The Miscellany News
Since 1866 | miscellanynews.org
Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY
Volume CLII | Issue 1
August 29, 2019
Welcome to campus, Class of 2023! Vassar’s newest students join campus community for Orientation Mack Liderman/The Miscellany News
Looking back: stories from the first year F
ter, a friend and I had just moved into Noyes. We were just two of a handful of people who had moved in early. After we both finished unpacking, aware of our growling stomachs and a tragically closed Deece, we decided to grab dinner at Nelly’s. When we arrived, the woman at the counter recognized us from past excursions. When my After being turned away by Ulster County, “Confederate Railroad” was welcomed by Chance owner friend couldn’t find 50 more cents Frank Pallett with open arms. The country band’s logo features a steam engine flying the Confederate flag. in her pocket, the women treated us like valued guests, and said it was okay. The food was warm and delicious. Snow began to fall while we were eating, hinting at the fullAbby Tarwater location of “50 Nights,” Vassar’s year- invite country band Confederate Railblown blizzard that would greet us ARTS EDITOR ly celebration of seniors’ waning time road—a group whose logo features a on the way home. That night, as we assar’s raucous, sold-out bi- on campus, now finds itself in the mid- steam engine flying the Confederate reached Noyes and shook off the annual parties at The Chance dle of a national controversy. flag—to perform at the venue on Sept. cold, Vassar’s status as a true “home Theater, Poughkeepsie’s punky music The Chance Theater’s owner, Frank 20. Aena Khan, Assistant News away from home” was solidified in venue, are a long-running staple of the Pallett, has come under fire from HudConfederate Railroad was once an Editor my heart. school’s social scene. But the beloved son Valley residents for his decision to acclaimed band within the country During the last week of January, First-years, the people you meet See CHANCE on page 3 at the start of the spring semesSee REFLECTIONS on page 4
Confederate band to play at Chance V
irst-years, welcome to this moment: You sit on the precipice of a transformative time in your life. From here, your path could lead untold directions, weaving between lulls and leaps on your journey through the next four years. Not so long ago the Class of 2022 joined us on campus and began their meandering paths through the enlightenment and, often, bewilderment of liberal arts education. As we begin this academic year, we at The Miscellany News welcome the Class of 2023 by first pausing for reflection. One year after their own Orientation, three of our sophomore Assistant Editors reminisce on their first-year experiences.
An open letter to first- Where did all the womp-womps go? generation students Duncan Aronson FEATURES EDIOTR
Tiana Headley Reporter
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very journey toward the elusive, impossible American dream is different. For my family, it was my mother enduring the cycle of violence at the hands of my father in Brompton, Jamaica. She believed he planned to bring her to America so they could work to buy a house for our family. His true plan was isolation.
Through the Violence Against Women Act and police reports, my mother’s mutilation is the cross upon which our permanent residency was born. As working-class immigrants now entirely dependent on a domestic worker’s salary, our traumas weren’t solved by mere residency. You don’t forget squeezing under an umbrella at the bus stop as a storm rages. MemoSee LETTER on page 4
Aena Khan and Olivia Watson ASSISTANT NEWS EDITORS
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tump speeches for the 2020 Democratic primary already include some ambitious economic goals for the next presidency: free public university, medicare for all, complete student loan forgiveness, and maybe even a no-strings-attached $1,000 check every month for every American. With several
of these proposed policies requiring trillions (yes, with a “T”) of dollars, the candidates must generate revenue to bring these plans to fruition. So what impact would each proposal have on the broader economy? To explore this question, The Miscellany News contacted four of Vassar’s Professors of Economics for an expert look at where the canSee WEALTH TAX on page 3
assar is evicting its spiritual mascot. The Vassar College Store is lined with merchandise sporting the embroidered letters of “Vassar” or “Brewers,” alongside racks of standard VC monograms or emblems of the goddess Athena surrounded by the finer symbols of learning. Yet, Vassarites identify with another symbol altogether. We informally celebrate a cute underground mascot: wompwomps, known to the outside world as groundhogs, a type of marmot. Sadly, Vassar policy ensures there will be fewer furry friends on campus womp-womping their round rears around. The groundhogs’ plight first garnered attention from a petition (Change.org, “Leave the Womp Womps Alone!” 06.24.2019) started by marmot enthusiast Dean Rosenthal ’20, who was quick to take initiative through light-hearted humor inundated with a burning passion for the critters. Womp-womp trap sightings this summer piqued his curiosity. Rosenthal dug around a little, and discovered that Vassar has been clamping down on the groundhogs’ numbers by humanely trapping and relocating them off campus, in order to prevent their hazardous and damaging burrowing. “It feels like the administration cares
silliness of profoundly probing such mundane things as flowers and groundhogs. On another level, it cuts straight to Vassar’s principles. A seemingly trivial decision is like an individual pixel on a monitor. In isolation, it is meaningless, but in context, it contributes to a bigger picture or, in this case, an overarching philosophy. Simply stated, a Vassar without womp-womps would be a gloomier one. As Rosenthal put it, “They make people smile, waddling around with all their fur and blubber.” Speaking over the phone, recent alumna Jennifer Novak ’19 compared womp-womps to celebrities: “Their burrows are like little landSee WOMP WOMP on page 4
Courtesy of Ben Gregory
Economics professors weigh in on wealth tax
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more about their flowers than the womp womps,” Rosenthal quipped over the phone, laughing. “So I want [the petition] to raise womp-womp awareness.” During our conversation, he couldn’t help but discuss American and Indian species of marmots, recommend an online UCLA resource dedicated to marmots (UCLA, “The Marmot Burrow,” 07.29.2009) and lamented his loss of ability to imitate marmot alarm calls. “If I had the choice between drinking beer and hanging out with marmots, it’d be a clear decision for me,” Rosenthal joked (I think). Rosenthal’s comment about the administration’s priorities is a double-deckered one. On one level, it points out the
The womp-womp, known to the layman as a “groundhog,” is an endearing symbol of Vassar culture. But after forced relocations this summer, they may become an increasingly elusive presence on campus.
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The Miscellany News
August 29, 2019
A word from the Editor-in-Chief Mack Liederman EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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ne hundred and fifty three years. A lot has changed in the last 153 years. Nations have risen and fallen, wars have broken out and subsided, civil rights have been won and lost, trends have popped up and parted, and Vassar has gone coed (luckily for me). In this infinitely fluid world, can you remember just a few things that have stayed the same? Maybe I should start you off with an easier question: Do you even remember what you had for breakfast this morning? In the midst of the hyper-speed blur of move-ins, introductions, course catalogues and soggy Deece breakfasts that comprises Orientation Week, it is easy to be too disoriented to retain any of the details of Vassar—too
overwhelmed to make genuine sense of this place, and how you can fit into it. If you asked me what defines this place, I’d have to speak to how this place has defined me. The Miscellany News, now going into its 153rd year, has not only been a guiding force throughout my college years, but a withstanding pillar of the Vassar experience. I’ll take a leap and say that every student who has come through this institution’s gates has more than likely, at some point, held a copy of the Misc in their hands. The newspaper that is now in your hands is the amalgamation of a legacy that my colleagues and I take a turn in sustaining. History runs through our words, our decisions, our practices; in the world’s longest game of telephone, students have passed
on to each other the nuanced quirks and tricks needed to make the Misc appear every Thursday. In a way, this thing has been kept alive by sheer willpower, stemming from what I believe to be our shared set of obligations: inform, engage, and demand accountability. But in today’s political landscape, these values and our legacy have never been more challenged. Lack of trust in the media has become a locus of societal frustration and polarization; robust reporting is overlooked; the provocation of outrage churns the wheels of the big-business journalism machine. Yet, 153 years and counting, the Misc remains grounded. In fact, student journalists are at the crux of a monumental crossroads in American history, and our responsibil-
ity today is as great as it has ever been. In towns and cities across the country, student journalists work to fill news gaps in communities struggling to maintain their local paper. Everywhere, student journalists occupy a unique position, with the ability to sustain an impassioned idealism that journalism can still uphold its fundamental obligations. If there is a time for investigative reporting founded in fact, columns that expand perspectives rather than narrow them, and innovative social media content designed more to educate than to attention grab, the time is now. Reporting requires patience, writing demands vulnerability, editing can be grinding, but we are here to help. Consider joining our community at The Miscellany News.
Editor-in-Chief Mack Liederman
Senior Editors
Frankie Knuckles Jessica Moss
Contributing Editors Isabel Braham Leah Cates Sasha Gopalakrishnan
Courtesy ofVassar College
Features Opinions Arts Sports Design Copy Social Media Photo Managing Emerita
Duncan Aronson Jonas Trostle Abby Tarwater Teddy Chmyz Lilly Tipton Lucy Leonard Natalie Bober Yijia Hu Robert Pinataro Laurel Hennen Vigil
Assistant News Aena Khan Olivia Watson Assistant Arts Dean Kopitsky Taylor Stewart Reporters Delila Ames Ariana Gravinese Jonah Frere-Holmes Tiana Headley Columnist Alex Barnard Copy Adelaide Backhus Anna Blake Samantha Cavagnolo Madeline Seibel Dean Amanda Herring Phoebe Jacoby Caitlin Patterson Mina Turunc Crossword Frank
Classroom Code Cheat Sheet AFC Athletics/ Fitness Center BH Blodget Hall BLS Bridge for
Labratory Sciences CH Chicago Hall CN College Center CP Chapel DF Center for Drama and Film DS Doubleday Art Studios
EH Ely Hall FS Field Station KH Kenyon Hall LI Thompson Library NE New England Building NH New Hackensack OH Olmsted Hall
OLB Old Laundry Building PT Powerhouse Theater RH Rockefeller Hall SH Skinner Hall SP Sanders Physics SW Swift Hall T Taylor Hall
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
CORRECTION POLICY The Miscellany News will only accept corrections for any misquotes, misrepresentations or factual errors for an article within the semester it is printed. The Miscellany News is not responsible for the views presented within its Opinions pages. The weekly staff editorial is the only article which reflects the opinion of the Editorial Board.
August 29, 2019
WELCOME ISSUE
Page 3
Controversial concert puts Chance parties in question CHANCE continued
Courtesy of Emmett O’Malley
from page 1 music scene. The group has released numerous charting albums via Atlantic Records since their formation in 1987, and their 1993 hit “Trashy Women” even earned the group a Grammy nomination. Yet this summer, the band has lost gigs at two local fairs—one in Illinois, and one in Poughkeepsie’s bordering Ulster County. The Ulster County Agricultural Society removed Confederate Railroad from the fair’s lineup just one week before their scheduled performance in the face of protests from community members. Ulster County residents took to social media to decry the band’s moniker and logo as offensive emblems of racism and white supremacy. The band’s performance was also a direct violation of the Ulster County Agricultural Society’s license to use the county fairgrounds, which prohibits the sale of merchandise with Confederate Flag imagery (“Ulster County executive wants band Confederate Railroad dropped from fair’s music lineup,” Daily Freeman, 07.24.2019). After news of Confederate Railroad’s Ulster County cancellation broke, Pallett jumped to welcome the group to the Chance, located in Ulster’s eastern neighbor, Dutchess County. All of The Miscellany News’ attempts to reach Pallett were denied. When I requested to speak with Pallett, The Chance Theater’s receptionist stated that he is out of town until after Labor Day. Editor-in-Chief Mack Liederman ’20 later went to The Chance in hopes of taking photos of the space for this article, but was told that reporters from The Miscellany News would not be permitted into the building. Pallett has, however, been direct with other publications on his stance: He does not see the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate. Pallett insisted to Spectrum News reporter Ben Nandy, “As far as anybody saying the band is racist or
The Chance is a long-time host to Vassar’s best-attended parties, but VSA’s new Chair of Programming Emily Chong ’21 believes that may change: “Supporting a venue that does not see the harm in the Confederate flag, in my opinion, conflicts with Vassar’s values.” that we have any racist bones in our body is ridiculous. There’s room for interpretation that [the Confederate flag] represents the South, not necessarily racism” (“After Ulster County Rejection, Confederate Railroad Gets Warm Welcome in Poughkeepsie, Spectrum News, 08.15.2019). Pallet also urged Poughkeepsians to be more open-minded toward the flag’s multifaceted symbolisms. But many residents of Poughkeepsie—a city with a 37.6 percent Black population—emphatically reject Pallet’s justification (Spectrum News) (“QuickFacts: Poughkeepsie City, New York,” United States Census Bureau, 2010). Professor of Political Science Katherine Hite is one Poughkeepsie resident in vehement opposition to Pallett’s excuses. She asserted, “As a professor who grew up in Texas and made the city of Poughkeepsie home, I suggest this self-proclaimed ‘history buff’ pick up the Texas secession or any of the secessions, look at the
principles, and tell me with a straight face that this still represents Southern culture. We Southerners are appalled. It appalls and saddens me. I remember my son going to concerts at the Chance.” The Confederate Railroad has garnered attention from news outlets such as Rolling Stone, CNN and USA Today this summer for its impassioned refusal to change its band name. The group’s founding member and David Shirley has bemoaned “political correctness” gone amok as the reason for the uproar (Confederate Railroad Singer: ‘I’m Not the Only One Tired of Being Politically Correct,’ Rolling Stone, 08.23.2019). Shirley, the group’s lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, sees the backlash as an attempt by Northern city dwellers to suppress Southern rural culture. I attempted to contact The Confederate Railroad for comment, but the group’s representative Travis James swiftly rebuffed my request. In his response, James lamented that objective journal-
ism was rare these days, and offered an unsolicited comment about the political leanings of one of my family members. Whether Pallett’s decision will impact Vassar’s lengthy relationship with the Chance remains unknown. The Senior Class Council organizes “50 Nights” each spring, but its incoming president Heather Phan Nguyen ’20 declined to comment on the matter, as the council has yet to meet in person to discuss their course of action regarding the controversy. Vassar Student Council’s Programming Committee, which organizes Vassar’s fall semester party at The Chance, also has yet to confer about their response. But Chair of Programming Emily Chong ’20 expressed in an email correspondence that the Confederate Railroad performance will undoubtedly influence how she approaches event planning in the upcoming school year. “It is disappointing that the Chance is not listening to what the community has to say about the band and has not acknowledged the racist values associated with the image,” she stated. “Supporting a venue that does not see the harm in the Confederate flag, in my opinion, conflicts with Vassar’s values.” Chong also emphasized that Vassar’s campus-wide parties could easily be held elsewhere. “Different venues for this event have been discussed in the past. The Chance is not the only venue in Poughkeepsie, and I am sure if we start planning early, we can find another place if needed that can accommodate our event size,” she shared. “I want everyone to feel welcome at our events, and we want the whole campus to have the opportunity to come together and have a good time in a comfortable space.” The Confederate Railroad are set to take the stage alongside fellow country groups Whiskey Crossing, 90 Proof and Farmer Phil Band.
Bold democratic primary proposals get academics talking WEALTH TAX continued from page 1 didates stand on keystone economic issues. To start, one of the more nationally controversial proposals—the “wealth tax”—has been embraced by several high-polling candidates. Among the first to formally propose such a tax was Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who hopes to impose a two percent rate on families whose wealth exceeds $50 million, with an additional one percent tax on each million beyond. Experts predict this tax would affect around 75,000 American families (New York Times, “Elizabeth Warren Wants a Wealth Tax. How Would That Even Work?” 02.18.19). Speaking on Warren’s wealth tax, Professor of Economics on the Elizabeth Stillman Williams Chair David Kennett had his doubts, but ultimately was largely positive about the idea: “It could cancel the deficit, pay down some debt, and still give us some money for a social security net, health care, infrastructure, and student loans,” he explained in an emailed statement. Assistant Professor Esteban Argudo shared his colleague’s belief that the plan has potential. For Argudo, one notable concern would be practical implementation, given the nature of the current tax system. “For it to be successful, one needs to identify all individuals with a net worth above $50 million, which in principle could be self-reported,” he wrote. “But basic economics tells us that some people might then have an incentive to misreport.” Associate Professor Benjamin Ho shared Argudo’s logistical doubts, adding, “I also worry that it would discourage entrepreneurs. If you started a company and controlled 51 percent of it, and was then forced to pay one to two percent of your wealth
in taxes, this means you lose control of the company after a couple years.” He went on, “[T]he majority of economists oppose it.” Another potential issue, Associate Professor Robert Rebelein warned, is that Warren’s tax could incentivize wealthier families to move outside of the United States to avoid paying stiff rates.
“Warren’s tax could incentivize wealthier families to move outside of the United States to avoid paying stiff rates” “A number of European countries have tried wealth taxes in the past and most have done away with them...Rich people will leave the country and take their wealth elsewhere if it will be taxed here. Last year nearly 4,000 people renounced their U.S. citizenship, probably mostly because of the taxes they would have to pay here. If there were a wealth tax, presumably many more people would leave,” said Rebelein. Still, he noted, “Warren’s plan is prepared for this and will impose a tax of 40 percent on wealth over $50 million of people who want to renounce their U.S. citizenship. That might be enough to keep them here.” The wealth tax also carries a legal question. As Kennet explained, some well-known politicians, including the mostly progressive Michael Bloomberg, argue that it is unconstitutional. “[T]he Sixteenth Amendment, while establishing the income tax, specified that it was only the Federal tax that would not be levied proportionally among the
states,” Kennet elucidated. Many critics argue that the wealth tax would require a constitutional amendment. Warren’s plans aren’t the only in the field that raise new questions for the Econ professors in Blodgett Hall. For instance, self-professed “centrists” have followed Vice President Biden in proposing an alternative to Warren’s wealth tax by removing what is called the “step-up in basis,” where assets that rise in value are not taxed when passed down through family (New York Times). Removing the step-up in basis would collect more than $50 billion a year. However, this more modest plan would still generate less revenue than a full-blown wealth tax. “Taking $50 billion per year more from wealthy families would be much less than the proposed wealth tax might generate,” stated Rebelein. Ho echoed this sentiment, adding that only inheritances are affected, which comprise a smaller portion of the economy than the wealth Warren’s plan would tax. “They both have the same effect of increasing taxes on the wealthy, but Biden’s approach is a small, incremental practical step, while Warren’s change is quite drastic,” he summarized. Another point of contention between the candidates is the proposed use of revenue. Warren promises her tax’s revenues will fund several plans, including student loan forgiveness and free tuition at public universities (LA Times, “How much would Elizabeth Warren’s wealth tax raise? Economists battle over the number,” 06.26.19). Fellow candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) supports these latter two policies, though his student debt reduction plan differs. Warren would divy out student loan cancelation or forgiveness based on household incomes
MISCELLANY NEWS | VASSAR COLLEGE
and separate canceled debt from taxable income. This would cancel all student loan debt for 75 percent of Americans and cost roughly $640 billion. Bernie Sanders would cancel student debt for all, an endeavour totaling of nearly $1.6 trillion. Vassar’s professors expressed mixed feelings about either plan. Ho stated his respect for the “moral conviction” of Sanders’ tuition-free college plan, even though it costs more. “Warren’s plan lacks that moral clarity, and does all this careful targeting, which I approve of, but it winds up still helping rich lawyers, which seems wrong,” he explained. Other economists also cautioned about the effects of debt cancellation. Rebelein stated that it could lead to disproportionate withdrawals of student loans, while Kennett noted that “wiping the slate clean” could allow for another round of exploitation by for-profit universities. Still, Argudo argued that Sanders’ tax plan to fund debt cancellation would be more feasible: “Although Warren’s plan requires less funding, since it is only partial forgiveness, I think the proposed wealth tax plan would be harder to implement than Sanders’ tax on financial transactions...Any time a financial transaction takes place, the trading price and volume are already recorded, so it would be easy to collect the corresponding tax on those.” With such a wide field for the 2020 race, distinguishing between frontrunning candidates’ plans for the major issues, including the economy, becomes a murky exercise. With buzzwords and rousing rhetoric abounding, these economics professors lend a dash of expertise. A long-form version of this article is available online at miscellanynews.org.
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WELCOME ISSUE
August 29, 2019
Sophomores Groundskeepers relocate college mascot recall passing, early moments REFLECTIONS continued
from page 1 and the places you go will shape your Vassar experience. Don’t be afraid of an adventure. Just don’t forget to bring gloves if it’s cold out. In a year, you too will have a Vassar story.
Dean Kopitsky, Assistant Arts Editor I’m assuming you have some sort of plan for the academic year. That’s good! Going into my first year, I had one too. I was going to major in psychology, dabble in American history and take an English class. I was pretty sure that plan wasn’t going to change. Then one night, after The Miscellany News’ weekly Paper Critique, I got caught up in a discussion with a fellow writer. I don’t know where we started, but it became one of those classic college conversations that makes your mind go full galaxy brain for a few moments, and all of a sudden you never think in just the same way. We went back and forth about our two cultural experiences in America—how they were vastly different, yet exactly the same. I came to two conclusions. The first was that we do not have an American “culture” but an American liberalism. It’s an amalgamation of the loosening of traditional practices and constraints into something more neutral and unrooted, I guess. The second was that I was going to be an American Studies major. One talk and suddenly my plan was out the window. American history had always filled me with so many questions— but the thought of choosing it as my major had seemed a little far-fetched. I said screw it, this is fun, this is what I enjoy learning about. What I love about a liberal arts curriculum is that it doesn’t determine what you study at all, and I was determined to take advantage of that. Welcome to Vassar: Don’t get too attached to that plan of yours.
even the Kiosk. The Deece won’t even be known as the Deece anymore. ‘The Gordon Commons,’ ugh.” Even over her four years, the womp-womp population and presence noticeably faded away. The womp-womps’ transformation from a playfully elusive cultural icon to rare artifact may not only be inevitable, but natural. For some students, including Novak, school culture is not the priority spurring them on to sign the petition or think about the issue—concern for the environment and for the animals themselves is the real driving force. Ruth Demree ’19, who was involved in the student organization Pre-Vet and Animal Science (PAWS), detailed through text that kicking out the womp womp can negatively impact their welfare: “Trapping and relocating the womp womps causes these animals great stress and then dumps them into an unfamiliar environment where their chance of survival is Courtesy of Dean Rosenthal
Taylor Stewart, Assistant Arts Editor There were many times that felt unreal. There were many times I was doing something, anything, and I couldn’t help but recede into my head and think, “What am I doing?” This spontaneous self-awareness made me want to both laugh in disbelief and weep. Still I struggle to describe the feeling, but I do know the memories are bittersweet, because anything that bizarre can’t be recreated. I will give you three examples. I was in the city for October Break and my friend was going through a breakup. We still went out because I hadn’t seen her since freshman year of high school. In the middle of the night, she cried and cried, and we left someone’s apartment to go back to her dorm. The subway station was nearly empty and she cried some more with her head in my lap, and I nodded and soothed her. We passed a bar playing “Cake By The Ocean.” Her face suddenly lit up, and she exclaimed, “I love this song!” I didn’t know anyone could feel that strongly about “Cake By The Ocean.” She started dancing with tears in her eyes. I was incredulous. I was walking in the little forest by Sunset Lake. Light was spilling through the tops of the trees and it smelled so good and cold. I could hear water. I cried a little. The scene itself was not the unbelievable thing—I thought it was funny that I cried at a nature scene. I was at a birthday party and the cake was a cheap upside-down cake with strawberry icing and four or five candles. We used cut-up plastic cups as plates. The birthday boy insisted we sing “Yellow” by Coldplay with the lights off (“Look at the stars/Look how they shine for you”). It was something out of a YA novel, maybe “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” or something, but very sweet nonetheless.
WOMP WOMP continued from page 1 marks…There is a random chance that you run into one, and when you do you are immediately happy.” Novak fondly reminisced how on pleasant days, she would effectively play groundhog paparazzi, searching for opportunities to photograph the plump little critters. A womp-womp sighting is a blissful moment that students often stop to soak in, and preserve via photograph. Interacting with the furballs is like getting lost in Blodgett Hall, or at Vassar’s annual Founder’s Day celebration. They are shared experiences that accumulate into a common campus culture. Yet the collective pool of experience is fluid. Novak reflected on the dynamic pattern of change she has seen at Vassar: “We used to have the Matthew’s Bean Coffee Shop in the Library, the old UpC [second story of the dining hall],
Trappings like the one pictured above have popped up around campus this summer in order to limit the womp-womp population. Apparently, the ravenous, furry creatures have eaten their way through thousands of dollars of school property.
very low, due to their lack of knowledge about where to find resources and the competition pressure from the resident wildlife in the new area.” She continued, “Vassar claims to be committed to helping the environment, but they’ll also tamper with the natural flora and fauna to make it more appealing to visitors...personally I find that frustrating.” Her dissatisfaction about the administration’s priorities resonates with Rosenthal’s humorously phrased version. Just as students push to protect the wompwomps based on their beliefs in culture and eco-friendliness, Vassar has its own reasons for pushing them out. In an email to Rosenthal, Grounds Manager Dean Jaeger explained the administration’s logic: “Liability and material damage are the main reason for removal of the [groundhogs].” Vassar is liable for personal harm caused by people tripping over the womp womp burrows. These borrows also chip away at infrastructure, including storm drains, underground utilities, porches and stairs. To top it off, wompwomps are known for their appetites, and expensive ones at that: The snapchattable furballs have allegedly eaten their way through thousands of dollars in flowers and shrubs. At the end of the summer trapping season, some womp-womps will remain, while others will be relocated into new surroundings, Jaeger reassured Rosenthal. Yet as the groundhogs become less of a commonality and more of a rare luxury, the fabric of our school culture unravels a little more. For liability protection and lower maintenance expenses, is this a fair price to pay?
You rarely see yourself here: where to look LETTER continued from page 1 ries of sleeping on an iron fold-up bed in your grandmother’s one-room apartment become a part of who you are. As a first-generation, low-income college student, you can’t help but reflect on your parents’ two or three jobs, the corners cut, the anger and frustration. It was years in the making. You cannot forget where you came from. For the next four years, you will be ensnared in a conflict between seeking a paycheck that’ll feed your entire family and a career fighting injustice and dismantling oppressive systems. Hopefully, you can obtain both. You and your family understand that your education—forever viewed as a ticket out of poverty—will change your life. For the time being, the traumas of poverty, racism and bigotry do not disappear once you step into the rarified air of a prestigious institution. Phone calls home to Mom, Dad, Abuela or Tío rejuvenate your spirit the way the right hymn does at Sunday service. Those calls also update you on the growing sickness of a family member, mounting medical bills and the rising cost of groceries. Sometimes being at school makes your home life worse. While I sat in Russian literature, my mother sobbed because we were $600 short on rent. Tuition for that month, however, was paid in full. You might have grown up in a neighborhood where grocers sell no fruits or vegetables, or where schools have no heaters. When you come to Vassar, you’ll see children of the 10 percent pay for $20 train tickets to the city every weekend. They’ll also eat BurgerFi and Twisted Soul long after their Arlington Bucks have maxed out. Their families and schools groomed them for higher-education etiquette. They learned how to sound “articulate” during class. They learned to stop by a professor’s office hours for help. After all, their presence at Vassars, Browns and Swarthmores was expected at their very founding. If you
didn’t study in the one percent’s schools, you didn’t receive the “right” education. You might fight back tears during class seminars, afraid of sounding stupid and undeserving of the chair you sit in. It is this institution’s job to ensure a sense of belonging to the students it has historically excluded, and to whom it now provides affordable, world-class education. At some point, you learn to embrace what it means to be a first-generation, low-income and (oftentimes) student of color. Despite the difficulties these identities have caused you, your success thus far is a testament to your endurance. You made it here despite the daily traumas of orchestrated economic and racial oppression—challenges that well-off, white peers did not have to face.
“You will be reminded countless times that this place was originally not built for you” Once here, you might encounter the STEM professor who doesn’t see your potential. You might hear the slow wheels turn on the Safety and Security car that trails you after a TA party. You will be reminded countless times that this place was originally not built for you. Without doubt, these experiences will wound your spirit, but Vassar is not short of an administrator, professor or friend willing to listen. They’re there in times of crisis to lend wisdom. In one of my Deece dinners with Assistant Professor of Education Jaime Del Razo, we discussed the internal and external identity clashes higher-education produces for the first-gen, low-income student of color. The Vassar label changes your relationship with your family, the people you grew up with and others who’ve shared similar hardships. Typical family quarrels might devolve
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into a family member’s defense of their “street smarts” to downplay their lack of a college degree. Cousins might think you look down on them because you’re going to a fancy school. Even your presence in the City of Poughkeepsie is warped by the seemingly impenetrable prestige of this institution. Unlike your white peers, you might see your aunts, uncles and siblings in the faces you see ambling through Poughkeepsie. Given the opportunity to tutor Poughkeepsie middle schoolers, you might see the faces of kids who run around your neighborhood on theirs. If you get to stroll through a beauty supply store in downtown Poughkeepsie, the products that line the shelves don’t differ from the ones in the stores back home. I have not lived the same life as Black and Brown Poughkeepsie residents. When I covered Dutchess County’s new jail for the Miscellany, I couldn’t relate with my interviewees who live with gun violence that’ll send some of their neighbors to that jail or to the grave. We have all, however, been prey to the common economic and racial pressures that define our existence in this country. When you tell the stylist doing your hair or the cashier in the beauty supply store that you’re a Vassar student, there’s a shift in the atmosphere. Vassar’s billion-dollar endowment, fairytale-like campus and intellectual elitism loom above your shared struggles. The distance from them has been established. Even in Vassar’s Black Student Union, which operates in the interest of Black people’s liberation, conversations among the executive board concerning community engagement must include our potential elitism. Vassar is far from perfect, just like any predominantly white college. Attempting to acclimate at a place that has historically shut your community out is nothing short of traumatic. As you navigate life these opening days at Vassar, however, know that you can find community here. You are not alone.