Food, punches thrown at Serenading

Brian Farkas News Editor

While most enjoyed the chaos and revelry involved in the annual tradition of Serenading, the day hit a sour note. At around 4:30 p.m. in front of Davison house, a student and custodial worker became involved in a heated exchange that led to the worker striking the student in the face.

Robinson Yost ’08 was just one in a large crowd of upperclassmen that gathered outside of the dorm. The crowd listened to the freshmen sing, covered in ketchup, chocolate sauce, and dirt. A female College employee, whose name was not made available to The Miscellany News, was unable to move her red sedan car from the parking spaces behind the dormitories. After waiting several minutes for the crowd in the road to disperse, she was unable to leave the College through the Collegeview Avenue exit.

According to student reports, she began moving her car forward into the crowd while sounding her horn to alert the students. Although witnesses gave conflicting accounts, many reported that students began throwing various liquids at the car as she drove through the crowd.

Eventually, Yost jumped onto her car and rolled across the hood, at which point the woman got out and began to scream at him. According to some onlookers, she then struck him in the face, got into her car, and drove off the College grounds.

President of the Class of 2008 and Chair of the Serenading Committee Colin Sanders witnessed the event. “Once I realized what happened, I used my megaphone to try and disperse the crowd,” he said. “The scene was very chaotic, and it took awhile for people to realize what was happening. Few of us even realized that a car wanted to get past us in the first place.”

A security officer on scene filed a report; the investigation is ongoing. Associate Director of Security
Kim Squillace plans to sit down with both Yost and the College worker. “Although there was fortunately no permanent damage to the car, we still want to look into this,” said Squillace. “This is the first time in all my years here that I’ve heard of a student doing anything to an employee or his or her property. The events of Serenading are usually just between students.” Squilace also noted that she does not yet know the details of the the violence that took place—no injury was reported at the scene.

Morgan Warners ’08, Vassar Student Association Vice President for Student Life, also witnessed the altercation. “I don’t know if we can place the blame squarely on any single person,” he said. “There were several hundred people running around covering each other in food at the time. It was a really chaotic situation. That said, it seemed from my vantage like the employee was the instigator, and then it was the employee who escalated it by getting our of her car, yelling at people and then punching a student in the face. It is never acceptable to punch a student.”

Warners, however, did not place blame on the institution of Serenading.

“I think everyone involved in its planning knows it’s problematic,” he said. “Any event where you have a big event is hard to control, and as I said, it seemed to me like the employee bears a significant portion of the blame for escalating things.”

Senior Associate Dean of the College Ray Parker and Dean of Students D.B. Brown declined to comment on possible repercussions for either party until Security finishes its investigation of the situation.

Additional reporting by Kelly Fitzgerald, guest writer.