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April 13, 2007
Prospects of future work get mixed reviews
Mike Alberti
Vassar’s plan to revitalize Raymond Avenue was met with mixed reception in the Poughkeepsie community last year. Many Poughkeepsie residents worried that the new roundabouts would slow traffic on the major road, and that their tax dollars were going to be spent on a project that would benefit the College alone, despite the College’s insistence that the construction is an attempt to help integrate the campus with the local community.
April 12, 2007
Backpage
Athlete of the Week | Sharnak aces opponents during senior tennis season
Emma Carmichael
As senior co-captain of the women’s tennis team, Debbie Sharnak ’07 has done more for Vassar’s program than perhaps any player in its history. Sharnak has played at the number one singles spot for almost her entire Brewer career, and has established herself as a force on a national scale.
Rugby teams achieve national rankings
Elizabeth Pacheco
After ending their fall seasons with defeats in the semi-final rounds of the National Rugby Union Championships, the men and women’s rugby teams have both regained success in their recently achieved national rankings. Before their games this past weekend, the men’s team was ranked 18th in Division II and the women’s team was ranked seventh in Division I, a nine-place jump from their previous postion at number 16.
Overtime | Head coaches losing respectability
Kyle Nelson
Off-seasons are either a highlight or the bane of the sports fan’s existence. There are only two things for a sports fan to do: bask in the glow of a team’s success or just complain. To die-hard sports fans, many of these complaints involve changes in players and coaches, and can reach the analytic level of college theses.
Victoria Legrand ’03 to perform with Beach House
Mike Newmark
The warm, sensual duo Beach House (singer/organist Victoria Legrand ’03 and guitarist Alex Scally) concocts lovingly simple music that wouldn’t be out of place inside a dream. Three years after Legrand graduated from Vassar, the duo quietly dropped their debut album, Beach House, which was lauded by the press and landed at number 16 on Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2006.
ASA invites art figureheads to speak at conference
Marcella Veneziale
In support of this year’s Asian Students’ Alliance (ASA) Conference, “Art and Activism,” five artists who work in a variety of media will perform and talk with students. The theme of the conference changes annually, as ASA addresses timely issues affecting Asians and Asian Americans on campus and beyond the gates. ASA President Wayne Coito ’07 said, “[The conference covers] people from different artistic genres: poetry, comedy, film, and fashion. [We wanted to show] how a message can be sent through different media.”
Jazz vocalist Melody Gardot sings at After Hours
Rachel Pittenger
After Hours has promised us the moon, and they’re just about giving it to us by inviting 22-year-old rising jazz singer Melody Gardot to perform on campus. With the hype surrounding her nascent album increasing, Gardot’s show will likely preview a blossoming career that is quickly gaining momentum.
Music Box | Pole
Mike Newmark
Berlin producer Stefan Betke took his nom de plume from a busted Waldorf 4-pole filter that lent his most characteristic work a little crackle and hiss, but I couldn’t help hearing his early electronic experiments as the aural equivalent of an actual pole: cold, metallic, not very interesting and utterly devoid of emotion, personality and authorship.
Double-feature Grindhouse all silly, half-satisfying
Matt Poland
I entered into Grindhouse, a double-bill ode to the exploitation films of the 1970s, equipped with all the necessary accessories: a large tub of popcorn with a triple-squirt of butter, a 32-ounce cup of syrupy Cherry Coke, and a king-size package of Sour Patch Kids. By the end of the 190-minute program—two feature lengths plus a handful of fake trailers—I felt bloated, nauseous, and more than a little malnourished. Like my makeshift meal, Grindhouse offers a lot of bang for your buck, but ultimately, it might be a little too much of a bad thing.
Generations commemorate Holocaust effects
Shirley Shangguan
The generational effects of the Holocaust have touched millions, including members of the Vassar and Poughkeepsie communities. These issues will be expressed through an event on the Vassar campus this Sunday that will feature spoken word pieces and musical selections.
Comparisons between local grocery stores offer food for thought
Sarah Siegel
Amidst constant grumbling over meal-plan prices, Vassar students often turn to other sources for grub. But for those of us who lack the money to eat at Miss Saigon’s every night, the options are fairly limited: the College Bookstore, Adam’s, or Super Stop & Shop.
Wadud preaches a more inclusive Qur’an
Amanda Mellilo
Amina Wadud created waves in March 2005 when she became the first woman to lead a mixed congregation of Muslims in prayer. The Liberal Islam Network likened the controversy that she generated to the outcry over Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses.
Two Broads Abroad | Exams highlight contrasting aspects of Italian and American university systems
Acacia O'Connor
Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I am not really the nervous type. I tend to take things as they come with an easy spirit and ready confidence. Contrast this, however, with the Acacia on the morning of Tuesday, April 3, nearly shaking as she flipped through her extensive notes for the hundredth time.
Vassar Technology Today | The future of passwords looks to pass-up rote memorization
Matthew Leung
Shortly after the creation of the personal computer in the 1970s, the slightly annoying idea of a “password” emerged. We have reached a time when Webmail, Facebook, Ebay, online banking, plus an endless list of online services all require unique passwords.
College, DOT plan construction for Arlington
Shahreen Saifi
The construction of two the roundabouts on Raymond Avenue, completed last fall, was Phase I of a proposed multi-part overhaul to the Arlington business area that includes the creation of new paths and storefronts, as well as the addition of more roundabouts and landscaped medians extending from Raymond Avenue up to the Route 55 West intersection.
Staff Editorial | Drug testing policy fails to prioritize student welfare concerns
Student-athletes and Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council members debated the merits of the new drug testing and education policy proposed by the Athletics Department at the Sunday, April 8 meeting, and several points of concern were raised.
Eye on America | Pelosi’s diplomatic gambles embody a new era in U.S. politics
Ross Weingarten
In the short time that Representative Nancy Pelosi has been speaker of the House, she has received mixed reviews. Her work to pass legislation on issues such as healthcare, immigration and raising the minimum wage have received bipartisan praise. Recently, however, Pelosi has earned a reputation as a bit of a rogue politician. Her tour of the Middle East caused controversy in the region, and ruffled more than a few feathers back in Washington, D.C.
Views On Vassar | Stereotyping of male athletes as jocks unwarranted
Tendai Musakwa
Sports and masculinity are virtually synonymous in American culture. In his book, Jock: Sports & Male Identity, Donald Sabo contends that athleticism has influenced the male psyche in profound ways, helping to create the male-dominated, success-oriented and status-seeking society that is the United States today.
Object Lessons | Feminist movement gaining strides in American contraception battles
Carolyn Bradley
It is a truth universally acknowledged that feminists dwell in a victim-complaint-style ideology, and that therefore they can never celebrate their victories. Well, not quite. But perhaps there is some truth to the idea that feminists tend to be wary of looking on the bright side of things. (It’s true of most smart people.) Which is why I am so surprised to find myself smiling this week at how successful feminism has proven lately, at least in its much merited attack on abstinence-only education.
Letters to the Editor | More careful consideration of drug policy would allay concerns
Although I have only had a chance to briefly read over the Vassar Student Association (VSA) open letter, I get the feeling that the VSA’s concerns stem from an apparent discrepancy between what the Athletics Department representatives say and what the policy says.
Letters to the Editor |Proposed drug testing policy an unnecesary invasion of privacy
The Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council approved a letter Sunday night that outlined specific complaints with the Athletics Department’s proposed drug testing policy. Rather than rejecting the drug testing itself, the letter tacitly conceded to drug testing as an appropriate and acceptable tool to protect the health and safety of students. We voted against the VSA Council letter because we strongly believe that a drug testing program will not serve the best interests of the College.
Letters to the Editor | Casper-Futterman’s article misguided
In Evan Casper-Futterman’s column (“Gay marriage debate provides impetus to critique a troubled American institution,” 4.05.07 issue of The Miscellany News), the columnist asserts that the traditional institution of marriage, with its long and complicated history, should be done away with completely.
Letters to the Editor | Lack of clarity in Marriage Op-Ed inflammatory
Last week I read a column by Evan Casper-Futterman about “gay marriage” (“Gay marriage debate provides impetus to critique a troubled American institution,” 04.05.07 issue of The Miscellany News) that really bothered me. I still cannot decide whether to be offended or amused. I have read, and re-read, this article several more times than it deserved. You see, I still don’t know if I have divined the point the author intended to make.
VSA hosts forum on drug testing
Brian Farkas
The Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council sent a letter to senior athletic and administrative officials of the College enumerating several problems Council members had with the Vassar College Department of Athletics’ (VCDA) proposed drug testing policy. The letter was adopted after a lengthy forum discussion that invited students and athletes to Sunday’s Council meeting.
College reconsiders quantitative requirements
Stephen Cheng
Last week, the Committee on Curricular Policy (CCP) passed a proposal to re-evaluate the current standards of the Quantitative Analysis Requirement. As the requirement currently stands, courses in a variety of disciplines ranging from the natural sciences to economics count towards the single unit quantitative requirement that each student must complete by their third year.
College to add seventh senior officer position
John Palmer
A new senior officer position will be created at Vassar as a part of President Catharine Bond Hill’s strategic planning for the College. The Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs will combine certain aspects of two existing senior offices and will primarily oversee “the development of long-term academic planning and the supervision of academic areas of the College outside the curriculum and the academic departments and programs,” according to a description of the position endorsed by the faculty on March 28.
With filing closed, VSA candidates launch campaigns
Hayley Tsukayama
The Vassar image. Dorm renovations. ACDC food. Tuition. As spring elections to the Vassar Student Association (VSA) draw near, student candidates find themselves thinking a lot about the state of the College and the major issues that will face the VSA next year.
