Controversial revisions made to Serenading

As the economic crisis has settled into the Vassar consciousness, the level of thought given to waste has increased across campus, and some changes that have long been considered are being put into action. Among these changes was an overhaul of Serenading.

This year, the day of the tradition was moved from a Friday to Saturday, and faculty were absent from the event. Most notably, though, the campus-wide food fight between seniors and freshmen that previously marked the beginning of the academic year was no longer a food fight—instead, a water-only Serenading took place last Saturday, Sept. 5.

At the past several years' Serenading events, students threw foodstuffs such as ketchup, chocolate syrup, mustard and marshmallows at each other in front of each dorm before moving to Ballantine Field, where freshmen from each house serenaded the senior class. This year, the food was replaced by water: dorms had stocks of water balloons ready to throw and hoses ready to spray at approaching seniors. On their trek around campus, seniors carried squirt guns and buckets, which they refilled at hoses and inflatable pools set up at various locations.

Class of 2010 President Selina Strasburger explained, "there are so many people who are struggling to put food on the table because of the economic crisis, and some of them may work here at Vassar, so to waste all that food—that's not the message we want to send."

The aftermath of Serenading has also caused concern in the past, especially with the Office of Residential Life, which handled any resulting dorm damage. After the food fights of previous Serenadings had ended, the bathrooms were host to hundreds of freshmen scrubbing off condiments. Usually large amounts of food and trash were left both outside and inside of the residential houses for Buildings and Grounds workers to clean.

Strasburger used this argument as the central point in her explanation to the senior class. "It sends a negative message to the greater community to have a massive food fight on campus, and then, in addition, expect the custodial staff to come and clean up our mess," she wrote in a Sept. 1 e-mail to the class.

Strasburger commented that although most of her classmates were
disappointed to hear that food-based projectiles were not being allowed this year, once she explained the reasoning to them, "they agreed that this is the right thing to do."

"We knew we couldn't prevent everyone from using food, and expected that a few people would probably choose not to comply with our requests. In an effort to accommodate the new rule, as well as encourage seniors to use only water, the class council bought water guns and set up kiddie pools around campus that seniors could use as refilling stations," wrote Strasburger in an e-mail to The
Miscellany News.

The decision process that led to the most recent changes in Serenading began after last year's event, when Dean of the College Christopher Roellke began questioning the tradition's history and how it morphed into its current incarnation. Executive Director of Campus Activities Teresa Quinn submitted a report to Roellke outlining suggestions and sentiments towards the tradition after talking to many students from all classes. She said that many students felt that it was important to keep the benefits of Serenading, such as dorm bonding and class pride, but that there were some serious issues with the parts of the tradition that would deface the campus and upset the faculty.

"We recognized the importance of this tradition, as an opportunity to bond and create school spirit," wrote Quinn in the report. "However, we felt strongly that there be changes implemented to address issues of harmful and dangerous behavior."

At its inseption in the 19th century, Serenading involved the senior class welcoming the freshman class by singing to them, but over the years, it evolved into a sometimes dangerous food fight: Quinn recalls a time when bottles and alcohol were commonly thrown at the freshman class.

While this particular aspect of the tradition was phased out, in the past few years Serenading still contained a few elements that made faculty, staff and administrators more than a little uncomfortable, according to Quinn. Specifically, Quinn cited the customary vulgar dance moves, raunchy song lyrics and barely-clothed students, covered in anything from chocolate syrup to mustard, which led many members of the staff and faculty to remain absent from the event.

According to President of Noyes House Hannah Groch-Begley '12, the Board of House Presidents began discussion of a shift to water before hearing from the administration that the changes were definitely occurring. The house presidents had been in contact with Strasburger about the changes during their training week prior to the arrival of the freshman class. The Board agreed to request the shift almost unanimously, after the house presidents had presented the arguments against food to their house teams, said Groch-Begley. Roellke then presented the case against Serenading to the current Board of House Presidents and the Senior Class Council.

Strasburger said that when Quinn explained the situation to the Class Council, "She made it sound like an option, but [we knew] it wasn't."

"To me it sounded like ‘change to water or it could be canceled altogether'— that was my sense," said Groch-Begley after hearing from the administration. The discomfort on the part of the faculty was one of the factors that led to this year's other major change, the move of Serenading from a Friday to a Saturday. According to Quinn, when Serenading was held on a Friday, faculty members were frustrated that many freshmen skipped class only one week into the semester. This year the event took place on a Saturday afternoon, which meant that students did not have to choose between an academic commitment and the school-wide tradition.

Holding the event on Saturday also meant that faculty's traditional serenade to the freshmen on Ballantine Field could not occur on the day of Serenading. Instead, this year the faculty sang to the Class of 2013 after Fall Convocation. Quinn said that this new faculty serenade was very successful.

While the change to a Saturday Serenading without faculty members met little student resistance or even comment, the change from throwing food to water was very controversial. President of Main House Maureen Byrne '11 noted that the freshmen didn't react one way or the other to Serenading changes because they hadn't experienced the event yet. She said that others on the House Team, however, were initially disappointed to hear of the changes. Strasburger also noted that she herself was initially resistant to the change, but she wrote in her e-mail to the senior class that "after speaking to multiple students and administrators there is a very valid point in making the switch," and she encouraged her classmates to follow the new rule and see the logic behind it.
Overall, reactions to the changes were mixed. While many agreed on the rationale behind the changes, one of the biggest sources of frustration for some seniors was that this decision was made so quickly and without notice. Catherine Varnum '10 said, "It's not an issue of whether or not I agree why we're doing this. I just wish we had been consulted; I think that would have created more goodwill between the seniors and the administration."

No formal repercussions were laid out for the senior class if individuals chose to ignore the new rule. Strasburger noted in her e-mail to the Class of 2010 that "I know I can't stop you from throwing ketchup," but she encouraged seniors to "respect the decision that has been made." Although a few students—both seniors and underclassmen—broke the rule, using milk and dyed water in their squirt guns and water balloons, the switch to water went smoothly. At present, no charges have been levied to the senior class.

Though some students felt that the nature of the decisions was at times dictatorial, the event was still deemed a success. In the first Vassar Student Association Council meeting of the year on Sept. 6, Town Houses President Riley Greene '10 commended Council members involved with the event for making it so successful.