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Live blogging from the Feb. 7 VSA Council Meeting

February 7th, 2010 by

6:11 p.m. | Attendance. VSA Council Meeting was moved to 6 p.m. this week to avoid conflicts with Super Bowl XLIV.

6:12 | Student Life announces that the Athletics Proposal endorsed by the Council this September was approved by the Committee on Curricular Policy (CCP). The proposal will next travel to the faculty before it is approved completely.

6:20 | Committee Report from CCP from Academics: “We talked about the relationship between departments and programs in the curriculum. There was a course proposal that sparked a conversation about who gets to teach what and how that’s determined.” Strong adds that there is a subcommittee working to administer Course Evaluation Questionnaires online.

6:26 | The Council discusses a resolution in support of experiential learning; the Executive Board drafted the resolution after members of the Council expressed frustration last week with the recent cancellation of Vassar summer abroad programs. A copy of the resolution can be found at the end of this blog entry.

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Live blogging from the Jan. 31 VSA Council Meeting

January 31st, 2010 by

7:00 p.m. | Attendance

7:01 | Executive Report from Activities: Activities: “We have some organization certifications looming on the horizon. Next week you will see the Gentlemen’s Sandwich Club and the Listening Center among others.” Activities also announces that Director of Campus Activities Terry Quinn and Associate Dean of the College Raymon Parker will now be intermittently sitting in on VSA Activities Committee Meetings to “check in on how the VSA is spending our student activities fee,” says Activities.

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Live blogging from Jan. 24 VSA Council Meeting

January 24th, 2010 by

7:01 p.m. | Attendance

7:03 | Special guest Associate Dean of the Faculty Marianne Begemann begins forum on recent deer-culling that occurred over the course of Winter Break. Begemann explains that the College decided to pursue a “deer management program on the preserve.” Over the course of the program, exactly 64 deer were culled—the deer provided 12-15,000 meals to the homeless. “We did the right thing in terms of the ecological preserve. People will disagree with it undoubtably from a moral perspective. It was a very difficult decision to make,” says Begemann.

7:08 | “We”ll be continuing to work with the community members,” notes Begemann. “We’ve also been working with the town and the city, and that did not come out in The Poughkeepsie Journal, because i think that officials were reluctant to be supportive because they knew there was going to be some push-back. But we’ve been working with the mayor and the town-supervisor for about six months.

The deer cull was covered throughout the break in The Poughkeepsie Journal on several occasions, and once in one of the paper’s staff editorials.

7:15 | Begemann: “The size of the herd was so large compared to what it should have been. If we had to cull only 10 or 15 deer, there would have been a lot more open to us.”

7:20 | Announcements: There will be a student-faculty basketball game on Thursday, Feb. 25, to fundraise for the Senior Class Gift. Faculty participating will include Dean of the College Chris Roellke, Professor of History Robert Brigham and Professor of English Kiese Laymon. There will be a 2$ entry fee, and President Catharine Hill will toss the first ball of the game.

7:33 | Operations introduces Constitution amendment for discussion. The amendments offer a rationale for the VSA to consider petitions and came as a result of the Nov. 22 VSA Council Meeting, during which Council was asked by the Campus Solidarity Working Group to endorse a letter written by members of the faculty. Members of Council will vote on the amendments next week.

7:36 | Noyes introduces a Bylaw amendment that mandates that after spring elections, if there is a house officer position that has not been filled, “the Appointments Committee will meet to review applications and appoint individuals to those positions,” the proposed amendment reads. “The Committee will meet several days following the elections, to allow interest applicants time to fill out the application form. If there are no applicants, or if the Committee cannot select an appropriate individual, the position will remain open until the following school year, when the process will repeat.” All vote in favor of the amendment; Noyes’ motion passes.

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Hunger strikers release individual statements following 89-hour demonstration

December 14th, 2009 by

IMG_0826In an e-mail sent to  The Miscellany News tonight, Dec. 14, at 9:07 p.m., students involved in last week’s hunger strike released individual statements, each one a “response to the hunger strike from the perspective of those who participated,” said the e-mail, which was signed by the “Hungry for Justice” group. To see the students’ responses—as well as an introductory statement signed by the entire group—please read on below. The statements have also been posted on the group’s blog, Uppity Vassar.

—–

We are united on many issues, including our commitment to the theory and practice of social justice at our College, and our willingness to put our own bodies on the line for this goal. But we are also individuals with unique consciousnesses, and our reactions to the hunger strike are varied. Now that the strike is over, we’ve chosen to express our thoughts not as a group, but as individuals.

—Hungry for Justice

It is all too easy to dismiss the hunger strike as extreme, unnecessary or ineffective. But the fact is that student actions have had a direct impact in changing not only the processes but also the outcomes of administrative decision-making. On more than one occasion, administrators have insisted they tried every possible alternative – but when pushed, they found ways to enact more egalitarian measures. The Hardship Fund, which came directly out of negotiations between strikers and administrators last spring, is one example.

I believe it is important to remember the ways in which dialogue is restricted at Vassar. I am referring not only to the centralized distribution of power and lack of transparency that make it difficult to have a two-way conversation, but also to the construction of what constitutes an “acceptable” way to communicate. I hope that in the future, groups and individuals will continue to make their voices heard and will engage in dialogue in many different ways.

—Sarah Cohen ’11

Reflecting on the second hunger strike of my Vassar career, I think it’s important to remind myself, as well as others, that the College cannot admit to bending to a hunger strike without implicitly encouraging its use as a legitimate tactic. That’s the best explanation for the tone and content of Dean [of the College Chris] Roellke’s less-than-flattering letter to the campus. In my opinion, the combination of the pressure of the hunger strike and the pressure of the unions created the necessary atmosphere to achieve justice for workers. My refusal to nourish my body for 89 hours was an expression of my lack of power and lack of options, as well as a physical demonstration of my commitment to the people who make our campus run. My greatest disappointment about the hunger strike was the staggering number of students who essentially told us that we were not allowed to question or disagree with those with authority/education/age. In that way, my decision to participate in a hunger strike was also an assertion of what I believe to be my place in the College—a place of involvement. I hope that, at the very least, a conversation has been opened about critique, and that now all members of the campus will be viewed as people with valid critiques to make of the College. I hope that we will now be seen as people to be listened to.

—Robyn Smigel ’12

A hunger strike is seen as an extreme action, and it is. No one can deny that. But, I balked, at first, at the portrayals of those of us who chose to not eat as extremists. Extremists brings forth images of men and women with explosives strapped to their chests, or people in cults committing mass suicides. But then I realized that if I agreed that a hunger strike is an extreme action, then I must agree with the designation of myself as an extremist in some way or another. Extreme in that I risked my body, for my convictions. With nothing left of a voice, no decision making, I control the only thing I have left, my own body.

People thought that we weren’t willing to dialogue, that a hunger strike isn’t a form of communication. I disagree. We stopped, once an agreement was made. We were only worried about gainful employment for members of our community. A strong stance was taken, because how else do you create the tension for favorable negotiations? Neither we nor the administrations would publicly bend, and yet we both did. The unions were satisfied, and we did our best.

People accuse us for not thinking, or being misinformed. Or of thinking in black-and-white. I’m a believer in dialogue, but power must be equal between participants. I’m also a fan of critical thought, and I’d hope that all of us would seek a critical participation in campus affairs. Full of questioning, and seeking.

—Royce Drake ’10

I think the hunger strike was a good learning experience in so far as it opened up dialogue between the administration and us from the pressure it put on them. Once we were noticed by the school—which includes administrators, union members and fellow students—progress began to appear in the form of a rescission of a layoff and continued talks into the matter. Being at the center of a serious demonstration, we received valuable information from various sources, such as union leaders, faculty and administrators, which revealed a bigger picture within this long-running issue.

As a striker, I also experienced from my classmates extreme antagonism, some of which I thought were unwarranted. There were a few instances of classmates talking rather loudly about food. For example, I remember someone taunting us with cheese burgers and another exclaiming that he apparently just had a delicious steak (ironically, most of us are vegan/vegetarian).

But I also witnessed first hand how kind others were. Some students and workers asked if we wanted anything or directly gave us Gatorade, apple juice, water or even blankets and a mattress pad. We received considerable praise from students and workers who believed in our cause, and I wish to thank them tremendously for that. We also invited students to hang and we explained to number of them what was going on. Overall, the hunger strike not only resulted in satisfying our demand of having more workers gainfully employed and set a tone for further actions in the spring semester, but also greatly motivated my efforts for this cause.

—Daniel Bruce Wong ’12

Yesterday in our meeting with President [of the College Catharine Bond] Hill, Dean Roellke and friends and members of the Campus Solidarity Working Group, we raised concerns about the governance of the college and methods of decision-making that undermine the priorities and voices of many people on campus. While Hill and Roellke may not understand our methodology, it is becoming clear to me that they are not the ones principally undermining our efforts, nor we theirs.

Rather, I feel our actions have reinforced our need for them to do their jobs well; not simply to make decisions, but to get to know our institution. During our time in the lobby of main, CWA and SEIU members and representatives let us know that the strike was valuable. On our third day, we were told that several people who were laid off had finally been given a means of gainful employment. To reiterate Sarah’s statement, student protests are effective, whether in the sense that they produce discourse or lead to concrete egalitarian change. Without tension and criticism, decision-making suffers and discourse narrows.

The conversation is not over; two positions are still in need of attention, but we feel the hunger strike achieved its goal of giving the unions more leverage in negotiation, and what was “not possible” became reality. Obviously, reshuffling positions is a fraction of the work that needs to be done. However, financial sustainability can be achieved in a variety of ways. We refuse to believe that the Board of Trustees, composed largely of corporate elite, represents the only valuable source of knowledge in this process. We hope students will continue to fight for information, to make their own voices heard and to instill in the culture of this school a sense that we value more than economics.

—Gaelin Monkman-Kotz ’12

It remains that the layoffs threaten the livelihoods of thirteen people, and I feel that the hunger strike drew much needed attention to this fact. I am of the opinion that what the first consideration of the college decision-making process should be is not financial necessity or competitiveness, but the human cost of any and all actions. Vassar, as an institution of higher learning with a history of social responsibility, should take measures to seek new and innovative solutions to financial problems. While layoffs are one way to go about fiscal cuts, they rob workers of the means by which they feed their families. This is significant given the current economic climate: it would be difficult for workers to find jobs after being laid off. Thus, layoffs threaten more than just individuals, but the families that depend on Vassar workers to provide for them.

What I felt the hunger strike did was to show the visceral threat of layoffs. Symbolically, by not eating, we hunger strikers sought to show how some of the workers being laid off might be unable to feed their families in the future. Our desire was that the college take further steps to seek out alternative solutions to fiscal problems, rather than settle on layoffs as being the only solution.

In our three and a half days of not eating, significant progress was made in terms of our goal. Perhaps our full goal was not met, but we were able to meet significant benchmarks in regards to the job security of those laid off. Regardless, we were able to establish a meaningful dialogue with administration about how we feel and make a statement about our beliefs as students of Vassar College who are concerned about the college’s future. It is my personal hope that the members of the college community come together and engage in joint, collective dialogue so that a measure like the hunger strike does not become necessary in the future.

—Brian Hioe ’13

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Hunger strikers plan to continue, despite statement from senior officers

December 10th, 2009 by

IMG_0825After nearly 40 hours without food, the hunger strikers stationed in the lobby of Main Building explained to The Miscellany News that they plan to continue with their demonstration, despite receiving an e-mailed statement from Dean of the College Chris Roellke stating that “there will be no change in policy on the announced layoffs.”

“That’s basically what they said last year,” said Robyn Smigel ’12, who was also involved in a hunger strike last spring which ended in the creation of the Hardship Fund and an economy website after negotiations with senior officers. “Based on our experiences in the past, things were called impossible until we suggested alternative solutions. That’s basically how the Hardship Fund started.”

Smigel explained that she and the other students involved in the strike still hope that the 13 positions eliminated this September will be reinstated or that those who have had their positions eliminated will be be given different College “jobs of equal pay,” she said.

The four students present during the Miscellany interview—Cohen, Smigel, Royce Drake ’10 and Brian Hioe ’13—explained that though they were all originally involved in the Campus Solidarity Working Group, they consider themselves and their actions to be separate from those of the Working Group. “We definitely still support [the Working Group],” said Smigel.

“We think there is space on campus for different kinds of organizing,” added Cohen. “[The Working Group] does a lot of community building—that’s a great thing to have,” she said.

According to Sarah Cohen ’11—not participating in the strike, but present to support it—the senior officers have been in contact with the students since the demonstration began on Tuesday at midnight. “We’ve e-mailed back and forth a couple of times,” she said.

Though no formal meeting between the senior officers and the strikers has yet been established or scheduled, Roellke explained that this morning, he, Dean of the Facutly Jonathan Chenette and Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger stopped by the lobby of Main to talk with the students. “We went to see if they were okay and to indicate to them that their actions do impact the broader community, whether they think they do or not,” said Roellke.

In addition, Smigel said that earlier today her parents were contacted by Dean of Students D.B. Brown. “My parents called me and they had got the impression somehow that disciplinary action may be coming our way. No one had said that directly to us,” she said. According to Roellke, however, the students were contacted by Brown in what he called “a standard call,” “made whenever there is a health or safety concern regarding a Vassar student.” ”D.B. Brown was never given any instruction to speak about disciplinary action,” said Roellke.

My parents called me and they had got the impression somehow that discplinary action my be coming out way and no one had said that to us directly and so i asked chris roellke about it and he said that he had not told anyone to tell my parents.
that’s basically what they said at
based on our experiences in the past where things might be called impossible until we suggest a way that they are
that’s basically how the hardship fund
or different jobs of equal pay
we e-mailed back and forth a couple of times
they want to meet with the campus solidarity working group that are not us
the four of us were originally involved in the campu ssolidarity group
tactical differences, we’re defintly interested in doing something that was a little higher pressure – robyn
we think there is space on campsu for diferent kinds of organizing sarah cohen
for community building – i think thats a great hting to have (cwgs) we’re in contact with the CWA
they have their own negotiation going on and we’re trying to pay attention to that
inside higher ed

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Three students begin hunger strike late Tuesday, Dec.8

December 9th, 2009 by

According to an entry posted five minutes ago on the new blog, uppityvassar.blogspot.com, “an autonomous group of Vassar students” began a hunger strike at 11:59 p.m., today, Tuesday, Dec. 8. Since the strike began, three students were stationed in the Lobby of Main Building, explaining their purpose to passers by. “The hunger strikers will not eat until the administration cancels the layoffs of 13 members of the Vassar community,” reads the post, “who have been notified that their jobs will no longer exist come Christmas break.” The blog, started earlier this week, is known to be run by Royce Drake ’10 and Robyn Smigel ’12— though others may be involved. Please continue checking miscellanynews.com for more updates on the demonstrators.

Update: Dean of the College responds to strikers with the following statement:

We are concerned that several students are choosing to put their health at risk by participating in a hunger strike and we urge them to reconsider their decision.

Our financial planning over the past year and a half has had as a priority the reduction of as few jobs as possible at the college. During this time of record economic downturn, we have achieved most of the needed reduction in our workforce by means other than layoffs: by not filling vacant positions, by offering retirement packages to eligible employees and by reorganizing departments and the ways we provide services. We have had to reduce a relatively small number of positions and in all of those cases the college has worked with the employees to assist them in finding other work. Of the 13 layoffs announced this fall, three have taken other jobs at the College; two have taken retirement incentive packages; and at least one has accepted a job elsewhere. All those who have lost jobs have had access to career counseling and employment services as well as funds for professional development.

Because of the realities of the financial constraints the college continues to face, there will be no change in policy on the announced layoffs. We all feel sadness at losing colleagues, and we will continue to provide support to assist them in finding other employment.

On behalf of my senior colleagues,

Christopher Roellke

Dean of the College

Professor of Education

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FLLAC to close from May to January for roof repairs

December 7th, 2009 by

1The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (FLLAC) will close for roof repairs beginning in May 2010 for a scheduled re-opening in January 2011, according to James Mundy, Anne Hendricks Bass Director of the FLLAC. “During this period,” wrote Mundy, “to the extent possible, faculty and students will continue to have access to the works in the collection. We will accommodate curricular needs of Art 105 and other courses by making the prints and drawings galleries and the print study room available for student and faculty use.” The upcoming exhibits scheduled during the time of the repairs—”Color Outside the Lines: Abstract Expressionist Works on Paper” and “Marco Maggi: Lentissimo”—will have to be rescheduled to a later date.  Please continue checking miscellanynews.com or read our upcoming Dec. 10 issue for further reporting on the scheduled FLLAC repairs.

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Live blogging from the Dec. 6 VSA Council Meeting

December 6th, 2009 by
    7:05 p.m. | Attendance.

    7:06 | Associate Professor of Art Lisa Collins and Associate Professor of Political Science Katherine Hite are special guests from the 22-member Committee on Inclusion and Excellence (CIE), a joint-committee compiled of students, faculty and administrators which, explains Collins, “works to implement policies and practices that work to create a campus where all students can work to be and feel successful and satisfied.” According to Collins, since June 2009, the Committee has been working on a Cultural Audit, “What would it take for you to thrive at Vassar?”

    Collins says that there are currently three active subcommittees working in the CIE—the cultural audit team, a faculty grant sub-committee and a pre-matriculation subcommittee, which “imagines what it might be to have a program—probably in the summer—for students who have been accepted at Vassar but may want or need some acclimation to this campus because it might be very different from something they’ve experienced before,” says Collins. While the full committee meets once a month, each subcommittee meets every other week.

    Collins notes that CIE also drafted and sent a letter to President of the College Catharine Bond Hill; the letter—which was circulated amongst and signed by members of the faculty in addition to the 22 committee members—reaffirmed support for Vassar’s need-blind admissions policy. The letter is pending response.

    7: 10 | “Because it’s an ad-hoc committee, there are still some things up in the air regarding the constitution of this committee after this year,” says Hite, who explains that she and Collins are looking for feedback from the Council as to how the committee should continue to shape itself for the future.

    Speaking of the Cultural Audit, Collins explains that 100 Vassar students signed up for the audit and answered questions drafted collectively by the committee members. Questions varied from “How do you define success at Vassar,” “What do you hope to accomplish by the time you graduate” and “Where have you seen inequity or injustice on campus.”

    7:25 | Following the Audit, CIE drafted a 30-page document presenting preliminary findings; “We meet on Thursday to see if we are comfortable with where we are,” said Collins. Raymond, one of the students on CIE, explains that the committee “plans to put together a plan to present all the data to the school once we get back for the spring semester,” he says, explaining the committee has tentatively decided to present this data house by house.

    7:40 | Lathrop explains that she wishes there were more events and traditions that cultivate “personal investment in the Vassar community,” she says, listing a “foundation of sports fans,” “strong alumnae/i networks” and unique traditions and rituals as examples of ways to foster “things that really bring Vassar students together as a community.”

    7:52 | Raymond: “The idea of belonging and commitment to Vassar is a really broad theme. There’s a lot that’s in the document we’re trying to publish. The reason why we’re not sharing the entirety of it right now is because [CIE] hasn’t gotten to a place where we’re entirely comfortable with it yet…Once this has been presented, we want to work on policy changes.”

    7:56 | Executive Board Report from the President: “With second semester coming up, there is an opportunity to look at student services in particular. This week we’re looking at the JYA admin review. That’s just one area of student services and potential offices around campus that could be made more efficient—whether it be in their output or their staffing or the particular support that they offer.”

    This week, the Athletics Department unanimously passed the Athletics Proposal, which was endorsed by the Council this September. The proposal recommends that athletes get 0.5 units of academic credit for participation on a varsity team. The proposal will be reviewed by Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger before it goes to the Committee on Curricular Policy, which will make an official recommendation to President Hill.

    8:10 | Activities, speaking to the activities-related results of the VSA survey: “Most people are pretty happy with the amount of programming on campus. About 110 people were happy with everything, there were about 50 that would like to see more programming and about 20 that would like to see less.”

    8:12 | Executive Board Report from Operations: “The 99 Nights launch party [for the Senior Class Gift] was wonderful. We had at least 300 people there,” says Operations. The Senior Class Gift Committee—co-chaired by Operations and Rachel Gilmer ’10—announced last night that the Class of 2010 would work throughout the spring semester to create an endowment to support scholarships. The class will be the first in the College’s history to establish such an endowment. “This community needs something, something that everyone on this campus can get behind and feel like they’re making a positive contribution to our community,” says Operations, who notes that the Committee has set a fundraising goal of $15,000 coming from over 75 percent of the senior class. Though the gift will be headed by the Class of 2010, all students and members of the Vassar community are able and invited to give.

    8:23 | The Executive Board presents a draft of its Administrative Review of the Office of International Programs (JYA): Academics: “The main recommendation made in this review is that JYA should probably be something that’s under the Dean of the Faculty Division, rather than the Dean of the College Division.”

    “This fall, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council focused its biannual Administrative Review on the Office of International Programs. Administrative Reviews allow the student government a regular chance to consider the role of different offices on campus, and to make policy suggestions from the students’ point of view,” states the review.

    8:42 | Activities moves to certify the Vassar Haiti Project (VHP), a student group that began in 2001. Raymond, who is also a member of the VHP, explains that the group started out of an initiative from Director International Services & Special Projects Andrew Meade and his wife Lila Meade, who both had connections to Haiti. Raymond explains that of VHP’s greatest accomplishments is the 2007 completion its first school, a concrete building with seven classrooms and over 750 attending students.

    VHP was certified by the Council.

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Midnight Breakfast returns for upcoming exam period

December 4th, 2009 by
MIDNIGHT BREAKFAST IS BACK!   On Sunday, December 13th from 10:00 PM to midnight breakfast will be served free to all students in ACDC by President Cappy Hill, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) and members of the Dean of the College division.  We hope everyone will come enjoy a bite to eat and a bit of communal relaxation before the onset of final exams.  At the end of the Spring, 2010 semester, an Ice Cream Social with accompanying outdoor activities is being planned.  We hope that you will be able to participate in what have become popular Vassar traditions, starting with Midnight Breakfast on December 13th!
Christopher Roellke
Dean of the College
Professor of Education
Vassar College
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
PH:  845-437-5600
Fax: 845-437-7640

Midnight BfastDespite rumors that Midnight Breakfast would be canceled for the Fall 2009 semester in order to save money, Dean of the College Christopher Roellke announced this afternoon that “Midnight Breakfast is back!” On Sunday, Dec. 13, from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m., he wrote in an all-campus e-mail, “breakfast will be served free to all students in [the All Campus Dining Center] by President Cappy Hill, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) and members of the Dean of the College Division.” Roellke explained that for the Spring 2010 semester, an ice cream social “with accompanying outdoor activities is being planned” in lieu of a second Midnight Breakfast.

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Live blogging from the Nov. 29 VSA Council Meeting

November 29th, 2009 by

7:00 p.m. | Attendance

7:03 | Report from the Committee on Curricular Policies (CCP) from Academics and Strong: Academics explains that the Committee has been researching peer institutions that administer their Course Evaluation Questionnaires (CEQs) online. The College has been exploring this option with the hope  that students would complete the CEQs more thoughtfully at their leisure at home, rather than in the last or second to last day of class. Academics also said that she is on the sub-committee that is looking into team teaching. This year, there are a minimum of 34 team-taught classes; last year there were 42 and the year beforethere were 52. ”The decrease already happened last year,” says Academics.

7:12 | Academics introduces a memorandum which, she explains, attempts to “walk the line between endorsing the sentiment presented in [the letter written by Judy Nichols] last week,” and also clarify inaccuracies, says Academics in reference to the letter that was drafted by Adjunct Associate Professor of English Judy Nichols and presented to the Council on Nov. 22 by representatives from the Campus Solidarity Working Group. During that meeting, members of the Council endorsed the letter in a 16 to 5 vote which followed at least three hours of discussion. “Ms. Nichols’ letter criticized the reductions in tenure lines, adjunct and visiting faculty members, and course sections as a result of the financial crisis,” reads the letter. “The document demonstrated a clear concern for the long-term health of Vassar’s multidisciplinary curriculum, our flexible course offerings, and our retention of excellent scholars and teachers. The Council voted to endorse this letter because we believe these are core properties of a Vassar education that our constituents value deeply.”

“Beyond these sentiments,” it continues, “which earned the support of the majority of Council, we feel it is our responsibility to acknowledge the inaccuracies within Ms. Nichols’ letter. As representatives, deep sympathy with a problematic or a cause cannot be an excuse to avoid the facts. The document presents a problematic interpretation of Vassar’s financial planning. We seek to highlight just some of the instances where the letter marshals false or incomplete evidence to make its case.”

7:25 | Noyes: “I really think we should vote on this letter tonight. We’re not going to agree on every single point of this memorandum, and I think that’s okay. I think that part of the point of this is that we all have different opinions.”

7: 30 | Operations explains that one of the concerns of last week’s endorsement was that constituents weren’t consulted before the Council voted in support of Nichols’ letter. “That’s not really an issue this week,” notes Operations, since the memorandum addresses actions of the Council and therefore only speaks for the Council members themselves, not their constituents.

7:36 | 2010: “It seems a little bit like we’re backpedaling or that we’re criticizing their letter.”

7:43 | According to the letter, the Dean of the Faculty released the information to the Executive Board that to the best of his knowledge 10 fewer sections will be offered next year, a much lower figure than the 30 to 40 estimated earlier this year.

8:00 | Council members propose small amendments to the wording of particular paragraphs or sections of the memorandum.

8:40 | Five-minute recess

8:58 | The Council unanimously endorses the memorandum, which will be sent to the Board of Trustees on Wednesday, Dec. 2.

A copy of the memorandum can be found at the bottom of this post.

9:08 | Allocation of $1000 from Mid Hudson Valley Fund to Hip Hop 101: Motion passes.

9:09 | Allocation of $1295 from Mid Hudson Valley Fund to Town Houses: Motion passes.

9:11 | Allocation of $875 from Great Works Fund to Vassar Public Art Committee: Motion passes.

9:14 | Open Discussion. Council adjourned.

—–

ACADEMICS MEMORANDUM

From: The Vassar Student Association Council

To: The Board of Trustees and Students of Vassar College

Cc: President Catharine Hill, Dean of the Faculty Jonathan Chenette, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs Rachel Kitzinger, Dean of the College Christopher Roellke, Vice President for Finance and Administration Elizabeth Eismeier, Vice President for Development Cathy Baer, Vice President for Computing and Information Services Bret Ingerman, Vice President for College Relations Susan DeKrey, Chair of the Faculty Policy and Conference Committee Steve Rock

Date: November 29, 2009

We, the VSA Council, wish to elaborate on our 11.22.09 endorsement of the Campus Solidarity Working Group’s letter to the Board of Trustees. The letter, written by Adjunct Associate Professor of English Judy Nichols, was presented to Council by a group of five students. After a heated discussion of nearly four hours, Council voted 15-6 to endorse the document. We seek here to frame this endorsement in the context of our nuanced discussion.

Ms. Nichols’ letter—the second in a series of similar documents—criticized the reductions in tenure lines, adjunct and visiting faculty members, and course sections as a result of the financial crisis. The document demonstrated a clear concern for the long-term health of Vassar’s multidisciplinary curriculum, our flexible course offerings, and our retention of excellent scholars and teachers. The Council voted to endorse this letter because we believe these are core properties of a Vassar education that our constituents value deeply.

Our endorsement of this letter was, to some extent, a reflection of the mood of the student body. Council is comprised of 24 full-time students. We study in every academic department. We compete on varsity athletics teams. We do research with our professors, learn from the life experiences of our staff, and benefit from the multifaceted diversity within our own student body. Council’s views on Vassar parallels the views of our 2,450 constituents. Many Council members felt that they lacked accurate financial information; many felt unsure of the future of their department or their favorite professor; many felt annoyed that, while members of the Executive Board are routinely consulted on confidential financial planning, the broader student community is left in the dark until after decisions have been reached. These feelings, reflected by our 15-6 endorsement, are all reflective of broader concerns on campus.

We also respect the student contingent of the Solidarity Group who attended our meeting. We are their representatives, and it is our responsibility to channel their feelings to the College’s decision-making bodies. Even if we disagree on policy and approach, we applaud these students for caring about our College so deeply. Indeed, a consistent frustration among Council members is that surprisingly few constituents come to us with institutional concerns—unfortunate, in a financial climate inevitably filled with such concerns. We are often discouraged when students are apathetic about the state of the College, and do not seek information easily available through campus-wide e-mails, our VSA site, the Economy site, or The Miscellany News. We admire the commitment of the students in the Solidarity Group and appreciate their efforts to make Vassar a more conscientious, egalitarian institution.

Nevertheless, we harbor no unrealistic expectations that Vassar can remain unchanged. In this economic climate, the VSA Council is fully aware that the curriculum we all value must shrink. So too must our teaching staff. However, as members of the community, we cannot help but feel saddened when our teachers are let go. And as representatives of the student body, we cannot help but agree with the Solidarity Group’s sincere concern for the effect of the financial crisis on academic life and on the lives of community members.

Beyond these sentiments, which earned the support of the majority of Council, we feel it is our responsibility to acknowledge some of the many inaccuracies within Ms. Nichols’ letter. In its accusatory and hyperbolic tone, the document presents a problematic interpretation of Vassar’s careful financial planning. We seek to highlight just some of the instances where the letter marshals false or incomplete evidence to make its case.

The letter makes several inaccurate claims about the staffing and curricula of specific departments. Computer Science will actually be teaching four more course sections next fall compared to this year.[1] Film too will be one course ahead of the level of staffing they requested for 2010-11 because a new tenure-track appointee would have had a reduced course load in the first year.[2] As for the languages, the Dean of the Faculty office has indeed asked that tenure-line faculty members engage in teaching at the 100-level on a regular basis. Students at the 100-level deserve and benefit from contact with our tenured scholars, and our tenure-line faculty benefit from regular engagement with the challenges and rewards of teaching at that level. We disagree with the letter’s implication that this trend is negative. Further, we take issue with the letter’s baseless accusation that the administration has illegally forced faculty members to retire. While the College’s financial situation has no-doubt resulted in some retirement-age faculty feeling pressure to leave the institution, we have no reason to believe that the administration is the source of that pressure.

Most significantly, beyond these specific points, the letter conveys both implicitly and explicitly that decisions have been made by a small group of administrators without regard to community input. This is misleading. While our Senior Officers (most of whom are also teaching faculty) have directed financial planning, students and faculty also had direct input into decision-making. Two elected students—the VSA President and VSA Vice President for Operations—sit as full members on the Priorities and Planning Committee. The members of this group sit as equals, debating the College’s many noble aspirations alongside its financial restraints. The students, faculty, and administrators come together with optimism for what Vassar should be and realism for what Vassar can be. Through this committee, we have had (and continue to have) substantive and specific input into the financial decision-making process. On curricular issues, the VSA Vice President for Academics sits on the Advisory Group for the Allocation of Faculty Resources (AGAFR) and the Committee on Curricular Policies (CCP), and is a vocal advocate for multidisciplinary programs, the reduction of administrative course releases, and the general maintenance of our broad and diverse curriculum. The letter fails to acknowledge the substantive input that students have had into the current financial plan through their elected representatives.

Moreover, the letter implies that Vassar’s financial planning was reached haphazardly—that the senior administration hacked away at the budget without care for the curriculum or respect for the College’s employees. In fact, we recognize that the process was thoughtful and deliberative. Dean of the Faculty Jon Chenette has worked (and continues to work) with departments to ensure that we are making academic reductions in ways that will affect the broader curriculum as little as possible. We recognize that some members of the community, including some members of our own Council, object to staffing decisions in certain areas. However, the Senior Officers, CCP and AGAFR reached these decisions after long and careful consideration. This important work should not be dismissed.

We agree wholeheartedly with the document’s concern for the curriculum, and are pleased that since the Council’s endorsement, the most recent estimates suggest that the curriculum will lose only 10 course sections next fall, rather than the 30 previously estimated. It is important to realize that the damage done to the curriculum by these changes is not nearly as catastrophic as Ms. Nichols’ letter implies. By almost any measure, Vassar’s curriculum will remain flexible and diverse.

We would also like to clarify the conditions under which Council voted to endorse the letter. The members of the Solidarity Group told Council that Ms. Nichols planned to send her letter on Wednesday, November 25. As we later discovered, she did not plan to send it until Wednesday, December 2. This false date essentially prevented us from delaying the vote by one week to consider the motion in greater depth. While we do not believe that we were intentionally misled, this significant miscommunication put pressure on Council to act quickly. Many representatives saw this as a choice between “doing something” to advocate for the curriculum or “doing nothing.” Under this tight timeframe, the majority of Council elected to endorse the document. In some cases, this endorsement was more for the sentiments behind it than for the facts underlying it.

The feelings we express here are nuanced, but the issues facing the College are complex enough that such nuance is required. Unlike the Solidarity Group’s letter, we lack a unified thesis. We are instead left with competing and simultaneous thoughts—irreparable sadness for the loss of professors and staff, concern for our characteristically dynamic curriculum, profound respect for the College’s senior leadership, and a determination to mend our community and build an unshakable foundation for Vassar’s next 150 years.

[1] The following information is drawn largely from the Schedule of Classes and sheds light on the appropriateness of the staffing levels approved for Computer Science. CMPU offered 23 class sections in 2008-09, and is offering 17 this year. Most of the reduction involved cutting back on under-subscribed multi-section courses. CMPU is offering 14 different courses this year, as compared to 16 last year. All areas of the curriculum required for the major are well represented. None of the class sections have reached their maximum size. In 2008-09, 13 of the 23 CMPU course sections had fewer than 10 students; this year only 3 of the 17 have fewer than 10. The total number of students served in this year’s 17 sections exceeds the number served in last year’s 23. Because of these healthier enrollments, the College is adding sections back for next year. The Computer Science department has been approved for 22 teaching equivalencies next year — four more than this year. Note that teaching equivalencies differ slightly from course sections because of the way labs count into faculty teaching loads.

[2] Film is indeed losing a tenured retiree, and that line may indeed be restored in the future. For the short term, the College is replacing all the courses that person would have taught by a combination of other types of appointments. Overall, the department will be one course ahead of the level of staffing they requested for 2010-11 because a new tenure-track appointee would have had a reduced course load in the first year.

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