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That the Department of African and African American Studies has chosen to include Angela Davis ’65 among the participants in the events commemorating its 50th anniversary later this month is disgraceful.
Growing up, many are made aware of the mythical creature known as the one-horned horse: the unicorn. It is an elegant creature, in fact, as far as we know, nonexistent. Similarly, in the world of business, very large companies valued at $1 billion or more are labeled “unicorns.” They are few and rare (at least once upon a time) and last year was predicted to be the biggest year of unicorn discovery in United States history. What was once deemed a mythical creature has been brought to life.
In response to an open letter addressed to President Ron Liebowitz concerning how Brandeis accommodates its students with disabilities, the University held a public forum with the intent of acknowledging, learning from and finding solutions to many of the struggles and inconveniences these community members face. Tuesday’s forum began with Provost Lisa Lynch and Senior Vice President Stewart Uretsky addressing an audience seated at round tables whereupon smaller and more intimate discussions were held. This board commends the University for its willingness to respond to widespread criticism of the quality of life for students with disabilities. However, while planned with good intentions, this meeting did little to directly address many of the concerns of students with disabilities, which extend far beyond wheelchair access to certain buildings and will likely do little in the long term to address the well-being of students with disabilities.
Caren Irr (ENG)
Brandeis University’s closure of the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism leaves a blind spot in the school’s commitment to social justice. For the past 14 years, the Institute has given students and professional researchers alike a structured avenue to practice what Brandeis preaches in terms of social change — allowing them to learn directly from professional researchers how to use their knowledge and skill sets for the good of others. According to its mission statement, Brandeis “affirms the importance of a broad and critical education in enriching the lives of students and preparing them for full participation in a changing society, capable of promoting their own welfare, yet remaining deeply concerned about the welfare of others.” The Schuster Institute, and specifically the Justice Brandeis Law Project, embodied this philosophy better perhaps than any other university. In their absence, Brandeis must create new opportunities for students to apply the rule of law to real-world cases.
Trade and the economy were two of the major cornerstones of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. In an appeal to voters of the rust belt states, many of which also happen to be swing states, Trump asserted that he would fix the “disastrous” trade deals imposed by the previous administration in a bid to bring back manufacturing jobs that were outsourced overseas. The main way Trump plans to fix these trade deals is through tariffs. A tariff is a tax on an imported good, and a 15-percent tariff, for example, would indicate that for every dollar of that good a company buys, the company would have to pay the United States government 15 cents. The effect of this tariff is a higher price for the good for both consumers and producers alike, as producers inexorably due to an increase in manufacturing costs. After less than two years into his first term in office, one of the products that Trump has implemented tariffs on is steel. This has produced a wide range of reactions from across the political spectrum. Unsurprisingly, Trump has doubled down and defended his policies even as some of his top economic advisors, such as former National Security Advisor Gary Cohn, have resigned in opposition. In reaction to these new tariffs, there have been those who argue that Trump’s policies hurt the economy more than they help it, but there have been others who have supported them, most notably the domestic manufacturers of these items. A survey of leading economists from the Initiative of Global Markets indicated that although the tariffs would benefit some companies, the net economic losses as a result would outweigh the net economic gains. The organizations who would benefit from these tariffs are the domestic producers of these products, while the companies that would be undermined are those that utilize these raw materials for their manufacturing plants that in turn would be hurt by the rising costs.
Section 504 of the United States Rehabilitation Act states, “No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States… shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” This law, passed in 1973, forever changed how Americans with disabilities are treated. This clause has always applied to universities that receive federal funding. But unfortunately, in almost every institution of higher learning in this country, the vast majority of students with disabilities still face discrimination and inaccessibility all the time. Brandeis is, unfortunately, no exception.
For those of you living under a rock, let’s briefly go over what happened last week in Washington, D.C. After a pair of marches there, a group of students from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky were approached by a small number of Black Hebrew Israelites who proceeded to shout racial epithets and homophobic slurs at them. To defuse this, a group of Native American marchers led by veteran Nathan Phillips stood between the Covington students and the Israelites, playing their drums and chanting.
The current government shutdown is the longest in United States history. Pay is being withheld from 800,000 federal workers, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck. Of these workers, 420,000 are still required to show up to work, according to CBS. The FDA has stopped inspections of certain food groups, over 40,000 immigration court hearings have been cancelled and Native American tribes that rely on federal funding are struggling to provide healthcare, road maintenance, law enforcement and other basic amenities, per the New York Times. The shutdown has also resulted a hefty economic cost. Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings estimate that if the shutdown lasts one more week, it will cost the economy $5.7 billion.
On Dec. 4, a group of seven Brandeis students released the Branda app, a mobile application that “connects the students of Brandeis with essential campus services,” according to the app’s website. Its features include quick access to BrandeisNOW articles and the campus events calendar, a Branvan tracker, a laundry tracker, a campus map and an updated list of which dining locations are open at any given moment.
Final exams are always a stressful time for college students, as it never seems like there is enough time to adequately prepare. This semester, finals begin on Dec. 13 and classes end on Dec. 11, giving students only one day to prepare for exams. This is worse than the fall 2017 semester, when classes ended on Dec. 8 and Finals began on Dec. 12. Even though there was only one official “study day,” students still had time during the weekend between classes ending and Final exams to study. Now, students who have an assignment or final paper due right before the scheduled start of the final examination period have no real opportunity to dedicate their time solely toward preparing for their final assessment. Other schools, such as Yale University, have a week-long study period. Similarly, Columbia University and Cornell University both have four days dedicated to studying, something that has been consistent throughout past academic years. Anything is better than the one day that Brandeis offers. This board suggests that the University give students at least four days — which can include weekends — to study so that students have time to properly prepare for their finals.
Shocking news: President Donald Trump gets made fun of in the media a lot. Crazy, right? Not like this is anything new, considering Trump’s been a pop culture punching bag for over three decades. If the concept of making fun of Trump on late-night TV was a person, it’d have three kids and two divorces by now. Now that he’s President of the United States, we’ve got wall-to-wall media coverage dedicated to various refutations of his administration and his equally abhorrent partners on Capitol Hill.
Apparently, the United States is experiencing a “sex recession.” This month’s cover story for The Atlantic documents how and why Americans are having less sex than ever before, and seeks to answer how this phenomenon could be possible. In our liberal era, with access to potential sex partners easier than ever thanks to apps like Tinder, with taboos around sexual promiscuity falling and access to pregnancy and STD-preventing devices rising, how could it be that we’re actually spending less time in the bedroom?