This is Vassar...October 2008

AAVC Hosts Legacy Reception at Freshman Parents Weekend

Every fall, Vassar hosts Freshman Parents Weekend — a weekend designed to introduce new Vassar parents to the campus. But for some, it is a reunion of sorts. There are 48 legacy freshman this year, with a parent or parents who also attended Vassar. AAVC welcomed these alumnae/i families to campus with a reception at the President’s House. Twenty-two families attended and enjoyed meeting President Hill and getting to know fellow alumnae/i parents and new students. But it was the display of photos of the legacy freshmen paired with their parent’s Vassar yearbook picture that most amused and delighted the families! In addition to the Legacy Reception, the weekend offered faculty research presentations, a student life panel, and job internship information session hosted by the Career Development Office.

Community Shuttle Brings Students into Poughkeepsie

The vibrant city of Poughkeepsie has a lot to offer residents and visitors in terms of culture, shopping, and schools — but without a car, it is difficult to gain access to those places from Vassar. This year, however, the new Poughkeepsie Shuttle will make it easy for all students to get off campus and explore the city. The 29-seat Leprechaun Bus, appropriately printed with “Catch the Magic” on its side, will make eight off-campus stops in a 45-minute rotation running from 12:15 to 6:30 p.m.

Among its stops will be the Poughkeepsie Middle School and High School (for people who tutor and student teach at the schools), the historic Lower Main Street gallery and restaurant district, the Vassar Brothers Medical Center, and the city train station. The Campus-Community Advisory Committee felt that students wanted to get out into Poughkeepsie, and started the shuttle as a convenient and safe way to explore life beyond the college campus.

A Sampling of October Speakers

Jeremi Suri, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of History, will deliver the 2008 Charles Griffin Memorial Lecture in Sanders Hall on October 2. He will speak on “Henry Kissinger and the Transformation of International Society.” Suri has published extensively in the field of international history in the twentieth century, most recently Henry Kissinger and the American Century. Read an article about Suri in Smithsonian Magazine.

Poet Paige Ackerson-Kiely (pictured) will read from her work in the library on October 7. Her first collection, In No One’s Land, was published in 2006 and won the Sawtooth Poetry Prize that year. She also won the Poets & Writers Writer’s Exchange Contest. To read three of Ackerson-Kiely’s poems, visit http://www.jubilat.org/n11/kiely.html.

Chris Martin, abstract artist, will deliver the 2008 Claflin lecture in Taylor Hall on October 15. His work incorporates elements of collage and references New Age and nature imagery, particularly that of the Hudson Valley. Read an interview with Martin from The Brooklyn Rail.

Catherine Lutz, Brown University Professor of Anthropology and International Studies, will deliver the John Christie Memorial Lecture in American Culture on October 16 in Sanders Hall. The lecture, titled “Warmaking as the American Way of Life,” will explore militarization and its shaping of American life beyond the battlefield as discussed in her most recent book, The Insecure American. Read a chapter from Lutz’s book.

George Saunders, short-story writer and Syracuse University Professor of Creative Writing, will give the 2008 Gifford Lecture on October 29 in the Villard Room. Saunders has won multiple awards for his work including a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006. His most recent work is the nonfiction collection The Braindead Megaphone. Explore various reviews and clips on Saunders’s website.

Brad Simpson, Princeton University Professor of History, will speak on “An Economics of Violence: The US Embrace of Authoritarian Development in Suharto’s Indonesia, 1965-75.” The lecture will take place on October 30 in Rockefeller Hall and will explore the intersection of anti-Communism and development thinking in Indonesian U.S. relations. Simpson published his first book this year on this topic, and is also founder and director of a project at the National Security Archive to declassify U.S. government documents concerning Indonesia during Suharto’s regime. Read more on this project.

Stanford Welcomes Professor Luke Harris as a Visiting Fellow

The Stanford University Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity recently awarded Vassar College Political Science Professor Luke Harris a visiting fellowship for his project “Notes from a Child of Apartheid.” The visiting fellowship selects individuals “who share a comparative, multidisciplinary and multiracial approach to the study of race, ethnicity and culture,” and includes a $45,000 stipend towards their projects. Harris will spend the 2008-09 school year at Stanford, where he will attend monthly seminars and conferences, and will participate in research networks and forums with other Fellows to share methodology and theory which will aid in his research on issues of race and social inclusion policies in the United States and abroad.

Photo credit: Tamar Thibodeau

Read the Miscellany News Online

On August 25, The Miscellany News announced the debut of its brand new, interactive website. The site boasts a number of new features, including allowing readers to respond to articles and debate the key issues facing Vassar. Readers will be able to submit Letters to the Editor online and see them printed in the next week’s issue. Users can request to have summaries of weekly issues or breaking news emailed to them directly. An RSS feed allows readers to view the Miscellany News through services such as Google Reader. The website also has tools to allow readers to share articles through email, or via Facebook, Blogger, or MySpace.

The Misc’s 2008-09 Executive Board from left to right: Emma Mitchell '09 (senior editor),
Brian Farkas '10 (editor-in-chief), Alexandra Matthews '11 (senior editor).

Another new feature of the site is The Miscellany News Guide to Poughkeepsie. The guide includes a variety of resources, including restaurant reviews and information on local attractions.

The newest version of the site is the product of more than five months of coding. “We studied about 100 college newspaper sites from peer institutions across the country,” said Editor-in-Chief Brian Farkas ’10. “And I have no doubt that The Miscellany News website blows them out of the water, both in terms of functionality and in terms of user experience.” Farkas sees the site as an important mechanism for keeping alumnae/i connected with the campus. “Last year, we received several Letters to the Editor from graduates, which I think brought an interesting angle to our coverage. Now it will be even easier for alumnae/i to interact. I hope that this new website will serve as a forum for discussion and information for all members of the Vassar community — past and present.”

Photo credit: Photo courtesy of The Miscellany News

Human Rights Discussion on Campus on October 11

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an important landmark in the history of American world leadership. AAVC will sponsor a symposium titled “In Small Places Close to Home: Americans Struggle for Human Rights,” on Saturday, October 11, 2008. The event also coincides with Eleanor Roosevelt’s birthday, who addressed the United Nations in New York on March 27, 1958 with these words.

“Where, after all, do universal rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm or office where he works. Such are the places  where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerned citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”

Roosevelt was an active advocate of human rights and a valued friend of the college. Among the issues that will be addressed at the symposium are: What was and is the role of the United States in developing a post-World War II human rights regime? Does the United States need to reassert its world leadership role by improving the example it sets? Are we practicing what we preach in the realm of human rights, domestically and internationally?

President of Human Rights First Michael Posner (pictured) will deliver the keynote address at the symposium. Panelists will include moderator M. Glen Johnson, professor emeritus of political science; Joseph Nevins, associate professor of geography; Dr. Karin Deutsch Karlekar ’94, senior researcher and managing editor of Freedom of the Press; Grisela Alejandro Jackson ’78, community organizer and activist in post-Katrina New Orleans; Ann Northrop ’70, journalist and activist and co-host of the national weekly news program Gay USA; and Reverend Richard Witt, executive director of Rural and Migrant Ministries in Poughkeepsie. The event is free and open to the public.

Photo credit: Photo courtesy of Human Rights First

Vassar Inspiration and Education Weekend (VIEW) Recap

The weekend of September 19–20 brought about 150 alumnae/i back to campus for VIEW, or Vassar Inspiration and Education Weekend — Vassar’s version of homecoming. VIEW is designed to bring alumnae/i class, club, admission, affiliate, and reunion volunteers together to find ways to inform their work as volunteers and ambassadors of the college. Events included a “State of the College” panel featuring senior officers of the college and a Friday dinner honoring Fay Gambee ’62, this year’s recipient of the AAVC Outstanding Service to Vassar Award.

On Saturday, all alumnae/i were welcomed back on campus for a chance spend a day as a Vassar student again. Professors from the departments of film, political science, history, and psychology led class-style lectures, proving that a Vassar education doesn’t have to end at graduation. The new Prentiss athletic fields were dedicated and special tours were conducted of the arboretum, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, the farm, and the greenhouse, and the visiting actors from the London Stage hosted a text workshop on The Winter’s Tale. Women’s Soccer and Field Hockey played in the afternoon and a cappella groups the Night Owls, Measure 4 Measure, and Matthew’s Minstrels held a concert, as did the Vassar Choir. The day finished with a conversation hosted by President Catharine Hill, a dinner, a bonfire, and stargazing at the Class of 1951 Observatory. Amidst all these events, alumnae/i found time to reconnect with friends and attend information sessions.

VIEW attendee Megan McDonnell Schuler especially enjoyed the lecture by Professor of Film Sarah Kozloff. “I loved the class on Violence in the Media. It was such the great Vassar experience in that it sparked fantastic discussion. In fact, most people did not want to leave when our time was up. I truly felt like I was back in class and wished I could have stayed!”

Whoever said that a homecoming weekend had to include football?

Photo credit: On Location Studios

Napoli’s Pizza Expands its Operations

What Vassar student hasn’t, at least once during their four years on Raymond Avenue, made the late-night call to Napoli’s pizzeria? Napoli’s, better known as “Nap’s,” has closed after more than 30 years in business. But don’t despair — Antonio DeBernardo, who founded the pizzeria in 1972 after immigrating from Naples, may be retiring at the age of 70 but he is handing the reins over to his son, Costanzo.

Cozzy plans to retain the same work ethic and care for Vassar students that his father had, but he also has some new ideas: He plans to remodel the dining room and offer an expanded menu with panini, vegan items, veggie burgers, and gourmet salads and wraps. There will even be a new pizza recipe that reflects his culinary training, but doesn’t stray too far from his father’s beloved recipe. The restaurant will open this month pending building permits from the City of Poughkeepsie. And the best part? The newly named Cozzy’s Place will now deliver until 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.