(11/25/08 5:00am)
The Community Engaged Learning program at the Community Center at Prospect Hill in Waltham has been suspended indefinitely. Brandeis students will continue to offer some programs through the Waltham Group, but other programs will now be run by the housing development's tenants' association.The CEL program offered tutoring and other after school activities for middle and elementary school students.On Nov. 17 the Prospect Hill Tenants Association held a meeting and decided that Brandeis students involved with the CEL program will now volunteer at the community center on Mondays and Tuesdays, as opposed to Monday through Thursday as they had earlier in the semester.To compensate for the students' absence at the end of the week, tenants will be responsible for the programming that was previously run by the volunteers. According to Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH), one of the professors who leads CEL programming at Prospect Hill, the center will only be open when at least two parents are there on Monday and Tuesday. Senior Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences Elaine Wong wrote in an e-mail to the Justice: "The groups felt that suspending the program was in the best interest of the [Prospect Hill] children and [Brandeis] volunteers, chiefly because of the need for a better organizational structure, more coordination and training and orientation for volunteers. The center has been supported by good will and good intentions since it opened last spring, but now some student coordinators will be studying abroad in the spring or must turn their attention to other commitments," Auslander said that the economic crisis sped up these changes and the University had to cut its funding for resources for the CEL programming but that the goal of the program was always to encourage the tenants' self-sufficiency and empowerment, and giving the tenants more responsibility will fulfill that objective. "The goal of Community Engaged Learning is to empower communities with our partnership so they can build up their own capacity to serve their interests," Auslander said. Nadia Hemady, a graduate student in cultural production who volunteers at Prospect Hill and helps the tenants with computer training, said she thinks the programming will gain traction if the economy improves. However, she said "the main objective is a strong tenants' association that will empower the tenants and enable them to take control of their destiny at the center."The ultimate goal of putting more responsibility in the hands of the parents, Auslander said, is to "see more family literacy." "I think that previously, it was intimidating to have Brandeis volunteers in the center. I think the parents will understand that as parents, they have the skills and capacity to teach their children," he said. Jacqueline Kohos '11 said that many of the children had behavioral problems that the volunteers felt they were not always equipped to handle. The shift in responsibility seems to be having a positive effect on the tenants. Auslander said. The community center held a meeting Nov. 17 to discuss these new changes, and approximately 20 parents of the children using the center attended. At the meeting, the teenagers using the center voiced their opinions and said they wanted relaxation time before beginning their homework. Reactions about the loss of programming were mixed among Prospect Hill volunteers. "I think this is a really positive thing. The Community [Engaged] Learning program was supposed to embody relations between students and the tenants, but parents were rarely present. These changes present an opportunity for the parents. Now that they have to be in the center, it gives them a chance to be more involved," Kohos said. Hemady said that she was ambivalent about the decision. "I think it was necessary from a financial point of view, but it is very unfortunate." Although Hemady said that she thinks the center will still need additional volunteers, like Auslander and Kohos, she said increasing the tenants' responsibility at the center will further their self-sufficiency. "The parents that have offered to be involved in the center have a genuine interest in helping their children and will follow through on their commitment." Wong wrote in her e-mail that the Waltham Kids Club and Big Siblings, which are run through the Waltham Group, will still be offered, in addition to English tutoring for adults and occasional programming for middle school boys and girls led by Brandeis students.
(11/25/08 5:00am)
On Nov. 16, the Student Union proposed a resolution to the administration stating that students should be able to review all evidence against them prior to their conduct hearings, which would be a different procedure for reviewing evidence than what is currently stated in the University's Rights and Responsibilities document. Rights and Responsibilities section 19.11 states that "the accused student and the accuser shall have the right to view and question all evidence presented to the board during the hearing." Students are not allowed to review or question any evidence prior to the hearing, only during it.The issue of evidence in conduct hearings first occurred when the Office of Student Rights and Advocacy began printing magnets which were supposed to list students' rights. The magnet proposed that students involved in conduct hearings should be able to see the evidence against them prior to the hearing. The Office of Student Development and Conduct pointed out to Union members that this right conflicts with the wording in the Rights and Responsibilities. The resolution states that the Student Union Senate recommends to the University Board of Student Development and Conduct to change the current evidence submission rules so that each party can review any evidence submitted on the day of the hearing for at least 24 hours before beginning trial procedures. Senators Supreetha Gubbala '12, Andrew Brooks '09, Lev Hirschorn '11 and Director of the Student Union Office of Student Rights and Advocacy Laura Cohen '09 proposed this resolution. Erika Lamarre, director of Student Development and Conduct, said this conflict is simply a misunderstanding of the wording in the Rights and Responsibilities document and that the resolution is unnecessary. "There is an implication that students are not getting an adequate chance to prepare for their defense during a hearing. But the University is not trying to withhold information from the students. To the contrary, we are trying to keep the door open for both sides to introduce evidence during the hearing. We do not want all sides to be obligated to present evidence before a hearing, or there is no point in having a hearing," she said. However, some Union members suggested this process of evidence review is unjust. "Many in the Union, including myself, have found this practice unfair because it does not allow either side ample time to review and question evidence," Cohen wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. She wrote that she had "personally talked to many [undergraduates] about how evidence is currently handled, and they too are concerned." Although Cohen said that she understands that "there are sometimes circumstances that prevent evidence collection until the last minute" she said that her experience has showed that "both the accused and accusing parties collect the majority of their evidence several days prior to a hearing.
(11/18/08 5:00am)
When Terrence Johnson's (TYP) mother heard about the Transitional Year Program at Brandeis through a program alumnus, Johnson thought the program sounded interesting.At the time, Johnson, a high school student in Atlanta, felt he was academically unprepared to start his college career. Only after speaking with program coordinator Erika Smith, who assured him he could be a successful student, did he even consider applying.Johnson, now the TYP senator, a member of the Campus Operation Working Group and the social justice committees and mentor at the Boys Club in Waltham, says TYP has been the most influential aspect of his education so far. "TYP challenges my ability to learn better and manage my time more efficiently," he says. "It really strengthens my weaknesses." On Oct. 25, Brandeis celebrated the program's 40th anniversary with a series of events that included TYP alumni speakers and a panel of current TYP students. As senator, Johnson introduced the student panel with a discussion of his own path to TYP.Established in 1968 by members of the Brandeis faculty, TYP offers students the opportunity to gain experience in a rigorous college environment before actually applying to college.The program is highly selective. According to Smith, of the 200-odd students who apply to TYP each year, about 10 percent are accepted.Only students who demonstrate leadership skills and the potential to make a "meaningful contribution" to Brandeis' academic life are eligible, Smith said.Students chosen for the program spend a year taking several TYP-specific courses and one ordinary undergraduate course each semester. If accepted to Brandeis at the end of that year, the students are then enrolled as first-years.Smith noted TYP's significant progress. Although TYP is smaller now than in 1968, graduation rates for TYP students have continued to increase.Although Brandeis accepted 38 TYP students in 2000 and only 18 in 2008, rates of acceptance have increased. While only 42 percent of TYP participants were accepted into Brandeis' first-year class in 2000, in 2008, the University accepted as much as 83 percent of the TYP.The "development of the program has come largely through students advocating for it," Smith said, which she called "very Brandesian." Johnson also discussed the challenges of participating in the program. With so much on his plate, it was unsurprising that he cited "time management" as one of the greatest difficulties he had with TYP.Johnson described TYP as an incredible educational experience. Noting especially program leaders such as Smith and Senior Department Coordinator Dana McPhee, Johnson cited community support as the reason behind his achievement at Brandeis.Johnson sees his personal history as representative of the possibility for achievement that TYP embodies."Networking, strong support and willful determination," said Johnson said during the panel presentation "can make a scholar." The students on the panel repeatedly expressed their gratitude to the program.J.V. Souffrant, a current TYP student, said that enrolling in TYP completely changed the course of his academic career. If he hadn't gotten into TYP, Souffrant said, he would never have attended a four-year college.Despite how little experience he's had at Brandeis so far, Souffrant has ambitious plans for the future. He announced during the panel that he plans to major in biology and wants to attend Harvard Medical School."TYP made me more focused and driven," Souffrant said. "It is an opportunity that you cannot let slip through your fingers."Riko Bol, a TYP student and a double major in American Studies and Sociology, echoed Souffrant's praise for TYP's uniqueness."TYP challenged us," he said. "I took on the responsibility to get my work done." Although he thought certain aspects of transitioning to college life were "difficult," Bol said he was able to move forward because "I had people to help me out." Even TYP students who have already been accepted to Brandeis appreciate the program's influence on their lives.Jose Quinones '11, who graduated from TYP in 2007, said that the program "opened me up to what the college experience would be like."Even before he was accepted to Brandeis, Quinones said he already felt integrated into the student body."I had a chance to meet people outside of the program, and professors," he said. Quinones analogized his TYP experience to trying out for a basketball team. "You know what it is like, but you have not actually made the team yet," he said.He told current TYP students to "never forget what you are capable of."TYP students recognize that TYP has imbued them with the confidence and the motivation to pursue their goals.TYP, Johnson said, "has given me the fundamental steps to being successful.
(11/11/08 5:00am)
Profs. Peniel E. Joseph (AAAS), Mingus Mapps (POL), Joseph Ballantine Jr., adjunct professor at the International Business School, and Jill Greenlee (POL) discussed the effect of race, demographic results and political and economic implications of the election of President Elect Barack Obama at a panel last Thursday.The panel, moderated by National Public Radio defense correspondent for the Pentagon Guy Raz '96, was titled "What Happened? What Next?" The Student Union and the Office of Communication sponsored the panel.Raz said he was ecstatic when Bill Clinton was first elected in 1992, but those celebrations were incomparable to the celebrations that took place across America after Obama's election. He called Obama's election "the day America fulfilled its promise" of equal opportunity.Joseph maintained that Obama's election is symbolic because it represents one achievement for minorities in the U.S., but added that "Obama's victory does not automatically end the disparities" in achievement between blacks and whites. The impact of Obama's election on social justice in terms of racial equality is unclear and can only be measured at the end of the first term, Joseph said. As an example, he said, if there are more African-American faculty at elite universities in 2013 than there are today, this will be an indication that Obama's candidacy has helped transform race relations. Joseph said Obama's victory shows that black politicians do not necessarily make race a focal issue of their campaigns and can succeed at the national level by transcending this issue. Obama did not make his race a core issue of his presidential campaign, which enabled him to succeed with the American electorate. Mapps was also cautious not to exaggerate the effect of Obama's campaign on racial politics. He said he believes it is ambiguous whether Obama's election represents a post-racial moment. On one hand, Mapps said, party voting is still organized along racial lines in the sense that minorities generally gravitate toward the Democratic party, and the Republicans have a larger percentage of white voters. However, large numbers of Hispanic and white female voters who supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries later voted for Obama in the general election. Mapps said this showed that an African-American candidate does not drive potential voters away. Greenlee's presentation discussed voting demographics. She cited Obama's 13-point lead over Sen. John McCain in terms of women voters and said that figure "says a little bit about [Gov.] Sarah Palin's lack of effect" in enticing female voters to cast their ballots for John McCain.Greenlee said it was "powerful to see how young people voted," and that young voters were the backbone of Obama's campaign. She said Obama had a 35-point lead over John McCain with young people ages 18 to 29 and said Obama represents "a lot of change and energy." This turnout of young voters, said Greenlee, might symbolize "the moment when we saw a partisan shift in the political landscape" toward the Democratic Primary. In response to a question by Raz about whether Obama's election would have happened without eight years of President George W. Bush's consistently flawed governing, Greenlee said that "if people were complacent with Bush's presidency, than Obama's slogan of change would not have resonated." Ballantine, who also serves as the director of the Master of Science in Finance program at the IBS, looked at more concrete issues that currently plague the country. He said the effects of the financial crisis will be felt locally, nationally and globally and that "we have our work cut out for us." The financial crisis will likely impede the implementation of some of Obama's proposals on core issues like energy, health care, education and tax cuts because such proposals are extremely costly, Ballantine said. He continued to say that citizens will have to make sacrifices and concluded by quoting Obama's acceptance speech: "It is a long and hard road, but we can make out." Johnny Wilson '12 said he thought "it was great to see and hear the professor's opinions and the thoughts of the community in general." "Everyone spoke well, and the turnout shows Brandeis students' politics interests even after the election," Sofya Bronshvayg '11 said.
(11/04/08 5:00am)
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick spoke on campus at the culminating event of the Israel Cleantech Investor Conference, which praised the Israeli companies present for starting and stressing the importance of the clean technology industry last Tuesday. "This industry, in its various permutations, helps to meet a need for solving climate change and finding alternatives to foreign oil," Patrick said. He also praised Brandeis, calling the University a "wonderful citizen in helping build partnership in a new world," referring to the fact that Brandeis is very environmentally friendly. The Brandeis International Business School sponsored the Israel Cleantech Investor Conference, which ran all day and ended with a dinner with the investors, the Israeli entrepeneurs and Patrick. Michael Appel, the executive director of development and external affairs at IBS, said in an interview with the Justice that 16 Israeli entrepreneurs who are involved in start-up companies with clean water and alternative energy attended the conference. Appel said some of the entrepreneurs merely had ideas for the companies, some had start-up companies and some had products on the markets. All the entrepreneurs, he said, need more capital to take their companies to the next level. The purpose of the conference was to introduce these Israeli companies to a group of "angel investors," who, according to Appel, are American venture capitalists who invest in start-up companies. The venture capitalists are mainly from the Boston area and see valuable business opportunities with these Israeli companies. Tami Durst, the executive director of the New England-Israel Business Council, one of the sponsors of the conference, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that "The New England-Israel Business Council's goal is to increase economic development and promote business partnership between Israeli entrepreneurs and New England firms. We do this by creating opportunities for companies and business executives from both countries to get educated about each other's innovative technologies and business opportunities, matching businesses with strategic partners and investors, and partnering with organizations that have similar goals." Appel said that following opening remarks by University President Jehuda Reinharz, Dean of the IBS Bruce Magid and Chair of the IBS Board of Overseers Arthur Goldstein, each of the 16 companies presented their products to the venture capitalists, trying to entice interest in their companies. "It is hard to say if these ideas will come to fruition [as a result of these conferences], but they were extremely valuable," Appel said. Venture capital funds Atlas Venture and the North Bridge Venture Partners, along with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, co-sponsored the event with the Government of Israel Economic Mission, the Consul General of Israel to New England, the New England Israel Business Council and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute. Appel said Governor Patrick was the keynote speaker at the dinner because he has "a major interest in cleantech industries and feels Massachusetts has the intellectual firepower to develop and grow high-tech companies, as he sees it as a means to help grow the economy." Massachusetts has also made tremendous strides in the area of clean technology. Patrick said in his speech that "Massachusetts passed a series of legislative measures beginning with the Clean Energy Bill, the bill enacted last July to encourage renewable energy through mandates and incentives, the Green Jobs Bill, enacted last March, which earmarked more than $50 million to encourage clean energy companies to move to Massachussetts, and the BioFuels Bill, which is an oceans management piece of legislation, all of which in a package really set us apart from just about any other state in the United States in creating an environment for innovation and breakthroughs in cleantech." He also encouraged the venture capitalists to invest in the Israeli start-up companies. "Take the time to build relationships with that talent for the benefit of our respective economies and indeed for the benefit of the world. Let's use this occasion to build on that affluence, to spend it wisely, to invest it fruitfully for the betterment of all of us in the future," Patrick said.Patrick's speech indicated that Massachussetts' efforts to promote clean energy companies provided an incentive for the Israeli entrepreneurs to attend the conference. Appel felt that Patrick's speech was "very positive. He was clearly delighted to underscore key themes of the conference, like innovation through technology, and using clean tech as a key to global prosperity." Matt Parillo, the senior associate director of communications at the IBS, echoed Appel's praise in an interview with the Justice. "The speech illustrated how cross-cultural collaboration will help lay the foundation for economic growth," he said.
(10/28/08 4:00am)
The Student Union passed a $500 Senate money resolution to support programs and materials for the community center at Prospect Hill Terrace, a low-income housing development in Waltham, at its Oct. 14 Senate meeting. The resolution "grants $500 of discretionary Union funding to the community development project," Student Union Director of Communications Jamie Ansorge '09 wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. Prospect Hill, the largest housing development in Waltham, was founded in 1948, the same year as Brandeis. It currently provides subsidized housing for nearly 100 families. Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH) said Brandeis students have a long history of helping the residents at Prospect Hill. Brandeis' programs have mainly been targeted toward younger children and have only recently expanded to include teenagers. In January 2008 Brandeis students, in partnership with the tenants association at Prospect Hill, opened a learning center that offers after-school programs and workshops for youth and adults.Lev Hirschhorn, senator for the Class of 2011 and chair of the Social Justice Committee, said he spoke to Anne Hodges '11, coordinator projects at Prospect Hill, who told Hirschhorn that Prospect Hill does not have money to improve the community center. Hirschhorn wrote a Senate resolution to help Prospect Hill using money from the Senate's $10,500 discretionary fund and convinced Senator-at-Large Justin Sulsky '09 to sponsor it.The resolution states that providing this community center "will show that the Brandeis Student Body as a whole is serious about improving Waltham.""It is critical the relationship between Brandeis and institutions like Prospect Hill be strengthened," Hirschhorn said. Hirschhorn said the money will "primarily be for the residents of Prospect Hill, it will still benefit Brandeis students because the money will help fund their projects there." Auslander, one of the main coordinators for community service projects at Prospect Hill, said it is "wonderful that the [student] government is stepping up." He said that some of the Senate money has already been used to plan a barbecue to promote interaction between the teen residents at Prospect Hill and Brandeis students, adding that the Senate money "has really opened the door for new programs at the teen center like music and poetry."In an e-mail to the Justice, Hirschhorn said he believed the remaining money was used to purchase books and sports equipment.Hodges said that she thinks the Senate money resolution "validates the idea that Brandeis has a strong presence with the Waltham community and maintains Brandeis' legacy of having it connected with other community organizations. "Auslander said he thinks Brandeis students' involvement with Prospect Hill is critical because it exposes them to practical issues in social development, like the challenges of social class and gender, and teaches them how to "actively build democracy in a neighborhood.
(10/28/08 4:00am)
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick spoke on campus at the culminating event of the Israel Cleantech Investor Conference, which praised the Israeli companies present for starting and stressing the importance of the clean technology industry last Tuesday. "This industry, in its various permutations, helps to meet a need for solving climate change and finding alternatives to foreign oil," Patrick said. He also praised Brandeis, calling the University a "wonderful citizen in helping build partnership in a new world," referring to the fact that Brandeis is very environmentally friendly. The Brandeis International Business School sponsored the Israel Cleantech Investor Conference, which ran all day and ended with a dinner with the investors, the Israeli entrepeneurs and Patrick. Michael Appel, the executive director of development and external affairs at IBS, said in an interview with the Justice that 16 Israeli entrepreneurs who are involved in start-up companies with clean water and alternative energy attended the conference. Appel said some of the entrepreneurs merely had ideas for the companies, some had start-up companies and some had products on the markets. All the entrepreneurs, he said, need more capital to take their companies to the next level. The purpose of the conference was to introduce these Israeli companies to a group of "angel investors," who, according to Appel, are American venture capitalists who invest in start-up companies. The venture capitalists are mainly from the Boston area and see valuable business opportunities with these Israeli companies. Tami Durst, the executive director of the New England-Israel Business Council, one of the sponsors of the conference, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that "The New England-Israel Business Council's goal is to increase economic development and promote business partnership between Israeli entrepreneurs and New England firms. We do this by creating opportunities for companies and business executives from both countries to get educated about each other's innovative technologies and business opportunities, matching businesses with strategic partners and investors, and partnering with organizations that have similar goals." Appel said that following opening remarks by University President Jehuda Reinharz, Dean of the IBS Bruce Magid and Chair of the IBS Board of Overseers Arthur Goldstein, each of the 16 companies presented their products to the venture capitalists, trying to entice interest in their companies. "It is hard to say if these ideas will come to fruition [as a result of these conferences], but they were extremely valuable," Appel said. Venture capital funds Atlas Venture and the North Bridge Venture Partners, along with the law firm Greenberg Traurig, co-sponsored the event with the Government of Israel Economic Mission, the Consul General of Israel to New England, the New England Israel Business Council and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute. Appel said Governor Patrick was the keynote speaker at the dinner because he has "a major interest in cleantech industries and feels Massachusetts has the intellectual firepower to develop and grow high-tech companies, as he sees it as a means to help grow the economy." Massachusetts has also made tremendous strides in the area of clean technology. Patrick said in his speech that "Massachusetts passed a series of legislative measures beginning with the Clean Energy Bill, the bill enacted last July to encourage renewable energy through mandates and incentives, the Green Jobs Bill, enacted last March, which earmarked more than $50 million to encourage clean energy companies to move to Massachussetts, and the BioFuels Bill, which is an oceans management piece of legislation, all of which in a package really set us apart from just about any other state in the United States in creating an environment for innovation and breakthroughs in cleantech." He also encouraged the venture capitalists to invest in the Israeli start-up companies. "Take the time to build relationships with that talent for the benefit of our respective economies and indeed for the benefit of the world. Let's use this occasion to build on that affluence, to spend it wisely, to invest it fruitfully for the betterment of all of us in the future," Patrick said.Patrick's speech indicated that Massachussetts' efforts to promote clean energy companies provided an incentive for the Israeli entrepreneurs to attend the conference. Appel felt that Patrick's speech was "very positive. He was clearly delighted to underscore key themes of the conference, like innovation through technology, and using clean tech as a key to global prosperity." Matt Parillo, the senior associate director of communications at the IBS, echoed Appel's praise in an interview with the Justice. "The speech illustrated how cross-cultural collaboration will help lay the foundation for economic growth," he said.
(10/21/08 4:00am)
When Prof. Scott Redenius (ECON) entered Oberlin College as a freshman, he'd planned on majoring in a subject "along the lines of English, history or philosophy."An introductory economics course, however, not only changed his academic plans, but also determined the course of his professional career.I discovered that economics answers all the questions you never knew you had," Redenius says.During his senior year of college, Redenius says he realized he "didn't want to spend his life doing theoretical work." Captivated by the historical applications of economics, Redenius enrolled in Yale University, where he received his Ph.D. in economic theory in 2002.This September marked the start of Redenius' teaching career at Brandeis, following four years at Knox College and six years at Bryn Mawr College.Redenius' decision to become a professor was based on a desire to translate his passion for economics to his students. His favorite parts of teaching, Redenius explained, are the "aha! moments," the moments when all the material begins to click for the students. This semester, Redenius is teaching three sections of "Statistics for Economic Analysis." In the spring, he will be teaching "Money and Banking," as well as "Introduction to Economics." According to Rachel McCulloch, chair of the Economics department, Redenius will also teach economic history in the future. In his research, Redenius has analyzed American economic history and the economics of financial institutions, with a particular focus on the history of the American financial system.His most recent project consisted of researching the reasons behind the variation of interest rates among regions across the United States after the Civil War, when rates on bank loans varied from 5 percent in Massachusetts to 12 percent or more in parts of the South and West, Redenius explains. This issue played a key role in the formation of the Federal Reserve System and the American government's effort to implement a national interest rate.The question in the literature, Redenius says, is what generated these differences and why they declined so slowly over time. Economic researchers have developed several theories in response to this question-loans in the South and West were much riskier than loans in the North; Southern and Western banks operated as monopolies; and bank costs were higher in the South and West than in other parts of the country. Redenius's research, however, "indicates that banks costs were an important component of the story," but that "high rates were also a product of the more rapid growth of the South and West."For Redenius, the opportunity to watch college students begin to develop an enthusiasm for economics is just as valuable as his economic research. Describing the most rewarding aspects of teaching, Redenius says, "Suddenly, things begin to make sense, and the students get really excited. I really like that.
(10/21/08 4:00am)
Forty years ago, Joel Alpert started a mission to uncover the history of his ancestors, the Krelitz family who lived in Lithuania and who were nearly all killed during World War II. Last Thursday, in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, he presented his discoveries about his family's history and how it came to be featured in the Family Fates room of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial. Alpert's relentless search to find his family members is directly related to the Krelitz family's prominent role in the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin. Alpert's story dates back to 1965, when he learned from his grandfather about the Krelitz family. Prior to this, Alpert said he had no idea he had a personal connection to the Holocaust. He was immediately filled with a desire to find the surviving members of the family and said in his presentation that the fact that no one had mentioned these lost family members "compounded the tragedy" for him.In his presentation, "The Krelitz Family: A Personal Face in Berlin's New Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe," he explained that in 1993 he translated The Memorial Book for the Jewish Community of Yurburg, where the Krelitz family lived, and uploaded his translation to a Web site that provides information about Jewish life before the Holocaust. Dr. Ulrich Baumann, the man with the vision for the Berlin memorial, learned about the Krelitz family through this Web site. The site also features 1927 film footage of the family that Alpert's cousin Ben Crane found and that inspired Baumann to put the Krelitz family on display in the "Room of Families" in the memorial, which opened in 2005. Alpert described the film, which is currently stored in the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis, as a "powerful lens into pre-war Yerburg." This film was only one part of what Alpert described as "persistence and luck," in his successful quest to find his missing family members. In 1994 he uploaded a picture of his immediate family onto the Web site with the other information about the Krelitz family. Max Krelitz-Sherman, his second cousin in Mexico, came upon the Web site in his own search for more information about his family and discovered that he had the same photo.The two men met and confirmed that their mothers were first cousins. Krelitz's mother Esther's story was critical to Alpert's search for his family. Upon Esther's death, her son discovered thousands of letters with information about the family's story. Alpert found a survivor from Yerburg, Jack Cossid, who knew the Krelitz family and translated the letters.Alpert now had full access to his family's history. One of these letters, written by Esther's father Moshe Krelitz before the war asking his family in Mexico about the possibility of immigration, is now on display in the Berlin memorial.Alpert's presentation was as much about his search for his family as it was praise for the memorial itself. In May 2005, Alpert attended the unveiling of the memorial with 15 of his cousins and then journeyed to Yerburg. He said that as he built a relationship with Dr. Baumann he learned that the memorial is the Germans' way of acknowledging their wrongdoings and he came to realize the memorial's necessity. He feels the purpose of the memorial is to teach future Germans about the Holocaust: "It is aimed at the German people, not the tourists." The event was well-received by the students who attended. "Alpert handled a very personal subject with a lot of tact," said Erica Lubitz '12. She said she thought that "the actual footage really resonated with me. Everything is just stories until you actually see the people involved." Like Lubitz, Molly Haas-Hooven '09 also enjoyed the personal aspect of the presentation. "I thought it was really interesting to get someone's personal narrative to something that is so publicized," she said.
(10/07/08 4:00am)
The Union Senate passed a bylaw last Sunday disbanding the Senate Spirit Committee and establishing a Student Outreach Committee to bridge the gap between Union senators and the students they represent, according to Union Communications Director Jamie Ansorge '09.Student Union President Jason Gray '10, Ansorge and Executive Senator Eric Alterman '09 created the bylaw, which states that "The Senate Outreach Committee shall be composed of Senators and students who wish to foster a closer relationship between Student Union Officers and the Brandeis University Student Body."At the last Senate meeting on Sunday Sept. 21 the bylaw was drafted and approved by a majority of the senators.Ansorge wrote to the Justice that Gray decided at the beginning of the year that one of his priorities would be "connecting with students," since the Union, as a representative organization, is supposed to be engaged in constant dialogue with the student body.After discussions with leaders in the Union Senate, Ansorge wrote that he decided the best way to reach this goal is to build an "outreach" committee-a close connection between the student body and its Union representatives. The ultimate goal of the bylaw amendment, he wrote, is to replace the Student Spirit Committee with the Outreach Committee. He said he "believes that school spirit and support for our athletic teams is very important . [but] outreach provides a more measurable benefit to the community than does spirit." The goal of the Spirit Committee was, according to the initial wording of Article VI, section 5 of the Union Constitution bylaws, to "enhance and encourage spirit on campus" by working with athletic teams, clubs and other groups on social, academic or sporting programs and events, and by at least one pep rally per academic year.Alterman, who was part of the Spirit Committee two years ago, said the Spirit Committee had not achieved a lot recently. The job of the committee was to foster spirit, but it had not become particularly adept at doing so, he said.At last Sunday's meeting, some senators said they still saw the need for the Spirit Committee, and Senator for the Class of 2011 Alex Melman suggested that the Senate could still fund activities to encourage University spirit through the Senate Discretionary Fund.Ansorge wrote that the connection between students and their Union representatives is not extremely weak right now, but "the Union has sometimes shown a tendency to become internalized in its operations, . [and] outreach is vital in providing an effective and accountable government."Alterman wrote that "last year was difficult in terms of perception of the Union, and the bylaw will do a lot to improve the connection between the student union and the student body." Ansorge wrote that the bylaw is expected to "increase the Union's ability to meet student needs, and the Union's accessibility in general . [by] building a culture of direct dialogue and advocacy between students and their Union representatives." Ansorge wrote that the Union will fulfill these promises through meet- the-officer events every semester, where students will have specific interactions with their representatives, physical outreach projects like maintaining a Union billboard; and consistent dormstorming, which is talking to students in their dorms, to get a sense of students' ideas. He wrote that he wants the committee to "help revive the previously successful 'Stall Street Journal,' which provided Union news and opportunities to students through a bi-monthly publication in student bathrooms." He wrote that the Union is "discussing alternate ways to support school spirit" and wrote in an e-mail to the Justice yesterday that last Sunday the Union chartered the Students Supporting Athletics club, which may take on some of the roles of the Spirit Committee.
(09/23/08 4:00am)
Renowned chemist and Professor Anatol Zhabotinsky (CHEM), known for his work in nonlinear chemical dynamics, died last Tuesday following a brief battle with lymphoma at the age of 70 after spending 17 years as a researcher at Brandeis. The funeral was held at the Brasco Memorial Center in Waltham last Friday. He is survived by his wife Albina Krinskaia, who chose not to comment.Zhabotinsky came to Brandeis from Moscow in 1991 as a senior research associate on a grant obtained by Chemistry Department Chair Prof. Irving Epstein, who met Zhabotinsky at a conference in Hungary in 1989. "I asked [Zhabotinsky] if he had thought of visiting the U.S., and he told me, in his typically ironic way, that it was not possible at the moment because of the political situation-he had apparently been a bit too frank about his views earlier and was only allowed to travel within Eastern Europe," Epstein wrote in a tribute. Zhabotinsky was granted permission to travel to the United States when the political climate in Russia began to change. "I think the notion of being able to do one's science free from bureaucratic and ideological constraints was just too tempting to pass up," Epstein wrote. Zhabotinsky was already famous at this time for his co-discovery of the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction with Boris Belousov. The BZ reaction "is a family of oscillating chemical reactions. . The BZ reaction makes it possible to observe development of complex patterns in time and space by naked eye on a very convenient human time scale of dozens of seconds and space scale of several millimeters," Zhabotinsky wrote in an article for scholarpedia.org. Epstein wrote in his tribute that Zhabotinsky's papers "ultimately convinced an initially skeptical scientific community that chemical oscillation was not only possible but important." At Brandeis, Epstein wrote, Zhabotinsky "continued to work on physico-chemical systems, developing new insights into the spatial and temporal behavior of the BZ reaction, even showing that BZ waves obeyed the same laws of refraction, but different laws of reflection, compared to waves of light." Prof. Milos Dolnik (CHEM), a research colleague of Zhabotinsky's, said in a memorial speech that Zhabotinsky was modest and worked on projects in his lab "just like any other postdoc or graduate student in the group."His brilliance and expertise, however, were not lost on his colleagues. "He is a historical figure, so it was an odd sensation that he was just a few doors down from me," said postdoctoral fellow Masahiro Toiya (CHEM). Dolnik called Zhabotinsky not only his friend and colleague but also "a skilled mentor."In 1992 Zhabotinsky was appointed as a visiting professor in order to keep Epstein's research group running while Epstein served as Brandeis Dean of Arts and Sciences. Zhabotinsky was reappointed as a professor by University President Jehuda Reinharz and taught advanced courses in physical chemistry. For the past several years he had been a research professor. Epstein wrote in his speech that Zhabotinsky also collaborated with members of the Brandeis neuroscience program in developing models of synaptic transmission. Prof. John Lisman, who worked with Zhabotinsky on this project, described him as "an amazingly fast learner. He didn't know neuroscience initially, but as he learned more about it, he started to see the implications of his own work on complex systems in chemistry." Dolnik said that when Zhabotinsky was diagnosed with lymphoma, he did not want "to trouble others with the news about his declining health." Zhabotinsky was "a wonderful person, colleague and friend, and I'll miss him dearly," Dolnik said in his speech.
(09/23/08 4:00am)
Itamar Rabinovich, co-author of Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, And Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present with University President Jehuda Reinharz, discussed the disparities between American presidents and Israeli prime ministers in negotiating the Arab-Israeli conflict last Wednesday.Rabinovich was Israel's chief negotiator with Syria under former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and from 1993 to 1996 served as Ambassador to Israel in Washington. He is currently a visiting Professor of Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.Rabinovich began with a succinct history of the Arab-Israeli peace process through American presidential administrations, beginning with the Nixon administration's efforts after the Yom Kippur War and ending in the present day. The problem with American presidents mediating the peace process, Rabinovich said, is the "discontinuity between the presidential administrations." He described how each president, in an effort not to emulate his predecessor, tries to take a drastically different policy track than before, which often results in failure to implement their own policies. He explained how the failure of Kissinger's "piece for peace" policy-when Israel gave up the land it acquired during the Yom Kippur War of 1973 against Syria and Egypt in exchange for a peace treaty-fueled Jimmy Carter's desire to simply define borders of a Palestinian state. President George Bush, in an effort to remove himself from any similar policies to Former President Bill Clinton's, took a more passive role in Arab-Israeli peace negotiations than his predecessor. Had Carter and Bush continued the policies of their predecessors, Rabinovich explained, there could have been a legitimate peace process. This problem of discontinuity between predecessors and current leaders is also present in the Israeli government. When the right wing of the Israeli government replaces the left wing and vice versa, "very different policies are carried out," Rabinovich said. He cited how Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's left-wing ideology for peace led to Ariel Sharon, his political opposite, gaining the title of prime minister. Rabinovich also emphasized the fact that Israeli prime ministers often feel they have to choose between domestic or foreign policy achievements, since they typically serve for shorter lengths of time than American presidents, which makes it hard for them to achieve significant accomplishments on both fronts.Rabinovich said a major problem that hinders communication between Israeli prime ministers and American presidents is that election cycles in America and Israel don't often coincide, so the two leaders cannot develop a relationship with one another throughout their terms.He said spring 2009 will be "unusual." It is the beginning of the United States presidential cycle, and, due to Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's resignation, a long-term Israeli prime minister will likely have been determined. Both leaders-even if Tzipi Livni, the current acting prime minister, retains her position, will be new in their roles, giving the peace process a fresh start.Sometime in March 2009, Rabinovich said, "the Israeli prime minister will come to Washington to meet with the U.S. president about the peace process," which he thinks will be pivotal to the process success. He said direct negotiations are necessary for making peace. Ron Kendler '09, who attended the event, said, "[Rabinovich's] forecast for this March was particularly insightful. I will have my eyes open this spring." Kendler expressed dismay that there was not enough publicity about the event and said he wished more students had known about it.
