Contrary to how it sounds, Williams and Walker explained that using chemical herbicides now is actually a step towards using many fewer in the future. “The college is committed to minimizing the use of chemicals, but we have learned that there are no organic products strong enough to treat the current infestation of weeds in campus lawns,” they wrote in the e-mail. “The goal is not to achieve a lawn that is 100% grass, but instead to build up turf grass populations so that weeds are not the predominant vegetation (as they are now).”

“Six years ago the college quit using any pesticides on the central campus lawns,” they wrote. “Before that time, the lawns were sprayed regularly in the Fall and Spring. Unfortunately, abandoning pesticides ‘cold turkey’ without a system or budget in place to manage the lawns organically, allowed a strong crop of weeds to grow in the lawns.”

They urged students to avoid the sprayed lawns for 24 hours after they have been sprayed. Signs will be posted to remind passers-by.

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. ]]> http://blogs.miscellanynews.com/newsroom/2009/12/06/live-blogging-from-the-dec-6-vsa-council-meeting/feed/ 1