When students find problems with dorm buildings or facilities they submit service requests to the Residential Operations Center (ROC) and hope for the best. Students are not given any idea of when their request will be fulfilled, or any means to chart the ROC’s progress. That may soon change, however, as students and administrators are working together to improve service procedures.
Last fall a student review committee conducted a review of the ROC and Buildings and Grounds (B&G) Service Request Process. The committee, chaired by Alexandria Dempsey ’09, surveyed the student body to assess the perceived quality of service request response.

Dempsey reported in a memo that, “The results indicated that while most students were satisfied with the quality of service, over 60% of students indicated that they had to submit multiple requests. 48% of students had to submit three or more requests before their submission was processed. The results of this survey demonstrated that the biggest obstacles facing the service request process were speed and communication.”

Dempsey theorized that the faults in the student request procedure may be inherent to the complicated request system. As it now stands, students submit service requests to the Residential Operations Center (ROC), which is in charge of inputting the request onto a server called Facilities Focus. The Buildings and Grounds Department (B&G) checks the server for service requests and sends a representative to address the issue. If the service request concerns a problem inside a student’s room B&G officials enter the room, fix the problem, and lock the door behind them, leaving a notice indicating that they have stopped by. B&G officials communicate their progress to the RIC via Facilities Focus, but do not give students any updates. This means that students are not given any information between the time they submit a request to the ROC and the time they find a note on their door.
At the May 4 VSA meeting student representatives discussed the drawbacks to this system, noting that service requests can be delayed for a number of reasons. If the ROC has a backlog of requests, for instance, or if B&G officials need to wait for a new can of paint or new tools, it can mean a long and confusing wait for a student.

In order to address this problem Dempsey worked with the ROC and B&G administrators to make the service request process more transparent. They decided that Facilities Focus should be accessible to students, so that service requests can be submitted directly to B&G. Some members of the VSA Council expressed concern at the prospect of the ROC being removed from the service request procedure, indicating that the ROC keeps B&G in touch with students’ needs. There was a consensus however, that the procedure should be streamlined and that giving students access to Facilities Focus was the best way to do that.

These changes are being discussed with newly appointed Manager of Service Response for B&G Henry Williams, while the B&G department works to catch up on backlogged service requests and cover the technical aspects of a student-accessible Facilities Focus site.

The Hispanic Studies Department and the drama department will present the play “La Cabeza del Dragón (The Head of the Dragon)” in the Powerhouse Theater at 5 p.m. on May 7, 5 p.m. on May 9 and 8 p.m. on May 10. The play, which was written by the radical Spanish playwright Ramón Valle-Inclán, will feature students from both departments. It will be performed in Spanish and accompanied by projected English subtitles.

“La Cabeza del Dragón” is a fairy tale on the surface, but it was written as a political satire criticizing the Spanish government in the early 20th century. The story, which follows the classic fairy-tale trope of the prince’s heroic journey, mocks Spain’s role in the world during that era by critiquing the sentimentality of contemporary bourgeois playwrights.

The story begins with the prince departing from his kingdom for an adventure and finding himself on a quest to save a princess from a dragon. Valle-Inclán inverted this myth through visual and aural vulgarity to expose its inherent fairy-tale blandness.

The student performers hoped to use the play’s depictions of travel and resultant cultural exchange to break away from the control of hegemonic discourse. They planned to learn by listening more deeply to one another and to the text itself. They indicated a desire to take risks with the material and their presentation of it.

The group is also aiming to produce more Spanish plays. With campus performances dominated by the drama department and various student groups, there are very few foreign language plays produced at Vassar. The Hispanic Studies Department is enthusiastic about the rich opportunities that Spanish playwrights present for good student theater.

When Laura Sousa ’10 came back to Vassar in Spring 2008, she was in a wheelchair because of a recent leg surgery that had left her in bed for three months. On the first day of classes she called Security at 2:45 p.m. to pick her up for a 3:10 p.m. class in Skinner Hall. She waited for over 20 minutes until the Security van finally came at 3:10.

“He drove me over to Skinner,” Sousa explained. “I get in the building, already worried because I knew the class had already started, and the class was on the fourth floor. The elevator was broken. This was a week after I had stopped using the wheelchair, and my leg was not strong enough to go up stairs.”

Because there was no alternative, Sousa painstakingly worked her way up four flights of stairs with all of her books, only to arrive in a packed classroom where the professor was already lecturing.

“So much for making a subtle entrance,” said Sousa. “Obviously the entire class noticed I was late and there were no seats left, so some really nice person got up to give me her seat.

People had to get up and go and find another seat. I interrupted the entire class, had to stop the professor’s lecture and I was the person who was late on the first day of class,” she said.

Sousa grew even more frustrated when she found that Security was consistently unreliable in getting her to classes and meetings on time. “I understand it’s not Security’s primary job to escort students, but if they tell students that they can provide medical transport, they should be able to within a reasonable amount of time,” she said.

Jennie Msall ’10, who broke her leg last October and was on crutches until January, also had difficulties accessing the buildings on Vassar’s campus.

“They decided to shut down the elevator in Main Building the last month I was on crutches here, which meant I had to go in by the Student Employment Office, just farther to go on crutches,” said Msall. “I had to get classrooms changed from New England Building to be in Rockefeller Hall, where there’s an elevator,” she said.

“The major issue is that there are so many buildings without elevators, like the dorms have no elevators,” explained Jessica Belasco ’10. “That means that someone who can’t climb stairs cannot visit their friends in those dorms at all. There have been times that I’ve had to go to someone’s room on the fourth floor, and I’m huffing and puffing trying to get up there.”

Belasco uses a motorized scooter because walking tires her easily, and she has also found it difficult to get around campus—one time she was stuck in the bookstore after the elevator broke down.

Director of the Office of Disability and Support Services (DSS) Belinda Guthrie explained that even though the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1992 established certain regulations that college campuses must meet, “There’s a huge difference between ADA compliance and accessible design.”

For example, the DSS Web page (disabilityandsupportservices.vassar.edu) says that “The ADA requires all events and programs sponsored by the College and open to the public to be fully accessible.” However, the David Neil lecture last Monday, April 28, was held in New England Building, which is not accessible to physically disabled students, and countless student activities, such as a cappella concerts, plays and meetings, are held in the parlors of the dorms that have no elevators for physically disabled students.

Of the six students with disabilities interviewed for this article, none had complaints about Guthrie, and problems with DSS were minor if they existed at all.

“Guthrie is wonderful,” said Oren Rosenthal ’09, who has learning disabilities.

Rosenthal believes that the lack of dialogue on campus about Vassar’s issues relating to students with physical and other disabilities “is definitely not the fault of DSS, not at all. I think if there was a little more attention brought to the forefront, then it might help accelerate some of the modifications that need to be done.”

Guthrie thinks that Vassar should work toward a system of Universal Design, which is an effort to design buildings that allow accessibility for the widest possible range of people. She cited the Library entrance across from Chicago Hall as an example of how Vassar does not follow the principals of Universal Design.

“A couple of years ago, I was so fed up with the Library that we just modified an entrance on the Raymond House side of the Library, and I’m viewing that now as the accessible entrance.

It’s locked unless a member of our community has card access; they cannot enter that unless they use a buzzer system, and there is a lift that goes up an entire flight of stairs.”

Guthrie explained that, for safety code reasons, the lift can only be fully operational when a person has depressed the lift button completely, and then held it down as the lift rises to the second floor.

When they leave, they must swipe their card, depress the button and exit the lift before the alarm goes off.

“The Library access was out of the way from the main entrance,” said Msall. “It was another situation where I learned to go up and down stairs on crutches because it was easier than finding the handicap-accessible spot.”

Guthrie wants to correct this problem by putting the handicap-accessible entrance near the regular Library entrance, but she has encountered administrative difficulties in carrying out this plan.

“Until we have a campus master plan for ADA improvements, it will be very difficult for us to effect change with respect to budgets, project management and to ensure that if a major building renovation is taking place. There’s no one who is intentionally setting out to create barriers, but I don’t think it has always been at the forefront of the discussion,” said Guthrie, adding that many of the problems are due to DSS not having its own funding for the extremely expensive renovations.

“There are times when [DSS] is engaged at the very front end of discussions about what we need, and then decisions are made down the road and things we thought were on the table get value-engineered out,” Guthrie explained.

“Creating the more Universal Design aspect of renovating a building begins to compete with other interests. That’s where I’ve seen many of the challenges for people on this campus: What meets code may not be as accessible in actual use,” said Guthrie.

Fortunately, Guthrie and the DSS have been making some positive changes. Guthrie said that after years of pushing for the College to purchase a wheelchair-accessible van, a van will finally be purchased by the end of April.

Vassar is indeed making progress with accessibility, as evidenced by changes to the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film, Kenyon Hall and Jewett House, as well as the new accessible entrance to Olmsted Hall, renovations to bathrooms in Main, upgrades to elevators and accessible bathrooms in Powerhouse Theater and Josselyn House. More accesible features will also be incorporated into the new Terrace Apartments and Town Houses. “The new Town Houses being built this summer will be accessible. Davision House will be fully accessible once completed, as will the Old Observatory,” said Guthrie. There is also a project in the works to show the accessible travel paths within buildings on all fire safety maps.

But in order to continue this trend of improvement, Guthrie believes that the Vassar community needs to come together on this issue and work from a “grassroots level.” Many students agreed.

“My number one frustration here is that there’s no community for disabled students,” Belasco explained. “Imagine being gay at Vassar with no gay community, or black with no black community, or a member of a minority with no way to connect with anyone else. It makes me feel isolated, and it makes me feel unrecognized in a way. I think my issues are in many ways very similar to issues of other minorities, but that isn’t seen by other people,” she said.

“The more voices there are that are arguing the better,” said Guthrie. “If it’s just the few students on campus who use wheelchairs or have mobility impairments, it’s not going to have the same effect as if students are saying, ‘We’re not going to hold an event in Cushing House because there are some members of our community that cannot come. There should be no public lectures in New England Building. We want Blegen House to have a ramp and an accessible bathroom,’” she said.

Felicia Minchin ’09, who had a stroke last summer that caused her left side to “not work properly,” said, “It never even occurred to me how unpleasant it is to be at school and have disabilities until I had to do it myself.”

Christopher Binetti ’09, who has learning disabilities, agreed. “People are ignorant of disability issues. There is no real group for disability issues and the Vassar Student Association has no interest in having any group that looks after the interests of the disabled. Race, gender, sexual orientation, all of that—but not disability,” he said.

“It is something that we do need to discuss, that very question,” said Rosenthal. “What is normal? To me, normal is—I don’t know if oxymoronic is the right word—but it’s basically just loaded in all the wrong ways, because what’s normal to one person is not normal for someone else. What’s normal for each person is different,” he said.

“It’s a problem with society,” said Guthrie. “We have a long way to go, and I think that Vassar needs to put more commitment and resources into addressing disability barriers on its campus,” she said.

The Vassar Student Association (VSA) spring elections began yesterday, April 30. The new VSA Executive Board, class and house officers and student committee members will be announced on Monday, May 4.

Though three positions on next year’s VSA Executive Board are uncontested- Vice President for Student Life, Vice President for Activities and Vice President for Operations-there are three contenders vying for the role of President: rising seniors Summer’s-Grace Green, Jimmy Kelly and Maryrose Myrtetus.

Green and Kelly both serve on the VSA Executive Board as Vice Presidents for Activities and Operations, respectively, and Myrtetus is the current President of the Class of 2009.

Summer’s-Grace Green

Green’s candidate statement describes her experience serving on the VSA Council. As a VSA executive, Green worked to clarify by-laws and increase communication across the campus.

Green pledges to create a community resource audit to improve the College’s relationship with the Poughkeepsie community, create inclusion initiatives to fight intolerance and increase the VSA’s transparency by publishing frequent reports.

“I’ll try to increase a more sustainable outlet for voicing the ways in which student leadership is working for the student body,” she said in an e-mailed statement.

Green feels that through experience she has learned which methods of communication are the most effective. If she is elected President, Green pledges to use online newsletters to keep students up-to-date with the VSA.

Green emphasized the need for student input in the coming years, when new deans will be selected, buildings will be renovated and professors’ course loads will be restructured.

“I’m not complacent, and I realize how far we really need to go, especially in areas dealing with student inclusion and accountability,” Green said. “I also understand the dedication that will be needed to accomplish these initiatives, and I’m ready and willing to commit myself to them.”

Green noted that her time on VSA Council has taught her that perseverance, dedication and attention to students’ needs are the essential qualities of a student leader.

“When it comes down to it,” Green wrote in her candidate statement, “I simply really want to be your Student Body President to represent the students of our College here on campus and outside of it.”

Jimmy Kelly

Kelly’s campaign is centered on community inclusion, access and sustainability.

Kelly pledges to involve students in VSA decisions by hosting forums, sending e-mails, publishing Council reports and updating the VSA Web site. He also wants to give voting power to the student representative on the board of trustees and to make the campus more sustainable.

While Kelly said that he has gained a lot of experience in his three years on VSA council, he sees room for improvement.

“I haven’t necessarily been in harmonious lock-step with every decision that the Council has made,” Kelly said, admitting that the Council often spends more time talking than taking action.

Despite these reservations, Kelly noted the positive contributions that the VSA Council has made to the school in recent years, including the push for gender-neutral housing and the community shuttle.

“The unique thing about our community, though, is that together we are stronger than the sum of the individual parts—we make each other better people every day through our interactions,” wrote Kelly in his candidate statement.

In the spirit of community cooperation Kelly believes that students have more influence on the actions of College. He feels prepared to challenge administrators when necessary in order to ensure that the voice of the students is heard.

“I hate that any decisions are made behind closed doors,” said Kelly, who noted as an example that little student input went into the College’s decision to move the bookstore off campus.

Improving interactions between the College and the Town of Poughkeepsie is one of Kelly’s main goals.

“There’s a great tendency for the College to ask itself, ‘How can we help Poughkeepsie?’” Kelly explained. “I would ask, ‘How can we be Poughkeepsie?’”

Maryrose Myrtetus

Myrtetus’ platform centers on increasing student involvement in the VSA.

“VSA issues and policies need to be vetted by public opinion before implementation,” she wrote in her candidate statement. “For example, while I think the new budgeting process will generally benefit student life, I would not have tried to implement it without significant feedback from a wide range of students first.”

Myrtetus stresses the importance of student input regarding major College decisions, including dorm renovations, changes to the All Campus Dining Center and the appointments of new deans.

“I will work to make the agenda of the College, which is oftentimes unclear and compiled without enough student input, parallel the needs of students,” her statement explained.

“The College exists for students, and we can never let administrators and faculty lose sight of that fact.”

Myrtetus feels that students can not relate to the VSA Council because of its tendency toward bureaucracy. She plans to send out monthly e-mails explaining the VSA’s work and to hold meetings in which Council will explain the issues it is addressing and solicit student opinions.

Myrtetus has spent two semesters working as a Student Activities Recource Center intern for the Campus Activities Office, which, along with her work on the VSA, has led her to feel that the student government should be more accessible to the student body.

“I saw the confusion that student organizations go through while trying to run their organizations, schedule and put on events and find adequate funding,” Myrtetus explained. “That system needs be streamlined and un-bureaucratized so that organizations can access all information in one place.”

In addition to the President, the VSA Executive Board includes five vice presidents who oversee various aspects of student life.

This year, Gil Wasserman ’09 and Camille Friason ’09 are the contenders for Vice President for Academics, while Marcelo Buitron ’09 and Tendai Musakwa ’09 are running for Vice President for Finance. Alexandria Dempsey ’09, Caitlin Ly ’10 and Nate Silver ’10 are running uncontested for Vice President for Activities, Operations and Student Life, respectively.

Camille Friason

Friason has been President of Strong House for two years and was also on the Academic and Student Life Committees this year. According to her candidate statement, she wants to make a course pertaining to social justice a requirement for all students, as well as help to plan the upcoming renovations of academic buildings. Friason pledges to continue Council discussions about major’s committees, professor course loads and students’ evaluations of professors.

Gil Wasserman

Wasserman, according to his candidate statement, believes that his “charisma, wit, patience and verbal ability” will serve him well as a VSA executive. He feels that he is able to communicate with students and faculty members across campus, and said that he will always be willing to listen to students’ ideas. Wasserman was Treasurer of Lathrop House last year and served as Treasurer for the organization Democracy Matters for two years. He has also worked in the VSA office and served as a student representative on a few of its committees.

Marcelo Buitron

Buitron is the former Treasurer and current President of Noyes House. He is also on the VSA Finance Committee, which he feels has prepared him for the position of Vice President for Finance and given him a familiarity with supplemental, capitol and annual budgeting procedures. Buitron explained in his candidate’s statement that he is ready to guide VSA organizations through new budgeting procedures and special purpose funds.

Tendai Musakwa

Musakwa represents Ferry House on the VSA Council and is a member of the Committees on Finance, Activities, Arlington Special Events and Sustainability. His candidate statement declares that, if elected, he will work to dole out money in a transparent and fair way. Musakwa hopes to use the new budgeting process to minimize organizations’ need to charge students to attend events. He also plans to have frequent financial audits and help new organizations understand the process of applying to the VSA for funding.

Vote!

Elections end on Friday, May 2 at 8 p.m. All candidate statements are available on the VSA Web site (vsa.vassar.edu).

The Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Advisory (EOAA) Committee will be disbanded next year while administrators work to revamp its goals. The Vassar Student Association (VSA) Executive Board has decided not to hold elections to fill seats on the Committee.

“Council decided not to send students to EOAA simply because it has not been functioning according to its mission, delineated by the [College] Governance,” said VSA Vice President for Operations Summer’s-Grace Green ’09, noting that the Committee’s erratic meetings over the past year have made it ineffectual.

The Committee is charged with advising the EOAA Office, which is directed by Associate Dean of the College and Director of Disability and Support Services Belinda Guthrie. Guthrie works with Professor of English and Faculty EOAA Officer Patricia Wallace to oversee compliance issues and address complaints regarding discrimination and harassment.

“As it is now constituted, the Committee has been unworkable,” admitted Guthrie.

“For many years, the EOAA’s constituency made it almost impossible to find meeting times, and its vague mission—other than going over statistics—made it frustrating for all who serve on it.”

Because the EOAA Committee is written into the College Governance, any change to its structure must go through the faculty for vote and then be approved by the President.

“Based on these frustrations, I recommended to the Executive Board as well as the Board of Elections that until the Committee has been reformatted with a more accurate mission as to what it can and will accomplish, there is no reason to set students up to suffer through more frustrating years,” Green said. Wallace and Guthrie are exploring options for reshaping the Committee.

“One promising suggestion that came from our meeting with students is that the Committee might be reconceived in a way that would have joint faculty-student chairs,” said Guthrie. She and Wallace plan to meet with Committee on Inclusion and Excellence this month to discuss the two bodies’ role in promoting inclusion.

The current status of the Advisory Committee will not affect the EOAA Office’s ability to address discrimination or harassment concerns.

Chris Roellke will leave his post as the Dean of Studies to serve as acting Dean of the College.

D. Gordon The Miscellany News

Dean of Studies Chris Roellke will become the acting Dean of the College beginning this summer, when current Dean Judy Jackson leaves Vassar to take a position as the University of Kentucky’s Vice President for Institutional Diversity.

A search committee comprised of both students and faculty will set out to find a permanent Dean of the College next fall. The Committee may be formed as early as this week, after this spring’s faculty elections, though the search for a new dean will be put on hold during summer break. Roellke will assume the responsibilities of Dean of the College starting July 1.

Though July is still months away, Roellke has already started adjusting to his new role.

“I have immediately begun to participate in Senior Officer meetings, planning for upcoming Board of Trustee meetings and, of course, Commencement,” he explained in an e-mailed statement.

It is possible that Roellke may be a contender for the permanent position of Dean of the College.

“I really cannot speak to whether or not I could become the permanent Dean of the College,” Roellke said. “I fully respect our Governance and the process the College has outlined for selecting the next Dean.”

Though his term is only temporary, Roellke has embraced his new position and is making plans for the future.

“I can sincerely say that my highest priority is to make sure that the Dean of the College division runs as smoothly as it can in 2008-2009,” said Roellke. “I am both eager and excited about this new challenge and hope that I can serve the College well in this acting capacity.”

Roellke is Associate Professor of Education, and also serves as Director of Academic Facilities Development, Director of the Ford Scholars Program and Founding Director of the Vassar College Urban Education Initiative. Roellke is also the current Dean of Studies, an office that reports to the Dean of the College.

The Dean of Studies works with the Dean of Freshmen and class advisors to oversee students’ academic needs. The Dean of Studies is also in charge of the Committee on Leaves and Privileges, as well as fellowship and exchange programs.

Roellke’s work as a program director and his experience as the Dean of Studies led Vassar President Catharine Bond Hill to appoint him the interim Dean of the College.

“I asked Roellke to be acting Dean of the College after consulting with a variety of people around campus,” explained Hill. “He is an accomplished faculty member who has done a great job as Dean of Studies. I am looking forward to working with him.”

Jackson has been Dean of the College since 2004. She is only the second Dean of the College in Vassar history, as the position was not established until 1994.

The Dean of the College office was created in order to allow the offices of the Dean of Students and the Dean of Studies to work together under a common supervisor, as well as oversee Security and Campus Dining.

In addition to unifying the departments of Deans of Students and Studies, the Dean of the College is responsible for overseeing a variety of committees, including the Committee on Residential Life, the Security Advisory Committee and the Committee on College Life.

When Roellke officially takes on these responsibilities, another faculty member will fill his role as the Dean of Studies. It is not yet clear who will act as interim Dean of Studies when Roellke takes his new post, because, as Roellke put it, “the ripple effects” of his appointment are still being discussed.

Representatives from the Department of Transportaton spoke to about 30 community members.

J. Carlton/ The Miscellany News

Three representatives from the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) came to campus on Monday, April 28 to discuss the upcoming construction on Raymond Avenue and the installation of a roundabout at the Collegeview Avenue intersection. DOT representatives Charlotte Nesbit, Scott Geiger and Jason Hilton spoke to a group of about 30 members of the Vassar community. Only three students attended.

The DOT representatives began by describing the results of its June 2007 traffic study, performed following the completion of Phase I of the Raymond Avenue reconstruction, which saw the installation of one roundabout on College Avenue and at Main Gate.

“The goal of the project—to reduce speeds and delays while encouraging a safer, more pedestrian-friendly corridor—has been met,” stated the 17-page study, citing reduction in traffic volume.

Nesbit, the project manager, reviewed statistics from the study. “This has really been such a success story,” she said, noting that delays on Raymond Avenue have decreased by 56 percent since last summer. “More importantly, accidents have decreased by 51.4 percent, which is even more than the DOT predicted before undertaking this project.”

After going over statistics, Nesbit and Geiger went through a PowerPoint presentation, in which they showed five different before-and-after renderings of the road.

The crowd’s reaction to the results of Phase I and the plans for Phase II was largely positive.

“I feel so much safer,” said Science Librarian Flora Grabowska. “Raymond is just so much lighter and more open. As a pedestrian, I feel better about walking at night, and as a driver, I feel significantly less likely to get into an accident.”

Grabowska hoped that Phase II would continue to “improve the look, ease and safety of the area” for automobiles.

Still, a few in the crowd expressed concerns about smaller aspects of Phase I, particularly lighting.

“The lights can be so bright that they actually blur my vision,” said one man in the crowd. “You guys should really think about different lighting going up to the westbound arterial.”

Although others in the audience fervently agreed, the DOT representatives explained that the lights had to be kept at a certain level of brightness in order to meet regulations.

Even so, the Arlington Business Improvement District (ABID) will contribute money to special lampposts that will be able to hold flower baskets, Christmas lights and banners. ABID will also install a four-faced clock in the center of the Collegeview roundabout.

Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Eismeier invited the DOT representatives to campus. “We were really happy they could be here,” she said following the event.

“DOT came a couple years ago before construction began on Phase I of the Raymond Avenue project and were able to clear some things up for members of our community. It’s so important to have open discussion.”

The College’s Middle States Review Steering Committee, which conducted a comprehensive self-study of every academic aspect of the College this year, is currently compiling its findings and will report them next December.

The College must reapply for accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). In order to do so, it must collect and organize information for a comprehensive self-report, addressing everything from the faculty to the College’s financial structure, and submit it to the MSCHE for approval.

After receiving and reviewing the report, a representative from the MSCHE will visit the campus in Spring 2009.

In the meantime the College has been pushing forward with its assessment. The full report will be compiled and revised this summer, and a final draft will be submitted to the MSCHE in December.
Nancy J. Vickers, outgoing President of Bryn Mawr College, will lead the visiting assessment team.
According to Committee Chair and Professor of English Robert DeMaria Jr. the Vassar self-study emphasizes strategic planning and assessment.

“We have to look at the mission statement,” DeMaria said, “and tell them how well we’re achieving it and how.”

While it is more or less guaranteed that the College will be reaccredited, many consider this an excellent way for Vassar College to reflect on its own progress throughout the past decade and plan improvements for the future.

“When you start looking at things globally,” said DeMaria, “you realize how difficult it is to keep our beautiful little corner of the world—how expensive it is and how many things are involved running this institution.”

The report will feature seven chapters, each of which will focus on a particular aspect of the College: finance, organization and governance, academic programming, faculty, financial aid, College services and community relations. To expedite the review process, members of the Steering Committee chaired nine sub-review committees, each of which examined a different aspect of the College in closer detail.

The Committee also includes Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger (who was placed on the Committee as a Professor of Classics), Assistant to the President John Feroe, Associate Dean of the College Raymon Parker and Director of Institutional Research David Davis Van Atta.

Vassar Student Association (VSA) Vice President for Academics Jessica Cho ’08 and VSA President Sam Charner ’08 are the only student representatives serving on the Committee.

DeMaria said that, based on the report, he believes that the faculty committee system may need to be rethought. “It’s great to have so much faculty involvement, but we need to ask if it’s functioning effectively,” he said. He believes that the results produced by so many large committees “may not be worth the hundreds of man hours” put into them.

“The process has been really interesting,” said Charner. “It’s rare that we have an opportunity to look at the College holistically like this.”

DeMaria agreed, saying that he “now has a much fuller, more rounded, more comprehensive view of the College,” given that his colleagues and those on sub-committees sit on several committees of their own and provide a full range of perspectives on the College.

Cho said that this is perhaps the most valuable side effect of the self-study. “It’s good to bring it all in like this…to look at one issue and look at how it trickles down across the College.”

She said that being on the Committee has given her more perspective on the other committees she is a part of and that she is now able to “take on issues more effectively.”

What should student government at Vassar do, what does it do now, and how are the responses to the previous two questions different? Answering these questions are steps toward a fuller understanding of the upsides and downsides of the VSA.

Elected leaders are responsible for ensuring that student voices are heard and incorporated into a variety of major policies, from food service to renovations to the future of the College bookstore.

Particularly with the addition of the Vice President for Student Life last year, the six-member VSA Executive Board for 2007-2008 has taken on a range of issues. Some of the long-term issues on the VSA agenda this year have been gender-neutral housing, 24-hour study space, and the Community Shuttle. The incoming VSA Council should continue the momentum of these concrete matters of campus living. These areas for improvement should be addressed with urgency, since they pose the risk of severing communication wires and trust between students and their elected representatives.

Right now, committees are a problem. Although there have been some improvements in the interactions between students and the VSA bureaucracy, the numbers of committees (formal, ad-hoc and “unofficial advisory groups” concerning the bookstore) are ever increasing as their usefulness continues to spiral downward.

Monthly reports given at VSA Council meetings regularly outline the ineffectiveness of committees, often due to poor student and administrator attendance. Neither the Committee on Disability Issues nor the Bookstore Advisory Committee met last semester due to miscommunication. Outgoing VSA President Sam Charner ’08 has corroborated that there are a fair amount of unproductive committees, explaining that the committees with the most specific jobs tend to be the most successful—for example, the Orientation Committee. The Miscellany News urges new VSA Council members to prune unnecessary committees as its first agenda item.

Recently, there have been rumblings among student clubs about the VSA’s micromanagement of organizations. For example, a new policy urges student organizations to spend their entire annual budget because the money will no longer roll over to the next year. With the late announcement of this new rule in Spring 2008, treasurers are presently scrambling to spend their money by the end of the year, splurging on needless items instead of saving for the future. The new policy about organization spending has its benefits—but throwing away money at the end of this year does not model the kind of fiscal responsibility that should be part of all VSA budget-related rules.

Looking to the future, all of the 2008-2009 VSA presidential candidates have addressed many of these pivotal issues in their candidates’ statements. Whether the concern is gender-neutral housing or the micromanagement of student organizations, each student has given a great deal of thought to the largest issues facing our student government. Candidates’ ideas range from having committees send monthly reports via e-mail to holding Council meetings specifically aimed toward hearing student perspectives.

With every spring election, the College has an opportunity to think critically about the issues facing Vassar in the coming year. The VSA Council should work toward balancing its involvement in student life, organizational control and communication with students. That said, students also need to put forth their ideas and to voice their concerns.

The Miscellany News gives the incoming VSA Council the following charges: Be transparent and facilitate activity in student organizations without enacting unnecessary roadblocks. Autonomy is the mother of creativity, and information is power.

—The staff editorial reflects the opinion of at least two-thirds of the 14-member editorial board.

In recent years, network news shows and newspapers have been replete with frightening accounts of global warming and dwindling energy reserves. The mainstream media, not famous for investigative reporting, have taken an active stance in disseminating information about some of the grave environmental problems threatening society.

When Hollywood released The Day After Tomorrow, a fictionalized account of an Earth ravaged by warming temperatures, it was clear that even popular media sources had begun to address climate change. However, coverage of global warming and similar crises is superficial; the media may report doomsday scenarios, but they often fail to address the structural problems that cause these conditions.

Genetic engineering is one issue on which the mainstream media have failed to realize their objective of providing accurate journalism to the public. Mainstream coverage has hailed bioengineering as a way of increasing both crop yields and the nutritional content of foods, thus helping the world’s undernourished. This perspective parallels the views of major chemical corporations such as Monsanto, who derive enormous profits from genetically engineered products.

Unfortunately, the media miss both the acute dangers and the long-term structural problems surrounding the issue. There was relatively little media coverage of the StarLink controversy, an unprecedented disaster in September 2000 in which Monsanto’s genetically manipulated corn, which is not designed for human consumption, contaminated the food supply. Though more and more of the food stocking our supermarket shelves is genetically modified, the StarLink episode did not rouse the media to call for a moratorium on such products.

Furthermore, the media have failed to investigate how the move toward genetically engineered crops may actually be depriving third-world farmers of the money they need to survive. As seeds patented for genetic modifications are introduced, they blow onto smaller farmers’ land and mix with unmodified seeds. If farmers use these new seeds inadvertently, they may be sued for copyright infringement by corporations such as Monsanto. This ambiguity in intellectual property law has already hurt many subsistence farmers, and it threatens the traditional growing process. Tragically, the media have ignored this pressing problem.

Even The Miscellany News itself occasionally presents such flawed coverage of environmental issues.

The article “College to renew Aramark’s contract” (4.17.08) focuses on Aramark’s increased commitment to fresher foods and more sustainable processes. The writer emphasizes that the College solicited the opinions of informed students and considered each company’s environmental policies.

Sadly, this is a warped view of the actual events. When Dean of the College Judy Jackson spoke to the Food Committee during fall semester, she implied that financial considerations would override student desires in the contract process. This may explain why the three finalists for the contract were large corporations that achieve economic efficiency through unsustainable economies of scale.

Just like the mainstream media, The Miscellany News failed to address the structural problems preventing a large corporation such as Aramark from achieving sustainability. The article applauded Aramark for its recycling, composting and local foods initiatives. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that industrial foods grown thousands of miles away dominate the offerings at the All Campus Dining Center. The truth is that corporate products such as Dannon yogurt and Tropicana orange juice are the main items on display in the dining hall.

This is indicative of a more serious structural problem with corporations such as Aramark: Big companies that rely on large-scale industrial models to turn profits can never realize true sustainability. There’s no way around the conclusion that a conflict exists between the priorities of Aramark and those of environmentalists.

As the environmental crisis deepens, the responsibility will fall on the media to provide citizens with accurate, investigative journalism that documents these issues and offers solutions. At this point, one can only be pessimistic about the media’s commitment to an in-depth, unbiased examination of such problems. However, the rise of Web sites such as alternet.org, a compendium of progressive news articles and blogs, offers hope for the future. If we are to realize the sustainable society that is the dream of all environmentalists today, the media will have to guide us.

—Nathan Zucker ’10, a Latin American Studies major, is writing about environmental issues that affect both the Vassar community and the world at large.

We made every attempt to voice student concerns on the Request for Proposal Committee, and we disagree that this process was too secretive. First, the entire Food Committee, comprised of representatives from each dormitory, had access to the proposals and attended both the initial meeting with potential bidders in December and the meeting with the three finalists in March.

Second, student representatives from the Sustainability Committee, including the Local Foods intern, provided input.

Third, Food Committee representatives and house presidents were asked to solicit input from dormitory residents. All of this was in addition to open focus groups held last May and extensive coverage of this process in The Miscellany News. Direct involvement was as extensive as it could have been given the confidentiality of bidders’ financial information.

We are accused of being “pro-corporate,” but this misses a key fact: There was never a viable option to move away from a corporate provider. To mitigate the feared effects of corporate management, we made sure certain measures were in place, such as keeping food service workers as Vassar employees. The Vassar Department of Human Resources negotiates with the union on contract terms, and we see this as a way of staving off harsh corporate policy.

We also inquired about moving totally in-house, which proved logistically and financially impossible. Vassar simply couldn’t hire all the necessary staff or implement the programs needed, and the financial implications were impractical.

We defend our commitment to “real sustainability and local foods production.” It is true that large corporations can lose sight of the effects of their business, but Vassar’s Aramark managers will continue to facilitate environmentally and socially responsible food service. Vassar has already seen numerous sustainability initiatives, and Aramark’s plans for increased local sourcing far outstrip those of the competition. Aramark has committed to locally sourcing 40 percent of ingredients by 2013, up from the current 30 percent, and their overall plan for sustainability far exceeded that of any other proposal.

Those of us who helped make this decision worked long and hard for our peers, and we are eager to continue this dialogue with anyone who would like to. We acknowledge that it’s probably impossible to satisfy Aramark’s or big business’s most ardent detractors, but attacking us for the decision to retain a corporate vendor is simply unproductive. That was never our choice to make.

—Morgan Warners ’08, VSA Vice President for Student Life, and Nate Silver ’10, Chair of the Food Committee

Many have suggested that Vassar should not outsource its food production. I agree with this position; however, this was not an option that the College was willing to pursue at this time. Therefore, it is important to understand that the only options available to choose from were these three corporate food providers. Campus Dining staff are all employed through the College, and their jobs were never in jeopardy. On the other hand, our managers are all employed through Aramark and would have lost their jobs if we had chosen a different dining provider.

I have had the pleasure of working with Head of Campus Dining Maureen King (an Aramark employee) as well as with the Director of Marketing and Sustainability Ken Oldehoff (a Vassar employee). It is my firm belief that without their support and dedication, we would not be where we are today with respect to local foods and general sustainability. Our local foods program began entirely because of Oldehoff’s and King’s initiative.

Also, our managers have strong relationships with local farmers and the Vassar community. Thanks to their hard work, we currently serve 30 percent local food in our dining facilities. King’s receptiveness and willingness to assist students in their sustainability efforts have made it possible for us to develop a composting program in the All Campus Dining Center as well. Losing integrated members of our community who work hard to make Vassar more environmentally friendly is not sustainable.

In my opinion, Aramark’s proposed changes to Campus Dining will help Vassar along the path to sustainability more than Sodexho’s and Parkhurst’s proposals would have. Aramark’s presentation showed that they know our college and understand what sorts of improvements are needed. For example, they proposed that we start a carbon labeling system in our dining facilities, and set goals for increasing the percentage of local foods we purchase. Having seen prospective menus, I also believe that Aramark will deliver us a higher quality of fresh, local food than Sodexho or Parkhurst.

It would be inaccurate to view this article as an endorsement of Aramark as a corporation. Rather, I believe that out of the three options we had, Aramark was the best. Aramark employees at Vassar have shown themselves to be dedicated to the idea of sustainability and local foods. The loss of King would have been a detriment to green efforts.

I strongly encourage anyone who has concerns about Aramark’s presence at Vassar to speak with King and Oldehoff about the changes to our dining halls. I think that you will find that Vassar dining is moving forward with respect to both sustainability and food quality.

—Jessica Muller-Pearson ’08,
Local Foods Intern

Students have been and will continue to be shut up through a series of closed-door meetings by administrators despite the relevance to the decisions on each of you. Is the solution to really form yet another subcommittee after the deal has been made? Of course not! By the time your non-binding suggestions are made from a subcommittee to another committee and then to the hands of the actual individuals in power, you will have graduated. It happens pretty much every time. Vassar peddles itself on the world as a bastion of progressive ideology, yet the administration fails to integrate student voices in any meaningful way.

As a student, you are the reason Vassar exists. I encourage you to get involved in the dialogue about the bookstore and space on and around campus. The administration needs to be proactive in seeking out student participation when it comes to decisions that impact them on a daily basis. Whether it has been the bookstore or any other important decision for as far back as I can remember, students are always patronized by the administration.

I hope the school’s reprehensible conduct will inspire you all to view the administration more critically and empower yourselves in the decision-making process.

—Pulin Modi ’02

Here’s something to think about: While Vassar students are busy studying, 2.5 billion people, or 40 percent of the world’s population, are trying to survive on less than $2 each day. For 1.2 billion of those individuals, that daily income is less than $1.

Operation Donation (OD) is an anti-poverty group founded by Jimmy Kelly ’09 during his freshman year at Vassar. It works to combat poverty through awareness and action, which Kelly calls a “double-A” program. OD is dedicated to addressing poverty on the local, national and global levels. “Poverty is a real issue. We need to take action,” said Kelly.

On a local level, OD uses funds raised by its members to purchase “basic food and hygiene products in order to enhance the basic quality of life for Dutchess County residents in need,” said Kelly. “Since we’re entering into a recession, food prices are going up exponentially.” OD runs grocery drives at the local Stop and Shop, “getting as much as we can for the least amount of money possible,” said OD President Rachel Glicksman ’09. This semester alone the organization has raised $11,921. Their yearly total was $15,779 as of April 24.

In addition to providing basic food and hygenic items, OD assists Poughkeepsie’s youth at The River Haven, a shelter located on Catherine Street that provides crisis intervention services and emergency shelter to homeless and runaway youth. Glicksman said that OD is currently working to establish an on-call tutoring system in which volunteer members of OD would be ready during certain hours of the week to go to the shelter and assist youth in need. In addition, Glicksman said that during the last Parents Weekend on April 11-13, eight River Haven youths came to campus and attended events, including a Barefoot Monkeys show.

The group has been working on a larger scale as well, having spent one day each semester in Washington, D.C. lobbying for change. Kelly explained that “Charity is a starting point. To really end poverty, you need to interact with those in power.”

And that is exactly what OD did. The first lobbying day addressed the creation of an equitable farm bill to protect small farmers. Students in OD lobbied several senators, stressing that 90 percent of agricultural subsidies are centralized into five key crops (corn, wheat, rice, cotton and soy), but that 72 percent of those subsidies go to the top 10 percent of farmers. This drastically unequal distribution of funds hurts foreign farmers as well as domestic ones, as it results in the overproduction of crops in the United States.

The second lobbying trip centered on climate change. “The developed world has done the most to negatively contribute to climate change, but those in developing countries will be affected most,” Kelly said. Many developing countries rely heavily on the agriculture industry, which will be impacted if major changes are not immediately implemented. The most important of these changes would be a cap on greenhouse gas emissions, which would reduce emissions by two percent each year through 2050.

Next semester, because nearly all legislative attention will be turned toward the 2008 election, OD is planning to “take off from lobbying,” according to Vice President Dorie Obertello ’11. Although the group regarded the days spent in Washington as highly effective, Obertello said that next semester’s resources could be used most efficiently by “channeling energy in a more local way.”

One event already in the works is a fair trade bazaar next semester. This event has taken place in the past, but has always been hosted at an off-campus location.

Obertello is optimistic for the future. “Considering how much money the organization was able to raise for the Poughkeepsie community this year, I think we’ve shown that we can make a big difference locally,” she said. “I think we’ll be able to do a lot more next year, as well.”

As graduation approaches, the Class of 2008 has more to worry about than finishing theses and saying goodbye to friends. The daunting task of finding a job to fill the academic void may be more difficult than usual this year as the economy continues to decline.

But while job searches may yield underwhelming results, the general consensus is that the Class of 2008 will not spend the rest of their lives sleeping on park benches. Chris Jacques ’08, for example, hasn’t nailed down a job for next year, but he doesn’t view the economic decline as a threat to his well-being. “It’s easy to find a job in general. I just hope I can find something that I want to do,” said Jacques.

Ben Demers ’08 is also optimistic. “I’m pretty confident,” he said. “I know that the economy is depressed and that is scaring a lot of people, but I’m not limiting myself to any certain field right away, and I know that eventually the economy will pick up.”

Demers cited his experience marketing for various groups at Vassar as valuable in his search for radio jobs. “Especially with new media, every organization is trying to get digital and up their image and reach out to a new, media-savvy generation.”

On the other hand, seniors like Natalia Luna feel less prepared to enter the professional sphere. “I am kind of nervous about my financial prospects,” Luna said. “I’m an anthropology major—in some ways it’s harder because I don’t have a clear focus.”

Employer Relations Coordinator and Job Coach in the Career Development Office (CDO) Susan Smith has been working with seniors all year, and more come in for assistance every day. “Now I’m starting to hear the outcome of those successful stories where students have landed a job,” Smith said. “Conversely, I’ve been starting to see students who I’ve been working with all year, and who don’t have a job yet. And then there are the seniors who are just beginning the process.”

Smith wouldn’t describe the Class 2008’s outlook as worried, but said that they have seen some frustration building throughout the year. “I think some are discouraged because they’ve interviewed a lot, and they don’t have something yet. A job search really is a long process,” she said. She suggested that students use advantages such as family

connections or Vassar alumnae/i. “Any way possible that you can get a foot in the door.”
She also stressed that it’s not too late for students to come to the CDO for help. “

Don’t think that there aren’t jobs out there because it’s April.” she said, “I get postings everyday. We welcome any senior, no matter where in the process you are.”

The CDO offers a large range of services for students, including help with résumés and cover letters, practice interviews and graduate school applications. The career counselors are available by appointment every weekday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on a walk-in basis every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1-4 p.m. and Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-8 p.m.

This is Part Four of a four-part series. To see the previous three articles, visit misc.vassar.edu.

One of college students’ greatest concerns is what they will do after graduation. The daunting prospect of applying to a graduate school is enough to make some students take time off to acclimate themselves to the “real” world.

For some science and pre-med students, however, graduate programs and medical schools are the only options for advancement in their respective fields. And no one knows this better than Vassar alumnae/i, who have already traveled a considerable way along the path that many current pre-med and science students will follow.

Coming from a small college where the freedom of study is both a luxury and a curse, moving on to a graduate program can be difficult. According to Emily Whitesel ’04, who is currently in a Ph.D./M.D. program at Harvard University Medical School, “I think it’s difficult to compare the Vassar-style undergraduate education to any medical school. In medical school, there is no flexibility in course work…The focus of knowledge is different as well, as what we are learning now will be directly applicable for us in the future and our ability to care for patients, which makes it exciting, though occasionally frightening as well.”

On the other hand, graduate schools for scientific studies allow students an opportunity for deeper learning in a specific field. “In some ways, classes are more intense because you cover more material,” said Daria Van Tyne ’06, a first-year biochemistry graduate student at Harvard. “You’re expected to think on a deeper level, but at the same time, grades don’t matter nearly as much, so there’s less pressure to get everything perfect,” she added.

“The less one has to worry about grades, the more one can cope with the heightened intensity of the academics in graduate school.” said Van Tyne.

Many alumnae/i reported that the pre-med office’s advising can make applying and adjusting to a new environment feasible. “The pre-med advisors were great,” said Jeff Dan ’96, a graduate of Tulane Medical School who is currently an emergency room physician.

“They helped me to the extent that they could. I was prepared for the MCATs, but it is a difficult test.”

The fact is that even students who have excellent grades and test scores may not be admitted to a medical school immediately. Interviews and essays are also taken into account. According to Dan, however, students without excellent qualifications may still have hope of admission. “When I left Vassar, my GPA and MCATs were both subpar,” he said. “My science GPA was maybe 3.2. I worked for an ophthamologist for two years in Boston. I applied to over 20 schools. I got some interviews, but I was not accepted anywhere. I re-took the MCATs and studied three or four hours a day after work and eight hours on the weekend for maybe three months. It was pretty awful, actually.” Although it goes without saying that one has to be extremely motivated in order to be admitted to a graduate program, it is heartening to know that even a “subpar” candidate was able to gain access to an excellent school.

Having a Vassar background has other benefits. According to Lara Kunschner ’90, a University of Pittburgh Medical School alumna, “I was able to think critically and clearly, yet maintain a healthy perspective because I came out of a solid liberal arts school. I could write and imagine and empathize because I had learned about the world at Vassar. I had the tools to enjoy life outside of medicine because I had had exposure to so much outside of the narrow world of medicine.”

Kunschner advised those considering going to medical school or graduate school to pursue this goal with themselves and their own desires in mind. “Talk to people in the field, do preceptorships or internships in a variety of medical, academic or research settings to get a feel for what medicine or the lab setting is all about,” she said. “The actual job is not always what the romantic perception reflects, and certainly has absolutely nothing to do with the life portrayed on various syndicated television shows.”

According to the Office of Institutional Research, nearly 80 percent of Vassar students applying to medical school were accepted in 2006. Students should take advantage of the pre-med advising to further increase these odds.

Pope Benedict XVI visted Youth Rally in Yonkers, N.Y. on April 19. Some Vassar students who made the trip were able to meet the Pope himself at the stage ceremony.

Photo courtesy of New York Post

Just two days after submitting my senior thesis on the scholarship of Pope Benedict XVI, I had the incredible honor and privilege of meeting the Pope himself onstage at the Youth Rally on the grounds of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y on April 19. I took part in the beginning of the stage ceremony as a representative of Eastern European peoples during a tribute to the diversity of our country’s ethnic backgrounds.

It was a tremendous opportunity for me as a Catholic, but it was even more meaningful because the Holy Father’s philosophical thought has been integral to my intellectual engagement of my faith. I have spent a great deal of time trying to unpack the Catholic conception of faith and reason in his scholarship. Instead of a denial of reason itself, the Church teaches that both reason and faith interplay in a complementary relationship. This event held tremendous meaning for me as a student of theology and as a member of the Church because the substance of my reflections center around what the Pope says to the modern world.

I was particularly interested to hear what the touchstones of the Pope’s speech would be when he addressed the crowd. His carefully crafted speech dovetailed nicely off the themes he had laid before the United Nations the previous day on April 18, speaking to the consonant relationship of faith and reason. He articulated the nature of freedom and its sinister enemies: racism, poverty and those things that betray the integrity of human life. Without his usual professorial tone, he recounted his own youth under the Nazi regime, the first time he has done so publicly after his election as pontiff. The ideology of Nazism, he said, “banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good.” He then named a second predator of authentic freedom: a moral relativism that distorts the truth and gives value to everything indiscriminately.

This is his hallmark challenge to modernity. Whereas “traditional” cultures have understood freedom as the active pursuit of goodness, relativistic societies reduce freedom to “license.” This in turn prevents societies from coming to a notion of the common good and leaves them merely struggling to balance individual preferences. To disrupt the cohesion of faith and reason construes freedom as license, pleasure-seeking and an untutored exercise of the will.

Benedict believes that authentic freedom is not self-serving but rather seeks the good above all else. Truth, then, is not an imposition, he says, but rather a privileged path to freedom.

On the whole, that Saturday was particularly moving, not only because I was able to meet Pope Benedict, but also because I was in solidarity with the 25,000 other people present.

Because of his visit to the United States, many have been given the opportunity to encounter the pope in a way they may have not been able to otherwise. His shy and sincere personality revealed a more complex figure than his reputation as a scholastic hard-liner would expose.

I am certain that the Pope’s journey to the United States has given those watching a more concise picture of the man and his message, and perhaps now we will lean in closer to engage the substance of that message. Pope Benedict XVI’s visit was as much an opportunity for him to encounter us as it was an opportunity for us to encounter him.

This Saturday, May 3, students will march in droves to Ballantine Field in eager anticipation of the food, beer, rides, games and jovial atmosphere that characterize Founder’s Day. But the celebration that Vassar students love today has drastically evolved from its 19th-century roots.

Founder’s Day began in 1866 as a campus-wide surprise party for the 74th birthday of College Founder Matthew Vassar. The celebration featured poetry readings, lectures and piano solos in Main Building. After Vassar’s death in 1868, Founder’s Day became a day to memorialize the founder and visit his grave.

But by the early 20th century, Founder’s Day had evolved into a convivial celebration and a reprieve from academics. The 1942 circus-themed Founder’s Day, for example, featured a marching band—and an elephant.

While this year’s Founder’s Day guests will not include an elephant, the celebration will include giant candy bar decorations, a colorful felt walkway leading up to the field and copious amounts of sweet treats. This year’s theme, Candyland, was selected from a wide range of student suggestions.

“This year, I wanted to do as democratic a process as possible,” explained Founder’s Day Committee co-Chair Brian Bacchi ’08. After students wrote in with their suggestions, the Committee narrowed down the results and allowed the student body to vote on the top five themes. Nearly 1,800 votes were cast , and the Candyland theme won by about 300 votes.

Bacchi said that most students seem happy with the theme. “There is just so much you can do with it,” he said.

Megan Habermann, Assistant Director of Campus Activities and Advisor to the Founder’s Day Committee, said that the process that the Committee used to select the theme “worked really well, because even students who…weren’t thrilled about…the theme, felt that they at least got their voice heard.”

“Looking at all the decorations and merchandise, everything looks super cool,” said Kid’s Tent Committee Chair Nathalie Galvez ’08 in an e-mailed statement. “

Overall, people around campus seem to be excited and looking forward to see what Founder’s Day will look like under the Candyland umbrella,” she added.

Two of the most popular aspects of Founder’s Day are the free food and beer. Zorona and Molé Molé have been confirmed as food vendors, and Soul Dog and Amici’s are also being pursued.

A Candyland-themed bouncy castle has been secured, as well as an obstacle course. Bacchi said that the Committee is still working to bring “swings and other carnival-type rides” to the event. Further entertainment will be provided by several bands that will perform throughout the day, including the Born Ruffians, a ’90s cover band called Reality Check, and the Pimps of Joytime. Vassar’s own Enter the Scorpion Pit, winner of the recent battle of the bands contest, will perform in the last slot of the day.

The Committee is also seeking to make Founder’s Day more eco-friendly this year. “We’re really going to be working with the Sustainability Committee,” Habermann said. There will also be water spigots so that students can fill their own water bottles. “We’re really going to promote those throughout the day, and really encourage people to use the recycling bins and things like that,” she said.

Galvez and her committee have worked to revamp the kid’s tent, which will be set up from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. “In my opinion, it’s the most undervalued part of Founder’s Day because it isn’t specific to Vassar students, but is more for the Vassar community and their families,” she said. The kid’s tent will include gingerbread house decorating, face painting, balloon animals and a wall where the kids can write or finger paint.

Founder’s Day will conclude with fireworks over Sunset Lake and a double feature on the Chapel Lawn; the Candyland movie, entitled The Great Lollipop Adventure, will be shown, as well as the 1971 version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Bacchi said that this Founder’s Day will be as successful as it has been in the past, and that the celebration will be in keeping with the traditions that have made it so enjoyable. “It’s going to be fairly consistent,” he said, but he added that “We might have random amounts of candy to give out to people, just because.”

While Founder’s Day has certainly evolved from its formal, solemn beginnings into a day of fun and carefree festivities, Matthew Vassar’s words upon seeing the surprise celebration held in his honor still ring true: “This one event has paid me for every cent I have spent for the College.”

My best friend was afraid that she was pregnant last week after her partner’s condom broke, so she took emergency contraceptive pills. I had never heard of them before. How safe and effective are they?
—Preventing an ejaculate conception

Dear Preventing,

Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) are a safe and effective way to prevent pregnancy as long as they are taken up to five days after unprotected sex. They have been used worldwide for as long as 30 years and are a viable option if a condom breaks or slips off, if you weren’t using any birth control or if you had unprotected sex.

The development of modern emergency contraception (EC) began in the 1920s when researchers discovered that estrogen extracted from the ovaries interfered with pregnancy in mammals. As early as the 1940s, there were reports of use of postcoital (after-sex) estrogens on women as a method of preventing pregnancy, but there were no published cases until the 1960s, when doctors in the Netherlands tried the method on a young girl who had been raped. Soon after, emergency contraception pills (ECPs) were approved for use in several countries. It was not until the end of the 1990s, however, that ECPs were widely recognized in the United States as a safe and effective method for preventing unplanned pregnancy.

In July 1999, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first ECPs in the United States Before that time, some doctors already practiced “off-label” use of oral contraceptive pills to achieve the same effect. Today, ECPs are also known by the brand name Plan B (the most commonly used kind of ECP in the Unied States). ECPs are sometimes called “morning after pills,” but that name can be misleading because ECPs can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex, not just the morning after. You may also need to take two or more pills, depending on the type of ECP.

ECPs contain a higher level of estrogen and progestin, the same hormones found in hormonal birth control pills. They prevent ovulation and thicken cervical mucus, which blocks sperm from fertilizing an egg. ECPs may also prevent fertilized eggs from attaching to the lining of the uterus, but there is no proof that this happens. Some sources incorrectly claim that ECPs cause abortion, but ECPs are not the same as the abortion pill (called RU-486 or Mifepristone.) ECPs cannot terminate or damage a pregnancy if an embryo has already implanted on the uterine wall.

Plan B is very effective at preventing pregnancy when used properly. Studies show that it reduces the risk of pregnancy by 89 percent when it is taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. Plan B can be used up to 120 hours after unprotected sex, but it is more effective the sooner it is taken.

ECPs will not prevent pregnancy if you have unprotected sex after taking the pills, so you need to use ECPs to prevent pregnancy after each time you have unprotected sex. Also, as with any method of hormonal birth control, ECPs do not provide protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

If there is any possibility that unprotected sex will put you at risk of contracting an STI, you should consider being tested.

ECPs are safe and have fewer risks and side effects than other hormonal birth control methods because they are not taken continuously and the hormones are not in your body as long as those in ongoing birth control. The most common side effects experienced are nausea and upset stomach.

Rarely, women may experience breast tenderness, irregular bleeding, dizziness and headaches. Side effects typically subside in a day or two, and a doctor can recommend ways to reduce them.

ECPs are an effective form of back-up birth control, but they should not be used as a primary form of birth control. As their name suggests, they should be used only in emergencies when your primary method of birth control fails. Frequent use of ECPs may make your period irregular. Ongoing use of hormonal methods is more effective when they are used correctly. Women concerned with preventing pregnancy should consider using hormonal birth control, which can be purchased at a reduced price the Women’s Health Center or at Planned Parenthood.

Plan B is available at pharmacies and health care centers without a prescription for people 18 and older. For those younger than 18, a prescription from a health center or private doctor is needed.

The cost of Plan B greatly varies from place to place. On average, it costs $10 to $45. Family planning clinics like Planned Parenthood usually charge less than private doctors or pharmacies. Locally, Plan B costs about $40 at nearby pharmacies. $25 at Baldwin’s Women’s Health Center, and it is currently free at Planned Parenthood.

Finally, as to condoms breaking, the primary reason why condoms fail is human error in their use.

There are some ways to help prevent condom breakage. Be careful opening the package so the condom is not torn—try not to get the condom caught in the tear of the package, and never use teeth, scissors or nails. Also, check the expiration date of the condom and store them in a cool (but not cold!) dry place—not in the sun, a car, a pants pocket or anywhere else where they could be damaged. Make sure there are no air bubbles in the condom by smoothing along the shaft and pinching the nipple-like tip to get all of the air out. You should also make sure that the condom is not pulled too tight (make sure you leave room at the tip for ejaculate). Be sure not to “double bag”, using two condoms, whether you’re using two male condoms or a male and a female condom—the friction causes breakage. Also, use plenty of lubricant. If there is not enough lubricant, the friction can cause breakage. With latex condoms you should only use water- or silicone-based lubricants because oil breaks down latex, rendering your condom ineffective.

Furthermore, if pregnancy is a concern when you are having sex, it is best to always use two methods of birth control. In cases of emergency when your primary methods fail, ECPs are a wise choice. Keep a box of Plan B handy, and practice prevention!

The Women’s Health Center is located on the second floor of Baldwin, ext. 5815. Planned Parenthood is located at 17 Noxon Street in Poughkeepsie and can also be accesed by calling 1-800-230-7526 or visiting ppfa.org.

—Jiná Ashline ’08 is a religion major with a women’s studies correlate. She is also president of C.H.O.I.C.E. Each week she will answer a question about sex and sexuality. Send your questions to jiashline@vassar.edu or by dropping a note in Box 2172.

Max Gold ’10 directs actors to prepare for a scene of Changes.

Photo courtesy of Max Gold

Simplicity, variability and persistency: One of the oldest Chinese texts, the I Ching initiated an interest in these three notions of being. The same principles later shaped early Confucian and Taoist thought.

Max Gold ’10 used these ideas to shape his Web series, Classic of Changes, which was filmed at Vassar and stars Vassar students. The title is an English translation of the phrase “I Ching.” Gold posts a new 10-minute episode of the series every Sunday at 6 p.m. on his Web site, blindhummingbird.com.

Gold explained that the I Ching was ripe for a Web series adaptation. “It’s a book of little bite-sized pieces of wisdom, which is a lot like the format of Webisodes, which aren’t pieces of wisdom, but are bite-sized pieces of story,” he said.

“They’re not meant to be giant masterpieces; they’re just fun things that you can snack on,” Gold added.

The Web series allows each of its viewers to transform from a consumer into a producer through its interactive interfaces. Each character has a Facebook profile and a blog, which can be accessed from Gold’s Web site.

The series has a Facebook group with 374 members. Gold encourages viewers to post comments on any of its Web-based forums, and he plans to use those responses to shape the future course of the series. Everything from romantic entanglements to more serious plot twists can hinge upon the resolutions reached through interactive Internet democracy.

Changes details the lives of children of privilege as they attend a selective, coeducational institution in the Hudson River Valley: not Vassar, but rather Pencey Preparatory School, a high school. The episodes have depicted drug deals and sex in showers. It’s The O.C. of the V.C.

In Spring 2007, Gold took a Chinese philosophy course that inspired him to write short scenes that would eventually become the first season of Changes, which premiered in June.

The course, of course, was just a catalyst. Gold had been involved in video production since the beginning of high school and wanted to continue producing in college. He gathered together a group of underutilized actors and let the series unfurl.

The first season consisted of nine episodes. Season Two premiered on April 1, 2008 as a new class of freshmen joined the fictional school’s ranks. The process has proved time-consuming, and the result has been mixed.

“We’re at college, and we don’t have time for really huge, in-depth things,” Gold said. “I think part of the off-the-cuff-ness of it and the shallowness of it really speaks to the college experience.”

Though Changes is released on the Internet, it resembles a television program in that its production and release process unfurls in an episodic order.

To produce his series, Gold needed to step outside of Vassar’s pedagogical parameters and use his prior skill set. Vassar’s curriculum does not cover serial production; Vassar only offers production courses through the film department, which means that the projects undertaken through the courses are non-serial by nature.

Gold decided to produce his series outside of Vassar’s auspices altogether. He did not use the College’s television station, VCTV, and he did not use Vassar funding. As a result, Gold did not need to worry about the bureaucratic red tape that tends to stall filming groups that work within the system.

“I’m not resenting Vassar’s opportunities, because it has amazing opportunities,” said Gold. However, he added, “Like any bureaucracy, you need to work your way up and establish yourself.”

“As a freshman, I was so anxious to make stuff,” Gold continued.

The second season follows brothers and best friends Sean and Chris as they enter their freshman year of high school. Ben Palacios ’11 plays Sean, a fashion model.

The enjoyable bulk of Sean’s scenes exhibit Palacios on various modeling shoots, shirtless of course. Changes targets high-school girls, as Gold admitted, and thus it provokes comparisons to teen soap operas like Gossip Girl.

The characters are more two-dimensional, adolescent archetypes than well-rounded or realistic characters. But this limited dimensionality reflects the series’ source material, the I Ching, which emphasizes traits over people. The true depth comes about via connections between characters rather than within individual characters.

“I feel like I’ve gotten into the groove with the show now, with Season Two, and it’s the first episode that I’m deeply satisfied with,” said Gold of the series’ recent episode. Gold indicated that this Sunday’s episode would continue along that depth-invoking trajectory via a bacchanal of sorts. Changes promises depth through surface.

Michael Hirsch ’11 directs “Godot” cast into the woods.

J. Carlton The Miscellany

A boy rushes into the scene and timidly utters the words, “Mr. Godot told me to tell you he won’t come this evening but surely tomorrow.”

To Vladimir’s mental anguish and Estragon’s despair, Mr. Godot never arrives on the stage, but his mere nominality has brought incredible fame to the Irish writer, poet and winner of the 1969 Nobel Prize for Literature Samuel Beckett, whose works incorporate universal themes in a peculiar, minimalist style.

Sixty years after the play’s premiere in a tiny theater in Paris, Unbound is presenting “Waiting for Godot” on Friday, May 2, Sunday, May 4, and Monday, May 5, at 7 p.m. in the Outdoor Amphitheater, located in the field behind Sanders Classroom. The play is Unbound’s final production of the year. Famously summarized as “a play in which nothing happens twice” by the Irish literary critic Vivien Mercier, “Waiting for Godot” deals with issues such as death, the meaning of human existence and God’s possible place within it. The play centers around two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, as they wait on a country road by a tree for two days and anticipate Godot’s arrival.

Directed by Michael Hirsch ’11 and Andréa Banks ’11, Unbound’s production of the play will present an incomprehensible world through black humor that touches upon delicate religious, philosophical, classical, psychoanalytical and wartime allusions.

Since the play consists mostly of dialogue, the cast worked on character building before they started studying the text. Jesse Levistky ’10, whose character stays mute for most of the play, said he particularly liked these improvisational character building exercises because they taught him to stay silent on stage for long periods of time.

“Godot” was the first time that either Hirsch or Banks directed a play. Hirsch, who has been involved in theater all his life, admitted that he was initially intimidated by the directing process.

“Luckily, I have had excellent superiors, and I quickly learned so many things from them,” he said.

Hirsch and Banks had difficulties when the two actors originally cast in the lead roles left. It was hard for the directors and the cast to keep up with production until new actors were found. Banks, who thinks the new actors fit their characters perfectly, said, “It was a time of panic, but I think it’s fine now.”

Hirsch agreed with Banks. “The dynamic of the group is a lot better with this new cast,” he said. “They have a great chemistry between each other.”
The cast was also surprised by how quickly the show came together. “Starting from scratch at a much later date, the rate we progressed is incredibly high even if we’re not as complete as other shows would be,” said Levitsky.

In a departure from the original play, Hirsch and Banks’ production includes female actresses, including Allison Douglass ’11, who portrays Estragon. Douglass said that it wasn’t especially hard for her to get into a male persona, since each of the actors have had to work hard to portray their respective characters. Hirsch thinks that making Estragon female puts a twist on the play’s most challenging character. But “Beckett would not be happy with it,” he said.

Hirsch hopes that the audience will find something in the play that affects them and makes them think more about their actions. He also promises to stage a show that will entertain everyone. “You have ‘Waiting for Godot’ moments every day in your life; you just don’t know it,” he said. Who knows, maybe you’ll have your own Godot epiphany as you breathe in the open air and figure out what you’re waiting for, as you watch Vladimir and Estragon wait for their Godot under a silent tree.

The most famous stage direction of all of the Bard of Avon’s tragedies, comedies, romances and histories appears in “The Winter’s Tale.” It is a jarringly explicit description: “Exit, pursued by a bear.” Shakespeare Troupe will perform the source of the carnivorous command at 8 p.m. on Thursday, May 8, Friday, May 9 and Saturday, May 10 in the Orchard above Sunset Lake.

The play’s plot is like a hybrid fairy tale. It starts off with a Shakespearean tragic flaw and ends peacefully with the typical reconciliation of a Shakespearean comedy. A king mistakenly thinks his pregnant wife has cheated on him with a visiting king and that her unborn baby is not his. His wife goes into hiding, and their newborn daughter is sent away. The rest of the play deals with the characters coming to terms with this misunderstanding and repairing the damage.

“The play is about the power of forgiveness and redemption,” said Troupe performer Elizabeth Wachtel ’09. The play literally comes full circle—after going through a series of events in the land of Bohemia, the characters end up in the land of Sicilia, where the story started in the first place. This full circle is also reflected in the seasons—the story begins in winter and ends in springtime. “It ends where it started,” said Troupe performer Nate Silver ’10.

Shakespeare Troupe always performs their plays outdoors. Each year the group unanimously decides a new location, which is also how they choose directors, cast and crew members.

Performing outdoors creates challenges because of the unpredictable weather and less-than-ideal acoustics. Still, there are many benefits to outdoor performances. “Theaters have limits,” said Wachtel. “Outdoors, there’s no need to reserve tickets. Anyone can come.”
Director Kate Abbruzzese ’08 described the experience of performing outdoors as evoking “old magic.”

“It’s human magic,” said Troupe performer Poornima Kirby ’08, contrasting “The Winter’s Tale” with some of Shakespeare’s other mythical plays. The magic of “The Winter’s Tale” is largely accounted for by the everyday miracles of life, said Kirby.

“Flowers bloom. People die, but children are born,” she said. Most importantly, forgiveness and hope are possible. But the production is not trying to embellish Shakespeare.

“We don’t take an overly academic approach,” said stage manager Jeanne Allen ’08. “We explore the text by getting up on our feet and speaking the words.” The cast has done research on the play, but even the research has not been particularly academic.

Abbruzzese asked Troupe members to bring in objects and music that had to do with time and seasons, such as bright flowers and songs that have earth-related lyrics. Troupe members also did their own visual, critical and physical research to prepare for the production.

Both Abbruzzese and Allen spoke enthusiastically about their dedicated and creative cast. “From a foundation of love and respect we built this play, but we all understand our roles,” said Allen. Actors often come to design meetings, but they contribute solely as actors, rather than upstaging the designers.

Shakespeare Troupe is also hoping to build relationships beyond their ensemble. “We are hoping to start communication with a school in Poughkeepsie,” said Abbruzzese. “It’s incredibly healing to make art,” she continued. “There’s something life-affirming about it. Any art form is about communication.”

There has been a lot of hype and secrecy about how Shakespeare Troupe will carry out the “pursued by a bear” stage direction, but Abbruzzese gave some hints. “It might be scary; it might be funny,” she said.

“We’re hoping, whatever it be, it might be memorable.” Abbruzzese paused and then continued, “It’s funny: In a play about all this amazing stuff, it’s the bear that gets remembered.”

Cursed with a hopelessly pedestrian moniker and a laughable album title (“Contemplating jazz”? Seriously?), Hanna (a.k.a. Warren Harris from Cleveland, Ohio, of all places) nevertheless hit a high point in his career and created one of the canonical jazz-house albums with this, his fourth LP. Or rather, it would have been canonical if anyone but the staunchest of beat-heads and crate-diggers had bothered to check it out. It’s not Hanna’s fault; he’s released dozens of recordings on dozens of labels, and all of them are at least good. Warm, inviting, soulful, as sturdy as a bank vault and landing smack in the middle of acid jazz’s heyday, Hanna’s best music is a clear example of how you can do everything right as an electronic musician and still get robbed.

Contemplating Jazz takes the ultra-smooth, ultra-tasteful house aesthetic of the Naked Music catalogue to a higher artistic plane, where both clubbers and cognoscenti could ostensibly find a lot to like. It helps that Hanna is a multi-instrumentalist (check the wicked slap-bass anchoring “My Own”) with a jazz musician’s ear for pleasant chord changes. On previous records—Severance (1999) in particular—Hanna had a rocky relationship with his sequencer, his beats fumbled over themselves as though they weren’t even chained to a metronomic grid, but here they’re solid and savvy, impressing without showboating. Like its constituent parts, Contemplating Jazzsplits the difference between workmanlike and low-maintenance to form something that’s surprisingly rare in electronica: highbrow dance music that you actually want to dance to.

Hanna may be as accomplished a techno artist as Theo Parrish and Glenn Underground (if not Kenny Dixon Jr.), but the most remarkable thing about him is that he’s consistent, almost terrifyingly so. That consistency applies to the quality of his vast catalogue, whether he’s dealing in house, drum ’n bass or hip-hop, as well as to the quality of individual songs; it’s pointless to mention standout tracks on Contemplating Jazz by name because they’re all so strong, without a single dud in the bunch. He’s even consistent in his song structures: Nearly all of them follow a pattern in which he lays down a theme at the start of the track, and every 16 bars or so a different instrument—be it a pad, a clipped diva vocal, a live vibraphone or upright bass—takes the stage and does its thing. It’s a modus operandi that looks dreadfully dull on paper, but Hanna milks the formula for all it’s worth and turns it into a signal attribute.

Nowadays it may seem as though Hanna fell off the face of the Earth, since Contemplating Jazz was his last LP in wide release, but he’s still keeping the torch aflame with seven-inch singles, digital-only albums and CD imports. I picked up a couple of his newest offerings, 2007’s Beautiful Mystery and 2008’s Portrait of Warren, and while each was solid in its own right, when comparing them to Contemplating Jazz I noticed a saddening droop in craftsmanship. The ear-pleasing samples and jazz fixations were still in place, but the beats didn’t always hit the target and the overall feeling was of an imitation of Hanna, rather than the real thing. It was probably the fecundity that did it; expecting Hanna to keep reaching his plateau with that kind of release schedule is cruel. I’m (reluctantly) inclined to say that jazz-house is one of the easier musical genres to pull off, but even in a dulcet, groovy and overcrowded arena, Contemplating Jazz was something special.

How is Bonnaroo fitting for a Vassaroo? Many students plan to make the pilgramage to the festival this year to revel in the communal aspect of festivals.

But it is too simple to call Bonnaroo just a “Music and Arts Festival.” To do so would ignore the countless attractions: a silent disco where live music channels through dancers’ headphones, batting cages sponsored by Major League Baseball, a village devoted to domestic and international beer, interactive art “pods” and a full market located next to the 24-hour lighted fountain. As Bobby Goodrich ’10 put it, “It’s going to be like Founder’s Day on crack.”

Bonnaroo is a four-day festival held in Manchester, Tenn. from June 12-15. Since its inception in 2002, Bonnaroo has hosted artists of all musical origins, from Neil Young to Jurassic 5. There are over 130 artists playing this year, including Kanye West, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Broken Social Scene, Willie Nelson and Talib Kweli.

But Bonnaroo is not limited to music; comedy is a vital part of the festival’s atmosphere. There will be a comedy tent where many artists will perform throughout the week, including Chris Rock, Janeane Garofalo and David Cross.

Jim Norton, Ben Folds and Patrick Hallahan from the band My Morning Jacket are a few of the artists who will play at Bonnaroo this summer. They spoke to a group of about a dozen journalists in an interview over the phone on April 23.

Hallahan described the seasonal atmosphere at Bonnaroo as promoting “a feeling of togetherness” and “a very comfortable, laid-back vibe.” This will be My Morning Jacket’s fifth Bonnaroo appearance. Their last Bonnaroo appearance, in 2006, began at midnight and lasted three hours.

“That was one of the most electrifying experiences of my life,” said Hallahan. “It was something out of the heavens, that’s for sure.”
The festivities appeal to the Vassar student as well.

Peter Canino ’10 summarized his reason to go to Bonnaroo this year with a terse exclamation: “Just to have some fun!”

“I’m looking forward to seeing My Morning Jacket, MGMT, Pearl Jam and M.I.A., especially because I couldn’t get a ticket when she played here,” Canino said. While he has never been to Bonnaroo before, Canino said that he “has been looking forward to it for a few years.”

Folds admitted that he did not truly enjoy festivals before he played Bonnaroo for the first time in 2006.

“I was sort of a born-again festival player after that,” said Folds. “I don’t take [festivals] as lightly now when I go because it’s possible that it might not suck when you show up.”

Julie Carlsen ’11 is going to Bonnaroo for the first time this summer. “I’ve been meaning to go to a festival for a few years, and I figured, ‘You might as well go big or go home,’” she said.

Tickets are still available online, at various discount Web sites and at the festival’s official Web site, bonnaroo.com. The price ranges from $209-$244 for general tickets, which include a parking pass and camping site.

Our worst enemies are sometimes the people we respect the most. Consider the most bitter feud between rappers: Tupac and Biggie, who targeted each other in their lyrics in apparent attempts to degrade the other’s credibility or question their sexuality. But through the insults, they were also inherently showing the utmost respect for one another. They actually wrote entire songs about each other, and while the messages may not have been respectful, their very existence signifies the rappers’ profound esteem for each other. The ostensible adversary poses some kind of threat to the other, and by responding on such a public level, we demonstrate recognition and respect for each others’ abilities.

I started thinking about this paradox last week, when I heard that the very public quarrel blowing smoke from the Volunteer State to the Constitution State and disappointing fans of women’s basketball nationwide had intensified.

This past season, Pat Summitt, Head Coach of the University of Tennessee women’s basketball team, refused to reschedule the annual game between her top-ranked team and the University of Connecticut Huskies, coached by Summitt’s favorite enemy, constant trader of spat Geno Auriemma. The match-up dated back to 1995 and was consistently one of the top-billed and most-viewed games on the entire