwedzi explained, are their main source of revenue. While selling tickets for the Caribbean Students Alliance’s own dinner, Ariel Montrose ’14 said, “We do sometimes sell stuff, but this is our biggest [fundraiser].” The money generally goes to the Vassar Haiti Project or, occasionally, some other group focused on aid efforts in the Caribbean. Unlike many student organizations, the Vassar Annual Fund, to which the 2011 All-School Gift will make a contribution, does not sell goods to raise money, but relies on gifts, primarily from alumnae/i, although the 2011 All-School Gift is targeted towards the current student body. “The reason has to do with the legal restraints on philanthropic gifts,” said Director of the Annual Fund Jonathan Smith. “The idea is to foster the idea of giving back to the College as an important element of the Vassar experience.” Those involved with the 2011 All-Class Gift seem optimistic about their prospects of meeting their goal. “This is the first year we’ve done an all-school gift, and we believe we will meet our goal,” said Smith, pointing out that the Senior Class Gift has exceeded its goal for the past two years at least. Of course, the 2011 All-School Gift relies on donations from the entire student body, rather than just seniors, which will perhaps test the underclassmen’s willingness to donate money to Vassar. Like cultural organizations that use fundraising methods that simultaneously raise awareness of their activities and raise money, the Annual Fund collects pledges in an effort to both raise funds and encourage donating out of love for Vassar—as students will probably be called upon to do in the years following graduation. Vassar’s Annual Fund does let people choose to which specific programs they would like to donate, in order to allow donors to contribute to the programs they care most passionately about, but essentially, the Fund relies on students’ love for Vassar to encourage donations.
OPINIONS
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Threshhold would validate referendum Matthew Brock
Contributing Editor
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ast Sunday, April 3 the Judicial Board came before the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council to deliver its interpretation of the upcoming referendum to determine whether or not to enact the VSA’s controversial constitutional amendments. The Judicial Board’s interpretation of the VSA bylaws was shocking to many in attendance: By it’s recommendation, over half of the student body—some 1,200-plus students—would have to actively vote “yes” in order for the amendments to be considered adopted. While I myself would like to see these amendments fail at referendum so that the next VSA Council can work next year to revise the proposed changes and iron out a solution that is acceptable to the entire student body, even I have to admit that this proposal is ludicrous. As members of the VSA Council—whose Board of Elections eventually chose not to adhere to the Judicial Board’s suggestion—pointed out at the meeting, Vassar students have been historically apathetic towards student politics and given past polling statistics it would take an act of God to get 51 percent of the student body to vote at all, let alone to all vote yes. Not even the president of the United States can claim that over 50 percent of eligible voters voted for him. Thus, while I believe that the referendum should fail, I also believe that it should be given a chance to succeed. However, the Judicial Board did raise a legitimate point in that the VSA Council does need to set some manner of threshold in order to ensure an added degree of legitimacy for the vote. The poll will open on Thursday night and close on Saturday—prime party time for the student body. It is by no means inconceivable that a large portion of the student body—maybe even a majority—will simply not vote, and the VSA Council needs to consider how much abstention should be considered too much. If, for instance, only 50 percent of the student body were to vote, I believe that the referendum should be accepted as legitimate because the VSA Council can at least demonstrate that a sizable portion of the students who were interested in voting were able to do so. However, if only 20 percent of the student body were to vote, the VSA Council would be less able to make that claim, and would have to face the question of whether or not 80 percent of the student body simply chose to abstain or whether their procedure was flawed in such a way as to prevent the vast majority of the student body from voting. Given the charges surrounding the initial proposal of these amendments—that students were kept in the dark about the nature of the changes—Council really cannot risk the scandal that may ensue from excessively low turnout at the polls. The VSA Council’s job is to represent the student body at large, but it cannot function in this capacity if said students feel that Council is excluding them from the vote to determine exactly how they will be represented. They will become less likely to even bother coming to their representatives with problems or ideas that they believe that the VSA Council should address, and as such the Council will be less likely to effect meaningful change. With these concerns in mind, I would have preferred it if the VSA Council had seriously considered adopting a more realistic threshold for voter turnout in the upcoming election— not the Judicial Board’s 50 percent vote “yes,” but something more attainable to serve as a safeguard against the possibility of low turnout delegitimizing the referendum. I by no means assume that low turnout could only result from a VSA Council conspiracy, and given the controversial nature of these amendments I actually expect turnout to be quite high, so this threshold will likely not impact the results of the referendum. However, the Council should have thought to prepare for the eventuality of excessively low voter turnout in order to avoid drawing this conflict out even further, rather than resolving the debate as this referendum should.
April 7, 2011
Miscellany News Staff Editorial
Career services taking students into account V
assar students are unsatisfied with the College’s Career Development Office (CDO), according to recent data from the 2010 Senior Survey administered by the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE). In a list of aspects about the College, the CDO was found to be among the lowest in terms of student approval. The Miscellany News Editorial Board, therefore, would like to point out some specific ways in which the CDO could improve its services to and interaction with the student body and to commend the CDO for taking the data into thoughtful consideration. We also must recognize that student disapproval of college career services is not unique to Vassar. In fact, it has been a recent trend among our peer institutions, as the survey shows. The current state of the economy clearly makes this trend all the more apparent and stressful to both students and colleges. We would like to applaud the CDO for its strengths, such as encouraging students to use resources like V-Net run by the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC), and its assistance in connecting Vassar students to graduate schools and other postsecondary programs. The wealth of online resources such as those offered by the Liberal Arts Career Network are supremely helpful if sometimes daunting. The CDO’s “Freshman Fridays” have also been very successful in reaching out to new students about summer opportunities. However, we feel that there are specific areas in which the Vassar community could improve its CDO and by extension Vassar students’ job-searching experience. It is true that we are a liberal arts institution, which is by nature more theory-based than career-oriented. This is something we
value about Vassar, and we would not change it. However, we feel that a more vocational focus on a variety of industries within Vassar’s career services would not threaten this spirit. For example, the CDO could benefit from more career-specific advice in a variety of industries. We don’t expect every CDO counselor to be an expert in all fields. However, specialization is extremely helpful and appreciated. For example, as many of us on the Editorial Board are interested in journalism, some among us have used more streamlined listings of jobs at other universities, and such a resource would be welcome in any field at Vassar. Additionally, we suggest that the CDO find a way to incorporate the knowledge and contacts of Vassar professors. As young, inexperienced undergraduates, networking is often important in securing employment, and professors, with their specialized knowledge, are some of our best resources. While the CDO does seem aware of the resources and advising programs provided by some departments, the two programs function separately and neither is entirely aware of what services the other provides. We encourage the CDO to reach out to the different departments and work with any career support they have to provide a larger pool of resources for the departments’ majors. For instance, the CDO could hold events with specific departments geared towards advising the students on the career prospects for someone with that particular major. We would also like to see even more events such as “Freshman Fridays.” Many students don’t know what the CDO is or how they should use it, so increased advertising and contact with students could only be beneficial. Walking the
line between broad appeal and niche specificity is difficult, and Vassar students have a dauntingly wide range of interests. Often desires for better career services reach the potentially conflicting interests in more and better online resources and more and better personal interaction. Finding a balance between the two is a challenge for both counselors and students, and today it would seem that neither is enough on its own. We recognize that the CDO’s role is not to “get us a job,” but rather to help us explore the opportunities in our desired field, or even to guide us to a desired field in the first place. Although going to the CDO— and searching for jobs in general—can be intimidating, students must be responsible for themselves. When searching for summer jobs or graduate programs, we should take the initiative with contacting the CDO and describing the types of jobs, programs, or educations that we are interested in pursuing, and articulate our expectations and desires. The counselors at the CDO can only help us with our post-Vassar pursuits if we have established a relationship with them. The onus is on the students, therefore, to seek out opportunities and ask for help. Our intention is to suggest constructive means by which counselors, students and other members of the Vassar community can work to improve career services. Vassar’s impact stretches far beyond our small campus in Poughkeepsie, NY, and the CDO plays an important part in connecting the College to the rest of the world. —The Staff Editorial represents the opinion of at least two thirds of the 18-member Miscellany News Editorial Board.
Pakistani floods ignored by Western media Rukshana Jalil & Isra Amjed
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Guest Columnists
akistan still has a long way to go to recover from the devastating floods that have occurred this past year. Some areas of Sindh Province in southeast Pakistan are still underwater, and hundreds of thousands of people are still living in temporary camps. Reconstructing the millions of homes, bridges and schools that were destroyed will take years. As John Barrett, the head of the flood response for the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, said, “It’s hard to imagine how big a disaster this really was: The amount of water that fell on Pakistan was phenomenal.” Almost six months after the disastrous floods in Pakistan, the country is still waiting on much needed aid. The floods, which affected the provinces of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh, and parts of Baluchistan in July of 2010, left more than 20 million people homeless. The disaster affected more people than the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, Hurrican Katrina, Hurricane Nargis, the Indian Ocean Tsunami and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake combined, according to Foreign Policy magazine. Shamshad Akhtar, an elderly woman who is currently visiting her family in the United States from Peshawar, Pakistan told us her story. “The flood came in flashes,” she said. “Afraid that it would enter our home, I stuffed every type of cloth I could gather under the gate.” Since there was no electricity, the only way for her to check if the flood had entered her home during the night was by feeling for wetness under her feet. Akhtar remarked that she was one of the few lucky ones, although the flood came into her porch and her son’s car was drowned up to the tires. She and her family didn’t eat meat for quite a while because it could not be trusted due to the commonplace sale by unscrupulous salesmen of meat from animals washed away by the flood. When asked to share other memories of
the Pakistan flood, Akhtar added that when her daughter was traveling with her family through Swatt—a valley located 160 kilometers from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan—they were stopped from crossing the bridge. The floodwater was spilling over the bridge. While waiting for the water to clear, they noticed an old woman bobbing in the water. Along with her were two little children struggling to cling on her sides. A man jumped in the water to rescue them, but by the time he managed to take the woman out, the two children had been swept away with the water. Akhtar added, “When engulfed by the menacing water, the cadavers of the flood victims get buried at the bottom, a strong stench that still remains in the air.” Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Agency worked to provide temporary housing for victims, clean water and food. But many challenges still remain: People who are still living in the temporary camps need warmer tents and clothes for the harsh winter. Perhaps more than anything, Pakistan needs help rebuilding houses and infrastructure. Bridges and rail service have been temporarily replaced but need to be improved. More than 10,000 schools have been destroyed, which has disrupted the education of a vast number of children. Additionally, children have been separated from their families, and are vulnerable to abuse, abduction and child trafficking by people who are desperate to make ends meet. Akhtar observed, “people were led to such desperation that they took more interest in saving ice coolers or refrigerators” rather than their children. This is a frightful scenario that creates a need for aid from the outside world. Health care and sanitation are another set of issues faced by the flood victims. The flood has left thousands of victims with dangerous forms of diarrhea, cholera, respiratory diseases and skin infections. A large number of people still don’t have access to clean water and sanitation, so diseases
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that are waterborne are likely to continue spreading. According to Akhtar, “During the flood when people took high ground and didn’t have access to clean water, the packages of food that were thrown from planes were difficult to eat because the people had no eating utensils and their hands were too dirty to use.” Up to this point, Pakistan has only received one-third of the money pledged by the international community. Marie Lall, an expert on Pakistan at the Royal Institute for International Affairs in the United Kingdom, remarked to the BBC in August 2010 that donors were hesitant to give money directly to the Pakistani government because of the possibility that it will be funneled to the corrupt political leadership in Pakistan. A member of the National Oversight Disaster Management Council told the International Herald Tribune, “the flood and its aftermath is a forgotten story because neither are donors providing significant funds nor is the federal government doing enough as the Council of Common Interests had decided that the primary responsibility lies with provincial governments.” The European Union had pledged $187 million but had only given $87.5 million worth of goods through the United Nations (UN) and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Japan had promised $520 million and disbursed only $20 million. The United States had promised to give $571 million through the UN and NGOs, but has not delivered any money yet. Most of the Western media have left news about Pakistan’s flood behind. Millions of Pakistanis still need help. Sadly, many Americans don’t seem to know how catastrophic the floods in Pakistan have been since the media has completely abandoned the story. If you would like to make a difference, please donate to a reliable organization such as Islamic Relief USA or the United Nations Children’s Fund. Every ounce of help counts.
April 7, 2011
OPINIONS
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Ryan’s Medicare proposal U.S. justice system prejudiced simply ageist pandering against poor, people of color Angelz Aiuto
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Senior Editor
n the face of an impending government shutdown, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) released “The Path to Prosperity,” his ambitious budget proposal for the 2012 fiscal year, last Tuesday, April 5. Among other measures, Ryan proposes discontinuing Medicare, a measure that would perhaps lead to prosperity for some—notably Ryan and his Republican ilk. Under Ryan’s proposal, any person who turns 65 before 2022 would be able to participate in the Medicare program as it currently exists; his plan phases out inclusion in Medicare for anyone younger, however, replacing the program with a government subsidy to purchase private insurance. The suggestion that Ryan’s proposal would somehow enhance the prosperity of the average working American is altogether dubious. For those Americans who don’t have employer-sponsored group health insurance, purchasing an individual plan is already an expensive and in many cases unaffordable endeavor. Even if Ryan’s proposed subsidy were generous enough to cover the current cost of an individual health insurance plan, such a sum would in the future almost certainly lag behind rapidly rising health care costs, which currently outpace the rate of inflation. Beyond that, however, is the issue of fairness. It is simply unfair that a certain class of Americans—as it happens, the class that is more likely to vote—be allowed to receive lavish health benefits while another class— the class that is less likely to vote, shockingly—is left to fend for itself. One might argue that older people have already paid
for inclusion in the Medicare program after years of working and paying payroll taxes. But this is only an illusion; as The New York Times’ David Leonhardt has pointed out, most Americans “receive far more in government benefits than they ever pay in taxes and premiums. The gap for a typical household runs to several hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Moreover, what about the scores of Americans who are old enough to have been paying into the system for some time, but still too young to qualify for Medicare benefits under Ryan’s plan? Ryan’s Medicare proposal brought me back to Barack Obama’s recent attempt to reform our nation’s health care system. (At least this time the rallying cry of “Keep your government hands off my Medicare!” actually makes some sense.) At the time, Republican lawmakers denounced his proposals as a rushed and expensive “government takeover” of health care that would surely bankrupt the future of America’s children. But how do the children factor into Ryan’s proposal? As Leonhardt points out, “Many of today’s 55- and 60-year-olds are going to be on Medicare for a long time. If the program doesn’t change, they will run up trillions of dollars in medical bills. That money won’t be available for education, early child care, scientific research or high-tech infrastructure—all of which can lift growth.” Taking all of this into consideration, Ryan’s proposal appears more concerned with buying the votes of an entire generation than securing the future of America’s children. It would appear that in the minds of congressional Republicans, America’s future only matters to the extent that it is able to fund their 21st century Tammany Hall.
Juan Thompson
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Guest Columnist
alking into Taylor Hall last Thursday night I was expecting an enlightening discussion on the injustices of our criminal justice system. Exoneree Dewey Bozella delivered just that. Bozella, with the assistance of the fabulous Innocence Project, an organization that works to exonerate wrongfully convicted individuals, gained his freedom after being imprisoned for 27 years for a crime he did not commit. Bozella admitted that he was not a perfect youth, which I admired. He made the same mistakes that are made by countless black male youths across this nation, including dropping out of high school and engaging in petty crimes. He did not expect, however, to be implicated in the murder of a 92-year-old woman in 1977. He was in for a life-altering shock. In 1982, based on the false testimony of Bozella’s former street buddies who were seeking a deal for separate crimes, he was convicted of the murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Bozella was imprisoned despite an eyewitness—who had been watching the front door of the apartment in which the murder took place all night as she sought to keep an eye on her car—testifying that she had not seen Bozella enter the building during the period in which the murder occurred. The prosecuting attorney was aware of these details but chose to continue with the prosecution. Bozella went on to tell the audience a moving tale about the hardships he faced in prisons and his efforts to improve himself by jettisoning drugs and earning a bachelor’s degree. Bozella’s admirable story aside, there lays a broader question: Just how could such a thing happen? How is it possible that the arresting detective, who had a grudge against Bozella, was able to steal exonerating evidence from the department and keep it at home? Why was Bozella denied an attorney and detained, without being charged, for over 30 days in 1977? Why was an all-white jury, clearly not Bo-
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zella’s peers, deciding his fate at the 1982 trial? The list of questions is endless. But Bozella’s case illustrates what blacks, Latinos and other low-income people—including many whites—are up against when charged with crimes in the United States. This nation repeatedly argues that it is the emblem of justice, and yet our criminal justice system is filled with lazy, classist, racist authorities, who are all too eager to pin the blame on alleged criminals who lack the socio-economic resources to defend themselves. There are multiple solutions to the injustices within the criminal justice system. Juries are supposed to be comprised of a defendant’s peers; a jury that is composed solely of whites should never be in the position to convict a black defendant or vice versa. In addition, black Americans are disproportionately represented on death row. Frankly, this disproportional representation on death row is a testament to the racist character of our criminal justice system. Thus, the death penalty should be taken off the table completely because not only is it immoral, but it is also not foolproof. Innocent people have been put to death—a punishment that, unlike prison, is irreversable. Furthermore, more money should be put into public defenders’ offices so that the caseload of individual public defenders is reduced. Public defenders across the nation are not paid well and thus lack the drive to vigorously defend their court-assigned clients. And of course outside actors, like the Innocence Project, are still needed; judging from the group’s past and present work, we can assume that there are many more innocent people who are incarcerated. These solutions I’ve proposed are simple, but a greater debate, accompanied by solutions, is needed to fix a justice system that remains deeply prejudiced against poor people and people of color. —Juan Thompson ’13 is a political science major.
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OPINIONS April 7, 2011 U.S. government to blame for GE’s tax avoidance Joshua Rosen
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Opinions Editor
ho’s to blame for tax avoidance on the part of General Electric (GE), a publicly held corporation with thousands of part-owners? There is any number of possibilities: Jeffrey Immelt, GE’s CEO, is one target. Another is GE’s Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin. I would like to place blame on a larger target. It has 300 million shareholders. It’s run by a 535-person Board of Directors. For GE’s ability to have only a “small U.S. income tax liability,” in the words of GE Chief Spokesman Gary Scheffer, by Fortune magazine Senior Editor Allan Sloan , I blame the United States government, for tax avoidance is the necessary result of high rates and gaping loopholes in a world where people and businesses act rationally. Despite populist fervor to the contrary, I maintain that GE did nothing wrong. GE was able to avoid paying the majority of its taxes on its $14.2 billion in profits in 2010—$5.1 billion of which was earned in the United States—because of its strictly legal accounting strategies, including earning most of its profits offshore, and also legal lobbying practices. The lobbying allows GE to both avoid taxes on money lent out and held overseas, as well as to receive tax credits for wind turbines, and to create legal loopholes that it can exploit. I find no fault in this creative activity: GE and its
executives are merely acting in the best interests of their owners and employers, GE’s shareholders. By reducing GE’s tax burden, the company’s management can pass on more money in profits to shareholders and reinvest more money in the company. This is the fundamental interest of the business and its’ owners: profits that get reinvested elsewhere in the economy. The mere fact that a major corporation is paying less than a third of what its peers pay, as the New York Times reported in the March 24 article where it revealed GE’s tax avoidance, is no crime. Rather, it is a collection of strictly legal, if costly, creative practices that benefit the company and its owners—not to mention, the people whose goods and services GE and its shareholders can now make purchases as a consequence of their wealth being less diminished than it would have otherwise been by taxes. To some, GE’s ability to reduce its tax burden may be morally dubious. This is a complete and utter fallacy, for GE is only acting in a rational, legal manner. The only morally dubious aspect of the GE tax debacle is the fact that the United States government has created such a poor system for extracting tax revenue that a company can avoid paying burdensome taxes by taking licit advantage of poorly crafted legislation. Only the legislature is to blame here: If the Congress wants to raise the effective tax rate—the
rates that companies actually pay—paid by productive companies to pay their bloated pensions and finance pet projects in home districts, then they ought to craft better legislation. Additionally, the legislators ought not be what some might call ‘corruptible’—liable to produce legal loopholes in return for donations. The upshot of the revelation that GE was legally able to pay an extremely low effective tax rate is fairly simple: There is a reason that GE keeps profits overseas, and this reason is the fact that the United States has some of the highest corporate tax rates in the world, rates that approach 35 percent. Now would be an opportune time for the federal government to get its fiscal house in order, in part by increasing revenues. The first move towards this end would be to lower statutory tax rates—the rates stated in law—towards those of our peer states, rates in the low 20 percent range, while at the same time reducing the amount of loopholes in the tax code. This will increase the amount of investment companies make in the United States, as it will make plain that the United States government wants companies to invest in America without needing 1,000-person tax law departments like GE does. The long-run effects of lower tax rates are perhaps the easiest to predict. This long run effect is the target for most economic policy: long-term growth.
Entitlement programs Teen sexting scandal illustrates fiscally responsible dangers of technological era Nik Goldberg
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Guest Columnist
t is no big secret that the United States has major fiscal issues, as is evidenced by the current lack of a federal budget for the 2012 fiscal year. Financial stopgap measures like the continuing resolution that has—as of Tuesday, April 5—prevented the government from grinding to a stand still only abet the underlying problem. The American culture of buying on credit—a practice endorsed by American consumers from individual users of credit cards to the federal government as a whole—needs retooling. The reality that we face today is beginning to look like the period of stagflation in the early 1970s, where inflation was increasing and economic growth was extremely slow: We are embroiled in conflicts that are widely unpopular, the president’s approval rating is falling faster than he is able to comprehend and the economic reality that the every person faces is steadily worsening. It would seem like the only direction for the United States to go is up. However, as President Richard Nixon discovered, there is still a long way to fall. A recent column in The Miscellany News by Opinions Editor Joshua Rosen ’13 (“Libyan conflict requires US assistance,” 03.23.11) argued the merits of increasing defense spending for a multitude of reasons, with the end goal of jumpstarting an American renaissance of neo-imperialism in the Middle East. While I prioritize national security
and back warranted increases in the Pentagon’s budget, I am troubled by Rosen’s argument that entitlement programs, which constitute the largest piece of budget, should be cut back. Rosen is correct in that the Social Security-Medicare budget will bankrupt the United States in a matter of decades, but simply throwing away the institutions that have improved the lives of millions of Americans for the better part of the last century is preposterous. These entitlement programs will help lower costs by providing health insurance and pensions, such that the state will only bear the cost of these programs, rather than the costs of caring for those without the programs, which is much more expensive. Thus, in the long run, the cost of the programs will be much lower than the cost of caring for a poor, unhealthy and elderly population in the absence of a cohesive scheme for providing for them. We must come to realize that, as important as our soldiers are to the maintenance of the United States’ position in the world, so is the army of workers that are behind them. It is as much our patriotic duty to protect and preserve the everyman that makes sure that our country runs as smoothly as possible so that our military is also able to function smoothly. The neoconservative worldview hidden beneath Tea Party attire has been the mantra of the selfproclaimed fiscal conservatives who make up the upper ranks of the Republican Party. This raises See SPENDING on page 12
John Kenney
Guest Columnist
T
he fad of sexting among minors can be destructive for young lives. For Margarite, a young girl from Washington, a naked picture she sent to her boyfriend Isaiah would come to have massive consequences. After the two broke up, Isaiah sent the picture to a former friend of Margarite. That friend disseminated the photo to as many students as possible. The former friend and another girl who helped in distributing the photo were charged with the dissemination of child pornography—a Class C Felony—and ended up pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of telephone harassment for their crimes. This event raises serious questions about the implications of technology on social lives. The actual act of sexting is not illegal, nor would I argue that it should be. For the more prudish among us, the idea of people sending naked pictures to each other over cell phones may seem disgusting; nevertheless, at the end of the day we live in a country that respects the rights of consenting adults to send sexually provocative photos to each other. The issue, however, becomes more complicated when the question of sexting by minors is brought up. That is especially true in a case such as Margarite’s, where the picture ended up being used as a way to disparage and defame her. The three teens that sent out the picture deserved to be punished for what they did, as the picture still continues to haunt Margarite a year later. She tried transferring schools, but the story of the pic-
ture was soon discovered by students there. She decided to transfer back to her original school, where she still had friends. Due to the mass distribution of the photo coupled with the media storm that erupted following the arrests, the event is still known amongst Margarite’s peers. In the media storm that erupted, the question was raised as to whether Margarite should have also faced legal repercussions for taking the picture in the first place. The local prosecutor decided not to press charges, and I fully agree with that decision. In some cases, the underage minor who took the photo of him or herself has been charged with distribution of child pornography. This seems unnecessarily cruel. Possession and distribution of child pornography has been criminalized so as to protect minors from those who would exploit them. Underage sexting may be stupid, but it seems to be taking matters too far if the child who took the photo of themselves ended up being charged; minors who are the victims of sexting scandals in no way intended to distribute child pornography in the way actual child pornographers do. In Margarite’s case, she has already had to face social exclusion and cruelty from fellow students. That already is an undeserved punishment for one impulsive decision made in the midst of a relationship. Underage students should of course think twice before sending a nude picture of themselves to anyone with whom they are in a relationship. That being said, the practice probably will not stop. Only the most idealistic
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amongst us could hope that adequate education—such as, for example, the public service advertisements the three guilty teens were ordered to make as part of their plea agreement for distributing Margarite’s photo—would bring about the end of underage sexting. The technological age we live in has completely redefined social relationships in ways that we are only now beginning to understand and address. Sexting is just one of many facets that we have to consider when we consider the behavior of youth in the age of cell phones and Facebook. There are also, for example, pictures from parties that get posted on Facebook that could come back to haunt one if a future employer or college admissions staff member runs a Google search on one’s name. It is a scary fact to consider that our social lives and actions are now available for others to see in a way that would not have even been imaginable 20 years ago. A simple status update about marijuana is there forever. A tagged photo on Facebook of a wild night of debauchery can be seen by anyone if the proper precautions are not taken. A naked picture sent to a romantic interest can end up tearing your entire life apart. Cases such as Margarite’s will not stop irresponsible behavior in the new technological era in which we have found ourselves. They do however serve as a grim reminder of what can happen when we make one silly decision. Our lives are now under a microscope and any decision that is made digitally can serve to haunt our real selves for years to come.
April 7, 2011
OPINIONS
Page 11
U.S. actions inconsistent with rhetoric Juan Dominguez Guest Columnist
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n his address to the American people on the crisis in Libya, delivered on Monday, March 28, President Barack Obama claimed, “For generations, the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and as an advocate for human freedom.” This assertion by our commander-in-chief is not far from the truth but it is quite misleading. The continuing uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have been a test of American foreign policy. Some say we have acted swiftly and appropriately while others won’t stop criticizing American actions. However, the fact is that our actions have presented a dichotomy and to many, appear to reveal American hypocrisy. Our intervention in Libya was and continues to be painted as a humanitarian mission. In the same address on Libya, Obama said, “Our military mission is narrowly focused on saving lives. We knew that if we waited even one more day, Benghazi, a city nearly the size of Charlotte [in North Carolina], could have suffered a massacre that could have reverberated across the region and stained the conscience of the world.” Many may point out that these humanitarian values were absent while atrocities were being committed in Rwanda, Sudan and the Congo. However, Obama said that he “refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.” To many liberals, Obama seemed to embody the humanitarian we’ve all been waiting for in our president. Realistically though, our actions in Libya look more like a symbolic, political move. Obama is attempting to show solidarity with the protesters and our commitment to democracy, freedom and justice. This tactic is being employed to cover our real intentions and goals: maintaining the status quo in which the United States is dominant in that region. Ever since 2003, when President George W. Bush managed to negotiate with Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Qaddafi and rid him of his nuclear capabilities, Libya has had little if any political importance. Yes, Qaddafi provided intelligence and aided the United States in the “War on Terror,” but the presence of a pro- or anti-America leader won’t destabilize Africa or the greater Arab world. Additionally, although Libya’s oil deposits are large, they are not vital. After all, when oil markets began to get skittish in February, the Saudis assured the United States they had enough in their reserves to cover Libya’s normal daily production of 1.6 million barrels during the predicted months of unrest. Washington’s most recent mingling in a destabilized Arab country was seen on Sunday with the United States’ intervention in Yemen, where the Obama administration seeks to end President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year reign. Although Obama’s cabinet has not been quoted as denouncing the Yemeni government’s violent reaction to protests, it would not be too far fetched to think they hope that trying to end Saleh’s reign will be seen as another gesture of pro-democratic and humanitarian values. Negotiations are most likely taking place so as to assure him that he can count on gaining political exile to the Caribbean island of his choice with enough money to live lavishly. And this is after the country has had unsettling uprisings for the past two months and many deaths at the hands of security forces loyal to Saleh. BBC News conservatively put the toll at more than 100 while some nongovernmental organizations such as Amnesty International put the number near 100 as of Tuesday, April 5 . Obama’s administration tried to wait it out with Saleh. As the New York Times reported, the administration “refrained from directly criticizing him in public, because he was considered a critical ally in fighting the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda.” In spite of the administration’s patience in the past, the move to oust Saleh comes at a time when Saleh is increasingly authorizing extremely violent and repressive measures against demonstrators. However, what tru-
ly has lead the Americans to “flop” on their long time ally is the fact that Saleh “has lost allies, the army is split, the government has lost control of entire areas of the country and the economy is collapsing,” according to the BBC. This bears a candid resemblance to what occurred in Egypt only two months ago. Hosni Mubarak, like many of his fellow former Middle Eastern dictators, was in a tense situation, with millions of protestors in several cities including Cairo, Alexandria and Aswan demanding his exit. Things became chaotic for Mubarak when pro-government forces, thugs and police in plain clothes began attacking the peaceful anti-government protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Surprisingly enough Egypt’s army, an institution that has historically been in sync with Mubarak’s hardline policies, showed it’s support in favor of the common folk. It proved to be vitally important to the protesters’ protection against such violence and became a huge factor in analyzing the possibility of a post-Mubarak government. Such calculations of power relations within the country were being carried out by the usual suspects, namely the United States, Britain and France. Thus, with mounting international pressure Mubarak saw his exit from power on Feb. 11. Ironically, the government left in his place still employs the services of his former ministers. Furthermore, little has yet to be done to sufficiently hold Mubarak accountable or even pursue him for all his counts of corruption, human rights violations and illicit enrichment. So Saleh can breath easy, he’ll get away with just a slap on the wrist. The proof of this dichotomy in foreign policy though lies in the United States’ support for the extremely autocratic and violent regimes that control Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. In both countries, the popular uprisings have been systematically repressed. In mid-March Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy, sent troops into the island to support the Bahraini government. And although the United States has criticized the move, it dared not press too hard as relations were already strained after King Abdullah expressed his disdain for Obama’s apparent abandonment of Mubarak, who, like Abdullah, was a long-time ally of the United States. Obama’s administration has been even less inclined to comment on it’s allies’ little remorse for shooting protesters in the streets. Ahmad Chalabi, a Shiite member of the Iraqi Parliament, “denounced what he called a double standard in the Western powers’ response to the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East,” according to the New York Times. What the Iraqi Parliament member failed to recognize is that politics are dirty and that these two nations—Bahrain and Saudi Arabi—are vital to the region’s political and economic stability. Calling for regime change in either Saudi Arabia or Bahrain would cause severe problems not only for the United States, but also the world. Putting aside the obvious facts that Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading oil producer and that Bahrain is home to the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet, containment of Iran and its mullahs is a key goal of Ameri-
can policy for the Middle East. We all know the fall of Ahmadinejad is one of the United States’ deeply coveted goals. Seeing power change hands in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia would leave the Middle East’s power arena with one major actor, Iran. Among the things that would certainly occur include a war on Israel—a nation that is unquestionably an American ally—and even more frightening, Iran would have a nuclear warhead built in a matter of months. Thus, these two countries are extremely important pieces in the chess game of Middle Eastern power relations. The United States was also considering the effects of its interventions in Egypt, Libya and Yemen would have on Iran. The New York Times quoted Benjamin J. Rhodes, a senior aide to Obama: “The ability to apply this kind of force in the region this quickly—even as we deal with other military deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan—combined with the nature of this broad coalition—sends a very strong message to Iran about our capabilities, militarily and diplomatically.” Evidently, the United States is trying to send a message to Iran. This message is clear: Do not take actions that will threaten the status quo, or we will have no choice but to intervene. In Yemen, some read between the lines as a New York Times article pointed out that “criticism of the United States for failing to publicly support Yemen’s protesters has been loudest here, where the protesters insist the United States’ only concern is counterterrorism.” This may prove true. According to the New York Times, “American intelligence officials have collected information from informants and electronic intercepts that Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen has increased planning discussions about another attack.” These developments are a result of the chaotic security conditions in the Arabian peninsula and they are instigating fierce debates in Washington. The quicker Saleh leaves office the better, though, because the unrest will not be quelled until he’s gone. However, the Obama administration has made it clear that they won’t support—or even permit the ascendance of—any Yemeni leader that didn’t agree with the American policy of hunting down Al Qaeda and other fundamentalist groups in Yemen. In the case of Libya, Obama defended his decision to attack Qaddafi’s forces by claiming, “The democratic impulses that are dawning across the region would be eclipsed by the darkest form of dictatorship, as repressive leaders concluded that violence is the best strategy to cling to power.” He should not be so vain and treat us like children the next time he tries to justify another intervention. He ought to strip the romantic notions of spreading democracy from our actions in Egypt, Libya and any future troubled Arab countries like possibly Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The ideals of democracy, freedom, justice and human rights only really exist where we allow them to. The truth of the situation in the Middle East is simple, moral concerns may very well be superceded by practical ones. —Juan Dominguez ’13 is a political science major.
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“Culinary gems of Siberia.”
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“¡Fiesta!”
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Word on the mdlnzppl
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OPINIONS
Page 12
Military spending too costly SPENDING continued from page 10 the following question: What is conservative about cutting millions from programs that will help the government incur lower costs in the long run, especially when this is done to create cap room for superfluous expenditures, military or otherwise? Furthermore, how is this at all responsible? The last decade of “fiscal conservativism” under President George W. Bush made everyone reach for his or her dictionary to see if the definition of conservative had changed. How is increasing spending in almost every single department conserving any type of resource? To conserve our resources would be to get rid of pork barrel spending, which, unfortunately, appears to be the only way to build any type of infrastructure in this country. Instead of running the government under a tax-and-spend model, we are reducing taxes and increasing spending. This will cause more fiscal problems over time than the military–industrial complex could alone. Empire comes at a steep price; old Europe is a shell of its former glories. It is time to look at the recent history of France and Great Britain and take a lesson from their books, as we will be following in their footsteps. The United States has to look forward to the future, not continue to try and keep the past alive. We must weigh empire and the cost of maintaining our global position before it is too late, and we are unable to salvage our dignity. Soon, it will be time to give up our place on the pedestal, so we do not end up like Great Britain, an old relic clawing blindly for the global power it once held so dear.
April 7, 2011
Letter: Invigorating Vassar’s film community Alex Levy
T
Guest Columnist
o the film community on campus: Where are you? I am writing as a sophomore, a filmmaker, a recently declared film major and a member of the Vassar Filmmakers. Despite my prior investment in film on campus, I can’t help but notice that Vassar seems to lack an open forum for the film community to come together outside of class and discuss cinema. I think it would be nice to remedy this. As of this moment, there are two studentrun organizations that involve film: Vassar College Entertainment’s Film League and the Vassar Filmmakers. The Film League shows selected films on campus, which is awesome. I think the more film screenings available for students, the more students will be talking about films and the issues they raise. The Vassar Filmmakers, according to The Miscellany News, are “the only Vassar Student Association certified organization that serves the needs of filmmakers. The group was created in 2006 [sic. 2007], but in three years it has managed to provide students with accessible means to make movies. Members have easy access to high-quality film equipment, workshops and editing equipment.” (“Student filmmakers attempt to publicize projects, craft,” 11.03.09) This is particularly helpful for those of us who enjoy making films. But could it be more? Personally, I find it curious that there is such a large student-theater presence on campus and yet student film seems far less active. Certainly,
this can be somewhat attributed to qualities of the media themselves. In theatre, for example, the material is typically already written, making it a matter of searching out a script in order to start production. In film, on the other hand, a newly written script is typically required for each new project. If anything, though, student theater illustrates that people are interested in—and have time for—the collaborative arts. It just seems that those energies aren’t going into film as much as they could. I should mention that the Vassar Filmmakers has served a slightly more specific role than indicated in the aforementioned article: The group caters to students who would like to make films independently, outside of class. There seem to be plenty of students working on movies for their film and language classes, but not as many who are making films outside of class, out of sheer creative curiosity, as is happening in theater. Lately, I’ve been talking with the Vassar Filmmakers about expanding our appeal. Let’s make a place where anyone interested can come and discuss all things film. And not just filmmaking, though we’d hope people would come in with ideas and desires to make some movies. But we could discuss student films, Hollywood movies, films shown on campus, actors, screenplays, scores, favorite films and favorite directors, among other topics, and not just talk about them, but analyze them. We could turn off the sound and dissect a scene from a writer’s perspective or an actor’s perspective or simply the
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audience’s perspective. Seems like it could happen, right? We have these conversations all the time with our friends. Why not bring them out into the open? Ultimately, Vassar Filmmakers is a filmmaking group, so we want people to make films. But with a film community made up of filmmakers as well as actors, musicians, critics—curious students of all sorts—maybe then more people will want to make movies. I can picture an inspired anthropology student bringing a topic to an English student to write a script he or she hands to a film student, who brings in some music and theater friends who then all collaborate to make a full–blown student film. It could happen, right? Well, that depends on you. The Vassar Filmmakers is currently holding discussions about ways we can become more of a film hub on campus, whether it is by hosting more talks, screening shorts or revamping our website. Ultimately, though, it relies on your participation to get it rolling. Are you interested in film? Are you at all curious what fellow students are discussing in terms of film? Join us. Let’s come together and see what kind of work we can do. — Alex Levy ’13 is a film major and member of the Vassar Filmmakers. His ideas do not necessarily reflect or represent of the opinions of the Vassar Filmmakers or any other groups mentioned in this letter. The Vassar Filmmakers meet on Fridays from 5 to 6 p.m. in Rockefeller Hall 310.
HUMOR & SATIRE
April 7, 2011
Page 13
OPINIONS
The New Constitution of the Vassar Student Association Article VII: VSA Centaurs
An open letter to the next American Idol winner Tom Renjilian Columnist
Section 1: Composition A. Those members of the VSA Council not on the VSA Executive Board who possess the torsos of men and the hindquarters of majestic equines shall be known as VSA Centaurs. B. There shall be 15 VSA Centaurs in total serving on the VSA Council at all times, unless there happens to be a full moon and their services are required to keep the werewolf tribe by Sunset Lake at bay. C. The senior, junior, sophomore and freshman classes shall each have three VSA Centaur representatives serving on the VSA Council. At least one VSA Centaur from each class must be a Thoroughbred; Shetland ponies need not apply. 1. One VSA Centaur from each class shall ex officio be the class president. His/her duties include overseeing the Stargazing, Prophecy, Healing and Warfare subcommittees. 2. The class president shall also guard the outer bolgia of the seventh circle of Hell, which is for murderers. 3. The remaining two VSA Centaurs from each class shall be elected, at-large, from their class, after a series of tests determining archery prowess (i.e. the ability to shoot a Retreat pear off the head of the President of the College from a hundred paces away). 4. VSA Centaurs shall be inducted in a ceremony where they are offered chalices of unicorn blood and must refuse it on moral grounds. Section 2: Powers and Responsibilities A. VSA Centaurs from the classes shall represent the interests and priorities of their constituents, such as using the constellations to predict whether or not you should NRO Intro to Ancient Runes. B. VSA Centaurs shall serve as advocates for their respective classes. They shall collaborate with College faculty, administrators and the VSA Executive Board on issues and policies most pertinent to students, such as lobbying for more spacious stables and more kill-it-yourself options at the All Campus Dining Center. C. VSA Centaurs should replace their horseshoes no less than twice per semester. To do otherwise is unseemly. D. Regardless of constituency, all VSA Centaurs shall hold equal voting power on the VSA Council. Tie votes shall be decided by repeated kicks to the face until one side backs down. E. All VSA Centaurs shall abide by the duties of the individual members of the VSA Council, as set forth in Article XI, Section 2. Just because they have luscious tails, the speed of ten men and the ability to divine the weather doesn’t mean they’re better than everyone else. © 25th VSAlannaOkun Council 2011
4/7/11
D
ear Weird Freshman Boy Who Is Always Singing In The Shower,
I’d first like to start by apologiodzing for bringing this up in such a public forum,* but I was left with no other option. When I made a noise complaint to Security they just laughed and said, “Stop being such an insufferable asshole,” and I would have approached you in person, but after hearing last Wednesday’s cover of “Raining Blood” by Slayer I’m sincerely afraid of you. So, this is the best I can do. I’m just going to get to the point. You need to stop singing. You really need to stop. Please stop. I don’t care if you didn’t get into a musical this semester or that you didn’t have time to schedule voice lessons or that you got kicked out of your a capella group because you weren’t irritating enough. As my mom always tells me, “No excuses, bitch.” Now, don’t get me wrong, I love music! I can’t get enough of it! I listen to music occasionally when I’m alone in my room, and I’ve even been known to tap my feet and hum along to the latest Ke$ha ditty while I stand against the back wall of the Mug watching freshmen. But there’s a time and a place for music, and the time is not 9 a.m. and the place is not any shower in close proximity to me. As if “singing” itself weren’t bad enough, you have incredibly questionable taste.** I don’t want to hear you croaking along to “Float On” by Modest Mouse while I’m in the shower. In fact, unless it’s 2004 and I’m smoking marijuana for the first time with all the lights turned off during a commercial break of “Degrassi,” exclaiming without irony, “Oh man I’m floating right now, dude,” I never want to hear “Float On” by Modest Mouse EVER. (Full Disclosure: It was actually just an empty rolled up piece of paper. Fuller Disclosure: I was alone. I didn’t even have a lighter. I don’t know who I thought I was fooling, but it felt so right.) I don’t want to be too harsh, Weird Freshman Boy. I understand the temptation: You feel so safe, so alone, so anonymous behind that moldy shower curtain. So why not just LET LOOSE and EXPRESS YOURSELF
Weekly Calendar: 4/7 - 4/13 sponsored meth lab?” Sanders Physics.
3 p.m. Tea. Things Vassar could have done with the $1.98
12 p.m. Joss Beach Bash. This is the morning* after my 21st
million they just realized was missing. Rose Parlor.
birthday and takes place directly below my bedroom window, so only come if you plan on whispering. Joss Beach. * NOON IS MORNING YOU JUDGMENTAL LOSERS.
butt whilst Chromeo’s remix of “Friday” pounds through the Mug speakers. Mug.
Friday, 4/8, a.k.a. my birthday. Plan accordingly. 11 a.m. Vegan Cooking Class. Now that’s an oxymoron. (JUST
KIDDING, VEGANS, PLEASE STILL DATE ME). Ferry.
10 p.m. Roaring 20s. It’s actually the Roaring 1620s, so break out your favorite bonnet and let that special someone know how badly you want to sign his or her Mayflower Compact. Free gruel and hardtack for those over 21! UpC.
Sunday, 4/10
3 p.m. Tea. Started including chips and pickles again with
3 p.m. Opera Workshop. Truth time: If it’s not the Hey Arnold!
Retreat sandwiches. Actually, with that much money we could even have started to reverse the catastrophic effects of No-More-Pesto-On-Grilled-Cheese-Gate. Rose Parlor.
version of “Carmen,” nobody’s really interested. Skinner.
Monday, 4/11 2 p.m. Majors Fair. There’s actually no such major as media
8 p.m. “The Cradle Will Rock.” If the cradle’s a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’, or you’ll be a-cock-blockin’. Martel.
studies; it’s all just some giant media studies project engineered to make us reconsider social constructs. Villard Room.
Saturday, 4/ 9
3 p.m. Tea. Bought chairs for the Library that do not automatically make your butt go numb after hours of intensive studying (i.e. waiting for someone to post about you on
11 a.m. Chemistry Department Magic Show. You guys, is this
supposed to be some elaborate top-secret code for “Vassar-
Stolen shampoo-ily yours, Tom * LOL jk like eight people read the Miscellany and only two of them got past the 18 pages of opinions articles about the VSA/ study drugs/Israel or whatever. ** Check out my music blog: www.pitchforkmedia.com
by Alanna Okun, Humor & Satire Editor
Thursday, 4/7
6 p.m. “No Exit.” Hell is other people trying to touch your
through SONG? Anonymity can be so liberating! It makes you feel like you can say or do whatever you want. Like that time I posted my cover of the Glee cover of “Pokerface” on YouTube and ChristianDad69 told me I sounded like a “dying cat being fucked by the Dave Matthews Band.” But I think I’d actually prefer YouTubecomment-style, anonymous cruelty to your more unusual form of torture. Seriously, feel free to stand in your shower and shout carefully crafted, misspelled insults about my body or something. JUST STOP SINGING. I may not know who you are, but I can still hate the featureless, soapcovered nude body that I’ve constructed in my mind to represent you. I know it might be hard to kick the habit but I’d like to help you! I’ve assembled a list of appropriate shower behaviors that you can substitute for your wretched singing: »» Cleaning your gross body. »» Washing your greasy hair. »» Applying your Neutrogena Oil Free Acne Wash. (I’m assuming you have terrible skin.) »» Having sex with your weird girlfriend. (Silently.) »» Ripping out huge clumps of your hair and leaving them in the drain. (Silently.) »» Peeing. Don’t those all sound fun? All right, admittedly, I might be overreacting. Maybe I’m just disturbingly passive-aggressive and have an inability to live with others. Or maybe it’s just that every time I go into the bathroom I get into a foul mood because I’m reminded that “The Weekly Squat” will always be more popular than my bathroom-stall publication “The Monthly Period.” Either way, Shower Singer, it needs to stop. Oh, but I did really enjoy Monday’s rendition of “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It).” More of that, please!
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
Likealittle). Or, barring that, hired a trained butt masseuse to man the 24-Hour Study Space. Rose Parlor. 10 p.m. Trivia Night. Question #12: Why do the vending machines all sell multiple varieties of Stacy’s dumb stupid pita chips and zero varieties of Milk Duds? Is it valid to label this act a microaggression? Faculty Commons.
Tuesday, 4/12 3 p.m. Tea. Installed some sort of bathroom security device so we could identify the culprits who routinely leave condom wrappers in the showers, errant hairs in other peoples’ razors and fish in the toilets. Rose Parlor. 5 p.m. Kathrine Switzer Lecture. So apparently Switzer
was the first woman to ever run the Boston Marathon. Big whoop; I’ve seen girls wearing three-inch heels sprint from the SoCos to the THs in like two minutes when they hear the jungle juice is about to run out. UpC.
Wednesday, 4/13 3 p.m. Tea. Hired someone to politely and tactfully inform
them when $1.98 million goes missing. Rose Parlor.
ARTS
Page 14
April 7, 2011
Georgian prints give rise to rich political, satirical culture Emma Daniels Reporter
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his past November, The Miscellany News reported about the trip politically active students took to Washington, D.C. to attend Jon Stewart’s and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. The fact that about 50 Vassar students, and over 200,000 people, attended this event is an obvious testament to the fact that political satire is deeply engrained in today’s culture. On Thursday, April 7, the Vassar community will get the chance to experience some political satire before the advent of television and the talk shows of Comedy Central. The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC) will open a new exhibit entitled Thomas Rowlandson: Pleasures and Pursuits in Georgian England that examines political cartoons as the foundation of modern political satire. Following the exhibition opening, on Friday, April 8, there will be a conversation between Linda Colley, the Shelby M.C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University, and Vassar’s Professor of Art Brian Lukacher. They will discuss the social and political currents reflected in Rowlandson’s work. The conversation will take place in Taylor Hall, room 102, at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by a reception in the Art Center. The exhibit’s curator, FLLAC Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings Patricia Phagan, said, “The conversation will be an informal one between two scholars—one from history, the other from art history, so it’s rather an experiment. I wanted to get different perspectives on the same topic. It should be really lively.” Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1837)
The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center’s new exhibit, Thomas Rowlandson: Pleasures and Pursuits in Georgian England, opens today. Rowlandson’s most well-known piece, “The Devonshire, or Most Approved Method of Securing Votes,” appears above. was a famous British artist and caricaturist, considered by many as the most important social satirist of his time. The exhibit at the FLLAC is the first major show in 20 years on Rowlandson in the United States. It features 72 watercolors and prints, and examines Rowlandson’s ironic outlook on Britain and British culture during the late Georgian era. The prints are lighthearted and witty, but also controversial and racy. “In terms of the politics of the time, Rowlandson was very influential because he made some wonderful and highly influential and controversial political caricatures of the leading personali-
ties of the time,” Phagan said. Phagan divided Rowlandson’s pieces into the major themes she saw in his work, which include high society and politics, clubs and taverns, outdoor entertainments, sex and romance, and the street. She also made sure to feature Rowlandson’s most famous piece prominently in the show, commenting: “Other satirists used this piece as a model for their later work.” The piece, called “The Devonshire, or Most Approved Method of Securing Votes, 1,784,” depicts Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, hugging a butcher.
“Although of course the Duchess would do this in real life, Rowlandson took the step of picturing her as a prostitute,” said Phagan. “He’s commenting on the fact that she was a scandalous figure because she went out into the streets to canvass for votes.” The piece is also very representative of Rowlandson’s style of art, characterized by lighthearted, deft humor and an unmatched flowing line. Rowlandson was renowned as a highly skilled draughtsman, as he paid careful attention to hand-etching designs and finally washing his works delicately with color.
Phagan described Rowlandson’s style as different from those who came before him, specifically William Hogarth, who was known for the detail and highly moralizing sense in his work. “Rowlandson’s work is much more focused,” Phagan said, adding, “In [“The Devonshire”], he focuses in on the personality of the Duchess without adding extraneous details.” According to Professor Lukacher, Vassar’s specialist on European visual culture during the 18th and 19th centuries, “Like the best caricature artists, Rowlandson brings a sexual charge and barely repressed sense of violence to his imagery, which consistently suggests that the fragile structures and pretenses of society and its normative values are always on the verge of erupting into chaos and disorder.” Lukacher also discussed the degree to which Rowlandson was able to turn caricature into a highly popular commercial art form throughout the 19th century. Although many of the watercolors featured come from the FLLAC’s permanent collection and the Vassar Library’s Archives and Special Collections, “The Devonshire” is on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Phagan started collecting works a few years ago, not only from the Metropolitan Museum of Art but also the Yale Center for British Art, Lewis Walpole Library and Beinecke Library. Although Rowlandson worked a very different medium and generations before, say, Jon Stewart, the work of the artist certainly led to the pursuits of the modern comedian, as both highlight the flaws of certain leaders, influence the popularity and reputations of those in power, and offer clever criticisms of social and political trends.
McGlennan to read poems of familial, Ojibwe heritage Adam Buchsbaum
Assistant Features Editor
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Courtesy of blog.saltpublishing.com
hy is there a book of poetry entitled Fried Fish and Flour Biscuits? According to Assistant Professor of English Molly McGlennen, the book’s author, “It’s a line from one of the poems in the collection,” adding, “I had this idea running through the collection about poetry as recipes for living.” McGlennen started from the notion that food nourishes us, and then explored the larger idea of what nourishes us throughout life. And much of this nourishment is from McGlennen’s unique heritage as an Ojibwe, a group of Native Americans that traditionally lived in areas of North America recognized today as Minnesota, Wisconsin and Canada. She dedicated the book to her Ojibwe grandmother, explaining, “My grandmother made these flour biscuits that I loved. She passed away right before the book came out. So it’s a gift to her too.” McGlennen’s book is an exploration of living as a mixed Ojibwe person in an urban, 21stcentury setting with her rich family history and heritage. McGlennen drew upon the various stories she has grown up with as an Ojibwe woman. McGlennen drew upon her personal, individual life and stories of her parents, aunts and other ancestry as inspiration for her work. “I felt this responsibility as a carrier of these stories,” McGlennen said. “It felt like these stories needed to be told.” In fact, much of the poetry from her book is written on behalf of or in honor of someone. “Poetry is connection making,” she said. “It’s what feeds us.” Her stories vary in content from her large family’s tradition of having meals together each Sunday to the time she and her grandmother parted when she left for university. “Little quiet moments like that really spoke volumes to this legacy of women— how just in two generations things have transformed,” she said.
McGlennen began writing poetry in high school, and went on to major in English at college. After writing “enough poems,” as she put it, she decided to move on to graduate school and received a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing. McGlennen primarily writes poetry, though she has dabbled with prose. “I always thought of myself as only a poet,” she said. McGlennen explained her preference for poetry, describing the form’s looser structure and ability to layer multiple narratives. She finds moments when narratives “intersect and erupt” to be wonderful and rare. “It’s like a puzzle. It’s exciting to figure it out—find those creases, find those moments of eruption.” This looser quality of poetry also allows McGlennen to cover multiple voices. “The ‘I’ in my poems is many people at once,” she said. One example of this theory in practice comes in a poem she wrote in the first-person on a woman’s decision to have an abortion. “This story is a culmination of so many women,” she said. The poem has a dedication: “for so many women.” McGlennen also feels poetry educates in a way that prose cannot: Learning to read poetry is a necessary experience. “It demands this kind of close reading and critical thinking you don’t get with anything else,” she said. “You have half the pieces of the puzzle and you have to fill in the rest.” In addition, its rhythmic, oral quality is unique, and lends itself to the Ojibwe tradition of dream songs. These songs recount the uncanny and explain the spirit world. McGlennen, who holds a doctorate in Native American studies from the University of California, Davis, also teaches classes on the subject in the American Culture Department. Both her passion for writing poetry and for Native American studies surface in all her classes. “When I was an English major at the University of San Diego I was never asked to read one native author,” she said. McGlennen found this
Assistant Professor of English Molly McGlennen, pictured left, will read from Fried Fish and Flour Biscuits, a book of poetry that explores her Native American heritage, on April 11 in Taylor Hall 203. a shameful void in her education. She said, “No matter who you are or what your background is I think it would be a disservice to go and get a Vassar education and never read a native author.” According to Professor of English and CoChair of the English Department Patricia Wallace, “[McGlennen’s poetry] reflects someone who loves and embodies her Anashinaabe heritage, someone with a deeply perceptive eye for both human behavior and the natural world, someone refreshingly honest with a love for language, someone with a compassionate heart that informs everything she does.” McGlennen will read from her book on April 11 at 5:30 p.m. in Taylor Hall 203. The reading will begin with an introduction of McGlen-
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nen by co-Chair of the English Department Pat Wallace. After reading for about 45 minutes, McGlennen will have a question-and-answer session and sign and sell copies of her book. “I like to talk, tell little stories—talk in between the poems. Be casual,” said McGlennen. She will tell stories on how she came to write certain poems, as well as unveil new, unpublished poetry to the audience. “I invite anyone to come, even if you think you might not be interested. I hope I can transform your ideas of what a poetry reading might be like and have some fun,” she said, adding, “I believe in…using poetry as communion, if you will. I’m offering this up as prayers, if you will. I hope this heals somebody in some way.”
ARTS
April 7, 2011
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Muraling for Change brightens Main St. Connor O’Neill
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Assistant Arts Editor
bout halfway down Main Street in downtown Poughkeepsie, on the corner of Rose St. where the Citgo station sits, there is an abandoned lot. But not for long. Through the efforts of Marshall Hendrickson ’11 and the community organizing program Rooting for Change, several high school students from Poughkeepsie will work with Hendrickson to revive the space by painting a colorful, vibrant mural on a vacant wall. Rooting for Change, a program that started last spring through the efforts of Assistant Professor of Education Colette Cann and urban studies student Dylan Hamilton ’11, works to reach out to and educate youths through an after-school garden program. The program, which works in collaboration with organizations such as the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, uses both work and life skills to address issues of equity, access and achievement. After the initial success of the gardening component of the program last summer, the group decided to expand their scope to a more artistic sphere. “They had the idea to start a sister program,” Hendrickson said, “that would focus on the arts, giving students after school work opportunities to those who wanted an alternative to gardening.” So in the fall of 2010 Hendrickson joined Rooting for Change and began running an art program with three students under the name Muraling for Change. An art history major at Vassar and an artist himself, Hendrickson’s involvement with Muraling for Change gives him an opportunity to apply his academic endeavors in a real world, community setting. He has enjoyed the process of engaging with students through this medium; however, the project started more as art instruction than a big-scale mural making: “We spent last semester going over the basics—drawing the body,
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landscapes, still life, mixing colors, working with negative and positive space,” he said, explaining, “It was all paper and pencil because we hadn’t secured funding at the time.” But with a recent re-allocation of funds, Muraling for Change is set to realize their eponymous goal. Hendrickson spoke of the mural medium as having a particular power to facilitate collaboration and accommodate multiple points of view. “The aesthetic of collaboration is a unique trait for the medium ... The artistic process of making a mural is far different than a normal studio painting, you have to balance multiple artistic voices and styles, and make sure each is heard equally.” And this seems to be the thrust of the project as a whole. “It requires kids to share with each other their ideas and artistic styles...to be open to others’ critique,” he noted. “The teamwork aspect of mural making has been an integral component of the program, emphasizing the importance of collaborating fluidly as a unit.” In addition, the mural project provides kids with an opportunity to not only see potential for change through the use of art in their community, but it also gives them the tools to energize a previously vacant space. Before any of the collaboration could begin, two crucial processes had to be enacted. The first was to secure a space. Luckily for the program, Academic Computing Consultant for Visual Research and artist Matthew Slaats had recently secured an empty lot on Main Street and has graciously offered one of the walls to Muraling for Change. “Securing public space is half the battle,” Hendrickson explained, “but we got extremely lucky for [Slaats’] willingness to let us use the space. I am very thankful.” Slaats is the co-host of “Dead Hare Radio Hour,” a new show on WVKR devoted to documenting artistic going-ons throughout
A weekly space highlighting the creative pursuits of student-artists
the Hudson Valley. This collaboration is simply another testament to the fact that the Muraling for Change project places participants within a broader framework of community involvement. The second process, and perhaps more important to the overall project, was to build a system of support and trust in each other. “All of the students and I are a little vulnerable when we create art together. It’s not easy for one to express their creative side if it’s not a habit.” And the program has worked to do just that. But it has not been without its trials: “at first not everyone was confident in their artistic abilities but it has been a fantastic exercise of self-expression to share our artwork with one another,” said Hendrickson. And just as the donation from Slaats cleared the physical space for the project, such trust building has opened up a dimension of creative comfort through which the project can truly take off. The concept of the mural painting is the riverfront landscape of Poughkeepsie featuring some of the more recognizable monuments of the area: the bridge and the walkway. The foreground will feature the slogan “the future is your choice” and the text will be flanked by an athlete on one side and a student on the other. Calling attention to the depiction of the positive outcomes of constructive work and the fact that the mural enforces a sense of place and local pride, Hendrickson stressed the universality of the piece: “All the images and the intention of the piece will be recognizable to the students’ peers.” Looking forward to getting outside and down to work, Hendrickson said, “Now that we have been working with each other for a few months now, everyone feels comfortable in expressing themselves artistically. It’s been a great change to see.”
“Four Tet’s album Everything Ecstatic.”
Kristian Georgiev ’13
“50 Cent, of course!”
Jevon Dubose
“Benoit Eioulard. I just discovered him the other day.”
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Anna Rogulina ’11
“Totally listening to LMFAO all the time. ‘Everyday I’m Shufflin’’.”
Michael Kaluzny ’14 “Malcolm Holcomb. I took a really good nap listening to him.”
Manse Jennings ’13
I first visited the A. Scott Warthin Museum of Geology & Natural History—that small, mysterious depository of skeletons, geodes and other natural objects in the ground floor of Ely Hall—on a weekday afternoon in late November. I was looking for inspiration for a final project in Introduction to Printmaking, knowing only that I wanted to create an etching of some sort of animal skeleton. My teacher directed me to the museum, and I wandered over with camera in hand. What was supposed to be a short visit mid-class quickly turned into a two-hour-long photography shoot; I found the displays of stones, corals, trilobites and skeletons all immensely beautiful. But perhaps the most fascinating item was a tabletop diorama, which modeled a miniature landscape of mountains,
tall trees and a huge hot spring. What emerged in my numerous photographs of it were depictions of a quiet, insulated world, void of humans but still obviously man-made. I thought this particular shot was especially successful—the out-of-focus hot spring makes a beautiful wash of color behind the four trees, and the reflections on the glass remind the viewer that we are much larger—and much removed—from this secret realm. It is the closest I’ve come in my work to fantasy, and I’d like to think it possesses some sort of commentary on representations of nature, and the way it has been removed from human’s habitat and transplanted into our imagination. —Julie Halpert, Photography Editor
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“‘I’m Drinking Rum and Redbull’ by Beenie Man. It’s an awesome Jamaican song.”
Caitlin Smart ’12 —Rachael Borné Arts Editor
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“Cradle” a struggle of the classes
In voice and guitar, O’Kelly a versatile act Shruti Manian
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Reporter
hen Catherine O’Kelly ’11 watched The Sound of Music as a seven year old she was entranced by the spirit and passion the music conveyed. When she got her first guitar as a birthday present that same year, O’Kelly was thrilled. She comes from a family with a decided bent for the arts that encouraged her to pursue the arts at a very young age. “My mother plays the piano and she really believed that music is something that everyone should be involved in,” said O’Kelly. O’Kelly, who has grown into a Spanish guitar specialist, began learning the instrument through the Suziki method. “It’s basically a technique where you’re made to learn music by listening to it,” she explained, adding, “It emphasizes gaining a foundation, understanding correct technique and most importantly— it is a way of life. You learn discipline and develop so much as a person.” After taking so well to the guitar, O’Kelly decided to broaden her horizons and started learning the oboe and the piano when she was 10. But the guitar still continued to be the instrument she loved the most. “Guitar has always been the instrument I am most at home with; I feel I have a personal connection with the music,” she said. One of the most defining moments in O’Kelly’s musical career came on a high school choir trip to Japan. She there became convinced that music was her calling. “We were on stage with all these Japanese students, and there was no way we could communicate because we spoke different languages, but when we started playing our music, it just all came together. We were joined together by the passion we felt for our music,” she said. At that point, O’Kelly finally realized music was her calling. At the end of high school she began searching for colleges that offered her a chance to hone her musical talents and her search brought her to Vassar. A music and philosophy double major, O’Kelly no doubt has a packed schedule; however, she also makes time to participate in numerous music groups on campus. She sings with the Women’s Choir and is the director of the Mahogany Chorus. “I think it’s a lot of fun to sing in all sorts of groups. I love the fact that no one is forced to be there, they are all there because they want to be,” said O’Kelly. While she admits that balancing classes
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CRADLE continued from page 1 stems from the fact that it is both a musical and forward-thinking, two traits not often associated with each other. He said, “I wanted to do this play ever since I saw it as an undergraduate. I had a real desire to do musical theater, but it is hard to find a musical that is not regressive.” The play was chosen to go up in part because of its strong connection to the College’s history and the resonance that it has to the increasingly hierarchal and industrial society in which we all live. The play’s themes relate directly to Vassar’s history simply because of the location where it will be shown—the Powerhouse Theater. Completed in 1964, the building was the first central heating plant constructed in the United States, with smoke stack and all. What is now the Powerhouse was once the site of three boilers, two benches of gas retorts, purifiers and coal storage. This setting is appropriate for the play, as it parallels the urban, political, societal and physical context of “The Cradle Will Rock.” Today the Powerhouse Theater is a black box, a type of theater space especially conducive to authentic and explorative performances. According to Grabowski, “Everything is exposed, and is suited to the rawness of the theater. Here the actors are truly celebrated as workers.” The space is very simple in terms of lighting and set design so that more attention is directed to the performance and the play’s overall message. In the 1960s and 1970s black-box theater was experimented with as a type of low-cost experimental theater where just about any space could be reconstructed into a set. Because the play advocates for the rights of lower-class workers who are demanding better working conditions, pay and rights, the black-box theater setting is highly appropriate. In the same way that Larry Foreman works to organize a social uprising in opposition to social greed, black-box theaters originally functioned as an outlet for performances by the lower class. “The Cradle Will Rock” can be seen as a social change production from the ground up. Not only does the play resonate with the Powerhouse Theater, but themes explored through “The Cradle Will Rock” also apply to current issues plaguing modern audiences. The play takes place in a time in history when unemployment was very high, as it is today. According to Marlena Crowell ’14, who will act as a member of the liberty committee in the play, “The designers of this production tried to create a parallel between the two times. There are slogans and themes from the early 20th century that are matched with more contemporary references of our time.” Througout the play, there is even mention of the conflict in the Middle East, as characters rise up to assert that enough is enough—the cradle must be rocked. John Plotz ’13, the music director of the production, explained, “The Drama Department has done a remarkable job making this play their own, notably by relating the large-scale events that take place on stage to the smallerscale ones that are happening on campus.” The musical component of the production will be just as exciting as the plot and setting. Plotz, who will accompany the play with piano, commented that the music is essentially a character in itself. He said, “Even when it doesn’t accompany a number, it will often be playing in the background behind dialogue. Because of this, it’s instrumental (no pun intended!) in creating the mood of the play.” Scenes within “The Cradle Will Rock” range from serious to funny, passionate to sad. These feelings are backed up by music, as some parts include energetic jazz pieces, one a gorgeous love song and some colorful dance numbers. With its appropriate setting, varied and emotional musical score and incorporation of themes relevant to Vassar students, the Drama Department’s production of “The Cradle Will Rock” will no doubt rock audience assumptions concerning corruption and corporate greed today, and over the last 50 years.
April 7, 2011
Senior Catherine O’Kelly began playing the guitar at the age of 7, learning the instrument through the Suziki method. After graduation, she plans to attend the Hartt School of Music to study guitar performance. and all her numerous music commitments can often be challenging, O’Kelly emphasizes that her love for music makes all those sleepless nights more than worth it. “Sometimes it just feels like I’m running from rehearsal to rehearsal and then staying up nights writing papers, but in the end I know I love what I am doing,” she said. As a senior O’Kelly recently performed her Senior Recital, which took place on April 2 in the Skinner Hall of Music. She sees her recital as a culmination of all her hard work and love for music, as she played her favorite pieces. “This is the sum of my life thus far. I’ve been working for this for almost my entire life, and it’s music that I’ve carried with me forever,” said O’Kelly. She finds inspiration for her pursuits in Spanish guitar from musicians like John Williams. “I want to spread classical guitar music, because it’s so special and diverse. And it’s not yet mainstream,” she said. A John Williams CD that her mother bought her as a child was especially infuential in her Senior Recital repertoire choices, as five of the nine pieces are from the CD. “Romance of a Guitar really challenged the way I looked at music and I actually believe that John Williams is the best guitarist in the world,” said O’Kelly. The pieces in her recital ranged from Bach to John Williams and
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Baroque to Spanish music. Her two favorites were “Sunburst” by York, which she described as a “jazzy” number, and “Capricho Arabe” by Tarrega. “I feel ‘Sunburst’ is a piece that the audiences liked, while ‘Capricho Arabe’ is a piece I have been playing for the longest time. It’s traveled and evolved with me and I’ve had the chance to perfect it,” she said. After she graduates from Vassar this year, O’Kelly plans to attend the Hartt School of Music to get a graduate degree in guitar performance. At Hartt, O’Kelly will specialize in guitar performance, but she wants to maintain all her musical interests as well. “The way I look at it, I feel I am just emphasizing guitar and not leaving everything else behind. I’ll find my way into a chorus or an orchestra and most importantly I will enjoy whatever it is that I will be doing,’’ said O’Kelly. She then hopes to become a guitar teacher. “All through my life, I have wanted to be a teacher. Teaching music to children is so important to me because it goes far beyond just giving lessons, I will be giving them a way of life,” said O’Kelly. She sees her music as an intrinsic facet of her personality and gives people a chance to see the uninhibited and freespirited side of her. “I am quiet on the surface, but my music conveys the passion there is in me,” O’Kelly said.
April 7, 2011
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Page 17
Exit Through the Gift Shop between eccentric, deranged Exit Through the Gift Shop Bansky [Revolver]
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he German rubber entrepreneur Fitzcarraldo from Werner Herzog’s 1982 eponymous film might be considered a visionary, but to a great extent he is simply insane. The hero of Herzog’s film attempts the impossible by moving a 300-ton steamship over the treacherous terrain of Peruvian jungles to access an untapped rubber grove. But as it turns out, Fitzcarraldo’s grandiosity is outdone by someone even more visionary and deranged: Herzog himself. Burden of Dreams, a making-of documentary released in tandem with Fitzcarraldo, painted a dark tableau of Herzog’s artistic intensity on the set of his masterpiece, and profoundly examined the very nature of the art’s creation. Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary in the same vein as Burden of Dreams. It highlights the work of an artist, both visionary and deranged, who leaves an indelible mark on his medium. But this documentary differs from Burden of Dreams in a very important respect: The artist in question is simply not good. Thierry Guetta, also known as the street artist Doctor Mindwash, is passionate, imaginative and successful, but there is no sidestepping the fact that he is an amateur with little to no talent. On one level, Exit Through the Gift Shop works as a fascinating look at the craft of street
art. But what makes the film truly grand is its hilarious and absurd story of Guetta’s rise to stardom that makes one question the nature of art itself. To be fair, it is perhaps a stretch to call Guetta deranged. But there is no question that the man exudes eccentricity, if not derangement. When the documentary begins in 1999, he is a French immigrant in Los Angeles and owner of a successful outlet store. He rocks facial hair comparable to Ambrose Burnsides and a vintage fedora that belongs in a Jean Renoir movie. He films literally every waking moment of his life on an analog camcorder, and hoards the unwatched videos in his basement. Early on in the film, we see him pursuing celebrities down Hollywood Boulevard for impromptu interviews. It conjures up the image of someone who is all at once a hipster, an obnoxious tourist and an overexcitable seven year old. On a trip to France, Guetta becomes fascinated by a project his cousin is working on. The cousin is no other than Invader, the guerilla artist famous for posting mosaics of the pixilated aliens from the video game Space Invader in conspicuous public spaces. Guetta begins to film Invader’s creative process, from gluing together tesserae in his garage to plastering the aliens on street corners, restaurant signs and concrete walls. Guetta meets other guerilla artists such as Shepard Fairey through Invader, and soon he is immersed in the crepuscular, urban underworld that is street art. Are Invader and his friends vandals or artists? What they do is not strictly legal; when
Guetta films Fairey and Invader at work, they are always alert for the presence of cops and use their newfound accomplice as a watchman. But the film makes a very convincing case that their activity is not criminal. Their devil-maycare subversive art turns concrete and brick façades into canvasses rife with imagery that is quirky, colorful, gritty and meaningful. But Exit Through the Gift Shop is hardly revolutionary in its celebration of street art; the medium has already gained much international popularity. Consider President Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign: The blue and red tinted image of the then-Illinois Senator underscored with the word “hope” became iconic for the candidate’s base of support. The image was originally urban art authored by none other than Shepard Fairey. And of course, there is the director of the film himself: Banksy. The anonymous urban artist and political activist is notorious worldwide not just for his stunning images, but for the theatricality of his work; his art has sprung up in locations as public as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyworld. Through his guerilla art connections, Guetta eventually meets the elusive Banksy and becomes the first filmmaker ever be given permission to document him at work. The two form a bond, especially after Guetta protects Banksy’s identity from the FBI when he is interrogated following the “hit” on Disneyworld. But Guetta’s relationship with the urban art community begins to wear, especially after
Banksy encourages him to create a documentary out of his extensive footage. Guetta takes to Final Cut Pro and indeed makes a film, but the result is a meaningless imbroglio of images and noise. In the words of Banksy, who gives interviews with his face hidden and voice distorted, “It was at that point that I realized that maybe Thierry wasn’t actually a filmmaker, and he was maybe just someone with mental problems who happened to have a camera.” Six months later, Guetta reveals his own 300ton steamship: an epic gallery of his own urban art in the spirit of Banksy, Fairey and friends. His work is wholly unoriginal. He borrows elements from popular urban art, and uses a team of young artists to churn out pieces like a production line. And yet thanks to a successful guerrilla marketing campaign, the exhibit becomes the toast of Los Angeles, to the chagrin of his peers. Says Banksy: “Most artists take years to develop their style, Thierry seemed to miss out on all those bits.” So what is Exit Through the Gift Shop’s bottom line? It’s hard to glean anything tangible from Banksy’s documentary. Whereas Herzog’s celebrity is justified by his art, Mr. Brainwash’s popularity makes one question the validity of the art community today. But this is where it gets interesting: It has been speculated that the film is actually a hoax propagated by Mr. Brainwash himself. It gives new meta-significance to one interviewees concluding remarks: “I don’t know who the joke’s on. I don’t even know if there is a joke at all.”
Big K.R.I.T. Returnof4eva self-released to great acclaim Returnof4eva Big K.R.I.T. [Island Def Jam]
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his mixtape might well have been titled “King Remembered in Time”—the phrase that serves as the long form of the Meridian, Miss. rapper’s acronymic name Big K.R.I.T. So concerned with how he fits into the arc of southern rappers and how his particular upbringing in King City (the nickname for Meridian) has shaped his individual position in both time and space, the title would be fitting. But K.R.I.T. doesn’t need to lean on such a title, for his lyricism on his second mixtape speaks for itself. And besides, a self-titled album wouldn’t quite fit with the blue disposition of the rapper, whose last two music videos—“Hometown Hero” from last summer’s release Krit Wuz Here and “Dreamin’,” the lead single from Return of 4eva—end with his eyes cast down. The second single from the mixtape, the scathing mission statement “American Rapstar,” begins with K.R.I.T. speaking: “An A&R once told me ‘you can determine the worth of a song within 15 seconds of it playing’ with complete and utter lack of the fact that it takes all three minutes and 40 seconds of a song to comprehend what I’m sayin’. It ain’t a single if it don’t fly, it’s not a hit if it don’t ride.” Indeed it takes repeated listens to even hand-check what K.R.I.T. is up to here. Once in, however, it seems as if K.R.I.T. has taken some of the advice to heart, as he melds a high level of conceptual lyricism with infectious hooks and a glossy production whose horns call to mind late 1990s Outkast and glossy synth work that is reminis-
cent of the Memphis duo 8Ball & MJG. Hear him as he ends his first verse on the track, “you’ll never know what the time’ll tell/ And see you starve or you find the scale/You either buying or you tryin’ a sell/You either fall or you grind the rails,” over the creeping harmony of a Marvin Gaye sample. The hunger in this exploration of the limbo between major label rap star and underground king, between resentment for an A&R deflating artistic integrity to seconds of sound, and seeing the path to fame policed by that same gatekeeper is the driving force of this mixtape. And K.R.I.T. draws this tension out of himself with such verve and frankness that his tone of voice feels like the texture produced by such excavation. If his voice is an old-school Chevy, this is the wood grain finish on the interior. Granted, a southern artist working to maintain artistic integrity in the face of a profitcentric system is not the newest phenomenon, which makes his title all the more apt. And he makes his influences known from the start. In the R4 intro, the repeated phrase “the return of foreva, foreva eva” cites Outkast’s smash “Ms. Jackson,” but is certainly not the only nod to the southern grandfathers of rap who have produced K.R.I.T. And he does this remembering in time to the beat of “Dreamin’” the bluish, lush lead single from the project. A song that is as much Biggie’s “Juicy” as Ludacris’ “Growin Pains,” K.R.I.T., in all his hunger, takes nibbles out of the sample (Brothers of Soul’s “Dream”) instead of swallowing it whole. And in each verse’s bite he traces the progression of his career. Starting by rapping to his dad about the “cars and the clothes/Shrimp and the lobster/That I heard about like word of mouth/The UGK tape and Scarface will turn ya out,” and then writing
rhymes on his baseball glove so he wouldn’t forget them, he keeps alive his path to the present. By the third verse he’s caught up to himself: “I told them call me K.R.I.T., they told me change my name/Don’t be alarmed if you don’t make it, that’s just part of the game/Besides I ain’t rapping about dope nor did I sell it/I guess the story of a country boy just ain’t compelling/ A&R’s searching for a hit, I just need a meal/ Couldn’t afford to pay the rent, but passed up on the deal.” Constantly attentive to his position as rapper on the verge of success, K.R.I.T. appears in the video for the song as a janitor, sweeping the stage of the school’s auditorium in time to the drums. But as willing as he is to cite his sources, he doesn’t shy away from complicating the implications of influence. On the late track “Free My Soul” he comes with teeth bared over a meditative piano line. “Fuck what they are talking, nah it ain’t about talent/It’s no longer an art, niggers piss on your canvas and parade/Okay so you paved the way but I rolled the road/Farther than you rolled before but still you block the road some more. But his conflicted feelings of artistry and time, instead of producing static, provide moving songs about the finitude of one’s career and drive him to craft a canvas that is unsoiled by others. If the trappings of the life are all that determine success, why not sell drugs, K.R.I.T. asks later in the track. Unadulterated honesty seems to be the alternative. And for all the pain it may cause, K.R.I.T. pursues. On the spacey “The Vent” he raps: “Send my mind of a journey to the outermost/ To document what it had seen and Cc: me the notes/And ask Kurt Cobain why, cause I need to know/He stopped when he had such a long way to go.” While on “Time Machine,” a syrup laden synth song about reminiscences in a car,
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he raps ,“Don’t be wasting time cause time is all you have.” As much as K.R.I.T. looks backwards, he stays focused on the present, working out the nuances of his position. And it is at his most contemplative that seems to thrive. Having produced the entire album, K.R.I.T. seems to hit his stride when he is crafting his own canvas to rap over, safe from the meddling hands of the industry. On “Another Naïve Individual Glorifying Greed & Encouraging Racism,” a narrative of confusion and distress in the face of fame that has shades of the Geto Boys’ “Mind is Playing Tricks on Me,” he works through a streamlined horn riff that resolves looking up, encouraging a hopeful reading of the song. On “Rotation” he returns to “Country Shit” territory, with the 808 heavy thump that worked magic on last summer’s breakout hit and again succeeds with a catchy hook and an ornate, ethereal instrumentation that falls into line with the hypest of 3-6 Mafia tracks. As hungry as K.R.I.T. is and as much influence as he has dug through, the dirt under his nails comes as much from his forefathers as it does from searching for change under his grandmother’s couch and he holds the mic and works the drum machine with a hand all his own. On an album that in many ways is a meditation on the dual impulses of buying liquor at a club and paying tithes to the church, K.R.I.T. never preaches, and instead asks questions of himself, rapping to find the answers that will give him the currency to ease his hunger, literally and spiritually. As he raps on King’s Blues, “if you aint looking keep your eyes closed/ Will I pay what I owe, only God knowsI aint for show/Give me strength just to change what I can’t/And understand the difference between a nigga and the King that I am.” Long may he live.
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April 7, 2011
Semi-annual 24-hour Erg-a-thon raises money for rowing Nicolette Harley
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Guest Reporter
Christie Chea/The Miscellany News
tepping into the College Center last Thursday, March 31, one would have thought that there was another Euro-pop night at Matthew’s Mug with all of the techno beats blasting through the halls. But really, the men’s and women’s rowing team set up camp Thursday and Friday, pumping their signature “erg mixes” as they rowed on their erg machines at the Erg-a-thon, a semi-annual fundraising event. Starting Thursday afternoon at 12 p.m. and lasting for 24 hours, members of the team switched off in shifts rowing on the ergs, with at least two rowers erging at all times. The money raised will go towards new team equipment (a top-of-the-line racing shell can cost $36,000 or more while a set of oars is $2,500), boat repairs, subsidizing training trip costs and travel and lodging expenses of regattas. “During the day, you feel guilty blasting the music because other organizations are tabling, but at night the College Center belongs to the rowers,” remarked women’s Captain Hannah Siebens ’12. As the day progressed to evening, the heavy traffic flow often seen in the College Center died down, bringing with it a comparatively calm atmosphere, considering the upbeat jams played by the team. After an unusual lapse in excitement, the energy picked up once again as a competition between some of the team members formed early in the night. Things got heated between freshmen rowers Grace Lee and Chris Flynn as each paid to make the other take “Power 10s” on the machines. “I’ve got a $20 [bill],” yelled Lee in the spirit of friendly competition, half-panting over the
The men’s and women’s rowing teams held their semi-annual 24-hour Erg-a-thon in the College Center last week in order to raise money for new equipment and boat repairs, as well as to subsidize travel and lodging expenses of regattas. booming beats. “Power 10s” are a rower’s worst nightmare during a late-night shift. The rower has to pull with full pressure for 10 strokes, not an easy feat, especially when he or she is tired. Along with selling “Power 10s” for a dollar each, the team traversed campus collecting pledges from donors, while also selling crazy spandex, baked goods and popcorn throughout the two days to try to meet their spring goal of $5,000. Though rowers may seem accus-
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tomed to rowing in the middle of the night given their hectic morning practice schedules, they are no strangers to fatigue and sleep deprivation. A tent pitched beside the merchandise table provided a place for tired rowers to crash and catch a few moments of rest between shifts. The tent is a much-appreciated amenity to the team and has been a staple of the event for the past four years. Siebens recalls a record six people piling into a former tent for some shut-eye.
In years past, junior rower and Treasurer Kamie Caschette has brought down her espresso machine for “rowers burning the midnight oil who want a boost.” With college students being notorious for a lack of sleep, why anyone would volunteer for these middle-ofthe-night shifts is lost on some. The task seems daunting and, Caschette admits, “It can be tough to get out of bed at 3 a.m., but once you get down there it’s definitely worth it. The adrenaline rush I feel every time I
sit on an erg is more than enough to keep me awake.” Some Thursday night party-goers were a bit confused as they trudged through the normally barren College Center to see an oddly placed tent and people exercising, but were easily distracted from their confusion at the sight and smell of the baked goods lining the table. “Business peaked around 11 p.m. when people were coming and going from Jazz Night and buying baked goods with our VCash machine, which made all the difference this time,” remarked Siebens. Around 1:30 a.m. the music changed from techno to Disney classics like “Circle of Life” and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” This blast from the past started a team singalong, helping to keep the mid-night rowers awake while fostering a sense of team unity. “It’s also a great bonding experience for you and your other teammates [to cover the late night and early morning shifts] because you all acknowledge and recognize that everyone there loves the sport so much that they are willing to do crazy things, like do an intense workout at 3:30 in the morning, in order to get the chance to keep doing it,” said Caschette. The high-energy rhythms pulsating through the College Center motivated the rowers to push through to the end of their piece and hit personal records. These custom “erg mixes” are the soundtrack to an ever-growing family of dedicated early birds, giving rise to the organized chaos of the Erg-a-thon. “There’s really nothing quite like it,” Caschette continued, “and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” -Nicolette Harley ’14 is a member of the rowing team.
Culligan embraces new role, responsibilities Kristine Olson
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Reporter
hile Director of Athletics & Physical Education Sharon Beverly is away on sabbatical, Associate Athletic Director Kim Culligan has stepped up to take on the responsibility of Acting Athletic Director. It is a change Culligan has taken on willingly, but is also one that has been somewhat demanding in nature, she concedes. In July 2005 Culligan began her work at Vassar as Associate Athletic Director and Senior Women’s Administrator. As Associate Athletic Director, Culligan has been responsible for scheduling, transportation, and providing equipment and food for game days. As Senior Women’s Administrator, Culligan oversaw any issues of compliance (including eligibility, recruiting and academic standing) and supervised the Student Athlete Advisory Council. Now Culligan must also oversee all aspects of the Athletics Department, which includes looking after personnel and attending more meetings than before. Although she lists the budget, finance, personnel evaluations and the feeling of being spread thin by more responsibilities and longer hours among the cons of the new job, Culligan isn’t complaining. Overseeing the program as a whole, is a perk that Culligan appreciates the most about the job. It is a job Culligan described as being, “more global, more busy,” than before, but even so, she makes it to every home game and match, which, she stated, is “the best part of the job.” As a student at the State University of New York at Brockport, Culligan was a three-sport student-athelete who played tennis, softball and basketball. Culligan attests that her experiences as a college student-athlete helped to develop the time management skills she utilizes every day in her work as Associate
Athletic Director. Now in addition to her work, Culligan plays softball and has taken up golfing “pretty seriously,” she said. Referring back to her college days, Culligan said: “If I couldn’t manage [balancing academics and athletics], I couldn’t have graduated.” She noted that the same was true for her experience at Minnesota State University at Mankato, where she received her Master’s of Arts in Physical Education and coached Division II volleyball and softball. Before coming to Vassar, Culligan held various positions in all three divisions of collegiate athletics. She was a three-sport coach at Upper Iowa University following her time at Mankato. She then moved to New Jersey City University where she coached two sports, while also serving as Assistant Athletic Director. Most recently, she served as Associate Athletic Director at Saint Peter’s College and Kean University. She also joined the U.S. Army, completing four years on active duty and 16 years in total. “That’s why they call me ‘The Colonel,’” she added with a smile. Culligan added that the military taught her to ask herself, “What is the task, and how do you complete it on a deadline?” Her background in discipline and her ability to focus on a particular task at hand provided a smooth transition into the organization of college athletics, and the task of helping to develop the academic-athletic connection at Vassar. Culligan, who was born only 55 miles from Poughkeepsie, was drawn “home” to Vassar after her years spent in graduate school and the military because of Vassar’s academic excellence and the tone she believes it sets for the Athletic program. During her years as a Division I and Division II coach, Culligan only saw a handful of athletes make it to the pro level. These outcomes verified for Culligan academics’ vital role in the college athlete’s experience.
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Due to this realization, Culligan made the switch to Vassar, where excellence is sought on and off the court. During her time at Vassar, Culligan has witnessed considerable growth in the Athletics program. “There are undoubtedly some successful athletes, teams and programs,” said Culligan. All-Americans, All-Academics, representatives at NCAA championships—Vassar has them all. “We’re becoming more and more competitive,” said Culligan, “and we’ve seen students begin to strive to be the best possible students and athletes they can be,” which is the mission of the Vassar Athletics Department. This past year, both tennis teams were nationally ranked; women’s soccer made it to the Liberty League Championship; women’s basketball won the Liberty League; and men’s and women’s fencing won League Championships. “It’s been a significant year,” said Culligan, mentioning that two of the men’s fencers and two of the women’s cross-country runners competed at the NCAA Championships this year. But with successes have also come setbacks. The difficult financial situation has led to budget cuts that have affected many athletic programs. Notable changes included staff reductions, and the change of the men’s and women’s rowing teams to club status. But Culligan remains positive, focusing instead on the quality of the staff and teams that their budget can support. “The coaches here are the best I’ve worked with,” said Culligan. “They are technically efficient, and their work ethic—working day and night—is remarkable.” Culligan also praised the Sports Information staff and athletic trainers who have to work around each team’s game and match schedules. Confident that Vassar Athletics will only continue to develop, Culligan’s personal goal is for athletics at Vassar to be as renowned as the academics.
April 7, 2011
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Athlete of the Week: Sarah Warner Corey Cohn
Sports Editor
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Alex Schlesinger/The Miscellany News
n March 28, Vassar College women’s lacrosse midfielder Sarah Warner ’11 scored a program-record nine goals in a thrilling 2018 win against Farmingdale State College. The next day, she turned 22 years old. “It was a good couple of days,” she said with a laugh. Warner has had a lot of good days during her four years at Vassar, at least from an athletics standpoint. A first-year captain, Warner has demonstrated sheer offensive prowess since joining the Brewers. She has led or placed second on the team in goals in every season, including last year, which saw her finish second in the entire Liberty League with a school-record 57 goals. But it’s another element of her skill set in which Warner sees the most progress. “My defensive game has definitely improved since coming to Vassar,” she said. “College lacrosse is a lot faster and a lot more intense [so you have to adjust].” Warner, a true sports aficionado, has been playing for lacrosse teams since she was in the sixth grade, though she says her older brother introduced her to the game well before that. Her brother was a “huge influence” when it came to sports in general. “I did whatever he did,” she recalled. “He started playing soccer at four [years old]; I started playing soccer at four [years old].” This partially explains why Warner, very active growing up, also played basketball and soccer in high school. She was named an AllStar in all four years of high school lacrosse and soccer and three years of basketball. So why did she decide to focus on lacrosse for her college career? Warner said her high school coach encouraged her to continue with the sport, even helping her make a recruiting video to send to prospective programs. She added that talking to Vassar women’s lacrosse Head Coach Judy Finerghty was a strong contributing factor. “I talked with [Finerghty] on the phone and we really connected well,” she said. “I talked to a lot of coaches during the process, and with a lot of them I didn’t connect at all.” Warner remembers feeling tempted to play soccer as well during her freshman year, but she was concerned about balancing academics with athletics. She did, however,
Sarah Warner ’11 has been a member of the women’s lacrosse team since her first year at Vassar, serving this year as the team’s captain. After graduation, she hopes to become an athletics director. join the women’s basketball team during her sophomore year. That same year, Warner had what she called one of the most memorable lacrosse games of her career. It was a matchup against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in which she scored the winning goal. This season, however, Warner is in a position to think considerably more about her teammates. She said that one of her main goals this year has been to “be as best of a captain as I can be,” adding that acting as a “good emotional team leader is important in determining team success.” Warner added that having two co-captains, Moe Byrne ’11 and Austin Gitomer ’12, helps ease the demand a bit. Not that Warner would be complaining about the workload, anyway. She appreciates everything that lacrosse has done for her over the past four years, and she recognizes the benefits that exist on a number of different levels. Socially, she said, it has introduced her to a new group of friends. Academically, Warner cited how Finerghty believes that players actually do better in school during the season, because, despite
the extra activity, they are more organized and better with time management. Finally, Warner remarked that playing a sport regularly has boosted her overall happiness and confidence. “Playing sports every day is great,” she said. “It’s very empowering.” So it should not be very surprising to learn that Warner aims to continue to be involved with sports in her life after Vassar. An American Culture major, she hopes to attend graduate school to study sports management. She also intends to coach lacrosse and eventually become an athletics director. Whether or not employment at the College is in her future, Warner intends to keep ties with the women’s lacrosse team after she graduates. She will always remember the wonderful experiences she shared with her team. But she isn’t concerned about not being able to maintain contact with anyone. “It’s really nice, like a huge network,” she said. “Once you’re on the team, it’s kind of a for-life thing.” -Sarah Warner is a two-time “Athlete of the Week” winner.
Predicting the National League season Andy Sussman Columnist
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fter previewing the American League last week, I continue with my likely incorrect predictions in the 2011 MLB season by focusing on the National League. NL East Winner: Philadelphia Phillies. With the signing of pitcher Cliff Lee, the marquee free agent in the offseason, the Phillies are the prohibitive favorite to win the National League pennant behind a stellar rotation. In addition to Lee, the Phillies have reigning Cy Young Award winner Roy Halladay, former Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt and the 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels. Even if their fifth pitcher were Omar Daal, this pitching rotation is, at least on paper, exceptional. The question is, how healthy are Philadelphia’s hitters? Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard all missed significant time last year due to injuries, and Utley is starting the season on the disabled list. If their infield can get together and hit instead of sit, this is a team that very well could make its third World Series in four years. NL Central Winner: St. Louis Cardinals. While the loss of 2010 Cy Young runner-up Adam Wainwright certainly hurts, the Cardinals still have the most firepower to win in the mediocre NL Central division. In addition to having one of the greatest hitters in baseball history in first baseman Albert Pujols, the Cardinals also have a seemingly healthy ace in Chris Carpenter and talented second-year starting pitcher Jaime Garcia. While the Cincinnati Reds won the division last year, it is more likely than not that manager Dusty Baker will throw out the arms of
every pitcher within a 40-mile radius of Cincinnati, which is usually not a recipe for success. The dark-horse here is the Milwaukee Brewers, who traded for former Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke and already have Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart. Commissioner Bud Selig’s family also owns the team, so if the division race is close, he can simply make up new rules to benefit the Brewers. NL West Winner: San Francisco Giants. The defending World Series champions look to again be a threat with their sterling pitching, including two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum as their ace. While the Giants do not have many hitters that know how to actually hit the ball, they do have a few, such as Buster Posey, the team’s star young catcher. In the always-putrid NL West, the Giants should be strong enough to beat the emerging Colorado Rockies, who locked up their best young players for more money than the state budget of Colorado. If the Giants need a hitter, I hear there is a 46-year-old free agent named Barry Bonds who sounds like he is a great character guy. NL Wild Card Winner: Atlanta Braves. Legendary Braves manager Bobby Cox retired after last season, but the Braves should continue to make the playoffs with their superb young nucleus. Anchored by Tommy Hanson and veteran Tim Hudson, the Braves have a solid starting rotation. While they don’t have significant power, they do have one of the best catchers in baseball in Brian McCann and rapidly emerging talent Martin Prado. If the Braves can add a piece or two during the season, they can absolutely threaten the Phillies for the NL East
division. NL MVP: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals. How can I possibly pick against Pujols? His first 10 seasons in the MLB are like nothing we have ever seen before. He is a legendary hitter, a great fielder, and is even known for his high character. Let’s put it this way: I only expect to see “Albert Pujols” and “steroids” in the same sentence if he transports steroids to his native Dominican Republic in order to help sick children recover. I know that he has not signed an extension to be with the Cardinals, but that should have no impact whatsoever on Pujols’ season NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers. One of the more underthe-radar stars in the league is Kershaw, the 23-year-old starting pitcher for the Dodgers. Even though he has become a legitimate ace at such a young age, many casual fans are not aware of his prowess on the mound. I expect that to change this year, with Kershaw already winning an Opening Day pitching duel against Lincecum and the Giants. Assuming he can again pitch over 200 innings, Kershaw will be impossible to ignore, even among those who believe the Yankees and Red Sox are the only two teams in baseball. Worst Newcomer: Sergio Mitre, Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers may very well have a strong season, but it will have nothing whatsoever to do with Mitre. Since he managed to have several non-terrible starts for the Yankees last year, Mitre earned yet another opportunity to lose baseball games. I wish him the best of luck, just as I always wish the Detroit Lions and the Washington Generals luck; It’s pretty useless, but I still hope they can win in spite of everything.
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Sports Briefs Baseball The baseball team took three out of four games from defending Liberty League-Champion Skidmore College this past weekend with the first two wins resulting from walk-off hits. In the first game, Scott Allen ’12 gave up just three runs in 6.2 innings, with the game tied at three entering the bottom of the seventh and final inning. Dave Robbins ’14 singled to lead off the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mike Perrone ’13. Robbins advanced to third on a walk, but a one-out groundout kept him there. With two outs and the possibility of extra innings looming, Sal Costanzo ’12 singled in the winning run, giving Vassar a 4-3 victory. In the second game of the series, neither team mustered much offense, each scoring just two runs in the first nine innings; however, the Brewers were able to secure their second victory of the day, scoring a run in the 10th inning and two in the 11th for a 5-4 victory. Robbins singled in the final two runs, with the bases loaded, to give the Brewers the win. Joe Lovizio ’14 pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs. Zachary Prudoff ’12 won both games in relief of the starters. The second day saw the squads split the doubleheader, with the Brewers winning the first game 8-3 and losing the second 6-1. John MacGregor ’12 was key for Vassar, throwing seven innings in the first game. The weekend improves the Brewers to 4-4 in the Liberty League.
Men’s Lacrosse Seeking their first-ever Liberty League win, the men’s lacrosse team jumped out to a 4-0 lead after three quarters. However, visiting Clarkson University rallied back with six fourth-quarter goals to earn a 6-4 victory. Alex Tice ’11 championed the Vassar defense, making 14 saves on the day. However, the Vassar offense stagnated in the second half, unable to find the back of the net.
Women’s Lacrosse The women’s lacrosse team dropped a pair of Liberty League contests this past weekend, falling to Union College 21-8 and Skidmore College 17-8. In the first matchup a nine-goal Union run put the game out of reach. Allie Morgan ’11 led the Brewers with three goals, with Sarah Warner ’11 contributing two goals and three assists. In the second game of the weekend, Skidmore built a steady lead and cruised to victory. The two losses dropped Vassar to 0-2 in the Liberty League.
Men’s Volleyball Entering the North East Collegiate Volleyball Association tournament as the No. 10 seed, the men’s volleyball team gave No. 7 seeded Medaille College everything they could handle, before succumbing 3-2 (25-14, 11-25, 24-26, 25-17, 14-16). The loss ends the season for the team, which finished 17-13 on the year.
Women’s Rugby Three tries by scrumhalf Keri Peacock ’11 led the women’s rugby team over Yale University 32-22 this past weekend. The Brewers jumped out to a 27-5 lead and were able to hold off a charging Yale squad to cement the victory.
Men’s Rugby The men’s rugby squad dropped a back-and-forth affair to State University of New York at New Paltz, 19-17, this past weekend. Neither team led throughout the contest by more than a try; however, New Paltz was able to execute one more conversion than the Brewers.
Men’s Tennis The men’s tennis team lost an 8-1 match to Amherst College, ranked No. 4 in Division III. Andrew Guzick ’13 got the lone Vassar win at No. 1 singles.
Women’s Tennis Last Sunday the women’s tennis team swept Bates College 8-0, before being swept by No. 2 ranked Amherst College, 9-0.
Women’s Track The women’s track team finished eighth out of 16 teams at the Roadrunner Invitational hosted by Ramapo College. Chloe Williams ’14 earned the lone Vassar victory of the meet, winning the steeplechase by more than 20 seconds.
Men’s Track The men’s track team finished 12th of 17 teams at the Roadrunner Invitational.
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April 7, 2011
The Brewers at home
This past weekend the baseball team, men’s and women’s lacrosse teams, men’s and women’s tennis teams, and men’s and women’s rugby teams all played games around campus. Taking advantage of the warming weather the Brewers competed at The Vassar Farm, Weinberg Field, Gordon Field, Prentiss Baseball Field, Walker Field House and the Josselyn Tennis Courts, hosting opponents from seven different schools. This is the largest selection of teams that have played on the Vassar campus this year over one weekend. For more information on how the Brewers fared, see “Sports Briefs” on page 19. Below are some of the images from last weekend.
Madeline Zappala/The Miscellany News Dama Harris/The Miscellany News
Crowds watching men’s lacrosse against Clarkson April 2. Vassar spectators had plenty to see at home this past weekend when Vassar’s lacrosse teams, tennis teams and rugby teams all defended their home turf.
Jennifer Beckerman ’12 serves in a match against Amherst College on April 3. The Brewers defeated Bates College 8-0 the same day before falling 9-0 to Amherst on the Josselyn Tennis Courts.
Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News
Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News
Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News
Sam Seymour ’11 dodges a Clarkson defender in the men’s lacrosse match on April 2. The Brewers led 4-0 entering the fourth quarter before falling 6-4 after Clarkson made an impressive comeback.
At right, Scott Allen ’12 pitches against Skidmore College April 2. Men’s baseball improved this weekend to 4-4 in the Liberty League. The team went 3-1 against Skidmore in a pair of doubleheaders this weekend.
Madeline Zappala/The Miscellany News
Madeline Zappala/The Miscellany News
Iain Gordon ’11 catches a line-out in the men’s rugby match against SUNY New Paltz on Saturday, April 2. The Brewers lost 19-17 to their cross-river rivals after beating them 47-7 in the fall. The rugby squad now stands at 5-7-1 on the season. Next, they will play Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday, April 9 at the Vassar Farm. Their home record is currently 4-3 with two home games remaining in the season.
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