(11/26/13 5:00am)
This past week, Brandeis celebrated Trans Awareness Week with a variety of events aimed at educating the student body about the needs of the transgender community, as well as the challenges it faces. The week was co-sponsored by TransBrandeis and the Intercultural Center. Trans Awareness Week is a nationally celebrated week that promotes awareness of the transgender community. According to the website of Fenway Focus, a group dedicated to serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community of Boston's Fenway neighborhood, Trans Awareness Week was first started by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition to advocate for the transgender community. This year, the week was celebrated nationally from Nov. 11 to Nov. 17. It was recognized and celebrated at Brandeis between Nov. 18 and 24; this marks the third time Brandeis has celebrated the week. The dates differed for Brandeis, according to Sara Brande '15, the coordinator of TransBrandeis, because it was believed that having them cover an entire academic week would be a more effective way of reaching out to the community. TransBrandeis is a branch of Triskelion, Brandeis's umbrella LGBTQ group, which focuses on the transgender community at Brandeis. Brande said in an interview with the Justice that the week had seen a great showing from the community, and that the events had been "very well received." Jessica Pedrick, the program coordinator for sexual and gender diversity at the Intercultural Center, said in an interview with the Justice that the week was a strong success. "There seems to be a large interest in trans awareness on campus," she said. Pedrick said she mainly served in an advisory capacity for the week, meeting with representatives for each event to finalize details and ensure the proper resources were available and "supporting them any way they needed." On Monday, Nov. 19, the Queer Resource Center handed out cookies and informational pamphlets outside of the Usdan Student Center in an effort to promote Trans Awareness Week itself and general information about the transgender community to students. The event on Tuesday, Nov. 20 was the Trans Awareness Week Coffeehouse, which occurred in the ICC Swig Lounge. The coffeehouse received a "strong showing of support from the community," Brande said, and featured performances including a cappella groups, sketch comedy and individual acts. The ICC hosted an "Allies Brown Bag Lunch" on Wednesday in the Swig Lounge, which featured a discussion about the variations in gender identity and expression. The event was very successful, according to Pedrick, as a diverse group of individuals attended, including undergraduate and graduate students, and various staff members from the Interfaith Chaplaincy and the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, among others. The brown bag lunch also "promoted the ICC," Brande said. "People don't always visit the ICC, and events like this help expose them to what it can offer," she added. On Thursday, the Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil took place in the Trisk Lounge. There, the names of some of the victims of transphobic murders were read aloud in a memorial service for the 238 reported victims of the past year. Brande said that this event was particularly difficult, as the number of victims "is 238 too many." On Friday afternoon, Trans Awareness week joined the Peace Vigil at the Peace Circle for a ceremony promoting peace among all people. The final event of the week, Queer Swim, occurred on Sunday at the pool in the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center. From 2:15 to 4:15 p.m., any person was able to use the male, female and handicapped locker rooms and pool entrances in an effort to promote gender inclusivity. "Basically, anyone [could] use whichever entrance they prefer to identify with," said Brande. "It is a great way to make the space more gender inclusive." Yesterday, a follow-up event called "Allies Topic Training: Coming Out" was held from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Swig Lounge. This discussion centered on how an individual can be a supportive ally, specifically with the challenges that follow when an individual considers whether to "come out" and disclose their sexual orientation, sexual preference or gender identity. Trans Awareness Week is not the only focus of TransBrandeis, however. A major initiative the group has focused on for two years has been implementing gender inclusive bathrooms in public buildings. "There are already gender inclusive bathrooms in many of the residence halls, which is great" said Brande. "The next step is pushing for more [gender inclusive bathrooms] in public buildings around campus." According to Brande, there are only four gender inclusive bathrooms in public spaces: one in the Intercultural Center, one in the Shapiro Campus Center and two in the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Pedrick told the Justice that this initiative was "well under way," and that "the majority of the leg-work has been done, and now we have to compile the information into a report." She estimated that a motion would be submitted to the administration sometime during this academic year. *
(11/25/13 5:00am)
On Nov. 8, Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in Eastern Samar, Philippines, leaving 230,501 injured and a death toll of 5,235 and climbing, according to a Nov. 22 CNN report. Less than a week later on Thursday Nov. 14, a small group of students from the organization Students for a Just and Stable Future packed into a car bound for Tufts University for an emergency meeting about organizing a student fast—a fast to spread awareness about the superstorm's devastation and turn the conversation more broadly toward the urgency of the climate crisis.
(11/19/13 5:00am)
Brandeis Visions for Israel in an Evolving World held an event on Tuesday about Israel's ultra-Orthodox population, called Haredim. The event brought together about 60 students and faculty. The Haredi population is perceived by many Israeli citizens as absorbing state resources without paying proper duties to the state, including military service, participation in the labor force and proper care toward gender equality, according to program materials. Speakers during the event and students in a follow-up discussion examined the other side of this debate, considering how history led to Haredi dependence on the state, why Haredi ideology developed apart from the rest of Israel and how Haredim would be affected by changes to the legislation that currently supports them. "Even if we are afraid of [this topic], the ultra-Orthodox are our partners," said bVIEW Co-Founder and Programming Director Gil Zamir '15 in his opening remarks. Citing statistics that 700,000 of Israel's eight million citizens are Haredi and that one in four Israeli children are educated at an ultra-Orthodox institution, Zamir emphasized that they are more than just a "parasite," a term he heard them called when growing up on an Israeli kibbutz. "We believe that when thinking about Israel's future we cannot disregard this topic, even if we are afraid of it," he said. Prof. Yehudah Mirsky (NEJS), an ordained rabbi, and former Haredi Ysoscher Katz, director of a preparatory year program called Beit Midrash at the rabbinical school Yshivat Chovevei Torah, spoke at the event. Mirsky discussed the history of the Haredi population, describing how their ideology developed into ultra-orthodoxy during the 20th century. Orthodoxy, which had developed into a myriad of groups, split between "the Old Yishuv," or "the old Jewish collective," and "the New Yishuv." The rise of the Zionist movement and the world wars that vindicated the Zionist cause enabled Zionists to determine the "agenda of Jewish political life," according to Mirsky. For this reason, "the old yishuv" was "never able on its own terms to attain a great position of leadership in the Jewish world," Mirsky said. The old Jewish collective, which developed into the ultra-Orthodox community, opposed the secularization of the most profound symbols of Jewish people and established its support from the state through the status quo agreements of 1947, which established their exemption from military service and arranged for them to receive funding for their institutions, according to Mirsky. Ideological battles regarding the ultra-Orthodox in recent years, Mirsky said, have erupted in response to Israeli society becoming "remarkably secularized and sexualized." The "extraordinary bargaining power" ultra-Orthodox citizens had in the government allowed them to "negotiate almost anything," Mirsky said. Recent elections, however, have "for the first time in many years" removed Orthodox parties from the cabinet in the Israeli government, he added. Katz's perspective on Haredim provided a different insight, as he had for most of his life been Haredi himself. "There is a logic and reason to their world," he said. Modernization in Israel has led there to be only two options available to traditionalists, he said: ultra-Orthodoxy or ultra-secularism. The two groups have not yet met "core-to-core," and instead have only encountered each other "periphery-to-periphery," causing the issue to be unresolved. Regarding critiques of gender relations in ultra-Orthodox communities, Katz said that ultra-Orthodox communities were more complex than simply being "male-centric." The public face, he said, was male, but the private was dependent on women. Though his argument did not defend the system as being gender-equal, his defense of the ultra-Orthodox gender system depicted the system of dependency that appears to maintain unequal gender relations. Shani Abramowitz '14, logistics director of bVIEW, clarified bVIEW's intentions in coordinating this event in an interview with the Justice. "The point is to expose people to the other side of the narrative, because we're so quick to label and generalize, explicitly with [the Haredi] community and the discussion that surrounds it," said Abramowitz. Chen Arad '15, one of bVIEW's co-founders, described the political situation that made the issue of Haredim particularly important to discuss. "There are no Haredi parties in the government right now," he said. "So they are not there to prevent ... cutting of budgets for Haredis if they don't join the military and all kinds of legislation that currently allows a high degree of not joining the military among Haredis." *
(11/12/13 5:00am)
Former Executive Director Larry Sternberg's M.A. '78 tenure officially ended this past week, and Hillel at Brandeis' Board of Directors appointed Samuel Mendales to take over as the interim executive director for Hillel, according to a Nov. 9 email to Hillel student leaders from student president of Hillel Rachel Mayo '14. This decision comes after Sternberg announced on Oct. 18 that he would be leaving the University after over 30 years at Brandeis as a student, faculty member and staff member. Mendales wrote in an email to the Justice that he plans to start in his position as the interim executive director this week with a few "stealth" visits. Mendales said that he plans to be on campus twice a week and "as needed in the future." According to Mayo's email, more specific details of Mendales' schedule and tasks are still in development. "My major goal is to support the terrific staff and students through this transition and work with all of you to find the best possible candidate for Brandeis Hillel." Mendales explained that the new executive director will not be him, as he has a full-time job at Hillel Council. According to Mendales, he has worked with Brandeis students over the years on Hillel Council regional events and has helped to send Brandeis students on Israel programs. "I even attended services at Brandeis when I first moved to Boston before joining a synagogue," Mendales wrote. He added that he is excited to work with Brandeis students. "I feel proud and humbled that ... the Board and the [Schusterman] International Center [through Hillel] asked me to join the Brandeis community for this transitional period," wrote Mendales. Mendales has been the executive director of Hillel Council of New England since 1985, according to a biography attached to Mayo's email. Mendales transformed Hillel Council into a regional agency, which promotes advocacy and supplies regional services and programming for Hillel staff and students, as well fiscal management for the larger Hillels in the Greater Boston area, according to the biography. Mendales is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University and the School of Jewish Communal Service at Hebrew Union College, according to the biography. Mendales is a board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, a member of the Combined Jewish Philanthropy's Board of Governors, a founding board member of the Jewish Organizers Initiative, a member of Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Mass. and a member of the Bedford Center for The Arts. Mayo declined to comment on Mendales' appointment. -Marissa Ditkowsky
(11/05/13 5:00am)
On Friday, approximately 50 students joined Namaskar, Brandeis' Association for Hindu, Jain and Sikh students, to celebrate the festival of Diwali in Ridgewood A Commons. Those in attendance included members of Namaskar, students and other members of the Brandeis community. Diwali is a major holiday celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs around the world. Translated as "row of lamps" in Hindi, Diwali holds a different significance for each religion observing, according to an email sent to the Brandeis Community by the Interfaith Chaplaincy. Sikhs celebrate Diwali on the anniversary of the day the sixth Sikh Guru Hargobind ji was freed from imprisonment. For Jains, Diwali marks the Nirvana, or spiritual awakening, of Mahavira, a major spiritual leader. In the Hindu tradition, Diwali represents the return of Ram, a form of the god Vishnu, after he defeats the demon Ravana, who had kidnapped his wife. More broadly, Hindus celebrate Diwali as a triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. At Brandeis, Namaskar celebrated Diwali with food and festivity. Ridgewood A Commons was decorated with strings of lights and fabric artfully draped over the walls. A small shrine with candles and photos of various religious figures from the different traditions was prominently displayed in the center of the room. Before dinner, there were two different crafts offered. The first was a station where students and community members could decorate white paper with patterns made of glue and rice. Students drew on the paper with glue and then sprinkled colored rice over the top. The other craft option was lamp decorating. Lighting lamps is a significant part of Diwali and everyone was invited to paint on simple clay lamp holders. Some designs were simple with dots and stripes but other lamps had intricate drawings of plants or flames. The Indian dinner was one of the highlights of the evening. According to Shruti Vaidyanathan '16, the Namaskar public relations coordinator, the dishes served were aloo sabzi, a spicy potato dish, and paneer makhani, a buttery dish with chunks of Indian cheese, rice, mango juice and naan, Indian flatbread. For dessert, students could choose from an array of options including gulab jamun, a sweet dumpling, peda, a sweet made out of milk, sugar and flavorings like cardamom, and jaggery, a brightly colored hard sugar treat. During dinner, coordinator of the Interfaith Chaplaincy and the University's Catholic Chaplain Rev. Walter Cuenin said a few words on behalf of the Interfaith Chaplaincy and formally introduced the University's new Hindu adviser, Vaishali Gupta. Cuenin told the group that "almost all religions have a sense of light in a world of darkness." This marked the first year that Brandeis has had a spiritual adviser for the Hindu, Jain and Sikh community. In years past, students ran the prayers and explained the holidays themselves. When discussing Diwali, Gupta expanded upon the theme of openness to many faiths and cultures when she spoke about Diwali. She said that regardless of faith, everyone has "inner spiritual light." Following the delicious dinner, members of Namaskar and Gupta led the group in two rounds of prayers, or aarti. The first was a traditional Jain prayer done in honor of Mahavira, while the second was a Hindu aarti. During the prayers, Hindu, Jain and Sikh members of the community approached the altar and partook in traditional ceremonies with candles. Every student who so desired was blessed by Gupta. To end the spiritual occasion, Namaskar President Sharada Sanduga '14 invited all the guests to light ceremonial lamps that symbolized the triumph of light over darkness. It was a fitting end to a beautiful ceremony. *
(11/05/13 5:00am)
In the midst of all the new, modernist music that tends to be played at Brandeis, sometimes it's nice to revisit the musical classics and remember why they have remained so influential and popular for centuries. Saturday night's concert, as part of the Marquee Series in Slosberg Music Center, featuring works by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, gave the Brandeis community an opportunity to appreciate the genius of these composers and the absolute beauty of their pieces that have shaped music history.
(11/05/13 5:00am)
Friday's matchup against No. 1 Washington University in St. Louis represented an opportunity for the women's soccer team to test itself against the top team in the nation. While the squad was able to keep the Bears scoreless for 40 minutes, the visitors ultimately scored just before half-time to go up 1-0, before notching two further goals after the break en route to a 3-0 win. Later in the weekend, the Judges tied the University of Chicago on Sunday in a dramatic 1-1 game. The team is now winless in six straight games, with only two goals scored over that span and with contention for a spot in postseason tournaments all but over. As a result, the loss and subsequent tie push the Judges' season record to 9-6-2 overall and a 1-3-2 record in UAA play. Sunday's game still yielded some positive results, though, in framing the future of this team. The lack of offense may be attributed to the season-ending injuries of team-leading forward and co-captains, forward Dara Spital '15 and midfielder Mary Shimko '14. However, the injuries opened up opportunities for a slew of first-years to start and they made sure to capitalize on the opportunity. The group is led by defender Julia McDermott '17, who made her second appearance of the season on Sunday and registered an effort in overtime that flew just over the Chicago crossbar. She is joined by forward Cidney Moscovitch '17 and midfielder Jessica Morana '17, who also received significant playing time in the Judges' match against the visiting Maroons. Though it can be tough for a new player to step into a pressure environment, right-back Emma Eddy '15 was impressed with the performance of these three players. "I thought they were awesome," she said of the trio who saw significant action in Sunday's close matchup. "They've been playing this whole season and we've got a lot of new [first-years] that will help the team a lot." Sunday's game ended up being a very tightly fought defensive battle. Most of the play took place around the middle of the field, with chances coming few and far between for both teams in the first half, which ended in a scoreless draw. The second half was a different story, however. After the break, Chicago opened the scoring, capitalizing off a rare defensive lapse from an otherwise strong Judges defense. Chicago senior midfielder Micaela Harms rang a shot off the crossbar in the 59th minute, which bounced straight down into the goal box. Though it appeared initially that the Judges had been given a let-off, they were ultimately made to pay. Chicago junior midfielder Sara Kwan was the first to react to the shot, putting the ball into the net to give the Maroons a 1-0 lead. Incidentally, it was also a misplay by the Chicago defense that allowed the Judges to score the equalizer less than 10 minutes after conceding the opening goal. A botched Maroons goal kick came straight to forward Sapir Edalati '15. Edalati showed quick reflexes, as she had the presence of mind to head the ball down to fellow forward Melissa Darling '16, who took a touch before slamming a hard, low shot behind Chicago junior goalkeeper Jacinda Reid to tie the game. Despite the fact that the team was unable to achieve the victory that it sought, Eddy was ultimately able to draw on some positives that came from the tie. "[Offensively] we did better than we have the last couple of games. We got a lot more going and we're starting to figure out our new formation a lot better," she said. Sunday's game, though, was an improvement in all areas from Friday's defeat against WashU. In an initially tight game, WashU broke away with two late goals within 68 seconds -just before the 80th minute -to take a 3-0 victory. The Judges were not able to capitalize on early free kicks, as WashU sophomore goalkeeper Amy French stopped shots from Morana and forward Sara Isaacson '16. Midfielder Corinne Bortniker '15 was sent on net in the 81st minute but could not put the ball past French, who notched the Bears' 12th shutout of the season. While the scoring woes were at least temporarily mitigated in Sunday's game, Friday was a real embodiment of the frustration and adversity that the women are currently facing in light of injuries to key players. The result was ultimately not the one that the team wanted, especially given its winless run. However, despite the number of injuries, the women played a tight defensive game against the top-ranked Division III squad in the country. The team returns to action next Saturday at home in their regular season finale, against UAA opponent New York University at 2:30 p.m.
(11/05/13 5:00am)
The University's Office of Admissions will see major organizational changes immediately, including a redistribution of responsibilities, new hires and the promotion of Jennifer Walker, the office's current director, to executive director. Walker will head the office while some of the office's responsibilities have been delegated to other departments, according to an email from Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel to the division of Students and Enrollment Monday evening. "There are many, many other administrative tasks that this office handles. ... Those things take quite a lot of time and effort to be done well," said Walker in an interview with the Justice. The Office of Student Activities will now help organize "major" on-campus events held by Admissions, such as the two preview days and Admitted Students Day in the spring, and the Hiatt Career Center will aid in "managing and recruiting alumni and parent volunteers." According to the email sent by Flagel, these changes will allow Admissions to focus on expanding recruitment efforts. "We want folks to maximize time on the road," said Flagel in an interview with the Justice. According to the press release, Admissions has increased recruitment travel and is aiming to conduct almost twice as many high school visits and college fair appearances. According to Walker, a staff member from Student Activities will be designated as a "point person" to manage the shared responsibilities between Admissions and Student Activities. Meanwhile, Admissions and the Hiatt Career Center are currently working together to hire a new parent and volunteer coordinator. Walker is also leading the hiring processes for both a senior associate director, which will replace Walker's former position of director, and a multi-cultural and transfer recruitment director, an existing position that is currently unfilled. Walker said that in her new position, she would be "leading the new vision" of the office. "A lot of the day-to-day big projects that I run will largely stay the same," said Walker. Until this past May, the office operated under former Dean of Admissions Mark Spencer, who left to become the director of college advising at Deerfield Academy, a four-year college preparatory school. When asked how Walker's responsibilities as executive director will compare to Spencer's as dean, Flagel responded, "I think that for Brandeis at the size institution we are and the set of goals that we're managing, [Walker's] set of expertise in being executive director is a great match for what we're trying to accomplish." According to Flagel's email, Walker joined the University in 2007 as the associate director of Admissions, later rising to senior associate and then director. Before coming to Brandeis, she worked in the information technology department at Sarah Lawrence College and later moved to Regis College to serve as a special assistant to the vice president for enrollment. "I think [Walker] had a great deal of leadership within the office already and I'm very glad that she'll be able to take on this role," Flagel said. "I'm really looking forward to my new role," said Walker. "I have a fantastic team here in Admissions that does really, really great work. I'm excited to continue in a leadership role here in the admissions office." -Tate Herbert contributed reporting.
(11/05/13 5:00am)
The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation recently gave a $5.25 million gift to the University to fund an endowed chair and strengthen the programming of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, according to a Nov. 4 BrandeisNOW article. The donation was first announced at a ceremony formally dedicating the Barbara Mandel Auditorium in the Mandel Center for the Humanities on Wednesday, according to BrandeisNOW. Prof. Jon Levisohn (NEJS), the associate academic director of the Center, commented on the donation in an email to the Justice. "We are enormously grateful that the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation has decided to deepen its partnership with the University and with the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education by creating this new chair, the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professorship in Jewish Educational Research," he wrote. In an email to the Justice, Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement Nancy Winship wrote that three million dollars of the $5.25 million donation funds the new endowed chair. The remaining $2.25 million will support the Center. The new endowed chair is called the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Professorship in Jewish Education Research, according to BrandeisNOW. Levisohn wrote in an email to the Justice that "Dean [of Arts and Sciences Susan] Birren will be organizing and empowering a search for a new faculty member to fill this new chair in the very near future, with the expectation that the person will join the faculty next fall." Levisohn also mentioned that his faculty position has been named for the Mandel brothers. "My faculty position, which has been supported by the Foundation, will now be named the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professorship in Jewish Educational Thought," wrote Levisohn. Winship indicated that Levisohn's appointment to the chair is a "direct result" of the donation. Winship explained in an email to the Justice that the donation was made as a pledge to be paid over time. "The chair portion of the pledge is payable over two years," she wrote. "[T]he remainder is part of the foundation's ongoing support of the [C]enter it founded in 2002." The Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education was established in 2002, according to Winship. Prof. Sharon Feiman-Nemser (NEJS) serves as the director of the Center as well as the Mandel Professor of Jewish Education. Levisohn is the Center's other faculty member. In his email to the Justice, Levisohn affirmed the mission of the Center, writing that "[w]e take our scholarship seriously and we believe that we have a responsibility to use our scholarship and our public intellectual activities to contribute to a flourishing Jewish future." The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation has made large donations to the University in the past, most notably the $22.5 million donation to construct the Mandel Center for the Humanities. Prof. Jehuda Reinharz (NEJS), president emeritus of the University, is the current president of the Mandel Foundation. Furthermore, Barbara Mandel, the treasurer of the University's Board of Trustees, is the wife of Morton Mandel, one of the namesakes of the Mandel Foundation. *
(10/29/13 4:00am)
Spanning from Thursday to Sunday, film enthusiasts flocked to Boston to view a unique and engaging program of cinematic opportunities-the fifth annual Boston Asian American Film Festival. Screenings were staggered between the Brattle Theater and the Paramount Center in Boston's theater district, and featured numerous appearances from the films' directors, actors and producers. Even the famous Ang Lee, whose film Wedding Banquet opened the festival on Thursday, was in attendance. The BAAFF is a very interactive and culturally valuable event because, unlike some of the larger festivals, it features independent films that were created by and starred in by Asian-Americans, rather than mainstream projects. The Asian community is largely underrepresented in the independent film genre, which, although its generic classification makes the implicit claim of abstaining from mainstream or normative film conventions, exhibits an embarrassingly low profile of racial and ethnic diversity. When Asian actors are given parts in indie films, they are often typecast according to racial stereotypes-the kid who does karate, the over-sexualized geisha-like seductress or the older familial figure of wisdom. When Asian directors and producers make films that portray their cultural heritage the way that they experience it-as normal, everyday life-they must fight for a market or venue through which to show their projects. The BAAFF provides a platform for the younger generation of filmmakers and actors whose work is creating a newer, more cohesive space for their community in the larger film community. With a lineup of nine feature-length films showing over the four-day-long festival, as well as three screenings of different collections of short films, viewers experienced a variety of genres and styles under the indie umbrella. On Saturday night, I attended the festival's New England premiere screening of the 2013 film Someone I Used to Know, an independent coming-of-age film. The film's director, Nadine Truong, and its producer, Brian Yang, were in attendance at the screening, and stayed afterward for a question-and-answer session with the audience, led by the festival's staff. Someone I Used to Know begins with a shocking and disturbing image: its protagonist, Charlie, a 30-something teacher who is experiencing a period of personal and professional desperation as he is left by his girlfriend and quit his job, tries to kill himself. One of the first visual impressions made by the film is a series of close-up shots of Charlie's wrist, sliced by a razor blade by unflinching fingers, with emotional numbness and precision. Dressed in a full suit, he sinks slowly into the bathtub of a stark white bathroom. Suddenly a high-pitched meow from his cat, Hemingway, stirs him from his complacency, and he quickly leaps from the tub, hurrying to bandage his wrist as he clutches a novel by Hemingway. Charlie takes a much-needed road trip to connect with his high school friends, Luke, who is now a famous actor, and DJ, whose character is drunk for most of the film. Through spending a night with the people who used to know him best-drinking, accidentally being joined by a group of two gorgeous young women and their male friend, and all together tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms-Charlie comes to his senses. He remembers the things that make him value his own life. Overall, the film was compelling, engaging, visually dynamic and thematically significant, and all produced on a very low budget. After the film ended and the lights came on, Truong and Yang spoke at length about what the film, Truong's first feature-length project and Yang's first producing endeavor, means to them. "It's about collaboration. A film is definitely a team effort," Truong began."We get to make art, and it's a privilege." Yang continued, "Even though we shot this thing a couple years ago, we're still working on it. A film never really leaves you." The pair was not discouraged by the challenges facing Asian American indie filmmakers today, but rather relished the opportunity to educate their audiences. Truong said: "We're still very under-represented. We're still figuring out a lot of stereotypes. But it is getting better... It's festivals like these that help that process along." Someone I Used to Know, she said, "is so Asian-American specific, but if you look at the content of the film, it's just about people." *
(10/29/13 4:00am)
On Monday, Oct. 21, New Jersey joined the other 14 states and the District of Columbia in recognizing legal, economic and social equality for same-sex couples by legalizing same-sex marriage. However, 14 states are not enough. Currently, 38 states legally define marriage as the union between a man and a woman, discriminating against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community. Although the United States government does formally recognize marriage as the union of two consenting citizens, states are not required to recognize same-sex unions from other jurisdictions, which is a potential violation of Article IV of the United States Constitution. However, I am optimistic about the future of marriage equality in the United States. A poll conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News in March found that 58 percent of respondents support marriage equality. The same poll found that nearly a third of those who currently support marriage equality used to oppose it but had since changed their minds. Sixty five percent of younger voters, defined as those under the age of 30, support marriage equality-and that number is only growing. There are several states that are seemingly on the cusp of guaranteeing marriage equality to all their citizens. Legislation is currently making its way through the state house in Illinois, where Governor Pat Quinn has stated he will sign the bill. In Pennsylvania, groups of same-sex couples have sued for marriage equality and Attorney General Kathleen Kane has openly stated she will not defend the state's ban. But by far the most promising state, and the most interesting state, for marriage equality is New Mexico. New Mexico is the only state in the country to not have a specific statute regarding the legality of same-sex marriage. As a result of the lack of clarity, clerks on the county can determine if they give marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Currently, eight counties, representing nearly 60 percent of the New Mexico population, give out marriage licenses to same-sex couples. In addition, two cases, on opposing sides of the issue, are working through the state's court systems. One case, brought forth by Republican officials, would block clerks from giving same-sex couples marriage licenses. The other, more traditional case has been brought by a group of same-sex couples in the wake of the Supreme Court's Defense of Marraige Act ruling. Governor Susana Martinez, a Republican up for a tough re-election bid in 2014, has not stated her position on the issue. But, like the other states to recognize marriage equality, New Mexico is a more liberal state. These more progressive states will surely legalize same-sex marriage on their own volition. Other more conservative states will not. There are those who say same-sex marriage should be a state issue, and I vehemently disagree. All one has to do is look back to the American South before the Brown v. Board of Education decision or the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to see how some states choose to handle civil rights issues. While I'm not saying that the issue of marriage equality and civil rights are the same, there are certainly parallels. I do think it is troubling at best to assume that every single state, especially ones with a history of discriminating against certain minority groups, will willingly allow same-sex couples the same rights as straight couples. Not to name names or point fingers, but much of the South has not had a good record on civil rights issues, be it for racial or sexual minorities. Simply put, marriage is a civil rights issue, and history has shown that states cannot always be trusted to give civil rights to minority citizens. It is all well and good to say you support same-sex marriage being a state issue, as opposed to a federal mandate, but unless you support it at the national level, you are still advocating that states should have the opportunity to discriminate against those who are LGBTQ. This is where the problem lies. There's nothing wrong with states like California, New York, Vermont or Minnesota legalizing same-sex marriage; in fact, it is what's right. But what about couples who do not live in these states, who have jobs and homes and families in states that clearly are not going to legalize same-sex marriage? Or members of the armed forces, who may be in long-term relationships but cannot marry because of where they are stationed. Obviously, marriage equality is not the only issue facing the LGBTQ community, nor is it the most pressing issue. Look no further than violence and bullying, the high rates of homeless LGBTQ youth and legal discrimination against the trans communities in many states such as Texas, Illinois and Florida. However, marriage is an institution in the United States. Some say it is religious, others say it is historical or cultural-but I personally believe it goes beyond that. At its core, marriage is a declaration of love, of not imagining being with anyone else. Nobody should get different tax benefits, visitation or adoption and custody laws just because of who they love. It is not enough to watch liberal states legalize same-sex marriage while conservative states only make it harder for certain citizens. If we as a country truly value equality, and 58 percent of the country does, we should legalize same-sex marriage on a national level and give same-sex couples the same protections that any straight couple deeply in love enough to get married receive.
(10/29/13 4:00am)
Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins will leave Brandeis effective at the end of this calendar year, according to an email announcement sent to the Brandeis community on Friday by Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Steven Manos. While neither Manos' email nor Collins cited a specific reason for the departure, Collins did express his gratitude to the University. "I've heard from a lot of people since Friday, and I'm just incredibly humbled by what I've heard from people in email and in person," said Collins in an interview with the Justice. "It's been a great run for 27 years here. And I just thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm very much optimistic about the future." According to Manos' email, Collins "has chosen to take advantage of other professional opportunities" after his term at Brandeis comes to a close. "At present I'm just exploring options," said Collins, when asked about these opportunities. "I'm actually ... going to go to Florida in January for a month or two and spend some time thinking about what I may want to do in the future." Collins joined Brandeis in 1987 as purchasing manager, according to Manos' email, and rose through the ranks, gradually taking on more responsibility in the facilities and campus operations areas. He was promoted to senior vice president in 2010. "Mark [Collins] has been a tireless advocate for making Brandeis a more attractive campus and for modernizing our facilities," wrote Manos of Collins' work. "His number one goal was to contribute to making Brandeis a safe and comfortable environment for our ... community of faculty, students, staff, neighbors, and visitors," Manos continued. Other administrators also spoke about Collins' time at the University and his dedication. "The Brandeis campus owes a great deal to Mark's stewardship and strong relationships across all segments of our community," the email continued, quoting University President Frederick Lawrence. "He has been responsible for providing the most essential and often least appreciated services to the campus and we are grateful for all that he has done." There will be a reception in Collins' honor during the week of Dec. 2, according to the email. An announcement will be made with more specific details in the coming weeks. At the Student Union Senate's regular Sunday meeting, Student Union Vice President Charlotte Franco '15 urged senators to attend the recetion. "I hope that we can all conjure up support to have as many students go and show support for Mark Collins, because he really has been a really big advocate for the student body during his tenure here," she said.
(10/29/13 4:00am)
Prof. Jacob Cohen (AMST) is a man of many names. His legal birth name is "Jerome," but his students call him "Jerry." Arriving on campus only a little over a decade after the University's founders in 1960, Cohen is a trove of insights on the history he teaches but has also lived. In 1960, Cohen arrived on campus to interview for a faculty position in the history department. Before joining the Brandeis faculty, Cohen taught at Yale University. Some questioned his decision to leave a school with such a storied academic reputation for a one that was still in its infancy. Yet for him, Brandeis was a natural choice. "My reasons for coming you could put on a Hallmark greeting card," Cohen said. "My family-a Jewish family-a Zionist family, revered the name of Louis Brandeis. It was an absolutely natural fit." Unlike the hiring process today, Cohen met with faculty members across all departments before he was offered a teaching position. "Every major campus intellectual came to speak with me. Everyone was interested in whom the University was hiring and who fit in with the intellectual community ... My heart was pounding, I was thrilled," he said. Cohen says that his teaching style hasn't changed one bit in all the years he's taught. Although he often teaches lecture classes with around 100 students enrolled, he still reads, grades and writes lengthy comments on every paper by himself, a practice he reported is "really stupid and not very bright in terms of my time, as people tell me." Although Cohen is on leave this semester, you may still see him around campus completing various tasks for a book he is writing entitled Inner-Most Part: Brandeis University and the Jewish Question. It will blend historical analysis and personal memoir in an exploration of Judaism and Brandeis as it attempts to understand what it means to be a "Jewish-sponsored" university. Cohen's book will address Brandeis' complicated relationship with its Jewish roots, specifically the identity crisis the University underwent in the 1980s. "There was a conspicuous effort to un-Jew the place," Cohen said. SAT scores were dropping and the administration felt pressure to diversify, a goal they slowly achieved since then, with over 50 percent of the population now being non-Jewish. This is not the first time Cohen has excused himself from teaching in pursuit of other ambitions. In 1963, only three years after he began his career at Brandeis, he left the University for what he considered a permanent separation at the time in order to, as he described it, save the world. "It didn't work," Cohen said. He had left academia to work with a civil rights organization called the Congress On Racial Equality,where he worked closely with the national director of the organization and edited its magazine. Cohen joined CORE when the organization was very much centered on themes of equality and the notion that race doesn't matter, as expressed in Dr. Martin Luther King's famous speech, in which he stated "I look to a day where people will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." But while Cohen was working there, the organization turned an ideological corner. "CORE underwent a dramatic change from the ideology of black and white integration to black separatism ... and black self-assertion." In 1965, he left the organization. "I wasn't supposed to be there," Cohen said. Before Cohen returned to the University in 1968 as a faculty member of the newly formed American Studies department, he spearheaded an initiative called Upward Bound, which worked to get disadvantaged youth into college. When Cohen did return, he would do similar work as a creator and founding director of the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program in April of 1968. Cohen got right back in the groove of what he likes doing: teaching. "Asking me which is my favorite course is like asking me which is my favorite kid and you know I'm not telling you and I'm not telling them," Cohen said. "But of course I love them all equally," he added. As early as 1971, Cohen began to teach a course about the 1960s, reported one year in the course guide as one of the best classes at Brandeis, and which addressed topics such as the civil rights movement and student radicalism on college campuses. Cohen will introduce a new course for the coming spring semester called "Digital Media and American Culture," a topic Cohen says his students "know a tremendous [amount] about. Not so much how to think about it, but they really know what it means to be in that world." Other courses Cohen teaches include "Sports in American Culture", one on the future as it is depicted in American literature and a popular course on conspiracy theories. In fact, Cohen is a major enthusiast of conspiracies and one of the world's foremost scholars on conspiracies around the John F. Kennedy assassination. Aside from his career at Brandeis, Cohen is a singer and has performed at various venues, including Carnegie Hall in 1995. He is also telepathic, or at least some people think so. He remarks fondly that he still gets a phone call from time to time from a student addressing him as "wizard," another one of his many names. "Hello wizard!" they say and then, as if by magic, Cohen declares the exact playing card in the student's hand for the amusement of everyone on the other side of the call. Cohen explained that this harmless game serves as a teaching moment between himself and his former students well after they have graduated. The trick is a mundane example of conspiracy theories. "Only we know the truth, and we both need to know in order for the lie to be effective," Cohen said.
(10/28/13 4:00am)
On Oct. 18, Prof. Emeritus Eugene C. Black (HIST) died at the age of 85, according to an Oct. 22 BrandeisNOW article. Black joined Brandeis's history department in 1958 and remained a member of the faculty until 2006. Black's expertise centered around modern history, primarily that of western and eastern Europe, according to Brandeis' faculty guide. He received several awards and honors for his work, and wrote extensively on European history, with 14 works published between 1963 and 2003, when he published his last scholarly article, titled "The Diplomacy of Minority Rights 1918-1930." A Boston native, Black attended the College of William and Mary, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts before joining the U.S. Air Force. Black served in the Korean War as a pilot before returning to Massachusetts to enroll at Harvard University, where he received his Master of Arts and Ph.D., according to BrandeisNOW. After graduating in 1958, Black came to Brandeis to become an instructor in the History department, where his presence inspired the creation of two internships in his name, according to BrandeisNOW. The E.C. Black Prizes offer students majoring or minoring in History a stipend of up to $1000 for historical research. Colleague Prof. Gregory Freeze (HIST) described Black in an email to the Justice as having played a "key role in building the History Department," helping to "recruit first-rate faculty and build a department with a strong national reputation." A dedicated teacher, Black was "very popular and engaged," according to Freeze, "with substantial enrollments in demanding classes." John Petrowsky '73, a former student of Black's, emphasized Black's consideration, caring and dedication as a professor in an email to the Justice. Petrowsky recalled to the Justice a personal story, telling of how Black met with him personally each week to help him with writing. "Professor Black continued to help me on a weekly basis even during a sabbatical year, a year when he experienced a terrible personal tragedy. He was the single faculty member who took me aside and said, 'You're smart. You're not fully literate. Let's see what we can do.' And he helped me to do it." Deborah Valenze Ph.D. '82, a professor of history at Barnard College and another of Black's former students said she feels that she owes Black for his influence on her journey to becoming an historian. "He demonstrated a bold, comparative approach to history," she said in an email to the Justice. "He was a strong mentor who always emphasized that teaching was a calling as important as scholarship." According to BrandeisNOW, Black served as the chairman of both the graduate program in Comparative History and the History department several times. Dedicated to Brandeis and history, Black directed Ph.D. dissertations even after his retirement, working up until last year. A funeral service was held in Brookline, Mass. on Oct. 23, according to BrandeisNOW.
(10/22/13 4:00am)
Getting into my car Sunday morning, I slipped States, the new album by indie-folk band The Paper Kites, into the CD player. It was the perfect fall day-a gentle breeze, radiant sunlight and colorful leaves. As I drove through town, I enjoyed the beautiful morning and melodic music.
(10/22/13 4:00am)
Gustav Ranis '52, the valedictorian of Brandeis' first graduating class, passed away Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the age of 83. A committed member of the school's inaugural class, Ranis was Brandeis' first member of Phi Beta Kappa, the first alumnus to earn a Ph.D. and first alumnus to join the Board of Trustees, according to Senior Vice President of Institutional Advancement Nancy Winship. At Brandeis, Ranis served as Student Union president for his junior year and senior class president the next year, played for the since-disestablished football team and was involved in Hillel, said Winship in an interview with the Justice. At Brandeis' first commencement, he delivered his valedictorian speech alongside commencement speaker Eleanor Roosevelt. After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Economics at Brandeis, Ranis received his Master's degree and Ph.D. in economics at Yale University. According to an Oct. 17 BrandeisNOW article, from 1958 to 1961, Ranis worked abroad for the Ford Foundation as director of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics. He then started teaching at Yale in 1964 as a professor of international economics, where Ranis remained a professor until his retirement in 2005, at which point he was named Frank Altschul Professor Emeritus of International Economics. Brandeis awarded Ranis an honorary degree in 1982 for his work as an economist and the Alumni Achievement Award for his dedication as an alumni leader 10 years later, according to the BrandeisNOW article. He accepted the award again in 2012 when Brandeis honored the class of 1952. According to University President Frederick Lawrence, in addition to authoring more than 20 books and 300 articles on theoretical and policy-related issues of development, he served as a consultant for the United Nations Development Program, UN Food and Agriculture Organization, UN International Labor Organization, the World Bank, International Development Bank and Asian Development Bank, as well as the Brookings Institution, Pearson Commission, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and U.S. Agency for International Development. "Gus Ranis was a trailblazer for Brandeis," Lawrence wrote in an email to the Justice. "As someone who escaped the Holocaust as a young boy, Gus had a great capacity for looking forward and for healing the world," he said. Lawrence wrote that he will miss Ranis's energy and devotion. "[Ranis] was an untiring advocate for the University. Despite working on many of the most difficult problems in global development, he remained an optimist who believed in making the world a better place," he wrote. Winship, who had known Ranis for 20 years, said, "From the very beginning I was impressed not only with how brilliant he was as an international economist, but also how he never forgot his values." She not only commended Ranis' academic work, but also said that "he was incredibly humble for who he was as a Yale professor, and his class revered and admired him." According to Winship, Ranis continued to attend Board of Trustees meetings until his passing. "He had extremely high standards for Brandeis in terms of admissions and the quality of the academic program," she said. "He felt great about where Brandeis is today." "When I think of his face and his smile, I think of what a pleasant, highly ethical and sometimes visionary person he was," she said. "He will truly be missed at the Board of Trustees meetings." Ranis is survived by his wife Rachel Ranis '55, whom he met at Brandeis, along with his three children and four grandchildren.
(10/15/13 4:00am)
Brandeis Visions for Israel in an Evolving World launched its second year last Wednesday with the event "Actualizing Visions" in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium. The event featured Rabbi Ron Kronish '68, director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, and Iyad Zahalka, a judge in Jerusalem's Sharia Court. University President Frederick Lawrence also attended to give some opening remarks regarding bVIEW's upcoming year. The event was cosponsored by the Coexistence and Conflict Program at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Hillel, the Interfaith Chaplaincy, the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life, the Peace, Conflict and Coexistence Studies department and the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies. Each speaker highlighted bVIEW's goal of creating better dialogue about Israel, in which people can feel more comfortable about expressing their opinions. Kronish and Zahalka work together in Israel to create dialogues between different groups of people about issues facing Israel, and spoke on how to best create these dialogues. During his speech, Kronish highlighted steps his organization uses to create safe and positive discussions, including sharing personal identities among participants; interreligious learning, in which each side reads the other's religious texts, and, as Kronish noted, often learn that their religions are not that different; open discussion about issues of conflict; and acting on ideas discussed, which could be something as simple as posting to Facebook, according to Kronish. "We go a long way to breaking down stereotypes when we take these first two steps. We create a lot of trust, and fear and barriers go way down," Kronish said. Zakalka echoed Kronish's sentiment of wanting to build understanding in order to create dialogue, repeating the idea that all sides must "join forces" in order to solve their problems. "If we start talking people to people, human being to human being, religion to religion, we can start to understand a way the conflict can be solved," Zakalka said. Like Kronish, Zakalka said that it is important to see others as people, and that "religion is not part of the problem, religion is part of the solution." After the speakers, bVIEW members acting as student facilitators broke the audience up into small discussion sections, which were led by the student facilitators. These facilitators emphasized that the groups were safe spaces for discussion. Following the break-out session, there was a question-and-answer session during a small reception, during which bVIEW came together again, officially opening their year with a few words from Lawrence. Lawrence applauded bVIEW for creating a safe space and dialogues about Israel that he said he feels happen nowhere else in the world. "I am delighted to be part of the launch ... of bVIEW. It did start as an idea about a better kind of discussion. ... Often dialogues are really parallel monologues," he said. Lawrence also noted that he looks forward to bVIEW's second annual conference with other universities this upcoming winter, and to the creation of a new chapter of Visions for Israel in an Evolving World at Harvard University. Gil Zamir '15, a cofounder and current programming director for bVIEW, said in an interview with the Justice that bVIEW's goal for this year is about making their goals a reality, hence the event title "Actualizing Visions." He said Kronish and Zahalka were chosen to speak because they are "actualizers." "They're not waiting for the politicians, for anyone. On the ground, this is how you make things happen," Zamir said. Zamir said he sees Brandeis as a place full of future world leaders like Kronish and Zahalka, and that "while we are all together, we can breed the best ideas for Israel. Things on the ground are not progressing, so the way we are trying to use this is as an opportunity for the next big breakthrough to happen here." He said he hopes that events like this will open up a different kind of dialogue about Israel that will allow students to have these big ideas. "Israel is not toxic and messy, it's the way it's been talked about that is," he said.
(10/15/13 4:00am)
Class of 2016 Senator Jon Jacob has initiated a project that would add local businesses to the University's WhoCash program. Currently, Cappy's Pizza, the Prime Deli and the Village Market in Waltham are all participants in the WhoCash program. However, Jacob wrote in an email to the Justice that he would like to see the program expand "to all our favorite Waltham restaurants [and] businesses." Jacob began to push for this initiative over the summer, during which he met with administrators such as Dianne Qualter and Muriel Bolio of University Services. According to Student Union Vice President Charlotte Franco '15 in an email to the Justice, Senior Vice President for Administration Mark Collins is also aware of the idea and "has not stopped it so far." Collins was unable to be reached for comment by press time. According to Jacob, the administrators he met with seemed to be "on board." "The [U]niversity does seem to be seeking such possibility but they still need more research," Jacob wrote. Therefore, Jacob created a survey to show that there is a demand to expand the WhoCash program to other Waltham businesses. Student Union Secretary Sneha Walia '15 sent out the survey in an Oct. 7 email to the Brandeis community. The survey asked participants if they use WhoCash, what they use WhoCash for, how often they go into Waltham and whether or not they would use WhoCash at other locations. The survey also asked students to suggest local businesses that they would like to see involved in the extended program. According to Jacob, the results of the survey are "very much in favor of the initiative." Jacob wrote that 501 responses had been collected as of press time, and 82 percent of students indicated that they use WhoCash, 98 percent are in favor of its implementation and 90 percent would use WhoCash more often because of this service. A majority of students indicated that they would like to see Hannaford, Asia Wok and Baan Thai on WhoCash, according to Jacob. After the survey, Jacob wrote that he plans to visit local restaurants and businesses to present them with his finding from the survey and see if they are interested in joining the WhoCash program. According to Jacob, he will then meet again with Collins, Qualter and Bolio. Should the initiative pass, the University would issue swipe devices to the interested locations. "I feel that this is an important implementation that has to be made since most universities are heading towards this direction. As Brandeis students, we should be able to enjoy this service as well," wrote Jacob. Although Jacob wrote that he is aware that WhoCash has the same value as regular cash, Jacob wrote, "I see this as a step for Brandeis to strengthen its relationship with Waltham by supporting its local businesses. It is also a first step into perhaps, implementing the meal plan along with Waltham restaurants." According to Jacob, Waltham restaurants such as Sabatino's and Prospect Caf?(c) have already expressed interest in joining the WhoCash program. "I can't speak for the Senate but I'm confident that my colleagues are in support of my initiative," he wrote.
(10/15/13 4:00am)
At Sunday's Senate meeting, the assembled senators voted unanimously to pass a resolution in support of a proposal for a gender and sexuality center and director. The proposal, put forth by Alex Thomson '15, junior representative to the Board of Trustees, outlined a plan to create a physical space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer support, education and outreach programming, as well as a full-time directorial position for the center. In total, Thomson's estimates of the cost for this project come to $85,000 to $90,000 annually, to be taken from the department of Students and Enrollment's budget. The task force that created the proposal also included Margaret Bouchard '14 of the Queer Resource Center, Molly Gimbel '16, representing Triskelion, Michael Pizziferri '15 of the Queer Policy Alliance and Sara Brande '15 from TransBrandeis. Thomson said that they met over the summer to discuss the proposal. Thomson said that he had also emailed the proposal to Fran Bermanzohn'78, the chairwoman of the students and enrollment committee of the Board of Trustees, and that he would speak on the topic at the Board's next meeting. Should the plan be approved by University administration as written, it would allocate $30,000 annually for the center, at a space to be determined, and $55,000 to $60,000, which was described as a "competitive salary," for the director of the center. According to the proposal, the director would oversee areas including "counseling services," "a comprehensive LGBTQ-friendly orientation program," "support staff," "trainings, clubs and organizations and policies that take into account the specific needs of [the LGBTQ] community." In addition to the physical center and the director, Thomson said that "we would see ... the director being there, someone that would assist part time, and then also students that would continue to offer their services, but in a paid capacity, or stipend capacity." However, he added that the priority of the committee that wrote the proposal is to hire a full-time staff member dedicated to these issues. "If I were to say the importance of it, it would be a full-time position, and then a center," he said in an interview with the Justice. "Our goal is to get both, but it's more important to have a full-time person." If the full-time position were established without a center, Thomson said he imagines that this person's salary would be slightly lower at around $45,000 to $50,000 per year. While Thomson specified that the initial proposal was written before Jessica Pedrick, Program Coordinator for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, joined the University, he said that "we envision that, from our interactions with her, she's very great, already a great resource, so we would envision her taking on the full-time role." According to Thomson, the proposal was inspired by discussion at a queer caucus toward the end of last year held by the Queer Policy Alliance. "That was really one of the first times that all queer students from each of the different queer groups on campus came together," he said. "At the queer caucus ... is when I heard a lot of the sentiments being expressed, that it was such disillusionment and almost starting to become really disliking Brandeis for not offering these services." Currently, said Thomson, most of the LGBTQ resources on campus are provided by student-run clubs, which cannot provide sufficient services. "The Queer Resource Center, which provides obviously the most resources to students on campus, does a phenomenal job," he said. "But at the same time, they are students that have other work obligations and schoolwork on top of this. So it's basically asking students to take on the burden of what the University should be providing." "I've heard from many of the other queer students that they feel like they are burdened with this, that they have an obligation to provide these resources, and it detracts from their own well-being, so they feel like they are taking on all of this responsibility in order to help others, but at the same time their grades are suffering," he said. While Thomson commended the efforts of Pedrick and Jessamine Beal, her predecessor, he added that a part-time position was also not enough to address the larger issues on campus. "It's almost like triage right now," he said. "The part-time position also barely allows her to just scratch the surface with all the needs that are unmet on campus. So she is able to be a counselor, she is able to facilitate safe-space, allies training programs, but there's not really enough time designated to it to transform the queer culture on campus, which really is the ultimate goal." Currently Pedrick's position is 20 hours per week and 10 months per year, excluding the summer break. Thomson claims that because of the high demand within this limited time frame, it is often difficult for students to secure an appointment with Pedrick when they might need one urgently. While the Senate resolution is non-binding, Thomson said in an interview with the Justice that he would officially present the proposal, along with the Senate's statement of support, to Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel and Dean of Students Jamele Adams in a meeting this Friday.
(10/15/13 4:00am)
At Brandeis and other universities, there are stark demographic differences in gender within certain sections of the humanities. In an interview with the Justice, Prof. Susan Lanser (ENG), the head of the division of humanities and member of the Provost's Committee on Diversity, explained her belief that "associations of men with scientific inquiry and philosophical reasoning are centuries old. These fields have been slower than some others to shed long-standing gender biases." Such a theory can explain a slower move nationally to gender equality in humanities disciplines such as philosophy and religion, which regularly engage with "philosophical reasoning." Kieran Healy, an associate professor of sociology at Duke University, has published data on his academic blog that indicates the percentage of doctorates granted to women nationally in each academic field in 2009. The results, which are based on the Survey of Earned Doctorates from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, found that slightly under 30 percent of doctorates in religious studies and philosophy were granted to women; only doctorates in engineering, physics and computer science, fields which are widely recognized to have a gender disparity, had a lower percentage of women recipients. Prof. Wendy Cadge (SOC), the chair of the Women's and Gender Studies program, explained the importance of faculty diversity in an email to the Justice, writing that "[i]t is important that students see a diverse set of faculty in the classroom to teach and advise them and act as role models." To explore this idea, the Justice interviewed professors from the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Philosophy faculty to learn about the presence of gender within those departments. Faculty demographics Both the NEJS and Philosophy departments have a history of tenured women on their faculty. Sissela Bok, wife of former Harvard University President Derek Bok, was the first tenured woman in the Philosophy department in 1985, according to data from that department. She left the University in 1992. Bok could not be reached for comment by press time. In 2002, Prof. Marion Smiley (PHIL) was hired with tenure and remains at the University. Smiley declined to comment for this article. Following her, Marion Hourdequin and Sarah McGrath were hired on the tenure track in 2005. Hourdequin and McGrath left after one year for Colorado College and two years for Princeton University, respectively. Hourdequin explained her departure in an email to the Justice. "[A] key source of stress was the financial challenge of living in Boston, where the cost of housing was almost twice as high as anywhere else I had lived. I also had a 6 month old baby when I began at Brandeis, and child care in the area was extremely expensive," she wrote. McGrath explained in an email to the Justice that she left Brandeis when she was offered a tenure-track position at Princeton, where her husband was teaching, at the time that she was expecting her first child. Both Hourdequin and McGrath conveyed their appreciation that the department allowed them to organize the colloquium series for the 2005 to 2006 academic year, and McGrath expressed gratitude toward Smiley for making the department "a good place for junior women" and extended appreciation to Smiley, Prof. Jerry Samet (PHIL) and Prof. Eli Hirsch (PHIL), who were "important in their mentoring roles" to her as a junior woman in the department. In 2008 and 2009, respectively, Prof. Kate Moran (PHIL) and Prof. Jennifer Marusic (PHIL) were hired on the tenure track and still remain at the University, with Moran now serving as the director of the department's graduate program. The Philosophy department also has had two visiting female faculty members. According to data provided by that department, Amelie Rorty was hired outside the tenure structure in 1995 as a professor and director of the History of Ideas program until leaving the University in 2003 to pursue research interests, and Linda Hirshman served as the Allen-Berenson Distinguished Visiting Professor in Philosophy and Women's Studies from 1998 to 2002. Out of the five tenure-track hires made since 2005, four have been female. Chair of the Philosophy department Samet expressed satisfaction with that statistic, explaining that he is "proud of our record over the past five or 10 years to shift the [gender] balance a bit." Today, three of the 10 philosophy professors are women, and two of them are still on the tenure track, a demographic that Lanser described as slightly better than the national average and a significant change from 2001, when there were no tenured or tenure-track female faculty in the University's Philosophy department. An Aug. 2 article in the New York Times reported that female philosophers make up "less than 20 percent" of faculty in university philosophy departments. Within the NEJS department, all of the past female professors hired within the tenure structure still remain on the faculty. In 1993, Prof. Bernadette Brooten (NEJS) was hired with tenure from the Harvard Divinity School and Prof. Sylvia Barack Fishman (NEJS) was hired as the first woman on the tenure-track. Brooten and Fishman were the first women in the NEJS department aside from Hebrew language instructors. Since then, three other women have been hired in the tenure structure in NEJS: Profs. ChaeRan Yoo Freeze, Sharon Feiman-Nemser and Ilana Szobel. In the fall of 2009, Fishman was appointed as the first female chair of the NEJS department. In NEJS, five of the 19 faculty members in the tenure structure are women, and one of the five is still on the tenure track. NEJS is not a religion department in the traditional sense, which can complicate a direct comparison with religion departments at other universities. According to Brooten, NEJS is "an interdisciplinary department because we have people who can think of themselves more as people in the study of religion, we have people who think of themselves as more as historians, people who are literary scholars [and] Sylvia Barack Fishman does sociology." On its website, the department describes itself as "home to one of the world's largest programs in Jewish and Hebrew Studies," which emphasizes its Jewish focus. Fishman said in an interview with the Justice that in Jewish religious studies in particular, she does not "see that kind of lack of female presence" that is reflected in Healy's statistics on religion faculty. Additionally, Brooten expressed surprise at the finding that so few women were earning doctoral degrees in religious studies. Diversity initiatives Improving diversity among a university faculty is a unique challenge. Job openings in many academic disciplines are scarce, the humanities especially so, leaving few opportunities to make new hires. A Feb. 18 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that "the overall job system in the humanities has been in a state of permanent distress for over 40 years." According to Lanser, however, the University has come very close to achieving demographic gender equality among its assistant professors as a whole, who are the newest hires in their respective departments. Furthermore, the University has engaged in a number of different initiatives to help diversify its faculty. One of the most noticeable developments is the inclusion of a diversity representative on new faculty search committees. According to the dean of arts and sciences website, the diversity representative serves as a non-voting member of the committee and must pay specific attention to the diversity of the applicant pool. At the end of the search, the diversity representative must sign a Fair Search Report, which indicates that he or she was "familiar with the search criteria and [endorsed] the rationale that led to the committee's recommended candidate." Members of both the NEJS and Philosophy departments said they have found these representatives to be useful in searches. Diversity representatives are "very articulate about the necessity for seriously evaluating candidates in terms of gender and in terms of ethnic and religious background," said Fishman, while also being "respectful of the process." Samet agreed, commenting that the diversity representative "took it upon themselves to make sure that, procedurally, the search created every opportunity for women to apply and treated all the applicants fairly. ... They can make sure that we [are] not sloppy." In addition to promoting diversity with the presence of diversity representatives, the University engages in specialized hiring practices called cluster hires and target-of-opportunity hires in order to increase its faculty diversity, said Lanser in a phone interview with the Justice. Cluster hires involve the hiring of a group of junior faculty "perhaps [from] different departments, but whose work focuses in a general area," and target-of-opportunity hires focus on "the hiring of persons in fields where they are historically underrepresented or underrepresented [specifically] at Brandeis," Lanser explained. There is also unofficial mentoring between female faculty members. "Informally, core faculty in WGS provide support and mentor female faculty across campus," said Cadge, referring to the role that faculty in Women's and Gender Studies play in supporting their female colleagues outside of the program. Moran referenced a similar informal support, mentioning that she has befriended many female faculty with whom she discusses topics both personal and professional. Research and teaching Fishman emphasized that "the feminist transformation of the academy is not just 'add women and stir,'" but also understanding women's experience in the context of the academic discipline. Brooten highlighted this distinction by explaining how, during her interview to join the Brandeis faculty, Prof. Marc Brettler (NEJS) reviewed with her his syllabus for a course on women in the Bible. A professor, such as Brettler, who develops courses of that sort will "appreciate the work of colleagues who work in those areas, [and] understand what we're doing," explained Brooten. The NEJS department offers approximately nine different courses that focus on women or gender as the central lens, ranging from "Gender and the Bible," offered by Brettler, to "Israeli Women Writers on War and Peace," taught by Szobel. Furthermore, many male NEJS faculty members, including Brettler, Profs. Jonathan Sarna, Yehudah Mirsky and David Wright have published articles, book chapters or edited volumes that employ women or gender as a central lens for analysis. When asked whether she had any goals for women and gender in the NEJS department, Fishman responded by saying, "I think that by my being chair [as a woman], there have already been changes, and it wasn't like something was broken and it needed fixing, but ... people's understanding of what leadership is changes." The field of philosophy internationally has understood the importance of this integration of women's publications and experiences into the discipline. Moran directed the Justice to an online Google Doc, created by a postdoctoral fellow in philosophy at the University of Oxford, on which academics from around the world have submitted published papers by female philosophers that can be incorporated into introductory-level classes. When Samet was asked about any potential upcoming Philosophy courses related to women and gender, he explained that "we have a certain number of courses we feel we need to run the major, and we don't have a big enough faculty. So everyone is scrambling to teach the courses that we need to teach." Philosophy professors also placed emphasis on the role that Smiley plays in raising gender as a research and teaching subject in the department. Samet estimated that "Marion [Smiley]'s the only one who teaches classes in that area," and McGrath recognized Smiley for being "extremely good at getting students interested in philosophical problems and issues concerning gender." According to the University's Faculty Guide, the Philosophy department has offered two recent courses with women or gender as a central focus: Smiley currently teaches a course on the philosophy of gender, and Prof. Palle Yourgrau (PHIL) has taught a course on Simone Weil, the 20th-century French intellectual, about whom he recently published a biography. Joint Graduate degree in WMGS The Women's and Gender Studies program has encouraged scholarship related to women and gender with the development of joint graduate degree programs between WMGS and other academic departments. The NEJS department, for instance, has contributed to a joint Master of Arts degree with Women's and Gender Studies, and is one of the only programs of its type in the country. According to Prof. Shulamit Reinharz (SOC), the joint degree program between NEJS and Women's and Gender Studies was created in 1992, a time when the Women's and Gender Studies program (then called only "Women's Studies") did not have a large enough faculty to support its own graduate program. As a result, several joint programs were created to supplement the existing Women's Studies faculty with professors and classes from other departments. The programs used the existing graduate admissions process in each department and encouraged faculty to select two or three students for their department's joint degree. The joint degree between Women's Studies and NEJS has flourished, according to Fishman. "[The program] attracts very strong graduate students: people who do very creative, original work," she said. Lanser added that "many of [the graduates] have gone on to Ph.D.s here and elsewhere." The Philosophy department did not have an M.A. program in 1992, which disqualified it from creating a joint degree program with Women's Studies. Starting in fall 2009, however, it began to offer a stand-alone M.A. degree, which Lanser described as "a very successful new program." When asked whether there has been discussion of a joint degree between Women's and Gender Studies and Philosophy, Cadge said that although there were no current plans, the creation of such a program was plausible in the future. Samet expressed hesitancy about creating a joint degree program with Women's and Gender Studies, but said that "if Marion [Smiley] said there's someone who wants to apply for a degree in Women's Studies and Philosophy, we could probably make ad-hoc arrangements." As faculty positions open, search committees will have to ask, as Brooten encourages, "how seriously do these candidates take gender in their analysis?" The importance of that question to faculty search committees will determine the future of women and gender in Philosophy and NEJS.
