Unofficial alum compensation policy allows VSA discretion

Hayley Tsukayama Staff Writer

On Sunday, April 2, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) gave PHOCUS, a campus photography club, $1,291 to help pay for a workshop run by photojournalist Serge St. Levy ’95. During deliberation over whether or not to grant the fund, the views of the Alumnae & Alumni of Vassar College (AAVC) caused some confusion. The unofficial policy of the AAVC suggests that alumnae/i should not be paid for lectures they give at Vassar.

Discussion over funding the PHOCUS workshop arose from two main issues. One was that Levy was compensated with VSA money even though he is an alumnus. The second was that although the Asian Students’ Alliance (ASA) was given VSA funds the previous week for its annual conference, the Council told ASA they were not permitted to use those funds to pay Terry Park ’01 and Chaz McHale ’02, two performers who were part of the conference. At the April 2 meeting, Council members were confused about the difference between the two organizations’ events and the nature of the policy. While PHOCUS was eventually granted funding, many people at the meeting were still perplexed about the AAVC policy, and the consistency of the VSA’s rulings.

When asked about the policy, Director of Alumnae/i Relations for Operations Willa McCarthy ’92 said that when VSA Vice President Kelsey Woods ’06 called her with questions about the policy, McCarthy said she told her that “we did not have a written policy, but a historical practice of not paying alumni honoraria.” Honoraria, as Vassar and many other colleges define it, is the compensation that the College offers to distinguished people who offer their services through lectures or other campus events.

“Any group looking to…the AAVC [for funding] should remember that we have a very modest budget,” said McCarthy.

McCarthy said the AAVC believes that “generally alums should consider anything they do [for the College] as volunteer work.” However, she added that this practice is flexible.

Referring to the PHOCUS event and the ASA speakers, she said, “a two-hour lecture differs from a workshop.” In exceptional cases, McCarthy said she could understand hiring—and therefore paying—an alum to perform such services. There have been, for example, cases in the past where the AAVC has paid members of a group that include an alumnus/a, but the Vassar graduate did not take any part of that money.

The decision to fund the PHOCUS workshop and not the ASA alumni was a matter of the VSA’s interpretation of the policy. “This is not a case of the alumni association saying ‘no’ to the ASA and ‘yes’ to PHOCUS,” McCarthy added. “I’ve been here 14 years and, to my knowledge, [AAVC] has never paid an alum to do something.”

PHOCUS Treasurer Caitlin Burke ’08 wrote in an e-mailed statement, “As [Levy] is hosting two workshops in New York as well as traveling to Vassar three times…The nature of his engagement differs from the typical honorarium/engaged speaker.” The VSA agreed. Levy, therefore, is being contracted to do work with PHOCUS, not being paid an honorarium. As an alumnus, he is offering a discount.

Woods wrote in an e-mailed statement, “I straightened everything out with the AAVC and am confident that the decision…was in line with the AAVC policy and was not an ‘exception.’”

McCarthy added, “The VSA is independent and has its own constitution; what [the AAVC] does should not dictate the actions of the rest of the campus.”