Letters to the Editor

Arlington representative unprofessional

The South Asian Students’ Alliance tabled at the Arlington Street Fair, an event co-sponsored by the VSA, Vassar College and the Arlington Business Improvement District (BID). As part of our year-long fund-raising activities, we sold Mango Lassi and applied Mehndi (Henna). I painted designs for between $3 and $5. Mehndi is a part of the culture I have grown up with and I have used it to raise funds for SASA at various events, including the ALANA Festival in Spring 2004.

It came to our attention that there was another vendor offering Henna application at the fair. However, this was not a matter of concern to us and we went on with our business, enjoying the day and sharing a small part of our culture with the many parents, students and area residents who came by our table. About halfway through the day, I was approached by a woman claiming to be a representative of the Arlington BID. In an inexcusably offensive manner, she accused me of being a “squatter” and that she had been “looking for me on the sidewalk and didn’t realize we had a table.”

She claimed that we were driving customers away from the other Henna vendor by “deliberately under-pricing” and that if she was in charge of coordinating with VSA, we “duplicate” vendors would not have been allowed to participate. When I calmly explained that I had purchased my supplies in Pakistan for the equivalent of a dime, am an amateur Mehndi artist, and therefore felt that the price I was charging was in fact too high, she continued to be antagonistic, saying we were “just students and this was the other woman’s livelihood.” Other SASA members present reiterated what I had just said, trying to explain that, as part of the VSA, we had a right to be at the fair and that we were not under-pricing to “steal customers” but were charging what we felt was a completely appropriate given that this was what professional South Asian Mehndi artists charged.

Her response: “Well, this is America. We do things differently here.”

I was completely speechless in the face of this uncalled-for attack and shocked by the woman’s implication that, just because I was Pakistani, I was therefore unaware of how things are “done” in America. This exchange took place in front of customers waiting in line for Mehndi who supported my statements and claimed that the reason they were coming to our table instead was because the other vendor was charging what they felt was an exorbitant and unaffordable fee.

I felt publicly embarrassed by this exchange and was extremely offended as well. Firstly, I did not under-price just to steal customers; I was simply charging what I have always charged, as past customers can verify, and had not even stopped by the other booth to see what the vendor there was charging. Secondly, I find it ridiculous that someone can exoticize my culture, cash in on it with unbelievably jacked-up prices and then try to stop me from practicing it myself.

My entire experience with the Arlington Street Fair was marred by this encounter and I find it ridiculous that while the College promotes this event as a “bonding” experience with the community, an official from a co-sponsoring organization can get away with such unprofessional and insensitive behavior.
—Haniya Mir ’07, SASA Vice President

Discrimination by Dean of Students

Title III of the American with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination of disabled persons, including those with documented mental illness, by private entities providing public services. Such private entities include private schools and colleges, and these laws also apply to admissions. The Department of Justice defines mental illness in the ADA as, "any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities."

Last week, a student with no disciplinary history and with a 3.9 GPA was expelled from campus for malnourishment. After spending six hours in waiting at St. Francis, the student was released with a clean bill of physical and mental health. Furthermore, the doctors on duty instructed the student to come by “when there is a real emergency.” Despite the lack of any evidence of physical or mental ailments, a well-documented history of positive psychological evaluations, and appeals from members of the Vassar faculty, the Dean’s Office decided to deny the student admittance to classes. For the sake of general student security, however, the Dean allowed the student free reign of campus.

This is not the only failure in logic from the Office. After initially accusing the student of malnourishment—found by a medical professional to be false—the Dean’s Office changed its offensive maneuver by claiming the student was on too much medication and ordered another psychological evaluation despite the one made by a St. Francis psychologist. These actions are in flagrant violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Vassar College must no longer allow the Dean of Students Office to arbitrarily remove students from campus. The Office claims to have the interests of the students at heart, but how what is further from the interests of a student then homelessness in the autumn night? What is less in the interests of a student then betraying her comfort in this institution? Every morning there are actual malnourished students wasting their bodies away in the athletic facilities and purging themselves in the restrooms. Every night finds drunk and strung-out students damaging themselves, and potentially other Vassar students and property. These students hurt themselves and each other daily without intervention from the Dean of Students. In this case, the Dean of Students harassed a student that does not drink or do drugs, medical professionals found healthy, and has one of the most remarkable academic records of any student in our community. The office targeted the student because she takes medication for mental illness. There must be some oversight into the unilateral discrimination from that office, because it does not speak for the safety of the Vassar community, which includes many students on psychotropic medication.
—Chris Johnson ’05