<p>I thought Vassar and Poughkeepsie was better than this, shocking and does not show Vassar in a good light....Anyone?
<a href="http://gawker.com/my-vassar-college-faculty-id-makes-everything-ok-1664133077">http://gawker.com/my-vassar-college-faculty-id-makes-everything-ok-1664133077</a></p>
<p>I’ve been following this too, and I feel like I don’t have enough context to make sense of this. Sometimes I am hopeful and excited to be accepted so that I can try and do my part to actually use my voice to change something, but others I am just sad and scared. what is missing for me is the student body’s reaction. Also I find it odd that so many people I spoke to, who I know to be progressive and social justice activists, not long before these articles surfaced were firm in their love for Vassar, but according to the articles the campus has always been plagued with racial profiling. </p>
<p>It is very unsettling to hear all this terrible criticism of an institution that I chose because I saw it as supportive, liberal, progressive, and inclusive. </p>
<p>Laymon is a writer, and the linked piece is one facet of his truth. There are other facets, such as:</p>
<p>"He [Laymon] also noted that Vassar, for him, is such a community, and that he has found a lot of support through the College’s faculty. “My writing those books and the way they were written was made possible by the colleagues I have here [at Vassar] – Michael Joyce, Amitava Kumar, Hua Hsu, Eve Dunbar, Carlos Alamo, Hiram Perez. My books came out of a community – they all do work that is connected to my own, and their work helped my books emerge.”</p>
<p>And he noted that his students play an equally important role. “I don’t know if students understand how much they motivate, inspire and really fortify us as professors,” he said.</p>
<p>“You learn so much from them – from seeing them work through intellectual, emotional ideas. This is why the relationship between student and teacher needs to be a lot more reciprocal. Students need to understand that we need them to do work so they can become educated, but also so they can come help fuel us in the classroom.”</p>
<p>from this article: </p>
<p><a href=“Laymon’s work focuses on concepts of community – The Miscellany News”>The Miscellany News;
<p>More on the question of profiling at Vassar here:</p>
<p><a href=“Panel examines racial profiling – The Miscellany News”>The Miscellany News;
<a href=“Admin. must realize systematic change – The Miscellany News”>The Miscellany News;
<p>catlover97, Vassar is all the things you loved, but like all things involving humans, there are parts that are far from perfect. Go, and be another voice for progress. Progress is a great goal, and more achievable than perfection.</p>
<p>@collegemom3717 - Perfect answer.</p>
<p>Ever since I was looking at colleges, and right up to when my oldest looked at Vassar, the town/gown differential was an issue. Yale is another such school. Whether those two schools are any worse than their peers in this regard, I can’t say for certain, but the perception is certainly there. My son was witness to some of this great divide between the beauty, near TajMahal quality of Vassar which is a stark contrast to some areas right near the college and those living there in abject poverty. Again, this dichotomy occurs at many other schools, but it really hit him during his visit, and there was an unpleasant incident involved as well. </p>
<p>I read the OP’s link carefully. Wonderful writer. But to put Michael Brown in the essay as an innocent and comparing him to a Missouri college prof or even student is too much. I wonder how innocent a lot of those so accused are. I can match about half his stories with the accused turning out to be guilty as suspected, unfortunately. A blight to all around them.</p>
<p>I went into Manhattan one day,a few years ago to try to get out my son’s close friend’s brother who was thrown in the holding cell. The two young AA men were caught illegally selling “mixes” and hauled into the station. They had no money, no cards for bail or whatever was wanted. They let my son’s friend go because he had a NYU student id, but held his brother who did not. Didn’t believe they were brothers–they did not look at all alike, had different surnames. Their mother had died not long before so they were pretty much on their own. </p>
<p>They did not let him go, despite my assurances, inquiires and what degenerated into threats, since they seemed to have no idea or plan as to what to do with the young man. I was willing to post bail or do what ever but the police refused to do squat with me. As I drove back to my home in the outlying suburbs furious and ready to call my attorney to intervene, I got the call from my son’s friend that they just let his brother go. I guess they didn’t want to do it in front of me.</p>
<p>I know a kid who sold “loosies” in NYU areas–he was a student himself. Got caught by cops a few times, always cooperated, always let go mainly because of his NYU id, I think. But he well knew if he ever got caught by a cop who felt like bringing him in, he’d have to pay a fine, go through tthe drill. Eric Garner was not choked to death because he sold loosies. He resisted arrest. He’d been picked up before by cops for the same, often got away without being taken in, expected the same since the NYC cops generally don’t bother But when they do decide to arrest you, you gotta cooperate or they play hardball. Everyone knows this. Without being able to back up their demands, the cops are neutered which will likely hurt a lot more people when that happens. Something that is happening now.</p>
<p>Vassar has a long tradition of activitism, and this is just the latest chapter. This is also part of a natural evolution of the school which is now - thanks to the efforts of the current administration - a much more diverse place. Sometimes there’s acrimony and mistrust between races and people of differing backgrounds, but that’s part of the stimulation and enrichment of a community like this. There are other more bland and complacent campuses for sure, but Vassar has always thrived on debate and challenging the status quo. That can be a bit ugly at times. But it’s all part of a very lively, stimulating and still most of the time overwhelmingly positive and open place. </p>
<p>“I feel like I don’t have enough context to make sense of this.” The article is an intense and sad emotional ride. For me, it took a rereading to establish some context.</p>
<p>The essay travels in space, from Poughkeepsie to Mississippi to the rest of the Nation. As well as in time, from the present to the author’s childhood. And, simultaneously, in perspective, from experiences the author has had personally, to stories in which he was much more removed.</p>
<p>So, yes, Professor Laymon has had uneasy, and personally damaging, times at Vassar. But the larger context is that Americans can have uneasy and personally damaging times in America. And that’s not a Vassar story at all.</p>
<p>And unjustifiable. Of course that adjective as well.</p>
<p>The takeaway is that racism happens everywhere, including top colleges. Vassar is definitely not the only college to have issues with racism. I’m proud that our community feels safe enough to post articles like this, to have protests, and to call out administration. Vassar is going through a change right now. We’re making sure our voices are heard (last week, we had a march of a couple hundred people).</p>
<p>These things happen at all colleges, but not all colleges speak up about them. Vassar does.</p>
<p>To Cptofthehouse, whoa dude!! Let’s not be comparin’ fairly mild Po-town with New Haven, a known den of iniquity and actual murders of students by off campus non student locals. I live fairly near Newark, NJ, and let me tell you, Po-town is nothin’. I would not want any prospective student or their parents to be scared off without knowing the reality. Yes, some parts look ‘ghetto’ and are likely dangerous if you’re drunk, alone, on foot, it’s late, you’re shopping for drugs and have dollar bills dangling from your pockets. But really, it’s nothing like New Haven, which is seriously dangerous, and a whole different planet from Newark and Camden (actually, most places are that). Now, Vassar isn’t Middlebury or Colgate in its bucolic remoteness, but it isn’t Yale or USC or Columbia in its physical proximity to the ghetto lifestyle. And there’s the Vassar bubble. </p>
<p>^^
Very accurate assessment.
Culinary Institute of America graduates have opened fine dining restaurants in the inner city. E.g., Brasserie 292.
Chefs who were was educated in the area would not open restaurants in downtown Poughkeepsie were they worried about crime. I’ve often walked downtown Main St. late into the evening and never felt unsafe, nor has there been any vandalism to my car.</p>
<p>We visited Vassar after DS14 received an acceptance, we loved the college and campus and fully understand the “Vassar bubble”. But we felt that living in Poughkeepsie for 4 years whilst attending Vassar was not something we saw as something we would want to do. The town itself, granted we only saw it over 2 days, was very down at heel, the new book shop helps, but that is virtually on the campus, we could not imagine living there for 4 years, even while we loved the campus. Granted Vassar doesn’t really compete in the same league’s as Columbia or Yale, but we didn’t see anything we felt that helped Vassar’s case in a college decision, (we felt the same with Wesleyan) and thus DS14 decided to study elsewhere.</p>
<p>“Vassar doesn’t really compete in the same league’s [sic] as Columbia or Yale . . .”</p>
<p>Vassar: Liberty League
Columbia, Yale: Ivy League</p>
<p>There are several issues going on at Vassar at this time. There have been several incidents cited by Prof. Laymon in that article – one was where some young black teenagers from town were in the Vassar library (where they were allowed to be – Vassar is an “open campus” – and they were making some noise. Where things went awry is that the campus security police called the Poughkeepsie police, who did not treat these young people very well (e.g. when they got on their bicycles they were accused of having STOLEN their own bicycles). This caused a big to-do on campus (justifiably), with several meetings where the president of the college attended and listened, and resulted in a consulting firm being called in to investigate issues such as “racial 'profiling” on campus, the role of security guards, etc. This report has come in and is being examined by the administration. Interestingly, given what’s been happening in the country (Ferguson, etc.), it all comes at a very timely manner. What’s so important about this is that the administration DID respond to these incidents (although what will ultimately come of it, who knows), and, because Vassar students are <em>very</em> political, when things like this come up, the students respond immediately, they rally, they speak up, and they make peaceable demands. The reality is that Vassar is a kind of suburban idyllic oasis in a generally depressed, poor community of mostly African Americans,(with a mostly white police department, with the attendant problems of that combination) and yes, Poughkeepsie is not a really lovely place to live if you are outside of the tiny village called Arlington which is where Vassar is actually situated. I can’t speak at the relative safety of Poughkeepsie compared to e.g. New Haven, but it’s a little isolated “after hours” if you are on foot. The vast majority of Vassar activities certainly take place on campus. It can become isolating to some (that “Bubble”) although New York City is accessible (if you have the money). Kiese Laymon, by the way, who wrote that piece in Gawker, is quite a charismatic figure, mostly admired greatly by students because he speaks his mind (and is a brilliant writer).</p>