Starting at 9 p.m., Vassar Student Association (VSA) Vice President for Operations and Elections co-Chair Ruby Cramer’12 along with President of Town Houses and Elections co-Chair Samantha Allen ’11 will announce the results of the freshmen elections, voting for which went on from Friday through Sunday.

Following are results that Cramer and Allen announced:

Freshmen Representative to the Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid: Seth Warner

Judicial Board: Arushi Raina, Pedro Sepulveda, Maxélle Neufville, Asia Bryant

House Representatives

Josselyn: Jimmy Quigg

Lathrop: Natalie Hine

Main: Anastassia Knight

Noyes: Alex Schlesinger

Raymond: Jay Louik

Cushing: Giovanni Zaccheo

Davison: Doug Greer

Strong: Manning Wu

Jewett: Robert “Rob” Madden

2014 Class Officers

Treasurer: Mariah Vitali

Secretary: Lily Choi

Vice-President: Anna Carias

President: Michael Moore

7:01 | Council is about to begin.

7:03 | Attendance. All are present.

7:06 | VP for Operations Ruby Cramer ’12 is announcing the Freshman Elections Results Party, which will be held tomorrow, Sept. 27, at 9 p.m. in the Retreat.

7:07 | Registration for Meet Me in Poughkeepsie events will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 29. “We’re the biggest Meet Me in Poughkeepsie ever,” says VP for Activities Tanay Tatum ’12.

7:08 | Executive Report from VP for Student Life Samin Shehab ’11. Student Life has created a subcommittee that is creating a new relationship abuse charge, which includes two Council members as well as Director of Health Education Renee Pabst, representatives from CARES and other student representatives.

Student Life is also working on creating a VSA Advisory Council.

Shehab is discussing a new room entry policy.

7:16 | Allocation of $7000 to ViCE. ViCE will be bringing Joseph Gordon Levitt to campus on Nov. 5 to give a talk on his production company, hitRECord. The allocation comes from the Speakers, Lecturers and Panels Fund and represents 13 percent of the fund.

7:21 | Creation of the Community Fund: Finance is introducing bylaw changes with would strike the Mid-Hudson Valley and Hosting funds and creates the Community Fund as a result.

The Mid-Hudson Valley Fund was meant to fund events held off campus: “This fund shall be used to sponsor organization events held off-campus in either Dutchess or Ulster County that are not part of the organization’s regular programming” (Article III, Section 10, A).

The Hosting Fund was meant to finance student conferences held on campus: “This Fund shall be used to host non-annual on-campus conferences to which non-Vassar students are invited or selected in some way” (Article III, Section 9, A). The Community Fund is meant to fund events that will connect Vassar to the community in a broader sense.

7:28 | The motions to strike the Mid-Hudson Valley and Hosting funds and to add the Community Fund all pass unanimously.

7:29 | Motion to move into closed session by Lathrop House President Samantha Garcia ’13 passes unanimously.

7:42 | Council remains in closed discussion.

8:34 | Council is open again. Council is discussing campus alcohol culture. President of Josselyn House Dan Flynn ’13 is talking about the problem of the drink Four Loco.

Town Students President Maya Acevedo ’11 suggests bringing in the custodial staff so that students can familiarize themselves with who cleans up after them. She also suggests having students who have been hospitalized because of alcohol talk to students about the experience.

7:02 | The Council meeting is starting.

7:03 | Director of Health Education Renee Pabst is attending Council for a forum on domestic violence. Members of Counseling and Assistance in Response to Rape and Exploitive Sexual Activity (CARES) Charlie Dobb ’12 and Zoe Levenson ’12 are also attending the meeting.

Pabst is here to talk about the College’s relationship abuse policy. “I think the message you guys are sending is so vital,” says Pabst referring to the VSA’s eagerness to bring her in to talk.

Pabst is updating the Council on the new Relationship Abuse Policy. Right now College Regulations are too vague, says Pabst. The regulations currently cover  sexual assault, stalking, harassment and disruptive conduct.

“None of our peer institutions have this policy,” says Pabst of the College’s proposed Relationship Abuse Policy. Pabst says that the work on the policy involves defining what they mean by relationship abuse and other pertinent vocabulary. Because no peer institutions have a similar policy, Pabst says that the College will be a trailblazer in this area, but it also means that there are few examples to work from.

According to Pabst, the sexual assault statistics at Vassar are a little above average compared to other colleges in the United States, though the percentages of other forms of abuse are slightly below average. Regardless, Pabst says that it is still happening far too much.

Dobb and Levenson are talking about relationship abuse. “Usually the pattern increases over time,” says Levenson of abuse within a relationship. “It can happen in all sorts of relationships.”

Pabst would also like to offer a bystander intervention course, though she is unsure of how to get students invested in the program at this time. The course would include CPR training and alcohol education.

7:22 | Pabst is now speaking about the Fun Run planned for Oct. 30. Allegedly, the VSA Exec Board has signed up to participate.

7:29 | Pabst, Levenson and Dobb have now left. VP for Finance Travis Edwards is announcing a fund allocation of $7,500 to the weekend service of the shuttle.

Josselyn House President Dan Flynn what this means for the progress on bus service, to which VP for Operations Ruby Cramer says that the planning for the bus is more than preliminary.

7:33 | Appointment of Maya Acevedo ’11 for Town Students Representative: Acevedo is unanimously appointed.

7:35 | Open Discussion: Filing for Freshman Elections ends tomorrow.

Cramer announces that she is working with the Bookstore and Office of Finance and Administration to rework the clothing in the Bookstore.

7:41 | Council is adjourned.

On Tuesday, Sept. 28 on the second floor of the Students’ Building at 5:00 p.m., Associate Professor of Economics Robert Rebelein will join the Chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and former Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Federal Reserve System Paul Volcker in a conversation about economic issues. The event is not ticketed, although seating is a on first-come, first-served basis. An introduction to the program will be provided by U.S. Department of Treasury’s Under Secretary for Domestic Finance and Vassar alumnus Jeffrey Goldstein.

Below is Vassar’s official release of the event:

SUMMARY: Paul Volcker, economic advisor to President Obama and former chairman of the Federal Reserve, joins Vassar economics professor Robert Rebelein to discuss current economic issues on Tuesday, September 28, 2010.

PUBLIC CONTACT: Office of Campus Activities, (845) 437-5370PRESS CONTACTS: Jeff Kosmacher, Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs, (845) 437-7404, jekosmacher@vassar.edu; Emily Darrow, Associate Director of Media Relations, (845) 437-7690, emdarrow@vassar.edu

PHOTOS: Click here to download high-resolution images from the Vassar College Media Relations’ Flickr site. [For instructions on how to download photos from Flickr, click here.]

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY—Paul A. Volcker, the chairman of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and former two-term Chairman of the Board of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, will join Vassar economics professor Robert Rebelein in a conversation about current economic issues on Tuesday, September 28, at 5:00 pm, in the second floor auditorium of the Vassar College Students’ Building. Jeffrey Goldstein, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Under Secretary for Domestic Finance and a Vassar alumnus, will provide an introduction to the program. While the event is free and open to the public, seating is limited on a first-come, first-served basis.

About Paul A. Volcker

President Obama appointed Paul Volcker to chair the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB), which the President established in 2009 to ensure the availability of independent, nonpartisan information, analysis, and advice. From 1979–87, Volcker served two terms as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He also headed a committee that was formed to determine existing dormant accounts and other assets in Swiss banks of victims of Nazi persecution from 1996–99. From 2000–05, he served as chairman of the board of trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee to oversee a renewed effort to develop consistent, high-quality accounting standards acceptable in all countries. In 2003, he headed a private Commission on the Public Service that recommended a sweeping overhaul of the organization and personnel practices of the United States Federal Government. In April 2004, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Volcker to chair the Independent Inquiry into the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program. Following that, he was asked by the President of the World Bank to chair a panel of experts to review the operations of the Department of Institutional Integrity.

Educated at Princeton, Harvard, and the London School of Economics, Volcker is professor emeritus of international economic policy at Princeton University and was the first Henry Kaufman Visiting Professor at the Stern School of Business at NYU.

About Robert Rebelein

Robert Rebelein is associate professor of economics and chair of the Economics Department at Vassar College. From June 2008 to June 2009, he served the Bush and Obama administrations as a senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, an agency within the Executive Office of the President. Rebelein’s primary research interest is the macroeconomic aspects of public economics, including the aggregate effects of government budget deficits, public health care policies, and social security reform. His other research interests include intergenerational wealth transfers, savings motives, and various income tax issues.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations at Vassar should contact the Office of Campus Activities at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available. Directions to the Vassar campus are available at www.vassar.edu/directions.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

6:58 | Council is about to begin. Tonight College Sustainability Coordinator and Professor of Earth Science Jeff Walker is here to take questions about the herbicide spraying that will happen on Monday, Sept. 13. Stephanie Damon-Moore ’11 is here to discuss the Peer Advising Network.

7:01 | Attendance. Vice President for Student Life Samin Shehab ’11 is absent.

7:02 | Walker is updating the Council on the spraying of the lawns with herbicides. The College Committee on Sustainability has representatives from different constituencies and departments at the College as well as several student interns. The Committee has open meetings twice a month. The first will be on Sept. 24. They are starting early so that the College can then work more with the lawns and give the grass time to grow over October.

7:04 | According to Walker, the College began to manage the Chapel and Library lawns organically over a year ago. “Because we have not sprayed for weeds for six years, there are many more weeds there than the organic method will ever catch up,” he says. After spraying herbicides tomorrow, Walker says that the College will not have to use the chemicals again.

The College emitted 30,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2005 and 24,000 in 2009. Walker will be bringing a proposal to continue reducing CO2 levels by four percent every year to President Hill. The proposal has been endorsed by the Committee as well as by Kiki Williams. He says that this will bring the College’s level down to 10,000 metric tons by 2020.

7:11 | The sprayed lawns will be closed for 24 hours.

Vice President for Academics Laura Riker ’11 asks for Walker to bring the carbon reduction proposal to Council for representatives to see. He agrees, saying, “I think that everybody who uses the place has probably got good ideas.”

7:16 | “The philosophy behind organic turf management is to create healthy soil and healthy grass,” says Walker. After spraying, hopefully the College will not need to spray again in the future. “The idea is to make it a strong, functioning eco-system so that you won’t need that.”

7:16 | Walker has left the meeting. Damon-Moore is here to talk about the Peer Advising program. Damon-Moore has been working on the program, along with Riker, for a little over a year now.

“We wanted basically to foster more of an academic community among students.” The program is an online database that will be open in a few weeks for juniors and seniors to apply to be peer advisors. The approval process is still being decided, but Damon-Moore hopes that so few people would need to be denied that there won’t need to be a process at all. In the interim, the VSA Academics committee may take the helm of the approval process. Underclassmen will be able to go on to find students of similar majors or interests.

7:22 | Damon-Moore is giving a demonstration of the database. Some other academic interests will be searchable in the system, such as art or drama. For the time being, students will not be able to search for advisors based on extracurricular activities. President of 2011 Moe Byrne suggests adding a list of VSA organizations that could be searchable as well.

7:45 | Right now advising is limited to juniors and seniors. Damon-Moore says this is because upperclassmen have taken more classes, and sophomores most often connect to freshmen as student fellows.

“I think a lot of it is getting somebody else’s viewpoint,” says Damon-Moore. Damon-Moore has left the building.

7:51 | Announcement from Operations: Filing for Freshman Elections will be from Sept. 15 through 20. Campaigning will be from Sept. 20-24 and voting will take place from Sept. 24-26. The Results Party will be on Sept. 27 in the Retreat.

7:54 | Update from Activities: A survey about the Fall Leadership Conference will be out soon. The Arlington Street Fair will be on Sept. 25. Meet Me in Poughkeepsie will be taking place on Oct. 9.

7:57 | Update from Finance: “The VSA is in good financial health,” says Vice President for Finance Travis Edwards ’12. “I am cleaning house within VSA finances; the funds structure as is is a mess.” Edwards will be closing about 100 funds next week that have not been identified. The Council will also likely merge the Mid-Hudson Valley and Hosting Fund at next week’s Council meeting.

7:59 | Allocation of $500 from the Collaboration Fund to Lathrop House for the Anything But Cloth event.

8:09 | Motion to amend of the Allocation from $500 to $600 by President of Main House Boyd Gardner ’12.

8:21 | Amendment passes by a vote of 11-8.

8:25 | Allocation of $600 passes unanimously.

8:28 | Motion to adjourn passes.

At 3:31 p.m. Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs sent a message from Director of the Libraries Sabrina Pape saying that the 24 Hour Study Space will open in the Thompson Memorial Library on Sunday, Sept. 12. The Study Space, which will be located in the reading room on the first floor of the Library, will stay open all night Sunday through Thursday nights. The 24 Hour Study Space was the result of the Class of 2012 Sophomore Class Gift.

The opening of the Study Space was somewhat delayed by a late delivery of new furniture, which also delayed the move of the Media Cloisters in to the same space.  The entrance/exit from the Study Space after the Library’s regular hours will be the entrance on the north side of the Library, across from Chicago Hall.

The complete e-mail is below:

Dear All,

I am pleased to announce the opening of our new 24-hour study space! The grand opening will be this Sunday night/Monday morning Sept. 12/13. Located at the north end of the Library (close to Chicago Hall), the area opens as the after hours study space at midnight Sunday-Thursday, after the Main Library closes. Between the hours of 12 AM and 8 AM, this space will be physically isolated from the rest of the Library and there will not be access to library materials. If you are in the Library when we close and would like to continue working, you can move into the space at that time. If you come later, entry will be through the north door of the Library (facing Chicago Hall). You will need to exit through that door as well and you will need to swipe your Vassar ID to enter and to exit.

This space is still a work-in-progress, and we hope to send out more information about available services in the near future. In the meantime, we hope you find this space beneficial to your academic work. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Sabrina Pape

According to The Poughkeepsie Journal, David entered a guilty plea in a Dutchess County courthouse  to “third-degree burglary,” which is, under New York State Law, a felony. David told the judge that he stole a laptop on April 24.

Following is an extract from The Poughkeepsie Journal’s coverage:

A Town of Poughkeepsie man admitted in court today he was caught stealing a laptop computer from a dormitory room at Vassar College last spring.

Corey David, 23, of College View Avenue, entered a guilty plea in Dutchess County Court to third-degree burglary, a felony.

David told Judge Gerald V. Hayes he broke into a dorm room at the college on April 24 and stole the computer. He said he was confronted by the student who owned the computer as he was leaving the dorm and returned it to her.

Under a plea agreement, David will enroll in a long-term drug rehabilitation program. If he kicks his habit, he will be permitted to withdraw his plea to the felony and plead guilty instead to a misdemeanor, criminal trespass. He would then be sentenced to probation for three years.

Hayes warned David that if he did not successfully complete the drug treatment program, he would consider sending him to state prison.