Committees
Vassar College's committee system is the centerpiece of its joint governance. Students, faculty, and administrators sit together on a wide variety of issues to solve common problems. Here, view the elected student members of all VSA and joint committees.
Committee Descriptions:
VSA Council Standing Committees
VSA Council maintains four standing committees to consider and recommend to Council new policies and legislation. Members of Council serve on at least two committees; a Vice President from the Executive Board chairs each committee.
ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
Chair: Aaron Grober, Vice President of Activities
Members: Riley Greene, Daryl Duran, Eli Schutze, Nicole Clark, Rossie Russo, Zan Schmidt
Oversees and supports student organizations
FINANCIAL COMMITTEE
Chair: Scott Pascal, Vice President for Finance
Members: Laura Riker, Louise Conner, Moe Byrne, Syed Samin Shehab, Tanay Tatum
Considers all fund applications and recommends to Council changes to VSA budgetary policy.
STUDENT LIFE COMMITTEE
Chair: Elizabeth Anderson, Vice President for Student Life
Members: Alejandro Calcaño, Laura Riker, Misho Ishikawa, Selina Strasburger, Syed Samin Shehab, Zan Schmidt, Eli Berns-Zieve
Addresses issues relating to the quality of student life on campus.
ACADEMIC COMMITTEE
Chair: Stephanie Damon-Moore, Vice President for Academics
Members: Daryl Duran, Eli Schutze, Hannah Groch-Begley, Moe Byrne, Nicole Clark, Tanay Tatum
Considers issues relating to students’ academic lives.
CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW COMMITTEE
Chair: Brian Farkas, Vice President for Operations
Members: Hannah Groch-Begley, Louise Conner, Rossie Russo, Briana Markoff, Eli Berns-Zieve
Reviews the VSA Constitution and the VSA Bylaws and write and propose amendments to the VSA Council for approval as necessary.
APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE
Chair: Brian Farkas, Vice President for Operations
Members: Alejandro Calcano, Misho Ishikawa, Riley Greene, Selina Strasburger
Reviews applications to vacant VSA positions and makes recommendations to the VSA Council for approval.
Judicial Committees
Judicial Board
The members off the Judicial Board are comprised entirely of elected students. It convenes to hold trial for students accused of violating VSA Bylaws and mandates. Decisions are made by a majority vote, with the chair only voting in case of a tie. The VSA Vice President for Operations serves as a non-voting, Constitutional Advisor. Appeals of its decisions may be submitted to the VSA President for consideration of a re-trial. Members of this Board also serve on the Academic Panel and the Harassment Committee.
Judicial Board Chair: Daniel Salton
Student Board Members: Liza Darwin, John Rothman, Tobi Lawson, Guillermo 'Gui' Farias, Lucy Richardson, Zoe Watnik, Christopher Troise, Anthony Pinggera, Greg Lichtenstein, Abubakar 'Baba' Awumbila, Jenel 'J' Moliere, Nick Blum
Academic Panel
Chair/Contact: Joanne Long, Dean of Studies
Students: Same students as the Judicial Board
Meets: As needed
The Academic Panel reviews all reports of students charged with violating academic or library regulations. The Dean of Studies will review a written statement of the faculty member or student enforcing the charge, and then confer with the accused student. The Chair may not vote on the matter of innocence or guilt. The chair may only vote on the type of penalty in the case of a tie. Breaches of academic integrity, such as cheating or plagiarizing may be placed on a student's internal record (for the Dean's use only.) Panel recommendation of suspension as a penalty must be approved by the College President.
College Regulations Panel
Chair/Contact: “DB” Brown, Dean of Students
Students: Judicial Board Chair and the Judicial Board
Meets: As needed
The College Regulations Panel is a student/ faculty/administrative committee, comprised of four students, two faculty members and one administrator at each session. This committee convenes to evaluate cases in which students are accused of violating rules outlined in the Vassar College Regulations (copies may be obtained at the Office of the Dean of Students.) Guilt is established via a two-thirds vote of panel members, while the chair does not vote. Charges must be filed within 16 months of the time of the alleged violation.
College Regulations Appeals Board
Chair/Contact: Chris Roellke, Dean of the College
Meets: As needed
The Appeals Committee hears appeals of cases from the above College Regulations Panel. Appeals should be submitted to the Dean of the College and may be grounded upon alleged procedural errors, new evidence, or excessive penalties imposed by the College Regulations Panel.
Student Committees
Student Committees are the similar to joint-committees except they consist of and are chaired solely by students instead of both students and administration together.
Board of Elections
Four positions vacant
Founder's Day Committee
Not yet appointed.
FDC coordinates and plans everything involved in the Founder's Day event, including activities, music, and alcohol. Founder’s Day is an open committee. Anyone that would like to join should contact the VP for Operations and the Chairs of the committee.
Joint Committees
Admissions and Financial Aid Committee
Chair: David Borus, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid
Students: Brian Farkas, Aashim Usgaonkar, Thomas Renjilian, Alyssa Alcasabas Pabalan, Ying Zhen 'Celine' Teo
Members truly determine how effective this committee is, as they suggest the topics. Past agendas have included the FOCUS recruitment of students of color, the use and training of student tour guides, the alumni-admissions program, early decision, international recruitment, financial aid packaging methods, student employment and work study wage/hour limitations, the impact of possible changes in federal and state aid policies, etc. Recently there has been discussion on the diversity of the applicant pool and recruitment.
Arlington Special Events Committee
Chair/Contact: Andrew Meade, Director of International Services
Students: Zan Schmidt, Aaron Grober
This group constitutes the only active subcommittee to the Arlington Business Improvement District (BID), a panel of local business owners and landowners that plan local events discuss such issues as changes to the Arlington structure. The student delegate to Arlington BID gets involved in programming events such as the Arlington Street Fair, the Farmer's Market, and the Holiday Festival, which are increasing in attendance and success with every passing year. The student delegate helps to coordinate the Scavenger Hunt during Freshmen Orientation week and helps promote student use of the V-CARD. Students are welcome to inquire and attend actual BID meetings.
Campus Investor Responsibility Committee (CIRC)
Chair/Contact: Rachel Kitzinger, Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs
Students: Daniel Savage, Brian Farkas,Louise Conner, Arjun Agarwala
Meets: 5-6 times annually, but most in March and April
The CIRC review issues of social responsibility related to companies in Vassar’s investment portfolio, and makes recommendations to the Trustees. Each member selects 2-3 topics (global labor standards, defense, tobacco, etc.) In the past, the CIRC's activity has been famously effective and has caused the college to send a letter to GE about PCBs in the Hudson River and to issue a full divestment in South Africa during the 1980s.
Campus Life Resource Group
Chair/Contact: Ed Pittman
Meets: Mondays at 3PM in the Jade Parlor
This vital committee provides forums for dialogue and discussion for all members of the Vassar community on a range of campus life matters. In this vein, CLRG plans Conversation Dinners throughout the year and the Annual All College Day. Membership is open to all members from every area of the college and students should feel free to contact members and ask to attend meetings or Conversation Dinners.
College Committee on Sustainability
Chair/Contact: Jeff Walker, Professor of Earth Science
Students: 5 Interns employed through Student Employment:
Meets: Once per month, in the Faculty Parlor
Formerly known as the Committee on Recycling and Sustainability, this group has no set membership among faculty, administration, and students other than the five busy interns who do much of the legwork from meeting to meeting. Issues under its prevue related to accessing local foods, wind power on campus, recycling and overall environmental awareness on campus. The Sustainability works very closely with Greenway to help waste management and composting and just recently acquired control of the SWAPR program. This committee also runs a Freshmen Orientation BSC each year. Its success varies according to membership but it has been very productive as of late.
Committee on College Life (CCL)
Chair: Chris Roellke, Dean of the College
Students: Caitlyn Ly, Elizabeth Anderson, Ana Popkowski, Andrew Gaines, Emily Bernstein
This is a voting body, with the Chair (the Dean of the College) only voting in case of a tie. This committee instilled with the power to review and alter nearly all college regulations, aside from academic, including alcohol policies, party policies, parking policies, and the legal definitions of punishable offenses.
Committee on Curricular Policies (CCP)
Chair: Jon Chenette, Dean of the Faculty
Students: Arts: Kelly Stout, Foreign Language /Literature: Laura Riker, Social Sciences: Sarah Matherly, Natural Sciences: Alex Middeleer, Independent/Multi-disciplinary/Inter-disciplinary: Maximilian Familian
Meets: Monthly, on Wednesday afternoons
This is a Joint Student/Faculty Committee with two professors from every academic division and one student from each academic division, plus the Academic Executive. The CCP is the primary body for the review and development of curricular (academic) procedures and policies. Significant decisions of the CCP are usually brought to the Faculty for final approval.
Computing and Academic Technologies
Chairs: Bret Ingerman and Steve Taylor
Students: Tanay Tatum
Meets: Every 2 or 3 weeks.
This group consists of faculty, administration, and students interested in discussing issues related to computing at Vassar. Recent topics of this group include the new online storage, new videoconfrencing system, telecommunications changes, and the Classroom Committee.
Food Committee
Chair/Contact: Ezra Roth and Maureen King
Students: Sarah Magee, Rebecca Guenoun, Dan Abramson, Akari Anderson, Nick Veazie, Matthew Rosenthal, Paul Weinger, Rachel Schorr
The Food Committee meets to discuss different aspects of campus dining. As topics arise, the Food Committee makes suggestions for improvements that can be made in those areas. Recent topics this group has discussed include pricing of food, quality of ACDC food, and increasing healthy eating options at Vassar
Library Committee
Chairs: Sabrina Pape, Director of the Libraries
Student: Jared Berenholz
The Library Committee discusses general acquisitions and maintenance of the library collections, with regard to how patron-friendly and useful the library's materials are. It oversees all major changes, such as the moving of collections to the annex or changes to the library’s subscriptions. Although there is only one student on this committee (the VSA AcEx) the library staff are well trained in assessing patron needs and all members are open to suggestions and questions.
Master Planning Committee
Chair: Betsy Eismeier, Vice President for Finance and Administration
Students: Michael Mestitz, William Nyasha Zichawo, Ethan Fischer
This group considers all major changes to the campus property. Recent agendas have detailed changes to the library annex storage, general storage needs on campus, parking issues, the future of the Juliet Property, the renewal plans for student residences. This committee, rather than Res Life, is the resource to refer to if you have major ideas pertaining to housing structures and building changes and improvements.
Student Wellness Advisory Committee (SWAC)
Chair: Renee Pabst
SWAC is a concerned group of students, faculty, administrators and staff members. The primary mission of the DEC is to promote the health and safety of Vassar students with regard to drug, alcohol and tobacco use. The committee specifically focuses on: health education based in harm and risk reduction; education regarding law and campus policies; the acknowledgement of temptation and use; the encouragement of prevention and non-use; evaluation of use and non-use on campus; recommendations for policy and sanctions related to abuse; and working with student organizations.