Committee examines Vassar's hidden costs

Brian Farkas News Editor

Equality of opportunity. Financial egalitarianism. Access to student support. These are just some of the goals of the Committee of Inclusion and Excellence (CIE), established last year by Vassar College President Catharine Bond Hill. At-large members Sarah Fairchild ’09 and Sasha Levites ’08 reported on Oct. 28 to the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council on the initiatives currently under the committee’s consideration.

The CIE is a joint committee consisting of faculty, students and administrators. Four student representatives sit on the committee, including VSA Vice President for Student Life Morgan Warners ’08 and Vice President for Operations Summer’s-Grace Green ’09.

“The idea is that issues of access to a Vassar education do not end with a letter of admission,” said Warners. “We need to be aware of how various constituencies on campus make use of the opportunities available, and make sure that the services Vassar provides and the educational programs it sponsors are positioned to serve all students equitably.” Fairchild, who was elected last spring to a two-year term, agreed. “A lot of what we do is simply trying to match-up Vassar’s intentions, purposes and goals with its policies, structures and practices,” she said.

There are four subcommittees within the CIE: Teaching, Learning, and Academic Evaluation; Admissions & Financial Aid; Campus Life; and Student Support. Each of the student members of CIE sits on one of the subcommittees.

This semester, the CIE is examining barriers to Junior Year Abroad (JYA) participation. The committee has been working with the various related offices on campus in an effort to make JYA a more central and attainable aspect of a Vassar education.

According to Levites, CIE has drafted a proposal for changes to the JYA policy. “These proposals are designed to make the JYA policy more inclusive,” said Levites. Some of their suggestions include lowering the required grade point average from the current level of 3.2 to the College’s definition of good academic standing. A student’s academic standing is considered unsatisfactory if he or she has one F, two Ds or a grade point average of 2.0 or below.

Another proposal calls for a more extensive financial aid package for studying abroad that covers the costs of programs that start earlier or end later than Vassar’s semester. “Currently, Vassar does not pay more than the cost for a student spending the year here on campus,” said Fairchild.

Additionally, the CIE hopes to extend the resources of the Office of International Programs. “The office is clearly understaffed, as most sophomores and juniors know,” said Fairchild at Sunday’s Council meeting. “More resources will allow more students to get more advice, not just about financial issues, but about JYA programs in general.”

More broadly, the CIE will urge the College to adopt more inclusive language in describing the JYA program. “JYA should be considered essential,” said Fairchild. “It should be treated as an integral part of any Vassar education and billed as such.”

Warners agreed. “This can mean small adjustments, like toning down the language that suggests JYA to be a privilege, to making recommendations about the way financial aid for those programs works,” he said.

In addition to revamping various JYA policies, the CIE will also spend time examining the student fellow system, improving the faculty/student advising system, and enhancing the experience of certain minority groups. The CIE also hopes to diversify the student fellow population, possibly by adding more specific positions, such as lesbian/gay/bisexual/ transgendered/queer fellow, multicultural fellow or African American/Black, Latino, Asian/Asian-American, Native American Center fellow.

Some of the Committee’s ideas for the student fellow program include increasing the stipend—currently $300—and trying to find out whether this small stipend creates financial barriers to obtaining one of these positions.

The CIE is co-chaired by Associate Professor of Art Lisa Collins and Associate Professor of Political Science Katherine Hite. “We have an excellent committee,” said Hite. “We have learned a great deal about the workings of the campus, and we are very excited about how we are moving forward with recommendations.”

These various policy recommendations, which are still being hammered out, will be reported to the Dean of the College and the Dean of the Faculty, who will share those results with the President.