Monday’s Vassar Student Association (VSA) elections saw a new group of students enter leadership roles at one of the most critical moments in the College’s history. Following the global recession, 30 percent of Vassar’s endowment will be lost by the end of June. Overall employment will need to be reduced by 10 to 15 percent, and the operating budget for the next academic year must be trimmed by $600,000. This summer and fall, faculty, administrators and these new leaders will be called upon to continue to pick up the pieces that this financial crisis has left us.
The 2008-09 VSA Executive Board has, despite the College’s grave losses, made strides to legitimize student voice in crucial financial decisions. The Miscellany News applauds the six outgoing VSA leaders for their strong efforts to institutionalize the voice of student government at Vassar. They have worked to finalize the gender-neutral housing policy, to cultivate a stronger connection with the local community through the Meet Me in Poughkeepsie events and Tasty Tuesdays, and to move forward on the Student’s Bill of Rights. Perhaps most notably, the Executive Board fought long and hard for a seat on the Advisory Group on the Allocation of Faculty Resources (AGAFR), the group that is making decisions on the future of Vassar’s faculty and curriculum. These student leaders should, without a doubt, be proud of their many accomplishments.
With the election of a new VSA Executive Board and Council, we look forward to the year ahead. From day one, these student leaders must think critically about Vassar’s response to this fiscal crisis. And furthermore, they must use next year as an opportunity for progress and for the betterment of the institution.
In the midst of serious budget limitations, we find an opportunity for the re-evaluation of many College offices and student services. Indeed, existing offices that overlap in mission should combine to cut costs; and in many cases, these changes will simultaneously reduce Vassar’s bureaucracy and streamline student services. As The Miscellany News advocated in its Staff Editorial on 3.25.09 (“To curtail budgets and bureaucracy, Vassar must create a unified Career Center”), student leaders should seriously advocate for the creation of a comprehensive Career Center. Implementing such an office would absorb several existing offices into a single efficient and effective service—one that is already successfully in place at peer institutions like Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore and Hamilton Colleges.
The new VSA Executive Board should also seriously examine the College’s defunct committee structure, which is far too tangled to make rapid decisions about important issues. Over the course of the past year—and especially in light of the two-year campaigns for gender-neutral housing and Kick Coke, which traveled through countless committees and administrators before being settled—the committee structure has proven to be one of the most problematic aspects of Vassar’s Governance.
In addition to implementing changes, we urge our new student leaders to maintain the upright and ethical standards on which this College was founded. Even in the face of the reallocation of faculty and the reduction of courses, we must remain committed to a rich and diverse curriculum. As the College looks to trim our workforce this summer and fall, The Miscellany News also urges the administration to make thoughtful, fair and transparent cuts to faculty and staff. The reality of staff cuts is troubling, but understandable. Less logical is the total lack of communication between the administration and staff. Those making the difficult decisions of staff reductions should be honest about the divisions that will be cut in order to avoid unnecessary fear and confusion among employees.
And, if administrators and VSA leaders do nothing else next year, let them maintain our commitment to need-blind financial aid. Our Founder Matthew Vassar began this tradition in 1861 when he laid aside scholarship money for the College’s first graduating class. It was his vision to make education available and accessible to students from all socioeconomic backgrounds.
This is the time for student leaders to work to uphold our Founder’s vision and pursue our institution’s fundamental goals. These difficult days present opportunities for advancement—this is the time to revise our methods of faculty evaluation, to reform our committee structure, to streamline student services and to gain student suffrage on the Board of Trustees. Indeed, the newly elected VSA Executive Board must work with the faculty and administrators of the College to maintain what has been accomplished this year and take strides towards bettering this dynamic institution.
—The Staff Editorial reflects the opinion of at least two-thirds of the 23-member Editorial Board.
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