News Analysis | Candidates vary in proposals for College improvement

As all candidate statements for Vassar Student Association (VSA) elected positions have been posted and the Executive Board debate completed, it is time that students carefully consider the views of each candidate beyond his or her posters. Though they cannot vote, administrators, faculty, and other members of the Vassar community now may take some time to tune in to a period of enhanced student discussion and get a sense of the student leaders with whom they will work next year.

This is an overview and comparison of the statements of candidates running for positions on the VSA Executive Board, particularly focusing on the candidates' goals for their respective offices. All Vassar students are the constituents of every member of the VSA Executive Board, though each of the board's members oversees a different set of interests for the student body.

A simple glance at all of the statements makes it clear that they vary in substance. Some candidates propose to improve their respective areas, though do not put forward specific improvements. Other candidates only briefly describe the general responsibilities of the position and how they would fulfill them, while some did not at all. Each of these candidates debated others running for the same office in Rockefeller Hall 200 on April 23.

 Vice President for Academics

The position of Vice President (VP) for Academics has the greatest number of candidates, though not all of the statements make clear references to the specific tasks of the office. The candidates—Emma Carmichael '10, Alexander Cheung '12, Stephanie Damon-Moore '11, Sung Eun Kim '10 and Tian An Wong '11—all recognize the importance of academics at the College and the position's particularly significant role given the state of the economy and inevitable cuts in Vassar's curriculum.

In their candidate statements, only Kim and Damon-Moore make reference to the Committee on Curricular Policy, a key committee on which the VP for Academics sits, and only Carmichael notes that the VP for Academics also sits on the Advisory Group on the Allocation of Faculty Resources (AGAFR), a group that was created for the express purpose of evaluating the curriculum with regard to the financial crisis. This year's Executive Board successfully lobbied to ensure a student presence in this group.

As for specific goals, Kim embeds a straightforward list of them into his longer statement: "Minimize short-term faculty cuts, preserve small classes, ensure that introduction level courses are offered, extend [Non-Recorded Option] deadline until at least one graded assignment is received and last, but not least, make sure that faculty grading is fair." Damon-Moore addresses areas of concern, such as course evaluation questionnaires (CEQs) and pre-major advising, but she does not posit specific solutions.

Carmichael sets forth something of an agenda in an itemized list. This list, while also vague at times, includes her intent to assess pre-major advising and allow students to evaluate their advisors, to award academic credit to athletes, to find more opportunities for cross-listed classes for multi-disciplinary majors, and to modify course schedules to help students better avoid time conflicts when choosing classes.

During the debate, when the floor was opened up to questions from the audience, President of 2011 Joseph Redwood-Martinez addressed the inexperience of all of the candidates for VP for Academics and asked them pointedly why they were considering an executive position. According to Redwood-Martinez, "I'm actually kind of freaking out that I've only seen two of the applicants at an actual VSA meeting." Of the VP for Academics candidates, only Carmichael has served on Council as President of Town Students, although even she has only served for one semester.

Damon-Moore suggested that her inexperience could be considered a strength. "I'm more than qualified to fill the position, and I think that I could actually bring something to the VSA that other candidates who have been involved in the past might," she said. "I represent someone who hasn't been familiar with the organization and therefore would not come in with any pre-conception of how to do my job, and would therefore be open to more creative and outside-of-the-box type of ideas." Damon-Moore also recognized the importance of AGAFR and the need for a strong student voice that would be willing to stand up to faculty and administrators, for which she suggested her other experiences on campus have prepared her.

Carmichael stated that she was running because of her dissatisfaction with certain academic aspects of the College, such as course registration and the advising system. "I've got actually a pretty huge amount of dissatisfaction with the registration process at this school and the way that independent majors and multi-disciplinary majors are treated," said Carmichael. Cheung defended his freshman candidacy by suggesting that his class will be the most affected by next year's decisions.

 Vice President for Student Life

Three candidates are vying for the position of Vice President for Student Life—Elizabeth Anderson '11, Rachel Gilmer '10, and Sean Koerner '11.

In her candidate statement, Gilmer lists several areas where she would like to prioritize improvements. These areas include the meal plan, student services, sustainability, security, and Vassar-Poughkeepsie relations. Within these categories, she offers specific items such as composting and recycling programs and the inclusion of local vendors in the meal plan. Gilmer also mentions possible cuts, such as the contentious proposal to eliminate Baldwin's 24-hour health services. She does not take a firm stand on one side or the other—whether or not to eliminate 24-hour service—but rather promises to "work with both students and faculty members to ensure that we are meeting your needs."

Anderson also identifies security and the meal plan as her concerns in her candidate statement. She particularly focuses on residential life and campus safety, the integration of a new Davison House community, and the restructuring of administrative and student service offices, which she writes "must be dealt with next year." Like Gilmer, Anderson does not set out a clear agenda for rectifying these concerns, but she does suggest openness to soliciting student opinions.

Koerner's statement is the only one of the three to explicitly draw the connection between the position and the Dean of the College division, though Anderson also references offices in the division such as Residential Life. Koerner promises to build on his existing relationships with administrators in the Dean of the College division.

Koerner recently resigned from his position as Noyes House President at the urging of the current VSA Executive Board, after a disciplinary hearing before the College Regulations panel for organizing an unauthorized party in Kenyon Hall. The Executive Board was in contact with Dean of the College Chris Roellke. Although other students were involved in organizing the party and perpetrating damage to College property in the Kenyon Hall Club Room, Koerner took primary responsibility for the event.

In his candidate statement, Koerner does not specify how these events have affected his relationship with the division, either negatively or positively. During the debate, however, Koerner answered a direct question about his relationship with the Dean of the College division, and admitted that administrators such as Roellke and Director of Security Don Marsala likely trust him less as a result of the incident. However, along with expressing regret for his actions, Koerner also mentioned that he and Roellke have both discussed how to make his actions a teaching opportunity, thereby turning it into a positive experience for the College.

 Vice President for Finance

Both candidates for Vice President for Finance come with some financial experience from their extracurricular activities, but they differ in approaches to the position. Both Mathew Leonard '11 and Scott Pascal '10 have served as members of the VSA Council this year, and both have sat on the VSA's Finance Committee.

Leonard's goals are mostly focused on making the budgeting and fund allocation processes more transparent for student organizations. His suggestions include a rationale sheet to be attached to every funding application, which will explain the Finance Committee's recommendations. This sheet will also be sent to organizations before their funding comes to a vote in Council to minimize budgeting surprises. Leonard is also intent upon making sure that organizations can always access information regarding their balance, though he is more vague as to how to address this point.

Pascal also touches on transparency in his suggestion to move some of the VSA's financial processes online. "This would include having balances and transaction histories available online," he wrote. He also hopes to reduce redundancies in organization spending, though he does not give examples of such redundancies occurring. In the debate, he hinted at this goal when he discussed the expense of habitual equipment rental for events such as concerts, as opposed to the cost of purchasing equipment to make available for the use of student organizations. Pascal mentions a goal of holding convenient office hours, as well, though all members of the Executive Board have held semi-weekly office hours this year, making Pascal's goal simply a continuation of this habit—one that will likely be maintained by all members of next year's Executive Board.

The current VP for Finance, Marcelo Buitron '09, asked both VP for Finance candidates whether they would continue his policy of refusing to vote for the certification of new student organizations to protect the VSA's already stretched budget.

Leonard agreed with Buitron that there are too many organizations, but did not commit to any kind of certification ultimatum. "I'm not sure actually, to be entirely honest," he said. "It's something I would have to think about." He invoked his support of the VSA's new bylaws concerning the certification of new organizations and suggested that they could be taken even farther. According to Leonard, "Until we find ways to detach space [reservations] from finance, I'm going to have to be strict on certifying new orgs."

Pascal emphasized the importance of having a variety of organizations for prospective students. "I think what really needs to happen is to sort of eliminate redundancies," he said. He suggested that, as VP for Finance, he would look at the VSA as a whole instead of looking to specifically decertify organizations.

 Vice President for Activities

Aaron Grober '11 is running unopposed for Vice President for Activities. In his candidate statement, he highlights his organizational experiences, particularly his role in organizing the Main House pool party, which will take place on April 26. He also outlines some basic goals, though he does not offer specific examples for their implementation, such as in the case of "reworking the system" so that parties in UpCDC and the Villard Room might show greater interest and attendance.

The current Vice President for Activities, Alexandria Dempsey '09, asked Grober, along with the candidates for VP for Finance, whether and how he would be able to separate his personal views from the necessities of the office, particularly in situations where he might have to refuse a new organization or an event. "A big part of those two roles is balancing your personal opinions with what's best for the VSA," said Dempsey.

Grober did not distinguish between the two, but rather said that he hoped that his personal views and the needs of the office would line up sufficiently to make the best judgments. "If I can be elected, students are putting their trust in me," said Grober. "I don't really see there being a distinction between what I believe is personally right and what I believe is actually right."

 Vice President for Operations

Brian Marcel Moody '10 had posted only, "Meh, you could do worse," as his candidate statement before Brian Farkas '10 also filed for the position of VP for Operations and attached a statement, which suggested, in more words, that perhaps voters could also do better. Moody has since added a more thoughtful statement and differs significantly from Farkas in his views of the position.

In his candidate statement, Farkas lists his major goals for next year—to improve and expand the VSA Web site, which at the present time is egregiously out of date; to fortify student connections with alumnae/i, especially for the purpose of helping current students and recent graduates in their job searches; to carefully oversee and perhaps even overhaul the committee structure; and to foster collaborations and connections between offices.

Moody is more laid-back in his approach, and offers to listen to students before creating his agenda. "I believe strongly that discussion and collaboration is the best way to approach most situations, and that listening to the concerns of others before inserting my own goals and solutions is the best way to facilitate that," he writes in his statement. Moody alludes to his knowledge of the duties of the position, though he concerns himself more with hearing student opinions.

Moody also expresses reservations about Farkas's agenda in his statement, though he does not elaborate any further. In the debate, he did specifically target Farkas' plan to streamline offices such as the Career Development Office (CDO) and others. Moody suggested that dialogue between offices, rather than cuts, is a better solution. Moody said that he based his view on a conversation he had with a senior student employee in the CDO.

 President

Each of the two candidates for VSA President, Caitlin Ly '10 and Nate Silver '10, already have a year of experience on the Executive Board and have some overlap in their initiatives for next year. This year Silver has served as the VP for Student Life and Ly has served as the VP for Operations.

Perhaps because of their mutual experience on the Executive Board, there is some overlap in the goals of these two candidates. Both support initiatives to maintain need-blind admissions, certain changes to the meal plan, and a re-evaluation the way in which student input is considered in faculty reviews. Each candidate's statement is presented differently. Ly offers a short paragraph of explanation with each general goal, while Silver's itemized list is brief but to-the-point.

Ly also prioritizes improving the relationship between students and security, increasing the VSA's transparency, sustaining Vassar pride and tradition, pushing organizations to work together, and re-evaluating the relationships between various student services with an eye toward restructuring. In both her statement and in passing during the debate, Ly mentioned building a relationship with The Miscellany News, and Ly suggested that in addition to posting Council minutes, the Executive Board might also create video and podcast updates "Obama-style." These changes, she said, would increase transparency.

Silver adds some similar points in his statement, though with slightly different focuses, such as to bring forward a Room Entry Policy for Security officers to protect students' right to privacy, to increase sustainability initiatives, to allow varsity athletes to receive academic credit for their participation in their sport, and to generally support the VSA in its endeavors to take on some of the burden of the financial crisis as it is experienced by the entire college. The last point may be a welcome statement to some administrators, because according to Buitron at the April 19 Council meeting, as the College cuts back on certain services, the burden, or at least some of it, will fall on the finances of the VSA.

In their written statements, Silver and Ly seem more similar than different, and this trend continued somewhat during the debate. For example, while both are in favor of putting a student on the Board of Trustees, they differed in suggestions of how to go about achieving the goal. Silver suggested that putting a graduated VSA President on the Board was more practical in the short term because, according to Silver, Trustees have understandable reservations about placing a current student on the board where he or she would be privy to the inner College finances, such as professors' salaries. Ly was in favor of immediately pushing to give the seat to a current student, most likely the VSA President, because he or she would be the most attune to the pressing issues of student life, which, she said, are subject to change greatly every year.

It has recently become routine for VSA President Jimmy Kelly '09 to remind the Council that the most important decisions for both Council and the College will come next year and in subsequent years, because in that time the College will feel the full weight of the financial downturn. In candidate statements long and short, the most effective writing is a critique paired with a clear proposition. Candidates should not only have a clear sense that they will improve the College, but they should also include plans to bring about these improvements.
 

 —Brian Farkas is the outgoing Editor in Chief of The Miscellany News and is running for Vice President for Operations. He had no part in writing or editing this piece.