Letters to the Editor

Students must question status quo

Although a Town Hall meeting like that of Feb. 24 can bring about good things—as we all witnessed—serious issues can also go overlooked and confusion can sprout. To that, there is likely to be a more meaningful inquiry into the deals of this College if the questions—and demands—asked of the administration are presented with ample time for them to prepare complete and deep-ranging responses. It was this feeling of a need for an open forum, where students could organize a document of all questions and concerns they may have, that brought us to organize the meeting of March 31st (of which you can read more about in this issue of The Miscellany News).

And we did: a short document with inquiries we expect answered more fully in the next Town hall meeting was formulated. As attendance was underwhelming, it is important to realize, that the document is only representative of a small fraction of—what we are sure—is a greater number of students actively concerned with these and many more issues. To that end, if peers feel this meeting was not publicized enough, or organized in too rushed a fashion, and therefore missed a welcome chance to prepare and express their views, we apologize. But, as time waned in the semester and other Town Hall meetings approached, we felt it proper to provide students a space and time in the immediate weeks to do what is described above. Now, we ultimately encourage students to keep consulting and investigating, to keep discussing, the issues that worry them; and to submit them in to the respective administration official that concerns it. It does not matter if you have an entire organization of like-minded peers behind you, or, if it is just three friends getting together to talk; it does not matter, as well, which topic worries you: every question and every concern have a right to be expressed and every question and concern should be answered. If you feel like another general student meeting is in order, go for it—if you want help, let us know.

There is an intense debate at various levels as to what Vassar will, or should, become in comparison to what it used to be. We venture another element to that debate: what this place is right now. This is a private institution of high academic excellence—it is also a place where students come and ultimately find what they believe to be: in politics, in art, in society, in a lot of things—the best and the worst of the world they know. And they define themselves a great deal in terms of that. Now, that place is, undeniably, changing—some of the changes of right now will go unnoticed while some others may well affect the institution permanently. But it is also a place where students’ input is still being given weight in the outcome of things: it is a harsh reality—we often forget—that this is not the norm in all private, liberal arts colleges. If it were, some of us, we venture to suggest, may not have chosen to come and to stay here at Vassar. About this singularity, which some may call a privilege while others a right, we assume as a fact that it can only be maintained if exercised. Involvement in the Town Hall issues is not the sole manner in which to do so—but if you feel you are interested and you have a question, then please submit it and come to the meetings being organized by the administration. To those doubtful about doing so, we propose that it is indeed worth your time to do so. To those active already, organizing and planning to be there: thank you.

—Federico Delgado ’06, Luke Hayes ’06, and Senadhi Parakrama ’05

Clarification of misconstrued quote

In the 3.25.05 issue of The Miscellany News, Deborah Temkin’s article, “WVKR Expands both on and off air,” contained a quote attributed to me that I feel was either mis-transcribed, misconstrued, or taken out of context. So as to prevent my words from reflecting poorly on the radio station, I wish to clarify the statement, “This is the first time we had a pool of truly excellent candidates”.

For as long as I’ve worked with WVKR, I’ve encountered nothing but wonderful show proposals. Since the Executive staff makes its decisions based primarily on show format and secondarily on time slot availability, we have sometimes been faced with the difficult task of asking qualified applicants to try applying again the next year. This year, however, we received such a broad and diverse range of excellent applications that we decided rather than conform to scheduling restraints, we’d just open up the schedule. We split several three-hour time slots into two 90-minute time slots each, thus doubling the available slots and enabling more candidates to receive immediate airtime. Thus, this year marks the first time we’ve had so many truly excellent applicants on air. My apologies to any past applicants who may have taken offense to this misconstrued statement.

For further clarification or information about station operations in general, feel free to contact wvkr@vassar.edu.

To the glory of all things independent.

–Mary Iatropoulos ’05
General Manager, WVKRfm

Misidentification in photo caption

The Picture of the Week in the 3.25.05 issue of The Miscellany News displayed flowers that were incorrectly identified. Daffodils have not gone into bloom yet. Following is the Spring progression of bloom thus far: 1. Witchhazel 2. Skunk Cabbage 3. Snowdrops (picture misidentified in The Miscellany News) 4. Winter Aconite 5. Signage 6. Crocus 7. Scilla Soon we'll see daffodils. If anyone would like to know where to find these early spring blooms, please contact me.

—Jeff Horst
Associate Executive Director
of Buildings and Grounds