Fall Convocation, take four

(image courtesy of The Miscellany News)

The sense of community at Vassar is rarely stronger than Fall and Spring Convocation. Twice each year, the community gathers to mark the official beginning and end of the academic year. Faculty, alumni, and students come together to listen to beautiful choral music, see long academic processionals, and hear from the President of the College and the President of the Student Association.

Usually, the event is geared toward seniors and freshmen—two classes at opposite ends of their Vassar experience. But I'll admit it; I'm a dork. I've gone to every Convocation since my first year. I usually am successful in dragging my friends along, but truth be told, I'd be there anyway. I just love the sense of tradition and community.

This year, though, was unique. For the first time, my own class marched through the Chapel in our academic dress. Hard to believe. I've seen three other classes do it, and somehow never quite imagined that black gown on myself. But alongside my friends, we processed around campus in anticipation of Commencement.

The Miscellany News, our student newspaper since 1866, produced a wonderful video slideshow of Fall Convocation. If you're curious to see some images and hear segments of the speeches, check this out:

Audio slideshow!

What's on campus?

Vassar has a constant buzz. With 2450 students and nearly 130 student organizations, plus 40+ academic departments and programs, a world-class museum, and 27 varsity sports, there is always an incredible amount to do on campus. Every day of the week, there are dozens of activities to choose from. The hard part is deciding what to do.

Well, this year, that choice has become a little bit easier. Vassar's new InfoSite puts all of the information in one synthesized place. Though it's only been running for a week or so, everyone at the College is thrilled to have their news and calendars coordinated. If you're curious about Vassar events, make the InfoSite your homepage -- maybe something will catch your eye.

Cambridge University

Greetings from Cambridge University! This summer, I made the leap from VC to the UK, studying British history at one of the world's oldest universities.

Although I miss my one true love — Vassar — it's so interesting to see how another school operates. Cambridge is celebrating it's 800th birthday in 2009. Hard to imagine that a single institution has survived and thrived for nearly a millennium. Walking around the campus, it's easy to see and feel that age. There is history everywhere. Across the street from one of my friend's dormitory is the first English church to break away from Catholicism and embrace Protestantism in the early 16th century. To the left of my other friend's dormitory is Charles Darwin's old apartment from when he was a Cambridge student. In the center of town is The Eagle, a small English pub where students drafted into the War in the 1940s would inscribe their names onto the wall. It's hard to take a walk through the quaint college town of Cambridge without finding some sort of national landmark or historic site. For a nerdy history major like me, it's hard to imagine a better place to spend the summer!

The experience of studying abroad is incredible, and certainly one I would recommend to incoming students. Because of my role as Editor of The Miscellany News this past year, I wasn't able to spend a semester of the academic year abroad. Thankfully, our International Programs Office gave me some excellent advice on places to study for the summer. For more information on Vassar's support for international programs, check out the study abroad Web site. Vassar students literally study across the globe, from Europe to Latin America to Sub-Saharan Africa. The College has a great support network of staff and alumnae/i to help ease any culture shock and give you a taste of home.

Beginnings and Ends

The life of the Vassar campus goes in cycles. There's the normal buzz of the academic year, the migration to the Library around finals, and then the mass exodus shortly thereafter. There's the anticipatory hum of Senior Week, and then the explosion of sights and sounds of Commencement. Literally thousands of family members, friends and loved ones descend onto the Poughkeepsie campus, take their seats on the Outdoor Amphitheater, and watch their sons and daughters receive their Latin-inscribed diplomas.

But then, just hours after the eruption of graduation is over and President Hill hands out her final leather-clad degree, a sudden quiet falls over the campus once again. The crowds are gone, the tents are coming down, and the freshly-mowed lawns are empty; the campus is settling into the summer to await the next Vassar class.

I had the pleasure of meeting some members of the Class of 2013 at a gathering in New York City. As I watched them play frisbee in Central Park, eat their sandwiches on the Great Lawn, and discuss their intended majors and careers, I couldn't help but remember my own NYC meet-up just three years ago. And then my mind drifted the the pre-Vassar meetings that probably occurred 50 years ago, and the ones that will occur 50 years from now.

I've attended each graduation since I was a high school senior -- four in total so far. Next year I will graduate myself, which is hard to imagine. Vassar has become such a central part of my life, and I've gotten so accustomed to seeing others walk across that stage, shake the President's hand, and walk on with their diploma. The thought of doing that myself is unimaginable. Hopefully my attitude will change within the next year. Vassar students always say that they enjoy their senior year more than all of their other college years combined.

Life at Vassar -- which will turn 150 in 2011 -- is cyclical. The campus is filled with rich tradition and countless stories. Commencement always makes me look backward and forward on the school I love. The players change, but the game remains the same. Life at Vassar is cyclical.

Green Haven Prison Reunion brings together past and present participants from Vassar, prisons

Green Haven Reunion from The Miscellany News on Vimeo.

One of Vassar's many unique academic programs involves the Green Haven Prison. For three decades, the College's Africana Studies and Sociology programs have allowed students to study the prison system from all angles. Students are able to travel to local prisons, and talk to incarcerated individuals about their experiences. Check out this video about the program!

Keep them coming!

Dear readers,

Thank you so much for all of the thoughtful questions about Vassar. I hope that my answers are helping to clarify your colleges choices this April.

I'm receiving dozens and dozens of e-mails from prospective students each day, so I might be falling a little behind! I will usually respond to your questions within 36 hours of receiving them (unless I need to do some additional research to get the answers). In the mean time, check out some of my "Reader questions" posted below. In this section, I post general answers to some of the more common or interesting questions that I receive.

Thanks for reading and for considering Vassar! It's an amazing place. Keep your terrific questions coming!

Brian

Reader question: How will Vassar prepare me for law school?

"You're pre-law. How does that work at Vassar? Are many students there pre-law? What is that like in a liberal arts setting? Is there coursework at Vassar to prepare me for top-level law schools?"

Good question! I am indeed pre-law. When I entered Vassar, I knew for sure that there were two subjects I wanted to pursue: history and legal studies. But as a prospective student, I quickly realized that very few undergraduate institutions offer legal studies as a major (or even as a department). Even the idea of "pre-law" seemed very confusing; if there's no "law" department, how can one prepare oneself for law school?

As it turns out, law schools do not give priority to students with degrees in "Law and Society" or "Legal Studies." One admissions counselor that I spoke with even said that these types of pseudo-law majors were looked down upon by many top law schools. "You'll learn about the law in law school," he told me. "While you're still an undergraduate, law schools want you to focus on critical thinking, close reading and deep research." Translation: don't worry about seeking out a college that offers you tons of coursework in legal studies.

The way that pre-law works at Vassar (and at most other small liberal arts colleges) is that "pre-law" is not itself a major. "Pre-law" is nothing official; it simply means that you are a student interested in law school. Unlike pre-med, there are no specific courses that you must take in order to be considered. To be competitive, students hoping to attend medical school are required to take specific classes in biology, chemistry and mathematics. But students going for law school have much more open-ended options. A Vassar graduate last year who went to Georgetown Law was an Art History major; another alumnus who went to Yale Law was an Anthropology major; my friend Andrew is an Economics major who will be attending University of Maryland School of Law in the fall.

The bottom line: as you choose your undergraduate college this April, don't focus on which school has the most legal-sounding major. It won't make your application stand out; in fact, it may make you look single-minded or not well-rounded. Instead, find a subject that you really enjoy. Pre-law students tend to gravitate toward Economics, English, History, Political Science and Sociology—but you certainly don't have to limit yourself.

With that said, Vassar does offer many courses that explore the law and legal issues. Though these classes won't necessarily ensure that you're admitted to the top law schools, they will give you experience in asking legal questions, and they might help you decide whether law is right for you.

Here are just some examples of law-related courses that Vassar offers from the Catalogue:

Economics 238, Law and Economics: This course uses economics to analyze legal rules and institutions. The primary focus is on the classic areas of common law: property, contracts, and torts. Some time is also spent on criminal law and/or constitutional law (e.g., voting, public choice, and administration). Much attention is paid to developing formal models to analyze conflict and bargaining, and applying those models to specific cases. Topics include the allocation of rights, legal remedies, bargaining and transaction costs, regulation versus liability, uncertainty, and the litigation process. Time permitting, the course may also include discussion of gun control, the death penalty, federalism, and competition among jurisdictions.

Economics 275, Money and Banking: Money and Banking covers the structure of financial institutions, their role in the provision of money and credit, and the overall importance of these institutions in the economy. The course includes discussion of money, interest rates, financial market structure, bank operations and regulation, and the structure of the banking sector. The course also covers central banks, monetary policy, and international exchange as it relates to monetary policy and the banking sector. The ultimate goal is to provide a deeper understanding of the structure of financial markets, the reasons why it is optimal for these markets to be well functioning, and the key barriers to this optimal outcome.

Earth Science 111, Environmental Justice: Exploration of the roles that race, gender, and class play in contemporary environmental issues and the geology that underlies them. Examination of the power of governments, corporations and science to influence the physical and human environment. We critique the traditional environmental movement, study cases of environmental racism, and appreciate how basic geological knowledge can assist communities in creating healthful surroundings. Examples come from urban and rural settings in the United States and abroad and are informed by feminist analysis.

Political Science 242, Law, Justice and Politics: An analysis of the interrelationships between law and politics in civil and criminal spheres in the United States, focusing on the role of the police, courtroom participants, and prison officials. Special emphasis is given to decision making in criminal law at the local level—e.g., pretrial negotiations, bail, and sentencing.

Political Science 243, Constitutional Law: Leading decisions of the Supreme Court interpreting the Constitution of the United States, with special reference to the powers of government and the rights of individuals.

Political Science 314, The Politics of the Public and the Private: This course examines the political significance of public and private in the contemporary US. Theoretical arguments as well as specific issues and contexts within which debates about public and private unfold are analyzed. Of particular thematic concern is, the privatization of governmental responsibilities and the "public" and "private" rights claims of individuals and communities. Among the issues studied are privatization of the US military and prisons, gated and other "private" communities and their relationship to the larger political communities within which they exist, intellectual property and the public domain, and the "privacy" of personal decisions.

Political Science 343, Seminar on Constitutional Theory: This seminar focuses on some core problems pertaining to constitutional interpretation, examining questions of constitutional theory and interpretation as they relate to issues of equality and full citizenship. The course discusses the nature and function of the Constitution, explores theories about how the Constitution should be interpreted, and examines the methods that interpreters use to decipher the meanings of constitutional provisions. These concerns are addressed by focusing on various dimensions of constitutional theories and decisions pertaining to questions related to anti-discrimination law. Some of the issues covered include standards of judicial review, Supreme Court interpretations of equal protection, the constitutional protection of groups as well as individuals, and the appropriateness of constitutional protections rooted in color-blind and gender-blind principles.

Political Science 385, Families, Politics and the Law: This course examines emerging perspectives on family forms and state regulation of families that have appeared in response to such developments as same-sex marriage and parenting; multi-racial families created by intermarriage and by transracial and intercountry adoption; increasing numbers of single-parent households; and reproductive technologies that enable people to procreate by using donated eggs and sperm and/or hired gestational service (and in the future, perhaps, by cloning). The course explores these issues from the perspective of theories of social justice that put concerns of race, economic class, and gender at the center of their analysis.

Political Science 388, Intellectual Property Law: This course examines the legal and theoretical foundations of domestic, international and transnational intellectual property law regimes. In covering the areas of patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and espionage law, as well as their intermingled legislative histories, students gain in-depth knowledge of the prevailing domestic doctrines, as well as an understanding of how contemporary national policy is woven into international treaties and structures of transnational governance.

Sociology 236, Imprisonment and the Prisoner: What is the history of the prisoner? Who becomes a prisoner and what does the prisoner become once incarcerated? What is the relationship between crime and punishment? Focusing on the (global) prison industrial complex, this course critically interrogates the massive and increasing numbers of people imprisoned in the United States and around the world. The primary focus of this course is the prisoner and on the movement to abolish imprisonment as we know it. Topics covered in this course include: racial and gender inequality, the relationship between imprisonment and slavery, social death, the prisoner of war (POW), migrant incarceration, as well as prisoner resistance and rebellion. Students also come away from the course with a complex understanding of penal abolition and alternative models of justice

Sociology 240, Law and Society: Law is analyzed in its social context focusing on the relationship between law and social control, and law and social change. Topics discussed include psychiatry and the law, Blacks and the law, and women and the law. The criminal justice system is examined in a comparative framework, emphasizing the role of judges, juries, and particularly lawyers, in society.

I know many Vassar students who plan on attending law school after graduation. And our applicants have shown to have about a 15 percent statistical advantage over the national average for admission. After nearly three years here, I'm confident that Vassar is teaching the intense critical thinking and writing skills demanded of law students.

Reader question: What are Vassar's "strongest" academic departments?

"I was admitted to Vassar! But as I choose between the 'VC Brewers' and several other schools, I'm wondering which academic departments are strongest and weakest. Any insights?"

As perspective students make their college decisions throughout April, they consider each institution's strongest programs. One of the most common questions that I receive asks about Vassar's "best" departments.

The good news about Vassar: there are no weak departments. Each department (or multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary program) is comprised of numerous outstanding faculty members. Are some professors weaker than others? Of course. Have I regretted taking classes with a couple of tiresome or overly-difficult professors? You bet. And one student's inspirational teacher might be another student's worst nightmare. But it's important to remember that you would find these situations at any college, be it Swarthmore, Vassar or Brown. As my adviser in high school once told my friends, "Not every teacher is meant for every student."

What's great about Vassar, though, is that excellence in teaching is universally prized across departments; it's not simply "publish or perish" where the famous professors who write streams of books are automatically awarded tenure. Though we certainly have well-published and accomplished professors (my history professor Bob Brigham is one example), our faculty generally place their teaching above all else. Bob is a commanding lecturer and leads incisive class discussions -- in addition to being a prolific author on Vietnam and Iraq. Unlike at many larger universities, the two are not mutually exclusive. Teachers are evaluated by students at the end of each semester. Those evaluations contribute directly to tenure decisions.

Now of course, some departments at Vassar are especially well known, partly for their size and partly for the success of the graduates they produce. Anecdotally, the College is known for its programs in Art History, Astronomy, Biology, Economics, English, Drama, History, and Political Science. All of these are among the most popular disciplines at Vassar -- the more popular a major is, the larger the faculty will become, and the wider the breadth and depth of the curriculum. More broadly, we have one of the lowest student:faculty ratios in the country (9:1), which virtually guarantees one-on-one attention regardless of your choice of major.

The take-home message: I've never encountered a 'weak' department here. Whatever your chosen discipline, you'll be intellectually stimulated here at Vassar. I encourage prospective students curious for more detail to look through the 2009-10 Course Catalogue.