This Week at Vassar in 1990

Emma Epstein Assistant Life Editor

In November of 1990, 26 black seniors signed a statement to protest the neglect of their concerns by the Commencement Committee. Two black members of the committee initiated the petition, which eventually led to the formation of a separate, but collaborative, Black Commencement Committee (BCC). Initial meetings between the two committees were filled with heated debate, during which members of the BCC eventually walked out. The BCC caused controversy by selecting Senator Reverend Jesse Jackson to speak at their biggest event—the Baccalaureate service. Jackson had recently made public anti-Semitic remarks. Eventually, conflicts were resolved and senior week included extra events planned by the BCC. Current students claimed that the national media over-exaggerated the controversy on campus and often confused facts. Many publications falsely claimed that two commencement ceremonies were to be held for the Class of 1991. The Miscellany News wrote in their Sept. 6, 1991 issue that what many “writers misunderstood was that the point of the BCC was not the separation of a particular minority, but the inclusion of separate elements of a larger group.”