Last Tuesday, the University held its annual ’DeisTalks event, in which students share personal stories and discuss topics of interest in a panel modeled after the popular TED Talks. Topics at this year’s ’DeisTalks included differentiating types of anxiety, the “model minority” and animal rights. This board applauds the ’DeisTalks organizers for continuing to push this creative and intellectually stimulating event to new heights and hopes the University community looks to ’DeisTalks as an example of productive and thoughtful event design. 

As a University, Brandeis seeks to push students and faculty alike toward intellectual discovery and innovation through research, self-reflection, critical discourse and field work. For students, this primarily takes the form of classwork, which, by necessity, limits intellectual pursuits to the key topics and focuses of the class. 

There is nothing wrong with this; indeed, without focused tutelage on a given theme which a professor is an expert in, students cannot develop the intellectual abilities to create original ideas. But for students truly generating their own research, criticism or intellectual conceits, there can be few venues within the University proper to share this work and receive the criticism and praise which each push that work to greater heights.

The extracurricular world at Brandeis must thus satisfy this need, and here is where ’DeisTalks truly shines. ’DeisTalks open forum has, in the past, included talks on topics ranging from gender bias in orchestral conducting to focusing education through peak experiences to artistry in video games. Moreover, students, professors and speakers unaffiliated with the University all participate in ’DeisTalks, allowing the usual power imbalance between faculty and students to be bent, just this once, so both parties could benefit from and enjoy presenting alongside each other as equals. ’DeisTalks explore concepts and areas of academia not addressed in the University’s core academic departments and programs, allowing participants to discuss areas of interest and attendees to consider whether these topics warrant further research and teaching at Brandeis.

It is, in other words, an annual event from which all benefit. Students and faculty can speak about their passions, attendees can broaden their horizons and administrators can potentially see what is missing from the University’s current academic structure. 

We encourage community members who may not have considered ’DeisTalks before to attend next year’s presentation and to continue investing time and energy in growing this worthwhile cause so it can achieve its full potential.

—Kat Semerau '17, who spoke at 'DeisTalks, is a columnist for the Justice.