The Miscellany News | Sept. 9, 2010

The Miscellany News Since 1866 | miscellanynews.com

September 9, 2010

Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY

Volume CXLIV | Issue 1

Financial aid budget largest in College history Matthew Brock Senior Editor

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Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

Courtesy of Special Collections

The Mariah Mitchell Observatory is the first building to have been completed on campus. Today the Observatory houses the Education Department, where students continue to learn in the space where Mitchell gazed at the stars.

Vassar plans for Sesquicentennial Aashim Usgaonkar News Editor

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ext spring, students, faculty, staff and administrators will engage in what can be described as one of the biggest and most poignant celebrations Vassar College has ever witnessed. Indeed, Vassar’s 150th year—its sesquicentennial— will be collaboratively commemo-

rated in grand style on campus, as well as in cities around the United States and the world.

There will be two types of events scheduled over the course of 2011: four on-campus events especially planned for the Sesquicentennial, and events that already take place on a regular basis that have been modified to include a “sesqui-

twist,” according to Director of Development for Regional Programs for Almunae/i Relations and Development and co-Chair of the Sesquicentennial John Mihaly. The reason for this creative combination of programming is both to have the celebratory mood become “interesting at all levels of the campus See SESQUI on page 4

his year, a record 62.6 percent of the freshman class and 60 percent of the student body is receiving financial aid, surpassing the administration’s original estimate in the 20102011 budget.

“The average financial aid package this year is $41,000, and of that $35,000 is scholarship funding while the remaining amount is a combination of federal and state grants, work study and, in some cases, loans,” said Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid David Borus.

Given the average size of these grants, the College was forced to pay an extra seven figures in financial aid.

“We were over our approved financial aid budget by about $1.2 million,” said Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger. In total, Vassar will award over $49,000,000 in grants to 1,511 students, up from $42,969,000 to 1,431 students last year, according to Director of Financial Aid Michael Fraher. “Half of this is from the incoming class and half is from returning students,” said Kitzinger.

The 666 freshman admitted this year are the most economically and ethnically diverse in Vassar’s history.

Aside from the fact that 35 percent of the students in the Class of 2014 are of color, 62.6 percent of the class has been awarded Vassar scholarship funding, which is two percent more than was originally expected in the 2010-2011 budget.

According to Borus, the Class of 2014 received approximately $14.5 million in aid, up from the just under $13 million received by the Class of 2013 last year. In total, the Class of 2014 has 22 more students receiving financial aid than last year’s freshman class, an increase both “due to the fact that tuition has increased and largely because more students receive aid.”

According to Borus, the Class of 2014 is exceptionally diverse in part due to the efforts of the Admissions Office, which has worked to increase outreach efforts in recent years.

Of course, the current economic crisis has also played a major role in this increased financial aid budget.

“More families now qualify for need See FINANCIAL AID on page 4

In memoriam

College issues $50 million bond Bond financing deferred maintenance projects Molly Turpin

Editor in Chief

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standing maturities on all of our debt amount to $172 million, after the debt issued last spring,” said Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Eismeier. According to Eismeier, bonds like the most recent issue finance the majority of deferred maintenance projects on campus.

See BOND on page 4

Courtesy of the Office of Communications

t Vassar and at its peer institutions, an aging physical plant is a source of both beauty and financial concern. Deferred maintenance on an aging campus like Vassar’s represents a significant cost to the College, both in maintaining build-

ings until capital improvements can be made and in the capital improvements themselves. After issuing a bond of $50 million in the spring of 2010, the College is in the process of working through a number of capital projects. This new bond does not represent the only debt that the College is responsible for. “The out-

Gender gap Transitions program narrowing added to orientation gradually Caitlin Clevenger News Editor

Angela Aiuto Senior Editor

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ne of the most common complaints one hears about Vassar is that there simply aren’t enough men on campus. Surely all of us have heard a love-starved student lament that they should have chosen a school with a more favorable gender ratio. For those of you who have a preference for the swarthier sex, here is a small consolation: You’re not alone, and your situation is improving.

This past summer, The Atlantic Monthly ran a cover story by journalist Hannah Rosin entitled “The End of See GENDER GAP on page 5

Inside this issue

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NEWS

Vassar’s new ZipCars set for the road

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hirty-six members of the Class of 2014 arrived at Vassar’s campus on Aug. 21 to participate in Transitions, Vassar’s pilot pre-orientation program for students from low-income families or who are first-generation college students.

The program was intended to provide the incoming freshmen with a support system and inform them of the resources available at the College. Fittingly, the Class of 2014 is the most socioeconomically diverse in Vassar’s history, with 62.6 percent receiving Vassar scholarship funds and 80 members who are first-gener-

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ation college students.

Four students envisioned a pre-matriculation program that would address the issues facing these students and engaged in an Independent Study to plan one in the Spring of 2009. Dean of Freshmen Benjamin Lotto wrote in an e-mailed statement, “the transition period for these particular students is critical and it is the institution’s responsibility to address the issues of all students.”

“I would like nothing better than to offer a program like Transitions to all incoming students who wish to take advantage of it.

However, the cost of such a program in the current economic cli See TRANSITIONS on page 3

FEATURES

Farmers Market vendors passionate about their products

Remembering Virginia B. Smith On Friday, Aug. 27 the College lost one of its most influential leaders. The Miscellany News would like to honor the memory of President Emerita Virginia B. Smith. Please see our tribute to President Smith on page 7.

14 ARTS

FLLAC programs ready to travel the campus

The Miscellany News

Page 2

September 9, 2010

Editor in Chief Molly Turpin Senior Editors Angela Aiuto Matthew Brock

Contributing Editor Lila Teeters

News Caitlin Clevenger Aashim Usgaonkar Features Mitchell Gilburne Opinions Joshua Rosen Juan Thompson Humor & Satire Alanna Okun Arts Erik Lorenzsonn Sports Andy Marmer Design Eric Estes Copy Gretchen Maslin Photography Juliana Halpert Online Carrie Hojnicki Social Media Marie Dugo

Eric Schuman/The Miscellany News

Photo of the Week: Students douse each other at annual Serenading, which was water-only for the second time this year.

Miscellany News Staff Editorial

Restructuring of offices reflects logic, efficiciency A

t open forums and in the pages of the Miscellany we have heard and read about ways that the College might become more streamlined both in cost and in organization, and we are pleased to see these ideas recently being put to action by the College’s leadership. At the Fall Leadership Conference, Dean of the College Christopher Roellke announced a new organizational plan for the Dean of the College Division, and most recently President Catharine Bond Hill announced to the Vassar Community the creation of the Office of Alumnae/I Affairs and Development, which ties together the work of three senior officers’ divisions. The ultimate goal of these changes is not only the procurement of long-term financial sustainability for the College, but also the re-evaluation the operations of the College for the purpose of creating a stronger and more effective Vassar.

For students one of the biggest administrative changes of the year will be student services under the Dean of the College division. Following the retirement of Senior Associate Dean of the College Raymon Parker and the decision not to fill his position, the division has reorganized its offices into more similar and logical groups (see “Dean of the College Division reorganizes office structure” on page 3).

The Miscellany News applauds this prac-

tical measure. The benefits of the new organizational structure are manifold. Not only is restructuring a cost-saving measure, it will streamline the Dean of the College Division as a whole and can only be a welcome change to the student body.

We appreciate that the Division took advantage of an opportunity to divide a disparate portfolio of offices, including Campus Dining, the Campus Activities Office, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (RSL), and the Career Development Office (CDO), into areas that better suited each.

Furthermore, reassigning these offices was only the jumping off point for a larger reorganization project that included the drafting of a new mission statement for the division and a set of clear goals for where the division will be in three years time.

Now that these changes, which were first committed to paper this summer, are taking effect, we hope that they will lead to profitable interactions between deans and between offices. The CDO, for example, has been placed under the Office of the Dean of Studies, where information can easily be shared between it and the similar Office of Pre-Health Advising and Fellowships. We hope that offices will continue to identify and act on the same synergies that spurred the restructuring.

We believe that regular communication between these offices will lead to easier

and more efficient navigation of student services. Though each office carries its own service and expertise, students often have a difficult time knowing where to begin or even what they are hoping to find.

Therefore, the more collaboration and information sharing between offices, the better direction advisers will be able to give students.

More than putting these streamlining goals into practice, the announcement of the restructuring at the Fall Leadership Conference and the acknowledgment that its new mission statement is a living document and therefore still subject to change, is the kind of communication that empowers students to be involved in the conversation about offices and services that influence our daily lives. It shows a commitment to the third point in the mission statement that the Division will reach its goals “through close collaboration with students, staff, administration and Vassar College alumnae/i.”

We are glad to see the leaders of the College creatively addressing the need for the College to make offices more efficient, cost-effective and collaborative both with students and within themselves.

—The Miscellany News Staff Editorial reflects the opinion of at two thirds of the 17-member Editorial Board.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Assistant Features Matthew Bock Danielle Gensburg Assistant Arts Thea Ballard Rachael Borné Assistant Copy Sammy Creath Crossword Editor Jonathan Garfinkel

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.

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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

September 9, 2010

Page 3

Dean of the College Division reorganizes office structure Molly Turpin

Editor in Chief

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ver the summer, the offices of the Dean of the College Division, headed by Dean of the College Chris Roellke, reorganized as a result of review as well the retirement of Senior Associate Dean of the College Ray Parker. Roellke, whose administrative division is responsible for all aspects of student life at Vassar outside of the curriculum, hopes that the restructuring will reflect natural synergies between office and lead to collaborations.

Parker, whose position was not replaced, oversaw Campus Dining, the Career Development Office (CDO) and Religious and Spiritual Life.

Beginning this year, the CDO will fall under the Dean of Studies Office; RSL is now in the office of Dean of Campus Life and Diversity, formerly the Campus Life Office; and Campus Dining falls under the auspices of the newly created Assistant Dean of the College for Campus Activities Terry Quinn, formerly the Director of Campus Activities.

According to Quinn, the offices now in her portfolio—Campus Activities, Campus Dining and Summer Program—already collaborated when the group met to create policies for accommodating groups from outside Vassar who want to host programs or events on campus.

Dividing Parker’s offices among the deans was the beginning of a larger restructuring. The overall process involved the transfer of a number of offices between deans in the division, and more than one name-change. “It was a combination,” said Roellke of the motives to reorganize the offices. “One was to try to deal with what was to

be a reduced staff, but even more fundamentally was trying to think about alignments that made conceptual sense, so in many ways [Parker’s] departure…provided a great opportunity.”

Parker’s position was not the only staffing reduction in the division, which decreased by a total of 13 employees. Out of these 13, 12 took advantage of voluntary retirement incentives, and one half-time employee’s position was involuntarily eliminated.

The restructuring also brings Safety and Security, newly titled, into the division for the first time by placing it in the Dean of Students office. “I would say that what we’re trying to do is build an integrative College division,” said Dean of Students D.B. Brown. In the Dean of Students office, Safety and Security joins Health Services, Counseling Service, Health Education and Residential Life—an area of the College with which both Roellke and Brown note Safety and Security has a natural overlap in student lives.

For other offices the changes are not so marked, but rather acknowledge the kind of work that was already being done. This is true in the case of the Office for Campus Life and Diversity, formerly the Campus Life office, and its addition of RSL. “I’ve been at this work for 20 years at the College with different names and different titles,” said Dean of the College for Campus Life and Diversity Ed Pittman. “It’s just that sometimes packaging it is important in getting people to see it.”

Overall, the emphasis of the new organization as well as the new labels is to bring together offices with similar responsibilities for the sake of

facilitating the sharing of information at regular meetings and fostering inter-office collaboration.

By placing like offices under the same dean, the Division is also shoring up the various offices of student services in the case of personal leaves.

According to Roellke, before this new organization system, “Institutional memory resided in a single person.” Now, however, “Whatever the situation may arise, we don’t skip a beat.”

An example of an office with a new grouping of like services is the Dean of Studies Office where the CDO and International Services are now housed with Pre-Health Advising and Fellowships and International Programs. “What all of these offices have in common is advising, whether the advising in these particular offices is about fellowships, internships, pre-professional preparation, or study away” said Long.

“We’re eager to think about ways in which career development, the fellowships office and junior year abroad can collaborate more effectively because they have a lot of similar objectives,” said Roellke.

Though these services are relatively similar, currently no two offices are planning on formally joining into one. “Now that the CDO and the Office of International Students also report to the Dean of Studies, we will meet regularly (along with the Office for International Programs) as we work to strengthen relationships and to further clarify the unique aspects of each of our work,” wrote Director of Fellowships and Pre-Health Advising Lisa Kooperman in an e-mailed statement.

“While one-stop shopping may sound like a ‘convenient’ approach for students, the fact remains

that each of us brings very particular knowledge, skills and processes to the work we do.”

“I like the fact that now we’ll both be in the same staff meeting that we can get more into how we can collaborate,” said Director of Career Development Mary Raymond. “It is a conversation that we can have so much more easily now, and students will benefit so much more.”

Because the restructuring happened over the summer, Long noted that it would take time to see where useful collaborations would take place.

“It is my view that potential programming will come out of a perceived need,” said Long.

To lead the process of increasing efficiency within the division, Roellke began meeting regularly over the summer with the six senior administrators that make up the “Dean’s Cabinet.”

“There was prior to the Dean’s Cabinet attempts at a sort of advisory group,” said Brown, though he noted that it was not utilized to the same degree. “The Dean’s Cabinet meets regularly… I would say that it gives us the opportunity as a smaller group to either work on specific issues that we need to.”

This group collaborated with Roellke on a new mission statement for the Dean of the College Division and list of goals to be met over the next three years. Each dean in the cabinet then also meets regularly with the leaders of offices under their purview, so the entire structure branches out from the Dean of the College.

Roellke highlighted the notion that the process is not over, and so changes will continue to be made as both employees and students respond to the new office structure.

ZipCar program introduced to Vassar ‘Transitions’ for Chelsea Peterson-Salahuddin

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Guest Reporter

assar’s administration is currently working towards a launch of the new Zipcar car-sharing program, originally launched in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which allows members to share local “Zipcars” in their area in an effort to reduce the number of cars on the road and increase sustainability. Through sharing cars, Zipcar users help to reduce the amounts of pollutants released into the atmosphere by car exhausts, reduce gas usage, and save money. The Zipcar program is often found operating in larger, urban areas; however, within the past few years many colleges and universities have also been adopting the Zipcar program onto their campuses as a means of transportation for their students.

The idea to bring Zipcars to Vassar campus was first introduced two years ago by the transportation subset of the larger Sustainability Committee that aims at helping Vassar reduce its carbon foot print. In discussing different modes of transportation on campus, the subject of Zipcars was raised. Yet, at the time, Zipcar required that all college and university campuses meet a minimum monthly guarantee on all of their Zipcars. This meant that if Vassar students did not use the cars enough to meet this monthly minimum, the Vassar administration would have to supplement the difference. Due to the economic problems the College was facing at the time, the administration deduced that it would not be able to subsidize the program, especially given the fact that over long breaks students would not be using the cars, meaning the College would have to pay most of the difference on the minimum fee. Yet, last year, the school learned that the Zipcar Company had stopped imposing minimum guarantees on colleges and universities, which led the administration to revisit the idea of bringing the Zipcar program to Vassar.

Over the past year Vassar College Direc-

tor of Purchasing Rosaleen Cardillo has been working with the Zipcar Company to establish a contract which would establish the program here on Vassar campus.

The program was officially announced to Vassar students last April, and is currently undergoing a soft launch, which will serve as a trial period for the program.

If a student on Vassar campus wishes to have access to a Zipcar, he or she must apply for a Zipcar membership online by filling out an application with proof of identification and a driver’s license at www. zipcar.com/vassar. Once approved, members receive a card that gives them access to all the Zipcars on campus. Members must pay a $35 annual fee for their membership, in addition to an $8.00 an hour usage fee on the weekdays, $9.00 an hour usage fee on the weekends, or a $66.00 usage fee for the entire day. During this trial period of the program, the Vassar administration has placed only two Zipcars on campus located in North Lot. Reports from Zipcar will allow the school to monitor car usage, which will help indicate to the Vassar administration whether or not more cars need to be brought to campus in the future.

When asked how she thought the introduction of the Zipcar program on to Vassar Campus would affect campus life, Cardillo responded by saying “With approximately 2,400 students on campus and approximately 900 students who bring cars, using the Zipcar program would mean that the remainder of the students will have access to cars on campus, sustainability will increase with less cars on campus and international students will now also have access to cars.”

Though the Zipcars program is just in its initial stages, already the College has been receiving positive feedback from students and faculty. Students have been very happy with the administration’s follow through in bringing Zipcars to campus as well as with the affordability of the program. When asked about her experience with the program, Brittany Butler ’13 said

“My experience with Zipcars has been really good so far. The website is really easy to use and it’s pretty simple. I haven’t had any problems.” In addition, Butler added, “For students who don’t live close enough to Vassar to bring a car, I would say the program is definitely useful because it allows them to get off campus more. Especially if you are like me and are accustomed to driving yourself around.” Similarly, Mia Fermindoza ’14 said “I would say there is a need for the program on campus. Say you need to go to Target and get something but you don‘t have your own car, it gives you more access to go there and it allows you to carry loads back.”

In addition, the Zipcar program has also received a great amount of support from different departments on campus, such as Admissions and Residential Life, and senior staff such as the Dean of the College Christopher Roellke. In an e-mailed statement, Roellke wrote, “I am very pleased to welcome Zipcar to the Vassar College campus. In addition to the Poughkeepsie Shuttle, this provides yet another option for eco-friendly transportation options for the VC community. I have signed up for Zipcar myself and look forward to promoting the program in collaboration with my colleagues in safety and security and the purchasing office. Zipcar has considerable experience working with college campuses and I hope we can match the success experienced at our peer institutions.”

As a part of the program’s soft launch, Roellke will be sending out an e-mail to all Vassar students within the next week with details about the Zipcar program here at Vassar. Also, on Sept. 14, a representative from Zipcar will be on Vassar Campus at Main Circle where students can sign-up to become Zipcar members. The representative will also answer any questions concerning the program. In a closing statement concerning Zipcars, Cardillo said “It benefits the students and helps sustainability on campus by reducing carbon blue print.”

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

low-income, first- generation students TRANSITIONS continued from page 1 mate is prohibitive”, wrote Lotto.

The proposal was brought before the Committee on Inclusion and Excellence, which approved a pilot preorientation program to assess the merits of a Transitions program. President Catherine Bond Hill signed off on the pre-orientation program in the Spring of 2010.

The freshmen participating in the program were split into groups of five and assigned to one of seven Transitions Interns, returning students from the Transitions group who serve as mentors. The Transitions Intern, along with a designated professor and administrator, form a “Transitions Trio,” a support network that new students can rely on for advice on college life, academics or Vassar’s resources. “It’s based on networking,” said Transitions Intern Moises Rivera ’13. “That way they can feel more comfortable when they come in as freshman and be more able to tap into resources.” The freshmen in the program met with faculty and administrators, and were encouraged to use resources available at Vassar that they might otherwise not be aware of or be hesitant to take advantage of, particularly in Financial Aid. “When I first got here, I was scared to go to the Financial Aid Office,” said Angelica Gutierrez ’13, another Transitions Intern. One goal of the program was to confront such fears so that students could use all options available to them by meeting with Director of Financial Aid Michael Fraher. “There’s a lot of little things available that they might not know about until maybe junior year” said Rivera.

Students in the program continue to rely on each other now that the school year has started. Said Rivera, “My goal was for the incoming freshmen to know that there are other people that are going through the same situation, they’re not alone,” he continued. Richardson is confident that the program has helped new students prepare to “go through four years here and succeed at Vassar.”

The next step for the Transitions program is a reunion in November to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the pre-orientation program and establish ongoing support through each year at Vassar. Lotto wrote that he plans “to assess the program systematically. This feedback will tell us whether a case should be made for continuing the program next year and what changes, if any, should be made.”

NEWS

Page 4

September 9, 2010

Ne e d - b l i n d Projects include roofs, residential repairs still a priority for the College FINANCIAL AID continued from page 1 based aid,” said Borus. Many returning students have also been asking for more financial aid. “We went need-blind before the economy tanked and it’s hard to figure out how much of the increase in financial aid is due to our ability to attract a diverse student body and how much is because of the global economy,” said Kitzinger.

When the College initially adopted need-blind admissions in 2007, they predicted that 51 percent of the student body would require financial aid, according to Kitzinger. Although the actual figure is nearly 10 percent higher than this estimate, Kitzinger and Borus agreed that the number of students on aid should decrease once the economy recovers.

This unforeseen expense can can also be alleviated by unexpected windfalls. According to Kitzinger, “The expected investment return [on the endowment], which was modeled at 8.5 percent for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, will be about 12.2 percent.”

However, despite the increased return on the endowment, the College is still striving towards long-term financial stability.

That said, a growing financial aid budget won’t necessarily mean a reversion to need-sensitive admissions. “It’s a mistake to think we’re looking at financial aid as separate from everything else,” said Kitzinger. “We see the increase and certainly are asking questions about how to balance [the overall budget].”

If the College increases its financial aid budget, one way to balance it is to take away from the budget from the physical plant or employee compensation.

“With the physical plant…the pressure on the budget forces us to ask what we can put off without damaging students’ or employees’ safety,” said Kitzinger.

In terms of employee compensation, the administration is in the process of reviewing every position that becomes open to determine if it can be eliminated without harming the College.

“We’re constantly looking at our priorities and how to reach financial equilibrium,” said Kitzinger.

“There could come a time when we can’t balance these priorities and something has to change.”

BOND continued from page 1 Deferred maintenance projects make up a significant portion of the cost in the upkeep of the aging campus. They become deferred when more temporary fixes are substituted for improvements that solve the root issue.

“Our team keeps going back year after year after year to fix plaster on the walls that just keep blistering and they were wondering when we were going to do something about this problem,” said Director of Buildings and Grounds Tom Allen.

“People think that there’s something wrong with the plastering,” added Eismeier.

“But no, it’s this very expensive effort on the outside that has to be done every 50 to 100 years, but we’re catching up on it.”

These projects covered by the recent bond issue are spread across the campus and will take place over a three-year period because of a time limitation on the spending of the bond. “Our priority is to improve our building envelope systems,” said Allen, referring to work primarily on the exterior of buildings. “It’s also updating the infrastructure on the campus as well... We are also managing projects to improve our accessibility and life safety concerns.”

Though the College will spend the bond in three years, “I have a fairly defined capital plan that goes out at least seven years. It is a little fluid,” said Allen. “Some projects will come in, some projects may get deferred a year or two.” The projects on the list include improvements to the roof of Josselyn House, the physical infrastructure of the campus and the renovation of bathroom stacks in the Residential Quad and Main Building.

While projects are planned in advance, the list is subject to change. Projects vie for attention based on their level of urgency, so the discovery of a leaky roof automatically boosts a building to the top of the list, and summer construction is generally finalized in the preceding fall.

The decision to issue a bond reflects the urgency of some deferred maintenance needs, but the timing of the bond with the economic climate also played a key role in the decision. By taking on debt now, the College takes advantage of low interest rates, a

result of the economy and of a high credit rating, as well as low costs of labor and materials in the current construction market.

“If you imagine our alternatives of taking a chunk of money out of the endowment to pay for something and borrowing, and the endowment is earning interest at a rate that’s higher than the interest you pay on the debt, you can easily see that it’s a better idea, and that’s fundamentally the situation we are in,” said Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger.

According to Kitzinger, the ideal situation would be to fit these capital budgets into the annual operating budget of the College, but with an already tightened budget, there is no flexibility to include major improvements to the physical plant. “Under no circumstances have we been able to figure out a way to build enough money into the operating budget to fix our buildings,” said Kitzinger. “We would have to do some really really difficult things to other parts of the budget, a whole number of them—financial aid, employment, compensation benefits.”

As a result of the College’s tax-free status, the bond carries several limitations, one of which is the three-year spending time frame.

The time frame, in part, restricts the number of projects the bond can cover because the campus can only accommodate so much construction in one season. By the same token, the value of the bond was limited because, as Assistant Vice President for Budget and Planning David English explained, the College would not take on debt for more projects than it could manage in three years, despite being financially healthy enough to take on more debt.

The projects covered by the bond must also be, on average, long lasting. “The average life of the bond can be 120 percent of the weighted average life of the projects you’re going to do,” said English. “If you do a roof that lasts 100 years, that lets you do some other projects that last 10 years. It’s the same dollars, the average is 55.”

The College will repay this debt in its entirety over the course of 30 years, the first 20 of which are interest only. “We’re matching

up this long-term debt repayment with the idea that the improvements we’re making are going to be useful for a long period of time,” said Eismeier.

Interest payments on the most recent bond issue begin immediately, but payments on the bond’s principle—the $50 million face value of the bond—will begin in 2030. By financing the bond so far out into the future, the College is expecting to benefit from the effects of inflation.

“20 to 40 years out from now, when we repay most of the principal on existing debt, the theory is that inflation will have reduced the relative value of the those fixed dollars,” said Eismeier of expectations of inflation in the future. “Of course, there is a current fear about deflationary pressures. You don’t want to repay debt with deflated dollars, but the principal on all of Vassar’s debt has been spread over far more distant years and should benefit from the effects of long-term inflation.”

Because some projects, such as the renovation of the roof and exterior of Rockefeller Hall, will be drawn out over more than three summers, deferred maintenance projects will likely be included in the next bond the College issues: debt for the renovation and construction of science facilities.

According to Eismeier, the College is already planning for this debt, which it currently plans to issue in 2013.

According to Kitzinger, the College has been reluctant to borrow in the past, though prior to the most recent bond issue, Vassar took on debt in 1995, 2001 and 2007.

“Vassar had been very conservative in its use of debt financing,” said Eismeier, “but we’ve borrowed three times over the last decade to address needed improvements and deferred maintenance.”

Though Eismeier noted that taking on debt is not the most positive trend, Kitzinger saw it in an optimistic light. “It means the college has confidence in its future. It has need for expenditure that it is not willing or able to take our of other operations, and we have done a careful calculation about timing because this is a good time to do such projects.”

Official Sesquicentennial celebrations to begin Jan. 18 and enjoy its intellectual resources,” said Mihaly. Cramer added that Vassar’s guests will be able to “experience what it feels like to be a member of the Vassar community” through various events.

Scheduled for the weekend of Friday, Nov. 11, the fourth event will be a conference: “On Educating the Global Citizen.” The proceedings will involve a “day-and-a-half worth of invited guests—which include scholars, panelists and university presidents—speaking about topics of global importance such as health, welfare, and the environment,” according to Mihaly. Panelists are going to be invited on campus from all over the country and the world, and so will a group of students.

Aside from on-campus programming, Sesquicentennial celebrations will be taken across the United States and even overseas in London. Starting these off-campus events will be “Jazz at Lincoln Center” in New York City with Guest of Honor Meryl Streep ’71.

This event is mainly geared towards alumnae/i of the College, and will have performances by a student company directed by Professor of Drama Christopher Grabowski. This event will also be one in which the College will announce the beginning of its compressive fund-raising campaign, which has been in its silent stages since 20052006.

While the Sesquicentennial Committee and the Sesquicentennial Student Advisory Committee are facilitating the events, both Mihaly and Cramer stressed that the campus

Sesquicentennial is essentially a “collaboration” between each and every element in the Vassar community, on and off campus. “I’m very interested in seeing how student organizations on campus can include the ‘Sesqui-theme’ in their programming,” said Mihaly, encouraging all student organizations to feel free to develop ways in which they can celebrate Vassar’s history and at the same time look to the future.

In the same vein, Sesquicentennial Student Advisory co-Chair and VSA Vice President for Activities Tanay Tatum ’12 “is still looking for more student groups across campus to contribute to the Sesquicentennial Celebrations; students can contribute in a variety of ways.”

“Student organizations should consider hosting Sesqui-themed meetings, art showcases, parties, performances or tweak their annual events so that it incorporates the Sesquicentennial.

Students can also use Vassar’s 150th birthday as an opportunity to reflect and celebrate the history of their own organizations,” said Tatum, the liaison for student-related Sesquicentennial events.

The planning for the Sesquicentennial was carried out keeping in mind the current state of the economy. “We do not have the luxury of spending a large sum of money on the Sesquicentennial,” said Cramer. “That said,” she added, “the contributors have been brilliantly creative with the programming that’s been planned. The events are so thoughtful and inventive that you would never be able to tell that

Couresy of John Mihaly

SESQUI continued from page 1 community” as well as to dramatically increase the magnitude of the programming without a consequent increase in costs.

The Campus Sesquicentennial Birthday Party, to be held on Saturday, Jan. 29, is the first of the events planned exclusively to celebrate Vassar’s 150th year. “This event is the official launch of all on-campus celebrations for the Sesquicentennial,” said Vassar Student Association (VSA) Vice President for Operations and co-Chair of the Sesquicentennial Student Advisory Committee Ruby Cramer ’12. The event will begin with a reception and performances, and will conclude with a “huge all-campus party for students co-hosted by Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) and the VSA,” according to Cramer.

The next event is planned for the day before Founder’s Day. “Keeping the Sesquicentennial in mind, we wanted to enhance Founder’s Day for the Vassar community this year,” said Mihaly.

While the planning committees realized that “students love Founder’s Day as it is,” said Cramer, the night before will play host to a Variety Show, which will involve Vassar professors performing for students. The event is based on variety shows that in the past greatly entertained the student body, but ultimately fizzled away, explained Cramer.

The next event, A Day at Vassar, to be held on Saturday, Oct. 15, will “open Vassar up to members of the Hudson Valley community to enter the College

The Sesquicentennial seal, pictured above, was designed by the College especially for the occasion of Vassar’s 150th anniversary, which will begin on Jan. 18 there was essentially no budget for this.”

Referring to the ultimate goal of the Sesquicentennial programming, co-Chair of the Sesquicentennial and Professor of Art Susan Kuretsky commented in an e-mailed statement, “The Sesquicentennial will celebrate all of Vassar—our long history and every person who has ever been and is now part of the College.”

According to Mihaly, the Sesquicentennial “is both a nod to the glorious history of the College and a look

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

forward to Vassar’s future growth, keeping constant the same core values upon which it was founded,” as well as “a celebration of the present.”

“A great variety of events and communications are being planned for the edification and delight of all of us—students, faculty, administrators, staff and our large extended family of alumnae/i.

That we’ll all have the chance to share so much with each other will, we hope, be an especially rewarding aspect of these two birthday semesters in 2011,” concluded Kuretsky.

FEATURES

September 9, 2010

Page 5

On average, peers experience drop in male enrollment GENDER GAP continued from page 1 Men,” which argued that male supremacy in American society is on the decline. In addition to various examples of the female gender’s relative success both in and out of the workplace, Rosin attested that “women dominate today’s colleges and professional schools—for every two men who will receive a B.A. this year, three women will do the same.”

Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid David Borus explained this phenomenon. “Over 57 percent of all students in American higher education, including those at both 2 and 4 year institutions, are female,” he wrote in an e-mailed statement. “This has been the case for several years nationally, and some experts predict that the female percentage of college students may even increase a bit in the future.”

According to Borus, there are several factors contributing to this decline in male enrollment at institutions of higher education. “More women than men are graduating from high school in the United States, and more female high school graduates are going on to college. More men are going into the military, into jobs that do not require college or, sadly, into the prison system.”

Given that Vassar has developed a reputation for its dearth of men, one might assume that the College’s male enrollment follows this larger trend; however, that is not actually the case.

According to data provided by Director of Institutional Research David Davis-Van Atta, total undergraduate male enrollment has risen slowly but steadily since 1994. In particular, Borus noted, “this year’s [freshman] class was 42.6 percent male, which is a high percentage for Vassar historically.”

In contrast, Vassar’s peer institutions seem to follow the national trend. Davis-Van Atta provided information on 16 of Vassar’s primary co-educational reference colleges, a set that includes Williams, Middlebury and Wesleyan,

The above graph demonstrates that total male enrollment at Vassar College has been increasing since 1994. In contrast, at Vassar’s 16 coeducational peer institutions, total male enrollment has been dropping steadily since the 1980s. among others. Male enrollment at these colleges has fallen steadily since 1980 from 55.8 percent to 47.2 percent of total undergraduate enrollment.

“There’s a story of struggle in this, but also one of success,” said DavisVan Atta. He explained that while there is currently a gender imbalance at Vassar—an imbalance that is larger than those of peer institutions—eventually the gap between Vassar’s gender ratio and those of its peers will close.

“I think this is a relatively promising picture for Vassar,” he concluded.

This picture seems especially promising when one considers Vassar’s historical status as a women’s college. “[A lower proportion of male applicants] is, and always has been, somewhat more pronounced at former women’s

colleges,” wrote Borus. Data provided

by Davis-Van Atta shows that the proportion of male applicants has held steady at around 30 percent for some time. Borus claims that this is “both because of history and tradition as well as more concrete causes such as the lack of football and ice hockey teams which attract male applicants who want to participate in these sports.”

Media coverage portrays the national trend of declining male enrollment in higher education as worrisome in and of itself. This assessment may not be far off; educators and doctors suggest that boys may not be receiving the quantity or quality of attention they require, both in school and in the home, to achieve a level of success equal to that of their female peers.

As far as Vassar as an institution is concerned, however, the College’s gender imbalance is not necessarily troublesome. “What’s the problem?,” asked Davis-Van Atta. “The numbers themselves aren’t the problem.” He explained that the potentially harmful effects of the gender gap should be questioned, rather than the gap itself.

“Things like graduation rates, effects on campus life, those are the problems [we should be considering.]”

One such concern raised by media coverage of declining male enrollment is that colleges might begin or have already begun to admit less qualified male applicants over more qualified female applicants in order to balance their gender ratios. Borus claims that the College does not engage in this

practice, stating that “overall, both the men and women that come to Vassar are strong students and highly qualified to be here.” Davis-Van Atta agreed, noting that male and female students have similar standardized test scores and graduation rates.

Another common concern is how the gender gap will affect the social fabric of a campus. At Vassar, the effect of the gender imbalance on student happiness and quality of life may be a problem. Davis-Van Atta pointed to the results of a survey of the Class of 2010 in which, when asked about their satisfaction with the gender imbalance on campus, male and female students responded quite differently.

According to the data, five percent of male respondents identify as “somewhat dissatisfied to very dissatisfied” with the gender ratio, while a staggering 60 percent of female students feel similarly. Alternatively, 41.3 percent of male students are “somewhat satisfied to very satisfied” with the gender ratio, compared to only 5.2 percent of female students.

“I have been doing senior surveys for 15, maybe 20 years,” said Davis-Van Atta. “I don’t remember ever, for any school, seeing a male-female difference [in satisfaction with the gender ratio] like that one.”

Davis-Van Atta suggests that this disparity “might be solved or made better by improving the balance, making it a little closer.” Judging by its trend of rising male enrollment, it seems that Vassar is on the right track to alleviate this issue, at least as far as female students are concerned.

However, Davis-Van Atta warns that the College’s ability to improve its gender balance is limited. “We’re going to run headlong into a ceiling effect in this. Peer schools, almost all of them, are below 50 percent [total male enrollment] now and moving down. So there’s going to be a limit to how long Vassar can swim against that tide.”

My Market II stocks campus refrigerators year round Matthew Bock

Assistant Features Editor

M

Molly Turpin/The Miscellany News

y Market II, the grocery store and deli that recently replaced the ephemeral Wrapsody Grill at the intersection of Raymond and Collegeview avenues, is committed to succeed where similar attempts have failed by providing healthful food options and excellent service to its neighbors in the Vassar community. “You don’t have to go far away to get your groceries anymore,” said owner Sayid Zoder. “And My Market II is all about local and organic food.”

Zoder was inspired to open the sequel to the original My Market in Poughkeepsie after the success of his original store in New Paltz, which he opened ten years ago. “[The Poughkeepsie store] is a little small,” he told The Miscellany News, but joked, “you can’t have everything.”

My Market II is particularly useful to Vassar students for a variety of purposes.

For one, the store boasts local and organic produce such as ears of corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches and watermelon as well as certified organic beefs, steaks and poultry. Specialty and international products like hummus, organic peanut butter, Naked fruit juice and Nutella sit side by side with more conventional dorm room fare like cookies, chips and crackers. The market offers a selection of cheeses such as brie and cheddar, as well as yogurts and, for the smokers among us, cigarettes.

“The store sells such a pastiche of goods,” observed Jacob Loeterman ’12, “and the owners are so receptive to student feedback.

They want to know what we’re interested in so that they can provide it.” Such a student testimonial this early in the store’s opera-

tional tenure bodes well for the patronage of My Market II. The Market’s Prices are equally as student-friendly as its owners’ philosophy. For instance, six ears of local corn sell for a paltry $2.99, the hummus, a favorite among practitioners of the liberal arts, is $3.00, and containers of Wallaby organic yogurt are a mere $1.29 each.

Although My Market II’s organic coffee is, unfortunately, on the weaker side of the spectrum of culinary satisfaction, the store’s deli counter offers a viable lunch alternative to the Retreat, the All Campus Dining Center or the Express Lunch window. A turkey and cheddar sandwich with local tomatoes and lettuce, prepared by Zoder himself, was absolutely delicious with the exception of the bread, which might have been better served toasted or warmed.

My Market II fulfills some of the needs that an on-campus market, catering specifically to the dietary needs of Vassar students, would aim to serve. A full-service grocery store so close to home encourages students to feed their culinary curiosities, the primary benefit being that students no longer need a car in order to stock their refrigerators. Even so, the question of whether or not an on-campus market such as the proposed but unrealized convenience store planned for within the All Campus Dining Center would flounder or flourish remains to be answered and will likely be put to rest depending on the future of My Market II. Whether a student is in the market for snacks, ingredients for a celebration or experiment, or is looking to craft a gourmet meal worthy of a Culinary Institute graduate, My Market II has them covered all while accepting cash, credit cards and even VCash.

My Market II, pictured above, offers Vassar and the surrounding community a wide variety of groceries.

The store is located at the intersection of Raymond Avenue and Collegeview Avenue and accepts VCash.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

FEATURES

Page 6

September 9, 2010

Farmers Market vendors offer more than just fruit Danielle Gensburg

Assistant Features Editor

S

Jared Saunders/The Miscellany News

weet jams, colorful tomatoes, golden French bread, vinegars and Italian ice. These are just a few of the vast assortment of delectable treats that await Vassar students at the local Farmers Market, held from 3 to 7 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays on the Alumni House lawn.

The interesting and hardworking individuals standing behind the booths are just as diverse as the products themselves.

Two such individuals are Ann Shershin of Monastery Products and Cider Mill Friends, and Steve Oscarlece of Benny & Caesar’s Ice Cream. Shershin, who sells wonderful vinegars, preserves, jams and cookbooks, volunteers and works to raise awareness and money on behalf of both the Kimlin Cider Mill and Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery. Oscarlece, surrounded by heavenly sweets in the form of Italian ice, ice cream and other frozen desserts, hopes to open an old fashioned ice cream and dessert shop of his own in the near future.

Shershin displays a genuine dedication and passion for the welfare of the two organizations she promotes. Once a week, she volunteers at Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery and is on the board of Cider Mill Friends, a non-profit organization, where she attends monthly meetings and participates in an annual fundraiser.

Originally from Wisconsin, Shershin moved to Poughkeepsie 10 years ago and became involved with Cider Mill Friends through the mother of one of her daughter’s high school friends. Cider Mill Friends sought to purchase an old cider mill, The Kimlin Cider Mill, located on Cedar Avenue in Poughkeepsie, for seven years, after it had been closed and out of use for many years and under the control of developers. Finally, on Feb. 20, 2008, the organization acquired the mill and its 1.8 surrounding acres of beautiful meadowland.

The Kimlin Cider Mill, which was founded as a farm by Ralph Kimlin in 1853, began operating as a commercial cider business in 1880, acquiring apples from an orchard across the Hudson River in Highland. In an effort to attract more people and business, Mr. Kimlin added a cafĂŠ and museum room to the interior: “The locals would come by for apple cider and look at the museum. Vassar girls would bring their dates for apple cider and doughnuts,â€? Shershin said with a whisper of the past playing on her voice.

In an effort to raise awareness and money for restoration of both the interior and exterior of the mill, Shershin, along with Cider Mill Friends, hopes to bring back the magic of what was once an original cider press powered by horses: “There was an outside track that the horses walked around powering the hydraulics in the press,� said Shershin. The organization hopes to have the cider press set up for demonstrations and to restore Mr. Kimlin’s museum, which at one point featured stuffed animals, Indian arrowheads, farm tools, swords, and rifles.

Back at the Farmers Market, Shershin’s two tables, catering to each of her organizations, feature a variety of interesting products and two donation boxes that benefit her chosen commitments. Shershin is always looking for volunteers to work on the mill and sells both pictures and note cards of the mill in addition to apple themed potholders, sticky notes, and squeeze balls. There are even plans in the works to create an apple cookbook.

Vinegars, preserves, and cookbooks made by the monks of Our Lady of the Resurrection

Monastery compose Shershin’s other table. The monks, who are mainly known for their chutneys, relish, salsa, tapenade and three pepper spread, according to Shershin, utilize produce from their Monastery garden as well as that given through donations.

Shershin has found working with Cider Mill Friends and Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery to be an extremely rewarding experience: “You can see where you make a difference. My volunteering has impacted both these organizations and helped them to move ahead with their goals.� As for the overall experience of working in a farmers market, Shershin said, “I have interesting customers and enjoy talking to them.

You develop regular customers.�

Not far from Shershin’s booth sits another farmers market favorite with retro sensibilities.

Steve Oscarlece, owner of Benny & Caesar’s Ice Cream, creates scrumptious frozen desserts that rival even the famous Ben & Jerry’s.

Starting off as a kid who worked in an ice cream store, Oscarlece began his own business in 2004 with his brother-in-law Mark Droumbakis by purchasing an ice cream truck and naming the company after their families’ Bichon Frise dogs, Benny and Caesar.

A couple of years later, after taking a course on ice cream making at Penn State University, Oscarlece built a commercial kitchen in his home and began creating homemade ice cream and Italian ices from scratch. The kitchen, which is inspected quarterly, is “real homey.

It’s also a problem because it allows easy access to sweets,� said Osarlece, jokingly. In about 10 minutes, Oscarlece can make a single batch of 24 quarts of ice cream, or about four to five batches an hour.

What happens to all this ice cream? Oscarlece drives around neighborhoods in his ice cream truck, attends farmers markets and various corporate events, makes local deliveries, and sells to local restaurants. Oscarlece is all about accomodation: “Anytime day or night because I’m always up,� says Oscarlece. In fact, Oscarlece has created an ice cream flavor based off of the Alumni House’s famous Vassar Devil. Packaged in pints, Oscarlece sells his Devil Sundae ice cream during “Tasty Tuesdays� in the College Center.

As far as ingredients are concerned, Oscarlece goes au naturel. Real strawberries, Madagascar vanilla, oil for mint flavoring, fruit purees and extracts are all staples of his scrumtious flavors. Oscarlece more unique flavors include mouth watering delights such as white wine ice cream and merlot with a chocolate raspberry swirl, but his personal favorite is the watermelon Italian ice.

Oscarlece finds the overall experience of being in the business of frozen delights to be rewarding because, he said, “It brings back good memories to people. It’s an enjoyment. Even when I drive the ice cream truck throughout different neighborhoods, it attracts the attention of all these kids with smiles on their faces.�

Although their businesses differ greatly, Shershin and Osarlece both demonstrate a great passion, enjoyment and desire to impact others. The Vassar Farmers Market, filled with interesting individuals such as Shershin and Oscarlece, is an experience you won’t want to miss. Stop by, try an Italian ice or purchase an apple-pear chutney. An unusual and fun atmosphere awaits, in which, according to Shershin, “we all get to know each other. It’s like being a carnie.�

Elizabeth Boutique—owned by life-long Poughkeepsie resident—provides unique clothing and accessories to students only two blocks away from campus, on Raymond and Davis Avenues.

Elizabeth Boutique prepares for a fashionable fall season Vee Bernard

Guest Reporter

W

ith the fall season rapidly approaching, Elizabeth Boutique, located at the corner of Davis and Raymond Avenues, is the perfect spot for fashionistas both young and old to scout out stylish outfits for the autumn weather.

Founded in 2008 by Elizabeth Madsen (better known as “Beth�), Elizabeth Boutique is an up-and-coming fashion shop that acts as a chic alternative to the generic selection of clothing stores at the Galleria Mall.

Just two blocks from Vassar Campus, Elizabeth Boutique offers a blend of the classic and casual, with a selection of clothing, jewelry, scarves, makeup, and accessories that is sure to cater to everyone’s tastes.

Madsen, born and raised in the Poughkeepsie area, explained in an interview that she wanted to own a fashion store for as long as she could remember. So, after high school, she attended Johnson & Wales University, where she majored in Fashion Merchandising and explored the technical information she would need in order to own and operate her own business. “I always wanted to own a boutique,� said Madsen, “that’s really how it started. So I went to school, and when I graduated, I still wanted to go down that path, so I wrote up a business plan and presented it to the local bank for an FDA loan.�

In picking a location for her store, Madsen explained that in addition to having spent her childhood in Arlington, her father also owns a business in the area, so when it came time to open up shop, it only made sense that she would do so here.

Two years later, Elizabeth Boutique now serves Vassar College, Marist College, and a large portion of the population in amd around the Arlington area. Described on its website as having a “refreshing laid-back atmosphere� that combines “classic casual sensibility with meticulously picked and edited clothing,�

Elizabeth Boutique offers a blend of unusual

items and brand names, with an especially healthy selection of denim products, scarves, and purses. “We provide trendy accents on classic clothing,� explained Madsen, “and these work for a wide variety of ages. I see older women from the area coming in, as well as students from Vassar.�

Decorated with antique furniture and furnishings, Elizabeth Boutique has a relaxed atmosphere that provides a friendly and fun shopping experience. Madsen’s fashion-forward tastes are reflected in Elizabeth Boutique’s clothing lines, the majority of which are compiled and selected by Madsen herself.

Elizabeth Boutique, however, is more than simply a clothing store. Winner of the 2009 Hudson Valley Magazine’s “Best Boutique Award,� Elizabeth Boutique frequently plays host to events coordinated by Madsen, many of which are for charitable causes. In the past, Madsen has been involved in raising money for the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement and the Miles of Hope Breast Cancer Foundation.

As for the trends to look out for during the Fall 2010 season, Madsen recommends rediscovering forgotten articles of clothing. “I always recommend going through your closet, and finding some things that work well that can make your current clothing pop,� suggested Madsen.

Madsen is an ardent believer in the power of ornamentation, explaining that any accessory—from a watch to a belt—can be a tasteful accent to a classic ensemble. Beware, Madsen warns, of wearing more than one striking accessory at a time. According to Elizabeth Boutique online, one “super bold item per outfit� should be the limit. “This fall we are going to be seeing a lot of gray,� Madsen concluded, “and skinny jeans are still in, so don’t forget those. Ruffles and the military look are making an appearance, and, of course, you can never go wrong with accessories—scarves and belts, bags, necklaces.�

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MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

FEATURES

September 9, 2010

I N

Page 7

M E M O R I A M

Virginia B. Smith, Eighth President of Vassar College T

Mitchell Gilburne, Features Editor Carrie Hojnicki, Online Editor

he beginning of Vassar’s 150th academic year was marred by the death of one of the institution’s most influential leaders, President Emirata Virginia B. Smith. Announced in a campus-wide e-mail from President Catharine Bond-Hill, Smith’s death marked the end of a life dedicated to the betterment of higher education. Smith was the eighth president of Vassar College and the second female to hold the position—her tenure spanning from 1977 to 1986. Her brief yet significant term emphasized fortifying the College’s fiscal presence, developing the Exploring Transfer program, and grappling with hot button issues such as changing the drinking age and student outcry for transparency in regards to the College’s investments.

Born in Seattle, Washington in 1923, Smith spent most of her life surrounded by the marble columns of academia. For Smith, higher education was not a means to an end, but rather an intellectual journey valuable in its own right. In a statement the President Emirata released to The Miscellany News in April of 1977, she wrote, “If quality liberal arts education is to flourish rather than just survive it must be nourished, not simply left to languish; and the potentially disastrous and probably unnecessary struggle between vocational and liberal arts education must be put to rest.”

This philosophy traveled with her as she occupied additional administrative roles in the University of California system and later, at Mills College.

Smith died in Palo Alto, California where she resided with her life partner of 57 years, Dr. Florence Oaks. She is survived by Oaks as well as her sister, Bessie Francis, and her brother, Frank Smith, both of Washington State.

1923 - 2010

Education

Smith’s foray into higher education began at the age of 16 when she enrolled as an undergraduate at the University of Washington. It was there that she received her B.A. and later, her M.A. and J.D. degrees. Smith attended Columbia University, where she studied economics and law. Over the course of her career, she received 11 honorary degrees from institutions around the country.

“If quality liberal arts education is to flourish rather than just survive it must be nourished, not simply left to languish; and the potentially disastrous and probably unnecessary struggle between vocational and liberal arts education must be put to rest.”

Virginia B. Smith

Professional Career Before Vassar

Smith began teaching business and economics in 1947 at the College of Puget Sound and Seattle Pacific College. Her career continued at the University of California at Berkeley in 1952 where she taught courses on labor and management with the University’s Institute of Industrial Relations. Her transition to administrative functions within higher education came six years later as she moved to the office of the President of the University in 1958. In 1965, she would become the University’s first female assistant vice president.

In 1967 she joined the Carnegie Commis-

Quoted in The Miscellany News April 8, 1977 sion on Higher Education, shifting her focus toward higher education policy and management. Serving as the commission’s principal researcher, and later associate director, Smith would be a part of what are now considered some of the most important studies on higher education in the twentieth century. Just prior to coming to Vassar, she was appointed by President Nixon to the position of Found-

fundraiser by acquiring a donation of 8,000 acres of Illinois farmland valued at $10 million from alumna Rebecca Lawrence Lowrie ’13. While Smith’s unwavering commitment to financial growth was rewarded with success, her tactics were not exclusively met without controversy. On Oct. 21, 1978, students blockaded all exits from the All Campus dining center during a Trustee Luncheon in protest of the College’s investment in South African companies during apartheid. The protest led to an eventual commitment to the divestment of the financially sound yet morally bankrupt fiscal strategy, increased transparency and the eventual formation of a student seat on the Board of Trustees.

True to her devotion to higher education, Smith spent much of her tenure as president advocating for the value and sanctity of a liberal arts education, as demonstrated by her public denouncement of the Solomon Amendment which proposed to link students’ reception of financial aid with mandatory draft registration. On campus, this attitude led to the development of both academic and recreational facilities with the Walker Field House being approved in the 1979-1980 academic year; preparations for the construction of Mudd Chemistry Building commencing in the fall of 1982; and the inception of the enduring Freshmen Writing Seminar.

Discussion of Smith’s presidency would not be complete without noting the change of the legal drinking age to 21 on Dec. 1, 1985, a matter of national legislation that forever changed the landscape of the American system of higher education. While the soon-tobe underaged students clamored towards the Mug with frenzied determination, her administration, obliged to the law, was left to reinvent much of the policy that had heretofore all but defined the campus’ social timbre. smith oversaw a number of noteworthy happenings that would play a large role in shaping the future of the College. In February of 1978, men were welcomed for the first time onto the Daisy Chain as ushers, CHOICE was forbidden to sell contraceptives on Valentine’s Day of 1979 on grounds of impropriety and competition with the Vassar College Bookstore, senior housing became gender neutral, and a ballot box stuffing scandal rattled the elections of the newly-christened Vassar Student Association.

Post Vassar

ing Director of the Fund for the still active Improvement of Post Secondary Education, which provides grants to support innovative educational reform.

The Vassar Years

Entering her post with a goal to expand the College’s endowment by $100 million, Smith immediately exhibited her proficiency as a

In 1990, Smith emerged from retirement to serve as the interim president of Mills College in Oakland, California. Once her interim period ended, she continued her involvement as a member of the College’s Board of Trustees.

Her achievements in higher education are among the most notable of her generation, In fact, Smith is the namesake of a prize given annually in honor for achievement in higher education, the Virginia B. Smith Innovative Leadership Award.

Virginia B. Smith’s Vassar April 8th, 1977 The Miscellany News publishes news of Smith’s succession of Simpson.

August, 1977 Inaugural year of the Smith administration.

September 30, 1977 Vassar is 30th college to purchase new IBM S-100 computer.

February 1978 Men serve as ushers at graduation for the first time.

June 1978 Smith appoints Acting Dean of Faculty Elizabeth Daniels to head a committee to conduct a ‘Vassar Self-Study.’

October 1978 Students blockade ACDC during a trustee luncheon to protest investments in South African companies during Apartheid.

Valentine’s Day 1979 CHOICE prohibited from selling “love carefully” condoms due to impropriety and competition with the bookstore.

October 1979 Building of Walker field house approved.

April 1981 Elections fraud scandal surrounds VSA elections after stuffing of ballot boxes discovered.

August 1981 Freshman Writing Seminars adopted.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

February 1982 Mary McCarthy ’33 becomes the first President’s Distinguished Visitor.

Fall 1982 Preparations for construction of Mudd begin.

February 1983 Terrace Apartments and Town Houses become co-ed.

September 1983 Smith protests Solomon Amendment, which denied federal grants to a college that did not allow military recruitment on campus.

April 1984 Smith announces resignation. She was ultimately succeeded by Frances Daly Fergusson.

OPINIONS

Page 8

September 9, 2010

Transit cutbacks Socioeconomic diversity, lacking on target those hit college campuses, must be supported most by recession Alex Evans

Guest Columnist

I

was eighteen years old and forbidden from operating a motor vehicle. My series of three consecutive learner’s permits had expired and I remained unable to distinguish the accelerator from the foot brake. Instead of a license I carried a public transit card; a ride from one corner of the city to another cost me less than a Big Mac while my friends skipped lunch to cover gas costs. Unfortunately, the days of a cheap, unlicensed, existence ended this summer when the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) announced a series of 20 percent price hikes. Driving was suddenly cheaper and I became one of the United States’ 196,165,666 licensed motorists.

WMATA, the second busiest public transit system in the nation, is far from alone. 2010 marked a summer of price hikes; according to the American Public Transportation Association, 84 percent of U.S. transit systems have cut service or raised fares, while another 50 percent have fired employees or slashed positions. Dutchess County’s LOOP bus service is one of the most recent to follow the national trend, voting this month to cut 10 to 12 routes and service programs.

Public transit cutbacks, which affect both fixed route services and requested transit services such as Dial-A-Ride and non-emergency medical transportation, will dramatically impact the lives of millions of our country’s elderly, disabled, and poor citizens. Unable to operate or afford the costs of private vehicles, these populations disproportionately rely on public transportation to access basic needs such as medical care, employment opportunities or social organizations. The increase of public transit fares limits the ability of many to gain or maintain employment and reduces the number of hours they can work. Increased suburbanization further exacerbates the problem; as rent in the cities grows more expensive, businesses move further from the city’s core, increasing the distances we must travel daily. Thus, while the recent changes to transit services may be measured by a few cents or hours, they are magnified by the effect that such changes See TRANSIT on page 9

Joshua Rosen

Opinions Editor

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magine the outcry that would ensue if it were revealed that white Americans were found to be 25 times more likely to attend college than African-Americans and Hispanic Americans. While this figure does not describe racial disparities in college attendance, it does apply to individuals of the highest and lowest income quartiles—children of the former are 25 times more likely to attend a top college than those of the latter, according to research published by economists Stephen Rose and Anthony Carnevale. This figure is symptomatic of a larger problem—a lack of socioeconomic diversity on college campuses—that needs a carefully considered solution. One of the methods that would work to address this concern is socioeconomic affirmative action based on factors such as family income, assets, and parental education.

Generally speaking, I would not be counted among the proponents of affirmative action; I tend to view affirmative action practices as aiding victims at the expense of the innocent, to paraphrase Justice Lewis Powell’s opinion in the Supreme Court case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), where the court ruled in favor of affirmative action but against quotas. Race-based affirmative action smacks of racial quotas, and is widely unpopular in the United States. Since, in colleges, the “underrepresentation of low-income students is even greater” than that of racial minorities, it would be better, in the interest of greater equality, for socioeconomic affirmative action, which does not discriminate based on race.

The influence of race in 21st century America is not as pervasive of that as class, primarily because of the nature of the American public education system, where children from poorer areas—regardless of ethnic or racial labels—attend what a 2003 Business Week editorial called “impoverished public schools.”

By their very nature, under funded public schools will tend to provide an inferior education. This is a systemic concern, but one that colleges could work to account for through

socioeconomic affirmative action. In fact, such a program would, as economist Robert Reich of the University of California–Berkeley said in a 2008 interview on National Public Radio, “address many of the same issues as race-based affirmative action, but it would also address the needs of low-income whites.”

Due to the fact that race-based affirmative action ignores low-income non-Black and nonHispanic groups, who represent the majority of low-income Americans—and, as a consequence, tend to not have access to higher education—economic diversity would increase.

Along the same lines, the absence of a racial preference would not impact racial diversity on college campuses because “people of color are still over-represented among the poor,” according to Reich, and would cause no more than a two percent decline in AfricanAmerican and Hispanic enrollment in highly selective institutions overall, according to Rose and Carnevale, a concern that could be mediated by accounting for the poverty rates in communities, generally higher for minorities that benefit from race-based affirmative action, and accounting for net worth, which would have the same effect, as AfricanAmericans and Hispanic-Americans tend to have much lower net worth than whites.

Such a program would mediate one of the more interesting problems posed by racial affirmative action, which is that it can benefit upper-income African-American and Hispanic students—who have had the same educational advantages of their upper-income Asian and white peers—at the expense of lower-income, albeit qualified students of all ethnicities. This is among the primary critiques of racial affirmative action, and has been demonstrated empirically. In fact, according to the 1998 book, The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions by economist William Bowen and attorney Derek Bok, of Princeton and Harvard, respectively, 86 percent of African-American students at elite colleges come from middle- or upper-income families. Along the same lines,

Rose and Carnevale found that “being economically disadvantaged...reduces...chances of enrolling at one of the 146 most selective colleges.” Taken together, it is clear that racial affirmative action does little to benefit lower-socioeconomic status minorities, and diversity overall is negatively impacted—poor whites, and other groups that do not recieve any advantages from racial affirmative action are underrepresented to an egregious extent.

This perverse consequence of race-based affirmative action suggests that using race as a proxy for socioeconomic status and, generally, diversity, over-represents high income African-Americans and Hispanics at the expense of less-well-off persons of all ethnic groups, a consequence averted by utilizing a broader measure of diversity.

Diversity is just as much a measure of socioeconomic status as it is of racial identity, gender, and religion, among other factors. It is a fallacy to assume that admitting high-income minorities, who receive the same preferences under racial affirmative action as individuals of the same minority groups that are from the bottom socioeconomic quartile, is as mindful of diversity as ensuring representation of a wider variety of socioeconomic circumstances.

Data from large polls indicates, too, that Americans recognize this—in a 2003 Newsweek poll, 65 percent of persons expressed their preference for income-based affirmative action as opposed to 26 percent for racial affirmative action programs. This wide gulf in support suggests a willingness to experiment with a type of program that could very well alter the face of higher education in the United States for the better—for greater equality, diversity, and in the interest of the population as a whole.

While Vassar College, as a whole, is quite sensitive to financial need, providing over 60 percent of students with some form of financial aid, despite its limited financial means as an institution, there is a national need for accessable higher education.

Vassar has done its part, but not all institutions are: Vassar provides over $40 million a See DIVERSITY on page 12

How secular is a liberal arts education at Vassar?

Jonathan Kahn

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Guest Columnist

t is now well acknowledged that the American academy, at least from the standpoint of theory, has been in a full-blown period of recovery from the dominance of the secularization thesis. This thesis has two basic prongs: 1) religion is in inexorable decline; and 2) public discourse should follow an Enlightenment conception of universal reason.

One would have to be willfully historically blind to think the former. On the latter, the fires of postmodernism have led lots of us— atheists and religionists alike—to the realization that all discourses are subject to historical interests and contingencies. In turn, this tremendous variety of theorists have come to agree on one thing: that it is philosophically incoherent to insist upon a secular scrubbed free of religion and committed to so-called neutral and rational discourse.

I wonder, however, whether this eclipse of the secularization thesis has made its way onto our campus? Indeed, it is uncontroversial to suggest that Vassar identifies itself as a secular campus or that Vassar has long valued a notion of the secular that limits and restricts religious expression as an ostensible way to promote tolerance and critical thought and to create democratic institutions and civic engagement. Yet, in doing this sort of discursive policing, does Vassar stubbornly hold to the commitments of the failed secularization thesis? One simple way of testing this is to ask: Do students and faculty feel comfortable expressing deeply held religious commitments in public spaces such as classrooms?

I suspect not. And if you, too, feel as though students and faculty are all-too practiced at

dropping their religious commitments at the classroom door, then perhaps it is time that to consider whether uncritical assumptions about the secular are stripping some students and faculty of fundamental aspects of their identities. What would campus life—both in and out of class—look like if these secularist assumptions were dropped? For liberal arts education, the stakes of this question are important. The mission of liberal arts education is not simply the conveyance of certain bodies of information or certain technical skills useful in a market economy. Liberal arts colleges understand themselves as places that promote education as a way for students to consider larger questions of meaning and value. Liberal arts colleges are places where students are not thought naïve to ask so-called big questions: “What is the meaning of my life?” “How do I understand death?” “Does evil exist?”

“What are my obligations to my neighbor, my country, my world?” And finally, “How might my education—in whatever field I study— help me assimilate these questions?”

When a liberal arts education is framed in these terms, I find that students express an unmistakable pent-up desire to introduce deep commitments, including religious ones, into public arenas including the classroom.

In turn, liberal arts colleges work best and allow students to become who they are when students are afforded the room to search and interrogate their commitments, especially religious commitments, in public ways. My fear is that Vassar is failing its mission when students and faculty feel that when they step onto campus they have to bracket or repress just these sorts of deep commitments, religious or otherwise, that might be crucial to

addressing these sorts of questions.

Is Vassar no longer secular when it allows these sorts of deep commitments into public view and discussion? That depends on what is meant by the secular. It is long past time that we begin to have a more complicated discussion about the nature of the secular after the death of the secularization thesis. Some call this the “post-secular,” and what they really mean by this is: What now? It is time for a revalued concept of the secular and secularity that rejects the idea that religion is a discourse that should be subject to special restrictive rules, and encourages the expression of views guided or governed by religious commitments.

To be sure, liberal arts colleges certainly are not going to pick up the mantle of any set of particular religious commitments. Nevertheless, on these terms, the secular becomes a discursive condition—a conversation—in which none of us is expected to give up our beliefs and none of us can take it for granted that others hold our same religious assumptions. A secular institution like Vassar would excel at anticipating and navigating differences among its citizens. A revalued secular invites discussion between religious and non-religious members of our campus who are acutely aware that the demands of secular democratic life require an extraordinary balance between prizing and cherishing one’s own convictions and being aware that these same prized and cherished convictions are contestable, and may at times may act as a bludgeon against other democratic citizens.

Indeed, here is where work remains. This revalued understanding of the secular leaves lots of questions. Our understanding as a lib-

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

eral arts institution of how to conduct these discursive practices is rudimentary at best.

Students and faculty, I believe, are deeply unsure of how to express deep commitments more freely and fully. Confusion, uncertainty, and even hostility here remain the norm.

What appears glaringly conspicuous is the lack of adequate models and examples of constructive exchanges between conflicting and differing deep commitments.

I stand convinced, though, that we should be engaging in such questions. The stakes are not simply invigorating aspects of Vassar’s claims to a liberal arts education. But reconceiving of the secular in this way is coeval with reconceiving of the practices of citizenry. We will surely be reminded of this need as we pass this fall through election season.

Finally, that these conversations might begin to happen in thoughtful and inventive ways on liberal arts campuses only speaks to the enduring practical value of liberal arts education.

We would do well to remind ourselves of this in these economic times when the Great Recession seems to have set off a storm of conversation about the value of a liberal arts education. (Sites such as The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Times have conducted vigorous and multifaceted debates about whether students can afford to “indulge” in a “non-vocational” undergraduate education.) My attempt to reconceive of the secular urges us all to think of ways that a broad and searching Vassar education does indeed yield potential real effects—economic, social, and political—even if these are unlikely to come with direct-deposit six figure bonuses.

OPINIONS

September 9, 2010

Mass transit Jewish voters should think an important beyond Israel at the polls investment Rachel Anspach Guest Columnist

TRANSIT continued from page 8 will have on those who use public transit more frequently. As wages shrink, or disappear, the ability to cover the cost of proper nutrition, education, or medical care may climb further out of reach.

Public officials are not unaware of the system’s importance; a recent poll by the advocacy group Transportation for America found that increased funding for buses and trains was a point of bipartisan agreement, with 67 percent of Democrats and 49 percent of Republicans in support. Yet, federal law restricts such increases by specifying that cities with populations over 200,000 may use federal funds only for initial capital expenses and not for operation maintenance. Moreover, most of the money is directed through the Highway Trust Fund, which focuses the majority of its capital towards highway and private transportation projects. State and local governments, still reeling from the recent economic crisis, are left with the bulk of the bill; as public transit users swell in number operation costs will continue to grow while budgets shrink, leaving agencies little choice but to cut back on services and raise prices in order to fill the gap.

The Obama administration’s recent economic proposals, including the stimulus package of 2009, may offer us the opportunity to fix this problem. Early discussions have highlighted infrastructure development as a key mechanism to boost employment and spur economic growth. The political will, embodied in congressional proposals from both sides of the aisle and the recent expiration of the U.S. Transportation Bill, must be capitalized upon. Now is the time to redirect our focus from the development of new highways and roads to the maintenance of existing transportation systems, which will fuel new jobs while easing the pressure on those most affected by the recession.

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s a Jew I know I am expected to have a strong opinion about Israel. To some American Jews, the issue of Israel can be the deciding factor on what political candidate they vote for, making the issue even more important than political party. For me, however, the issue is much more complicated. On one hand, I know all about the suffering and anti-Semitism Jews have been subjected to; but on the other hand I cannot approve of Israel’s behavior towards Palestinians. One thing I do know is that Israel is not even close to being the most important political issue for me; and I resent the expectation that just because I’m Jewish Israel is supposed to sit a top my list of political concerns.

This summer, I saw the “Israel First” fight up close during my internship in the campaign office of my Congresswoman, Jan Schakowsky. I live in the Ninth Congressional District of Illinois, which has the most Jewish voters of any district in Chicago or its suburbs. Schakowsky is Jewish, as was her predecessor. The district is also heavily Democratic, and Schakowsky has had little competition during her 12 years in office. This cycle her opponent is Republican Joel Pollak. Pollak is an Orthodox Jew and a self­-identified Tea Party Member, and his effort to unseat Schakowsky is based around his claim that Jan Schakowsky is not pro-Israel enough. This critique, to me, is ridiculous since she has a 100 percent voting record from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), as well as the support of J Street, a newer and more liberal Israeli lobby group. Some Jews feel that J Street is actually pro-Palestinian because they want Israel to take some blame and responsibility for the situation in order to reach a two state solution.

Another issue for critics of Schakowsky is that she had Helen Thomas as the guest

of honor at one of her luncheons. Since Thomas made what was perceived as highly anti-Semitic comments, saying Israeli Jews should return to Poland, this supposedly shows that Schakowsky is anti-Israel herself.

Joel Pollak, as a member of the Tea Party, is expected to hold conservative fringe views. He believes that America is leaving behind a strong democracy in Iraq. He is a supporter of concealed carry laws. He also favors lowering the minimum wage, claiming such a move would help the working class by forcing them to find jobs. In spite of these views he is getting the support of some Jews in the district solely because of how pro-Israel he is perceived to be. Most Ninth district Jews, like most American Jews, hold liberal positions on the issues above, but because of Israel Pollak is Schakowsky’s toughest opponent in years.

Though Schakowsky is very pro-Israel, she just doesn’t make it her top issue. She supports Israel but she is more concerned with domestic issues such as healthcare, equality for women and gay rights.

Jews have been one of the most persecuted groups in history and that is why it is important that Israel exist as a safe haven.

And Israel—with its support from America—isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. In light of this Jewish people in my district, and the entire United States, should give more attention to other political issues. As Jews, we are well aware of marginalization and oppression, thus we should elect government officials who will fight against such injustices in our societies, whether they are directly affecting Jews or not. As long as a member of congress consistently votes in favor of Israel there is no reason to question his or her allegiances. Instead we should pay attention to the broader picture of what our politicians believe in and whether they are creating positive change in our country.

Libertarianism supports free choice Paul Weinger

Guest Columnist

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assar students love a lot of things: locally grown food, fair-trade coffee, and late night pizza. Many of us love our tight jeans, flannel shirts, and Ray-Ban glasses. And almost all of us love Vassar, each other (regardless of race or gender), and helping others.

But how many of us love the reason we can choose where to purchase our food, how we want our farmers treated, or what, if any, greasy and delicious concoctions we ingest?

There are many students here, like us, who not only regularly think about these things, but wish to discuss our ideas with others.

And, there are many students who feel that

there has not been a place to discuss these particular concepts, and have been hesitant to voice these libertarian ideas on a mostly statist campus with a conservative minority.

Libertarians are a blend of ideas behind the Democrat and Republican parties, and being a libertarian on campus can feel like being a square peg trying to fit into a round hole.

We believe that we should recognize that liberty and free enterprise allow us the choice between dressing like a picnic blanket and looking like we just woke up. Is there any student who does not love that we can choose to go to a school like Vassar or enjoy the mutual companionship of whomever we want? These concepts of choice, and the

right to choose, are important to libertarians as well as many Vassar students who do not currently identify as such.

However, though Vassar has a place for those on the “left” and the “right,” the Conservative and Liberal, and the Democrat and Republican, it had no place for those who believe in entrepreneurial freedoms while also denouncing subsidization; promote the liberalization of borders while reveling in the mutual benefit of free trade; denounce government intrusion in our lives and the choices we make with our pocket book; and have faith in human kindness while believing that no action physically coerced on an See LIBERTARIAN on page 11

Page 9

What’s your favorite Farmers Market vendor?

“French delicacies”

Jamar Griffin ’13

“The fruit vendor.”

Prairie Rose Goodwin ’12

“The woman who sells the honey because honey is sweet.”

Connor Thomes ’13 and Vee Thayer Benard ’13

“The cheese vendor.”

Rachel Anspach ’13

“Twisted Soul.”

ADVERTISEMENT Mikko Harvey ’13

“The wine station.”

Toby Sola ’13 —Joshua Rosen Opinions Editor

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

OPINIONS

Page 10

September 9, 2010

Islamic Center overtly provocative Once dignified, Nick Campbell Guest Columnist

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he controversial proposal to build an Islamic Center near Ground Zero has sparked venomous accusations and counter accusations. Sharif El-Gamal is the Imam behind the center, and his plans to build the center have begun a national debate that finds him standing in no-man’s land, with El-Gamal and his supporters saying that the fight represents a lack of respect for religious freedom and an attempt by Americans to repress a feared religion. All I can say to El-Gamal and his supporters is this: Cry me a river. The Park 51 project, formerly called Cordoba House, is most likely a deliberate attempt to provoke the American people by playing on their fears and anger. While the arguments in favor of building the Center in the proposed location generally seem rational, there is a single problem that the proponents of the Center ignore. And the problem is that feelings on anything related to Sept. 11 seldom have anything to do with rationality.

El-Gamal would have been an utter fool to draw up plans to build Park 51 near Ground Zero and expect the American people, who are willing to take up arms against far more trivial things, to simply shrug and defend the project on Constitutional grounds. He had to have known that an uproar would ensue. He must have known how ridiculous some of the claims against the Center, such as “it would be a staging ground for terrorist operations,” would be. In my opinion he

is trying to build the Center to provoke and antagonize people.

Everything about Park 51 screams deliberate provocation. For example, the function of Park 51 would not be impeded were it to be moved. So why build it at such a controversial site unless the aim was to provoke? Even the original name of the center—Cordoba House—is a symbolic slap in the face. Giving an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero the same name the Muslims gave their mosque when they conquered Spain is not the best way to go about convincing people that your intentions aren’t provocative. While the original name of the center does not symbolize the Islamic conquest of the West, the mere fact that it can be interpreted that way lends credence to the idea that Park 51 is intended to provoke the American people into a heated argument. This is certainly an objective El-Gamal and his supporters have accomplished.

The fact is that while freedom of religion is an inalienable Constitutional right, and that El-Gamal absolutely does have the right to build an Islamic cultural center, he should not be building near Ground Zero.

Building Park 51 near Ground Zero would be like building a Lutheran or Methodist church (branches of the Christian faith which were contributing factors to Hitler’s rise to and maintenance of power) near Auschwitz. Hitler was a professed Christian, though his version of the faith was a perverted one, and was aided in his

genocide by a small number of Christian fanatics. This is not to say that Christians in general were complicit in the Holocaust: the majority had no part in it, just like the majority of Muslims had no part in Sept. 11 and condemned the atrocity, but that does not mean it is permissible for them to build sites of religious worship at the sites of some of the greatest atrocities ever committed in the name of their faith. Yes, the people who committed the horrid crimes in question are not representative of their whole religion; and yes, freedom of religion is a right, but El-Gamal should not exercise this right without regard to the grief and suffering of a nation; doing so is an abuse of these rights. Park 51 could just as easily be built further away from the site that serves as a constant reminder to Americans of the dangers religious fanatics pose and to insist it stay in its intended location bespeaks of a “because I can” mentality that is grossly inappropriate considering the strong feelings with which El-Gamal is toying. Building Park 51 so close to Ground Zero is forcing us to choose between honoring absolute freedom of religion and suppressing the intense emotions many of us feel with regards to Sept. 11 and those terrorists responsible for the attacks. ElGamal is playing a dangerous game and could end up turning even more Americans against his culture and religion as easily as it could get more people to accept them. El-Gamal is playing with fire and he should get burned.

Muslims are American. What are you?

Occasio Wilson Guest Columnist

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irst, in 2009, a Sufi Muslim group began the process of turning an abandoned Burlington Coat factory on Park Place in Lower Manhattan into a 13-story Islamic community center. This center would be stacked with state-of-the-art facilities and amenities: a conference hall, basketball court, and place of worship (much needed to accommodate the over 100,000 Muslims who live and work in New York City). Two floors will have a prayer room. The other 11 will host all manner of community activities. The center will be open to everyone while religiously serving the Muslim community.

Sounds good, right? The rest of New York thought so at one point. Newspapers and talk radio shows were giving positive reviews, citing Sept. 11 victims’ families that supported it. On May 6, 2010, after a public hearing in which New Yorkers expressed strong feelings pro and con, the New York City community board unanimously approved the project. Months later, a few right-wing pundits like Pamela Geller have engaged in a campaign of misinformation; and as a result a wave of yellow journalism and political agendas have plagued the nation’s perspective on things.

Representative Peter King, a New York Republican, argues “it is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of Ground Zero. While the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque they are abusing that right by needlessly offending so many people who have suffered so much.”

But no one has cared to ask, or even wondered, why are people offended in the first place? We are ignoring the elephant in the room; Islam does not equal the Sept. 11 attacks. Then again, fear has no place for logic. The opposition’s logic seems to be this: The terrorists were of Muslim faith, so it is utterly disrespectful to build a Muslim center, since there are Muslim terrorists.

Shall we follow the logic? The most notorious American-born terrorist was Timothy McVeigh. He detonated a truck bomb at the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing more than 160 adults and children. He was raised as a Catholic. Would any of the people who object to a mosque near Ground Zero object to a Catholic church being built near

the Oklahoma City bomb site? They should if they truly believe that any faith that finds terrorists in its midst should be ostracized.

Nevertheless, this is the illogical voice of many opponents. People have blindly opposed a cultural center on the “hallowed ground,” that is, a vacant store on Park Avenue, four blocks away from Ground Zero.

This passionate debate has become more than just a question of respecting and protecting the rights of American citizens. It has become a vivid symbol of how the Otherized are subject to second class citizenship as a result of fear and ignorance.

President of the United States Barack Obama actually took a stand and defended those “radical terrorist sympathizers.” King insists that “the right and moral thing for President Obama to have done was to urge Muslim leaders to respect the families of those who died and move their mosque away from Ground Zero. Unfortunately the President caved in the face of political correctness.”

Somehow we got lost in the political sauce and forgot that all Americans shared the same pain on Sept. 11. Mohammad Salman Hamdani, a Muslim-American, was a New York Police Department cadet and paramedic. When he saw smoke coming from the Twin Towers, he ran to assist and died helping victims. The Sept. 11 terrorists attacked all Americans, including Muslims!

So when the opposition talks about “needlessly offending people who have suffered so much,” let us remember that Muslims suffered the same and more, especially due to anti-Muslim sentiments and attacks.

Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House, also condemned the proposed mosque and the President’s comments. “There is nothing surprising in the President’s continued pandering to radical Islam,” he said. “The fact is this is not about religious liberty.” Gingrich said the proposed mosque would be a symbol of Muslim “triumphalism” and that building the mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks “would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum.”

The Pentagon opened an interfaith chapel in November 2002 close to the area where hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 slammed into the building, killing 184 people. Muslims gather multiple times

weekly, drawing no complaints. What happened to America’s “sensitivities” about that location? What is this debate over building a mosque a few blocks away from the World Trade Center site really about?

The New York Times states, “In all of the recent conflicts, opponents have said their problem is Islam itself. They quote passages from the Koran and argue that even the most Americanized Muslim secretly wants to replace the Constitution with Islamic Shariah law.” In spite of these nonsensical claims, let’s consider some things that have been neglected in this debate: the facts. Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam who’s being branded an extremist, has been valued by both administrations of both parties as a moderate Muslim. He’s devoted much of his career to working to advance interfaith understanding. He’s scolded his own religion for being, in some ways, in the ‘’Dark Ages.’’ According to The New York Times, no one has established a link between the cleric and radicals. New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said, ‘’We’ve identified no law enforcement issues related to the proposed mosque.’’ Even the government, including both the Bush and Obama administrations, has been paying Rauf to do outreach to the Middle East. Are we accusing the State Department of putting “terrorist sympathizers” on their payroll? If so, that’s a whole other issue.

While the right-wing has made radical and completely unsubstantiated claims about the extremism of Islam and the Islamic cultural center’s immorality, they have incited more terror into the heart of Americans and cultivated an incredibly more hostile environment for Muslims.

This irrational commotion about prejudices has been justified and dressed up in the concept of “sensitivities.” Such a rampant resentment of a group of innocent Americans that practice Islam is anti-American at best. And, at worst, it is indication of a terrorist victory—irrational fear. This controversy of unlimited ignorance and prejudice, rooted in fear, has revealed just how much progress our nation has to make despite our idealistic claims of progressivism. So this debate is about adhering to the values that truly make us American. Muslims are American. What are you?

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

New York now dysfunctional Juan Thompson

T

Opinions Editor

here was a time when the state of New York produced admirable politicians who, while certainly flawed, embodied the principles of public service that most of us seek in our elected leaders.

Former President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt is such an example. While serving as commissioner of the New York Police Department (NYPD) during the heat wave of 1896, he made sure that poor New Yorkers had access to blocks of ice; in 1896 ice was a luxury only the wealthy could afford. After his stint as commissioner, he would be elected governor of New York, vice president of the United States and eventually president. Now, Teddy Roosevelt is a revered American president who is known for devoting his time in office to environmental justice and the breaking up of corporate monopolies. Teddy Roosevelt’s cousin Franklin also served as governor of the Empire State. His presidency became the most consequential of the 20th century and many presidential historians consider him the greatest president of that century for his leadership during World War II and his progressive reformation of the American government.

Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt are just two examples from a storied political past. There was also Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the iconic intellectual; Senator Robert Kennedy, the progressive hero; David Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York; Mario Cuomo, the legendary orator and three term governor; and Geraldine Ferraro, a member of Congress when she was chosen by Walter Mondale to be the first female vice presidential nominee of a major party. Those leaders belong to the pages of history now and in their place we have Rudy Giuliani, Eliot Spitzer, Pedro Espada, David Paterson, and a phalanx of other ridiculous characters that embarrass the state on what seems like a daily basis.

First there was former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani began having an affair with a nurse and almost immediately gave his new girlfriend an NYPD bodyguard and driver all paid for, unknowingly, by the good citizens of New York City.

We should also send America’s mayor a giant thank you card for giving us Bernie Kerik. Kerik was Giuliani’s personal driver before the New York City mayor appointed him commissioner of the NYPD. Giuliani went onto encourage former President of the United States George W. Bush to appoint Kerik Homeland Security Secretary in 2004. Kerik, however, was forced to withdraw his nomination after it was clear that he had lied to the FBI during his background check and after it was reported that he himself had carried on an extramarital liaison in a Bronx apartment set aside for Sept. 11 recovery workers.

In 2006 Eliot Spitzer was elected New York governor in a landslide. Two years later Governor Spitzer resigned in utter disgrace after a story broke in The New York Times that he had been a frequent patron of a notorious call girl ring. His successor David Paterson has proved no better. Governor Paterson was accused of inserting himself into an imbroglio involving one of his closest confidantes, Dennis Johnson. Johnson, it was revealed, had a storied criminal rap sheet that included selling drugs when he was younger. He was also accused, more recently, of assaulting his girlfriend with his pal the governor then personally intervening on Johnson’s behalf, by telephoning the accuser, in an effort to dissuade her from pressing charges.

The summer of 2009 was a particularly low point for New York state politics. During the summer New York’s state Senate was held hostage by the selfish antics of two Democratic state senators, Hiram Monserrate and Pedro Espada, who threatened to caucus with the Republicans, giving them control of the chamber, if the Democratic caucus refused their demands. The Senate fiasco ended in early July 2009; but not until Monserrate was allowed to handpick the new Democratic caucus leader and not before Espada had gotten himself appointed Senate majority leader. Today Monserrate is a felon was who expelled from the Senate after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend. He, in a stunning display of chutzpah, is now a candidate for a seat in the state assembly. Espada meanwhile is the target of a civil suit by the state attorney general for stealing money from a Bronx clinic and for lying about his residence on election filing papers.

Giuliani, Kerik, Spitzer, Paterson, Monserrate and See NEW YORK on page 12

OPINIONS

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Race-based NY politicians aff irmative disappointing action outdated

DIVERSITY continued from page 8 year in financial aid, and is working to reduce the burden of loans on students. Specifically, by holding down tuition increases and limiting the amount of loans as part of the financial aid packages of its students, perhaps financed through imposing some forms of austerity, whether by merging offices, ending dual-taught classes, or otherwise, Vassar can do more than its share; Vassar must maintain its position at the forefront of socioeconomic diversity, while being sensitive to institutional financial constraints.

Other institutions, including graduate and professional schools have sucessfully used socioeconomic affirmative action to produce diverse— both racially and socioeconomically—classes.

After a state ban on race considerations in admissions, the University of California at Los Angeles’s (UCLA) law school instituted a socioeconomic affirmative action program. According to a 2003 Wall Street Journal article on the topic , UCLA had a substantial minority and low-socioeconomic status population. In fact, the institution’s admissions committee chairman said that race is taken into account only at the most minimal level, yet still produced a student body of diverse backgrounds, 10 percent of whom were African-American and had a large increase in Asian-American and lower-income white students, as well. The UCLA case demonstrates the power of socioeconomic affirmative action to protect and enhance diversity. According to UCLA law professor Richard Sander, who studied the case of affirmative action at UCLA, “the revised system [socioeconomic affirmative action] created a law student body more diverse and more representative of California.” Evidently, the use of socioeconomic affirmative action has been effective in producing a diverse—and representative—student body.

Careful application of affirmative action criteria can result in increasing diversity while minimizing harm to innocent individuals and optimizing educational access. Race-based affirmative action doesn’t do this as well as socioeconomically-based affirmative action would, as rigorous social science research has demonstrated. Affirmative action can work–and be regarded as fair.

September 9, 2010 ADVERTISEMENT

NEW YORK continued from page 10 Espada are just a few of the bad apples in what appears to be an entirely rotten bunch. Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel, under investigation for not paying taxes, should be added to the list.

Along with Rick Lazio, Vassar ’80, who is basing his pathetic gubernatorial campaign around this irrational anti-Muslim sentiment that is sweeping across the nation. Thankfully, Lazio continues to trail his Democratic opponent by thirty points according to the latest Quinnipiac Poll.

These men with their criminal, dishonest, idiotic, and selfish antics have made the empire state a great symbol of dysfunction and corruption. Author Peggy Noonan was quoted as saying “Don’t fall in love with politicians. They’re all a disappointment. They can’t help it, they just are.” New York politicians can’t help themselves either; they are all gross disappointments.

LoV to provide a space for free thought LIBERTARIAN continued from page 9 other is just.

Before libertarians of Vassar (loV), there was no space for those who found themselves fiscally conservative yet on social issues more liberal; there was no place to discuss ideas that transcend politics and are applicable and relevant to nearly all areas of our lives. And that’s a shame. The philosophy of libertarianism is the simple notion that either we own our own bodies or someone else does. It is the principle that human genius and advancement spontaneously emerge without some one person, “czar,” or group pulling the levers. And most importantly, it is the belief that each and every one of us ought to be able to pursue the life we each see best, moral, and beautiful as long as we respect each other’s choices and beliefs.

Today, we look to the government to tell us what is good and just. And yet America was founded on those who were weary of the government, recognized that we can make our own informed choices, and work togeth-

er, without the government, for the common good. As individuals we need to exercise our power to change the world. When we dislike working conditions abroad, we as individuals should make the choice not to purchase those products. When companies make unethical or unsound investments, we should let them fail so that other better companies will not engage in the same practices. As a community, we need to say it is wrong when one can fight in a deadly war but cannot engage in activities that are far less dangerous.

Instead of asking the government who can marry, we should be asking why we even look to the government to say who can and cannot marry in the first place. Like many Vassar students, libertarians believe it to be wrong that big corporations can spend millions of dollars to influence government policy in order to benefit only themselves at our expense. If we would prefer healthier alternatives to high-fructose corn syrup, we should not subsidize the bloated corn industry and while taxing sugar imports.

As students, we believe that you do not need to be forced to help others; we help others because we believe it to be right. Instead of denouncing entrepreneurs as villains, we should look at the benefits they have provided; benefits that only exist because they themselves took the risk and had the creative genius to create the products we love.

For students who don’t see politics in black and white, it has been frustrating trying to find a voice on campus. However, we can now express ideas of liberty, assisting in richening political discourse on campus, allowing all perspectives to be heard, by affirming that we can make our decisions, choose whom to help, provide for ourselves and each other, and take pride in our achievements without the threat of government. As with libertarianism, the choice is yours, but the choice to control and suppress the human spirit can never be justified when each and every one of us is unique, independent, and thoughtful. The choice to live is yours, so make it.

Crossword by Jonathan Garfinkel ACROSS 1. Troy, N.Y. sch.

4. Alfred E. Neuman’s mag.

7. It may be Solo 10. Baby bear 13. Singer Garfunkel 14. Deuce follower, perhaps 16. ____ mater 17. Sugar suffix, scientifically 18. Way off 19. “Meh” 20. Salsas and swims 21. “To see,” si?

22. “Stop!”

24. Messrs. Draper and Sterling, say 26. Iso_____ (certain map feature) 28. Author Wharton 29. Put back to work 30. Electrolyte component 31. Photographer Dorothea _____ 32. NYP’s upstairs neighbor 33. “To have” in Rio 34. Film awards org.

36. Archaeology’s de-

partment 41. Pothead’s delight?

Briefly.

44. O.G./M.D.?

46. Above, poetically 47. Pennsylvania port city 48. Wilder’s “___ Town” 49. Chinese prefix 51. “____ Jail” 53. Biofuel? (Abbr.)

54. Opening 56. “Science Guy” Bill 57. Doze 58. Trap 59. Midsummer T-shirt, perhaps 61. - (abbr.)

63. “Duck Hunt” console 64. Swiss peak 67. Difficulty 71. Feathery accessory 72. Mike Bloomberg, for one 74. Gin flavorer 75. Grant 77. Languor 78. See 68-down 79. ___ alai 80. Queen of Scots 82. Cross inscription 84. “You ___ my fire/the

one desire” 85. Piercing tool 86. “Casablanca” femme 87. “Outer” prefix 88. “Closer” group, briefly 89. Dorm authority figures 90. Evil Empire fighters 91. Sunset time, to Shakespeare 92. Mar-Nov adjustment DOWN 1. Ace Nadal 2. Russian daily 3. Broadway-7th Ave. line 4. Where the puzzlemaster’s title may be found 5. Fuss 6. Render safe 7. Continuum 8. “Blue!”, briefly 9. Sticky stripper accoutrements 10. Witch’s circle 11. Operator 12. Man made ridge 15. Connecting points 16. Some refreshments 23. Tour de France divi-

sions (abbr.)

25. Hold up in the street 27. It may be beat after death, idiomatically 33. A clan’s colors 35. Does as one might in the Mug 36. Certain machine bit 37. “Notion” group Kings of ____ 38. Modern Persia 39. Use as evidence 40. Lucky one in Lyon, perhaps 41. Throw 42. Big name in TV online 43. Blood foe, perhaps 45. Musician accompanying “Lord of the Rings” 50. Logophile’s bible, perhaps (abbr.)

52. Children’s game with a Charley horse and a bread basket 55. Pavarotti for one 60. Let back in 62. Ubiquitous pizzeria namesake 64. “Atlas Shrugged” author Rand

65. When repeated, a Richard Berry rock standard 66. Machiavellian title subject 68. With 78-across, this puzzlemaker’s favorite

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

69. King of the Egyptian afterlife 70. Of late 71. Gets outta there 72. Cause for an “It’s European!!”, slangily 73. Actress/athlete Major

of Apple’s “1984” ad 75. Open 76. “Hoagiefest” chain 81. “The Greatest” å83. Path, briefly

HUMOR & SATIRE

September 9, 2010

Page 13

OPINIONS

Vassar College 101 Alanna Okun

Humor and Satire

B

y now, all you darling wide-eyed freshmen have probably started to get your sea legs.

You’ve claimed your bathroom cubby, you’ve been to a few classes, you’ve participated in your first hookup with a member of your fellow group even though you promised your long-distance still-in-high-school girlfriend that you’d love her for all eternity. You might even be varsity enough to self-consciously refer to the dining hall as “the Deece”*. But even with days and days of experience under your collective freshmen belt, there’s still oodles to learn about Vassar College.

I’m not necessarily the best person to dispense said information. Even though I’m a slick, streetwise junior who knows all the ins and outs of this fine institution, this year I forgot to pack my toothbrush, my sunglasses, my razor, three books required for my seminar, and Milk Duds. Not exactly the picture of responsibility up in here. Still, I’d hate to leave you hanging without any of my sage Vassar wisdom, so here are some gems condensed into convenient, fortune-cookie-sized tidbits (and while we’re on the subject of fortune cookies, be warned that sometimes the VCash machine breaks at Chan’s Peking Kitchen III** and while their sesame chicken is okay, it’s not worth spending actual real money on): »» Intro to Art History is the best thing that will ever happen to your Text Twist high score. »» Jokes about losing your VCard stay hilarious until way after you graduate. (Get it?

Do you get it? It’s like sex!) »» False. »» You may think you know exactly what you want to study/ do with the rest of your whole entire life, but you could be wrong.

The appeal of a triple major in Econ, Biochem and Victorian Studies tends to dim slightly when you actually have to take the required classes. »» TAs are houses, not teaching assistants. SoCos are also houses, not Southern Comfort, plus they look kind of like those creepy pastel pre-fabs in Edward Scissorhands. »» Everyone knows everything about everyone else. Like, when you admitted that you used to fantasize about your middle school

»»

»»

»» »»

lunch monitor during a drunken round of Never Have I Ever last weekend? We all know about that.

Nobody in the history of vaginas has ever used one of those minty-smelling female condoms they put in the Student Fellow anti-teen-pregnancy envelopes, except as a slingshot.

You know that printer that came free when you bought your fancy new Mac laptop?

You’ll use it to print out one single reading for a class and then turn it into the world’s most high-tech drink holder for the rest of the year.

Bacio’s is never the wrong choice.

Except when you have half a dozen ounces of some vodka that came from a plastic bottle sloshing around in your empty stomach and there’s a line for the bathroom and you vom everywhere and nobody speaks to you ever again because you’re such a social leper.

If you feel overwhelmed, don’t worry. Objectively speaking, Vassar is the best place in the world. Your tender little baby-fingers will soon get used to typing the nonsensical stream of letters and numbers that is your web authentication password***. You’ll quickly discover that the only way to truly enjoy shower nookie is in the handicap stall (the only problem there is that you go straight to Hell if any actual paraplegics happen to be waiting to use it). And you’ll learn about the gastronomic miracle that is Eggs All Day. So, freshmen, freshwomen and fresh-defiers-ofthe-gender-binary, I leave you with the best of tidings, and the promise that if any of you continue to wear those ridiculous lanyards after October Break, I will personally wrap them several times around your throats. Welcome to Vassar!

* Although I bet you haven’t yet figured out a comfortable way to refer to it in a text message (just type “dc”)(spelling out “deece” is longer than the actual name and makes you look like a douche)(you’re welcome). ** Nobody has ever been able to confirm the existence of Chan’s Peking Kitchen I or II. I suspect foul play. *** Changing your password is for quitters.

What I learned during my summer vacation Brittany Hunt

Guest Columnist

S

ummertime: the sun is out, the birds are chirping, the air is thick with humidity and opportunity for adventure. I’ve always found that summer is one of the best opportunities to learn lessons and discover one’s true self, as it is such a free and open chunk of time. Inward reflection comes naturally for me while I float in my pool chair, armed with celeb gossip magazines, soaking up the sun a la Sheryl Crow circa 2002. My summer led to some valuable life lessons, which I’m sure will enlighten you as well.

1. Never trust a thirteen-year-old, especially when it comes to bathroom etiquette.

I worked for two weeks at an all-girls camp in the woods of northern New Hampshire.

Anyone who knows me will understand that this is not the place for me; I hate children, nature and anywhere you can’t access cosmetic products or reality TV. The only reason I sign on year after year is to make sure that I will have well-trained troops ready when I start my radical lesbian feminist uprising. I lived with fourteen tweens in a small decrepit cabin with bad plumbing and a family of chipmunks. The girls taught me many lessons, mostly about Justin Bieber (he is SO not cool anymore, Ke$ha rules way more, and Katy Perry is okay, too). I also learned the hard way that thirteen-year-olds do not understand how to live with a delicate plumbing system. I don’t know what these girls were eating (oh wait, yes I do, low quality mass produced grilled cheeses injected with lard) but they clogged the toilets daily, and it was up to me to remedy the situation. I learned how to use a plunger. I accidently called the girls bitches a few times. I learned that it’s okay to call a thirteen-year-old a bitch, because they usually are, and are too afraid to call you any names back.

2. Dildos are more popular with senior citizens than one might suspect.

Another job I took this summer was an unpaid internship at the Center For Sexual Pleasure and Health, an adult education center. I learned more than I’ll ever need to know about fisting. I also learned that old people love sex toys. Little old ladies

Weekly Calendar: 9/9 - 9/15 THURSDAY, 9/9 10 a.m. First Morning Rosh Hashanah Service. Yeah, you

can totally call upon your second-cousin’s mother’s thricedivorced great-aunt’s vaguely Jewish heritage in order to get an extension on that Anthropology paper! God won’t smite you even a little bit! Aula.

3 p.m. Tea. How to Spot a Freshman in the Wild: A Field

every single boy I had a crush on in grades three through seven. Great. UpC.

SUNDAY, 9/12 12 p.m. Intramural Softball. Capitalize on your fresh-fromsummer-life-guarding muscles before they soften back into their usual disco-fries-from-the-Acrop-fueled state. Noyes Circle.

3 p.m. SATORI. Apparently this is a concert that “will cel-

of twelve or more? Rose Parlor.

ebrate women in music with a concert featuring works by female composers”. Translation: “Invite that Naomi Wolfequoting hottie in your Poli Sci seminar, get some.”

7 p.m. A Cappella Preview Concert. Prime opportunity to

MONDAY, 9/ 13

hear selections from the roughly 2,400 a cappella groups on campus, and to determine once and for all that there is no difference between any of them. Villard Room.

3 p.m. Tea. Identifier #2: Is the subject carrying a Vassar-

3 p.m. Tea. Identifier #1: Is the subject traveling in a group

SATURDAY, 9/11

3. Tourists will buy anything.

My third job (ew, I’m like a single mom on Degrassi , gross) was working at a jewelry and accessory store that catered to the wealthy tourists who flock to Newport, Rhode Island to hang out and be rich and work on their tans and stuff. I learned that people with money will buy the most useless crud ever because they can. I also learned that I someday want to be rich, so I can buy huge sun hats, overpriced and -sized turquoise necklaces, and wallets shaped like sandwiches. I will then send the adorable local shopgirl just looking to finance her academic career to package it all up and deliver it to the nail salon across the street while I get my French Manicure on. I won’t be needing a receipt, thanks.

4. All stars fade, and will be eventually outshined by their seventeen-year-old brother.

I was way cool in high school. I totally went out to parties with older boys and drank beer and went to football games and wore T-shirts with witty little phrases on them. Coming back home this summer, though, made me realize that I am not cool anymore. I’m a big weird loser who spends her Saturday nights watching Say Yes to the Dress in a bikini eating leftover clam cakes.

My little brother, on the other hand, has eclipsed my star. He’s bulked up, has hot chicks over, and is good at video games.

His current Facebook status is “Bluntsandbroads.” He is too cool to use spaces even.

He and his lax bro friends put me to shame every weekend, going to parties with kids my age and returning just in time for me to make them bacon. I’ve learned that I’m okay with this, because they will probably all get herpes and will forever be looking back on their glory days as high school studs. I know my glory days are still ahead: as an eighty-two-year-old woman seeking informational pamphlets on how to incorporate bondage into her sex life.

by Alanna Okun, Humor & Satire Editor

Guide. Rose Parlor.

FRIDAY, 9/10

coming in to check out vibrators and chat about the hot gossip at their nursing homes entertained me daily. I can’t wait to be old; apparently they’re having more fun than ever. Way cooler than those thirteen-yearold bitches.

provided canvas tote bag with a total lack of irony? Caveat: Upperclassmen have been known to use said tote bags when transporting Rikaloff bottles from one dorm to another. Rose Parlor.

9:30 p.m. Gays of Our Lives. The gays of my life include

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TUESDAY, 9/14 12 p.m. “Insights on Site” Lecture Series. Learn all about the different fancy-ass rooms and buildings on the Vassar campus. You’ll seem wicked knowledgeable when you’re hooking up with aformentioned Poli Sci hottie in one of them.

Chapel.

3 p.m. Tea. Identifier #3: Has the subject approached you with an eager smile and asked, “Are you a freshman?” Did you kind of want to rip the subject a new one?

WEDNESDAY, 9/15 11 a.m. Graduate School Fair. True life: I have a coworker

who is currently getting her Master’s in the study of eighteenth-century British undergarments. So like, don’t panic about your own impending lack of hireability just yet. Villard Room.

3 p.m. Tea. Identifier #4: Lanyard? Yes? Death. Rose Parlor.

ARTS

Page 14

September 9, 2010

FLLAC to use closing as creative programming opportunity Rachael Borné

Assistant Arts Editor

T

Rachael Borné/The Miscellany News

he thought of putting a masterpiece in harm’s way would make any art historian and most Vassar art buffs tremble with fear. So when an increasing amount of roof damage and leakage was detected in the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC), something had to be done. As a result, the FLLAC has been closed since May 2010 for a complete roof replacement and various other renovations.

Though access to such a vast collection is undoubtedly a great privilege, the FLLAC’s staff sees the situation as an opportunity instead of an inconvenience. By its grand opening in January of 2011, the museum’s facilities will be in tip-top condition, and the collection will be reinstalled in a completely new way. In the meantime, the FLLAC is thinking outside of the box to bring art outside the museum.

“We’re looking for all kinds of ways to make use of the inherent artistic elements of the campus whether architectural, sculptural or decorative arts,” said James Mundy, the Anne Hendricks Bass Director of the FLLAC. “Late Night Leaves the Loeb” is one of several programs the FLLAC has adjusted to get students thinking about art in non-traditional locales. “We’re hoping that those who remember the good times they had at ‘Late Night’ and the student groups that participated will jump right back into the mix,” Mundy said.

Last Thursday night, the event showcased Jenny Holzer’s bench installation that lines the path from Main Building to the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC). Student docents read several of the bench’s poems, and guests got the chance to make rubbings of the texts.

“The Holzer benches are actually part of our collection, but we probably wouldn’t walk over there on an average ‘Late Night,’” said Nicole Roylance, Coordinator of Public Education and Information for the FLLAC. She added, “It’s important to consider the works of art that are in our lives, but we’re not paying attention to­ the ones we take for granted.”

In about a month, “Late Night Leaves the Loeb” will host an exciting performance art piece entitled “Walk the Walk” by 2010 Whitney Biennial artist Kate Gilmore that will involve students as both spectators and performers.

Noyes Circle will house a group of 12 female

The walls of the Francis Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC) are currently devoid of art while the galleries are instead filled with accoutrements of construction. The FLLAC will reopen for the spring semester. students dressed identically and standing on flints in a perfect circle. The students will then pass around a bucket full of yellow paint for two three-and-a-half hours shifts.

“Imagine the second hand of a clock going around, and then this movement of color, assuming there will be some spillage,” said Mundy. “It’s also a lot of work. Like three-and-a-half hours of a ‘bucket brigade,’” he added.

Roylance stressed the importance of such a presentation on Vassar’s gender conscious campus: “I think the performance asks a lot of fabulous questions, especially for Vassar women, about what our role is in the 21st century and where we’ve been located on the artistic scale,” she said.

The goal of these Late Night programs is to push the gallery experience and the questions that go along with it into a completely new sphere outside of the museum.

In addition, the FLLAC will also be hosting “Insights on Site” during the day. This weekly noontime lecture series will take art outside of the museum, and professors outside of the classroom. “We’re asking faculty to talk about

places on campus,” said Roylance. Professor of Art History Nick Adams will discuss the quadrangle intersection near Rockefeller Hall, Mundy will explore the sculptural decorations on Taylor Hall and Professor of Chemistry Chris Smart will examine a stained glass window in the Chapel. The program is an innovative alternative to “The Artful Dodger,” an in-museum lecture series that took place last year.

“Kaleidoscope: Interdisciplinary Views on Art” will take a work of art out of the traditional museum setting to promote its original purpose. Professor of Art Tyler Rowland will recreate a 13th century image of the Madonna and Child from the FLLAC’s collection. This model will then be processed through Vassar’s Chapel as it would have been during medieval times. The Vassar Camerata will accompany the procession with sacred music.

“We’ll bring together five faculty members of different disciplines to focus on one piece of art,” said Mundy. Professors from the English, Chemistry, History, Art History and Visual Arts Departments will all bring their unique perspectives to the program.

“For me, as an art historian, as an educator, and as someone who really enjoys going in museums, to see a work utilized, not on a wall, and not in a case, is only going to make it better when it’s back in the gallery,” said Roylance.

Upcoming FLLAC events will put a creative spin on art outside the museum; however, come January 2011, the FLLAC’s grand opening will greet visitors with a completely fresh installation of works inside the museum.

“We’ll still have the same collection, but we’re going to reorganize the progression of the galleries. What were the three temporary Princeton galleries will be replaced with a permanent installation of our 19th century American works, the Magoon collection,” said Mundy. “The Hudson River school is more suited towards that kind of domestic, intimate presentation,” he added.

Karen Lucic, Art History Professor and Hudson River School specialist, comments, “I think that [the organization] could work wonderfully to orient the new visitor to the history of the collection and really forefront American art.”

To reinstall the collections, Mundy turned the FLLAC’s curatorial team. “There are key works of art you want to have out there,” he said. “For every new work we introduce, something else has to disappear. Those decisions get to be very interesting because you have to gauge the impact of moving a work that perhaps has played a role because you think a new work will play a more significant role. It creates a lot of conversation,” he explained.

What is perhaps most exciting is the experience and insight students will bring back to the galleries after having been away from them.

According to Roylance, “When we come back in January, suddenly we’ll have a whole new set of questions from outside to bring in.”

Immediate access to such a dynamic collection has been a longstanding luxury for Vassar’s students and faculty alike; however, in the face of much needed construction, necessity is the mother of invention. The FLLAC’s staff has no doubt taken an innovative approach to turning their lemons into lemonade.

Available Online For a list of James Mundy’s “Seven Goals for Seven Months at the FLLAC,” see our website at www.miscellanynews.com

Kumar’s latest sparks debate Evan Lester

Guest Reporter

W

Courtesy of amitavakumar.com

Professor of English Amitava Kumar reads aloud from his book Evidence of Suspicion. Kumar’s most recent critically praised book is A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Bomb.

hen Professor of English Amitava Kumar published an article about the uproar over the proposed Muslim Community Center on Vanity Fair’s website in August, he had an important question to ask. In the midst of a debate over an issue that encompasses the first amendment, the nature of terrorism and prejudices in America, Kumar wants to know: “Are both sides guilty of denying ordinary Muslims their humanity?”

Kumar has spent much of his career dedicated to documenting the way Muslims in the United States are perceived and treated. Over the summer, Kumar published A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Bomb. In A Foreigner, Kumar explores the cases of Hemant Lakhani and Shahawar Matin Siraj. The former was convicted in 2003 of attempting to provide missiles to terrorists and the latter has been convicted of planning to bomb Herald Square in Manhattan in 2006.

Kumar picks apart their trials and illustrates the ways in which the United States has turned into a police-state that bullies and terrorizes its own citizens.

“The state has found great comfort in jailing people who are often deluded and whose abilities are very limited,” lamented Kumar.

The book title is based on a 1993 Edmond Jabès novel about anti-Semitism and the mislabeling of Jews as foreigners in many parts of the world, entitled A Foreigner Carrying in the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Book.

Kumar used a near-identical title for his own book to emphasize that in our present time, foreigners, specifically Muslims, are expected by many to be terrorists solely based on their religion and culture.

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Kumar has received many negative responses to A Foreigner. During his interview on WNYC, negative feedback started streaming to the network before the interview was even over.

However, A Foreigner has also been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, The Christian Science Monitor and other news outlets.In the New York Times review from Aug. 5, Dwight Garner sees A Foreigner as a window into the world-view of Muslims after Sept. 11. He says it “is about the ordinary men and women, brownskinned in general and Muslim in particular, who have had their lives upended by America’s enraged security apparatus.” Along with the positive press, Kumar is most pleased with the personal feedback he has received. “What I have been most pleased about is that people who have been positive about the book have remarked not only on the fact that I’m talking about the political damage done by the war on terror,” said Kumar. “They have been talking about the cultural damage [as well].”

Kumar also released a novel over the summer entitled Nobody Does the Right Thing. It explores the under-belly of India through the perspective of a journalist. The novel is based around interviews Kumar conducted with a Bollywood actor, Om Puri, who managed to escape the poverty of his youth to become a well-off star. Taxicab drivers, rickshaw drivers, prostitutes and others were also interviewed for inspiration in the novel.

Kumar’s next project is a departure from his more political work. “Right now I am working on a book about academic style, writing, what is the exciting work being done in academia that breaks the conventional mold of writing and how is this work being done in a range of disciplines,” he said. He is also beginning work on a new novel about immigrant life in this country.

ARTS

September 9, 2010

Page 15

Alum’s film on HIV survivor wins at Cannes Concert to Thea Ballard

Assistant Arts Editor

“T

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honor female composers Adam Buschbaum

W Courtesy of Alex Camilleri

owards the end, I was just praying that he would die.”

As Randy Baron relays a visceral description of his former partner’s painful ascendance to a death of AIDS–related complications, his speech remains even and eloquent and it’s impossible to ignore the power of his unwavering gaze. His eyes are shining wet, never breaking contact with the viewer, imparting a sense of human urgency that is wholly undeniable.

The impact of Alex Camilleri ’10’s documentary Still Here, is apparent even in just this opening scene. The film follows Baron, an HIVpositive New York City native who possesses a genetic mutation that has allowed him to remain in good health. He recounts his tragic experiences during the AIDS epidemic in the ’80s, offering a profoundly emotional and candid insight into the nature of the outbreak; not only did he suffer the loss of his partner, but of virtually all of his friends as well. Camilleri’s film, initially a project for his Documentary Workshop class, has seen considerable success, most notably receiving an award for best student documentary at Cannes Film Festival’s American Pavilioni Emerging Filmmaker Showcase this past May. But even if Still Here is a successful film, it is more importantly a successful representation of a cause frequently overlooked.

Camilleri first met Baron in the fall of 2008, when he came to campus to talk about his experience with HIV/AIDS. Though Camilleri was only attending the event to support a friend who had organized it, and in fact initially intended to sneak out early, he was quickly taken by Baron’s presentation.

“The best way I could describe the way I felt as Randy told us his heartbreaking story was that it was as if someone had grabbed all the nerves in my body and shaken them violently,” he wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Because I’m interested in making films, I feel like I’m always tucking away interesting story ideas when I hear them. One of my initial reactions to hearing Randy speak was, ‘Someone needs to make a movie about his life.’”

A year later, Baron came to mind as Camilleri, a film and English double major, brainstormed ideas for his Documentary Workshop class. At

first Baron’s experience seemed too expansive for a shorter, lower-budget film, but then Camilleri had an epiphany.

“My ‘eureka moment’ was realizing that no one could really tell this story except Randy,” he said. “So that was my jumping off point. That was how I decided that I could make this film: really by letting Randy tell his story with as little interference as possible.” The topic was picked as one of six proposals, and with the help of his classmates Camilleri set to work.

With Baron as the sole focus of the project, particularly given the intensely emotional nature of the subject matter Camilleri and his crew were documenting, the relationship that developed between the two throughout filming was key to its progress. Baron, in a phone interview, credited Camilleri’s consistent professionalism as a vital part of this. “I think he had a very clear idea of what he wanted the film to be, and I think he was excellent as a director,” he said.

“He led me basically to really do the kind of film that he wanted.”

This involved a certain level of attentiveness while attempting to capture the depth of Baron’s story. “Each week involved entering a kind of delicate emotional cocoon with Randy and also trying to sustain a healthy working relationship,” said Camilleri. “We needed him to be open and emotional for the quality of the film, but we did not want to cross a line and make him uncomfortable or reticent. That would have jeopardized the entire project.”

When viewing the documentary, it’s clear that some scenes were painful to shoot. Baron describes filming to be an emotionally strenuous experience, recalling in particular one segment in which he recounts an incident in which a friend dying of AIDS asked him to help him commit suicide. “We filmed on-site at the building where he lived,” he recalled, “and I had not been back there since 1989, so going back was a very painful experience. The film was very draining and yet it was also very satisfying to do.”

Even in the early days of filming, when Camilleri would bring material shot over the weekend into his class, it seems as if it was apparent that the film struck a nerve. But its reception since has only magnified its potential.

Camilleri had the perhaps surreal experience

Alum’s award-winning film, Still Here, follows the story of HIV surviver Randy Baron who has a genetic mutation that keeps him in good health. of attending Cannes himself, of which he offered, “the Cannes Film Festival is pretty weird, dude.” On a more serious note, he continued, “I could imagine that there may be students who want to have an experience like that too, but going to the Cannes Film Festival shouldn’t be anywhere near a priority. It wasn’t for us when we started Still Here. I think for the most part Vassar students are equipped to have a healthy perspective on their art and a strong enough work ethic that they will be successful whether festival accolades follow or not.”

In addition to the Cannes honors, the documentary has picked up numerous prizes, including Best Gay/Lesbian Film at the New York City Downtown Short Film Festival and Audience Choice Award at Brown’s Ivy Film Festival.

However, noted Camilleri, “It’s difficult not to feel vampiric in the sense that we descended on Randy, captured his life story, and are now getting attention for it.” He describes some discomfort with the way Baron himself has been left out of the attention the film has received, describing a cycle of buzz feeding on buzz that may have the potential to detract from the very real message of the documentary.

“Perhaps part of it has to do with the strange sort of “fictionalizing” power of the film medium; even though his is a true story, maybe the process of being made into a film subject renders Randy Baron a less real person to viewers,” explained Camilleri. “He somehow seems inaccessible to people, which is troubling because I don’t want the film to be a closed-loop.

“I hope the film inspires people to learn more about the history of HIV/AIDS in this country, to try to understand the human cost of the disease, and to reach out to valuable individuals, like Randy, who survived a very traumatic time,” said Camilleri. “In a way, the response has missed the point of the film: to celebrate Randy as the very real person that he is.”

At the same time, Baron celebrates the opportunities for education that promotion of the film may allow. “Anything that will promote the film in my mind is fine, and the content of the film speaks for itself,” he said. “If speaking of Alex’s success or the success of the film gets more people interested in seeing it, that’s even better in my mind…I really do feel that there’s less attention being paid in the media to HIV and there’s actually virtually no attention being paid to the true history of HIV in the United States and what the early epidemic was like.”

Baron is playing an active role in promoting both the film and HIV/AIDS awareness, pairing Still Here with his in-person presentations to bring an extra dimension of emotion to his message. His enthusiasm for Camilleri’s contribution to his awareness project matches Camilleri’s enthusiasm for his role in the documentary.

“I’m so grateful to Alex,” he said. “I really think he’s very talented and I hope that he pursues documentary as his aspect of film direction, because documentaries can really, really be powerful tools, and I’m grateful that he managed to come up with this idea and to bring it to such a level of excellence.”

MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE

Guest Reporter

hen you think of classical music, who are the first three eminent classical composers that come to mind? Most likely Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Sibelius, or Brahms are among the names that make the cut. Whatever they may be, they probably share a common characteristic: They are all male.

This Sunday at 3 p.m. in Skinner Hall of Music, the Department of Music will welcome SATORI, a chamber music ensemble, to perform a concert featuring music composed entirely by women at Skinner Hall. The concert will feature the works of Clara Schumann, Madeleine Dring, Rebecca Clarke, Thea Musgrave and Hilary Tann .

The name of the chamber group originates from the Zen term satori.

“We use that as a metaphor,” Nora Suggs, the founder of SATORI, said.

“It means a moment of epiphany, a moment of sudden complete understanding—of new perspective.”

The group is a mixed ensemble, with winds, strings and piano. This ties in partly with the idea of satori: members unite their disparate instruments into one cohesive sound that brings about new comprehension. “We feel we each contribute our separate parts to it. It all comes together and makes a new whole,” Suggs said.

SATORI was founded in 1996 as a self-managed chamber orchestra group, and since then has played 14 different concert series at a variety of venues stretching from concert halls to rehab centers and museums. The idea of an all-female concert was in planning for some years. “This is something we’ve been wanting to do for a while,” said Cheryl Bishkoff, oboist for SATORI as well as an Adjunct Artist in Music at Vassar. “We had been interested, partly because Vassar used to be a women’s college, to give a concert of just women composers,” The SATORI concert is coincidentally happening at the same time as Vassar’s Sesquicentennial, a time for reflection on the history and background of the College, including its existence as a women’s college. The members of the group never planned for such timing. “It was just a serendipitous occurrence,” Suggs said.

The group is comprised of both men and women, and picks individuals for concerts on the basis of need, scheduling, and ability. Composed of six women for this particular concert, SATORI hopes that the music pieces will highlight what women have achieved in a field that has been traditionally dominated by men.

“Schumann was as great a composer as the men in her day, just not as well known,” Bishkoff said.

Suggs concurred with Bishkoff.

“This is a heads-up. This is like, okay, the guys did some really good music, but so did the women,” Suggs said.

SATORI hopes students will get more out of the concert than merely the fact that it is all-women based.

“The first thing I would hope [for students] is pure enjoyment of a very fine concert,” Bishkoff said. “Beyond that I think there’s an intellectual aspect of appreciating this music that is rarely played.”

The featured composers originate from all across North America and Europe, and their music ranges from the 19th century up to the very contemporary. “The music is very diverse but its also very enjoyable,” Bishkoff said.

ARTS

Page 16

Novel account captures passion of Bishop’s life Shruti Manian

Flannery’s art embodies messy vitality

Guest Reporter

W

Mary Huber

Guest Reporter

T

hose who visited the Palmer Gallery’s recent Catwalk exhibit were greeted by a large painting of Mollie Flannery ’11, gazing from her easel. Although Flannery is a featured artist in the exhibit, it turns out she is also the subject of a piece by her friend, Anna Tarshish ’12. The two Vassar students, along with alumni Joe Letourneau ’07 and Alexa Meade ’09, took part in the Catwalk Art Residency Program this summer.

The passion for art that fueled Flannery’s decision to join the residency stems from her childhood years. “Since I was little it’s been my favorite pastime,” Flannery remarked. “My mom says I would rather draw than read.” But it was in third grade that Flannery began taking art classes with a teacher that would guide her development through elementary and high school. “She opened me up to the idea of making a mess,” Flannery said, “which has made me kind of fearless as an artist.”

The sort of messy vitality inspired by her teacher’s assignments–such as drawing with sticks dipped in ink–is evident in Flannery’s art today, including her work from the Catwalk Residency. The program provides artists a place to work and hone their craft together, namely their breathtaking Catskills estate.

Flannery says the property’s remarkable views of the Hudson River and the Rip Van Winkle Bridge helped shape her work.

“There was this incredible contrast of the river and nature with this manmade landmark,” she said, adding that much of her work draws on such contrasts. Another benefit of the residency program was time: “It gave me the opportunity to work very thoroughly and take my time–I didn’t have that luxury during the school year.”

Flannery describes her paintings from over the summer, with their loose, powerful brushstrokes, as an exploration of the way a painting functions as both a window into another world and an object in itself.

The first piece she created during her stay, a view of the countryside as seen through her studio window, was inspired by the contrast of window’s linearity and the organic landscape outside. She decided to portray the

Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

hen Elizabeth Bishop ’34 was a freshman at Vassar, she interviewed T.S. Eliot for an article in The Miscellany News. “To me,” said Eliot to Bishop on his epic poem “The Wasteland,” “it was just a piece of rhythmic grunting.”

80 years later, Bishop surely could not have imagined that she would be the subject of a Miscellany interview herself. The young journalist ended up becoming of the most acclaimed and widely read poets of the 20th Century as well as one of Vassar’s most celebrated alums, and has been in the spotlight not only for her contributions to modern American poetry but also for her tumultuous and fiercely guarded private life. In his new book The More I Owe You, author Michael Sledge explores the torrid relationship that Bishop shared with Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares. He will read from his fictionalized account of their story on Sept. 14 at 5 p.m. in the Class of 1951 Reading Room in Main Library.

Sledge grew up reading Bishop’s works in school and found her history to be incredibly compelling.

Bishop’s childhood was fragmented at an early age by the death of her father and the institutionalization of her mother. Her early life was further marred by the alienation she felt at the hands of her father’s upper-class family, who took custody of her when she was six. But the fragile poet found strength in de Macedo Soares, who made her feel protected and wanted. Bishop met the renowned aesthete when she was on a two-week trip to Brazil in 1951. She had fallen ill and was nursed back to health by de Macedo Soares, marking the beginning of a love story that spanned two continents and 15 years.

Behind the glamour and sparkle of Bishop and de Macedo Soares’ life in Brazil, there were undercurrents of sorrow. Brazil’s political atmosphere at the time was intense: Just having overthrown a long-standing dictatorship, Brazil was consumed by power struggles. De Macedo Soares’ social connections led her to be an active part of a number of development projects as both an architect and a notable aristocrat. Her most well-known project was the construction of the Flamengo Park in Rio de Janeiro.

Bishop also produced work of her own during her time in Brazil, the most well known being Diary of Helena Morley, a story of a girl set in the mountains of Brazil. Sledge believes that Bishop and de Macedo Soares were artistic complements for one another. “They took care of each other and created a place together, where each of their work could flourish and they could push boundaries beyond what they had in the past,” he said.

Despite its fairytale quality, their story ended in tragedy. Bishop often felt neglected and lonely, often relapsed into characteristic bouts of depression and took to alcohol to cope with her misery.

Her alcoholism irritated de Macedo Soares, causing the first cracks in their relationship. Bishop went on to have an affair with another woman, and eventually decided that it would be better for her to move back to the States. But de Macedo Soares came after Bishop, despite being desperately ill at the time. She died soon thereafter in New York from a drug overdose.

But in his book, Sledge emphasizes the love that the two extraordinary women shared: “Though it involved a tragedy, I believe it was a triumphant love story.”

Sledge says his choosing to write about Bishop was not a calculated decision. “Why we choose to write about someone is like falling in love. It’s not rational. I found Bishop to be an incredibly compelling and deep character for fictional exploration.”

As for why he chose to focus on her time in Brazil, Sledge said: “I was profoundly moved by the love she found in Brazil and wanted to investigate further.”

“Love,” he continued, “cannot save. As people, we are more romantically inclined to think about all the wonderful things love can do, but I was intrigued by what love cannot accomplish.” Sledge believes this is the most important point of the book. Two people love each other deeply and to the best of their ability, but that does not guarantee a happy ending.

September 9, 2010

Molly Flannery ’11, above, is featured in the Palmer Gallery’s recent Catwalk exhibit. Flannery learned from her teacher at a young age that good art sometimes means making a mess. outdoors as almost abstract, while painting the window carefully and precisely, in order to draw attention to the window rather than what was outside. Thus Flannery reverses the normal function of the window, making it the subject of the painting.

A later piece features this first painting, propped up on chairs in front of several windows. The composition draws attention to the differences between a painting of a window and the real thing. Further, the painting within a painting reminds us that the “real” window is itself painted. This play with different planes and orientations in space inspired Flannery to paint her simplest piece: the corner where two stone walls meet. “I just loved the simplicity of the idea–painting a corner on a flat surface. It definitely has a trompe l’oeil feel,” she says, referring to the method of painting in such a way as to create an optical illusion of threedimensionality.

The time Flannery has spent painting at Vassar College has also contributed to her

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artistic process. “My art classes [at Vassar] have taught me to be more deliberate in my process,” she explains, “and taking humanities classes has really affected my subject matter and my drive.” She says all her professors have molded her art: “It’s impossible to say who’s influenced me most.” But the most important element of Flannery’s progress over the past few years has been discipline and hard work. She insists that putting in the hours is the best way to develop as an artist: “It’s more important than talent or even inspiration.”

Despite her firm opinions, Flannery isn’t sure what role exactly art will play in her future. “I’m uncertain as to whether I want to devote myself completely to art,” she maintains, even though she has spent most of her life making some form of it. For now, she continues painting, exploring the same ideas of illusion and abstraction, confident that regular work will lead her to new subject matter and styles. The rest, she says “is impossible to say.”

ARTS

September 9, 2010

Page 17

La Cruda Verdad es una pelicula perfecta La Cruda Verdad Robert Luketic [Columbia]

I

did not see any movies this summer. Not Toy Story 3, not Salt, not Despicable Me, not The Karate Kid, not Grown Ups, not even The A-Team. The opportunity presented itself to see Inception this weekend, but that got passed up in order to rock out at the Kid Sister concert.

So where do we go from here? This is, in fact, a movie review column, in which I happen to have no movies to review. Talk about dropping the ball, right? Well, to be fair there actually was one movie that I saw this summer, technically speaking. To tell you about it, let me paint you a picture: The setting was my Peruvian host family’s living room, in which I was sprawled out couchant upon the carpet like a beached whale, drawing blanks left and right as I reviewed flashcards of Spanish vocabulary.

Muslo. Crap, what did muslo mean again?

Muscle? Muslim? Mustard? My memory was a sieve of information retention.

Just then my host sister skulked out of her room, moody from her seemingly never-ending case of the flu. She grabbed a random pirated DVD that was sitting on the family television, turned to me and demanded, “Quieres ver una pelicula?”

Yes, of course I wanted to watch a movie.

Anything that gave me an excuse to put off learning the word for “thigh” en espanol. The movie was The Ugly Truth, starring Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl, dubbed over in god-awful Spanish translation. And it must be said, this was a perfect movie.

I’m dead serious. Have you checked out the star count for this review? Read it and weep: five, baby. Frankly, I’m relieved that this has finally happened. It’s been a year

since I began writing for the Big Screen, and from its glorious maiden voyage with Inglourious Basterds to its spring finale with Kickass, these reviews have stagnated in a despicable two-to-four star comfort zone. No sane human being feels an adrenaline rush when they see a review that plays it safe with critiquing a mediocre movie. When it comes to film reviews, it’s go big or go home: This five star review is long overdue.

My poor comprehension of Spanish meant that I didn’t really understand what was going on, and the quality of the disc was less than desirable. So really, I have no ground to stand on for giving this movie a review, much less a five-star one; judgment should not be passed until I’ve seen an untarnished, understandable version of La Cruda Verdad.

Screw that. Watching this movie was one of the happiest cinematic experiences I can remember. Let me explain why by sharing some anecdotes from my Peruvian experience this summer. Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep them from being too long or terribly self-absorbed.

In mid-July I made a hiking excursion to the dunes of Las Lomas de Lachay, a nature reserve near the Pacific Coast, a veritable oasis in the middle of arid desert-like plains.

Near mid-afternoon I took a water break, and sat atop a crag on a grassy and mist-enshrouded knoll. From my perch I soaked in everything: the alien flora and fauna around me, the obscenely picturesque view of the plains to the east and the deliciously salty air borne on oceanic breezes from the west. After I soaked everything in, here is the exact thought that came to mind: “This is essentially Rohan from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Just with a lot more cacti.”

There was another time when I got mugged during Peru’s Independence Day celebrations. Needless to say, I was extremely frightened throughout the process of shoveling over a handful of banknotes to an armed man, squat and bespectacled, collecting the

spoils of street crime from my companions and me. But once the robber had left, there was something that began pestering me more than the soles I lost. It was that I had been a million times more frightened by the first time I saw Paranormal Activity than when I was being assaulted by a man who legitimately could have taken my life.

So what’s to be gleaned from these anecdotes? Maybe that I’m pathetic: A summer in Peru is the adventure of a lifetime, and there I was unable to experience anything without framing the situation within cinematic parameters. But I don’t believe that’s really the case. I had many movie-moments like this in Peru, and none of them muddied my amazing real-life experiences.

Whether I was enjoying the scenery of Las Lomas, or being robbed at gunpoint, the visceral connections that I made to film made me fall in love with the movies all over again.

I love the way they have molded my perceptions, the intense emotions and passions they elicit from me, So that’s why when I sat in the house of the Diaz family with my host sister, watching a crap copy of La Verdad Cruda, it was perfection. All of the adventures I had been through reignited the cinephile within, and I couldn’t help but fall in love with the Heigl-Butler rom-com. Who knows, maybe if I were to see the movie today, I would pan it.

For now, let’s just consider this five-star review as a love letter to movies.

And with this pedantic rant goes any credibility I’ve ever had as a movie critic. Perhaps it’s time for me to actually get around to watching Toy Story 3 and Inception instead of rambling about the nature of film in the Miscellany. Perhaps you could do better: if you are interested in writing for the Big Screen, please e-mail me at erlorenzsonn@ vassar.edu with a 400- to 500-word-long film review. And be sure to promise me you’ll find a movie worthy of five stars. Mediocrity is not an option.

“We’re reading the play Ghosts

by Ibsen. It’s an extremely visceral world.”

Tatianna Collet-Apraxine ’13 and Sam Garcia ’13 “I’m reading Dream Keepers

by Gloria Ladson-Billings for my education class.”

Jason Greenberg ’12

“I’m reading SparkNotes!”

Luke Gehorsam ’14 —Rachael Borné Assistant Arts Editor

Summertime selection of hip hop features familiar favorites Connor O’Neill

E

Guest Columnist

ver since its first bricks were laid in the blazing heat of the South Bronx, Hip Hop and summer have been inseperable. Starting from scratch in the South Bronx, the stickysweat back-to-school dance parties held by Kool Herc introduced us to the effect a break beat can have on a scorching summer day.

More than 30 years later, though the sounds have evolved, the summer of 2010 proved to be no less funky and innovative than the first time Herc looped James Brown.

Sir Lucious Left, by Big Boi.

Possibly the most anticipated and acclaimed album of the summer came from the south’s elder-statesman, Big Boi. The first proper solo release from half of the group Outkast, Sir Lucious Left hit shelves on July 5, selling 62,000 records in its first week. From the album’s intro, a brazen, piano-heavy funk cut full of warped voices, one gets the impression that this album is looking forward, attempting to push the boundaries of what a commercial hiphop album can do. All we hear from Big Boi on the track is a self-congratulatory “dang, that ain’t nothing but the intro,” demonstrating that he is all too conscious of his innovation.

While the album’s lead single “Shutterbug” is an undeniably infectious bit of electro-futurism, most of the album fails to attain the invigorating life that its single contains. The exception is

the early leak, “Shine Blockas” featuring Gucci Mane, whose production harkens back to the tried and true formula of an atmospheric soul sample (Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes) and features less double time and more drawling southern attitude from Big. No doubt few can rap like Lucious, but the summons to funkified innovation rings a little hollow when it is coming from the lead singer of the middling indie rock band Vonnegut on the track “Follow Us”.

Str8 Killa, by Freddie Gibbs

Another air-tight double time rapper, and also the last to release an album this summer, was Indiana’s Freddie Gibbs. The Str8 Killa EP, which dropped on Aug. 3, demonstrates a technical finesse unmatched by anyone else currently recording. Gibbs’ voice, a harsh, croaking baritone, moves seamlessly from staccato chants to rapid-fire speed-rapping within one verse on “National Anthem.” He possesses the talent to make any antiquarian hip-hop head swoon with nostalgia (see his first verse on “Rep 2 da Fullest”), has an ear for flawless production (“Personal OG”) and catchy hooks (Oil Money), but he also seems too preoccupied with being “real”—(re)telling us how hard he is. Although his credentials check out, everyone from Nelly to G-Unit has already struck the same pose (earned or not) and Gibbs is too talented an MC to limit himself to such contained content. When he croons on the hook of “Rock Bottom” that he’s going in circles, one’s

not sure if he’s referring to his life or his raps.

To his credit, however, it’s a debut EP and he has plenty of time to expand his repertoire.

Thank Me Later, by Drake

Occupying the opposite end of the spectrum was Drake’s Thank Me Later, released on June 15, reaching number one on the Billboard charts and soon after going platinum. Drake’s rise to fame, from the self-released mixtape containing the hit “Best I Ever Had” to his wildly successful debut album, capitalizes exactly where Gibbs falls short. The genre is saturated with MCs fronting on being “real” or “hard” while churning out radio-friendly pop, but Drake acknowledges his softness.

The line from “Best I Ever Had” is now all too prophetic: “When my album drop girls will buy it for the picture/And guys will buy it too and claim they got it for their sister.” Without any front, Drake can be the biggest hip-hop/pop star, be from Toronto and a Degrassi alum without it affecting his rap career. He makes unabashed pop, corny at times, but refreshing nonetheless.

He has no anxiety about being hard, just about girls . When he teams up with The Dream on “Shut it Down,” the warbles from the two smoothest crooners in the game create a dreamscape that approaches Peter Gabriel territory.

Its the best pop music a rapper’s ever made.

Teflon Don, by Rick Ross

Rounding out the summer was (fanfare please)

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Rick Ross’ fourth studio release, Teflon Don. Although this is the first of Ross’ albums not to reach number one on the Billboard charts, the rapper has created one of the most interesting poses in all of rap—posing as a poser. Ross posits himself as Big Meech and Larry Hoover, two notorious drug traffickers (the name Rick Ross itself comes from Ricky Ross, the 1980’s pusher) while also claiming to be John Gotti (to whom the album’s name refers), MC Hammer, JFK and to walk in the image of Christ. These hyperbolic references allow Ross to be a shapeshifter, consciously exploiting the foundations of the genre’s lyrical conventions–the simile “I am like.” His most interesting line comes in “Free Masons” when he raps, “My top back like JFK/They wanna push my top back like JFK/So, so we JFK/Join forces with the kings and we ate all day.” Moving in four bars from a comparison with JFK to eating all day exhibits Ross’ schtick all too well. He is the lyrical equivalent of a DJ’s sample, re-working the past into something new. Ross is even audacious enough to chew up Jay-Z, who is featured on the track, when Ross ends his verse “right now I could rewrite history/I stopped writing.../I’ll do it mentally.”

By inhabiting Jay (who famously doesn’t write down his lyrics) he swallows Jay’s career while stationing himself as the one who can reconfigure history by simply taking it for his own . It’s brilliantly innovative while remaining indebted to the past.

These summer albums run the gamut of poses and positions, from O.G. bangers to post-modern mélange, all of them revealing the varied ways that rappers are positioning themselves within a genre that has had its doors burst wide open. All that’s left to say comes from Herc himself: rock on my mellow. Bawse.

SPORTS

Page 18

September 9, 2010

Soccer hopes to replace recent alums USA plays down national sports teams T Ethan Shanley Guest Reporter

Nik Trkulja

Guest Columnist

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Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

oung, scrappy, a little too inexperienced, this is how the U.S. national basketball team has been described as it competes in the FIBA World Basketball Championships in Turkey. The team, comprised of the NBA’s second tier of superstars, has been portrayed as a slight favorite by media pundits around the country, a team from which greatness is not expected but will be appreciated. In corporate lingo, this is known as “managing expectations,” setting the bar a little lower than need be so you don’t look bad if perfection is not achieved and look a whole lot better if it is. There’s nothing new about the practice, but this summer in particular it’s become a fascination of the sports media in its descriptions of U.S. national teams.

For instance, the World Cup saw the “underdog” U.S. team achieve moral victories even when it drew against England and Slovenia, and show incredible character and heart in achieving what little it did. So a defeat versus Ghana in the second round, although somewhat disappointing, did not detract from the otherwise “great effort” put forth by the team throughout the tournament. It’s a storyline we all heard and accepted outright. After all, soccer is not the predominant sport in the U.S. as it is everywhere else so how could we expect greatness from a “young and inexperienced” group on the world stage, right? Well, not really.

While it’s true that U.S. soccer is not a global powerhouse, it’s slightly silly to promote any story which pits the U.S. as anything but a total and absolute favorite against Slovenia, Algeria and Ghana. On the surface many might disagree but that’s because U.S. fans don’t see their team the same way the rest of the world does. For example, when the U.S. played Slovenia, many saw it as a game between two evenly matched sides. Nobody stepped back and thought that here was a match between the richest and third largest country on Earth against a country whose population is 150 times smaller, 2.06 million, roughly two-thirds the size of the San Diego metro area.

With size come all the other advantages which we yet again don’t think about. Advantages such as funding, superior and more varied training facilities, equipment and medical facilities, not to mention of course the more varied and extensive pool of talent to choose from. Again critics would say that the professional league here is of a worse caliber than in the rest of the world and while that’s true in most cases comparing it, to the Slovenian, Algerian or Ghanaian leagues is a joke.

Nevertheless, the “underdog” story persists throughout all U.S. sports, not only soccer. The results have been most visible at the FIBA World Championships this past week. Team USA’s close wins haven’t been “disappointing” but rather “learning experiences” and blowouts have been a “demonstration of their potential.” The team, which features the NBA’s leading scorer from the 2009-2010 season, Kevin Durant, who led the league with 30.1 points per game, and what some journalists have called “fringe all-stars,” whatever that means, has become quite the enigma. Observers know full well that they cannot look at the team and call them underdogs, especially since it features more allstars (3 in 2010) from the world’s greatest league than all the other teams combined (0 in 2010). Instead, they have had to be creative and have thus replaced descriptions of superior athleticism, strength and power with new buzz words like “scrappy” and “tenacious.”

The only examples I can think of where the national consciousness has allowed itself to expect total domination in national team sports are when the results are almost guaranteed. For instance that was the case with the 1992 Dream Team and just about anytime Michael Phelps and his teammates enter a pool. In situations such as those, fans expect not only dominance but total annihilation with multiple records being broken.

The U.S. sports media has made their national teams into that guy you hate playing against at the gym. When he knows he’s got the best team he’ll talk trash the whole day and keep beating up on you, but when he fears it’s going to be in the least bit competitive then suddenly you start hearing excuses about sprained ankles and muscles that were pulled last week. It’s demeaning, pathetic and really just annoying. Everybody knows you’re the best don’t pretend like it isn’t true, rather expect and demand it every time and if you get beat then you got beat, but don’t start faulting that ankle again.

he men’s soccer team heads into the 2010 season with high hopes, and for good reason. A year after putting up their best Liberty League record since 2003, the Brewers return with a deep squad replete with energetic underclassmen and savvy veteran leaders. It will be hard to replace the void left by the talented seniors that graduated, but the Brewers feel they have enough returning talent to fill that void.

Head Coach Andy Jennings is confident about his team’s outlook this year. “We could be a stronger team this year than we were last year.” Junior midfielder Ross Macklin reiterates his coach’s sentiments: “We lost some key seniors from last season, but overall I’d say this year’s team is better than last year.” The Brewers were put to the test with games against Fairleigh Dickinson-College at Florham and Manhattanville College this week.

The Brewers showed just what they were capable of in their opening game of the year against Farleigh Dickinson College at Florham on Wednesday. Through a great team effort, and a stunning two-goal performance by freshman Eric Seltzer, the Brewers rode to a 2-0 victory. Senior Ben Scaglione and freshman Adam McCabe notched assists in the win, while the team’s defense, led by Captains James Worboys ’11 and Marc Morelli ’11, was rock solid in the victory.

The first goal saw Seltzer strike home Scaglione’s cross on a one touch effort, set up by a Brewers counterattack. On the second goal, McCabe, lobbed a pass to Seltzer, which sent the freshman one-on-one against the goalie.

On Saturday, the Brewers looked to take another step in the right direction, but ran into a tough Manhattanville team with a speedy front line and a brick wall for a goalie. The contest was a hard-fought defensive battle with neither side able to break through for most of the game. Each team had a fair amount of chances to score but the back of the net was hard to come by.

Just when overtime appeared imminent, Manhattanville’s Keston George ripped a shot in the 88th minute from just outside the 18 yard box that barely slipped past the fingers of freshman goalie Ryan Grimme and into the upper left corner of the net.

George’s late goal proved too much to overcome for the Brewers who ended up dropping the contest 1-0. Though they did not get the victory, the Brewers gained valuable experience and showcased a solid defense, midfield, and attack that should be very good by the time they start playing conference games.

The Brewers have one goal in mind this year—to make the Liberty League playoffs. They were one win away from getting in last year and the returning players from last year’s squad can almost taste it.

“Coming into the season, the only focus is

Sam Erlichson McCarthy ’12 and Eli London ’12 vie for the ball against their opponent from Manhattanville College, on Saturday, Sept. 4. The Liberty League season beings on Sept. 24. to win every Liberty League game.” Says Captain Worboys, “That is the only way to absolutely make certain we make it into the tournament. Nothing else matters this season except making the Liberty League tournament.” Fellow Captain Morelli echoes Worboys’ confidence. “I fully expect to make the Liberty League playoffs this season,” says Morelli.

The Liberty League is perennially one of the toughest leagues in the nation so it will be hard for the Brewers to break through.

In order to do so, the team has to be led by a solid defensive line. The Brewers have added a new assistant coach to their staff, Tony Flores. “We’re all very excited about the arrival and contributions of our new assistant coach, Tony Flores,” says Morelli.

“He’ll help to bring a focus and tenacity to the team defensively, and keep us honed in on our ultimate goal—the playoffs.”

Though the Vassar Brewers have very talented individual players, they must rely on good team chemistry and depth to guide them to the Liberty League championships.

Worboys stresses how deep the team is this year. “[We] have a very deep roster with a large percentage of the players able to contribute in the most challenging of games.

I expect 18 or 19 players will contribute in every game. The team is only as strong as its weakest player and especially this year’s team, being dependent on its depth, needs to rely on the players coming off the bench to not only maintain the level of play but sometimes raise the level of play when they

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step on the field.” Morelli also stresses the importance of team chemistry to the Brewer’s success. “The team will need strong play from everyone to be successful. No single individual will push us over the top, but collectively, everyone playing well as a unit will breed success.”

Although the Liberty League is always very tough, superior depth and team chemistry, combined with veteran leadership should be enough to put the team over the edge this year. Last year’s returning players came so close to making the postseason, and will stop at nothing to lead this year’s team into the playoffs, and perhaps beyond.

“While it is no secret that we graduated some very talented seniors, our current roster is our strongest yet. We have great depth, are quick, fast-paced, and understand the game and our individual roles,” says Morelli. “While last year was one of the most successful seasons in recent program memory, it still fell short of our goal and expectation of a playoff berth which we all intend to earn this time around.”

The Brewers will look to continue their march towards the postseason, traveling to crosstown rival SUNY New Paltz on Saturday Sept. 11, followed by a trip to nearby Newburgh to take on Mount Saint Mary College, on Sunday. Wednesday, Sept. 15, the Brewers return home, hosting Bard College at 5 p.m. at Prentiss Field. Vassar will begin its Liberty League season, on Sept. 24 when St. Lawrence University makes the trek to Poughkeepsie.

September 9, 2010

SPORTS

Page 19

Women’s soccer strives for playoffs Increased fan violence merits added security

Andy Marmer Sports Editor

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Juliana Halpert/The Miscellany News

ast season, the women’s soccer team won their final four contests of the season, including two against Liberty League foes, but ultimately came up one game short of qualifying for the conference tournament.

This year, the squad hopes to pick up where they left off, and in the process make the Liberty League tournament for the first time in program history. “I think we’re going to have the best team that we’ve had since we [fellow Captains Carolyn Demougeot ’11 and Allison McManis ’11] got here as freshman. I think we’ll make the conference tournament and be a serious contender in the Liberty League,” noted Captain Rachel Shea ’11.

In their opening game of the season, the team showed just how formidable they can be. After conceding an early goal to crosstown rival SUNY New Paltz, Vassar rattled off three unanswered goals, with Demougeot leading the way with two goals and an assist.

One of Demougeot’s goals saw the senior enter the box before dancing around two defenders and firing a beautiful strike into the top right corner of the net. Demougeot also assisted on Gavriella Kaplan’s ’14 first collegiate goal, providing a long chip that allowed the freshman to run onto the ball, and deposit it in the corner. Head Coach Richard Moller was pleased with his side’s performance in the match, “It was a nice team effort and we were putting the pieces together for us to play some solid team soccer.”

In the Brewer’s second match, they earned yet another 3-1 win. Once again, Vassar was led by two goals from Demougeot, with Kaplan also finding the back of the net.

To achieve their goal of making the conference tournament, the Brewers will rely on their depth. The team lost just three seniors from last year’s team, and added ten freshmen, three of whom started in the debut match Noted Demougeot, “We’re the deepest we’ve ever been, since I’ve been here.

Our starting 11 are very strong and we can

Allison McManis ’11 tries to keep the ball away from SUNY New Paltz, who the Brewers defeated in a three-game sweep. The Brewers are hoping to make it to the Liberty League playoffs. definitely bring four or five off the bench.”

Vassar returns its three leading scorers from last year in Demougeot (9 goals, 3 assists), McManis (7 goals, 2 assists) and Shea (6 goals, 4 assists). In addition to the three captains, Vassar will rely on a number of other veterans. Demougeot noted, “Alix Zongrone ’12 is definitely a key player in our lineup. She definitely is very strong all around.

She can be put in a lot of key positions.”

Shea added, “I have also been really impressed with Keiko Kurita. She’s a sophomore. To me she’s ten times better than she was last year.” Demougeot also noted that Alex Grant will be key as she transitions to playing in the center of the backline.

While the Brewers will return several talented players, and also add some strong new ones, McManis observed where the true talent lies: “We’re at a place where the sum of us together is greater than the parts. There’s not really any particular one person that we have to look to score, or to make a play.”

With such a talented core, Vassar wasted little time in preparing for its blitz of the

Liberty League. During the summer, 13 of the team’s returning players traveled to Germany, where they triumphed in two contests.

Moller credited the trip with “allowing us to grow closer and continue to build and create a team chemistry, allowing us to really get to know each other in a way that when push comes to shove we’re there for each other.”

Shea expressed similar sentiments to her coach: “It really brought the returners closer together…I think it was really good for the team chemistry within our returners.”

Still, as McManis noted the trip was about more than just the team’s performance. “It was neat seeing day in, day out what a culture of soccer is in other parts of the world.”

Back stateside, the team eagerly awaits the rest of its schedule, with one game featured prominently, “I want to kill [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]” declared Shea.

Vassar will host RPI on Oct. 2.

Moller was more diplomatic, “It’s just allin-all a very tough, very fun schedule, but I believe the team is ready for a schedule like this.”

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Andy Sussman Guest Columnist

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s it just me or are brawls becoming increasingly commonplace in the sports arena? During an international basketball “friendly,” Serbia and Greece got into a heated scrap that culminated in Serbian center Nenad Krstic throwing a chair at several Greek players right next to the stands. Washington Nationals center fielder Nyjer Morgan could have made this list single-handedly, after allegedly throwing a baseball at a fan and, a week later, charging the mound when the pitcher threw behind him. Over the summer, it became commonplace for some teenagers who desired attention to run around the baseball field, with security guards and players helpless. Last Friday, though, was when I realized that the violence was getting out of control. The U.S. open match between Novak Djokovic and Philipp Petzschner had to be delayed because a fight broke out in the stands.

That’s right, pushing, shoving, and cursing in the stands interrupted a tennis match, a sport known for its fan’s politeness and decorum. Now, I do not approach the issue of fighting as an old hack who yearns for the “good old days”; after all, there was never a period of time when there were no brawls of any sort. However, I do think that the line between players and fans have blurred to a dangerous extent.

We all know what can happen when such a blend occurs, as the infamous 2004 “Malice at the Palace,” which saw players from the Indiana Pacers attack fans at the Detroit Pistons home arena, The Palace at Auburn Hills, taught us. The fact is that neither players nor fans are safe from one another under these current conditions.

Luckily, most of the recent examples of clashes have proven to be relatively harmless with respect to physical injuries. However, it does not take a leap of faith to realize that someone can seriously get hurt when a fight gets out of control, for it has hap See BRAWL on page 20

SPORTS

Page 20

September 9, 2010

Cross country team sweeps Invitational at Vassar Farm Kristine Olson Guest Reporter

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Courtesy of Sports Information

warm, breezy day provided the perfect conditions for the Vassar College Invitational (VCI) cross-country race on the Farm, last Saturday, Sept. 4.

As the first cross country meet of the season, the VCI was an opportunity for individual runners and the Vassar College Cross Country team to showcase their summer training.

“Our strategy today is to go out strong, try to run in packs, and take advantage of our home course,” said Captain Zoe Carpenter ’11, prior to the meet.

And that’s what the Brewers did. In a field of 12 teams, The Vassar men triumphed over (28 points) SUNY New Paltz (38) and Stevens Institute (55), who rounded out the top three, for first. Vassar women (15 points) also placed first in a field of 10, followed by SUNY New Paltz (49) and Mount Saint Mary College (103).

In the men’s 6k race, Vassar’s Sam Wagner ’13 had an exciting and incredibly close second place finish, surging ahead of SUNY New Paltz senior, Joe Gentsch, only to be out-strode in the last few meters. Also placing in the top 10 with strong performances, were Vassar’s Justin Rupert ’12 (3rd, 20:36), Will Healy ’12 (5th, 20:44), and Roni Teich ’13 (6th, 20:58).

Three of Vassar’s men (Jon Erickson ’11, Zach Williams ’12, Christopher Lloyd ’13) sat out due to injuries, and Will Wheeler ’14 dropped out after 4k because of a heel problem. “Holding those guys out and still performing well is great for us,” said Coach McCowan. “It was an auspicious start. And Sam Wagner had a gutsy race.

He showed us that he can race with anyone in the region.”

During the women’s 5k race, Carpenter, Jo-

hanna Spangler ’12, Elizabeth Forbes ’12, and Kelly Holmes ’13 were in the lead from the start.

The women did as they had trained and ran the race in packs, which led them to a 1st-5th place sweep in the end.

With a giant lead, Spangler finished first and set a new course record (19:25). Other stand out performances included Forbes (2nd, 19:49); freshman Aubree Piepmeier raced to 3rd place in her first collegiate meet (19:52); Carpenter (4th 20:15); and Holmes (5th, 20:20).

Stephanie Malek ’13 (8th, 20:42) had, “the most improved VCI performance ever!” exuded Coach McCowan; and Chloe Williams ’14 (9th, 20:44) finished her first college race in the top 10 alongside teammate Rebecca Valencia ’11 (10th, 21:49). Also notable was Elizabeth Jones ’11 who has returned from a two-year injury hiatus.

When asked about the women’s race Coach McCowan said, “It was fantastic. We weren’t worried about times. Our main strategy was to run in big groups, focus on the packs and let people push the last mile.” Forecasting for the remaining season McCowan noted, “we’re not at 100 percent strength with either of our teams, and we were still able to perform well today. If we can get everyone running, it’s going to be really impressive. And as long as people have fun and enjoy what they do, great things will come from it.”

According to McCowan this season’s teams are the fastest in Vassar Cross Country history. “It’s exciting that we’re all within the same range of ability,” said Melissa McClung ’12, “and there are so many of us that can run together as a pack.”

Health and injuries will be a factor for both the men and women’s performances this sea-

Vassar student-athletes Aubree Piepmeier ’14 and Elizabeth Forbes ’12 strive for victory at the Vassar College Invitational, Vassar’s first cross country meet of the year, last Saturday, Sept. 4. son. If the team is at 100 percent racing ability, placing well at Regionals and advancing to Nationals is an even greater possibility.

And with fewer races this season, quality is key. More time between races means more time to recover, train and focus on race strategy.

The Paul Short meet at Lehigh University on Oct. 1 will host D-I and II runners, providing Vassar Cross Country runners a chance to push themselves against faster teams early in the season. Seven Sisters will be the only other home meet this season, hosted by the women

Women’s volleyball cruises to 3-0 win Lillian Reuman Guest Reporter

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Courtesy of Sports Informaiton

s a group of athletes that consistently ranks among the best in the Liberty League and often qualifies for the Eastern College Athletic Conference and NCAA championship tournaments, the Vassar women’s volleyball team started off on a high note last Wednesday night in Kenyon Hall.

The team deftly defeated Rutgers-Newark in what appeared to be three simple, well-handled sets (25-15, 25-13, 25-12).

The team begins its season with only two seniors, Chelsea Mottern and Juliana “JJ” Simon, but will undoubtedly look towards its five-member-strong freshman class for fresh feet on the court. Due to a high turnout at pre-season tryouts, Head Coach Jonathan Penn made cuts and had the ability to select from among the best student-athletes. Senior Captain Mottern noted that Chloe McGuire ’13 and Hilary Koenigs ’13 will be “offensive threats” with their hitting/blocking and setting, respectively. Koenigs was recognized as the League 2009 Rookie of the Year. “With a host of tall, strong hitters, the team plans to incorporate more back row hitting,” Mottern said.

After placing second in the Liberty League last year, the team, led by co-Captains Mottern and Amy Bavosa ’12, hopes to reclaim the Liberty League title and advance to the NCAA Division III championships. Mottern noted that the Oct. 6 home match against Stevens Institute of Technology would be a true performance test since Stevens has consistently proven to be one of Vassar’s toughest competitors.

Although Rutgers didn’t seem to threaten Vassar’s gameplay, the Sept. 1 home game served as a great trial for the upcoming challenging schedule.

A series of kills by Bavosa and McGuire made for a spectacular start for the first set.

Although Rugters responded with a quick

Amy Bavosa ’12 spikes the ball, helping Vassar take Rutgers-Newark in a three-game sweep. tip, the referee was quick to notice their improper setting, which resulted in a point for Vassar and an opportunity to dominate the serve once again. McGuire’s steady serving continued until the Brewers reached 23 points, when Rutgers motioned for a time out.

Vassar began the second set, jumping out to a big lead, thanks in part to inconsistent serving and what appeared to be a lack of communication from Rutgers. Rose Carman ’14 contributed several aces; a tip by Bavosa sealed the deal providing the Brewers with a victory at the end of game two.

After a long rally, Rutgers persevered to take the first point of game three. A short serve by Bavosa kept the game competitive, and sophomore Brittany Stopa’s strong arm

allowed Vassar to break the back-and-forth monotony and create a five-point lead over Rutgers. Freshman Jessie Ditmore made her debut in the final game of the match and added on four points for Vassar with her relentless serving. An error by Rutgers gave Vassar an 11-point lead prior to a Rutgers timeout.

Powerful blocking by Bavosa and Simon punctuated the entirety of the three matches, and Vassar came away victorious.

Unfortunately, Wednesday night’s Kenyon Hall crowd, which included the Vassar women’s basketball team, wasn’t around to cheer on the Brewers volleyball team at the Courtland tournament on Sept. 3-4. The team defeated SUNY Potsdam 3-1 but fell to the University of Rochester (3-1), SUNY New Paltz (3-1), and St. Lawrence University (3-2).

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at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16. For the women, it will be a chance to directly compare their improvements since the Vassar College Invitational.

Liberty League Championships on Oct. 30 and Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships on Nov. 3 will also be significant races in preparation for the NCAA Regional Championship on Nov. 13. With a strong performance at Regionals, Vassar could advance to the NCAA National Championship on Nov. 20.

Wild,unrulyfans take away from sporting events BRAWL continued from page 19 pened in recent history. Remember when Chicago White Sox fans William Ligue and his son attacked Kansas City Royals first base coach Tom Gamboa in 2002? If you don’t, Gamboa permanently lost some of his hearing in the attack, and a knife was subsequently found on Ligue after he was arrested.

At what point will we stop viewing these fights as “all in good fun” or entertaining and begin examining them as a very real threat? Add passionate, enthusiastic fans with alcohol, and then throw in intense players and what do we expect to get?

Upon watching the fight at the U.S. Open my first reaction was “where is security?” In fact, many of the onlookers in the stands remarked the very same thing. An older man did not have to tumble three rows down the stands; if there were an effective enough security force, those involved could have been escorted out as soon as they yelled at each other during the match. The rules are especially clear in a sport such as tennis: no creating disturbances.

After a teenage fan ran onto the field at a Philadelphia Phillies game this summer, security eventually tasered him to get him to stop the situation from worsening. They received a great deal of criticism for using that method to get the fan under control, but frankly what other options did they have? I don’t care whether the fan is harmless in his or her thoughts or not, it can still very easily escalate to the point of serious violence.

On television, fans have the rights to yell, but if they are in a stadium with the actual athletes, they need to keep themselves from chaos, just as players have always had the same obligations. I just hope that the next time I hear that a tennis match gets delayed that it is due to inclement weather rather than a storm of out-of-control fans.