(04/29/14 4:00am)
President of Rwanda Paul Kagame joined Brandeis University for a talk and roundtable discussion among faculty, students and policy officials on April 23 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the end of the genocide in Rwanda. "This is a time of remembrance as well as serious reflection," Kagame said in a video recording of the event posted online. Kagame, who became Rwanda's president in 2000, "shared the lessons learned during and following the Rwandan genocide" and "spoke about the challenge of rebuilding Rwanda," according to an April 25 BrandeisNOW article. "There is no template for putting a country back together after such a major tragedy," Kagame said. "Everything was a priority. Almost everything of value had been destroyed in Rwanda. We had to make decisions without any comfort of adequate time or resources." The Gosman Sports and Convocation Center was shut down for the day of Kagame's visit, according to an email sent to the club sports leaders. Several protesters stood across South Street with signs that read "Shame on you Brandeis." Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan wrote in an email to the Justice that the group was "allowed to protest away from the Gosman Center." He said he did not believe the protesters were members of the Brandeis community. Kagame has spoken at other universities including Tufts University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University in the past few weeks. According to accounts in the Tufts Daily, Kagame's appearance at their school was a ticketed event open to the community, and he spoke before a packed auditorium. Editorial pages at each of these universities' campus newspapers were critical of the Rwandan president's visit. An op-ed by Stanford's STAND, a student-led movement against genocide and mass atrocity, called for the organizers of the talk to "actively address the Rwandan president's unambiguous record of human rights violations, his consistent oppression of political opposition and his prominent role in the violence and political instability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo." The event at Brandeis was invitation-only with no publicity within the general Brandeis community. The event also had tight security restrictions. "I have been told that there were a number of security restrictions around his visit and that everyone in attendance had to be submitted to the security detail several days in advance," wrote Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen De Graffenreid in an email to the Justice. The Heller School for Social Policy and Management Sustainable International Development program and Coexistence and Conflict program sponsored Kagame's visit. Prof. Alain Lempereur (Heller) moderated the roundtable discussion that followed Kagame's opening remarks. -Marissa Ditkowsky contributed reporting.
(04/29/14 4:00am)
In the interest of involving more of the student body in its operations, Student Events has begun to restructure its club to increase membership size and streamline club function, with changes to go into effect next semester. In the fall of this year, Student Events members began talks about changing the way the group is structured, but it was not until this semester that they started to actually envision a restructuring of the club's leadership, Student Events Executive Director Samantha Gordon '14 wrote in an email to the Justice. At the National Association for Campus Activities Convention, which was held in Boston in February and was attended by members of college programming groups similar to Student Events, the group was exposed to many new ideas about ways to restructure its current system and optimize the process. For instance, the idea of having an executive board to run the club and then a general committee to seat the rest of the club's members, Gordon wrote, comes from a student group they met from Quinnipiac University. "I also met with first year general board member students from schools in Kentucky, Texas, and California [at the conference]. They all seemed to have this similar formatting and it works at these other institutions," she wrote. The Quinnipiac group accommodates over 100 general board members, which, Gordon wrote, "really allows for student body input," something that Student Events will be implementing in the upcoming year by increasing the number of positions on their own board. Brandeis' new Associate Director of Student Activities Stephen Pagios, who joined the staff this spring, elaborated on the process of expanding Student Events in an interview with the Justice. "At the end of the day, the point of the restructure is opening up Student Events to more Brandeis students to take part in," he said. Currently, Paigos said, Student Events is operated by a team of five directors-directors of concerts, entertainment, finance, public relations and social programs-who work under an executive director. Some coordinators work underneath this team, he said, and all together, this group of under 20 students runs the entirety of Student Events. Restructuring the club to include more members and student body input will change its regular meeting functions as well, Pagios continued. Pagios said that he envisions that "[the] biggest component to it is there is now going to be an active general board membership," as opposed to the current structure, which does not include a general board. He said that, ideally, the club will hold "a weekly meeting that's open to the whole campus, that people can come and each department can give updates, and there might be some brainstorming." Gordon wrote that, once the new general board is established, "[w]e will first start with an introduction meeting in which we will give overviews of the departments and let the attendees choose which department is most interesting to them." From there, she said, the directors will lead individual meetings for each department with the general board members, during which they will go through the process of planning large scale events. Student Events will most likely hold general board meetings on a monthly basis, Gordon wrote, but affirmed that the specific details will be determined by the incoming executive director for Student Events for the 2014 to 2015 academic year, Rachel Starr '15. Pagios said that holding meetings that will be more widely attended will ultimately give more people a chance to apply for the club's director positions, "since more people will know what Student Events is like, because, ideally, they'll be on the general board." Once the general committee is established and its members have the opportunity to participate in departments within the group, Gordon wrote that this could mean each department could be staffed by 10 to 15 people. Anyone could apply to be a member of the general committee. In order to begin involving more students who are not currently affiliated with Student Events, the group plans to advertise opportunities for involvement on Facebook and at the student involvement fair in fall 2014, Gordon wrote, in addition to implementing an advertising plan that Student Events' public relations director will produce. "Already, people have asked me about how to get involved next year without applying to Student Events so it's exciting that we have students who are ready to jump right in," she added. -Sarah Rontal contributed reporting.
(04/29/14 4:00am)
In the second round of elections, which began last Thursday at midnight and ended last Friday at midnight, class senators, senators-at-large and associate justices for the 2014 to 2015 academic year were elected. Only one seat, one of the Class of 2016 senator positions, was left vacant. Current Class of 2015 Senators Caiwei Zheng and Anna Bessendorf were both re-elected. Bessendorf and Zheng were the only two candidates running for the position of Class of 2015 senator. Bessendorf received 139 votes, 67 percent of the total pool, while Zheng received 111 votes, or 54 percent. Bessendorf wrote in an email to the Justice that she looks forward to continuing her efforts within the Senate Sustainability Committee. "[W]e've created a lot of positive momentum with Facilities and the [Brandeis Sustainability Fund], in terms of learning about resource usage on campus, and we plan to publish all that information so that students can be a little more aware about how this campus runs," she wrote. Bessendorf also wrote about several initiatives that she would like to implement through the committee next year, including subsidized Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority passes for students. Zheng wrote in an email to the Justice that she is excited to start her third year in the Student Union next year. "[C]onsidering it would be my senior year and my last year in the union I would definitely want to focus on initiative [sic.] that have lasting influence," she wrote. Zheng wrote that she would most like to push for further renovation of the Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios. "It is one of the buildings that needs updating the most. Especially considering the safety concerns it raises," she wrote. Nyah Macklin '16 was elected to one of the Class of 2016 senator positions with 112 votes, or 43 percent. Ninety-seven students, or 37 percent of those that voted for this position, elected to abstain. Thus, only one Class of 2016 Senator seat was filled. Brianna Majsiak '16 received the next highest amount of votes at 75, or 29 percent. According to Student Union President Ricky Rosen '14, an election to fill the second seat will take place as a part of the regular fall elections, during which the Class of 2018 senator positions and quad senators positions will be filled. As a transfer student, Macklin wrote in an email to the Justice that she is "looking forward to getting to know the friends that I have yet to meet, and in doing so make every single member of our class feel comfortable enough to come to me, with whatever concerns or praises they have about their Brandeis experience. "As soon as every student feels comfortable approaching the people who represent them, and that goes up the chain, all the way up to University President Frederick Lawrence and the Board of Trustees, the sooner our students can feel like a real, collaborative community," Macklin added. Macklin wrote that her primary initiative is to "build a foundation for those who follow in my footsteps to create a tangible change on this campus." She wrote that she will be working to create a series of on-campus community-building initiatives to draw attention to groups that sometimes go unrecognized. Class of 2017 Senator Benjamin Margolin was re-elected. Brittany Finney '17 will fill the other Class of 2017 senator position. Finney received 168 votes, or 52 percent, while Margolin received 161 votes, or 50 percent. The third candidate, Ashley Morales '17, received 113 votes, or 35 percent. Margolin wrote in an email to the Justice that because he won a special election and joined the Senate later on in the academic year, "I found that I only recently have gotten into the swing of things, and I'm looking forward to putting that experience to good use in full force starting from day one of next semester." Some of Margolin's planned initiatives include continuing to bridge the gap between the Jewish and Hispanic communities on campus. "Because of deeply rooted cultural ties, I think we have more in common than people believe, and we can use that to strengthen our Brandeis community as a whole," he wrote. Margolin also wrote that he would like to help raise school spirit on campus. "Because of all of our amazing clubs/organizations on campus, people tend to feel a connection only to one particular group, instead of the university as a whole. I simply want to channel students' passions from one specific thing, to a greater good," he wrote. Finney wrote in an email to the Justice that, while campaigning for Class of 2017 Senator, she "gathered as many concerns that the class members of 2017 could inform [her] of and formed a campaign circling around three values: honesty, diversity, and spirit." She wrote that she hopes to improve transparency regarding all of the Senate's decisions. "Additionally, I want to increase the amount of diversity related events, being that some diversities seem to be [more] underrepresented than others," she wrote. Finney also added that she also wants to work on expanding school spirit, specifically by planning a school-wide event that will boost spirit, similar to 'Deis Day. Current Senator-at-Large Naomi DePina '16 was re-elected. Current North Quad Senator Brian Hough '17 will fill the other senator-at-large position. DePina received 367 votes, or 43 percent, while Hough received 298 votes, or 35 percent. Current Class of 2017 Senator David Heaton received the third highest number of votes at 253, or 30 percent. "As Senator for the entire student body, I want to ensure that all students have a Senator who will advocate for what is important to them. I also want to work to improve the dialogue between students, the Student Union, and the administration," Hough wrote in an email to the Justice. Hough also wrote that he wants to improve on-campus, specifically by advocating for more options on campus, as well as more vegetarian, vegan and food-sensitive options. He also wrote that he plans advocate for the installment of more energy-efficient light bulbs, putting more recycling containers on campus and working to help reduce Brandeis' carbon footprint. "I also plan to help with improving the Constitution, proposing amendments and bylaw amendments to ensure that the Senate and Student Union continue to work efficiently and productively," Hough wrote. He also wants to help improve first-year, midyear and transfer transitions to Brandeis, and host more student-wide events on campus. DePina could be reached for comment by press time. Marlharrissa Lagardere '16 won the racial minority senator seat, with 92, or 32 percent, of the votes. Lagardere wrote in an email to the Justice that her main goals are to work alongside Dean of Students Jamele Adams "to make certain that Brandeis University creates an safe atmosphere that allows for open dialogue and discourse revolving around race and resolving issues that occur amongst scholars of color." She wrote that she would also like to "require a stronger inclusion of scholars of colors ideas and opinions within the Student Union." Brian Dorfman '16, Gali Gordon '15, Alex Rahmanan '17, Alina Cheema '15 and current Chief Justice Claire Sinai '15 were elected to fill the five associate justice positions. Seven candidates ran for the positions. Dorfman received the most votes with 330 votes, or 38 percent. Sinai received 321 votes, or 37 percent. Rahmanan received 312 votes, or 36 percent, while Gordon also received about 36 percent of the votes with 315 votes. Cheema received 268 votes, or 31 percent. Dorfman wrote in an email to the Justice that although he is excited about winning, "what excites me more is that more than a quarter of the Brandeis undergraduate population came out to vote this election day." Dorfman wrote that his plan as an associate justice is to "do some strong constitutionally backed decision-making." Rahmanan wrote in an email to the Justice that after losing to the abstain option in February's special election for the Student Union Judiciary, "running again in last week's election wasn't even a question." As an associate justice, Rahmanan wrote that he hopes to "help solve any club, Union, or club member disputes as quickly, and efficiently as possible. "There may be some cleaning up that needs to be done around Brandeis' realm of student life, and as a Justice, solving these problems will be my number one priority," he added. Sinai wrote in an email to the Justice that she is "excited" to serve on the Student Judiciary for a fourth year running. Cheema wrote in an email to the Justice that as an associate justice, she hopes "to always maintain a safe and fair environment and, with my best effort, to fulfill all my responsibilities." She stated that her main goal is to make decisions that benefit the whole student body. Gordon could not be reached for comment by press time.
(04/28/14 4:00am)
For a technology start-up, the prospects of wild success are low and the prospects of complete failure are high. Why would a group of bright, well-trained engineers, who have the world of job prospects in research and technology at their feet, choose instead to start an iPhone application For the team of Farseer Inc., Han Wang M.S. '12, Zhaoming Deng M.A. '12, Tong Shen M.A. '12, David Deng M.A. '12, Yeifi Chen M.A. '12 and Karen Hu '12, the answer comes in two parts-passion and challenge. Farseer, Inc. is the team behind the Boston based mobile application FotoDish, which works directly with restaurant owners to provide app-users with professional quality photographs of local restaurant's most popular dishes. They recently reached the milestone of $100,000 in funds raised. The company's professional brief describes the goal of FotoDish as making "the dining experience more enjoyable, by providing [the customer] the most accurate information straight from the source." Wang, the CEO and co-founder, worked for an Information and Technology company in Boston before quitting his job in search of the challenge that working independently would offer. "We only have two modes: sleeping and working. That's the reason all of us are here-because we want to be challenged," Wang said in an interview with the Justice. Co-founders Zhaoming Deng and Shen primarily work on the web application and partially on the mobile application. The original Farseer Inc. team was brought together by a passion for computer science entrepreneurship and a desire for a bigger challenge than what a conventional post-graduate job would offer. They met as Computer Science masters students at Brandeis and were inspired by classes in the department that focused on computer science entrepreneurship. While their mutual interest in entrepreneurship was cultivated in the classroom, their friendship was formed on the basketball court. Their weekly pick-up games brought them closer together as friends and future business partners. Hu, public relations manager for Farseer Inc., met the rest of the team in a different way. Hu was an Economics and Business major, and was introduced to the team by her close friend Deng. Her passion for public relations was born out of the marketing classes and clubs she participated in while a student at Brandeis. "I loved doing event planning at Brandeis. I did event planning for the Asian American Student Association, Chinese Student Association and Culture X for two years in a row. All this led me to want to work for Farseer Inc. in public relations, and help them to coordinate and connect with restaurants," Hu said. Although each member of the team pursued other job opportunities after graduating, their friendship and mutual desire for a challenge brought them back together to make Farseer Inc. a reality in August of 2012. Zhaoming Deng, for example, worked for a year in lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology pursuing diabetes research before joining the team. "I realized that in my personality I was not very passionate about working in a lab. I preferred to interact with people. I really enjoy working with friends," Zhaoming Deng said. The excitement of being part of a constantly evolving enterprise is another factor that motivated these recent graduates to form a start-up. They felt that the stagnancy of working for a large well-established firm presents a lack of challenge and imagination, as well as the feeling that an individual cannot have a real influence over the course of the company's future. "A lot of large companies are completely established in their structure. In a new company, there are always fresh challenges," Zhaoming Deng said. The beginning stages of the company's evolution, as the co-founders remember it, seemed discouraging and impossible. "When we first started recruiting owners, we didn't have an app and we didn't have users, so it was hard to just walk into restaurants and convince restaurant owners. At the beginning it's very tough," Shen said. Zhaoming Deng remembers walking into the first restaurant he ever pitched, Lizzy's Ice Cream in Waltham, and being terrified at the prospect of rejection. The owner, Miriam Benitez, expressed excitement at the idea of the app, boosting Deng's confidence in the viability of the app's future. The idea for FotoDish happened by accident. "We are food lovers, and we always wanted to try all the restaurants in Waltham. That's what drew us to the restaurant industry," Wang said. He personally loves fried rice, and his co-founders joked that they made a channel on the app exclusively so that Wang could find the best fried rice in Boston. The application is unique because of the source of the information, which is not from the consumer, but the restaurant owners themselves. This allows restaurant owners direct influence over how they present their restaurant, which allows them to portray the reality of what the consumer will receive through photography. They contrasted FotoDish with the hugely popular app and website Yelp, which allows users to rate restaurants and view other's ratings of restaurants throughout the United States. "FotoDish is local. It's more accurate, and a lot closer to the restaurant owners. It's not just user-generated content, everything is professional," Hu said. As young people working for a start-up, delineation between work and life ceases to exist. Their colleagues are their closest friends, and they are working in a high-risk, high-reward environment every day to create something unique. "I personally love this kind of status," Wang said. "I know I am learning and growing stronger. I know the company is growing stronger." When asked about where he hopes to see Farseer, Inc. in five years, Wang said, "we don't know. In a start-up, everything could change five months from now."
(04/09/14 4:00am)
After a torrent of public outrage from the greater Brandeis community, University administration has rescinded the offer of an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a controversial political and women's rights activist, due to statements that she has made publically that criticize Islam. A press release from the administration, published by BrandeisNOW on the evening of Tuesday, April 8, said that while Hirsi Ali "is a compelling public figure and advocate for women's rights ... we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University's core values." The press release added that the University "regret[s]" that it was "not aware of these statements earlier." The press release stated in conclusion that Hirsi Ali is "welcome to join us on campus in the future to engage in a dialogue about these important issues," but that the commencement ceremony was not the appropriate forum for said discussion. The announcement of the rescindment came after both faculty and student community members voiced outrage over Hirsi Ali receiving an honorary degree. Some community members were uncomfortable with her anti-Islamic views. Prof. Jytte Klausen (POL) wrote in an email to the Justice that she believed giving Hirsi Ali a degree would "[undermine] years of careful work to show that Brandeis University promotes the ideals of shared learning, religious toleration, and coexistence, irrespective of religion." A petition on Change.org, started by Sarah Fahmy '14, was one of the main forums used by students to voice their concerns. As of this press release, the petition had garnered over 6,800 signatures calling for the rescinding of the offer. Faculty members also signed and sent a letter to University President Frederick Lawrence protesting the offer to Hirsi Ali and calling for an immediate rescinding of it, which garnered over 75 signatures as of Monday evening. *
(04/08/14 4:00am)
Numerous members of the University community have expressed outrage at the selection of Ayaan Hirsi Ali as an honorary degree recipient for its 63rd annual commencement ceremony, which was announced last Monday along with the names of the other recipients and the individual who will deliver the commencement address. Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born women's rights activist who has campaigned against female genital mutilation but is also well known for her critical view of Islam; she has at various times called Islam a "backwards religion" and a "destructive, nihilistic cult of death" that legitimizes murder. She formerly lived in the Netherlands and was a member of Dutch Parliament until it was discovered that she had provided false information on an asylum application to gain entry into the country. In response to this, Hirsi Ali claimed that she lied on her asylum application because she was fleeing a forced marriage. She had also previously disclosed inaccurate information through several sources before the controversy, including through her book The Son Factory. After resigning from her position due to the ensuing scandal, she moved to the United States to join the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute-an organization dedicated to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity and strengthening free enterprise according to its website-where she is now a visiting fellow. The decision to award her an honorary degree has drawn strong reactions from many members of the Brandeis community, especially faculty and students. Prof. Mary Baine Campbell (ENG) said in an interview with the Justice that she believes this decision is not in the University's best interest. "Hirsi Ali represents values that Brandeis, in naming itself after Justice [Louis] Brandeis, ... was founded in noble opposition to," said Campbell. Campbell also said that she was concerned about the awarding of the degree because of a lack of consultation with the faculty during the selection process. In an email to the Justice, she wrote that she was "astonished to find out that this choice, to honor Ms. Hirsi Ali for her contributions to 'women's rights,' had been made without consulting the WGS Core Faculty." s=She noted that the core faculty in the Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies program had not been contacted either. In a statement issued on behalf of the administration, Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid wrote that University President Frederick Lawrence "is aware of concerns that have been expressed following the announcement of the selection of Ayaan Hirsi Ali as an honorary degree recipient." She also added that Lawrence was reaching out to members of the Brandeis community to discuss the controversy, but did not respond to requests for comment on which individuals have been contacted by press time. In addition to vocal opposition to Hirsi Ali, there have been more tangible measures to oppose her presence at commencement. A student petition at www.change.org, started by Sarah Fahmy '14, calls on Lawrence to rescind the offer of an honorary degree. As of Monday evening at 11 p.m., the petition had over 600 signatures. Faculty members also organized to protest the decision through a letter to Lawrence. The letter calls on Lawrence to rescind the offer because of her "virulently anti-Muslim sentiments," as well as re-institute a faculty committee to review potential candidates before honorary degrees are awarded, since such a committee could have "warned [Lawrence] about the horrible message that this [decision] sends to the Muslim and non-Muslim comminutes at Brandeis and beyond." The letter was sent to the faculty on Sunday evening, and by late Monday had received over 75 signatures from various faculty members. Prof. Jytte Klausen (POL) wrote in an email to the Justice that giving Hirsi Ali a degree "undermines years of careful work to show that Brandeis University promotes the ideals of shared learning, religious toleration and coexistence, irrespective of religion." She further wrote that Hirsi Ali should be invited to speak on campus since the University allows individuals of all views the opportunity to express them but that honorary degrees should only be given to "people who promote our mission of learning and toleration." Klausen also expressed concern that Hirsi Ali's presence would detract from the overall experience of commencement, which is "not a hard-edged talk show or forum for confrontational endorsement of extreme views," but rather "a celebration where all should feel welcome." She also called into question Hirsi Ali's political career, saying that it had been built on "complaining about refugees and immigrants" and calling for harsher measures to be directed at these groups. Klausen also noted that Hirsi Ali's false statements on her Dutch refugee application and citizenship request was an offense "severe enough for the Minister of the Interior ... to annul Hirsi Ali's [Dutch] citizenship." In addition to condemnation, the announcement has prompted Prof. Susan Lanser (ENG) to call not only for the award to be rescinded, but for a public apology issued by Lawrence to the greater Brandeis community. In an email to the Justice, Lanser wrote that she believes Hirsi Ali "is not worthy of a doctorate of humane letters from a university that claims to be committed to justice, respect, diversity and truth to its innermost parts." She added that her outspoken views on Islam "foment an intolerance that is wholly antithetical to Brandeisian values." While many faculty members and students are decrying Hirsi Ali's being offered the honorary degree, some are coming to her defense. Bernard Macy '79, an alumnus who came forward to defend the selection of Hirsi Ali as an honorary degree recipient, sent an email to Lawrence, numerous faculty members and the Justice expressing his support. Macy wrote that he was very impressed that Hirsi Ali "had the courage to speak and act out against an extremely vicious form of violence toward women, which, until recently, had been a topic that had not been politically correct to discuss." Macy further expressed hope that "protection of women from this insidious form of mental, emotional and physical abuse" would be in line with the values of the University and firmly stated that Hirsi Ali is very deserving of an honorary degree. Students have also expressed concern about the University's selection. Alina Cheema '15, co-president of the Muslim Students Association, said in an interview with the Justice that she and the MSA perceive Hirsi Ali's receiving a degree as alarming. "[Hirs Ali] is well-known for her [anti-Islamic] beliefs ... and this is a slap in the face by the administration. Are they saying that we don't belong on this campus?" Cheema said. "How can the University claim to be so focused on social justice when they award a degree to someone with such radical views?" Cheema also added that this situation has made her personally feel very uncomfortable as a Muslim on campus. "How am I supposed to tell a prospective Muslim student that [he or she] will be accepted on this campus ... when the administration condones this?" When asked if the MSA was preparing a response to the announcement, Cheema said that the MSA had been talking about the issue since the news broke on Monday. "We will not be quiet about this," said Cheema. "Any opportunity we have to work against this, we will take advantage of." In addition to the perceived disconnect between Hirsi Ali's values and the University's, some have criticized the decision for damaging the University's reputation. Campbell wrote that she is worried this will be a "[public relations] disaster, and a step down a road we cannot take without losing our identity [as a university]." Prof. Mitra Shavarini (WGS) also told the Justice in an email that the offer is not in line with the University's mission, unless it wishes to "incite hate, mistrust and division among its community." She further stated that Hirsi Ali's approach to discourse "collapses thought in obscure, non-contextualized allegations that have no intellectual merit"-something Shavarini believes is radically opposed to the University's values of "intellectual exchange and the challenging of one's ideas."
(04/08/14 4:00am)
On Feb. 26 the Brandeis Alumni & Friends Network announced that Rabbi Eric Yoffie '69, Prof. Eve Marder '69 (BIOL) and Wakako Hironaka M.A. '64, Honorary '87 are the recipients of this year's Alumni Achievement Award. The award, which is the highest honor reserved for alumni, is given by the Brandeis Alumni Association to alumni who have significantly impacted their fields of work. The three join the list of winners including Robert J. Zimmer '68, Bonnie Berger '83 and Jon Landau '68, who won last year's award. University President Frederick Lawrence will formally present the three with the award at the 2014 alumni reunion on June 7. Hironaka is a prominent political leader in Japan. She served in the Japanese House of Councilors, which, along with the House of Representatives, forms the Japanese Diet, Japan's legislative body, from 1986 to 2010. She has also served as vice chair of the Democratic Party of Japan, state minister and director-general of the Environmental Agency in Japan. After benefiting from the Wien International Scholarship Program, which funds the studies of international students with significant financial need and academic achievement during their first years, Hironaka served on the Brandeis Board of Trustees from 1992 to 1997. Due to travel, Hironaka was unavailable to comment by press time. Yoffie, who was the president of the Union for Reform Judaism from 1996 to 2012, now lectures about Jewish, religious and Israel-related issues at universities, synagogues and Jewish organizations. He writes for the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz about Judaism and Israel and for the Huffington Post about religion in America. Yoffie wrote in an email to the Justice that he "was a bit surprised, but of course delighted and honored" when he received a letter from Lawrence informing him that he had received the award. This will only be Yoffie's second reunion, since he has had to miss past dates due to conflicts with the Union for Reform Judaism's national conference. "I will enjoy receiving the award, but reconnecting with classmates that I have seen rarely or not at all in the almost 50 years since I entered Brandeis is what I am looking forward to the most," Yoffie wrote. Yoffie was president of the student council during the infamous student occupation of Brandeis' Ford Hall in January 1969 and spoke at then-University President Morris Abram's inauguration, but wrote that his most memorable moment from his time at Brandeis is meeting his wife, Amy. Yoffie also mentioned other highlights of his Brandeis experience. "Being a Brandeis alumnus means many things to me: At Brandeis, there was a certain intensity about politics and social justice that influenced me throughout my life," Yoffie wrote. "In addition, Brandeis was the place where I was inspired by great teachers of Judaism and Jewish history." Marder is currently the Victor and Gwendolyn Beinfield Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis and was appointed to President Barack Obama's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative in April 2013. Marder wrote in an email to the Justice that she became interested in neurology during her junior year at Brandeis, when she took a course in abnormal psychology. "I ended up doing a research paper on inhibition in the nervous system and its potential relevance to schizophrenia. It was the reading I did for that course that made me decide I wanted to be a neuroscientist," Marder wrote. Marder, who also served as president of the Society for Neuroscience in 2008, wrote that during her time as an undergraduate, she did not anticipate someday teaching at Brandeis. "The idea never crossed my mind," Marder wrote. Marder also met her husband at Brandeis, and wrote that she is looking forward to "seeing old friends and classmates" at the reunion. Her advice for current students is to "follow the dreams that come from unexpected moments." -Ilana Kruger
(04/01/14 4:00am)
Brandeis Players staged 1984 this weekend, a play production of the classic George Orwell novel written by Michael Gene Sullivan. While the cast conveyed the intensity and emotion required for the serious material, the execution of the play at times left me baffled.
(04/01/14 4:00am)
Based on Veronica Roth's bestselling novel of the same name, the new film Divergent premiered last weekend, and now holds the top box office spot for the second weekend in a row, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Despite mixed critical reviews, the film is riding a recent wave of dystopian teenage-rebellion movies following the highly successful Hunger Games franchise. Divergent is set in a post-apocalyptic Chicago, where society is divided into five factions: Dauntless, Abnegation, Candor, Amity and Erudite. Each faction is introduced to viewers through voiceovers, but it is hard at first to keep them straight. The most important ones end up being Abnegation, Dauntless and Erudite. In this universe, each teenager takes a test to determine for which faction he or she is best suited. They are told to "trust the test," but also that they are free to choose to join a different faction than the one their test tells them. Beatrice Prior, later known simply as Tris, has grown up with her parents and brother in Abnegation, not knowing if she fits into the selfless, charity-oriented faction. Played by The Descendants' Shailene Woodley, Tris appears to be an observer rather than an active participant in her own life. Tris' test results are inconclusive, and she is told that she is Divergent. She doesn't fit into any faction, and the Erudite, who are trying to wrest control of the government from Abnegation, find these few abnormal minds dangerous. The next day at the choosing ceremony, after her brother shockingly chooses Erudite, Tris joins Dauntless, the city's fearless protectors. It is in these scenes where the visual imagery of the movie is the most striking. The color scheme of the film is mostly grey, white and black, in concordance with its dystopian theme. Dauntless members, dressed in all black, run through the streets like a demented army, jump on and off trains and hang out in their stronghold, "the Pit." Once Tris joins Dauntless, her real personality begins to show. Despite some clich?(c)s, including the romantic tension between Tris and her instructor, Four, watching Tris prove herself worthy of being part of Dauntless is entertaining. At first, Tris doesn't have one specific skill to set her apart from the others. Her strength is in her mind rather than her body, and this is especially apparent when she begins mental training in the Fear Landscape. This is a sort of virtual reality in which the trainees are put into a trance and forced to face their fears while one of the trainers watches their experiences on a screen. The visual effects here are impressive, and not over-the-top. Viewers are able to feel Tris' fear from a flock of demonic crows and a wildfire, without any out-of-place visuals. The sparse landscape, dusty and punctuated by barbed wire fences, enhances the post-apocalyptic feel. Four, played by Theo James, who viewers might recognize from his brief but memorable role as the Turkish Kamal Pamuk on Downton Abbey, is the quintessential bad boy. He is technically Tris' teacher, which adds some interesting intrigue to their romance, but is virtually ignored later. Little is known about Four until Tris joins his Fear Landscape, but even then, he comes across as an attractive love interest with a tough past. The two do have chemistry, but the romance seems contrived at times in the middle of the conspiracy plot. At the same time, the film drags on for almost two-and-a-half hours. After each new twist the film seemed like it would end to save some of the story for the next films, based on the novel's sequels, since it is a projected trilogy. The film stays relatively close to the plot of the book until the ending. In the novel, the ending showcases Four's intelligence, but in the film the ending scenes showcase his bravery and strength instead. Also unlike the novel, Tris' fear of intimacy is played down in the film and her Dauntless friends are portrayed as cool instead of as awkward misfits. The score and soundtrack, which feature a few songs from Ellie Goulding, fit well with the film and do not detract from the story. Overall, the film is enjoyable, even if predictable. Tris' transformation from weakling to Dauntless, as well as her romance with Four, is expected. The film, however, lacks the conventional love triangle, adding a refreshing change to the plot. Divergent is obviously directed toward a teenage audience-from the soundtrack to the casting choices. Fans of the books should enjoy the faithful interpretation, as well as those who are still anxiously waiting the next Hunger Games installment.
(04/01/14 4:00am)
The results of a survey administered by the Justice to students in a large University Chemistry course over the past month indicated that women in the sample appeared to perceive their class performance in a poorer light than men did. Over half of men who responded estimated their current grade to be at an A+, A or A-, compared to 36 percent of women, while a larger percentage of women estimated their grade to be in the B+ to B- range than men. As of press time, 80 students had completed the survey. The respondents received the survey in an email from their professor. Out of those, 58 respondents identified as female, making up 62 percent of the sample. The remaining 35 respondents were male. Only four respondents identified as black or African-American, 33 as Asian or Asian-American, three as two or more races, 42 as white and three identified ethnically as Hispanic or Latino/a, making it difficult to draw conclusions about differences in confidence among racial groups. Confidence: Gender and Race A University event organized by the Women in Science Initiative during the fall 2013 semester drew attention to a newly-emerging phenomenon known as "imposter syndrome," in which students feel insecure and incompetent in their academic abilities despite often being quite successful and capable in their field of study. As the panel specifically focused on an imposter syndrome for women in the sciences, the Justice surveyed students in an undergraduate Chemistry lecture to determine how confident students were about their ability to succeed in a science course, particularly looking at historically underrepresented groups in the sciences: female students and students of color. The survey administered by the Justice inquired what grade the participants received in their previous semester of Chemistry. Those results did not point to any difference in competency in the subject between men and women, although women in the sample did appear to earn slightly lower grades than men. Nearly three-fourths of men in the sample reported that they did not at all feel less academically capable than their peers, compared to slightly under 50 percent of women. Additionally, a much smaller percentage of women than men in the sample indicated that they believed they were definitely smart enough to succeed in this course. Despite these results, women in the sample did not appear to be any less enthusiastic than men about continuing in the sciences. According to the survey results, women were actually slightly more likely than men to enroll in further science and math courses, major in a science, technology, engineering or mathematics field and write a thesis for that major, suggesting that they are committed to studying science despite current feelings of insecurity. As for race, given the very low number of respondents who identified as people of color, differences among racial groups were more difficult to interpret. However, in an interview with the Justice, Afzal Ullah '14, a science Posse scholar majoring in Biology and Psychology, said that while he feels that he is as capable as his classmates, he felt inadequately prepared academically entering college. Ullah, who identifies racially as Bengali, noted that many students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, who are often students of color, face a gap compared to their wealthier, often white, classmates-which can impact their performance and confidence. A professor's perspective Three professors who sat for interviews with the Justice expressed differing views about the current issues that women face in science. Prof. Judith Herzfeld (CHEM), the only female full professor in the Chemistry department, expressed a belief that women today are equally active in science as men. "There are plenty of women who are energetically engaging in the classroom, so I don't see that problem," Herzfeld said in an interview with the Justice. ""In chemistry, the women are doing great straight through to the Ph.D. in proportionate numbers, and that's very different from the way it used to be," she added. Prof. Eve Marder '69 (BIOL), the head of the University's Division of Science, said that in the classes she teaches now, she sees overconfidence and lack of confidence in both men and women, though men, she noted, are somewhat more likely to raise hands to answer questions in class, regardless of whether or not their answers are correct. Prof. Ruth Charney '72 (MATH), the University's first tenured mathematics professor and the current president of the Association for Women in Mathematics, acknowledged that female students may feel like "imposters" but should remember that their mentors had similar experiences. "We all felt that way, but look, we kept going and we were successful and we felt just like you do," said Charney in an interview with the Justice. "So don't let that-don't just be scared away. Don't just assume just because you're unsure of yourself, because somebody else seems better than you, that you're no good. That's the wrong conclusion." Charney and Herzfeld both emphasized that they got through graduate school because they simply weren't very concerned with what others thought of them. Charney recalled that any gender discrimination that was present "went over our heads. We didn't see any of it and that's probably why we were successful. I'm not saying it wasn't there. We were blind. We were doing what we wanted to do." Similarly, Herzfeld noted that she "tended not to compare myself with other people very much." Faculty: Then and Now When Marder eventually returned to the University in 1978 as a faculty member, she was the fifth woman to join the Biology department faculty, which was unusual at the time. "Most of my peers were being hired into department as the first [woman]," she said. Today, Marder said there is relatively little trouble recruiting women for positions in the department. Charney, who returned to the University in 2003 after many years at Ohio State University, explained that the Math department has few opportunities to diversify its faculty. "We don't hire very often-we're a small department. Then there was the financial crash, you know, we haven't done much hiring in the last few years. When we have, we always have female candidates," she said. Charney mentioned that the department is currently hiring a female postdoctoral fellow, who would be at the University for three years. Herzfeld joined the University's Chemistry department in 1985 after teaching at Harvard Medical School and Amherst College, where she was the first female faculty member in the physical sciences. At Brandeis, Herzfeld joined Prof. Emerita Emily Dudek (CHEM), who retired in 2003, and was later joined by Prof. Christine Thomas (CHEM) in 2008, who was awarded tenure last year. The department also includes Prof. Claudia Novack (CHEM), who does not conduct research but regularly teaches the large lecture classes CHEM 11a: "General Chemistry I" and CHEM 11b: "General Chemistry II." Race Brandeis has taken note of the low numbers of minority groups in the sciences and, with support from Prof. Irving Epstein (CHEM), launched the first science program in the nation, bringing in its inaugural class in 2008. As for representation of people of color in faculty, Marder said, "the landscape for minorities and people of color has been very complicated." She said that students from disadvantaged backgrounds have often opted to pursue professional degrees rather than academic ones to achieve financial stability. "There was a real wave of trying to create options for people of color in professional schools and graduate schools. That first wave happened as a consequence of the '60s, so many of the people in that first wave came from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds and therefore they enriched into professional schools where they would be guaranteed financial opportunities," she explained. "So people went to law school. People went to medical school. People went to dental school. People went to engineering school. Relatively few of them had the luxury to just go into academics," she added. Ullah also said that the ability to choose a career based solely on interest is "a luxury." "You have to understand that that's already a statement of privilege," he said. "[People of color] have learned that, because we're of economically disadvantaged backgrounds, we can only achieve so much in life. We should only try to achieve so much for practical reasons," Ullah later added. For undergraduate students of color, race plays a significant role in their experiences at Brandeis. "I was the only black student in my Physics class, my second semester. In my first semester there was only one [other] girl and she dropped," said Bethlehem Seifu Belaineh '16, an International Wien scholar from Ethiopia who is a Biological Physics major, in an interview with the Justice. "I never really realized it until someone pointed it out and by the time I realized it I felt extremely self-conscious to the point where I started to question, 'Am I actually in the right major? Am I setting myself up for failure or something?'" "You don't feel isolated but you feel different, because you are different. You do look different. You have a different cultural background," Belaineh added later. "You just are different but that difference does not mean you are less. It just means you are a different kind of person, but it took me a while to recognize that." Nicholas Medina '14 made a similar point, acknowledging his position as one of a few Hispanic science students. "Because there are so few Hispanic students in the sciences, I feel like I more wholly represent my ethnicity in the sciences and Hispanic science students in general," he said. "It makes me feel like when I achieve higher grades, it's more of an accomplishment." However, said Marder, the number of students from underrepresented groups entering graduate school is now increasing, at Brandeis and across the country. For now, recruiting people of color to the department is a challenge, given how small the pool is, according to both Marder and Herzfeld. "Part of what makes it not easy is when the pool is small and all of us really want that diversity. The big, rich places win out in the recruiting," said Herzfeld. "It's not entirely satisfactory, but that's not for lack of trying or lack of interest," she later added. Conclusion Ullah said he believes that "there is a lack of conversation" about the issues students of color face and that the University should "become more comfortable" discussing them. "It's going to be very important for me to make sure that, whatever field I go into, to make the space more accessible and accommodating for people of color, regardless of their background and preparation," he said. "Once you provide the tools for people of color to actualize their full potential, they are just as likely to be very successful in any career as anyone else," he added. Despite the fact that female students in the sample of the survey seemed to feel less confident in science classes than their peers, they nonetheless showed a commitment to pursuing an education in science. Such an enthusiasm fits well with Charney's goal: "I think the message we need to be getting out there is to tell people that careers in science are great for women. Do it!"
(04/01/14 4:00am)
The Politics and History departments, the Center for German and European Studies, the Russian Studies program and the International and Global Studies program co-hosted an event titled "Crimea and Beyond: Russia and Its Neighbors" on Thursday. During the event, a panel consisting of Profs. Steven Burg (POL), David Engerman (HIST) and Chandler Rosenberger (IGS). The panel discussed the recent international crisis in Ukraine and the referendum held in Crimea on whether the peninsula would remain part of Ukraine or become integrated into the Russian Federation as a federal subject. The panel was held in order to create a discussion on campus about how to look at this ongoing series of geopolitical events. The peninsula is in a strategic place historically, by the mouth of the Dnieper River, a major waterway that ultimately connects the Black Sea and the Baltic, going through Europe. Crimea was in the possession of Russia until 1954 when Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, gave the peninsula to Ukraine. There was no official statement at the time as to why the Soviet Union transferred Crimea to Ukraine. As of late, Crimea has been the center of international attention. In November 2013, former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych rejected an association agreement that was to be signed with the European Union. This led many Ukrainians to take to the streets of Kiev in protest, resulting in Yanukovych fleeing the country on Feb. 22. On March 16, the citizens of Crimea voted to join Russia with an overwhelming 96.8 percent in favor. However, Andrey Illarionov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's former senior economic adviser, stated that the results were falsified and that the referendum had a turnout of only 34.2 percent of the population of Crimea instead of the 83.1 percent turnout that Putin claimed. When the United Nations Security Council voted on a resolution that would declare the referendum invalid, 13 members voted in favor of the resolution. China abstained but Russia exercised its right to veto, causing the resolution to fail. Engerman started off the discussion by pointing out that the act of Ukraine moving closer to Western Europe was a "cause of legitimate concern on the part of Russia." Ukraine, prior to the revolution, had a complicated, but not entirely negative, relationship with Russia according to Engerman and Burg. For instance, as Burg later brought up, Russia has gone out of its way to give Ukraine a rather large discount on oil and gas from Russian companies. Continuing, Engerman said that the crisis in Crimea should be partially attributed to the "inability of U.S. policy makers" to acknowledge the fact that Russia is not conforming to Western powers by seeing democracy as a sign of progress. Russia, he went on, is a powerful country in international politics, but this does not necessarily mean the Russian government would see democratization in a positive light. The Cold War was a largely ideological war between communism and the Soviet Union ,and democracy and the United States. Engerman said that the assumption of Western Powers revealed a certain "blindness" to how Russia might interpret the European Union moving into a Russian-friendly state. Engerman acknowledged that the crisis that occurred in Crimea concerns not only Crimea and Ukraine, but all former members of the Soviet Union. In his speech on March 18, Putin focused on how the temporary Ukrainian government removed Russian from the country's official languages, using statements such as "the Russian nation," was the largest "ethnic group ... to be divided by borders" and saying that it was in an attempt to gain sympathy from the rest of the world. Engerman said that Putin's push for a Russian ethnic identity in his speech is making countries with large populations of Russians including Kazakhstan, Latvia and Estonia nervous, especially since Russia seems to be pushing for the ability to go into a country based on a Russian population. Engerman alluded to the infamous precedent of one nation invading another with the claim of protecting ethnicity, for example when Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. Burg began by noting that "Crimea is most certainly now lost," and there is no real way to return the peninsula to Ukraine. Furthermore, Burg said that now the real danger of the Crimean crisis is from possible clashes between "Ukrainian nationalists and neo-fascists and the opposing Moscow backed pro-Russian volunteers." If violence escalates, Burg said, there are risks of a "serious global economic crisis," especially concerning Russian oil in the stock market, but also, in the long run, Russia would face economic collapse. Going on, Burg noted that until a few weeks ago, Ukraine "wasn't worth a 15 billion dollar loan" from the EU, the denial of which, in his analysis, jump started the crisis in Ukraine. So, in his opinion, the "best achievable deal" currently would be to make Ukraine neutral in a state of "non-NATOness." This refers to the fact that Ukraine became a candidate for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance with roots in the Cold War, and designed to contain the Soviet Union, in 2008. By denying Ukraine membership in NATO as well as in the EU, Burg argued that there will be less likelihood of a real clash between Russia and the West. Rosenberger argued against doing nothing about the situation between Russia and Ukraine. He cited a poll published in October 2013 by the Gesellschaft f??r Konsumforschung Group, a market research institute. The poll asked how Ukranians felt about Ukraine signing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, an agreement that would commit the Ukraine to economic, judicial and financial reforms in exchange for access to financial and political support from the EU. This pact would hopefully allow for Ukraine to at some point become an EU member, 45 percent of the Ukrainian respondents replied affirmative to seeing the agreement take place. According to the will of the sovereign people of Ukraine, Rosenberger said, Ukraine should have been part of the EU. In his opinion, Russia's invasion in Crimea proved to not only be a case of bullying a smaller nation but also a case of invading a sovereign country.
(03/25/14 4:00am)
On Thursday, President Obama announced a new wave of economic and political sanctions against Russia, in response to the country's recent annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. The new sanctions will target senior Russian government officials, a bank and broader sectors of the Russian economy. Additionally, Obama and other world leaders moved on Monday to suspend Russia's membership within the Group of 8 leading nations. Obama acknowledged that the sanctions could be "disruptive" to the global economy, but has stated that he does not want to do anything to "trigger an actual war with Russia." What do you think of these new, heavier sanctions? * Prof. Emerita Rachel McCulloch (ECON): Along with most Americans, President Barack Obama has no wish to expand the nation's military commitments. Sanctions represent an alternative way to signal U.S. support of Ukraine's sovereignty. Yet the initial sanctions were so limited as to invite more derision than consternation in Moscow. The second round, aimed at increasing economic pressure on President Vladimir Putin's inner circle, did have some impact on Russia's financial markets, at least temporarily. Even more recently, the U.S. and six other major western nations voted to "suspend" Russia's membership in the G8. At this point the action is largely symbolic. History suggests that sanctions can be effective only when nations act in concert. The key question remains whether the European Union, which relies significantly on business with Russia, is willing to coordinate its policies with those of the U.S. For example, an embargo on Russian energy exports would likely have a greater effect than the current sanctions but would also inflict considerable pain on the EU. Moreover, a possible unintended consequence of sanctions would be to reinforce Russia's efforts to increase political and economic ties to Asia and especially China. Prof. Emerita Rachel McCulloch (ECON) teaches ECON 160a: "International Trade Theory." * Tzvi Miller '16 I believe that these new sanctions are more of a symbolic move on President Barack Obama's part than anything else, and will ultimately do little to affect Russia's policies regarding Crimea. Russia in turn recently banned Speaker John Boehner, Sen. Harry Reid and Sen. John McCain, among other government individuals, from entry into their country, so it appears that the two powers are playing a game of tag. That being said, some people play tag simply for kicks, but sometimes people play tag just to cover their true intention of wanting to run really fast at someone and hit them. I'm not going to say which version of tag is being played here, but I do want to point out that Vladimir Putin stands at 5'5", and Obama is 6'1", so I like our chances. Tzvi Miller '16 is an International and Global Studies major. * Jesse Freedman '16 While I disagree with President Vladimir Putin's actions, I believe Obama should not have placed sanctions on Russia. Economically, sanctions hurt both parties because goods are no longer traded. They can also lead to trade wars, which would hurt an already fragile U.S. economy. The situation in Russia is tense and there is a possibility of war. If Russia does not change their policy then the relationship between the U.S. and Russia will become more heated. These sanctions are designed to coerce Russia into returning Crimea to Ukraine. The Petersen Institute for International Economics found that sanctions "succeed" about one-third of the time. Taking these factors into account, is it necessary for the U.S. to create this risk, which would damage the economy, potentially lead to war and only has roughly a 33 percent chance of succeeding, in return for a small piece of land in which the majority of people voted to join Russia? I believe not. Jesse Freedman '16 is a member of Brandeis Libertarians. * Connor Wahrman '17 On the whole, sanctions aren't an effective response to the Crimean crisis. Putin has overwhelming support in both Russia and Crimea, drawing upon the demonization of Ukraine's EU and NATO leanings, and the call to protect Crimea's Russian-speaking majority. Backing down at this point, then, would not only be degrading, but also foolish from President Vladimir Putin's position of strength. But given President Barack Obama's options, sanctions can be seen as a reasonable choice. The U.S. is not in a position to seek out another armed conflict, least against the major power in Eastern Europe. As such, when negotiations fail and U.N. action is made impossible by Russian veto power, sanctions become the clearest option. Putin, however, can then respond in kind, justifying the U.S. response to the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty as a threat to Crimea's self-determination. These bilateral sanctions only increase tensions and do little to change the situation. Connor Wahrman '17 is an International and Global Studies major and writes for the Brandeis International Journal.
(03/25/14 4:00am)
On March 1, the Boston Bruins departed from TD Garden fresh from a heartbreaking 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals. Since returning from the three-week Winter Olympics hiatus on Feb. 26, the Bruins had failed to win a game and were struggling. Three weeks and a 12-game winning streak later, the Bruins look like an entirely different squad. Boston reeled off three straight road victories against the New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche and Phoenix Coyotes, before finally falling to the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in a shootout last night to improve to 49-17 on the season with 103 points, a mark that places them at the top of the Eastern Conference and 17 points ahead of the next closest Atlantic Division opponent. The Bruins' 12-game winning streak allowed the team to clinch a playoff spot, the first team in either conference of the NHL to do so. "We still have to play our hockey and really focus on the little details going into the playoffs," said Bruins captain and defenseman Zdeno Chara. "Not being satisfied or complacent and keep pushing our team." Meanwhile, the status of the Bruins' winning streak stood in grave danger on Saturday against Phoenix. Boston trailed the host Coyotes by a 2-1 margin heading into the third period. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, with 39 seconds left in the second period, just fired off a power-play goal past Bruins goalkeeper Tuukka Rask and the near post for the lead. However, the Bruins came roaring back. Three minutes and 48 seconds into the third period, Chara fired a shot that deflected off of left wing Jarome Iginla and past Phoenix goalie Mike Smith to tie the game at 2-2. From there, Boston took control of the game. Right wing Shawn Thornton broke through for the go-ahead goal with 3:18 remaining in regulation, tipping in a feed past Smith from left wing Daniel Paille. Iginla put the icing on the cake, slotting home an empty-netter with 31.7 seconds left to ice the 4-2 victory for the Bruins. There was no doubt, though, for Boston in a road match at Denver the previous night. Goalie Chad Johnson made 31 saves and the Bruins cruised to a 2-0 victory. While Colorado outshot the road team by a 14-6 margin in the first period, Boston struck first. Center Patrice Bergeron, with 5:12 remaining in the period, slotted the puck right at Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov, but then picked up a critical rebound. He found an opening past Varlamov's outstretched left pad and fired it right past the goalkeeper for the 1-0 advantage. Center Carl Soderberg added an insurance goal at the 13:11mark in the second period with a shot that soared to an exposed part of the net over Varlamov's right shoulder. On Tuesday, the Bruins had to rely once again on its offense for a 4-2 victory over the Devils. Bergeron opened up the scoring at the 14:33 mark in the first period with a backhand shot through New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur's legs for the early lead. After ceding a power-play goal to New Jersey center Patrik Elias, left wing Brad Marchand responded with a resounding one-timer into the top right corner to hand the lead right back to the Bruins. Iginla joined the scoring frenzy just 59 seconds later, slotting the puck past a beleaguered Brodeur for a 3-1 lead. Bergeron netted the Bruins' lone goal in Monday's 2-1 shootout loss, when he redirected defenseman Dougie Hamilton's snap shot into the net at 14:34 of the third period. Rask stopped 21 shots in the loss. The Bruins will square off against the Chicago Blackhawks in a home match on Thursday at 7 p.m. *
(03/25/14 4:00am)
Correction appended. The University recently announced thee hiring of two new professors as part of a cluster hire around the African Diaspora, while the Education program and African and Afro-American Studies department look to fill an opening under the Florence Levy Kay Fellowship, a two-year post-doctoral fellowship that rotates between different departments and programs for each appointment. Both new professors and the post-doctoral fellow will begin teaching in fall 2014. AAAS and the Women's and Gender Studies program hired Jasmine Johnson, who recently completed a post-doctoral program at Northwestern University. Greg Childs, who earned his Ph.D. from New York University and is currently on the faculty of George Washington University, will join the History department. Johnson will teach one course in AAAS and one course in WGS each semester, according to Prof. Wendy Cadge (SOC), chair of the WGS program. According to Cadge, the details for Johnson's WGS course have not been finalized. Cadge wrote of the hire in an email to the Justice: "It influences our program tremendously-mostly by diversifying the classes we can offer." Johnson described her work as "an attempt to understand the politics of African diasporic movement" in an email to the Justice. While her work focuses on West African dance, Johnson wrote that she is also interested in movement in general. "How does movement shape racialized and gendered identities? I draw from the African diaspora, black feminist, and dance theories in answering these questions," she wrote. Johnson wrote that she looks forward to sharing in "Brandeis' intellectual and artistic life." As a professor in both AAAS and WGS, she wrote about her excitement to be able to offer different cross-listed and interdisciplinary courses, particularly in the area of dance, where she hopes to work with the School of Creative Arts. She is also excited to join the Brandeis community, writing that the "African Diaspora cluster hire indicates Brandeis' commitment to AAAS and WGS. It means that Brandeis understand[s] these intellectual communities to be essential to the mission of the university" and that it shows Brandeis is committed to interdisciplinary work. Greg Childs' work focuses on the history of the African Diaspora to Latin America. According to Prof. Jane Kamensky (HIST), chair of the History department, Childs' "work on Brazil, urban history, the African Diaspora, and the global eighteenth century will lead to crucial new course offerings." Kamensky wrote in an email to the Justice about her excitement at the interdisciplinary possibilities of Childs' appointment, writing that "Childs is poised to be a transformative teacher." Childs did not respond to requests for comment by press time. The AAAS department and the Education program are also looking to fill a post-doctoral Kay Fellowship position, Prof. Chad Williams (AAAS) wrote in an email to the Justice. This year, the Kay Fellowship will fit under the African Diaspora cluster hire, as AAAS and Education seek a specialist in urban education. This year's Kay Fellow candidates are Derron Wallace, Aaminah Norris and Tess Bundy. All of the candidates are visiting Brandeis to speak about their work: Wallace gave a lecture yesterday titled "Bad Blacks and Better Blacks?: Exploring the Role of Black Cultural Capital in the Educational Experiences of Afro-Caribbean Youth in London and New York;" Norris will give a lecture titled "Make Matters: Teaching and Learning Literacies and Identities in Urban Schools" this Thursday and Bundy will give a lecture titled "'The Schools Are Killing Our Kids!:' The African American Fight for Racial Democracy in the Boston Public Schools" on Tuesday, April 8. This African Diaspora cluster hire initiative was formed to fill an area of study not present in the University and to bring more diversity to course offerings, according to the Jan. 14 issue of the Justice. Editor's Note: The online version of this article has been edited to clarify Greg Childs' education. He received his Ph.D. from New York University and is currently on the faculty at George Washington University. He did not receive his Ph.D. from George Washington University, as the article previously stated. *
(03/18/14 4:00am)
Lean In, a group that advocates for women to achieve their career goals and hold positions of power, has partnered with the Girl Scouts in a new campaign to end the use of the word "bossy." The "Ban Bossy" campaign argues that when young girls assert themselves and are called "bossy," it discourages them from pursuing positions of leadership, and may potentially lead to major self-confidence issues. The campaign has earned endorsements from public figures such as Beyonc?(c) and Condoleezza Rice, but critics wonder whether banning "bossy" may lead to the word holding a more negative connotation, making it more hurtful when used. They also question whether the campaign actually addresses the underlying issues of sexism in the workplace. What do you think about the "Ban Bossy" campaign? * Prof. Jane Kamensky (HIST): When my older son was in first grade, the kids used to call him "Teacher Calvin." He was (and is) a smart kid, and he liked to tell his classmates how to improve their work. He was, in a word, bossy. But nobody ever called him that, because his gender didn't match the adjective. I'm bossy too: "Teacher Jane." I set deadlines and I stick to them. I expect my students to show up on time, prepared and ready to work. Bossy means taking my job seriously. Can feminists like me find a way to reclaim "bossy"? Writing in The New Yorker, Margaret Talbot argues that we should appropriate the word, making bossy the new queer: a term of in-group pride, a label for women who embrace leadership. Bosses are bossy. And every day, more women become bosses. How about a T-shirt that says, "Yeah, I'm Bossy, Deal with It!" Prof. Jane Kamensky (HIST) is chair of the History department and the Harry S. Truman professor of American Civilization. * Zuri Gordon '15 I'm sure "Ban Bossy" has the best of intentions but I find it to be problematic. I think Girl Scouts is a cool and radical organization that could create legitimate change for young girls, but Lean In just puts a Venus symbol over capitalism and corporations and calls it feminism, when obviously so many women do not have access to those institutions, or those institutions have failed them. So I think that the kind of feminism that Lean In promotes does more harm than good, and I don't believe that their "Ban Bossy" campaign will be successful. I would be more interested if they pushed for reclaiming words like bossy or at the very least trying to dismantle a cultural inequality that unfairly targets girls and women for being assertive. I definitely understand how "bossy" has negative connotations but I would rather see campaigns allow girls more freedom in how they chose to define themselves rather than restricting them from words. Zuri Gordon '15 is president of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. * Joseph Babeu '15 Most advocates in the feminist movement know that the misogyny embedded in our popular culture runs far more deeply than challenging a single term would fix. After all, what does terminology matter if pay is still not equal across genders? However, it is not feasible to expect the entire country to jump from institutionalized sexism to equal pay overnight. Advocates must start with the lowest common denominator-those who may not understand why using "bossy" may have a negative impact on young women, or even those who agree with its use. To make any substantive progress, it is essential that these people be educated on issues of gender discrimination. Furthermore, this education does not begin with a radical push. It begins with advocates meeting people where they are and taking a first step, together. Lean In is taking this first step with "Ban Bossy". Joseph Babeu '15 works for the Lemberg Children's Center. * Christa Caggiano '17 I love Beyonc?(c). She is an excellent performer and an ultra-successful businesswoman, and I think deep down, all Americans want to be just a bit like her. So, when Beyonc?(c) joins a campaign like Ban Bossy, people pay attention. Average Americans see Beyonc?(c)'s video campaign and then share it on Facebook or email it to their nieces. These are people who have no reason to think about feminist theory in their daily lives, who are now thinking about why there are not that many female leaders, or why they call their daughters "pretty" but not "smart." In my opinion, this discourse is infinitely more important than actually banning the word bossy. I think this campaign is about changing the tide of our culture, forcing people to really think and talk about the role women play in leadership, and not necessarily about altering the modern lexicon. If it takes a sassy Beyonc?(c) in a viral video to make people have those conversations, I am completely okay with that. Christa Caggiano '17 is a student scholarship partner at the Women's Studies Research Center.
(03/18/14 4:00am)
Adjuncts across the country and throughout Boston have been unionizing due to a general lack of benefits and low wages. Although the Brandeis Fair Pay Coalition has taken an initiative in meeting with a representative from the Service Employees International Union and several adjuncts have expressed concerns about the current situation at the University, no specific plan to unionize at Brandeis could be confirmed by the Justice. Adjuncts at the University currently receive about $6,000 per course in the Arts and Sciences, according to Prof. Bernadette Brooten (NEJS) in an email to the Justice. Senior Vice President for Communications Ellen de Graffenreid wrote in an email to the Justice that $6,000 is the minimum that adjuncts are paid per course, but that disparities can exist between adjuncts' pay based upon areas of expertise and experience. An adjunct is "someone whose primary employment is not at Brandeis," de Graffenreid wrote. Adjuncts were first introduced in higher education so that universities could hire professionals to teach a course as a unique opportunity for students. The University hires adjuncts in order to fill in for a faculty member who is on leave or sabbatical, to bring specific expertise to Brandeis "often in more applied fields ... because those people bring real-world experience to students in a way that is really usefu (sic)" and to "fill out the curriculum in areas where there is a need for a specific course in a major or program," according to de Graffenreid. However, a lecturer, who requested to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the topic and job security concerns, explained that many adjuncts have doctorates in their fields from prestigious universities. "We're getting top quality-trained professionally-academics to do these sort of jobs that were traditionally done by adjuncts to come in and go," the lecturer said in an interview with the Justice. According to de Graffenreid, two courses per semester is considered half-time employment, and there is not an hourly requirement. De Graffenreid wrote that this means that faculty members hired on a per-course basis teaching as few as two courses may be eligible for benefits their first semester at the University. According to Assistant Vice President for Human Resources Michelle Scichilone in an email to the Justice, the University offers benefits to any faculty member who is "classified as half-time or more regardless of title." Such employees are eligible to participate in the University's health and dental insurance "and pay the same premium as our full-time faculty members," according to Scichilone. All half-time faculty are also eligible to participate in the University's flexible medical and dependent care reimbursement accounts, the group life insurance plan, 403(b) retirement plan, the Employee Assistance Plan, and discounted auto and homeowners insurance, among other benefits. Despite the availability of benefits for part-time faculty members, the anonymous lecturer said many adjuncts and individuals who get paid per-course can only teach one or two classes per semester, depending upon time constraints. This individual said that he or she only teaches an average of two courses per semester, and that grading papers, responding to emails, answering student questions and other responsibilities are not accounted for in the pay per course. "I'm always here in my office around 8:30 in the morning. I leave around 1:30 after I teach, I send some emails out, but then I go back, at night I spend from 6 to 9 [p.m.] again behind the computer, so I think I work a full-time job," the lecturer said in an interview with the Justice. In addition, the lecturer must work additional jobs apart from his or her employment at the University. "There's no way you could make ends meet on $6,000 a course per semester. That's $12,000 a year, way below poverty," the lecturer said. The lecturer said he or she knows of other colleagues who also work other jobs outside of the University. The lecturer added that students should also be fighting for appropriate pay and benefits for adjuncts because adjunct pay could affect the quality of education for this reason. One reason adjuncts may begin working at a University is the hope that they would eventually be able to land a tenure-track position, said the lecturer. Adjuncts such as Prof. Peter Gould (PAX), who co-teaches "Inner Peace/Outer Peace," continue to return to the University as adjuncts despite the lack of benefits-he only teaches one course that meets for three hours per week-and low pay. Gould has been an adjunct professor at the University since 2009, and shares half of $7,000 to teach this course with an "equal co-teacher," he wrote in an email to the Justice. The course generally attracts 35 to 40 students, according to Gould. "It is not a financially wise arrangement, but I am willing to do it because I am very good at what I do, I take pride in the work, I get great response from students, and I love the work, the students, the material, and the stimulation," Gould wrote in an email to the Justice. "The [U]niversity knows all this, so that puts me in a weak position, since, they know I will likely continue, although I am underpaid, and they also know that there are probably lots of people out there, more desperate than I am, who would love to step into my job if they had the opportunity." Gould wrote that he receives no University benefits. In fact, according to Gould, "the benefits are minus." Gould wrote that he has to pay all his travel expenses to work to Brandeis, with his "long trek" from Vermont. Gould acknowledged that the need for adjuncts does exist, but he said adjuncts should receive more pay. "If [the University has] these very believable reasons why they hire adjuncts, they should bend over backwards in showing their appreciation by paying these specialists a reasonable reward for their work," Gould wrote. The anonymous lecturer added that many universities hire adjuncts because there is no required long-term commitment. The lecturer said that those who maintain a certain number of students in their classes might be able to teach that course again, but that those who do not have no job security. The lecturer's contract is on an annual basis. Differences in standing According to de Graffenreid, there is a distinction between contract status and rank. Contract status would define whether or not an individual is, in fact, an adjunct. Rank would determine whether or not the individual is an instructor, senior instructor, lecturer, senior lecturer, assistant professor, associate professor or professor. De Graffenreid defined a lecturer as a "rank." Although the anonymous lecturer has an annual contract, de Graffenreid wrote that there are long-term, or five-year, contracts for lecturers, as well. In regard to the claim that the anonymous lecturer was paid per course like an adjunct, de Graffenreid wrote that her "understanding is that per course vs. salary depends upon their individual contract." According de Graffenreid, there are 202 tenured faculty members, 59 faculty members on the tenure track, 103 long-term and full-time faculty members and 46 adjuncts. Adjuncts that fit the part-time criteria comprise 11 percent of instructional faculty, according to de Graffenreid. Comparing salaries According to the 2013 American Association of University Professors Faculty Salary Survey on the Chronicle of Higher Education website, full professors at Brandeis make $131,400 per year on average, while associate professors make $93,400. Assistant professors make an average of $83,400 and instructors make $59,000 per year. According to these figures and the Chronicle of Higher Education, Brandeis has the 14th highest paid faculty in Massachusetts. By comparison, adjuncts typically make $6,000 per course. If "a person were able to piece together four courses at different schools-which itself is hard to line up, that person, with a doctorate and the resulting high student debt, would be earning $24,000 per year, without benefits," Brooten wrote in an email to the Justice. The $24,000 per year figure assumes the adjunct only teaches four courses in one year, or two courses per semester. The SEIU, a union that is currently working with adjuncts to unionize, published a report through Adjunct Action titled "The High Cost of Adjunct Living: Boston." The report states that the average annual pay in 2013 for a tenured professor at a private research university in the United States was $167,118, while the average pay per course reported by adjunct faculty was $3,000. According to the report, by 2009, nationally, tenure and tenure-track positions had declined to about 33.5 percent of faculty positions, leaving 66.5 percent of faculty ineligible for tenure. Unionizing efforts Efforts have recently taken off for adjuncts to unionize at universities in the Boston area, including a successful vote last month to unionize at Lesley University. Adjunct Action through SEIU "is a campaign that unites adjunct professors at campuses across the country to address the crisis in higher education and the troubling trend toward a marginalized teaching faculty that endangers our profession," according to its website. According to a Feb. 24 post to the website, the Lesley University adjuncts voted to join SEIU. The post states that 84 percent of adjuncts across the four campuses were in favor of unionizing. Tufts University adjuncts voted to join SEIU last September, and are currently bargaining their first contract, according to the website. "Quickly rising tuition has resulted in record levels of student debt, putting higher education out of reach for more and more working families," the SEIU website reads. "At the same time, ... being a university professor, once the quintessential middle-class job, has become a low-wage one." Andrew Nguyen '15, one of the student leaders involved in the Brandeis Fair Pay Coalition, said in an interview with the Justice that the group had been working to meet with an SEIU leader who had helped to organize adjuncts into unions at other colleges in the area. According to Nguyen in the interview, the coalition had not met with many adjunct faculty members, although some were invited to attend the meeting. Nguyen did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the results of the meeting by press time. "I have not heard about a union, more than in some news stories, but I would be happy to join in an organization working for the general benefit of adjunct teachers at Brandeis and throughout the world of education in the US," wrote Gould of the possibility of unionizing adjuncts at Brandeis.
(03/11/14 4:00am)
It's not every day that the label "most stylish" is applied to members of the Brandeis University community-especially by one of Boston's premier lifestyle publications. But in a March publication of the Boston Globe's Style Magazine, one of Brandeis' own made the cut. This year, the Boston Globe Style Magazine named the Henry and Lois Foster director of the Rose Art Museum, Christopher Bedford, as one of the "Most Stylish Bostonians 2014." Joining the ranks of 16 other young professionals in the Boston area chosen by the publication, Bedford is recognized in a profile and accompanying video feature on the Style Magazine's website. The Boston Style Magazine highlighted Bedford's impeccable and forward-thinking taste-something that the Style Magazine sought out in all of the list-makers-and asked him questions about how visual taste influences his lifestyle. The online profile focused on the way that Bedford presents himself-what he wears to his own museum openings, what he looks for in new art acquisitions and which artists or designers influence him. When asked what he prefers to wear to openings at the Rose, Bedford answered: "I tend to wear at least one new thing. [At first] it was just an amusing habit, but now it's become a good-luck charm, so now I have to do it every time. I think there's an impulse to redo yourself just as you redo the museum for the public." The two-minute-long video, published online along with the article, followed Bedford through a brief viewing of an exhibit of German artists Wols and Charlene von Heyl's works in the Rose-one of the museum's new exhibits this season. Bedford commented both on the works and on his personal style, and how he takes inspiration when dressing for museum events. This year's "Most Stylish Bostonians" compilation marks the nineth annual list by the Globe's Style magazine.
(03/11/14 4:00am)
William Kentridge's The Refusal of Time, which is currently on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, is a tour de force, combining sound and moving images in a installation utilizing a five-channel video and sculpture. Kentridge is an artist of Jewish and Caucasian ethnicity who was born and raised in South Africa and is currently based in Johannesburg. The exhibition explores the intersection of time and memory, science and globalization. Though these themes are frequently present in the South African artist's work, the idea for this installation developed through years of discussion between the artist and Peter Galison, a professor of history of science at Harvard University. The five-channel video with sound, megaphones and metronomes, surrounds a wooden sculpture, which Kentridge refers to as an "elephant," and a "breathing machine." The piece is the product of a collaboration between four individuals: Galison, composer Philip Miller, video filmmaker Catherine Meyburgh and Kentridge himself. Rustic, old world-inspired animations that evoke European colonialism and the early 20th century are gracefully utilized to inspire nostalgia in the piece. The five screens, which each play separate images, at times will randomly, but with panache, join together to play the same image at the same time. The drama of the installation, which places the viewer in the midst of a lost time, is heightened by both the time-ticking metronomes and the wooden sculptural "elephant" in the center of the room. In my opinion, however, the wooden sculpture does not resemble an elephant but rather a large bellows. Kentridge calls the sculpture an elephant, though, in reference to Charles Dickens' novel, Hard Times, where machines can move "like an elephant in a state of melancholy madness." In this way, the elephant does evoke a sense of grace as it is keeping track of time. However, it is hard to know exactly how the machine is measuring time. The movements of the clunky contraption mimic the 19th-century Parisian method of regulating clocks by pumping air through tubes beneath the streets. As the machine moves forward and backward, to a slow, rhythmic beat, it appears slightly clunky-an anachronistic symbol in our world of fast cars and progressing technology. From the moving elephant sculpture to the metronomes, to the animations, which combine black and white images, it is apparent that the passing of time and our desire to measure time is at the center of this installation. Working within the framework of the relativity of time as articulated by Albert Einstein, the installation juxtaposes the relative nature of time in a world obsessed with measuring, fixing and standardizing, as reflected in Britain's declaration of a universal time throughout its empire. This is just one instance of our refusal to work with time. As Kentridge writes, "Everybody knows that we are going to die, but the resistance to that pressure coming towards us is at the heart of the project. At the individual level, it was about resisting; not resisting mortality in the hope of trying to escape it, but trying to escape the pressure that it puts on us." On the global scale, refusal reflects "the European sense of order imposed by time zones; not only literally, but this refusal also referred metaphorically to the other forms of control as well." An adjoining room that combines a series of drawings from Kentridge helps to contextualize Kentridge's work as the artist has always argued that the root of his work is drawing. The charcoal and ink drawings and etches combined with the impressive installation render the viewer with pangs of nostalgia as the fleeting nature of time is revealed. It is through the exhibition that one realizes the transient nature of time. The days may feel long, but the years and decades, our arbitrary markers of time, are short. The exhibition is on view until May 4.
(03/11/14 4:00am)
This year marks the centennial anniversary of the birth of Irving Fine, a composer and former professor at the University. Two years after Brandeis' founding, Fine left his position at Harvard University to join Brandeis' up-and-coming Music department-a risky move at the time. He proved to be an enormous asset to Brandeis as he expanded the Music department tremendously, bringing in talents such as Leonard Bernstein, Harold Shapero, Arthur Berger and Caldwell Titcomb during his tenure. On Sunday afternoon, the University Concert Series held a performance in Slosberg Music Center titled "A Tribute to Irving Fine"-commemorating Fine's work and influences. The concert highlighted Fine and Shapero's professional and personal relationship, and the program provided photos of the two working together at both Brandeis and the Tanglewood Music Festival in the mid-1940s. The concert also featured works composed by both Shapero and Fine, both neoclassicalists of the 20th century, as well as works by B?(c)la Bart??k and Claude Debussy, also 20th-century artists. Earlier in the year Sally Pinkas Ph.D. '91 and her husband, Evan Hirsh, performed a memorial concert for Shapero, who passed away last spring. This Sunday, Pinkas returned to play again, this time in memory of Fine. Pinkas, solo pianist and professor at Dartmouth College, and Prof. Daniel Stepner (MUS), first violinist of Brandeis' Lydian String Quartet, performed duets as well as solos from the early to mid-20th century. The concert began with Sonata for Violin and Piano, written by Shapero in 1942. The three movements were drastically different from one another-the "Moderato" light, airy and playful; the "Adagio" sad, soulful and longing; and the "Alegro preciso" fast and frantic with a few melodic sequences woven in. Next came Bart??k's Sonata for Solo Violin, written in 1944 and performed by Stepner. The program mentions that Bart??k was highly influenced by Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. The first movement, "Tempo de ciaccona," "owes a great deal to the grand nineteenth-century manner of playing unaccompanied Bach," the program commented. The piece featured many differing musical techniques such as chords, fast sequences of notes that ran up and down the instrument and pizzicato to create a complexity of sound. At one point in the piece, Stepner played pizzicato while still playing arco, a technique that required a great amount of coordination. Next, Pinkas performed Debussy's Estampes, written in 1903. The movement, the "Pagodes" at times sounded like bells, the Pinkas playing the piano rapidly, scaling up and down the instrument and oscillating between notes. The next movement, "La sori?(c)e dans Granada" (The Evening in Granada,) felt much as the title of the piece suggested-like a party scene with many things happening at once, converging in a complexity of notes and rhythms. The piece drifted off at the end, reminiscent of a night on the town that was finally dying down with people returning home. The last piece the duo played was composed by Fine himself. Sonata for Violin and Piano, written in 1946, definitely had traces of the previous three pieces. The program mentioned that Fine said that his Sonata is "essentially tonal, diatonic and moderately dissonant, neoclassic in its formal approach and (according to some critics) neo-romantic in its expressive attitudes." I could definitely hear some of the dissonant tones that Fine describes, especially in the "Lento con moto," as notes diverged from the key signature. The piece was just as beautiful though, indeed embodying these "expressive attitudes" and romantic tropes that Fine described. The final movement of the Sonata, "Vivo," was, as the title suggests, lively and very bold and rousing. At times though, the movement would transition into a more morose and intense melody. These breaks from the high energy of the piece allowed the listener to appreciate the liveliness and notice the fast, vibrant parts even more. The concert was very impressive-Pinkas and Stepner are clearly extremely talented and experienced with these composers and musical styles, and the concert did justice to Fine's life and legacy.
(03/11/14 4:00am)
After a week of occupation by Russian soldiers, the government of Ukraine's Crimea region voted Thursday night to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia. The referendum will be put to a regional vote in 10 days. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent soldiers to Crimea at the request of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, but Ukraine's new Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has stated that Crimea "was, is, and will be an integral part of Ukraine." Yatsenyuk denies seeking military aid from the United States, but both the U.S. and European Union have considered placing economic and political sanctions on Russia. How should the U.S. respond to the situation in Crimea? * Prof. Chandler Rosenberger (IGS) First, repeat simple facts. Russia invaded a sovereign state, seized its territory, then overthrew the elected government of the region it occupied. A referendum under those conditions won't be worth the paper that Moscow's fake ballots will be printed on. Russia pretends that its assault is the moral equivalent of Ukraine's constitutional removal of a felonious president. We must not let Moscow's smokescreens obscure its belligerence. Second, we should commit to the success of democratic Ukraine. Ukraine can't take Crimea back, but it can make a mockery of Putin's paranoid protection racket. Let's help the Ukrainians secure their currency and make it easy for U.S. and European firms to invest in Ukrainian businesses. Let's bring Ukrainian legislators to Washington, D.C. and Ukrainian students to Brandeis. Let's pay for Yo-Yo Ma, Beyonc?(c), and Michael Chabon to visit Kiev. Let's help Ukraine become the prosperous and free country that 104 people died dreaming of. Prof. Chandler Rosenberger (IGS) is the chair of the International and Global Studies program. * Lilia Leybova '15 The situation in Ukraine is very dangerous and unsteady. The logical answer would be to figure out a way to reach a solution peacefully, however this would only be possible if Russia was [sic] willing to cooperate. I agree with the current actions that both the United States and the EU are taking to try and reason with Russia and pressure them into ending their current seize of the Crimean Peninsula. I do not believe that the U.S. should take any military action as this could easily escalate and lead to unwanted consequences. Hopefully, the current political sanctions, including issuing visa bans to those who are considered responsible for undermining Ukrainian sovereignty, being taken will cause Russia to re-evaluate its decisions. In addition, I think that it is critical for the U.S. and the EU to support Ukraine throughout this troublesome time while still trying to resolve it as peacefully as possible. Lilia Leybova '15 was born in Ukraine. She is a biochemistry major. * Elizabeth Zharovsky '15 This is definitely a complex issue, especially given the history between the U.S. and Russia. The Crimea region was given to Ukraine under the Soviet regime because at that time, it didn't really matter who the land belonged to. Now, Putin has decided he wants it back, presumably to use the land as leverage in negotiations with the new Ukrainian government. The United States and EU have tried to conduct peaceful talks with Russia. Honestly, at this point, the U.S. should stay out of it because our continued involvement will just further tensions between us and Russia. Whatever Putin has in mind has already been decided, regardless of what the U.S. has to say about it. Elizabeth Zharovsky '15 is a Russian Studies minor and president of Russian Club. * Dan Rozel '16 The situation in Crimea is a cause for concern throughout the entire international community, and like Kosovo and Abkhazia, there is no simple course of action for the United States as a world superpower. This is a particularly delicate situation for the United States, as the imposition of sanctions on Russia flies in the face of the American belief of self-sovereignty. One could say that these sanctions would be the United States essentially not acknowledging the right of the autonomous people of Crimea to choose their own associations. However, I am still of the belief that the U.S. and EU should impose sanctions purely based on the method by which the Russians "liberated" the Crimeans. Sending troops into an autonomous region to "protect" it, especially when that region subsequently votes to join the invading country, feels like an unacceptable return to imperialism and brute force colonization. Dan Rozel '16 is an undergraduate fellow of the Brandeis Genesis Institute for Russian Jewry.
