Our pint-sized peers: the children of Vassar College

The campus community is often considered in terms of four groups: students, faculty, staff and administrators. But there's a fifth group—a group that isn't employed by or enrolled at the College, yet they have their own V-Cards nevertheless: the small but significant population of children living on campus.

Most of them are the children of House Fellows. They live in the dorms alongside students, go to the All Campus Dining Center (ACDC), attend study breaks (when it's not past their bedtime) and love playing on the Residential Quad in warm weather.

And though they are a small group, they've made an impact on their dorm communities. Nate, Grant and Layli White, ages eight, five, and two, children of Cushing House Fellows Assistant Professor of Religion, Christopher, and Tracey White, bring their Legos to study breaks. Niambi Mills, age three, daughter of Josselyn House Fellows Assistant Professor of History, Quincy, and Gail Mills, calls the students "the guys" and has no problem starting a conversation with a group of them.

There are fewer older children on campus, at least this year; they tend to participate less in residential life. "When we have events at our house, we get to know students pretty well and have become acquainted with a few of them. Otherwise...we just don't cross paths in a conversational atmosphere very often," wrote Emma Roellke in an e-mailed statement, age 16, daughter of Dean of the College Chris Roellke, who lives in Pratt House.

Noyes House Fellow and Assistant Professor of Psychology, Abigail Baird, mother of two-year-old twins Griffin and Phoebe explains the benefits of children in residential facilities, noting, "I've had a number of students who've asked to come over and play with [the twins] because they're homesick."

The College offers programs for campus children as well. Two weekends ago was Halloween Trick-or-Treating through Main for professors' young children. Other parents listed the rides at Founder's Day, the Chemistry Department's magic show, and "I Won't Grow Up Day" hosted by Together Opposing Neglect and Child Abuse (TONCA) as much-appreciated child-friendly programming.

Children also participate often in dorm-specific programming. "We did apple picking with Main," said Main House Fellow and Assistant Professor of English, Molly McGlennen, mother of two-and-a-half-year-old Ellia Bailey. "That's something we would have done with Ellia anyway, and now we got to go with a whole crew of people."

Even when events were not specifically intended for small children, the Vassar community proves itself able to accommodate them. "[My daughter Phoebe] loves to tumble," said Baird, "and one of my students is in the Barefoot Monkeys. I asked if she could play on their mats sometime…and this kid was like, ‘Actually, kids come and play with us anyway when we're practicing on the Quad in the spring,' and to just come any time."

Nafisa, nine, and Sadia, six, daughters of Lathrop House Fellows Ismail and Anfatu Rashid, like going to Main Building and to the gym to "run around" and play basketball. Ellia has already learned how to throw a Frisbee from watching students in front of the library, says McGlennen.

"It's so great to have so many things available to us just a few steps away from our house," wrote Emma Roellke in an e-mailed statement. "We go to the gym a lot of weekends to play basketball, swim or use the machines in the workout room. The library has been incredibly helpful for many of my research projects, including my junior thesis which requires a lot of scholarly sources." She and her siblings, Julia, 13, and Liv, 6, also attend concerts in Skinner and art exhibits in the Palmer Gallery or the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.

Though the Roellke brood has been to ACDC only twice this year, the younger children seem to like going to ACDC. There, the kids often eat and play with each other and run around the tables. They're also big fans of the food. One word: "Hamburgers!" crowed Nate White, which his two-year-old sister Layli echoed with an approving, "Deece!"

Other unique benefits of child rearing within the Vassar community manifest in the alieviation of anxiety on the part of professor-parents. "It's safe raising [kids] here," said Gunnar Dannell. "You don't have to worry if you let them out of sight for a couple of seconds…especially when you're at ACDC because more people know [Torsten] than he knows them, so even if they don't know me by name they know, ‘Oh, that's one of the House Fellows' kids.'"

Some parents praise the educational benefits of raising a child on a college campus. Anifat Ismail, a House Fellow in Lathrop says, "They're able to focus more on their education…They'll come home and pretend that they're college students themselves, doing their homework."

"[Niambi]'s around a bunch of students and faculty and staff who talk to her not as a baby or a three-year-old but talk to her as a person," said Quincy Mills. "Her vocabulary is amazing."

For other parents, the community aspects are most important. Everyone agrees that the surplus of eager and willing babysitters is a definite plus.

Added Baird, "My colleagues in the [Psychology] Department and the administration in general I feel is very supportive, not just of my having kids but of my choice to be a single mom. When I've had to miss things because they've been sick people have been understanding…I don't feel that anyone's obligated to accommodate my choice. I'm very lucky that my college does."

The parents speak glowingly of the benefits of raising children on a college campus, but there are of course some downsides as well. For one, "they do get all your colds," Baird joked.

But parents also have greater worries. "It's not nice when I'm walking with my daughter and there's beer cans around," said Quincy Mills. "Students don't think about that all the time, and so I have to continuously remind them that we have a three-year-old who lives in this house and she's just as much a part of the community as they are."

"It worries me sometimes," Anifat Rashid agreed. "A few times there was a party on campus and it was night time, and a few students were drunk and an ambulance came [and they asked,] ‘Mommy why's there an ambulance outside?'"

"There's stuff that gets inappropriate for kids when they get to be a bit older," said Christopher White. "When they're younger they don't notice the profane signs on the doors and the swearing, but as they get a little older it gets a little harder."

And then there are the more amusing downsides. Said Dannell, "We are on a meal plan, and when we go to the Retreat, [Torsten] thinks that the Retreat is his extended refrigerator. He just picks things up there." Dannell laughed. "He doesn't get the concept that you have to pay for it."