OUR DEMANDS

Financial aid shall increase such that all students on financial aid, and all parents of students on financial aid, pay out-of-pocket no more than they would have for the 2019-20 school year. Freeze both tuition and fees and room and board for all students until the 2024-25 school year (three-year freeze). After the freeze, tuition increases are capped at 125% of CPI inflation per year.

Stop charging late fees on tuition.

Attendance shall be required by Senior Team, VSA Senate, and Department Chairs.
It shall be reiterated that administration’s duty is to protect and provide the services requested and necessitated by the faculty and the student body. The administration is responsible for execution of legislation passed by the faculty and the students. The administration is welcome to provide input during these Senate meetings.
Meetings shall be open-door and hosted by a VSA Senate-elected representative and a Faculty Senate-elected representative monthly.
The joint Senate will oversee governance compliance.
All decisions affecting overlapping interests between these parties would be discussed at these meetings.
Amend the college bylaws to ensure that such a body may not be abolished without the ⅔ majority support of each voting party: students and faculty.

Divest from all of these industries by 2025.
Establish Investment Management Guidelines to which all investment firms we use must adhere.
Provide transparency about what companies and funds we are currently invested in, as well as our admission rates for students who were formerly incarcerated, and our current relationship and ties (monetary or non) to the Poughkeepsie Police Department.
Pledge to create more student representation in CIRC and value student voices in monetary decisions.
Divest from Private Prisons.
Divest from companies that use prison labor-companies that are the middleman.
Divest from companies which hold a monopoly on the captive market of prisons and charge predatory prices for under quality services to incarcerated people and their families.
Divest from companies that don’t hire formerly incarcerated employees.
Pledge to increase the amount of formerly incarcerated employees at Vassar College.
Reinvest in companies who hire formerly incarcerated individuals (eg. Slack).
Reinvest in programs that aid minority communities in Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County.
Reinvest in transformative/restorative justice (healing communal practices that allow perpetrators of violence to be held accountable with actionable solutions that do not involve punitive justice/the carceral state).
Divest from Israeli and international companies that are complicit in violations of Palestinian rights.
Invest in Palestinian-owned enterprises.
Invest in pro-Palestine enterprises.

Working, accessible elevators in each building must be present and operational by 2024.
No more grandfathering in of buildings.
Automated doors for all buildings by 2024.
Documented housing accommodations are guaranteed to be met, rather than only increasing a student’s point total towards housing draw.

Hourly wage shall increase yearly from $15 by $0.50.
Every 2 years, the joint Senate shall meet to decide whether this yearly increase is adequate.
If the locally mandated minimum wage ever exceeds the student minimum wage, this shall change with immediate effect. No student shall ever earn less than the locally mandated minimum wage.

The VSA President shall become a voting member of the Board of Trustees and an ex officio member of the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee of the Board must disclose meeting minutes to students consistently in an accessible manner, via email or the Vassar website.
Provide seats and voting powers for all VSA Executive Board chairs on the Board of Trustees.

Blodgett and existing buildings of this nature would need to be renamed by this committee.

In addition, every percentage increase in tuition shall be met by an equal percentage increase in VCash allotment.
These funds should be applicable for: printing, Arlington bucks, vending machines, and laundry.

With the College’s lack of willingness to enact longer-term, adequate policies to address education inequality at an earlier time during the pandemic, it is imperative something is done to mitigate the harm that has been done to the academic records of many students.
All grades of “F” obtained earlier during the pandemic shall be retroactively expunged and changed to “P.” This demand shall be applied to recently graduated students.

Eliminate department restrictions to applying the NRO policy to classes within your major.

For reference, amenities include, but are not limited to, accessible, clean water fountain stations for drinking and refilling water bottles and hand sanitizing stations.
Make all housing the “golden ticket.”

With such a high tuition and student employees working for less than a living wage, the College needs to stop exploiting its students even further.

Items at the pop-up store and in vending machines should not sell for higher than the college’s cost to buy and transport these items.
There shall be no more hidden costs in courses. An overwhelming number of barriers already exist to accessing a high-quality education. It is completely unreasonable for students to incur any additional costs to maximize their engagement in a class.
All textbooks must be physically available at the library or in a store on campus for purchase, and they must be no more than retail price.

Increase the number of Metcalf employees, to ensure students always have access to help in a timely manner.
Direct funding towards the creation of new office spaces for the campus Mental Health services, to ensure that there is adequate space for a greater volume of patients and staff.
Ensure that such office space is accessible and within reasonable walking distance of the campus dormitories.

Increase the number of work-study jobs at the campus nurseries.

Redirect funding towards the provision of high-quality, subsidized faculty housing and the advancement of these demands.

Invest in student-led campus patrols, EMS, addiction counseling, and training for Metcalf employees.
Cut ties with the Poughkeepsie Police Department.

This is a demand made by SEED.