Vassar Chronicle

Vol. XXI, Issue 2 November 29, 2011

deBAte WiLL obama Win in 2012? rE-ELECTion ProsPECTs DEbaTED

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Foreign Tom EnEring on WhaT WE Can LEarn from ThE iraq War
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VSA, Miscellany news Lied to Student Body

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oFFice HourS EiLEEn LEonarD DisCussEs oCCuPy movEmEnT anD iTs CriTiquEs
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ThE vassar ChroniCLE

Editors Corner Vassar & Local National Affairs Foreign Affairs Debate & Discourse The Last Page
The front page image of the 2005 Imperialist, which was notorious as the center of much controversy.

tablE of ContEntS

3 5 8 11 15 20

Staff Editorial

Editor-in-ChiEf SEnior EditorS

Ethan Madore William Serio Alaric Chinn

Imperialist Scandal Dead, Should Be Buried

arlier this semester, the Miscellany News ran a feature profiling the Moderate Independent Conservative Alliance (MICA). The article, MICA aims to provide alternative political forum, by Lea Brown 15 and Casey Zuckerman 15 appeared in the Sep. 28. 2011 edition of the Misc and claimed to speak to students who hold political views that stand out in a college that has long been known as a bastion of liberal politics. While the article started off by complicating the largely false notion that MICA is home to a base of ultra-conservatives out of touch with mainstream Vassar, this enlightening view of MICA is quickly derailed. Instead of focusing on the current state of MICA and conservatives at Vassar College, the article chose to digress into a favorite topic of the Miscellany News: the nowfolded MICA newspaper, the Imperialist. Indeed, less than a month later, in the Oct. 25. 2011 issue of the Miscellany News in Campus Life Response Team crafts individual responses to incidents, by Danielle Bukowski 14, the Imperialist was once again alluded to but not named, with the reference addressing the Moderate Independent Conservative Alliance of 2005. MICA indeed used to put out a publicationif a twenty-page Adobe PDF file produced on the colleges campus printing network can be considered a publication called the Imperialist. The title, tongue-incheek like most articles in the paper, was a reference to popular misconceptions of conservative ideology as supporting colonialist thought. The Imperialist ran for three issues, the last of which was published in the fall of 2005. To put that in terms of Vassars institutional memory: In the fall of 2005 current MICA President, William Serio 13, had just started his freshman year of high school; the members of the Class of 2009 who entered Vassar that yearand were consequently the last to have firsthand knowledge of the Imperialistwere seniors when the current members of Vassars senior class were freshman; Catharine Bond Hill had yet to leave Williams College to take her post as Vassar College Presi-

dent; and, according to local legend, the All Campus Dining Center still served palatable food. That is to say, no student on campus save any who have taken very extensive leaves of absencehad the opportunity to read the Imperialist when it was in print. In fact, the only place that a typical Vassar student would have encountered any excerpt from the Imperialist is the Miscellany News, which has made frequent reference to its particularly inflammatory articles. There were inflammatory articles and political cartoons in the Imperialist, though many were more nuanced than their inflated reputations credit. The anonymous author of the article that led to MICAs censoring, identifying himself only as Constantine, wrote that the goal of creating a diverse campus ought be questioned for the paternalistic language of affirmative action and the supposition that creating diversity on campus is for the benefit of un-diverse students. The Imperialist implied that such supposition threatens to reduce diverse students to exotic objects collected to benefit the un-diverse subjects. We think that these concerns are not outside the realm of reasonable discourse andhad they been phrased and read in less incendiary terms could have resulted in a discussion that benefited the entire college community. Since these articles and the controversy surrounding them, MICA was defunded, de-authorized, and re-founded as an entirely new organization by a dramatically different group of people. There is no direct institutional link between the MICA of the Imperialist and the MICA of the Chronicle, and yet the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council and the Miscellany News keep the Imperialist controversy alive. When MICA approached the VSA Council last year in an effort to restart the Chronicle, the primary concern on the council was whether or not MICA would return to publishing contentious material. Since none of the interested MICA members had any connection with the Imperialist, such concern was baseless unless one accepted the pernicious belief that offensive speech is inherent to any ideology outside the lib-

eral Vassar mainstream. The most recent Misc article on MICA spent nearly twice as much space discussing the Imperialist than the Chronicle, even though the Imperialist question accounted for only a fraction of Serios interview with Zuckerman. Disturbingly, according to one of the authors of the article, the section on the Imperialist was not included in Brown and Zuckermans initial draft, but was added later in the Miscellany News production cycle by members of its editorial board. What interest could the members of the Miscellany News editorial board have in prolonging coverage of MICAs distant Imperialist past if the authors of the article in question did not even find it relevant? The article suggests, through its coverage, that understanding the Imperialist controversy is one of the most important components of understanding the current state of the Moderate Independent Conservative Alliance. It claims that Serio must struggle against the taint of the Imperialist without recognizing that it is articles such as itself that constitute the primary reason for the institutional taint. It would be factually accurate for an encyclopedia page on Vassar College to begin with the sentence Vassar is a privately owned highly-selective liberal arts college that refused to admit African American students for the majority of its 150 year history. Yet there is a recognition that, while such a statement would be true and the early history of Vassars race relations are just as shameful as those of the nation that spawned it, such fact is not in the body of information that is most essential to prospective students and President Hill had nothing to do with perpetuating that unjust system. The Imperialist controversy ought be remembered as an example of the diversity of student opinion and the power of words and opinions to injure; it should not be used to mar the reputation of those students who currently call themselves moderate, independent, or conservative. The Staff Editorial is agreed upon by at least a 70 percent majority of the Editorial Board.

ProduCtion & dESign CoPy & StylE VaSSar & loCal natl. & forEign affairS dEbatE & diSCourSE CoPy & StylE aSSt. dEbatE & diSC. aSSt. illuStrator

Pavel Shchyhelski Tony Li Abby Krolik Jessica Tarantine Thomas Enering Michael Greene Mandakh Bekhbat Eunice Roh Shivani Dave Pavel Shchyhelski

Letters Policy: The Vassar Chronicle encourages its readers to voice their opinions by writing Letters to the Editor, several of which will be selected for publication in each issue without regard to the authors race, religion, sex, gender, sexual identity, or ideology. Please address correspondence to VassarChronicle@gmail.com. Advertising Policy: All advertisements will be clearly demarcated as such. Contact MICA.vsa@ vassar.edu for rates. All material is subject to editors discretion, without regard for race, religion, or sex. Nota bene: The opinions published in The Vassar Chronicle do not necessarily represent those of the editors, except for the Staff Editorial, which is supported by at least 70 percent of the Editorial Board. M.I.C.A. is a student umbrella organization that aims to further moderate, independent, conservative, and libertarian thought on campus by sponsoring events designed to expand the breadth of Vassars political dialogue; to this end, M.I.C.A. produces The Vassar Chronicle. Contact MICA. vsa@vassar.edu to become involved with the club.

our EDiTors sTanD bEhinD ThEir PubLiCaTion.

Win 5
for EaCh misTakE founD in

The Vassar ChroniCle

miCa.vsa@vassar.EDu

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ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

Miscellany News & VSA Lied to Student Body VSA Resolution Passed Without Factual Basis
Alaric Chinn, Editor-in-Chief William Serio, Senior Editor

EDiTors CornEr

ur student government only functions when our representatives work, with honesty and integrity, in the best interest of the student body andwhen there is a miscarriage of the trust we place in themthere is a journalistic body that holds them accountable for their failures. So how can our system work when the Vassar Student Association (VSA) Council passed a panic-inducing resolution based off of misperceptions and false information, part of whichas one college administrator put itappears purposefully misleading, and, instead of alleviating student concern, the Miscellany Newsa publication ostensibly charged with informing the student bodypublished articles that exacerbated public misconceptions and mischaracterized the statements of a college administrator? And yet this is precisely what appeared to transpire with the passage and commensurate coverage of Vassar Student Association Resolution 26-5: A Resolution Encouraging Conduct Reform Before CCL. On Oct. 27, 2011, before the Halloween weekend, Luis Inoa, the Director of Residential Life, sent out an e-mail addressing hosting unauthorized parties and bringing guests onto campus. At the end of the e-mail rests the statement from which so much controversy has arisen: Also, you should be aware that a logical consequence of causing a disruption along the lines of an unauthorized party in the houses may be reassignment to a different house. The Resolution itself seems innocuous enough at first glance. Following a series of whereas statements attempting to justify its existence, the Resolution concludes with the VSA Council recommending to the Committee on College Life that policies be reexamined and that checks be put in place to prevent unilateral promulgation of policy or policy equivalents, and encourage student engagement in policy development, and, secondly, that housing reassignment be reevaluated as a sanction. Yet beneath the attempts at formal language and identifying issues that needed to be addressed, the Resolution itself is constructed on stilts that cannot support itlies, mischaracterizations, and misperceptions. For a person reading the Resolution and following its coverage, they would believe that the VSA Council was responding to a policy or guideline, yet, in actuality, the policy or policy equivalent in question is neither of those things. The Resolution was, for the most part, completely unnecessary. This statement has been promulgated by members of the VSA Council and the Miscellany News as new, as a policy, and as a guideline. However, this statement is not new, it is not a policy, and it is not a guideline. In this article, the Vassar student body will finally be properly informed of the actual student conduct process, as well as the ineptitude on the part of VSA Council members and the reporters and editors of the Miscellany News, which led to a distortion of the facts, a massive waste of time and energy, and a resolution based not in fact and truth but in opinion, emotion, and falsehood. Issues regarding student conduct are

amongst the most important at Vassar College and thus sources of student input are already plentiful in the system. It is within the realm of student conduct that students, based on their actions, may face sanctions ranging from a warning to expulsion. Within that spectrum, the College utilizes various mechanisms to determine responsibility of an accused student, and, if found responsible, appropriate sanctions regarding that student. Needless to say, much effort has been taken by administrators, faculty members, and students to empower student voices regarding student conduct. For this reason, the Committee on College Lifewhich includes students as well as administratorsexists to review college regulations and the members of the elected VSA Judicial Board are trained and empowered to give student input directly into individual cases through Academic Panels, College Regulations Panels, and Student Conduct panels by the Dean of Studies and Dean of Students offices. It should further be noted that in cases that arise before the Academic or College Regulations Panels, a students vote in a case is equal to that of a professors or an administrators and that in Student Conduct Panels, students have complete control over the outcomes of cases both in terms of finding responsibility and in sanctioning. This relationship between students, faculty members, and administrators is symbolic of Vassar Colleges broader commitment towards shared governance, or the idea that every member of the campus community has a stake in the colleges affairs. Good governance is defined by good communication, as some level of understanding is necessary before a government can take action. Yet, the funny thing about communication is that, in order for it to be effective, both sides need to be receptive. That did not happen in this case. For all of the calls for greater student involvement in matters regarding the college, the student half of the conversation broke down and ignored virtually all of the information while misrepresenting what was shared with them by the administration. Intentional or unintentional, this is indicative of disrespect and reflects poorly on the very students who called for greater student involvement in matters governing the college. In the words of Vice President for Student Life Charles Dobb 12, This [the so-called policy] is an abuse of our joint governance. Yet, shared governance comes with shared responsibility responsibility that was shirked by any VSA representative who contributed to or voted for VSA Resolution 26-5. Through our month-long investigation of the actions of VSA representatives and Miscellany News reporters, we discovered that both the VSA and Miscellany News have engaged in practices that, in the real world, would require reprimand through censure, public apology, or even resignation. For claritys sake, we will address the VSAs actions and the Miscellany Newss actions separately. The VSA Resolution We applaud the members of the VSA for asking the administration for more information concerning Luis Inoas e-mail. Yet, that is as far as we can allow our accolades to go. After VSA members had preliminary meetings with Inoa,

they were directed to Associate Director of Residential Life Richard Horowitz. Horowitz told us that when it comes to student conduct, there is no one more knowledgeable than him on these matters; therefore, Horowitz possessed any and all relevant information regarding the so-called house reassignment policy. Indeed, Horowitz told us that he was very forthcoming with information upon request by VSA representatives. He even constructed a list of Popular Student Conduct Related Myths, which was provided to members of the VSA responsible for drafting VSA Resolution 26-5 prior to its passage. Yet, misperceptions continued to abound, and were even included in the final Resolution. In Horowitzs words, Im not sure why this has happened, especially given the fact that at several different points since the VSAs first expression of concern there have been unambiguous clarifications, explanations, and corrections offered to VSA that appear to have been largely set aside. Upon our request for interview, Horowitz was kind enough to provide the Chronicle with extensive e-mailed statements in which he explained the following: What was made clear to VSA even prior to their final draft of the resolution was that only unauthorized parties that significantly disrupted and/or endangered a community might result in reassignment; and even then, it would still be dependent on the context. Indeed, in an e-mail with a VSA Council member (name omitted) dated Nov. 2 2011, Horowitz states, What I can say with certainty, however, is that reassigning students related to such incidents isnt anything new and its happened in prior years with regularity Reassigning students for significantly disruptive and/or dangerous behaviors has always been something that student conduct folk have done as long as Ive been at Vassar (6-7 years). Therefore, if there was any worry that this policy was new, I hope that alleviates any fears. This policy is indeed, not new. But is this even a policy? Or a guideline? As the latter is the wording utilized in the Resolution itself, let us analyze what Horowitz shared with the concerned students, among them at least one VSA council member. Horowitz told the Chronicle that he had spent roughly 15 to 20 hours dealing with the controversy arising from the VSA regarding Inoas e-mail. During those hours, Horowitz drafted a document titled Popular Student Conduct Related Myths. The document, which Horowitz shared with the Chronicle through e-mail, is a

list of seven myths about student conduct. At the time the document was provided to the Chronicle, Horowitz notes, The only addition is Myth #7, which I had instead personally addressed via e-mail. Beneath Myth #7, which is a discussion of guidelines versus policies, Horowitz writes, The reassignment statement sent out by Luis Inoa falls far short of being either a guideline or a policy as it was simply an effort to clearly communicate; to bring information to the awareness of students. In an in-person interview that took place after Horowitz had provided the aforementioned documents to the Chronicle, Horowitz was firm in his position that the house reassignment policy was neither a policy nor a guideline. Indeed, returning to the Nov. 2, 2011 e-mail, Horowitz writes to the VSA council member, Ive replied to the concerns that Luis got about what you and others have inaccurately (said with love) identified as the new Res Life conduct policy As early as Nov. 2, 2011, at least one VSA member possessed knowledge that the house reassignment policy was not a policy. Despite all of the information that Horowitz provided the VSA, VSA members effectively ignored that information and drafted a Resolution anyway. On Nov. 6, 2011, this Resolution passed unanimously. The Resolution itself is riddled with problemsproblems that Horowitz shared with the Chronicle. Two of Horowitzs constructive criticisms are reproduced below: 1. In regard to the phrase, guideline within Residential Life (Clause 2, Line 2), Horowitz writes, The above statement [in reference to Clause 1, which contains Inoas e-mailed statement] is too general to serve as a guideline This resolutionin its entiretyis fundamentally affected by this mischaracterization. 2. Addressing the same phrase, Horowitz writes, The Dean of Students office, and NOT [original authors] Residential Life, is responsible for implementing the student conduct system The VSA members who actually drafted this one-page Resolution produced a document that is based on a mischaracterization and shows a fundamental lack of understanding of basic Vassar student conduct policy. Although the entire VSA Council is implicated in this blunder, we believe that the true blame

The document Popular Student Related Myths, with the exception of Myth #7, was provided to both VSA council members and reporters of the Miscellany News. It was virtually ignored, save for some mischaracterizations.

Richard Horowitz

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

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Miscellany News Used Questionable Journalistic Practices

should be placed on those individuals who were responsible for drafting the document in the first place. By ignoring Horowitzs comments, scrapping together a document constructed on falsehoods, and then submitting that to the VSA Council for a vote, those responsible for this document have engaged in unprofessional conduct that is unbecoming of an elected student representative to the VSA. Passage of this Resolution is indicative of a to student responses (though student responses themselves were omitted), which implies that those students had read their e-mails. Possibility two: those responsible for drafting the resolution received the e-mail but had forgotten to include the information provided to them, which is also unlikely as the Resolution actually cites Horowitzs myths document (albeit inaccurately). Possibility three: they selectively ignored information according to their biases. All of the possibilities are worthy of reprimand and those responsible for drafting this document, riddled with falsehoods as it is, should, at the very least, publicly apologize or, at the most, resign from their positions for neglecting their duties to serve the student body due to the gross disrespect displayed to an administrator. Additionally, we encourage their colleagues on the VSA Council to launch an investigation into reforming the Resolution-making process to ensure such actions do not occur again. The Miscellany Newss Coverage When it came to the portrayal of the information by the Miscellany News, Horowitz told the Chronicle in the aforementioned e-mailed statement, The writer(s) chose to largely ignore the great amount that I shared with them and then went on to misrepresent what little they did convey in the article. The article in question can be found in the Nov. 10, 2011 edition of the Miscellany News entitled Council drafts resolution against house reassignment guideline, by Joey Rearick 14 and Dave Rosenkranz 14. In the article, Horowitz allegedly explains, that reassignment would only be imposed if the investigative authority considers it to be a logical consequence of a particular violationin this case, an unregistered party in a residential house. Yet, Horowitz, in an e-mail response directly addressed to the Miscellany News reporters dated Nov. 11, 2011, writes, This statement suggests that all unregistered parties in residential houses will result in reassignment. In a previous e-mail to the Miscellany News dated Nov. 8, 2011, Horowitz responded directly to an e-mailed interview question with, I think its important to clarify here that reassignment is often NOT [original authors] a logical consequence for hosting an unregistered party in the dorms. This was one of the areas of misperception. However, the Misc reporters chose not to spread awareness of this misperception or even attempt to clarify it, preferring instead to effectively paint an almost adversarial relationship between students and the Office of Residential Life. This sensationalist approach to journalism should have no place in Vassar Colleges newspaper of record, especially when that sensationalism is constructed on mischaracterizations that distort clarifications that took extensive time to provide. Indeed, unless the Miscellany News editorial staff takes steps to correct this misinformation, then this incident will go down in Vassar history in exactly the words the reporters chosewords that are patently false. The low standard of journalism exemplified by the article is a signal to the Miscellany News to hold the reporters and editors of the article accountable for their transgressions. If no steps are taken, then we will assume that the Miscellany News is comfortable with mischaracterizing the statements of college administrators, a terrifying standard for Vassar Colleges newspaper of record. Even more curious is the lack of urgency of correction on the part of the reporters that followed the Nov. 10, 2011 edition of the Miscellany News. In his Nov. 11, 2011 e-mail, Horowitz summarizes the very information he provided to counter the misperceptions of house reassignment and concludes with, Given the above, I think you might understand why it might now feel like my trust in you to help enhance awareness of the misperceptions has resulted in the promotion of this particular misperception. A simple clarification is the least that should be provided to the student body, with apologies for publishing confusing materials following that.

EDiTors CornEr

The writer(s) chose to largely ignore the great amount that I shared with them and then went on to misrepresent what little they did convey in the article.
much greater impact on this campus community. First of all, if those responsible are not held accountable for these actions, then basic accountability of elected students by their constituents is shunned in its entirety. Allowing such individuals to continue taking part in the governance of the roughly 2,400 students both on campus and abroad is a travesty of governance and is unacceptable in terms of transparency and representation. Moreover, those who drafted the Resolution have no defense for their actions. They cannot claim miscommunication or lack of communication, as Horowitzs correspondence with these students was both timely and extensive. Moreover, there are only three possible causes of how false information could have been included in the final Resolution. Possibility one: VSA members asked for information and never looked at their emails afterward, which is highly unlikely as Horowitz provided the Chronicle with not only his responses to the first inquiries but his responses

If no steps are taken, then we will assume that the Miscellany News is comfortable with mischaracterizing the statements of college administrators, a terrifying standard for Vassar Colleges newspaper of record.
Sadly, this misperception was not limited to an article, since this issue was also the focus of the Miscellany News staff editorial in the same issue. In the Nov. 10, 2011 editions staff editorial entitled Email implicates lack of communication between Residential Life and student body, at least two-thirds of the Miscellany News editorial board agreed with the following statement: Though housing reassignment has been available to Residential Life as a sanction for some time, the decision to implement it as a baseline practice is the result of a yearlong discussion within Residential Life that the VSA was not part of. When the Chronicle interviewed Horowitz, we asked him about this so-called yearlong discussion. His response was that there was no yearlong discussion, and had there been one, he wasnt included. We will note again that Horowitz is the expert regarding student conduct on campus and lack of his presence in a yearlong discussion, both as an expert and as the Associate Director of Residential Life, would have been ridiculous. Even more unsettling is that the Miscellany News reporters had access not only to a letter between Horowitz and concerned students but access to his myths document as well. Moreover, as is clear from Horowitzs e-mails to the reporters, reassignments are often not the logical consequences of hosting an unauthorized party, and therefore is not a baseline practice. The Miscellany News staff editorial exemplifies a lack of communication, a lack of research, and/or a willing ignorance of the facts. We hope that the new Editor-in-Chief of the Miscellany News, Aashim Usgaonkar 13, will prioritize rejuvenating the newspaper and that he will be instrumental in shifting it from this trajectory of deplorable journalistic practices. Unfortunately, much time has already been wasted on the subject of the house reassignment policy. The Resolution has already been presented to the Committee on College Life, despite its factual errors and blatant mischaracterization of Horowitzs information. Is this what we want student government to look like at Vassar College? Is this the shared governance doctrine that so many VSA leaders called for in the days following Luis Inoas e-mailto waste valuable time and energy with a document based in falsehood? Is this the kind of journalism we want from Vassar Colleges newspaper of record? We hope that corrective measures are taken so that superfluous issues like these, do not continue to plague the VSA or the Miscellany News. Until then, the campus community ought protect itself from further proclamations from these reliable sources.

Above: Some of the members of the VSA Council who passed the resolution in question.

Pavel Shchyhelski

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Moderate Students Alienated, Lack of Inclusion Problematic

Jessica Tarantine Vassar & Local Editor

vassar & LoCaL

assar Colleges moderate and conservative populations often holds views that are a minority on campus, and as such safe spaces for those students are often in short supply. Therefore, using Vassars own framework of inclusion to measure a successful community, Vassar is clearly falling short in this important regard. So, as the Vassar community continues to have a conversation about inclusion, this is something which must be addressed. To put this in a larger context, in the last few weeks, many discussions have taken place concerning the way to best ways to make the campus more open and increase the degree of inclusion. How do we as a campus community create an environment that is open enough to allow people to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts on any given subject matter? The importance and difficulty of this is twofold: If Vassar fails to have a truly open culture where everyone feels safe to share their thoughts, it not only affects those individuals personal and residential lives but also their academic experiences. Vassar has done a wonderful job of creating safe spaces for people to express themselves who have historically lacked such spaces. For example, the creation of Break the Silence by the Feminist Alliance has created a wonderful safe space for victims of sexual assault, and conversations are continuing about how to become even more open as a community. This is truly laudable, but does not necessarily do enough to create safe spaces for all individuals to share their thoughts.

ideas presented, and if we believe as a liberal arts community that learning is facilitated by debate and discourse of different opinions and worldviews, then therein lies a problem. Furthermore, it perpetuates a sense that these other ideas are not worth engaging. But independent of the worth of the argument, a large

In political science classes we learn that compromise is essential, and yet at Vassar we have no meaningful concept of difficult compromise. The quality of discourse is likewise limited; No progress is made, and leaders tend to only rally support in their own camp and do nothing to cross party lines.

Nathan Tauger

Nathan Tauger 14 crosses party lines to share a photograph with former Republican Congressman Rick Lazio 80.

By oversimplifying and demonizing the other, usually construed as right-wing, we create convient narratives where the oppositions viewpoint can be cast aside with little or no discussion.
The way this lack of a safe space most manifests is through dismissal of beliefs thought to be too far to the right, often in both academic and non-academic settings. This is problematic not only because it alienates those students who do identify as right of center, rightleaning moderates, or even independents, but also because it limits the sphere of discourse inside and outside of the classroom. By oversimplifying and demonizing the other, usually construed as right-wing, we create convenient narratives where the oppositions viewpoint can quickly be cast aside with little or no discussion. This prevents true engagement with the actual

population55 million to be exact are registered Republicans, and 42 million are Independents. Once students have left Vassar they will have to engage with not only the independents and right-leaning moderates, who represent most of the right on this campus, but actual Republicans (of which there are a few on campus, too). In this case, straw-manning their arguments and dismissing them as ridiculous will not yield beneficial results. And while Vassar curriculum certainly promotes critical reasoning skills and the ability to engage with arguments, something must be said for working with people who dont share your beliefs. For example, if you go into politics as a Democrat, you will definitely have to engage with conservative ideas at some point. Of course, it would be easy to once again dismiss these ideas and make fun of and disregard their arguments without analysis, but such action only perpetuates problems at the root of politics. In Congress and politics in general, there is an idea that bipartisanship is beneficial because it brings compromise and progress. If two sides just stick to their extreme viewpoints and compromise on nothing, then no progress is made. You might have two ideas of how to run the country, but you still only have one country.

This same problem is evident in many conversations on campus. The problem is that we tend to ignore the views that contradict our own. But just because we dont talk about the problems associated with subjects like Keynesian spending it does not mean that there are no problems, it just means that we dont have meaningful conceptions of how to correct these problems.

If conflict makes us uncomfortable, and we only talk about what makes us comfortable, then we are fundamentally missing the conflict and the clash of ideas. This is a problem.
A perfect case in point is the recent event held by the Moderate Independent Conservative Alliance (MICA). We hosted Vassar alumnus and former Republican congressman Rick Lazio 80, one of Vassars more successful alums and one who has risen to the status of a public figure. Yet, in general, primarily MICA and the political science department generated the positive response to his visit. Shouldnt more people be excited to see a former four-term member of Congress who once ran against Hillary Clinton for a senate seat? Shouldnt

more people at least have the decency to show respect for an alumnus, especially one that was recently named to the Presidents Advisory Council? I suppose it could have been lack of advertising, maybe our posters werent flashy enough, or maybe Vassars only former Congressman and previous Executive Vice President of JPMorgan Chase wasnt interesting enough. While I dont have any data to support these conclusions, logic tells me it was simply because he was a Republican. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to engage with ideas that are not often discussed on Vassars campus. Students of all ideologies and worldviews were welcome to ask him question after question about his views to get at the bottom of what he believes. And yet the only questions which he was asked about his more controversial views was in regards to Park 51, otherwise known as the Ground Zero Mosque and was predicated by the statement I dont want to be mean because you seem like such a nice guy but... While this engagement with different ideas holds the promise of addressing the deficit of discourse, it shows how, fundamentally, we are hesitant to engage with ideas that make us uncomfortable, and so we stay within realms of discussion where we are comfortable and miss the most important debate happening at the margins of our comfort zones. If conflict makes us uncomfortable, and we only talk about what makes us comfortable, then we are fundamentally missing the conflict and clash of ideas. This is a problem. As Vassar students, we need to challenge ourselves to come out of comfort zones not only to grow intellectually, but also to give legitimacy to other students ideas. While Im not advocating that you agree with their ideas, acknowledging that they exist and are legitimate points of view can lead to the creation of safe spaces where they feel comfortable expressing those views. Furthermore, creating a dialogue of ideas would even further promote understanding and compromise between those with different views. If we cannot engage with students of conservative or right-leaning backgrounds in a respectful manner with the expectation that they will do the same, then Vassar has failed to obtain truly meaningful inclusion. To end on a brighter note , a promising forthcoming event will be held between the Moderate Independent Conservative Alliance and the Vassar Democrats. They will be coordinating a viewing party of the next Republican Presidential Candidates Debate on the night of December 10. More details will follow, so look out for information soon or contact these organizations directly. We hope this signifies the continuation of a mutually beneficial relationship.

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vassar & LoCaL

QuestBridge Equalizes Playing Field for Admissions
planning a Columbia-Vassar Thanksgiving get together, the chapter proves it is active and relevant, a prerequisite for VSA support which is clearly being met. As the Vassar QB liaison to headquarters, I spent a little time over the summer at the annual QB Liaison Retreat in Palo Alto, California where each QB partner school gathers. There we discussed the different methods of becoming recognized by each respective college as well as how to go about creating a functioning chapter and follow through with both service and community oriented activities. Although QB has had a presence on Vassars campus for the past four years, the emergence of a chapter is rather recent. Provided with our strong leadership and a broad array of resources from headquarters, this chapter is ready to be a fully functional part of Vassars society. In fact, in many ways, it is already a fully functioning part of Vassars community. In terms of activities, QB is a twopart organization in that we prioritize both service and community. Cashen has been meeting with Jazmin Pichardo 11, Vassars Exploring College Coordinator, to arrange workshops with local high school students in which QB scholars can share college options and experiences. Another service outlet program is Program Ambassadors Coming Together (PACT), which provides mentoring and application preparation for high achieving, low-income high school students. However, QB is facing great difficulties in the actual implementation of service activities in that we are not able to cross much of the red tape to get into high schools, due to the fact that we are not VSA recognized. VSA recognition would also allow our chapter to work with other organizations whose focus is on tutoring and mentoring local high school students. Furthermore, the activities of QB are extremely limited as long as it remains unrecognized by the VSA, as we lack funding. Every penny we spend must be requested from the national Quest Scholars Network which, as a non-profit with over 30 partner schools, is limited in itself. VSA funding would allow our program to have more far-reaching results.

...the activities of QB are extremely limited as long as it remains unrecognized by the VSA, as we lack funding.
Recently, QB has written and passed a constitution as well as opened the chapter to all Vassar students, regardless of whether or not they themselves were admitted to Vassar through the QB program. The rationale behind this decision was to increase the awareness and support of low-income students obtaining higher education. Our QuestBridge group should get VSA certification in order to further legitimize Vassars dedication to increasing access to universities by talented low-income students. I think Vassar should be a microcosm of the country as a whole, and increasing Vassars socioeconomic diversity is always a positive move, says QB Freshmen Rep., Ulloa. If QB continues to provide a positive influence for both students throughout Poughkeepsie as well as for those on campus, we deserve representation.

The Wall Street Journal

Kaitlan Reed Contributor

ur generation must face some daunting challengesfrom climate change to hunger security to overpopulation, and, unfortunately, the list goes on and on. However, we are blessed in that we get the privilege of experiencing change and improvements. Even pessimists can appreciate the new innovations our globe is producing, from iPods to rapidly dissolving toilet paper. In terms of social change while there are still lots of problems we are working towards improvement, in some areas at least. The presence of lower socioeconomic status groups has increased at selective colleges and universities, such as Vassar, and these formally underrepresented people are entering, and will continue to enter, the workforce, providing even more solutions to our abundance of problems. It is important to recognize, however, that these improvements, in terms of access for all socioeconomic groups, did not happen by accident. QuestBridge (QB), whose purpose, as stated by their website, is a powerful platform bridging the nations brightest, under-served youth and leading institutions of higher education and further opportunities, is the only reason that Im at Vassar and not at South Dakota State University. Participating in the QuestBridge program not only gives students the financial means to attend several of the nations top colleges, but it also gives them confidence in their ability to succeed at these institutions, says QB President Krystal Cashen 13. I, personally, involve myself with the Vassar QB chapter because I am grateful for the opportunity they have provided me, and I will advocate this chapter until we reach our goal of VSA

recognition, which I strongly believe is needed in order to ensure that the program can still function. Executive board member, Brittany Butler 13, agrees: QuestBridge changes a lot of peoples lives in that cheesymovie kind of way, so QuestBridge is really important to a lot of us. The great thing is that there are a lot of Vassar Questies and QuestBridge supporters, so we can be a really beneficial presence on campus. Although rather bureaucratic, the process that attempts to provide better access to higher education is pretty simple. Essentially, a student applies to the QB program and, if accepted, is matched to a partner school. Vassar began participating in the program in 2007, and the first class of QB students will be graduating this year, a laudable achievement that we attempt to celebrate.

QuestBridge changes a lot of peoples lives in that cheesy movie kind of way
Additionally, Vassars QB population is substantial. The number of students admitted under the program has surpassed 100 this year, increasing from 99 students to 133. As our numbers increase, all we request is a voice and representation on campus, something VSA support would enable. This year, Vassars QB chapter has elected a dedicated and focused executive board composed of Krystal Cashen 13 (President), Jasmyn Mudrich 14 (Secretary), Brittany Butler 13 (Treasurer), Jesse Peters 14 (Event Coordinator), Kaitlin Reed 14 (HQ Liaison), and Saul Ulloa 15 (Freshmen Representative). In the weekly executive meetings, both service and community activities are discussed and general meetings planned. From writing thank you cards to donors to

In addition to partnering with Vassar, QuestBridge also partners with a host of other elite colleges and universities.

Wikimedia

PagE 6

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

Academically Blind Admissions Policy Shocks Academia

Todd Densen Satirist

vassar & LoCaL

assar College shook up the college admissions world last Thursday by announcing that the college is immediately employing an academically-blind admissions policy. The new policy will revolutionize the admissions process. No longer will applicants be required to submit any standardized test scores, high school transcripts, or letters of recommendation of any kind during the application process. The result is a streamlined application process that now only requires applicants to submit their name, home and email addresses, and of course, the infamous Your Space assignment.

The overwheling evidence has shown that there is no significant correlation between academic record and success
The measure extends the recent flurry of admissions reforms from the liberal arts colleges, expanding upon the recent implementation of age-blind, species-blind, and shoe-size-blind policies. President of the College, Catherine Cappy Hill had this to say during the announcement, Vassar is proud to be

an academic leader in expanding educational opportunities to more individuals. We believe it is unfair that students who might have done poorly on their high school record are currently being excluded from the secondary education system. We need to level the playing field between the boring squares who do homework for fun and the cool kids who just didnt give a shit. She went on to explain that just because high school students chose to get drunk under the bleachers during fourth period English shouldnt exclude them from attaining a high quality college education. The announcement has been met with praise by academics, educators, and underachieving students nationwide. Rebecca Chopp, president of peer institution Swarthmore College has already released a statement lauding Vassar for its progressive policies: Vassars newest admissions standard is one that all colleges should take advantage of. The overwhelming evidence has shown that there is no significant correlation between academic record and success. Look at individuals like Kevin Bacon. After dropping out of high school, he had no opportunity to gain access to a college education, but he was able to beat the odds and build up a sustainable career. If he had the opportunity to go to college imagine where he might be now? He could be making millions of

dollars a year as a musical artist and not be limited to just being the sort of actor who can play any role. We at Swarthmore are looking into the possibility of incorporating policies to help students, who, like Kevin Bacon, or Jason Mewes, or LeBron James, were never able to go to college, achieve their ultimate goals.

We need to level the playing field between the boring squares... and the cool kids
Lazy students are already embracing the change. Sixteen year-old, Orange County, California resident, Ashley Kline, has renewed hope of partying in college. After using her parents credit card to go to Catalina Island during finals week last year, she worried she might have to work in retail. College parties are way cooler than high school parties. I mean Ive been going to college parties for, like, three years already, but its, like, totally way better to actually get into the college you want to party at, because, like, they give you those cute sweatpants with the words on the butt. And those are great for the gym. Fellow classmate and self-proclaimed stoner, Blake Anderson, was also super stoked by the news because he heard they have some dank and sticky grass at

A recent college admission information session.

Wikimedia

college. The college also announced that they have already admitted to the class of 2016 their first student to benefit from this policy. Little Jamie Duncan logged onto Mommys computer and sent her application in to Vassar using the new Apply via Twitter option the school began last year. Admissions officers said that the new policy allowed them to admit Jamie based on her moving portrayal of the silent oppression felt by the juvenile woman in her Your Space fingerpaint submission despite her complete lack of a scholastic record. The future is bright for this young lady, thanks to Vassar. Without academically-blind admissions, she might have faded into a weird goth phase in middle school and completely rebelled against the system all together.

A Day at Vassar Excludes Students, All Willing to Attend

Meg Mielke Contributor

n Oct. 15, 2011, Vassar College hosted A Day at Vassar, an event designed to draw Hudson Valley community members to the campus in order to celebrate Vassars sesquicentennial. Most would say that the event was highly successful as the day was at capacity with 625 community members participating in this event. When I first heard about this, I thought it was a great idea. And I would agree with many members of the college that this event should be repeated as an annual event through which the community can participate in the Vassar community. However, I think that there are a few issues within the current programming style that need to be remedied to fit the end goals of improving town-gown relations and giving a chance for community members to be welcomed into the Vassar community. The fact that A Day at Vassar was scheduled for the first day of October break leaves me with an uneasy feeling. I am not quite sure why Vassars doors couldnt be open to the public on a day when the majority of the student body is on campus. I believe that part of what makes Vassar so great is its students, who, for the most part, were left out of this event. The college also closed the All College Dining Center for the special luncheon for the guests, not allowing the few students on campus to even eat with the visiting community members. I suppose it could

Like many Vassar buildings, Main was open to visitors during A Day at Vassar

Wikimedia Commons

have been pretty crowded in the dining center, but just the other day the college hosted a big alumni event where part of the dining center was blocked off. This choice to close the dinning center combined with the fact that the event was scheduled at a time when most students would not be on campus, seemed to be sending the message that Poughkeepsie residents are welcome on campus, but please, keep away from Vassar students. If this event were to be hosted on a

Friday or Saturday during the regular academic year, it seems that students and student groups in particular would love to help with the programming. Just as classes are an important part of the Vassar experience, the extracurricular are also crucial to understanding Vassar. So if we want the Poughkeepsie community to get a true sense of Vassar, a more full representation from student groups is needed. Finally, to participate in this event, community members had to register on-

line about a week in advance. As the College reported, the event reached capacity and Vassar actually had to turn community members away. The college has admitted that the largest pitfall of the program was that not everyone who wanted to participate actually could. The fact that hopeful participants had to register in advance probably discouraged many from attending . I realize that the college would want a general number for who was going to participate, but it seems that with 42 professors participating in teaching classes; and with the help of some of the larger lecture halls on the campus, that the event could be structured in a way that allowed for some flexibility in planning. As I mentioned before, I think that A Day at Vassar is a wonderful concept, and a great way for Vassar College to host an event for the community at large. However, hosting an event on a date that seems to purposefully exclude the student aspect of the college only reinforces negative stereotypes about Vassar students involvement (or lack thereof) in the community. Vassar does not choose to host its Accepted Students Day every spring on a day when most students arent around. This is most likely because the administration knows that students are a big component of this school and anyone wanting to get the whole college experience should be around Vassar students. It seems that the college administration might want this insight to carry over to an event involving a link between Vassar and the larger Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County area.

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

PagE 7

ObamaCare Should Be Reformed, Not Repealed

Shivani Dave Assistant Debate & Discourse Editor

naTionaL affairs

resident Obamas campaign in 2008 was geared towards providing the United States with universal health care. His popular slogan revolved around the necessity of change. Before ObamaCare, the United States was spending far more than other countries on healthcare, and yet nearly 50 million people were uninsured. Obama promised that no US citizen would be turned away from insurance because of pre-existing conditions or illness, that the plans would have comprehensive benefits, that premiums, co-pays, and deductibles would be affordable, and that the quality and efficiency of insurance plans would improve. Repealing the 2010 health care overhaul seems to be the number one priority for most Republican candidates. Mitt Romney has advertised that his first action as president will be to issue waivers to all 50 states, so they can disregard the laws requirements. These statements are rather rash and misguided. Repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not an overnight affair nor is it something that should necessarily be abolished. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the healthcare reform bill will cost the United States $940 billion dollars over ten years, but will reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the first ten years and by $1.2 trillion over the second ten years. Coverage will be expanded to 32 million US citizens who are currently uninsured. Those who are uninsured and self-employed will be able to purchase insurance through state based exchanges with subsidies available to individuals and families with incomes between 133 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level. Before healthcare reform, individuals could be denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions, which ranged anywhere from cancer to domestic violence. Women could be charged up to 45 percent more for identical coverage than men and could be denied pre-natal and maternity care. Preventive care such as mammograms, pap smears, and birth control were not included in basic health care while Viagra was. I think it is safe to say the healthcare reform has not been a complete failure. Already, the Affordable Care Act has provided online information on health insurance coverage options for consumers. It has also made sure that health insurance plans disclose how much of the premium actually goes to patient care. It has prohibited the denail of coverage of children based on pre-existing conditions and insurance companies from rescinding coverage providing health care to 11 million children4 million of whom were previously uninsured. Lifetime limits have been eliminated, and annual limits have been regulated, both of which had previously put a dollar limit on the amount that could be spent

on healthcare coverage. It has also provided consumers with a way to appeal coverage determinations or claims to their insurance company and established consumer assistance programs. Additionally, the new law has provided small businesses with health insurance tax credits and offered relief for the 4 million seniors who hit the Medicare prescription drug donut hole. Free preventive care has been ensured, and efforts have increased to crack down on health care fraud. Perhaps most importantly, the pre-existing condition insurance plan provides coverage options to those who have been uninsured for at least six months because of pre-existing conditions. Young adults are now allowed to stay on their parents plan until age 26, and coverage for early retirees have increased, and funds have expanded for Medicaid. The reform law plans to lower health care premiums, improve preventive care options, increase Medicaid payments for primary care doctors and provide additional funding for the childrens health insurance program. The law will also prohibit discrimination due to pre-existing conditions or gender, and it will mandate maternity care as an essential health benefit. It will pay physicians based on value and not volume, and it will make access to care more affordable, along with many other provisions. Opponents say the law will increase costs for employers and drive up premiums. They also say the law steps on personal freedoms and allows too much government intervention. The healthcare law is said to drive up costs through new benefit mandates, modified community rating, and making sure that no one is turned down from healthcare. One of the major complaints of the healthcare reform is the fact that it has done its job in covering almost 95 percent of legal United States residents. The problem lies in the fact that these newly insured residents are now seeking medical attentionattention from primary care providers of which we currently have a shortage. I dont think the answer resides in repealing healthcare reform and un-insuring these individuals. While repealing the law would result in lower premiums in the individual market, the individual market covers only about four percent of the population. Mitt Romney claims that on day one of his presidency, he will grant a waiver from ObamaCare to all 50 states. Herman Cain hopes to repeal the law by Mar. 23, 2013his sons birthday and the third anniversary of the laws signing. At the Sept. 7, 2011 debate, Perry promised to wipe out as much of the Affordable Care Act as possible with an executive order on day one. Michele Bachmann, on the other hand, stated that issuing an executive order will not overturn the massive law. The approach that Cain, Romney, and Perry seem to be taking is not feasible. Bachmann, however, correctly argues that issuing an executive order will not wipe out the healcare re-

Republicans set their sights on repealing ObamaCare.

Flickr

form. Because of this, Romneys approach will be reconciliation, a process that allows certain types of deficit-reducing provisions to pass in the Senate with 51 votes instead of the usual filibuster-proof 60. He plans to grant a waiver to all 50 states on day one, and on day two he will repeal the Patien Protection and Affordable Care Act via reconciliation, claiming at the presidential debate on Oct. 11 that the Act was passed by reconciliation, 51 votes. We can get rid of it with 51 votes. We have to get rid of ObamaCare and return to the states the responsibility. In fact, the healthcare reform bill was not actually passed through reconciliation. It was passed with 60 Democratic votes in Dec. 2009 and in the House of Representatives in Mar. 2010.

The problem with repealing the Affordable Care Act is that we will go back to denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, we will no longer provide preventive care, we will minimize Medicare, and we will leave 50 million people uninsured.
In order for a waiver to be issued, the state must show that it will provide comparable coverage, both comprehensive and affordable. The state also has to insure the same number of residents, and its plan cannot add to the federal deficit by shifting costs to Washington. Ultimately, the state has to set up the health

law described in its waiver request. Romneys approach assumes that all 50 states will want a waiverhighly doubtful for the Democraticleaning states. Repealing the law is possible through reconciliation, but it is most definitely not a single day affair. The problem with repealing the Affordable Care Act is that we will go back to denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, we will no longer provide preventive care, we will minimize Medicare, and we will leave 50 million people uninsured. Denying insurance to victims of domestic violence, denying preventive screenings and testing, and leaving millions of children and adults without access to medical attention does not seem like the appropriate approach. What candidates have yet to address, however, is what will take place if or when the healthcare bill is repealed. Repealing the law is not the fix-all that many candidates claim it to be. The healthcare program is about making healthcare in the United States more efficient by developing electronic records to keep track of patient medical history, giving financial incentives to focus on the value of medical care rather than on the volume, and shifting some of the cost burdens. Perhaps things havent gone quite as planned, but completely repealing the nations first attempt at universal health care may not be the most valuable or feasible course of action. Areas of the plan must be altered, but the purpose of the healthcare reform bill must remain intactto provide healthcare for the uninsured.

naTionaL & forEign affairs, arTs & CuLTurE, LasT PagE, anD CoPy EDiTors nEEDED.
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Do you LikE WhaT yourE rEaDing? WanT To join ThE sTaff of The Vassar ChroniCle?

PagE 8

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

Occupy
Todd Densen Contributor

Wall

naTionaL affairs
Street In

Danger

of

Failing

he recent ruling from the New York State Supreme Court barring protesters from sleeping in lower Manhattans Zuccotti Park was a blow to the spirit of the Occupy movement. But the lack of lasting impact or tangible change brought about by the tent cities around the nation has little to do with the police or courts. A surprise police raid in the early morning of Nov. 15, 2011, forced protesters out of the park and back into the streets. Mayor Michael Bloomberg stood by the decision to clear the park, citing health and safety conditions. He also claimed that the protesters movement made the park inaccessible for others. Later that morning, police reopened the park, but, soon after, word was received of a hearing for a restraining order on behalf of the protesters. The park was closed again to wait for the courts decision. By that afternoon, the State Supreme Court ruled against the protesters, stating that they did not have the right to camp overnight in the park. The decision is a strike against the movement that is approaching its third full month. Supporters of the movement will say that this ruling has hurt their ability to demonstrate, and that it highlights the systemic problems of society, but they do not blame the Mayor, the courts, nor the police for the lack of change. Although supporters claim that the act of encampment is what gave their voices volume, this view is misguided. The media will quickly forget these encampments in a few news cycles. In late 2008 and 2009, as evictions were mounting, tent communities, which had been dubbed modern-day Hoovervilles, began popping up across the country in areas hit hard by the housing crisis. The news briefly covered these incidents and moved forward. No lasting message came of it. Of course, the Occupy movement is substantially different from these encampments, but it is an example that encampment alone is not the source of media fodder. The reason why the Occupy movement is compelling is because its participants are vocal young people in major cities with the power of social media to spread their word. The actual encampments were only significant as they perpetuated the movement and unified the activists. But with the encampments no longer per-

OWS protestors in Zuccotti Park before being evicted by Mayor Bloomberg.

Flickr

mitted in New York, the movements birthplace and center, supporters need to think about what the movements long-term legacy will be. One problem with the movement from the very beginning has been the lack of an overt political message. The protesters not only refuse to have a clear message of what, specifically, they find problematic with society, but their actions have also been exclusively non-political. Members of the movement do not see it as a launch point for political change at all. And this may ultimately be the movements undoing. Editor for the website Waging Nonviolence, Nathan Schneider, who has spent a good deal of time covering the movement, told the Christian Science Monitor, [The movement] is calling on people not to enact policy proposals, which is what people expect, but rather to rethink how politics work They are quite consciously not building political

parties or jumping into the electoral process. Proponents see the movement as social, not political. To politicize the movement would undermine its purpose because they see these problems to be deeply interconnected with a flawed political system. Allan Brill, a member of the Occupy Oakland media team, also spoke with The Christian Science Monitor and said, Those editors, those congressmen, and public officials, want something concrete, so they can try to meet those needs and say, See, we gave you that, so you can go away now. Now, the movement is facing a good deal of adversity from the city. It may be time for protesters to ask themselves what their real purpose needs to be. Supporters of this movement need to realize that their current approach needs to change, and the recent court rulings highlight this necessity. The world has clearly already

taken notice of the movement, and cities are becoming weary of its presence. If Mr. Brill speaks for the entire movement, and if they truly believe in that approach, then none of the hoopla was worthwhile. For members of the movement to be saying, No, we dont want actual change, because then you can stop paying attention to us, sends a horrible message. The entire purpose of the movement has not been to give a bunch of loud, egocentric youngsters the spotlight for a short period of time. I was under the impression that there were issues that needed to be addressed by the government and the people. If this is really the case, then the Occupy movement needs to use its social capital now to move towards making actual change. Ignorance to this will ultimately be the movements undoing, leaving nothing accomplished and proving all of their naysayers right.

Do you WanT To makE your voiCE hEarD? The Vassar ChroniCle EnCouragEs you To submiT CoLumns anD LETTErs To ThE EDiTor.
ConTaCT vassarChroniCLE@gmaiL.Com sPEECh is CiviLizaTion iTsELf. - Thomas mann
ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011 PagE 9

Federal Reserves Monetary Policy Invites Disaster

Tony Li Co-Production & Design Editor

naTionaL affairs

erhaps the strongest criticism of the modern monetary system is the control that the Federal Reserve commands over the expansion or contraction of credit. The federal reserve has been known to lower interest rates during periods of decline in order to stimulate borrowing and investment in production capital or in new businesses to help displaced workers find new jobs in emerging sectors. However, some economists have seen an expansion of the money supply as the primary cause of inflation and a major factor in over-investment and economic bubbles to form when too many investors see an opportunity in the same investment. Since the Volcker shock of the 1980s, when Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker sharply raised interest rates in the face of runaway inflation, the Federal Reserve has slashed rates in the aftermath of economic downturns in the hopes of spurring continued growth. Rates were set at around 3 per cent from 1992 to 1995 in response to the 90-91 recession, and those low rates contributed to the enormous sums of money that were poured into the dot com boom, ensuring that the following bust cycle would be a bitter pill. As the stock market began to swoon after the internet bubble showed signs of trouble and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 damaged consumer confidence, the Federal Reserve once again lowered rates to historically low levels between 2001

to 2004. While this decisive action has often been credited for a speedy recovery during that period, critics are quick to point out that the interest rates were too low and for too longallowing more investors to buy into the housing bubble.

...the effectiveness of tax cuts in stimulating economic activity is questionable and unproven at best. Ideal policy during a crisis would include a combination of job creation, tax cuts, and lower interest rates.
Today, the Federal Reserve has again set rates to notoriously low levels in response to the economic down turn, close to zero percent, and it has stated in a recent Federal Open Market Committee release that it expects to keep rates low through mid-2013. It seems clear that yet another speculative bubble may arise in the midst of this low rate lending. If Congress is going to prevent another major crisis, it needs to give small businesses a reason to expand the output of goods and services by increasing household consumption. Congress should do this through a comprehensive job creation program that will put money to spend directly into the hands of unemployed. Objections to this sort of spending are based on the notion that government projects are wasteful and inefficient. However, the purpose of job creation is not to provide a good to con-

sumers, but rather to raise the level of consumption. This temporarily induces businesses to invest in expanding operations, and so they consequently hire more employees and further increase consumption, resulting in a positive feedback loop that could carry the economy for some time. While job creation is a way of temporarily increasing consumer demand, by implementing a universal healthcare plan, congress could increase the consumption rate of the average US household and accelerate the growth of the economy permanently. Rising insurance premiums can be attributed to the price-inflating nature of the Medicare and Medicaid co-pay systems. A universal healthcare system that provides basic coverage to everyone would keep prices from continuing to rise and would put more money into the hands of consumers to spend. The current system is a poor investment and a burden on U.S. families that spend far too much of their income for this basic necessity. Congress can facilitate economic growth with some rudimentary legislation, yet its unlikely that anything truly productive will come out of Washington that could end the current climate of uncertainty for businesses. While the GOP has consistently called for lower taxes, the effectiveness of tax cuts in stimulating economic activity is questionable and unproven at best. Ideal policy during a crisis would include a combination of job creation, tax cuts, and lower interest rates. However, congress is gridlocked with tension created by the com-

ing election year, and serious talks about the economy are unlikely to take place until after the election. Even then, effective legislation is unlikely; the GOP is too focused on its promises to slash deficits and the national debt. The Federal Reserve can do little beyond continuing to expand the money supply in hopes that it can bait investors by pumping more and more cheap cash into an overblown economy thats currently on the downward slope of two consecutive economic bubblesno doubt creating another one along the way. Maybe third times the charm.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at a Congressional hearing.

flikr

GOP Debates Show Romney As Only Serious Challenger

Emma Lowe Contributor

t is no secret that Republicans want to see a new president elected in 2012. Whether there are any true contenders who could defeat President Obama is yet to be seen. Since May, the Republican presidential debates have provided an intellectually entertaining forum for the potential nominees to present themselves to the American public. The current candidates are: Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota; businessman Herman Cain of Georgia; former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia; Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. of Utah; Representative Ron Paul of Texas; Governor Rick Perry of Texas; former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts; and former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. There have been roughly a dozen debates so far, and over a dozen more are anticipated to take place between now and March. You can almost taste the Republican desperation. For many, the nominees are proving to be less exemplary than one might hope. The strategy to which all the can-

didates revert when they feel unprepared for a question is to criticize the President. Despite the many debates, there are still too many unanswered policy questions. It is also likely that the candidates have not developed answers to these questions out of a lack of familiarity with the issues. Whoever wins the nomination must be capable of facing Obama in the national debates. Congresswoman Bachmann has decent debate skills, but her extremist base is not enough to secure the nomination. Mr. Cain has made headlines for his 9-9-9 tax plan and is a strong debater. However, he has beaten 9-9-9 to death because he clearly has limited knowledge of other issues. Recent allegations of sexual harassment have prompted questions about his character. He denies the allegations, and has managed to lead in the polls despite the controversy. Speaker Gingrichs patronizing style, lack of innovative policy suggestions, and redundant criticism of the liberal media throughout the debates have made it difficult to stay interested in him. However, his experiences may let him be a real competitor as more extreme candidates fall to the wayside. Governor Huntsman

is the most qualified foreign policy candidate as he previously served as Ambassador to China. However, he is a relatively meek debater, so despite his unparalleled experiences, he has not won over much of the Republican base. Representative Paul loves reminding voters of his dedication to a strict interpretation of the Constitution. His libertarian views have made him a polarizing figure, and he is unlikely to secure the nomination. Governor Romney excels at debates. He is confident and concise, but his inconsistent record makes people question his conservatism. His debate skills are the only ones to rival President Obamas, and he has developed the clearest, most practical economic plan that does not require taking apart the entire bureaucracy. In my view, this should guarantee him the nomination. Governor Perry was initially perceived as the true conservative to replace Romney, but his debate performances are embarrassing to watch. He bears a striking resemblance to George W. Bush in his inability to articulate full sentences. There was the oops heard across the airwaves when he could not remember the

three government agencies he wanted to eliminate at the Nov. 9 debate in New Hampshire. Quite simply, I believe there is no hope for Perry. Finally there is Rick Santorum. Just Google his name. He is the male equivalent of Bachmann, and with his extremist conservative leanings, there is absolutely no chance that he will win the nomination. Overall, there have been notably awkward moments, some of which reflect as poorly on the live audiences as they do on the candidates. At the Florida Fox News/Google debate, the audience booed a gay soldier stationed in Iraq after asking a question about repealing the Dont Ask, Dont Tell policy. Or when Rick Perrys death penalty record (235 executions and counting) prompted cheering at the Reagan Library debate. None of the candidates reprimanded these audiences about their responses. Although it might take some cajoling, I believe Romney has the most potential to win the nomination, if only because his ability to articulate his positions makes him a real contender against Obama. Choosing anyone else would probably guarantee Obama four more years.

PagE 10

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

Searching for Lessons from the Iraq War

Thomas Enering National & Foreign Affairs Editor

forEign affairs

n March 20, 2003, President George W. Bush executed one of the most divisive foreign policy initiatives in decades by invading Iraq. From the outbreak of the war, his critics noted a disingenuous tendency to invoke the fears of international terrorism still lingering from the 9/11 attacks. The administrations propensity to justify the conflict with largely unsubstantiated evidence detailing Saddam Husseins weapons of mass destruction and a tortuous connection between Al-Qaeda and Iraq only further alienated the American public. Unfortunately, this chorus of detractors gleefully watched Iraq transform into a quagmire without offering any attempt to situate the invasion into our broader understanding of U.S. foreign policy. Pundits painted neo-conservatism as a pernicious ideological aberration and depicted it as a force that shattered the idyllic days of President Bill Clintons multilateralism. Such an interpretation creates a historically misleading narrative that threatens to force Americans to fall into the same impoverished theoretical thinking that dominated the period immediately following the Cold War. Attempts to denigrate Bushs foreign policy by deifying Clinton ultimately ends up obscuring the crucial lessons of the 1990s. Namely, if the 2000s were defined by the overtly bellicose use of American hard power, the Clinton era was defined by a crippling reluctance to engage in any military ventures. Whether watching Serbians slaughter Bosnian Muslims, Rwandan Hutus perpetuate the most effective genocide of the 20th century, or Congolese militias shatter the very viability of their state, the Clinton Administration responded with the same recalcitrance and shameful attempts to obfuscate the true horrors of each intra-state conflict. This failure to even consider the application of American hard power undeniably encouraged

easily preventable deaths and weakened the international system by engendering so many war-shattered states. Despite this extreme aversion to military force, however, Bill Clintons rhetoric on democratic promotion closely resembled Bushs early speeches. In an address to Johns Hopkins University, Clintons National Security Adviser, Anthony Lake, sought to articulate the overarching values guiding the new administration, proclaiming, The successor to a doctrine of containment must be a strategy of enlargementenlargement of the words free community of market democracies. Mirroring Bushs convictions, the core value of American foreign policy became helping democracy and market economics take root in regions of humanitarian concern. In turn, both the Clinton and Bush administration shared very similar ideological goals: they simply diverged in their commitment to aggressively pursuing these values. Recognizing both the failures of the 1990s and neo-conservatism as a more forceful pursuit of these values allows us to escape from several intellectual constraints. First, it becomes possible to see the Bush years as disastrous without also categorically rejecting American military solutions. We witnessed the profound damage produced when Clinton promised democracy and human rights only to refuse to check the renegades who most threatened these ideals. Moreover, by seeing neo-conservatism as a concerted (if horribly flawed) attempt to rectify the mistakes of the Clinton administration, it becomes possible to move beyond trite denunciations of Bush and actually extrapolate lessons from the Iraq debacle. As General Ryan Crocker told Congress, In the end, how we leave and what we leave behind will be more important than how we came. This statement outlines how public discourse on Iraq must now develop, especially after President Barack Obamas commitment to withdraw all U.S. troops by the end of 2011. The idea that a band of Bush officials utilized dubious intelligence to overstate Iraqs potential to in-

American troops have been on the ground in Iraq since 2003.

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George W. Bush speaking during the first anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004.

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terrupt international stability and augment international terrorism is widely accepted. We must now shift to deriving lessons about effective methods of rebuilding post-conflict societies. Indeed, the issue of how to construct an enduring peace after ending violent conflict has long plagued the American diplomatic corp. After actively engaging in the construction of the treaty that resolved the Bosnian War, the Dayton Peace Accords, American officials struggled to locate techniques for ameliorating residual ethnic tensions. Similarly, while Clinton handled the negotiations surrounding the end of the conflict in Northern Ireland with shocking deftness, he very quickly withdrew to allow the Irish to formulate the actual application of the treatys promises. This past confusion makes understanding our time in Iraq even more crucial to facing future threats. By this point in the discussion, we should be capable of moving beyond such hackneyed truisms as Iraq demonstrated the limits of American power. Although we should appreciate the evident dangers of imposing democratic institutions on a reluctant local population, both the United States and the international community will continue to interact with war-torn societies struggling to rebuild state capacity. I believe that a meticulous analysis of the Bush administrations missteps will empower the U.S. government to avert the same mistakes in the future. First, the early days of Iraq represent an appalling failure of post-war engagement and planning. With the ousting of Saddam and all of the Baathist bu-

reaucrats who administered virtually every aspect of the state, Iraq plunged into chaos and experienced mass looting across the nation. Unprepared for this anarchic period, the American military failed to achieve the most imperative goal following a conflict: the restoration of order. These early days prove critical to fomenting civilian trust in the international community, especially if the occupying powers bear responsibility for shattering the economic foundation and infrastructure of that nation. By refusing to coordinate with United Nations organizations already on the ground, the U.S. struggled to create a policing unit capable of maintaining Iraqis bodily security and distributing vital humanitarian assistance. With every foreign policy debacle from the Cuban Missile Crisis to the Vietnam War still haunting the institutional memory of key policymaking bodies, the absolute idiocy of assuming that the local population will automatically offer enthusiastic support to their liberators should have been quite obvious. And yet early Pentagon proposals hold to this fantasy of Iraqi free market proponents and democratic exiles harmoniously joining together to forge a model government. The fact of the matter is that post-conflict rebuilding demands extraordinary financial costs and, in many situations, the lives of peacekeepers. Ignoring these exorbitant expenses compromises our efforts both at home and in the nation undergoing this transition. Domestically, it ingrains our popContinued on Page 12

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

PagE 11

US Must Incorporate New Definition of Human Rights

Continued from Page 11 ulation with the mendacious belief that the international community can rapidly extricate itself from conflict zones and leave ideal democratic societies with virtually no sacrifice. When citizens finally discern the immense costs of these initiatives, they grow disenchanted and their resulting demands for an immediate withdrawal limit policymakers available options. The impact on the lives of the people the international community has just promised to aid proves even more devastating: innocent civilians are forced to endure long periods of instability while Washington policy wonks struggle to grasp that democratic institutions cannot be constructed in a matter of days. Of course, critics of the Iraq war also point out that the operation required additional troops on the ground. However, the situation demanded far more than numerical superiority: it also required far clearer rules of engagement. Stuck rights before the publication of the U.S. Army Counterinsurgency Field Manual. While State Department officials long acknowledged that separating civilians from terrorist recruiters and providing services to enhance support for the U.S.backed government represented the only viable method of stabilizing the country, the U.S. army only invested in human rights in 2007 with attempts to develop new counterinsurgency methods. This marked a formal declaration that the United States was no longer going to employ the number of dead terrorist operatives to adjudicate success: they now intended to utilize explicitly enumerated bench marks revolving around the protection of human rights. The actual success of this approach remains hotly contested. Its supporters posit that this new framework averted an impending civil war and enhanced the security of both Shia and Sunni Muslims. Its detractors assert that the U.S. achieved an illusory stability by segreinvasiveness, and, consequently, we prioritize unfettered markets, property rights, free speech rules, and a restricted police force in order to delimit the coercive capacity of the central government. Yet this perspective ignores the inextricable connection between negative political rights and positive economic rights. In order to exercise the sorts of rights venerated by the American public, individuals must first feel like empowered, integrated members of society. Absent this feeling of inclusiveness, minorities are more likely to observe how economic inequalities frequently follow ethnic or religious divides, leaving them feeling alienated and unlikely to contribute to the public discourse essential to any participatory democracy. Simplistic notions that shielding all citizens from state abuse will engender an equality of opportunity that will leave all members of society willing to articulate their complaints through peaceful channels have been repeatedly cultural rights are all interdependent and that, in combination, they underpin any democratic societyHow can one argue that the right to vote is more important than the right to a roof over ones head? And yet, without the right to vote-and all that entails in terms of democratic choice-how will people ever secure the policies which will provide roofs over their heads? The tendency to establish a dichotomy between civil and political rights on the one hand and economic, social, and cultural on the other may be one of the most damaging legacies of the Cold War. As we transition into even more expansive peace building initiatives, surely the United States must recognize the importance of maximizing human dignity and living standards. By accepting that stability follows from the defense of these basic principles, we also undermine the false dichotomy constructed between human rights and security imperatives. Rather than being mutually exclusive, enhanced rights and greater stability might actually reinforce one another. Indeed, according to University of Pennsylvania law professor William Burke-White, states that zealously pursue Robinsons vision of rights actually prove statistically less likely to engage in aggression or experience destabilizing internal discord. The idea that human rights marks a way to strengthen international order represents a radical departure from virtually all of the recent ideological theories influencing the State Department. Even when human rights received great rhetorical support under President Jimmy Carter, his Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, still informed Congress in 1977 that we must balance a political concern for human rights against economic and security goals. The thousands of civilian causalities in Iraq underscore that we cannot effectively advocate human rights by using insufficient evidence to flagrantly violate autonomous states sovereignty. But, if we do extract any meaning from the disaster in Iraq, perhaps it will be that upholding global governance institutions and incorporating legal mechanisms for the broad protection of human dignity maintains the power to lessen violent conflict. Of course, all of these lessons only become discernable once we disregard superficial dismissals of neo-conservatism and actually examine the policies manifesting from this ideology in Iraq. Although we may not see an American led invasion of another state in the near future, the intra-state conflicts and resulting chaos that have dominated the past twenty years suggest the enduring importance of developing more effective methods of rebuilding ethnically-divided states. Entrenching the lessons painfully derived from Iraq will improve the U.S. governments capacity to fulfill its foreign policy ideals. And, far more importantly, we will pursue human rights not exclusively because it is the ethical thing to do; we will do it because it is the pragmatic thing to do.

forEign affairs

The bilateral agreement signed in 2008 requires the withdrawal of US forces by Dec. 31, 2011.

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in the Cold War mentality, the U.S. military remains committed to deploying a conventional force, regardless of what the situation on the ground necessitates. In this instance, the Iraqi public needed a hybrid force capable of restoring order through primarily policing functions, while still remaining committed to community engagement. By exclusively protecting Iraqi oil fields in the weeks after the collapse of the Saddam regime, the American military confirmed the populations worst suspicions that imperialistic avarice informed U.S. interest in the region. Most critically, strategy in Iraq only offered nominal support for human

gating the two primary Muslim groups and failed to meet the requirements of virtually any of the outlined standards. Rather than engaging in an empirical analysis of these competing claims, I will explore a more fundamental theoretical deficiency in the Field Manual. Quite simply, traditional American conceptions of rights fail to provide the level of security required to stabilize most nations recovering from intense civil conflict. According to U.S. jurisprudence, the most important elements of a constitution revolve around the protection of negative rights. In other words, we conventionally define rights as a sacrosanct protection from government

disproved. All of this analysis proposes a reconceptualization of the citizens relationship to the state and the powers of post-conflict constitution-making: while we must continue to check against abusive elements of the state, we must also realize the importance of cultural, economic, and social rights. Thus far, we have understood the primary goal of rights as protecting the bodily security of citizens from extrajudicial infringement. Perhaps the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, best articulated the more expansive aspiration of human rights when she noted: Civil, political, economic, social, and

PagE 12

ChroniCle, novEmmbEr 2011

The US Misinterprets Laws On Targeted Killing

Noor Mir Contributor

forEign affairs

Targeted killing can be defined as the intentional slaying of a specific individual or group of individuals undertaken with explicit government approval. In recent years, the applied tactic of targeted killing in the campaign against terror has generated controversy and has been the subject of scrutiny, particularly with the contemporary example of the assassination of Osama bin Laden. There is a broad divergence of opinion regarding the legality of targeted killing of transnational terrorists. This can be attributed to the overlapping and often opposing views of equally applicable and constantly evolving legal mechanisms and terminologies, namely the dichotomies of: international humanitarian law (IHL) versus human rights law; the armed conflict model versus the law-enforcement model; non-international versus international armed conflict; and combatant versus non-combatant status. Intricately linked to these terms are the definitions and principles of proportionality, selfdefense, and necessity. In assessing the legality of targeted killings, many important questions are raised. Can there be a war in the formal, legal sense between a state and a transnational criminal group or organization? How can a conflict of this nature be categorized in accordance with legal norms? Moreover, in what legal regime can the legality of targeted killing be judged? Proponents of the tactic deem it essential to the war on terror, thereby placing it within the laws of armed conflict, which are then governed by the body of IHL. On the other hand, opponents of this policy label it instead as extra-judicial executions, invoking the rules of the law-enforcement model of legality, which rests on standards of international human rights law. What are the contending legal views on targeted killings, with regards to the applicability of relevant legal documents such as the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the United Nations (UN) Charter? Can targeted killings be processed by the current legal system? Moreover, is a public international law that is accustomed to regulating actions done by states equipped to deal with non-state actors and the legality of such use of force against them? In dealing with terrorism, there are two contending approaches with two consequent regimes of response. The first characterization is of terrorist activities as a criminal enterprise, invoking a lawenforcement approach of criminal prosecution and the repression of individual perpetrators and subsequently, international human rights law. The second characterization is of them as acts of war, applying the law of war and its branches jus ad bellum, the right to wage war and jus in bello, concerning the conduct of war and governed by IHL. The first situates the events in a microanalytical setting, dealing with indi-

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viduals or groups of individuals, while the second situates them in a macroanalytical setting of belligerent relations between collectivities, calling directly on the institutions of the international law of war. Furthermore, within the realm of acts of war, there are further categorizations into international armed conflict, which necessarily involves internationally recognizable entities capable of being territorially defined (such as states or peoples struggling for self-determination over a particular territory) and non-international armed conflicts, which are between one state and belligerents also belonging to that state. In an armed conflict context, targeted killing is governed by the rules of IHL: it is only lawful when the target is a combatant or fighter, or in the case of a civilian, only for such time as the person directly participates in hostilities. In addition, the killing must be militarily necessary and the use of force must be proportionate, so that any anticipated military advantage is considered in light of the expected harm to civilians in the vicinity, and everything feasible must be done to prevent mistakes and minimize harm to civilians. Outside the context of armed conflict, human rights standards determine the legality of a targeted killing and are especially concerned with the use of lethal force. Under human rights law, a state killing is legal only if it is required to protect life (making lethal force proportionate), and only if there are no other means, such as capture or non-lethal incapacitation, to prevent that threat to life (thereby making lethal force necessary). Consequently, under the human rights regime, a targeted killing, in the sense of an intentional and premeditated killing by law enforce-

ment officials, is illegal. Unlike the armed conflict regime, it is not permissible to kill as the sole objective of an operation. Although the law also instructs states to respect and ensure the right to life by exercising due diligence to protect the lives of individuals from attacks by criminals, including terrorists, lethal force is legal only if it is strictly and directly necessary to save life. Jus in bello also contains a prohibition of assassination in armed conflict, which is often cited as a legal objection to the policy of targeted killing. Assassination in this context refers to the targeting of an individual using treachery or perfidy in time of war. There have been longstanding prohibitions to such unlawful means that undermine the law of war. The U.S. law that most closely addresses targeted killing outside of armed conflict is Executive Order 12333, enforced by President Reagan: No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination. Executive Order 12333 appears to preclude the targeting of the head of a hostile state who was, for instance, the commander-inchief of enemy armed forces and therefore a legal target. It does not distinguish between armed conflict governed by IHL nor the standards invoked by human rights law. Although this executive order regulating intelligence activities does have legal effect, it does not apply to actions in times of war nor to the Armed Forces. Accordingly, it does not impact military operations that target terrorist operatives outside the United States. Additionally, the congressional resolution of Sept. 18, 2001 that authorizes the president to use all necessary and appropriate forcein order

to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the U.S addresses any legal concerns about the policy of targeted killing of Al-Qaeda operatives with relation to the applicability of Executive Order 12333. In reviewing the U.S. defense of targeted killings, beginning with the Clinton administration, the United States has seemed to justify this tactic by treating them as armed conflicts, as naturally resulting from acts of self-defense and the principles of necessity and proportionality, and then simultaneously conflating it with the treaty-specific definition of a combatant under IHL. For instance, the 9/11 Commission reported that the Clinton administration legally justified an operation to kill Bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2000 on grounds that under the law of armed conflict, killing a person who posed an imminent threat to the United States would be an act of self-defense, not an assassination. The rationale here is flawedduring this period of time, the United States was clearly not in a state of armed conflict in Afghanistan; the reasoning is based on self-defense, but also invokes the law of armed conflict without specifying whether it is the law of resort to force or the IHL law of conduct of hostilities. This consequently results in a very real issue. Without a basis for targeting directed against a combatant, the targeted killing would become an assassination, which, as aforementioned, is specifically prohibited by U.S domestic regulation. In the case of Bin Laden, what took precedence? Domestic law or a garbled version of international legal code? Surely, the latter. Once again, the United States embraced an unfettered liberty to apply its confused interpretation of international legal norms.

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PagE 13

Violence In Congo Ignored By Vassar Students More Student Activism Essential to End Conflict
Naomi Dann Contributor

forEign affairs

Two weeks ago, the African Students Union hosted a screening of a short informational film on the conflict in Eastern Congo. The screening was meant as a way to begin lifting the silence around this conflict and to make students aware of the horrific events occurring in that part of the world, a story that has been neglected by the international media. Only one person attended that screening. While many factors contribute to the lack of attendance at events like these, including the multitude of overlapping events at Vassar and a lack of sufficient advertising, this incident serves to illustrate the perpetration of silence and the absence of discussion of conflicts like the one in Eastern Congo. Why should the death of millions of innocent civilians in a distant African country matter to US college students? We are taught at Vassar to question everything: authority, the status quo, generalizations,

and the assumptions and limitations that dictate the operating systems of power. We are taught to believe in justice, in human rights, in individual self-determination, and in freedom. When we hear about situations in which these values are blatantly destroyed, our personal belief systems are destroyed as well. If we truly care about these values, we must work to see them implemented. We must be conscious that we are the next generation of adults who will supervise global power structures. If we want to see the values that we intellectualize as forces in society, we must begin to make the shift into praxis now. The history of student movements proves that students are a social force with the power to affect profound change. Students are crucial activists because they have the time and energy to put into organizing protests, they have the resources of institutions to work with or against, they are often less jaded and have not yet lost the belief that the world can be changed for the better. The situation in the Congo is extremely

complex, rooted in a history of colonialism, civil war, dictatorship, corruption, and autonomous militias and violence. In brief, groups of militias run around Eastern Congo, invading villages, killing, raping, and pillaging with impunity in order to gain control of mineral resources. Many of these militias are composed of the perpetrators of the genocide in Rwanda who fled to the Congo to escape retribution. Rape is used as a tool of warfare to tear apart and destroy communities. The minerals that fuel the conflict are tied to the technology industry and are bought by the multinational companies who make our cell phones and laptops. There is a significant activist push to stop investing in these minerals and in the companies who support the militias. Many activist groups concerned with this conflict and other cases of human rights abuses focus much of their attention on lobbying US policy makers to take action. The idea that it is the responsibility of the United States to play the role of international policeman through chastisement, intervention, sanctions, or outright invasion demands a second thought. The US has sought to posture itself as a world leader, giving itself the right to be unilaterally involved with events taking place in all parts of the world. This attitude smacks of hegemonic imperialism. I do not intend to argue that the US or the international community ought to leave conflicts such as this alone, for this would mean abandoning the innocent civilians targeted and victimized by the larger conflict. However, I argue that the role of international arbiter should belong to an independent, multilateral institution. It would seem that this role ought to belong to the United Nations; after all, the origin of this

institution stems from post-World War II goals of international peace. Yet the United Nations has failed to act effectively to mediate and to aid civilians and refugees affected by conflict in numerous cases. Notable recent examples include Rwanda, Darfur, and East Timor. U.N. peacekeeping troops have been on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2000, during which time over 6 million people have been killed as a result of the crisis. The U.N. troops, charged with disarming warring militias, running democratic elections, and assisting with reconstruction, have failed to protect the Congolese people. In fact, a BBC investigation in 2008 reported that U.N. troops in the Congo have been involved in the illegal trade in gold, have been involved in arming and training rebel militias, have been accused of sexual abuse, and have had direct dealings with the militia responsible for the Rwandan genocide. The U.N. has failed in its role as international peacemaker. The violence in Congo shows no signs of resolution. Vassar Associate Professor of African History, Ismail Rashid, gave a brief history of the country during a discussion with students after a second film screening with slightly better attendance. He asserted the role of the international community in helping to end the violence, but emphasized a need to not victimize the Congolese or to strip them of agency in their own lives. Protection for civilians, demilitarization of mines, control of arms trade, and a boycott of the minerals involved should be the first aims of an international coalition of actors working in tandem with local groups to reduce violence and to return a semblance of peace to this region. Student mobilization is one way to pressure those in power to take action.

99% of students care about change?

Pavel Shchyhelski

ECB Must Continue Purchasing Greek Bonds New Government Continues Austerity Measures
Nik Goldberg Contributor

would love to say, I told you so. But the story is not that simple. The issue of Greeces debt has threatened the stability of the European Union and the shared currency, the Euro. The Greek government fell and rose like a phoenix almost overnight with the old premier nowhere to be seen in the Unity Government. However, this leaves many questions: What will the effects of this collapse be? How will Greece rebound? And, most importantly, what will happen to the Euro in the near future? Greeces downfall seems to have lit Italys fuse, though this nation has a much stronger economy than its ancient cousin to the east. However, its similarly unable to get over its sovereign debt problems. The Italian problem far exceeds the sum of sovereign debt of the other precarious European economies, including Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. Currently, Italy is 1.9 trillion euro ($2.6 tril-

lion) in the red. Furthermore, Italy serves a far more important role in the global economy, as it is the third largest bond market and the eighth largest economy in the world. The United States also has greater exposure to the Italian economy, so if Italy were to default on their debt, it would be far more catastrophic for the United States economy. The European Central Bank (ECB) has announced that there is not much else at their disposal in terms of aiding Greece and Italy. The bank has already bought 183 billion euros worth of bonds from such countries as Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Ireland. The ECB may be able to continue on this path for a little while longer, until it reaches a natural limit of 300 billion euros, according to Rabobank economist, Elwin de Groo. European Union treaties render this policy of purchasing debt directly from governments legally questionable. Yet, with the US Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner, calling for a rapid EU response at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation con-

ference, the ECB finds itself with few other options. Politically, at least for the time being, both the Italian and Greek governments have been stabilized. Economist Lucas Papademos, a former head of the ECB has been named to head the new Greek Unity Government. Furthermore, Silvio Berlusconi offered to resign on Nov. 7, 2011 and he formally resigned on Nov. 12, 2011. Technocrat Mario Monti will most likely replace him. This would give both of these countries technocratic governments, which the EU believes will allow the austerity measures that are demanded to hold. Yet this may prove too optimistic. The Italian transition of power seems to resemble that of the ancient Romans. Silvio Berlusconi remains the most visible face of the Italian Government, but President Giorgio Napolitano heads the government and is one of the most respected politicians in modern Italian history. Monti, the new premier, was named a Senator for life on Nov.

11, 2011, almost an anointing by the Italian President. However, there are elections coming up, and the Italian balance of power may end up changing hands from Berlusconis North League to perhaps the central-left party, the Democratic Party. Regardless, much remains to be seen in this saga. And, letting Greece fail, although ceteris paribus, theoretically could have allowed the country to be rescued in a very long, convoluted and dangerous manner. If only we lived in a world of economic case studies. Sadly, we live in a world with globalization in full swing and not in a vacuum. Therefore, the ECB will have to continue its program of buying bonds of sovereign debt and we must all hope that the austerity measures, which the new technocratic governments has been installed to implement, work. If only someone had predicted that this would happen, if only we had a recent economic crisis that was built upon similar shaky foundations. Oh, wait. We did.

PagE 14

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

offiCE hourS with EilEEn lEonard

DEbaTE & DisCoursE

a message, and you want them to have one message and yet, with that one message you want all these different groups involved. I think that many messages and beginning to get platforms is the way to go. But I think involving more people and different groups is very important. ER: Hypothetically, if they have a platform, how do you think they should go about delivering that into political action? EL: Im not sure that I even know the answer to that. I guess, what Im hoping is that through these organizations, theyll begin to do the hard thinking of how to move along. As in, the movement will be able to begin making those very decisions. Also my hope would be, that it would not necessarily be one thing, that it could be a movement with many heads, moving in different directions, but coming together around different issues at different timesmany centers of activity and organization that would come together over one particular thing and go back, and so on. ER: So theres a lot of speculation regarding the 99 percent versus the one percent. Who do you think really makes up the OWS movement? EL: I think the 99 percent is more of a metaphor that theyre using. But in many ways, I think that its an appropriate metaphor. If Im correct that one of the things theyre taking aim is finance capitalism, there is a very tiny percentage of the population that has so very much wealth and so very much power. And I think thats the message that comes across with we are the 99 percent. ER: Did you hear the right-wing response to that? The 52%, which is what they claim the real wealth disparity is? EL: I think that it is trying to capture the intense concentration of power and money. And that, I think is a good message to be promulgating. ER: I know that you went to Occupy Boston over October Break. What was your experience like? EL: I was heartened to see what was going on there. I found it in many ways very well organized in terms of just the physical layout of it and in terms of people getting together to do all the tasks that needed to be done. There wasI think I mentioneda smaller police presence, and I was surprised about that, because from what I had seen of OWS in New York, that there is a much more active police presence there than there was in Boston. Later in the same day when I went, when Noam Chomsky was speaking, there was more police then to monitor the crowd and be careful of the traffic, that the crowd wasnt spilling onto the street and blocking traffic. I just found it an immense relief to see people out there saying what was going wrong with the society. It was very moving. ER: What did Noam Chomsky speak about? EL: He was very favorable about the movement, and talked really clearly about what forces they were up against and how, in his opinion, the country had really been so much on the wrong course for more than thirty years now, and how pleased he was to see that a movement was developing to challenge this. Thats the basic thrust of his talk. In Boston, he did have a microphone, so that didnt seem to be a problem in Boston. ER: As a sociologist, how does your perspective on this movement differ from the average American? EL: I think what sociologists are much Continued on Page 16

Professor Leonard Comments on the Occupy Movement

Eunice Roh Contributor

unice Roh: In what ways is Occupy Wall Street similar or different from other social movements that gave it power and momentum? Eileen Leonard: Its similar to a lot of very important social movements in that it came spontaneously from the bottom up. Its a lot of people who have felt that theyve been treated unfairly and that the system has been really corrupted in many ways, theyve come together to make a protest about that system. Its often compared to the Tea Party movement, but I think its so different in so many ways. It seems that Occupy Wall Street is really about challenging the entire system instead of trying to fit into it in one way or another and its much less hierarchical than the Tea Party structure is. ER: Do you think the lack of hierarchy gives it power? EL: I think initially that it can, as I think it doesnt get narrowed into one specific thing but allows different interests to be addressed and spoken aboutand that can bring a lot of people together around issues that they might not have thought about connecting before. Initially, I think that can be good. But I also really do believe really strongly that you need some kind of structure to move it forward. But when you hear people saying Oh, they have no message, I dont think they have no message, I think the main message is very clear, and that is that there is tremendous discontent in terms of what is going on with finance capital, and there are lots of other things connected to that. I think when they are sort of chided for not having a message, I think thats inappropriate. However, ultimately, if a movement is going to grow and flourish, its going to have to be organized in some ways. Though it is interesting in the ways that it is organized, whether youre at Boston or New York or whatever, they have the library section and they have a food section. ER: They have all these committees. Its really interesting. EL: Exactly. Theyre trying to do radical democracy but theyre working towards organizing it in some way. ER: There has been a lot of criticism of the Occupy Wall Street movement that we hoped you would be able to comment on. Many people say that they dont have definite goals, that theyre protesting in the wrong place, versus Washington per se, what is your opinion on these critiques? And to what extent, if any, are they justified? EL: I dont find them to be very powerful critiques at all, because I think they do have a message, and the overriding message is to reduce the power of finance capital. Thats why I think its Occupy Wall Street, and even though ultimately theyll need to get to particular platforms if they want to advance their cause, its clear to meand sometimes when you read in the newspaper, you read arti-

cles that say they have no message even though theyre against it and then right away theyll list three things, well, thats the message. The other thing too, I think, is that, well, Washington is not the place to be. Washington at this point is completely dysfunctionalboth parties are not working at all in the way that they could be to make the kind of changes that we need in this society, and by having the movement in many different places, it gives it a kind of power and force that is not as easy to counteract. So, when you know that there is an Occupy Wall Street in New York City, one in Washington, one in Oakland, one in Atlanta, you know that something big is going on here and its not just a small group in one particular place with one particular concernits much bigger than that.

...the main message is clear, and that is that there is tremendous discontent in terms of what is going on with financial capital
ER: Many people have also criticized the OWS movement for failing to incorporate minorities and the poor. Does the composition of the protest impact the legitimacy of the movement? EL: Yes, I think that thats a real issue. And I think that until you have many different groups represented and fully represented and involved in meaningful ways, I think that the movement is limited. But its very interesting that its opposite of the critique of oh, they dont have

Protestors at Occupy Boston.

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ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

PagE 15

Continued from Page 15

Professor Leonard Addresses Occupys Future

more aware of than people usually are, are the structures of power that exist. I think, a lot of times, you need to be educated to that to see the ways that structure and culture really influence our personal lives. But I think that the people involved in this movement see that and thats exactly what theyre taking aim at and talking about. Theyre not talking about individual changetheyre talking about profound kinds of structural change. In that sense, I view it as a real sociological analysis of what is happening with wealth and power in America. Another thing, too, that has been struck me since one of my fields within sociology is criminology, is how not a single person who was or is involved with all of the criminal behavior that has almost brought the economy down has faced any kind of prosecution. Whereas, weve already arrested over a thousand people that have been involved with the OWS movement. So, the law is being used against the movement in ways that we would never even consider using the law against the bankers, etc. you the only one who thinks that things are getting out of control. Not thinking that you are the only one who thinks that the government has been acting shamelessly in many different ways. When you have protest movements erupting all over the country, theres a real sense of solidarity, camaraderie. I think that Naomi Klein is the one who said, if want to talk to people about getting involved in the movement is to tell them, Just tell your friends, its fun. And theres a lot of truth to that. Its about a sense of community and having important goals of wanting things to be better than they are. Its very enlivening. ER: I saw a graph that showed how many times the Tea Party was mentioned in the media in the span of their beginnings and how often OWS was mentioned in the media. EL: The media has done a great disservice of coverage of this. ER: I was shocked, and then I realized that a lot of the attention of OWS originated from the Internet, from blogs, young people etc. How do you think this new media is shaping the Occupy movement? EL: I think that its really important, because it allows for alternative voices. In the dominant media, the tone tends to be very conservative, so you hear about all kinds of negative things. For example, how in New York, the Occupy movement is disturbing all of the people in the neighborhood. We know that thats not necessarily true. In fact, most people are very much in favor of it and that peopleactualy want the police to behave a little differently in terms of their barricades. There are also other accounts in the mainstream media about how the OWS protesters are dressed, how theyre dressed like hippies, how it looks like a circus, so apparently democracy has a dress code. So, having alternative voices is important and the Internet plays a huge role. Especially in terms of the video, to be able to see the videosthats another thing that is really beneficial. ER: Do you think that the best way for OWS to move forwardthe Tea Party for example, went more towards grassroots and challenged local government. Do you think that would be the most effective way to do the political change they want to see? EL: I dont think theres one specific way of doing it. I would much prefer to see a multiplicity of ways to be active. Though maybe some organization around a particular thing then back to the many. ER: It seems to be really difficult to maintain that kind of solidarity. EL: It really is. This is a huge battle. Were up against forces that are stronger and more powerful. But weve done it before with the tremendous inequality in the last century. Capitalism and industry were challenged then, and changes were made, but were confronting something no less than that now. And what are the figures? Maybe 1 percent has 42 percent of the wealth in the United States? And then when you think about how that affects the political process, theres no wonder. ER: The graph that you showed us in the last class regarding the top five incomes, that was incredible. EL: The inequality there is astounding. And unemployment has been the highest that its been since the Great Depression with the exception of a little blip in the 1980s, so there are a lot of people out of work, a lot of people losing their homes, but corporate profits are as high as theyve ever been. It is incredible. The OWS movement has so many reasons to be out there and I believe they are doing us a great service.

DEbaTE & DisCoursE

Theyre not talking about individual changetheyre talking about profound kinds of structural change.
ER: Early in the movement, the police pepper-sprayed a woman. Have you seen pictures of that? EL: Yes, I did see that. One of the things that I like about the movement is that it aims to be non-violent and so far, the violence has really been on the part of the police. ER: What do you see the role of the police is so far in this movement? EL: The role of the police is to maintain the status quo. Even though some of the movement people hold signs saying you are part of the 99 percent to the police, their job is to maintain order. Police, by definition, get lined up against people who are trying to make changes. Another thing that is very encouraging about the whole movement is the feeling of being alone. As in, not feeling that

Occupy Boston

Noam ChomskyLinguist and Marxist intellectualat Occupy Boston

Do you WanT To makE your voiCE hEarD? The Vassar ChroniCle EnCouragEs you To submiT CoLumns anD LETTErs To ThE EDiTor.
ConTaCT vassarChroniCLE@gmaiL.Com sPEECh is CiviLizaTion iTsELf. - Thomas mann
PagE 16 ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

Obama Re-election in 2012: Likely or Unlikely?

William Serio, Senior Editor Jack Mullan, Contributor

DEbaTE & DisCoursE

i t h the next presidential election only 12 months away and election season heating up, its certainly an appropriate time to begin evaluating President Barack Obamas chances of re-election. Jack Mullan works for Obama re-election campaign and is currently Vice President of Main House. Jack Mullan: Currently, Barack Obama is an incumbent president saddled with a terrible economy and approval ratings in the low 40s according to a Gallup daily poll. As someone who is dedicating time to campaign for his re-election, I must say that it has been difficult to remain confident about his prospects next fall. Even the president himself acknowledged his status as an underdog last month, according to the New York Times. But heres my elevator pitch for our presidents reelection: inheriting the worst economic conditions since World War II, and arguably the worst political climate ever, Barack Obama was able to prevent a second Great Depression, rescue the auto industry, enact a universal health care bill, establish financial reforms following Wall Streets morally hazardous collapse, ruthlessly dismantle Al Qaeda, repeal DADT, reform student loans, and much more. He killed Osama bin Laden, too. Has his administration done everything perfectly? Are these accomplishments perfect pieces of legislation? Absolutely not. But these are steps in the right direction, and they took a whole lot of political willpower to achieve amid Congresss culture of hyper-partisanship. In the end, the 2012 election will present voters with a choice between pursuing the progressive agenda that Obama has fought for, and reverting back to Bush-era policies that got us into the mess were in today. For me, Im sticking with Barack. Will Serio: The primary focus for the re-

Median household incomes have continued to plummet since 2000. election prospects of President Obama will center on the economic conditions over the next year. Particularly, one should look at the general trend in the unemployment rate and in the housing market. In a more normal economic climate, other factors, such as foreign policy victories and domestic achievements, would matter much more, especially if they were popular with a majority of the population. However, times are tough, and the popularity of Obamas domestic achievements are in question, since he is being attacked by both the right and the left on Wall street regulation and on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 2012 is going to be an election year in which those other factors simply do not matter much. Because of the anemic job growth over the past few years, unemployment is stubbornly high at 9 percent, with about one third of those 14 million US citizens out of work for more than a year according to CNN. People have been losing, and will continue to lose, their jobs and homes. Insurance premiums are rising. Consumer spending and real wages have basically been stagnant. In light of these factors, which are all working against Obama, I see very few ways he can reach the magic number of 270 electoral votes in order to stay in the White House. Therefore, in order to further frame this debate, we should move this discussion towards what the Cook Political Reports defines as the swing states in 2012 which are, from most to least electoral votes: Florida (29), Pennsylvania (20), Ohio (18), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13), Wisconsin (10), Colorado (9), Nevada (6), Iowa (6), and New Mexico (5). JM: There is no doubt that economic factors will decide next years election, and the 6.7 percent decline in median household income between June 2009 and June 2011 re-

The New York Times

More than half of Americans believe that President Obama is at least partially to blame for the economic crisis while nearly 70% still blame George W. Bush.

Gallup

ported by the New York Times portends an inauspicious verdict for Obama. But I would not be so quick to dismiss any peripheral issues that could have an impact. Two quick caveats: first, the individual mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act (kudos on refraining from the Obamacare misnomer) is likely to come before the Supreme Court for a ruling next summer, according to the Washington Post. Although its hard to determine exactly how the courts decision will affect public perception of the law, it will definitely force the campaign to direct attention to the law, especially with the Republican candidates avowed dedication to its repeal. Additionally, the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protestswhile amorphous and capricious in naturemust be regarded as an entity that has the potential to redefine the national discourse and inject a populist flavor of anti-corporate hegemony into the dialogue. Seizing the benefits of whatever these two forces yield will require the Obama camp to do a much better job of messaging than it has in the past, but I would not put it beyond them. The vast network of funds and organizers within the Obama team gives them a powerful campaign apparatus with which to work, and since his televised speech before Congress in September, President Obama has showed that he is willing to play hardball with Republicans in order to gain popular support. Now, with regard to President Obamas appeal in swing states, I think its necessary to keep in mind a couple of details. Its important to note that, as of a September Gallup poll, about 70 percent of US citizens continue to blame George W. Bush for our economic woes. As I mentioned earlier, President Obama inherited one of the worst recessions in our history, and the public understands this. Further, polls are beginning to indicate the publics recognition of Republicans refusal to compromise for the sake of political gain. A Suffolk University poll found that 49 percent of voters believed that Republicans are intentionally hindering efforts to boost the economy so that President Barack Obama will not be reelected. Of course, an aversion to the opposition does not necessarily translate to an embrace of the incumbent, but this is where the campaigning acumen of the Obama team can come into play. There isnt Continued on Page 18

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

PagE 17

Will Obamas Policies Help or Hurt His Election Prospects?

still cognizant of the challenge Obama confronted in 2009. I think that the presidents staff would be unwise to pursue a strategy of solely blaming its predecessor, but I think that this figure, coupled with the publics general disapproval of the Republican Party as shown in recent Gallup polls, could redound to Obamas benefit. Once again, I would emphasize that 2012 should not be about Obama vs. the economy; it should present voters with an absolute choice between Obama and, lets say, Mitt Romney. While the polls showing that independents are leaning towards a Republican contender support your argument nicely, there is a key distinction to be made between a preference for a Republican contender and a preference for Mitt Romney. With this kind of economic climate, any abstract-sounding alternative option to the current administration sounds appealing. But when Obamas team goes head-to-head with Romney, and begins to relentlessly paint Romney as flip-flopping and pandering to multi-millionaires, I would suspect that more US citizens would view Obama within the context of a partisan choice. This could push a number of independents and disillusioned Democrats to ultimately support Obama. We saw this kind of strategy work effectively in 2004, when an unpopular Bush administration devoted its efforts to bruising a shaky John Kerry and subsequently saw a late spike in approval ratings before the election, as a University of Minnesota study shows. Of course, every presidential election is differentthis one being no exceptionbut I would be cautious about interpreting the value of Obamas mediocre approval ratings in the face of a polarized electorate and a discredited opposition party. WS: As in any debate, one needs to separate oneself from ones own views as much as possible to obtain the most objective prediction possible. This election will not come down to whose fault the financial crisis was, whether the Affordable Care Act was a good bill, or the influence of Occupy Wall Street, which is such an extremely heterogeneous group that one cannot truly say they will support Obamaor even vote at all. This election will focus on the question Are you better off than you were 4 years ago? This is a good metric for these particular elections, in which

DEbaTE & DisCoursE

an incumbent president is up for re-election. Even without this oversimplification, the numbers simply arent there for Obama when we look at the swing states. We can look at national polls and voter sentiment all day, but what these elections really come down to are the few swing states that are competitive enough to make the evening of Nov. 6, 2012 interesting. Obama is in a dead heat with Romney in the aforementioned statesand even losing in some, too. Furthermore, Romney is likely to keep rising in the polls once the field narrows and he is picked as the Republican nominee for president.

Gallup A majority of Americans consider the economy to be the nations most important problem Continued from Page 17 didate and will end up going with Romney, I much left that the administration can do to have one question that will clarify the electoral support the economy without the assistance map for 2012: is Obama likely to do better, of an eternally-filibustered Congress, but they worse, or about the same in swing states in the can work on their own to frame the narra- upcoming election? My instinct is that he will tive heading into next fall. By embracing the do worse, since the polls show that many peowidely-supported ideas for higher taxes on ple are likely to vote based on the economy, millionaires and continuing to push his jobs and his share of the blame for that problem bill, Obama will appear as the sane choice, or is increasing. Therefore, states that Obama at least as the lesser of two evils. I would argue won in 2008, such as Florida, Virginia, North that approval ratings are not something thats Carolina, and Nevada, are likely to go to Romindependent of the opposing candidate, and ney in 2012. On my map, Ohio is the biggest if Republicans nominate a fringe candidate, unknown and, due to its importance, the one state that may end up deciding the election. Obamas approval ratings will likely increase. WS: Though Jack and I do agree that the Since Ohio has gone to the winning Presieconomy will be the deciding factor in 2012, dent in the last 12 elections, as noted by the we obviously do not agree on the importance 270toWin election site, it is certainly one to of the other issues. Additionally, we do not watch. JM: I see your points about the paramount agree on which way independent voters are likely to sway in 2012. First, there are many significance of our troubled economic state recent polls that back up our assumption and Obamas rising share of the blame for it, that the economy is the most important is- but I still believe that: a) the Affordable Care sue facing the country and, therefore, will be Act and income inequality will be frequent the main reason people come out in support points of debate throughout the election seafor, or against, Obama. In fact, the percent- son, especially with the forces I mentioned age of people who think the economy is the (the Supreme Court and OWS, respectively), most important issue facing the country has giving them added importance; and b) while been trending upwards for the past two years the numbers have marginally waned, seven according to Polling Report, edging closer out of ten US citizens blaming Bush for the and closer to its historic peak in 2008 of 86 economy is still a sizable proportion of the percent. However, issues like health care and population, and it implies that the public is wealth equality simply do not garner more than two percent in such polls, meaning that less than two percent of voters see these issues as the most important issues facing the nation. Of course, it should be obvious that voters vote for different candidates for many different reasons, but a connection needs to be made between these issues and the current health of the economy before they should be considered able to even marginally affect voters in 2012. Briefly speaking to the point about the proportion of US citizens who blame Bush for the current state of the economy, it is important to note that these figures have been trending downward since the beginning of Obamas presidency. According to the public view, the economic woes of this country have become increasingly Obamas fault rather than Bushs fault with each passing day. On the issue of independent voters, polls indicate that they are moving away from Obama and towards a Republican contender, as Newsmax and the Miami Herald indicate respectively. Without getting into why the Republicans will not nominate a fringe can- According to Gallup Polls, a majority of Americans disapprove of the current Congress.

...there is a key distinction to be made between a preference for a Republican contender and a preference for Mitt Romney.
Going back to the simplification, there are many reasons to believe that the majority of voters are not better off than they were on Election Day in 2008 or at the inauguration in January of 2009. Unemployment is forecast to stay extremely high over the next year, lowering modestly to 8.6 percent next year on Election Day according to the Montreal Gazette, more than a full percentage point under the last two presidents who were denied a second term (George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter). Growth forecasts by the Fed have been slashed multiple times over the past few years due to the weak economy, as noted by CNN. The housing market is due for what CNN calls an unprecedented triple dip. To quote the prominent Democratic strategist, James Carville, Its the economy, stupid! All of these point in the same direction, and due to the accepted psychological bias toward feeling negativity to a much greater degree than positivity, voters are more likely to vote when they are unhappy rather than when they are happy. As a result, when these unhappy voters come out on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, they may not be coming out in support of Romney, but I can assure you they will be coming to vote against Obama.

Gallup

PagE 18

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

JYA Financial Aid Policies Unfair for Vassar Students

Victoria Weiss Contributor

DEbaTE & DisCoursE

approved programs; however, Vassar approves so large a number of programs, I decided on a more narrow focus.

hen I decided I wanted to study abroad, I did not understand how the program fees are paid, but I knew financial aid covered them to a degree. I thought that even if I did not receive as much financial aid as my family would have liked, there was no way Vassar College would charge me more than the roughly $13,000 that the Junior Year Abroad (JYA) program-IFSA-Butler to Peru-charged for tuition, room and board. To charge more seemed almost unethical, as if Vassar was using me to generate profit. Well, it turns out that I was wrong. By about $10,000. In reality, if you are not on financial aid, Vassar charges you the same amount as every other Vassar student-$22,025 for one semester, plus a $50, mandatory on-call insurance fee, putting the total at $22,075. Then, Vassar has you pay the program for room and board on top of this. If room and board are included in a comprehensive fee, Vassar charges a premium. If your expected family contribution is less than the cost of room and board, Vassar reimburses you. The way Vassar charges JYA students is very beneficial to students who are on heavy financial aid or for students on programs that cost more than one semester at Vassar. If you are on financial aid, but are still expected to pay more than the cost billed to Vassar, it is hard to pay the extra amount. As I do not know how many JYA students are on financial aid or how much aid they receive, I thought I would look at the costs of different JYA programs. Originally, I planned to look at all the Vassar

...we just have to suck it up and come to grips with the fact that we are not paying for the program fees, we are paying for the privilege of putting the grades earned abroad on our Vassar transcripts.
I looked at all the programs in Western Europe, as the JYA office categorizes them. There were a few programs that I could not ascertain the cost of, either because the website was not in English, or not working. Since some programs charge comprehensive fees, I added the cost of tuition and housing. Out of 27 programs, only five cost more than $22,075, or one semester of Vassar tuition. The average cost was about $19,000, with a range of $9,700 on the low end and the most expensive at $26,595. At first glance, the most expensive program, Smith in Geneva, seems more expensive than Vassar; however, when you consider that the average room and board cost at Vassar is $5,322, Smith in Geneva sill costs less than Vassar, or $27,398. In addition, Vassar caps the amount it will pay on housing at the Vassar average. As the housing at Smith in Geneva is $6,695 you would still have to pay $1,322 more than you would pay for a semester at

Vassar, although financial aid would help you secure a loan for the difference. I am very excited to study abroad next semester, and I am glad that Vassar allows financial aid to carry. I only wish that Vassar would cap the expected family contribution at the cost of the program. Since I thought many would consider this unfair, especially if Vassar expects them to pay more than the cost of the programs, I looked into other options. If you can graduate early, and are willing to forsake any credits you might earn abroad, you can take a personal leave of absence, pay the program directly and go. I would think that most people would need those credits to graduate on time so this may not be a viable option. If it is not, we just have to suck it up and come to grips with the fact that we are not paying for the program fees, we are paying for the privilege of putting the grades earned abroad on our Vassar transcripts.

wikimedia

Geneva, Switzerland

thE noVEmbEr 2011 ChESS PuzzlE

Answers to Chess Puzzle

Do you Enjoy ThE kinD

of DEbaTE founD in This

vassar DEbaTE soCiETy, vassars mosT soPhisTiCaTED sPorT.

White to move, take Queen in three
David Gonzales

sECTion? join ThE

DEbaTE.vsa@vassar.EDu

ChroniCle, novEmbEr 2011

1. Rb1 2. Bh3+ 3. Rxb1

Pavel Shchyhelski

Qxb1 Kg8

PagE 19

The LasT Page

baCk in thE 30S, wE wErE told wE muSt CollECtiVizE thE nation bECauSE thE PEoPlE wErE So Poor. now wE arE told wE muSt CollECtiVizE thE nation bECauSE thE PEoPlE arE So riCh. william f. buCklEy, Jr.

DEMANDS OF THE 99% EDITION

Ethan Madore & Pavel Shchyhelski

itS wEird ProtESting on bay StrEEt. you gEt thErE at 9 a.m. and thE riCh bankErS who you want to hurl inSultS at haVE bEEn at work for 2 hourS alrEady. and thEn whEn itS timE to go, thEyrE Still thErE. i guESS thatS why thEy Call thEm thE 1%. i mEan, who wantS to work thoSE kindS of hourS? thatS thE PowEr of grEEd. oCCuPy toronto ProtEStEr