Committees
The following is a list of official Student Committees on campus.
VSA Council, Student, and Joint Committees
List of Joint Committee Members
View a list of Joint Committee members and their contacts here: List of Joint Committee Members
Committee Descriptions:
VSA Council Standing Committees
VSA Council created four standing committees to consider and recommend to Council new policies and legislation. Members of Council serve on at least one committee; a Vice President from the Executive Board chairs each committee.
STUDENT LIFE COMMITTEE
Chair: Morgan Warners, Vice President for Student Life
Members: Luis Trujillo, Hobie Fuerstman, Miriam Greenstein, Nate Silver, Camille Friason, Brian Bacchi, John Rothman, Alexandria Dempsey, Maryrose Myrtetus, Chris Root, Joseph Redwood Martinez
Addresses issues relating to the quality of student life on campus.
ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
Chair: Jimmy Kelly, Vice President of Activities
Members: Jon Reed, Maryrose Myrtetus, Alexandria Dempsey, Brian Bacchi, Luis Trujillo, Tendai Musakwa, Julia Golomb
Oversees and supports student organizations
FINANCIAL COMMITTEE
Chair: Jessika Wong, Vice President for Finance
Members: Chris Root, Marcelo Buitron, Miriam Greenstein, Tendai Musakwa
Considers all fund applications and recommends to Council changes to VSA budgetary policy.
ACADEMIC COMMITTEE
Chair: Jessica Cho, Vice President for Academics
Members: Elizabeth Heller, Marcelo Buitron, Camille Friason, Nate Silver, Colin Sanders
Considers issues relating to students’ academic lives.
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: Josh de Leeuw
Student Board Members: Tracey Blasenheim, Katie DeMallie, Steven Wells, Garrett King, Ben Gould, Omar Fayyaz, Steven Micucci, Daniel Thomas, Misho Ishikawa, Rachel Harris, Ben Chase, Danny Gilberg
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.
Constitutional Review Committee
Chair: Summer’s-Grace Green, Vice President for Operations
Members: Josh de Leeuw, Nate Silver, Luis Trujillo, Chris Root, Marcelo Buitron, Sean Boley
The CRC meets as is needed to review the VSA Constitution and the VSA Bylaws and write and propose amendments to the VSA Council for approval as necessary.
Founder’s Day Committee
Chairs: Brian Bacchi, Allyson Won
Members: Jimmy Kelly, Dana Hart, Nat Allister, Jennifer Twing, Emily Berger, Jake Chipps, Marisa Bettina, Jared Augestein, Peter Denny, Adriana Horner, Sarah Potts, Tian An Wong
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
Committees are a unique facet of Vassar’s structure. They permit student/faculty/administration collaboration. The key is to know what topics each committee covers, how to contact its members, and how to convince them to consider your opinion. This is a list of all VSA-elected and some non-VSA-elected committees where students have representation.
Academic Panel
Chair/Contact: Chris Roelke, 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.
Admissions and Financial Aid Committee
Chairs: David Borus, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid and Professor Katherine Hite
Contact: Gloria Ossolinski
Students: Jessica Cho, Hannah Kullberg, Laura Saiz, Justin Purtle, Yasmin Roberti
Meets: About 4 times per semester, at a time convenient for all members
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, Ass’t to the Dean of the College
Students: Tendai Musakwa, Sara Cornish, Andrew Duenas, Kartik Naram
Meets: Once or twice a month
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.
Bookstore Advisory Committee
Chair: Sue Vinett, Bookstore Manager
Contact Zahra Durandisse
Students: Elizabeth Bock, Dana Van Brunt
Meets: At least once a semester
The Committee serves as a forum for faculty, administration and students to voice input about and for the Bookstore. In the past, this group has assembled to discuss and decided polices related to book buy-back rules, returns, and the used book inventory.
Campus Investor Responsibility Committee (CIRC)
Chair/Contact: Steve Dahnert, Director of Investments and Capital Project Finance
Students: Adam Greenburg, Garrett King
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 Geology
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.
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: JJ Jackson, 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.
Committee on College Life (CCL)
Chair: Judy “JJ” Jackson, Dean of the College
Students: Sam Charner, Morgan Warners, Jessica Linden Swienckowski, Michael Alvarez, Liza Darwin, Michelle Cantos
Meets: Monthly, Wednesdays at 3PM in the President’s Conference Room
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 Disability Issues (CODI)
Chair: Belinda Guthrie (Disability Support Services)
Students: Hobie Fuerstman and Elizabeth Mermel
Meets: On the 4th Friday of every month
This committee primarily covers issues related to how well the college meets the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations. It promotes awareness of disability issues through education and advices the Office of Disability and Support Services. Most recently, committee members have been reviewing building assessments of accessibility to make recommendations about short and long-term (cheap and expensive) changes to increase compliance with the ADA. Although attendance varies at its meeting, this group seems to accomplish a lot. The VSA is working to make student membership on this committee permanent via elections.
Computing and Educational Technologies Committee
Chairs: Bret Ingerman and Jeff Schneider (for 2007-2008)
Students: Jon Read, Natalia Doan, Sam Rosen-Amy
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.
Drug and Alcohol Educational Committee
Chair: Neil Worden, Visiting Assistant Professor of Drama
Contact: Michelle Soucy
Students: Madeline Robertson-Salt, Brian Finn
Meets: Every other Monday at 9am
The DEC 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.
Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Advisory Committee
Chairs/Contacts: Belinda Guthrie (Director of Equal Opportunity), Pat Wallace (Acting Faculty Director of Affirmative Action)
Students: Luis Trujillo, Emma Carmichael
Meets: At least two times a semester
Last year, the faculty voted and approved the reconstitution of the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Advisory Committee. The committee advises the equal opportunity and affirmative action office, assesses and reviews equal opportunity and affirmative action policies and procedures, consider programs to implement such policies, and conduct a yearly review of the college’s affirmative action efforts and achievement of college affirmative action goals.
Food Committee
Chair/Contact: Nate Silver and Maureen King
Students: Evan Chender, Janeen Madan, Diana Lu, Woodrow Travers, Clare Cene-Kush, Danny McBee, Shane Donahue, Sarah Magee, Dyana Boxley
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
Co-Chairs: Jim Merrell (faculty) Sabrina Pape (dir. of libraries)
Student: Jessica Cho, Peter Chesney, Colin Sanders, Alison Lotto
Meets: Monthly, in the library conference room
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, VP for Finance and Administration
Contact: Zahra Barnett
Students: Miriam Greenstein, Maryrose Myrtetus, Chrissy Lewis, Andrew Bennett, Austin Saddlemire, Michael Zipp
Meets: As needed
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.
Sexual Assault and Violence Prevention Advisory Committee (SAVP):
Chair: Michelle Soucy, SAVP Coordinator
Meets: Every other Monday
SAVP is an advisory committee made up of faculty, staff, administrators and students that was formed when the college was awarded a grant by the Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women in 2003. The SAVP Advisory Committee works on campus programming and education about sexual assault, relationship abuse, and stalking.
Committee on Curricular Policies (CCP)
Chair: Ronald Sharp, Dean of the Faculty
Contact: Colleen Mallet, Associate Registrar
Students: Arts: Mary Catherine Halfpenny, Foreign Language /Literature: Hannah Segrave, Social Sciences: Peter Chesney, Natural Sciences: Max Marcus, 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.
Student Wellness Advisory Committee (SWAC) formerly the Health and Counseling Advisory Committee
Chairs: Mike Dutton, House Fellow for Strong is the SWAC chair.
Contact: Michelle Soucy, Director of Health Education
Students: Jessica Linden-Swienckowski, Michael Alvarez
The DEC 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.