Vassar considers image

As students, we are all intimately familiar with what it means to go to Vassar. Vassar students are privileged in that they get to experience the College first hand. From the rigor of the College's academics to the timbre of its social life, members of Vassar's distinct community are among the few who can say with confidence that they truly "know" Vassar.

For the world at large, Vassar's identity is comprised of the information that is produced and distributed primarily by the College's Admissions and Communications Offices. Now, in Vassar's sesquicentennial year, the College's emphasis on the face it presents to prospective students, alumnae/i and those with collegiate curiosities is increasingly prominent. Between published material, traveling shows and the

general celebration surrounding the celebration of Vassar's 150th birthday, offices that used to exist on the outskirts of student life are taking a more prominent role in the campus consciousness.

Diversity is undoubtedly a buzzword that characterizes the way that the College frames many of its initiatives. Associate Dean of the College for Campus Life Edward Pittman explained, "The role of diversity on a campus beyond creating a critical mass is to be of educational benefit to everyone. The ability of students to interact and learn from each other, whether in a classroom or an extracurricular way, is really about taking something away [from the experiences of others]."

Pittman's office "is trying to give voice to any community that feels marginalized or feels that it doesn't have a presence and to make available whatever resources campus life can provide." Pittman explains his role in terms of how it relates to vassar's image, noting, "I think part of our job is to convey as much of what we hear about students [to the Offices of Admissions and Communications]," adding, "Formally, we may not be consulted as much as we like, but our goal is to put that info in front of whoever's job is to create the best image for Vassar."

Despite this commitment to diversity, as well as the presence of a thriving LGBTQ community on campus, Vassar's LGBTQ population is not always explicitly mentioned in the College's projections into the world at large. Aside from oblique references to the College's "uniqueness," Vassar often relies on word of mouth to emphasize the role of it's LGBTQ population. According to Borus, "I think we have a reputation as a school where gay and lesbian students can feel comfortable, but I don't think its an issue per se for the Admissions Office one way or the other; it's simply a part of the public perception of who we are as an institution."

"We're trying to communicate accurately about the College all the time," said Vice President for Communications Susan Dekrey of the ongoing goal of her office, which, she noted, does not receive directives from other areas of the College administration to portray Vassar in a particular light. "When we're working on a major admission publication we want to make sure we have a lot of racial diversity, ethnic diversity, diversity between people studying the arts, humanities, athletics, extracurriculars, theater, filed work. We're trying to give stories that give you the range of possibilities here."

Dean of Admissions David Borus explains his Office's work as "a process of trying to assemble the most academically able, diverse, interesting and engaged group that we can put together."

Dekrey and Borus thus strive to do justice to Vassar's deeply rooted history through various recruiting and communication initiatives that often go unnoticed by Vassar's current inhabitants, who, though they may not be the intended audience, are fundamental contributors to the content of the information that defines the college in the public eye. Dekrey explains her role as one that is ultimately concerned with narrative, stating, "We want to tell stories. That seems to be how we do our best work here; we serve as a conduit for the stories of students, faculty and alums. We aim to tell their stories and to tell a variety of stories, that reflect a variety of lifestyles, [and] a variety of orientations and values."

Assistant Director for Campus Life and LGBT programs Steve Lavoie also appreciates the autonomy of Vassar's spirit. "I think that Vassar historically, from it's very founding, has been strongly committed to a sense of social consciousness," he said, "and this mindset has not only attracted a certain individual, but has cultivated a certain atmosphere at Vassar. There's definitely something in our history about how we are unique and I think it's important to celebrate that."

Nonetheless, the unique nature of Vassar's LGBTQ community is not traditionally highlighted among the diversity at Vassar in its Admissions materials. Pittman responded to this phenomenon, noting, "I suspect that Admissions might say we do convey Vassar as a gay friendly school. To be quite frank, [the promotion of Vassar's LGBTQ history and identity] has never, to my knowledge, been a direct conversation that I've been involved in, so it's in many ways been a matter of perception and what people read into publications." He continued, "Often times there is a gap between the public view of who we are and our own sense of who we are. People within can help define that." Pittman encouraged the College to seek ways to take ownership of the entirety of campus life, asking, "How does Vassar own its inclusion of the LGBT community? How do we own that and say, ‘Yes, this is who we are, and we embrace that?'" He concluded, "When we hear about that gap, it's our job to inform and make Admissions aware and keep that present in the best way we can as colleagues."

Lavoie, however, sees the relationship as slightly more complicated, particularly in the context of the diversity of the LGBTQ community on campus. He cites the particular squeamishness of older members of the homosexual community to adopt the term "queer"—a word charged with a great deal of venom before it was embraced by the homosexual community at large. "I think a lot of times when the College has to navigate its markings, it has to do it in a way that doesn't alienate specific members of the community, and that might be why it might seem like a particular voice is not being heard," he surmised. However, Lavoie noted that silence is not the best way to engage a population, either, explaining, "Just as if we don't paint with the broadest brushstrokes we are liable to leave something out or paint someone in a way that they don't wish to be painted, we simultaneously may seem like we're not giving voice, and the question becomes, ‘Why aren't we talking about these dimensions of our history?'"

Director of Development Communication Lance Ringel, the creator of the touring "Vassar Voices" performance piece, aims to give audiences "a sense that we're part of a continuum, and [that] we may have more in common with folks from 20, 60, or 100 years ago than we think." Unsurprisingly, Ringel is also keyed into Vassar's unique nature, noting, "There's a certain spirit here that's always been present. When you hear the much older alumnae [in the program] talk about ‘feeling light with the gift of freedom' when she comes back [to Vassar], I think alot of alumnae/i, particularly older alumnae/i, can identify with that." Ringel too, however, noticed a discrepancy between the College's history and campus identity, and the stories it is promoting and producing. Even when reflecting upon original drafts of the "Vassar Voices" program, Ringel noticed "parts of the [Vassar] experience that were not covered." He cited Vassar's LGBTQ history as "one of the areas that we identified during the rehearsal process that didn't seem to be addressed from the beginning." With the help of student and alumnae/i input, Ringel was able to edit the program to more fully encapsulate the Vassar experience. Such revisions, along with Lavoie's current efforts with the Women's Studies Department to "promote the queer dimension of Vassar's history," are heartening efforts to reveal a segment of the Vassar community that is often not addressed in the College's promotional materials.

Lavoie concluded, "We can say that in relation to Vassar being labeled a gay school or a queer school, that's a label that Vassar has carried for a long time, and I think if we look historically, if we look at old Miscellany articles, if we talk to [alumnae/i], that the College has had a complicated relationship with that labeling and it's had a hard time navigating precisely how to uphold the accuracy of that label, but also not to erase the other dimensions of what it is like to be a student at Vassar."