ProHealth trip to Haiti raises questions of travel protocol

The role of student travel in Vassar curriculum has been discussed at length since the beginning of the semester. Though the curricular importance of summer programs has been debated everywhere from the Committee on Curricular Policies to the Faculty Club, some student organizations have found ways to travel abroad for their own projects, creating their own opportunities for travel. This, however, raises questions about the College's and the Vassar Student Association's (VSA) structures for supporting non-academic international travel.

ProHealth's trip to Haiti over Winter Break highlighted these issues. Four members of ProHealth went to Haiti in January to perform service work near Port-au-Prince, and they were in Haiti for the devastating earthquake on Jan. 12 (see "Vassar students witness Haiti," 1.28.10.)

While international programs are not officially supported by the College, the size of a student-driven international project is nearly always too expensive for the VSA to support, leaving the ProHealth trip in limbo for funding. Though ProHealth's situation was unique, it may be symptomatic of both a rising interest and difficulty in finding an outlet for non-academic international opportunities.

VSA Funding Policy
As a certified VSA organization, ProHealth was entitled to apply for additional funding from the VSA Council for their trip or any other project. Though their request was denied, the heated debate and close vote that resulted highlight the Council's difficulty in establishing definitive policy for traveling student organizations. "We had planned for VSA funding in our budget because we were basing our application on a previous application two years ago," said President of ProHealth Jared Augenstein '10. Two years ago, the Vassar Uganda Project was given funding by the VSA to travel to Uganda.

Augenstein's assumption was not unfounded: The Council debated the allocation at length and ended up voting to allocate the funding with a majority of one vote, but this simple majority was not enough to send ProHealth to Haiti. "We were there for about three hours, and we pleaded our case, told everybody what was going on, and they debated for a long time," said Augenstein. "They said it was the closest vote of the year."

ProHealth came to Council after their fund recommendation had been reduced to zero by the VSA Finance Committee and the Executive Board. "The VSA actually has a policy that we don't fund international trips both because of the incredible expenses associated with going overseas and because there are so many opportunities in the United States that we hope organizations will utilize rather than travel abroad," said VSA Vice President for Activities Aaron Grober '11. The policy is relatively new, and it stemmed from a discussion among the Executive Board about the cost of international travel.

"We look at it [in the same way we would] a conference in VSA terms because it's an educational experience," said Augenstein. "We felt that going to Haiti would have given us the experience of doing international work, but wouldn't have been as prohibitive cost-wise as going back to Uganda or going somewhere further away."

The Vassarion
Though it also fundraised on its own, ProHealth looked to some other student organizations and a few off-campus organizations to support their goal. Perhaps the one that raised the most eyebrows was the Vassarion's transfer of $3,400 from its budget to ProHealth to cover many of the costs of the trip, such as airfare, after Council Discretionary funding was denied.

According to Editor in Chief of the Vassarion Shannon Wilton '10, "The staff thought about how we don't get involved or do anything on campus—we print annually and that's it."
Though the Vassarion is funded independently, had an organization supported by the student activities fee transferred a large amount of their funding to another, VSA Vice President for Finance Scott Pascal '10 said that the Finance Committee might consider "factoring it in somewhat" in deciding that organization's budget for the subsequent year. However, Pascal said, "most transfers are smaller amounts for things. There's nothing illegal about transferring funds." 

Emergency contact forms
The undefined position of international service groups in the College bureaucracy was further highlighted by the fact that ProHealth did not file emergency contact forms with the VSA and the Office of the Dean of the College, which are required of students going on international trips sponsored by either the VSA or the College.

Last semester, the VSA passed a new set of bylaws that clarified rules for student organizations that go for overnight trips off-campus, requiring them to fill out emergency contact forms. According to Grober, he sent an e-mail to all organization presidents alerting them to the change, though he acknowledged that the regulation may have been easily overlooked by ProHealth. "I haven't spoken to anybody about that. I was not told by anybody that we needed to fill out an emergency contact form," said Augenstein. "Different members of faculty knew we were there."

Dean of Students David "D.B." Brown also suggested that the organization did not have to fill out the forms because they did not receive VSA funds. "The clunkiness in this case is that because they weren't funded by the VSA, I didn't know they were there. They didn't go through that process," said Brown.

Even without funding from the VSA, a certified organization is required to fill out the forms whenever it goes off campus, though ProHealth was unaware of this technicality. According to Brown, the lack of the contact information made contacting the organization after the earthquake somewhat more difficult and time-consuming. "Sometimes Murphy's law informs us as to what kinds of nets there should be that we don't know. In this case I just think more talk with any group that is going just so that they're aware," said Brown.

Increased interest in travel
The fact that ProHealth planned a trip to Haiti at all is perhaps an indication of an increased student interest in service-oriented travel. Director of International Studies Andrew Meade discussed the emergence of international service-oriented groups such as the Vassar Haiti Project and the Uganda Project. "Those are new, so I think Vassar is still trying to understand or trying to figure out exactly how those relate to the College relative to how the longstanding [Junior Year Abroad] programs relate," he said.

ProHealth's situation has demonstrated a vacuum in the formal support of these trips. Augenstein suggested that the VSA should take a more pronounced role in supporting international service efforts. "I think the VSA is in a unique position to fund these kinds of trips, especially trips that don't have traditional funding from Vassar," he said. "There's really no outlet for doing this type of thing. I think it's especially important since [the College] cancelled all the [summer abroad] foreign language programs."

Grober wrote that it was not appropriate for the VSA to fill the gaps left by College cuts. "It's often the case when the administration cuts costs for something, that people turn to the VSA for support. The VSA will not be taking on the entirety of funding summer study abroad opportunities."

However, Meade said the comparison of service-oriented trips to summer abroad programs was tenuous. "It's apples and oranges," he said. "The summer programs had a very different kind of focus."

Though the roles of the programs and organizations differ, "it's something that the College probably wants to look at because there are several of these organizations," said Meade. According to Meade, while these organizations can apply for outside grants for travel, there is currently no formal financial support from the College.

ProHealth is planning a trip to Haiti in the summer, and the Vassar Haiti Project is tentatively planning to go to the country to participate in relief efforts.