(08/28/07 4:00am)
Being at AT&T Park the night after San Francisco Giants' outfielder Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's all-time home run record probably sounds anti-climactic. The bleachers were nowhere near filled when I sat down, not at all resembling the packed, energetic crowd from the night before. Still, my spirits were relatively high as I basked in the afterglow of the triumph that took place on that field 24 hours previously. I also hoped, though the big moment had passed, that I would get to see Bonds step up to the plate. Not even the steroid allegations against Bonds dampened my mood. I received tickets for the August 8 game earlier in the summer, before I knew Bonds was inching closer to Aaron's record of 755 home runs. I was ecstatic when I realized I had the chance to be among the lucky fans to witness the making of a new record. But alas, I was too late. At first, that disappointment diminished my enthusiasm and that of many other San Franciscans who had dutifully cheered on Bonds all summer. Why sit through another game for the last-place Giants when history wasn't on the line?Bonds promptly answered that question in the first inning by smashing his 757th home run into "McCovey Cove," the portion of the San Francisco Bay situated just outside the stadium. I had witnessed history after all: a new record, one night later.Everyone in the stands stood and cheered, music played over the loudspeakers, hats waved in the cool night air and an instant replay of the powerful swing was shown over and over again on the big screen. Though this celebration must have paled in comparison to the previous night's bonanza, that didn't matter to me. I felt vindicated. The people who spent the day telling me that Bonds probably wouldn't play because he needed the night off to rest, the people who didn't feel the need to watch the Giants anymore since Bonds already reached his record really missed something special. When he launched the ball into the Bay, Bonds made San Franciscans proud all over again. Auctioneers have estimated that Bonds' 756th home-run ball is worth a maximum of $500,000 to a collector, half of what it would have fetched had steroid rumors not been swarming. The San Francisco Chronicle reported from leaked testimony in 2004 that Bonds told a federal grand jury he unknowingly used steroids, but he has never publicly admitted to taking them. Still, many suspect that his enlarged cap size speaks for itself. Bonds hasn't yet been indicted in a court of law. But in the court of public opinion, he is clearly presumed guilty. Throughout Bonds' pursuit of the home run record, baseball fans across the country treated him like a leper and assumed his numbers were tainted. Yet all the while, San Franciscans remained loyal, and I saw that devotion on display. He's the Giant's gem, the one who kept our spirits high. For Giants fans, Bonds' talent always transcended the drug rumors. While most Americans debated whether the allegations were true, I eagerly anticipated the night when Bonds would make history.Besides, Bonds wasn't the only alleged villain in sports this summer. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing National Basketball Association referee Tim Donaghy, who pled guilty this month to gambling on games in which he officiated, and shortly after, National Football League quarterback Michael Vick pled guilty to federal dogfighting conspiracy charges. Athletes are notorious for having baggage, yet they're still adored by their fans. Even Bonds' critics were captivated by his home-run chase, which received hordes of national media coverage. San Francisco may have a last-place team and a slugger embroiled in controversy, but that doesn't change the fact that the Bay Area harbored baseball history this summer. And I had two nights to celebrate.
(08/28/07 4:00am)
The University is implementing new security measures due to heightened concerns over campus safety following last April's shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, administrators said.Colleges across the country have announced plans to unveil new emergency communications procedures in response to the shootings, where Virginia Tech student Seung Hung-Choi shot and killed 33 and injured 25 on his campus.In an Aug. 7 campuswide e-mail, Executive Vice President for Campus Operations Peter French announced that Brandeis "recently purchased and installed a campus-wide siren-alert system and upgraded our existing email, telephone and Web communications capabilities."Though he couldn't provide individual figures, Mark Collins, vice president of campus operations, said the added technology in total costs "well over $100,000." Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said he, other administrators and Waltham officials convened "in earnest" over the summer to discuss how Brandeis' technology could be upgraded to improve security. These talks resulted in the development of new systems "on the cutting edge of communicating.to the community," Callahan said. Sirens, which have been placed at the Volen Center, the Rabb Graduate Center and by the Spingold Theater parking lot (one more will be affixed near the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center), will be activated to alert students, faculty and staff to check their cell phone text messages for security instructions, Callahan said. "The vendor did a topographical study," Callahan said, "so the tones could be emitted to the campus on a consistent fashion."Students, faculty and staff can voluntarily submit their cell phone numbers and any other e-mail addresses and emergency contact numbers on SAGE at http://crisis.brandeis.edu/index.html.Vice-President and Vice-Provost of Library and Technology Services Perry Hanson said the University signed with Connect-Ed, an academically based emergency notification company, to send out text messages to cell phones in emergency situations. The messages will contain safety instructions, Hanson said. "I would hopefully feel that the community is welcome to this alert notification system and I would urge them to participate because it's an enhancement of the security and safety of the campus, and it's beneficial to the community," Callahan said.Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of New Mexico, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Cincinnati are just a few of the universities that have recently implemented a text messaging notification system as well. Princeton also works with Connect-Ed.Administrators will also now be able to reach students more effectively through the campus phones, Hanson said. The University signed with InformaCast, a company that allows administrators to send text and voice announcements to the campus phones, which are part of the University's network and located in dormitory rooms, classrooms, offices and hallways. Hanson said the new phone software essentially turns the Cisco phones into broadcast systems. Because the phones have speakers, Hanson said, "We realized we could use the phone system as a public address system. "It would be like you have a bullhorn, but it would be like you have 6,000 of them," he said. "It was something we knew we could do and I just presented it as a possibility and everyone liked the idea."It takes around 30 seconds for a voice announcement to reach and broadcast over a phone, Hanson said. Text messages will take slightly longer to appear; a couple of minutes, he estimated. Administrators will continue to send out campuswide e-mails with instructions in emergency situations."I feel good about what we can do now," Callahan said. "I'll feel better after we do some testing. A lot of the success will be in how responsive people are to letting us know whether or not they want to get a message on their cell phones." Hanson is also confident in the new technology. "We've got the best stuff possible," he said. "I don't know if there's any other thing we can do right now. Will it make a difference? I don't know. But if it does make a difference, it's worth doing." Virginia Tech's police response was accused of being too slow and its communications procedures as being a failure. Police sent out a campuswide e-mail message about what was going on two hours after the first of the two shootings at Virginia Tech, but many students said they didn't receive the information and left for class anyway. Callahan has also spent the summer once again training Quad directors and other staff in the emergency and evacuation protocols. He said periodic tests of the new technology will occur throughout the year."Once the student body comes back we're going to incorporate students and the whole community to do this as a continual learning process," he said. "We look at this as an educational expansion of the emergency response plan.
(08/28/07 4:00am)
The Virginia Tech shootings last April may be enough to persuade University officials to arm campus police. Vice President of Campus Operations Mark Collins, who told the Justice in March 2006, "I don't believe [a gun is] a necessary tool right now" in regards to arming officers, said that he is reconsidering that stance after an administrative committee convened over the summer to discuss this ongoing issue."The events of Virginia Tech that occurred in April of this past year have given me great pause about the issue of arming officers," Collins said. "The Virginia Tech case and the amount of damage that was done in Virginia Tech has caused me to rethink seriously my previously stated position with respect to arming officers at Brandeis."While campus officers have maintained that they can't perform their job to the best of their ability without guns, administrators have previously said the nature of the Brandeis campus makes arming the officers unnecessary. The officers are trained by the state of Massachusetts to operate firearms, Ron Haley, the police officers' union representative, has said.Although the question has come up periodically, most notably after the 9/11 attacks, this is the third time a committee has met to discuss the issue. Similar committees met in 1976 and 1993, when officers weren't receiving arms training in police academy. The 1976 report stated that the presence of firearms would increase "the possibility of accidental injury to a student or to others." Collins said the committee also included Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan, General Counsel Judith Sizer, and faculty, student and staff representatives. No campus officers served on the committee, Collins added.The committee, chaired by Director of Campus Operations Peter French, hasn't yet reached any definite conclusions from their three meetings, French wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. "The committee will continue to meet over the next several weeks," he wrote.In one meeting, police officers from Brandeis, Waltham, Bentley College and Babson College gave a presentation on the merits of arming officers, Collins said. Bentley officers are armed. "I think everyone did a good job of presenting their position, which was pretty much universally in favor of arming," Collins said. "Hopefully the committee is going to be reaching a conclusion or recommendation shortly.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
Correction Appended:University President Jehuda Reinharz was one of nearly 300 American college presidents who recently signed their names to a statement condemning a proposed British boycott of Israeli institutions.Reinharz also helped organize the response. The presidents' names and the statement were released Wednesday in a full-page advertisement in the New York Times."I felt that I should be part of this," Reinharz said Wednesday evening. Reinharz, a native of Israel, has focused his scholarship on Israel studies.The United Kingdom's University and College Union, which represents over 120,000 academic professionals according to its Web site, passed a motion condemning Israel last May.Delegates at the UCU's conference backed the motion denouncing Israel for its "denial of educational rights" to Palestinians in a card vote of 158 votes to 99, with 17 abstentions, BBC News reported in May.An official vote on the boycott is expected next year, BBC reported.The ad's statement is printed beneath the headline, "Boycott Israeli Universities? Boycott Ours, Too!" It conveys an extreme disapproval in the UCU's delegates disregard for academic integrity in supporting the boycott. Written by Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, the statement calls the boycott one of "such intellectually shoddy and politically biased attempts to hijack the central mission of higher education." The American Jewish Committee, a Jewish advocacy organization, sponsored the advertisement. "As a university professor and president, I find this idea utterly antithetical to the fundamental values of the academy, where we will not hold intellectual exchange hostage to the political disagreements of the moment.Therefore, if the British UCU is intent on pursuing its deeply misguided policy, then it should add Columbia to its boycott list, for we do not intend to draw distinctions between our mission and that of the universities you are seeking to punish," the statement reads. The latest UCU resolution equates the Israeli government with an "apartheid" system of government, Prof. Shulamit Reinharz (SOC) wrote in a column printed in The Jewish Advocate Wednesday. Reinharz, the founder of the Women's Studies Research Center and the University President's wife, criticized the "British bullies" leading the boycott.In her column, Reinharz proposed that all U.S. academics "become auxiliary members of Israeli universities."Let all U.S. academics resign from editorial boards of British academic journals, decline invitations to lecture in Great Britain, and refuse offers to participate in joint research projects. Let grants from U.S. government agencies and foundations be suspended in light of the action taken by the British professors' union," she wrote.Tom Hickey, a Philosophy lecturer at Brighton University, proposed the UCU's motion in May. He told the BBC that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is "barbaric.""What are we to do with this? Are we to look away? If we do we make ourselves complicit in it," he said.A wide range of institutions support the statement, including Brigham Young University, a Mormon institution; several Universities of California; liberal arts colleges; a couple of historically black colleges; Ivy League universities; and several rabbinic seminaries.Correction: The UCU has not officially passed the boycott yet, as originally reported. The UCU has passed a motion condemning Israel and plans to vote next year.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said a search for a new Jewish chaplain has been underway since Rabbi Allan Lehmann resigned last May.Though the search, which is being conducted by Assistant Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams and Catholic chaplain Father Walter Cuenin is only in its "preliminary stages," Sawyer hopes to have someone in place by the beginning of the year. "We hope to have someone for the start of the year, but if not, the feeling is that we will manage with 'substitutes' until a permanent Jewish chaplain is found," Sawyer wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.After serving the Brandeis community for seven years, Lehmann, 59, has accepted a position at Hebrew College in Newton, a transdenominational seminar.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
The University hired a coordinator to oversee the start of a restructured club sports program that will be jointly funded by the Athletics department and the Student Union this fall.Ben White, 29, who began last month, has headed club sports and recreation at two other Massachusetts colleges and was most recently a personal trainer at BodyScapes in Lexington. In the newly created position, White said his first order of business is to figure out "what the heck has been going on" with the University's club sports. Club sports participants had long complained of inadequate funding from the Union's Finance Board. Then, after over a year of negotiations between Union officials and Athletics administrators, an agreement was reached. The Union's Finance Board will share the clubs' costs and a club sports council of students will be formed in the fall to communicate with White and help manage teams' budgets. The Board of Trustees added $140,000 to Athletics' 2008 fiscal budget last April so the department will be equipped to cover transportation, facilities and safety equipment costs for 23 NCAA-approved club sports, as well as the martial arts club, the ultimate Frisbee team and the men's rugby team. The F-board will consider, on a line-item basis, funding requests from the club sports council for costs associated with coaching, officiating leagues and tournaments. The council will initially include one representative from each of the 23 teams, but White expects between five and seven total student representatives to serve in the future. He would also like two staff or faculty members who don't work for Athletics to participate on the board. "I can certainly understand where some clubs get the impression that we want to meddle or change the way they want to do things," White said, referring to early concerns from club leaders over the reforms. But White said that's not how he envisions his new role. "Club sports as it's run through Recreation isn't much different than what's been going on with the Student Union," he said. "My role will be fairly minimal with the council. I'm going to try not to impart too much of my personal views and let the council come to its own decisions." White's plan, however, seems at odds with Athletic Director Sheryl Sousa's initial recommendation last September that Athletics simply absorb the club sports program. "I want the oversight of club sports because we can do it right," Sousa then told the Justice. "If we're heavily involved, I want to be in charge. I want this to be a cooperative effort, but I want it to be ours." White said he aims to determine team needs over the next few weeks by sorting through their budgets, adding that he will work with the council on laying down new travel and safety policies.While pursuing a Master of Science in Human Performance at Oregon State University in 2002, White worked as OSU's intramural sports assistant. After receiving his degree, he became the intramural sports and special events coordinator there. As the assistant director of club sports at Bridgewater State College from 2004-2005, White was "directly responsible for all aspects of the club sports program at BSC," according to an Athletics press release last May. White also oversaw a club sports committee there. He then became the director of recreational sports at Fitchburg State College in November 2005. White said he held this position only two months because it was a "terribly unpleasant working environment." He moved on to work with the recreation department in Concord, where he managed fitness and swim programs until last January, when his job was eliminated."I've played some hop scotch with jobs," he said. "I'm hoping that's over now.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
Two Brandeis students are facing lawsuits for copyright infringement in federal district court filed by the Recording Industry of Association of America, according to an RIAA press release. The claim was filed June 14, the release stated.It's become the RIAA's practice to send "prelitigation letters" to university network users each month in hopes of deterring the illegal downloading of copyrighted material on file-sharing networks. These letters warn of the legal repercussions of downloading and inform students of a 20-day period during which they can pay the RIAA a "discounted rate" to settle the case, an RIAA spokesperson told the Justice. Of the 15 Brandeis students who received letters from the RIAA last month, all but two settled within the prelitigation phase. Thirteen universities received letters last month for 400 users that the RIAA charged with illegal activity. One Brandeis student who received a prelitigation letter said that after consulting a lawyer she agreed to pay the requested sum of $3,000 to the RIAA. She said RIAA officials refused to negotiate any lower. "I worked so hard throughout my Brandeis career and only to find out that this happened greatly stressed me out. However, since it has been taken care of, I am just relieved that it is over and I wish to put it behind me," she wrote in an e-mail to the Justice last month.RIAA President Cary Sherman said individuals can be sued for between $750 and $150,000 per song infringed. Out-of-court settlements in early May 2005 ranged from $12,000 to $17,000, though many previous cases were settled for about $3,000.Among the 91 college students the RIAA sued that May, eight were from Brandeis.If students settle outside of court, the charge doesn't appear on their record, the RIAA representative said.Following the 20 days to settle outside of court, the RIAA can subpoena the University for the name of the network user and contact the student directly to settle at a higher rate. If a settlement isn't reached, the RIAA's policy is to proceed with the case, now filed under the student's name. The RIAA has maintained that university officials are responsible for monitoring network activities and can block access on peer-to-peer networks. Universities should also promote free and legal downloading services to students and not hesitate to take disciplinary action against illegal users, RIAA officials assert.Perry Hanson, vice president for Library and Technology Services, said last month that though LTS administrators could keep track of how individuals on the University network use P2P networks, they choose not to do so."We're agnostic in terms of what goes on, in terms of traffic," Hanson said. "The one thing we care about is anyone who abuses the network . It's one of our computer use issues, but someone who uses a lot of bandwidth, we ask them not to do that. We've been doing that for years."Brandeis network use policy prohibits sharing copyrighted files, but enforcement of that policy is not common. LTS often takes action against users who use an abnormally high amount of bandwidth, which is almost always being used for file-sharing programs, Hanson told the Justice in September 2005.Rick Sawyer, dean of student life, said LTS could file a judicial action against a network user."Using Brandeis facilities and equipment to commit a crime is a violation of University policy," he explained in an e-mail. "There are legal means to download music and films. Those should be exercised."The RIAA identified the anonymous students by their Internet protocol addresses on the Brandeis network. RIAA investigators go on P2P networks such as Limewire, search for copyrighted material, identify the IP addresses of users distributing the material, and trace them to university networks.A survey by Student Monitor, a market research group on college students, reported in spring 2006 that over half of college students illegally download music and movies."With record companies embracing digital distribution models of every kind, there is more legal music available now than ever before," said Steven Marks, the executive vice president and general counsel for the RIAA, in a statement this month. "Yet for one reason or another, theft on college campuses continues at disproportionately high levels.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
The driver of the car in which David Halberstam died pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, the Palo Alto Daily News reported July 11. Halberstam, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and five-time bestselling writer originally selected by the University to deliver the May 2007 commencement address, was killed in a three-car accident in Menlo Park, Cali., April 23. Kevin Jones, 26, a first-year graduate student in journalism at UC Berkeley, was spoken for in San Mateo Superior Court by his lawyer Laurel Headley. Jones could be jailed for up to one year and charged $1,000 if he's found guilty. The judge set his trial date for Nov. 13 at 8:30 a.m.Jones was making a left-hand turn on a red light and hit another car with a green light, local authorities said. The two cars slammed into a third due to the impact of the crash. Halberstam died of massive internal injuries.Jones and the two other drivers were in stable condition, none were speeding or under the influence of any substances, local authorities have reported. Halberstam had just given a lecture titled "Turning Journalism into History" at UC Berkeley, and was on his was to an interview for his new book, The Game, about the 1958 Super Bowl between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants, as his widow Jean Halberstam told the Associated Press; Jones had volunteered to drive him. Mrs. Halberstam has called on universities not to permit students to chauffer guest lecturers."Mr. Jones has been distraught since the moment of the accident, and he continues to be distraught," Headley told The San Jose Mercury News last month. "He lost his mentor in that accident, and obviously the notice of charges is not welcome. It just adds to the tragedy of the whole situation.
(07/12/07 4:00am)
Despite the recent decision by some college presidents to cease their participation in part of U.S. News and World Report Magazine's annual university survey, University President Jehuda Reinharz has no plans to follow suit, a University spokesperson said. The New York Times reported June 20 that nearly 80 presidents of liberal arts colleges, including Barnard, Kenyon and Sarah Lawrence, announced that they plan not to rank their peer institutions on the survey in the future. The magazine surveys presidents and other academic officers on their impressions of peer institutions and uses this data to rank colleges and universities. Peer assessment is the heaviest-weighed factor in the rankings. One-hundred-and-four liberal arts colleges were ranked in the 2007 list. Brandeis isn't in the magazine's rankings of liberal arts colleges. Rather, it is ranked in the top universities list, where this year it placed 31st of 124 schools, three spots higher than last year. The University shares it's ranking with the College of William and Mary. New York University and Boston College are ranked 34th. "As far as the U.S. News rankings are concerned, there are not plans to change the status quo at this time," University spokesperson Lorna Miles wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.Reinharz declined to comment last semester on the magazine's ranking methods.The Annapolis Group, a collection of 124 liberal arts colleges, released a statement after a meeting in Annapolis, Md. last month that many of its member-presidents "expressed their intent not to participate in the annual U.S. News survey."Presidents who plan to opt out have argued for months that the categories used for the rankings don't prioritize what's valuable about a university. Some institutions have changed their priorities to fit the U.S. News mold and attain a higher ranking on the list, the Times reported. "We really want to reclaim the high ground on this discussion," Katherine Will, Gettysburg College's president told The Times. "We should be defining the conversation, not a magazine that uses us for its business plan."Will, the Annapolis Group's president-elect, told the Times that the association didn't vote on whether its member schools should continue participating in the rankings, but instead will leave the decision up to each institution. Area colleges in the Annapolis Group include Wellesley, Williams and Amherst. Amherst President Anthony Marx told the Times he is not ready to halt participation in the rankings. Amherst is rated second on the list and Williams is first.U.S. News Editor Brian Kelly, however, said the rankings are useful to families going through the college selection process. "We think the vast majority of presidents and academics are still supporting the survey," Kelly said. "We take our critics seriously, but we also think our ranking is valuable." U.S. News also considers a school's rates of freshmen retention, alumni giving, graduation and acceptance, as well the extent of its faculty resources, the percentage of its classes with 50 or more students, the percentage of its professors who work full time, and its average SAT and ACT scores. Most of this information is reported to the federal Department of Education, whose records are available for the magazine to publish. The Annapolis Group plans to create a new method to compare colleges, the Times reported. "If they come up with some new data, fine," Kelly said in response.
(07/02/07 4:00am)
Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said a search for a new Jewish chaplain has been underway since Rabbi Allan Lehmann resigned last May.Though the search, which is being conducted by Assistant Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams and Catholic chaplain Father Walter Cuenin is only in its "preliminary stages," Sawyer hopes to have someone in place by the beginning of the year. "We hope to have someone for the start of the year, but if not, the feeling is that we will manage with 'substitutes' until a permanent Jewish chaplain is found," Sawyer wrote in an e-mail to the Justice.After serving the Brandeis community for seven years, Lehmann, 59, has accepted a position at Hebrew College in Newton, a transdenominational seminar.
(07/02/07 4:00am)
Two Brandeis students are facing lawsuits for copyright infringement in federal district court filed June 14 by the Recording Industry of Association of America. It's become the RIAA's practice to send prelitigation letters to university network users each month in hopes of deterring the illegal downloading of copyrighted material on file-sharing networks. These letters warn of the legal repercussions of downloading and inform students of a 20-day period during which they can pay the RIAA a "discounted rate" to settle the case, an RIAA spokesperson told the Justice. Of the 15 Brandeis students at whom the RIAA took aim last month, all but two settled within the prelitigation phase. Thirteen universities received letters last month for 400 users the RIAA accused of illegal activity. One student who was granted anonymity said that after consulting a lawyer she agreed to pay the requested sum of $3,000 to the RIAA. She said RIAA officials refused to negotiate any lower. "I worked so hard throughout my Brandeis career and only to find out that this happened greatly stressed me out. However, since it has been taken care of, I am just relieved that it is over and I wish to put it behind me," she wrote in an e-mail to the Justice June 17.RIAA President Cary Sherman said individuals can be sued for between $750 and $150,000 per song infringed. Out-of-court settlements in early May 2005 ranged from $12,000 to $17,000, though many previous cases were settled for about $3,000.Among the 91 college students the RIAA sued that May, eight were from Brandeis.The RIAA has maintained that university officials are responsible for monitoring network activities and can block access on peer-to-peer networks. Universities should also promote free and legal downloading services to students and not hesitate to take disciplinary action against illegal users, RIAA officials assert.Perry Hanson, vice president for Library and Technology Services, said last month that though LTS administrators could keep track of how individuals on the University network use P2P networks, they choose not to do so."We're agnostic in terms of what goes on, in terms of traffic," Hanson said. "The one thing we care about is anyone who abuses the network . It's one of our computer use issues, but someone who uses a lot of bandwidth, we ask them not to do that. We've been doing that for years."Brandeis network use policy prohibits sharing copyrighted files, but enforcement of that policy is not common. LTS often takes action against users who use an abnormally high amount of bandwidth, which is almost always being used for file-sharing programs, Hanson told the Justice in September 2005.Rick Sawyer, dean of student life, said LTS could file a judicial action against a network user."Using Brandeis facilities and equipment to commit a crime is a violation of University policy," he explained in an e-mail. "There are legal means to download music and films. Those should be exercised."If students settle outside of court, the charge doesn't appear on their record, the RIAA representative said.Following the first 20 days, the RIAA can subpoena the University for the name of the network user and contact the student directly to settle at a higher rate. If they don't reach a settlement, the RIAA proceeds with the case, now filed under the student's name. The RIAA identified the anonymous students by their Internet protocol addresses on the Brandeis network. RIAA investigators go on peer-to-peer networks such as Limewire, search for copyrighted material, identify the IP addresses of users distributing it and trace them to university networks.A survey by Student Monitor, a market research group on college students, reported in spring 2006 that over half of college students illegally download music and movies."With record companies embracing digital distribution models of every kind, there is more legal music available now than ever before," said Steven Marks, the executive vice president and general counsel for the RIAA, in a statement this month. "Yet for one reason or another, theft on college campuses continues at disproportionately high levels.
(07/02/07 4:00am)
The driver of the car in which David Halberstam died pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter, the Palo Alto Daily News reported July 11. Halberstam, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and five-time bestselling writer originally selected by the University to deliver the May 2007 commencement address, was killed in a three-car accident in Menlo Park, Cali., April 23. Kevin Jones, 26, a first-year graduate student in journalism at UC Berkeley, was spoken for in San Mateo Superior Court by his lawyer Laurel Headley. Jones could be jailed for up to one year and charged $1,000 if he's found guilty. The judge set his trial date for Nov. 13 at 8:30 a.m.Jones was making a left-hand turn on a red light and hit another car with a green light, local authorities said. The two cars slammed into a third due to the impact of the crash. Halberstam died of massive internal injuries.Jones and the two other drivers were in stable condition, none were speeding or under the influence of any substances, local authorities have reported. Halberstam had just given a lecture titled "Turning Journalism into History" at UC Berkeley, and was on his was to an interview for his new book, The Game, about the 1985 Super Bowl between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants, as his widow Jean Halberstam told the Associated Press; Jones had volunteered to drive him. Mrs. Halberstam has called on universities not to permit students to chauffer guest lecturers."Mr. Jones has been distraught since the moment of the accident, and he continues to be distraught," Headley told The San Jose Mercury News last month. "He lost his mentor in that accident, and obviously the notice of charges is not welcome. It just adds to the tragedy of the whole situation.
(05/22/07 4:00am)
As more rampant abuses in the $85 million student loan industry come to light, the University has remained untouched by the scandals. Financial aid and admissions officers at universities nationwide have been found guilty of accepting gifts, stock options and consulting payments from private lenders like Student Loan Express and Nelnet in exchange for pointing students exploring financial aid options in their direction. "It amazed me," Peter Giumette, director of student financial services, said of the scandals. "I had no clue that some of the abuses were so flagrant."Giumette said private loan companies periodically approach the Alumni Association and other offices with offers, but officials have never accepted them. "We have no deals with any outfits," Giumette said. Last February, Student Loan Express offered the University a deal, Giumette said. The company officials said they would donate money to a Jewish charity if Brandeis got prospective students to take out loans from them. "But fortunately we were able to stay away from that," he Giumette said.And even though for the last seven or eight years, Brandeis has steered students exclusively toward direct loans mainly from the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, a federal non-profit organization, University officials also help prospective students navigate through the private loan industry if federal aid isn't sufficient.Giumette said that because of the scandals, the University will have to be careful in their advisement."We're going to have to be more diligent about how we do it," he said, now that students have more reason to be distrustful of a University's motives. Giumette said he's worried that, as a backlash from the loans scandal, the government will require universities to stay out of advising students on private loans altogether. Still, families need advice on where to turn for aid, and universities fill that role, he said. Giumette suggested that the Department of Education publish a national index of "totally objective loan comparisons" to inform students about their options. "There's no place for consumers to go, so naturally they go to the schools." Thirty percent of universities are in direct loan programs exclusively, Giumette estimated, and around 70 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid, which includes loans, work-study, Brandeis and government-funded grants and scholarships. Not going through the private sector has worked out well for Brandeis, Giumette said. Funds move more swiftly to students from the government and the University is more in control of the process, he added. "We don't have to rely on a third party to get the job done," he said.
(05/22/07 4:00am)
A large crowd gathered in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium May 11 to hear author David M. Oshinsky Ph.D. '71 discuss his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Polio: An American Story, last Friday. Oshinsky, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin, published the book in 2006 and won the Pulitzer Prize in history for his detailed account of the polio epidemic of the 1950s and the frantic search for a cure. After a brief summary of the disease and its effect, Oshinsky took the audience behind the scenes of the challenges and rivalries that led to the creation of the two polio vaccines. He told the stories of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin, pioneering Jewish scientists who created the vaccines and overcame rampant discrimination in the field to procure the necessary funding for their research via the March of Dimes charity organization.Oshinsky emphasized the brilliance behind the March of Dimes, the first campaign to employ the concept of the "poster child" and to use celebrities to encourage millions of Americans to donate to the cause."[The March of Dimes] revolutionized medical research," he said, by being the first organization to give researchers long-term grants. The organization funded "aggressive, ambitious, bright researchers" to answer questions such as how polio travels through the body. Since at the time the federal government gave no money for medical research, Oshinsky said, the March put tremendous effort toward fundraising among private citizens. He went on to describe his theories behind the success of America's efforts to eliminate the disease, describing it as a "white middle-class disease" that rallied the wealthy and influential to the cause of a cure. "The March of Dimes had the perfect disease," Oshinsky said of the predominantly child victims who easily engendered sympathy.In 1954, millions of parents stepped forward to have their children test out Salk's vaccine in what Oshinsky called the "largest public health experiment in history." "The parents of America lined up their kids to take these polio shots. They had great faith in the March of Dimes," he said. Oshinsky said his own mother pushed him to the front of the line, her reasoning being, "Salk's Jewish; we're Jewish; how bad could it be?" After the results were analyzed, Salk was hailed as a savior of America's children, he said. "Post-war America was the era of the baby boom and the era of Dr. Spock, and children meant everything." Oshinsky also illuminated the personal politics behind the vaccines, particularly the seething rivalry between Salk, whose vaccine became the most widely used, and Sabine, whose vaccine went unused in the United States until the 1960s. Sabine always claimed that his live-virus version of the vaccine was more effective. "Albert Sabine was the scientist's scientist; Jonas Salk was the people's scientist [...] the white knight in the lab coat," Oshinsky said.Today, a "juiced up version" of Salk's vaccine is used, but the efforts of both men were crucial to finding a cure, he said. Much of the audience at Oshinsky's talk was composed of elderly men and women who either remembered the Polio outbreak and the mass vaccinations, or were former victims of the disease. Several shared their experiences during the question-and-answer period following the lecture. One audience member asked Oshinsky to comment on the March of Dimes' withdrawal of support from the cause of polio eradication, a move which left many survivors living painfully with Post-Polio Syndrome, which includes a new weakening of muscles years after the disease and allowed the disease to continue in many other parts of the world. Oshinsky commented on the social aspects of the issue, stating that Polio was no longer "a sexy disease," and is now being forsaken in favor of issues that still affect the white middle class of America, such as premature births and cancer. "Did the March of Dimes desert the Polio cause? Yes, they did."Although America is free of the disease, Oshinsky warned, Pakistan, India and countries in Africa are still suffering from its ravages.
(05/22/07 4:00am)
Bernard Herman '08, a well-known creative writer and New Orleans activist on campus, took his own life in his hometown of New Orleans on May 12. He was 21.Herman, who had taken a voluntary medical leave from the University in March, shot himself on top of a levee on the 17th Street canal in his childhood neighborhood of Lakewood South. The canal was the site of one of the levee system failures that caused tremendous flooding following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Adam Herman '04 said his brother, a creative writing major and features writer for the Justice, battled depression since the hurricane and his father's suicide, which was also by gunshot. Herman's father shot himself in the ruins of the family's home last May, Adam said. Herman may have purchased the gun from a pawn shop or gun dealer, he added. "I'm sad[,] but I'm feeling like Bernard had a lot sadness in the last couple of months and he struggled really, really hard to comprehend himself and to articulate to others that he felt like he was struggling," he said. "And so what I'm sad about is whatever pain Bernard was in was so great and so powerful that he felt like this was his only option."Those close to Herman said that his suicide can be closely linked with the recent tragedies in his life. "He was hurting so bad," Cindy Kaplan '08, a close friend of Herman, said. "Everything kind of fell apart after Katrina." Kaplan said Herman stayed in a psychiatric ward of different hospitals, several times last semester. "I certainly don't mean to make him unique amongst the thousands who also lost their property, and even their lives, but Bernard was totally crushed by Hurricane Katrina," Adam wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. "Bernard blamed a hurricane not only for sweeping away his life-long house, his car and the spirit of his city, but now also one of his parents. I cannot even imagine how profound his anguish was on May 1, 2007-the one-year anniversary of our father's death."Whether Herman felt he had other options, Adam said his brother struggled with his health. "He wasn't sort of passively just being depressed or sad. I always had the sense that he recognized that he had a problem and really wanted to get better."Before the hurricane and his father's passing, Herman was a different person, friends said. A fiery debater who enjoyed striking up a conversation with anyone, Herman was a lover of music, literature and slam poetry. "He had a smile that would brighten your day," Kaplan said. "He loved rap music and hip hop. Not for the commercial aspect of it, but he loved the culture, the mystery and the truth behind it," Lauren Becker '08, who first bonded with Herman over their shared music taste, said. During his medical leave this semester, Adam said his brother returned to New Orleans for intense counseling and therapy, but he didn't know of any medication Herman was taking at the time. "In addition to depression and anxiety, he also suffered from back and hip pain," said Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett, who was close to Herman. "All semester he told me he couldn't sleep because of the pain in his back. He seemed to be sleep deprived."Still, when Bennett spoke to Herman on the phone about two weeks ago she said she felt hopeful at the close of the call. "[Two weeks ago] he was talking about his future," she said.During a gathering in the Shapiro Campus Center Art Gallery last Wednesday, students, professors and administrators shared their memories of Herman. Many described him as a giving, funny and passionate person, as well as a talented writer and an activist. Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Allan Lehmann, also a New Orleans native, read several poems, talked about his personal relationship with Herman and urged the crowd not to be crippled by "survivor's guilt." "You were there for him," Lehmann said. "With all respect, love and honor for him, Bernard did not have to do what he did, and we ought not see him as [a model] in how he chose to end his life."The funeral took place May 14 at Hebrew Rest Cemetery in New Orleans, where Herman was buried next to his father. Herman is survived by his mother Mollie Solomon Herman, his brother and his grandmother Betty Solomon."Those who knew, admired and cherished him, know how troubled his recent life was," Prof. Stephen Whitfield (AMST), a longtime friend of the Herman family, said. "But his death leaves a chasm that his friends and relatives know can't be filled.
(05/22/07 4:00am)
Even though I began writing for the Justice a couple of years after the "Dusty Baker" incident, it was a tale I've heard since day one, and still discuss regularly. Nearly three years ago, students protested outside the Justice office because a reference to a racial slur was printed in a sports column. This instance of exceptionally poor judgment continues to hang over our organization. But we're not the only ones recovering from the bad choices of our peers and predecessors. Most recently, Gravity Magazine printed a fake advertisement featuring "BlackJerry," a black man offering to drive a white traveler to the airport in his, probably stolen, Camry, "all for only 3/5 the cost of a BlackBerry." I don't believe the Justice was racist for publishing that sports column, and I don't believe Gravity is a racist organization either. But without a wider range of staff opinions, it's not hard to see why this keeps happening in publications. The composition of our staffs doesn't represent the full range of what this vibrant community has to offer.The absence of diversity on most publications is pretty astounding. Ben Douglas, the former editor in chief of Gravity, admitted that the fact that Gravity's staff is a fairly homogenous group with similar senses of humor contributed to their mistake in publishing the ad.Brandeis is a politically and racially dynamic community, yet the Justice and other clubs don't reflect this reality. We can only report effectively on this community if we as journalists represent and are in touch with the broadest range of people. The more varied the voices and ideas that are contributed to a publication, the more insightful and deep its content will be. The more eyes that see a page prepublication, the more questions will be raised and the more assured we will be that our publications won't publish insensitive material. In this way, we can serve as greater checks on our products. We all wish we knew how to banish these careless, ignorant errors from our pages forever, but we don't and we never will. The Justice instituted more vigilant editing and writer-training processes following the Dusty Baker incident, but students are always vulnerable to occasional slipups. We are here to learn, make mistakes and grow from them. These kinds of errors are unacceptable, but we must still be patient with one another, and together look for ways to make these instances fewer and farther between. It's our job to report on this community the best that we can. Without a diverse staff, we have no hope of doing so, and we are even more vulnerable to printing a culturally or racially insensitive story. Brandeis is full of talented writers, photographers and artists from all backgrounds. I invite those of you who have an opinion or desire to report on this campus to get involved in something influential. The Justice informs, empowers and exposes this campus to news, features, opinions, sports, arts and photography every week. Whether or not you have experience in journalism and whether you've considered joining in the past is irrelevent. Stop by the office on a Monday night and see for yourself what goes into producing the newspaper. All editors are willing and ready to answer any questions you have. We work hard to foster a welcoming atmosphere; don't be afraid to be a part of it.
(05/22/07 4:00am)
A New York Times foreign affairs columnist who has garnered three Pulitzer Prizes for his news coverage and commentary on the Middle East delivered the keynote address at the 56th commencement ceremony Sunday in Gosman Sports and Convocation Center.Thomas Friedman '75, a member of the Brandeis Board of Trustees, stepped in after the University's first choice, David Halberstam, also a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, died in a car accident in Menlo Park, Ca. last month. He was 73. "It's a treat, an honor and an obligation to be here today," Friedman said, addressing the 809 bachelor, 538 master and 93 Ph.D. recipients and their families. Friedman himself graduated from Brandeis summa cum laude with a major in Mediterranean Studies. Making fond reference to Halberstam in his speech, Friedman described him as "a true hero of mine . the best and the brightest in my business."He divided his speech into three parts, "to cover all my bases; one brutal, one advisory and one sentimental."His brutal advice included words from Charles Sykes, the author of Dumbing Down Our Kids. "The world In a fast-paced and engaging tone, Friedman entertained the packed crowd with stories about how he got into journalism, and his experiences reporting in London and in Lebanon during the war in the early '80s. "Do what you love," he said. "One-hundred percent of people who do what they love, love what they do." This philosophy paid off for Friedman, whose interest in journalism was first sparked by his 10th grade teacher."She taught me that a journalist should always wear a tie, never use foul words and start your day reading The New York Times," he said. "By the time 10th grade was over I knew what I loved."He advised the graduating class to follow their gut in a world that is flattening, meaning that because of globalization, industrialized countries are finding business competitors in countries they hadn't before. Friedman wrote about this topic in his 2005 bestselling book The World is Flat. "The flatter the world the more important it is that you do what you love," he said.He described the Internet's virtually universal impact in the flattening world. Anyone can be a filmmaker now by using their cell phone cameras or by posting short films on YouTube. Anyone is vulnerable to what is written about them on sites like Myspace and Facebook, he said."The Internet is becoming a kind of permanent record," he said. A Facebook message becomes "a digital footprint" that won't wash away. He urged students to exercise good judgment on the Internet.After working under pressure as a reporter for UPI and The New York Times, Friedman said he became a Times columnist and has enjoyed a less a stressful experience. "If I've had any success as a journalist it's because I've enjoyed the journey as much as the destination," he said.One anecdote that was particularly well-received by the audience was Friedman's account covering his first news assignment for UPI: a student takeover of the Iranian Embassy in London. After gathering the news, he stepped into a nearby phone booth to call his office with his reporting. Needing to search for a detail in his notes, Friedman asked the next reporter waiting in line at the booth to "hold the phone while I check something."This proved to be an error, as the reporter promptly hung up the phone to make his own call. Friedman then heard two words he said he'll never forget: "Sorry mate." The lessons here: "Never ask your competition to hold the phone for you," and "experience is what you get from not having it when you needed it," he said. First and foremost, the key to journalism is to be a keen listener, Friedman explained, because it shows the speaker respect. This extends beyond the field of journalism and to all people, whether it's a secretary or a top official. "If you really want to get through to people, the best way is to open your ears."Stephen Kay, the chair of the Board of Trustees, touched on a similar theme in his speech, advising students to be open to different viewpoints. Students showed a great deal of "professionalism and maturity" when former United States President Jimmy Carter spoke last January, he said, because they were willing to listen to another side of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "When you're talking, you're not listening," he said. Friedman, who has covered a range of subjects in his expansive career, including the Middle East, the White House, and most recently energy and the environment, said journalism has made him a "lifelong learner," something he said he hopes each Brandeis graduate will be. "It's the best survival skill you can take away from here," he said.Friedman closed with a simple piece of advice that he said he offers in every commencement speech. "Call your mother," he urged. "You'll always be glad you did."Reinharz presented honorary degrees to Joyce Carol Oates, a prominent American author, Irwin Cotler, a member of the Canadian Parliament, Scientist Judah Folkman and Daniel Liebskind, an internationally acclaimed architect.
(05/01/07 4:00am)
A brushfire broke out for unknown reasons Tuesday afternoon near Rosenthal Quad, Lieutenant William Kresser of the Waltham Fire Department said. The fire, which officers contained to the hillside between Rosenthal and Usen Hall, started shortly after 3 p.m. and was extinguished by Waltham officers without any damage to buildings. Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said the fire only lasted a couple of minutes. "Probably careless disposal of a cigarette," Callahan said. Kresser agreed that was most likely the cause. "There's nothing around [the brush] that's flammable," he said.Michael Kerns '09, a resident of Rosenthal Quad who witnessed the scene, said smoke rose as high as his dorm. "There were huge plumes of smoke, and the flames were pretty big," Kerns said. Public Safety officers notified the fire department of the blaze after alarms in nearby dormitories went off, Callahan said.Callahan said that recently there have been several fires around campus. "I would suspect that the cause is dry soil conditions and the possibility of the disposal of cigarettes which may have sparked the fires," he wrote in an e-mail last Wednesday. Only one fire however was recorded in the police log in the last several weeks. According to the log, campus police responded to a brush fire April 23, but found only smoke on a small patch of multch by Pearlman, Brown and Schwartz. Officers extinguished the smoke. Claire Moses contributed reporting.
(04/24/07 4:00am)
Following the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute last week, senior administrators at Brandeis sought to assure the campus that the University has a comprehensive plan to handle such emergencies. But some campus police officers disputed that assertion, describing the emergency plan as ambiguous, and one that leaves them powerless to respond to serious emergencies.The officers, one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the massacre in Blacksburg again calls into question the University policy that prohibits officers from carrying guns. In a situation like the Virginia Tech shooting, the officers said, they would be unable to protect themselves or the community. The anonymous one said that such an emergency would likely spur officers to leave campus rather than act unarmed.Ronald Haley, the president of the Union that represents the campus police, said the administration does not adequately utilize the police force, even though virtually all Brandeis officers are trained to carry a firearm. Currently, officers are permitted to carry a night stick and pepper spray. "Am I supposed to get shot for the sake of Brandeis?" Haley asked in a phone interview Saturday. "I think it's ludicrous and ridiculous, but [the administration] won't listen to us."In a campuswide e-mail Friday, University President Jehuda Reinharz wrote, "I want each and every member of the Brandeis community to know that the administration has in place an emergency procedures program, which we update regularly." He referred requests for comment on the officers' dispute of his e-mail to the campus police.Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said the University's Emergency Response and Notification Plan includes state-of-the-art protocols for communicating a crisis situation to the campus and the Waltham Police and for evacuating the community to main buildings, such as the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, if needed. Varying protocols exist depending on the emergency, he said.But Haley, who has worked at the University since 2000, said the emergency plan is more of an "ambiguous protocol" that makes the campus police completely dependent on the Waltham Police in emergencies. The only plan Haley knows of, he said, calls for summoning the Waltham Police.In emergency situations, campus police have been instructed to help gather the community for evacuation, the other officer said. Beyond that, the plan is relatively vague, and is compounded by the fact that campus police are kept unarmed."We're in an environment that we can't police appropriately," Haley said.It is not the first time the campus police have expressed their apprehension at the absence of firearms. Three officers told the Justice in March 2006 that they needed guns to do their jobs properly."Anybody who claims we don't need guns is completely ignorant," one officer said at the time. "We don't have the equipment to protect the community the way we should."Like they did then, administrators now are downplaying the need for an armed police force."When we need armed officers on campus, they're here in a hurry," Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer said. "Most of the [Waltham] officers who work here on a regular basis know campus pretty well. In a scenario like [Virginia Tech], they would be in charge."Officers in the past haven't expressed complete confidence in the local police."[Waltham police officers] don't know their way around this campus," an officer told the Justice in March 2006. "They come here and ask for directions. We know this campus like the back of our hands." Such unfamiliarity can result in a 10-to-15 minute delay in response time, the officer said."Doesn't it make sense that the Waltham Police aren't going to do anything differently from what we would do?" Haley said Saturday. "We have an administration [that pushes] the panic button." The emergency plan was last used in January 2006, when an e-mail bomb threat was made on the Heller School of Social Policy and Management. The University is considering additions to its emergency communications plan, Callahan said, such as a reverse 9-1-1 call to campus phones, a text messaging alert to cell phones and the installation of several sirens to alert the campus to check their e-mail, text messages and phone messages.The current emergency plan has been developed in cooperation with local, state and federal safety officials, Reinharz said in his e-mail Friday.Haley said he hopes the Virgina Tech shootings inspire conversation on this issue, and that they are able to keep the discussion going to enact real change. "These problems don't go away. They reappear in a different place and in a different way.
(04/24/07 4:00am)
Although the Crown Center for Middle East Studies hoped to bring presidential candidates to speak on campus this semester, none were able to fit a stop in before the end of the semester, Senior Vice President for Communications Lorna Miles said last Wednesday.The Center invited Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former Vice President Al Gore, among others, to speak about America's role in the Middle East, Miles said."We are working hard to line up one or two for the fall," Miles wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. "This spring, however, will not work for any we have contacted so far." "Too few schedule options and short notice," she added.
