The Vassar Student Association (VSA) hosted a Town Hall with a twist on Nov. 21. The event doubled as a roast of the VSA, inviting students and college comedians alike to offer constructive criticism and share a laugh. The Mug housed a full crowd of students gathered to watch several members of Indecent Exposure, a stand-up comedy group for women, trans, and nonbinary folks, open at the Town Hall and poke fun at some campus policies.
Every semester, the VSA hosts a minimum of one Town Hall for students to meet members of the VSA, ask questions and provide feedback on what issues matter most to them. The Town Halls often include collaborations and performances from various campus organizations; this Town Hall marked the first ever roast of the VSA. The VSA Director of Communications Hayden Ehrenfeld ’25 shared in a written statement to The Miscellany News, “In the past, these Town Halls have usually included a fun performance to draw students in, but this semester we wanted to do something different.” He continued, “We heard a lot of frustration about how the VSA VWash fund was insufficient to cover the rising cost of laundry, so we thought: why not tackle that head-on? That’s where the idea for the ‘roast’ came from. We wanted to combine comedy with real, meaningful conversation—an event where students could voice concerns, share feedback and maybe even laugh a little.”
The event’s theme, “Airing Out the Dirty Laundry,” reflected the VSA’s recent work to obtain free laundry for the student body. Currently, all Vassar students on financial aid receive a $32.50 stipend towards laundry. This semester, the VSA voted to increase the stipend from $32.50 to $46.80, which will go into effect at the start of the Spring ’25 semester. The VSA does not plan to stop there; Ehrenfeld commented: “One of our biggest goals is to get free laundry, which honestly isn’t a stretch. So many of our peer institutions already provide it for their students. But making free laundry a reality takes more than just VSA efforts—it needs the collective support of students to fuel change.”
The event served as an opportunity for the VSA to educate and engage the student body and announce their laundry petition, a VSA initiative hoping to rally student support for free laundry. Class of 2025 Senator Charlie From ’25 confirmed in a written correspondence with The Miscellany News the laundry petition will be voted on at this week’s upcoming senate meeting.
While the roast was centered around laundry, the event covered a wide array of campus issues. Three members of Indecent Exposure performed: Vice President and Treasurer Dora Graham ’26, Kaila Dunn ’25 and Ellie Tinely ’27. Their remarks touched upon student frustrations from various aspects of student life. Multiple comedians critiqued the functionality of VCycle, the campus bike system that launched in the Fall of 2023 and expressed disappointment with the bike app On Bike Share. Another topic tackled by the comedians was the VSA’s allocation of funds in the wake of the widespread VSA budget cuts for campus organizations. One comedian took a jab at the event being catered by Twisted Soul in response. Graham mentioned these issues came up when discussing what concerns were most important to students, “We started with an open document, and what would be funny and some of the things that came to mind were things that annoyed us like VCycle, apparently VCycle comes up a lot in our group.” They added, “I announced in my random class that I’m TA’ing, ‘What should I make fun of the VSA for?’ and they said they ‘The f— budget cuts!’ And I was like you’re right!”
The comedians also broached the topic of the Saturday Shuttle, a program overseen by the VSA that provides weekly transportation around Poughkeepsie to different shopping locations and the train station. The program was critiqued by one comedian for its confusing schedule.
These critiques were appreciated by the VSA. Ehrenfeld wrote, “We also wanted to own up to some mistakes we’ve made this semester. For example, the roll-out of the Saturday Shuttle schedule wasn’t as clear as it should have been. We acknowledged that by taking some playful heat from Indecent Exposure and showing students that we’re committed to doing better. Our Director of Services, Olivia Del Tatto ’27, who oversees programs like the Saturday Shuttle and VCycle, shared updates about the NYC shuttle we’re sponsoring.”
Following Indecent Exposure’s set, the crowd noticeably dwindled. VSA President Emily Doucet ’25 took to the stage to thank Indecent and offer her own remarks before turning it over to several members of the VSA. Four Executive Board members—Director of Services Olivia De Tatto ’27, Director of Student Events Faye Stevens ’25, Director of Student Organizations Mariano De Cavalho ’25 and Director of Wellness Sofia Balich ’25— who discussed their roles within the VSA and addressed several issues raised during the roast. VSA members had to opt into being mentioned by name, with only one VSA member—De Cavalho— having consented to be a subject of the roast.
After hearing from several VSA Executive Board members, Indecent Exposure performed a humorous sketch depicting a VSA meeting. In closing, the VSA opened the floor to questions from students; the audience did not participate.
One student in attendance, Julia Rossi ’27, came to the event to watch a friend perform in Indecent Exposure. Of the VSA initiatives, Rossi said, “I didn’t really go in here thinking much about them, but I was interested in what they were saying about laundry. Yeah, I was kind of surprised to hear that they’ve made so much progress towards free laundry and I hadn’t realized that it was such the norm with other colleges to have free laundry, so I was excited to hear about the possibility of that.” They continued, “I think it made me appreciate that the VSA was willing to put this on and that they appreciate comedy and different student orgs like that.”
Tinley shared after her set, “I think the event went really well. It was a really good environment in the room, lots of laughs and lots of silliness, but also the VSA got a chance to talk to some of the students which was really good and we got to talk about our wonderful org as well.”
The roast aimed to engage with the student body and provide a space to laugh and learn in tandem and open a line of dialogue with the campus community. Ehrenheld commented, “We hope this mix of humor and open dialogue helps students feel heard while also keeping things fun. Criticism doesn’t have to be all serious—it can be a catalyst for change. And the VSA is here for that.”