The Miscellany News
miscellanynews.org
Streep
April 21, 2022
ceremony
Janet Song, Sawyer Bush
Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor
O
n April 19, the College announced that renowned actress Meryl Streep ’71 would be unable to attend the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC) Distinguished Achievement Award Ceremony, due to pneumonia. Streep was in line to become the sixth alumna/us to receive the award in this ceremony. A series of statements were released by the College in relation to the ceremony and its postponement. News of Streep’s sudden cancellation first came on social media on April 19. At 5:01 p.m. the College reblogged a post from April 18 with an update on their Twitter account, and edited a Facebook post from April 18. Later at 8:20 p.m, AAVC President Steve Hankins ’85 and Chair of Alumnae/i Recognition Com-
mittee Amy Pullman ’71 released an email to the Vassar student body, addressed to the registrants of the ceremony, the Class of ’71 and AAVC board members. “[Streep] wishes to convey that a bout of pneumonia is keeping her from the festivities, but she is so honored to be included in the day’s commemorations from the College that ordered her thinking, ignited her creative imagination, and gave her friends for life,” the email stated. “We are therefore postponing the bestowal of the award to a time when Ms. Streep can join us and we can properly celebrate her many accomplishments. As we look for a new date, please join us in wishing Ms. Streep a speedy recovery.” As of now, the AAVC board has yet to release a date for the rescheduled ceremony. However, festivities will continue for the Class of ’71 to celebrate their 50th reunion.
exhibit featured in the Whitney Charlotte Robertson Assistant Copy Editor
O
n March 17, Naomi Young ’24 invited me to her exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The “Listening Lab,” a multidisciplinary art project that Young began working on last summer, focuses on amplifying youth voices on the topic of the COVID-19 pandemic. Young was one of eight Listening Lab co-founders who interviewed strangers throughout the five boroughs on their pandemic experiences. As she described it, “We set up a table and two chairs in different parts of the city, and we just had people come up and talk to us. And it revolved around like, ‘How has your life changed since March 2020?’” The exhibition at the Whitney aimed to showcase the Listening Lab in an engaging and interactive way. Young came to the project through her youth counsel employment at the nonprofit organization, The Door, which helps young people in New York City by providing legal and immigration services as well as a health clinic with free STI testing, free glasses prescriptions and regular checkups. “I was a part of it because they helped me get my first job,” Young shared. “The way I see it, The Door was like an incubation space for the Listening Lab.” As The Door is well-established in New York, Listening Lab had access to many resources that kickstarted the project. The exhibition was simple and elegant, set up in an open room with floor-to-ceil-
Campus Green exhibit enthralls CDO Arts Editor
A
s you walked from your 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. class, you may have stopped to wonder about the curious, randomly intersecting paths meandering whimsically throughout campus. Or maybe you took a second to pause and look at the flowers and bushes that often line our walkways. Sure, most college campuses are aesthetically pleasing, but something about Vassar’s
Volume 157 | Issue 10
postponed Vassar student’s ‘Listening Lab’
Photo courtesy of Vassar College via Twitter.
Ganesh Pillai
Vassar College’s student newspaper of record since 1866
greenery feels more than that. It feels like its own, unique space walking the line between carefree and purposeful design. As it turns out, those aspects of our Vassar environment that garner our adoration have been in the works long, long before any of us even considered the idea of college. “The Campus Green: Olmsted Firm’s Designs for Vassar College” is an exhibition currently housed in the Art Library, which depicts the presumably gargantuan task of See Campus on page 4
Ganesh Pillai/The Miscellany News.
holds
ing windows. The walls were paneled with Listening Lab quotations in white text. Headphones connected to iPads lined the perimeter, playing audio clips from the interviews Young and the other Listeners facilitated. “We missed the human element. I don’t have friends. All my classmates, none of them are my friends,” one interviewee from Queens said. Another interview from Brooklyn commented, “Sometimes we question ourselves. Like, why this, this See Whitney on page 6
Charlotte Robertson/The Miscellany News.
migration
Jyotsna Naidu Guest Reporter
O
n April 5, the Consortium on Forced Migration, Displacement and Education (CFMDE) hosted a Careers in Migration & Displacement Alumnae/i Panel over Zoom. The panel is part of a growing effort to formalize the study of Migration and Displacement after a correlate launched last semester in the International Studies department according to Coordinator for Research and Pedagogy Ava McElhone Yates ’21. The panel fostered increased connections with alumni to network and discover career opportunities. “The issues of migration and displacement aren’t going away. I see this program growing a lot and I know that we have students who have this correlate who are graduating who have interest in pursuing careers related to this as well,” Yates said. Yates planned and facilitated the panel along with the Career Development Office (CDO) Associate Director of Alumnae/i Outreach and Partnerships Jannette Swanson. Other organizations involved include Vassar Refugee Solidarity, Vassar Law Club
and Vassar Alliance of Women in Foreign Affairs. The panel consisted of 40 minutes of prepared questions followed by audience questions. Afterwards, students could move between breakout rooms and directly connect with alumnae/i. “We’ve seen that there’s a lot of interest from students and faculty to come together as a community [for the Migration and Displacement correlate],” Yates said. “Now that we can [come together as a community] again with events, that’s really exciting. I think it’s growing a lot of momentum on campus.” Alumnae/i connections are critical for migration and displacement careers with many of the panelists getting their jobs through prior internships, according to Sophia Rao ’22, an International Studies major with a Migration and Displacement correlate. She secured an internship with a migrant resettlement non-governmental organization, with help from Vassar alumnae/i network on applications. “Vassar has a pretty big network of people working in migration fields and I think reaching out See CDO on page 3
Inside this issue
5
FEATURES
Senior Editor Monika Sweeney provides tips and tricks for fellow dairy-non digesters.
Are you an upcoming Vassar student partaking in a campus tour? Get out of here HUMOR while you still can.
9
Stressed out? Annoyed at finals? Assistant Opinions Editor Ben Goth says to just fucking OPINIONS swear.
10
panel