6:58 | The Council meeting is about to begin. Tonight’s Council agenda includes the endorsement of the VSA’s guiding principles for the year and an update on the Sesquicentennial from Director of Development for Regional Programs John Mihaly.
7:02 | With a bang of the gavel, the meeting has officially begun. Vice President for Operations Ruby Cramer ’12 takes attendance. Vice President for Finance Travis Edwards ’12 is absent.
7:03 | Mihaly is beginning his presentation on the Sesquicentennial. The Sesquicentennial celebrations will continue through the 2011 calendar year. “We don’t really have a budget for this, so what we’ve been trying to do is communicate with…a lot of the offices on campus that already do a lot of programming.” Mihaly says that this is an economical and festive way to celebrate the College’s 150th anniversary.
7:06 | Mihaly has been working with Professor of Art Susan Kuretsky as well as Cramer and Vice President for Activities Tanay Tatum ’12. Mihaly encourages students to put a Sesquicentennial twist on their own programming. “We hope that you’ll have a new understanding of how you fit into the continuum of this place,” says Mihaly. “We’re organizing ‘sesqui-brations’ all over the United States and abroad.”
As students plan Sesquicentennial events, they can work with Tatum to put them on the official Sesquicentennial calendar.
7:11 | “There will be merchandise,” says Mihaly to approving knocking around the table. “I think it’s going to be pretty tasteful, and sometimes not so tasteful.”
7:13 | Next year, there will be a conference called “Educating the Global Citizen” that will include speakers from around the world, international university presidents, and student representatives from Vassar and many other colleges and universities. The College hopes to bring Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a speaker for the conference. The Sesquicentennial will also include some curricular components, including a history class in spring of 2011 led by Professor of History Rebecca Edwards.
7:15 | There is a Student Sesquicentennial Planning committee, and there will be a Student Advise group with student leaders from around the College, where details about planning student events will be shared. The Student Advise group will also break into subcommittees for planning specific events.
7:17 | When the FLLAC reopens, the original Vassar art collection will be on special display. A theatrical piece including some famous Vassar alumnae/i is also being designed to take on the road after it premiers at Vassar.
7:20 | Founder’s Day will be “enhanced,” says Mihaly, with a variety show to take place on Friday night before the usual Saturday festivities.
7:22 | The Roosevelt Library will have an exhibition called “Franklin and Eleanor: The Vassar Years.” In fall 2011, the College will host “A Day at Vassar,” during which it will invite members of the local community to come to Vassar for lectures and events.
7:31 | The College will have a Sesquicentennial website that it hopes will go live mid-fall. The website will include multimedia features, the official calendar, departmental histories, and an updated edition of The Magnificent Enterprise, a book of Vassar History that was prepared for the Centennial in 1961.
7:36 | “There really was no budget for this,” says Cramer. “We’re not trying to be extravagant in a time that is still economically difficult for us.”
7:36 | Executive report from VSA President Mat Leonard ’11. “It’s looking like it’s going to be a good year. It’s the Sesquicentennial,” says Leonard.
7:37 | Executive report from Operations. “We’re already busy, busy, busy,” says Cramer. The VSA has redesigned their website. Cramer is also working with the Career Development Office and the Office of Development to re-work VNet, the online network for Vassar students and alumnae/i. “I will be sitting on the Governance Oversight Committee,” says Cramer. This committee will re-evaluate the Governance of the College—the document that lays down the administrative and academic structure of the College.
7:41 | Filing for Freshman elections will begin on Sept. 15.
7:42 | Declaration of Open Positions: The Board of Elections needs a co-Chair from the Council and four at-large members from student body. Terrace Apartments President Samantha Allen ’11 has taken the co-Chair position.
7:44 | Endorsement of the Guiding Principles and Priorities of the 25th Vassar Student Association.
7:45 | President of 2011 Moe Byrne ’11 asks about the community shuttle and whether it will later be paid for by the City of Poughkeepsie. “We’re trying very hard [to work] with the City of Poughkeepsie to adjust their bus route,” says Cramer.
7:50 | Allen asks specifically about the Domestic Violence charge to College Regulations. The only similar charge that currently exists is “Sexual Misconduct,” which covers a overly broad range of violations, says Vice President for Student Life Samin Shehab ’11.
From the Guiding Principles:
“In particular, the Executive Board feels passionate about the development of a Domestic Violence charge. No such charge exists in College Regulations, and we believe strongly that the formation of one would not only empower voices across campus, but also bring awareness to an issue that – though occurring on campus – is rarely acknowledged.”
7:52 | The Council has unanimously endorsed the Guiding Principles document.
7:53 | Academics Memorandum. The memorandum proposes a new system for the return of final graded work. The memorandum suggests that students may give professors a self-addressed envelope at the end of the semester so that they may receive their final work after it is graded.
8:00 | The Council unanimously endorses the memorandum.
8:19 | Open Discussion. Director of Vassar College Entertainment (ViCE) Allie St. Jules is giving an update to Council. ViCE has thrown many events recently for Back to School Week.
8:29 | The Terrace Apartments (TAs), Town Houses (THs) and South Commons (SoCos) are planning a Seniors’ Day Off event for tomorrow, Labor Day, from 1 p.m to 4 p.m. in the TH Circle.
8:33 | “We have 259 days until graduation,” says Byrne. Council is adjourned.
