Community Coffee House offers respite

Kyle Nelson Assistant Life Editor

In the tradition of After Hours and Jazz Night, the College has started a Community Coffee House. The Community Coffee House, which debuted on Thursday, Feb. 16 provides evenings of casual relaxation between class, work, and whatever else students and faculty have in their busy schedules.

“I got the idea last semester as I reflected on a lot of the issues and difficult conversations that we were dealing with on campus,” said Dean of the College Judy Jackson.

“Tense situations often arise as a result of the ‘mystery’ of not knowing the other person, and I thought we needed to seize more opportunities to get more comfortable with our fellow Vassarians,” said Jackson.

The senior class sponsors the Coffee House with the Dean of the College Division and encourages a laid-back environment in which students and faculty can openly discuss pertinent issues in a casual environment.

Jackson first tested this idea in her home, inviting members of the faculty, the student body and the administration over for dinner. What began as a meeting of strangers morphed into chatting, laughing and even an impromptu sing along.

“I asked what they thought of my establishing a coffee-house-type opportunity for campus community members to come together like that on a regular basis,” said Jackson. Members of the College supported the idea, and the Community Coffee House became a reality.

While it is a forum for conversation, the Community Coffee House also provides a stage for Vassar’s newest bands to display their talents. Inaugural musical guests, the Taylor Brown Trio and other campus bands such as the Retrosexuals provide music to suit the relaxed ambience. Immediately after the Community Coffee House is After Hours at the Students’ Building from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. After Hours is a musically-oriented showcase for budding musical talents at Vassar.

With a variety of food, coffee, soft drinks from Babycakes, and alcoholic beverages courtesy of Vassar’s Matthew’s Mug, the event is open to the entire Vassar community. Both cash and the V-Card are accepted.

“I originally went because I heard that Babycakes was bringing food there,” said Eva Grenier ’09. “[There] was good music and good food, [and] I’m also planning on going every week.”

According to Jackson, with help from the Community Coffee House, the Vassar community can hopefully work through future problems with food, thought, and fun. Controversies such as those sparked by The Imperialist were indicative of the need for such a space for discussion, Jackson said.

“It seems to me that we, as a community, can minimize the difficulty sometimes experienced in misunderstandings or in finding common ground, if we could spend more time amongst ourselves outside of classroom or other structured settings,” said Jackson. “A coffee house setting seemed like a good way to help make these informal interactions happen.”

The Community Coffee House is held in the College Center MPR on Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.