(02/05/08 5:00am)
The arming of Brandeis police officers will most likely begin in late spring or early summer, according to Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan. Currently, Brandeis public safety officers are being trained in the use of firearms, Callahan wrote in an e-mail to the Justice. No officers have been armed yet. "Training has been underway for weeks and is presently ongoing," Callahan wrote.University President Jehuda Reinharz reached the decision to arm campus police last September based on the recommendations of a committee of students, faculty and staff that convened over the summer. Student opinion on the decision is sharply divided, and Reinharz announced the formation of a firearms advisory committee responsible for writing policies involving the arming of campus police last November following a student protest during his office hours. The officers will not be armed until there is a set policy in place, said Matt Rogers '08, one of the students on the firearms advisory committee the first meeting of which took place last Thursday. According to Callahan, training will entail the same procedures as firearms training for the Waltham police officers. "This includes, among other things classroom, range and simulation exercises," Callahan wrote. Student, faculty and staff representatives of the committee attended last Thursday's meeting, Rogers said. During the meeting, committee members "discussed the beginning of a possible policy, but nothing by any means [was] set in stone," Rogers said. The committee is drafting a wide range of policies regarding the arming of campus police, he added. Callahan said that the policy will attempt to address student concerns which have been raised about this controversial decision. "We'll be making sure that the committee addresses all the concerns that the students have," Rogers said. There have been varied student responses to this policy, Callahan wrote, and "as always it is important to maintain open channels of communication with all community members."The next meeting of the firearms advisory committee will be Tuesday, March 4, Rogers said, and will consist of presentations by experts about comparable policies on other campuses. In order to best represent student opinion to the committee, "we're looking to have a forum before our next meeting," Rogers said.
(01/29/08 5:00am)
A committee to develop a bill of rights for the Student Union Constitution met for the first time last Wednesday, Director of Student Union Affairs Jason Gray '10 said. Goals of the committee include identifying what rights students have, what rights students should have, and framing the bill of rights in a clear and understandable manner, Gray said. Gray, who put forth the idea, said that the bill would seek in its final manifestation to protect such student liberties such as those pertaining to freedom of speech and rights in the classroom.In addition to defending such privileges, the eventual official bill of rights would also "provide for students an easy to read document that tells everyone what their rights are," Gray said. He said he believes that a great deal of students are not actually conscious of what their liberties are. Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 agreed, saying she thinks that the student bill of rights is much needed on the grounds that "students have many rights, but aren't always aware of them, including the ability to activate the Community Prejudice Task Force, the University Board of Student Conduct, or the Student Union."Union Vice President Alex Braver '09 said a bill of rights would be "a great way to empower students and re-emphasize the 'rights' part of 'Rights and Responsibilities.'"Gray and his fellow committee members plan for the development of the bill of rights to be a fully inclusive process, as they intend to involve students, faculty and staff in its creation. Through the use of open forums, discussions and the Internet, the comittee hopes to incite comments and other contributions from the Brandeis community.Members of the committee include Gray, Student Union Advocate Brian Paternostro '08, Asher Tanenbaum '08, Patrick Garofalo '08, Justin Kang '09, Laura Cohen '09, Julia Simon-Mishel '09, Ryan McElhaney '10 and Gabriel Gaskin '08. Gaskin said he recalls instances in which he would have benefited considerably from knowledge of his rights as a student. Consequently, when Gray approached him with an idea for a document detailing student's rights, Gaskin said he decided to join Gray on the committee due to his strong conviction that "students deserve to know just what they'reentitled to and exactly what they are expected to avoid doing.
(01/22/08 5:00am)
Monday night's speech by U.S. Sen. Carl Levin was the first event co-sponsored by the General Education Now club, an organization started by two sophomores trying to bring more prominent speakers to campus in an effort to reinstate a program from the 1950s and '60s.The club's co-founders, Jonah Seligman '10 and Daniel Gillman '10, said the idea to create Gen Ed Now grew out of Prof. David Hackett Fischer's (HIST) introduction to former President Jimmy Carter last January. Fischer noted that Carter's visit was "an event that rises from a Brandeis tradition of inviting leaders to meet with our students, who we think will lead in the future." He explained that the idea was part of the original Brandeis curriculum in the form of General Education Senior, which "was meant to be the capstone of the undergraduate curriculum." In the '50s and '60s, the Gen Ed S program was required for all seniors and offered them the opportunity to hear from high-profile speakers from various fields in a more intimate setting. The program brought such speakers as former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, according to reports from the Brandeis Review and a University Archives Web page.Gillman emphasized the intimate nature of the interactions between students and visitors. "Eleanor Roosevelt had breakfasts with students," he said. The organizers of Gen Ed Now, however, said that changing times created a challenge for them as they tried to recreate that atmosphere. "With Gen Ed S there were maybe 80 students in a class; now there are 800," Seligman said.In their research to establish a viable new concept, Seligman and Gillman came across the Chicago Society at the University of Chicago, a student-run group that organizes discussion events and speaker visits on topical issues for the community. Gen Ed Now could also model itself after the Chicago Society in terms of financing events, Seligman said, because the Chicago program doesn't pay speaker fees. The group is also working with the Office of Development and Alumni relations to approach alumni to fund Gen Ed Now's activities, Seligman said. "To have [programs] be student generated or faculty generated- that's the way a university ought to run," Charles Radin, Director of Global Operations in the Office of Communications, and one of the organizers of yesterday's Levin event, said. "I think they are very ambitious, and I'm for that." In the future, Seligman and Gillman said they envision working together with groups on campus to organize forums and speaker events related to topics such as the environment and affirmative action. During a citizenship week, speakers from service organizations such as Teach for America could come to Brandeis, during which there could be career fairs, Seligman said. Seligman and Gillman said the enthusiastic input they received from alumni at Brandeis from the 1950s and '60s served as an inspiration for their goals. In particular, Trustee Barbara C. Rosenberg '54 provided much guidance, they said. "What a great idea to revive the General Education S Program," Rosenberg writes in comments provided by Seligman and Gillman. "I loved [Arthur Miller's lecture] because I was an English major. However, through this course, I was exposed to scientists, musicians, philosophers, and mathematicians.
(01/15/08 5:00am)
Over winter break, Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society competed in the 28th World University Debating Championship at Assumption University of Thailand in Bangkok, with one two-person team advancing as far as the semifinal round, a first in Brandeis history. The Brandeis team consisted of Evan Green-Lowe '10 and Joel Todoroff '09, who made it to the semifinals, as well as Alex Levine '08, Jackie Saffir '10, Mariel Gruszko '10 and Jason Gray '10. Jack Bouchard '10 participated as a judge. "We did the best Brandeis has ever done in this particular championship in its history," said BADASS president Levine, who went with varsity teammates to the 10-day, student-run event, which ran from Dec. 26th to Jan. 5th. According to Levine, the team was selected "by a highly selective process done by the BADASS executive board based on ability and commitment to the team." He says preparation involved everything from newspapers to Wikipedia to learning about different international organizations and conflicts. Similarily, Saffir explained, "Some teams read months of the Economist magazine, others kept up on newspapers, others bought fact books that had sections on the history and political background of all the countries of the world. We also practiced a lot with teams from MIT and Harvard." It seems that the effort paid off. Semifinalists Todoroff and Green-Lowe ranked in the top eight teams at the competition, which is attended by debaters from some of the highest-ranking colleges and universities around the world, including Israel, India, Spain, China, England and Australia, among others.To get as far as the semifinals, teams must last through both "in-rounds" and "out-rounds." The in-rounds are the rounds that occur at the beginning of the tournament. The topics included, "'This house would assassinate Vladimir Putin,' to 'Taiwan should declare independence' to 'This house would deny scarce medical resources to the terminally ill,'" Saffir explained. No eliminations are made until debaters' scores from all nine rounds are tallied and ranked in relation to each other. The top 32 teams emerging from this first set then face each other in the octo rounds, the first of the out-rounds. The out-rounds directly eliminate the losing teams and propel the winners to the next, more selective, pool-from octo to quarters, semis, and then finals, explained Levine. Despite the intensity of the competition, it is not an all-work-and-no-play event. The teams also get a chance to be tourists. "We explored temples, got buried in sand on the beach, wandered around Bangkok," Saffir said. "To be cheesy for just a second, the best part of the trip was that everything I did, I did with six of my best friends." The debate also presents a great opportunity for international interaction, and the organizers arranged forums, dinners and other social events to encourage debaters to interact outside of each round, according to the event's Web site."It's a competition first and foremost, but if you ask the people running it, they tell you that it's an opportunity to meet to people from other places," Levine said. "When you're in a room with Oxford's A team and Cambridge's A team and the best team from Monash [a top Australian school], you're likely to get your ass kicked, but you're also likely to learn a lot from them.""The people who debated were sophomores and juniors," Levine, the only senior to make the trip, added about his team. "How dominant and successful we're going to be reminds you that really, the sky's the limit, and that should be pointed out," he added. "I think that momentum is important and that the team has been gaining momentum over the past semester," Todoroff commented. "Worlds was a testimony to the power of teamwork, and I think we will continue to see tangible benefits to the team's communal feel over the coming semester."He also thinks that name recognition will help Brandeis in the upcoming North American Championships and other local debates. "The talent we have is not a talent that is going away," said Levine, noting "It's a talent that's going to be on the team for two more years.
(12/04/07 5:00am)
In the midst of the end-of-term academic scramble to get things done, a flurry of activity at a local public housing facility near campus has quietly achieved a different kind of success.A coalition of students, faculty and tenants received approval last month from the Waltham Housing Authority to proceed with plans to establish a community center at Prospect Terrace, a state-owned development located off of Prospect Hill Road. It's an achievement that deserves the recognition and financial backing necessary to capitalize on the momentum.A semester of outreach to Prospect tenants has proved the dedication of the activists heading the community center initiative. In perhaps its most vibrant partnership, the group of students, led by Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH) and Prof. Ellen Schattschneider (ANTH), participated this fall in two "work days" at Prospect, cleaning up the run-down property and working alongside tenants and their children to paint a mural on what was once a drab concrete facade.But good deeds alone are not enough to kickstart the community center.Although the project has the go-ahead from local officials, it has yet to pass a hurdle that rears its head far too often in the realm of public housing: a lack of consistent and reliable funding. Approval from the Housing Authority means only that the space will be available and does not guarantee funding. The money, whatever its source, would certainly be well spent. Several initiatives for the new space are under discussion, including a computer center, student-run classes and a free legal clinic for tenants. There's no arguing that the center isn't a worthwhile investment as a tool for the kind of social justice on which the University prides itself. Bentley College, the other private institution in town, has for years run a successful volunteer computer center at another Waltham public housing facility. With sturdy connections and a hoard of eager activists at the ready, there's no reason Brandeis and its wunderkind fundraisers couldn't gather the money to do the same.At last week's housing forum, Marci Diamond '91, president of the tenant advocacy group WATCH, put forth a philosophy that captures the spirit behind much of the recent activism at Prospect Terrace. "Public housing isn't just a building," she said. "For us, it's about the neighborhood and community."As a neighbor to the Prospect tenants and now a participant in their community, Brandeis should support the project and put up the funds for meaningful change in the lives of those who reside nearby.
(12/04/07 5:00am)
The use of intimidation, the cost of campus events requiring security and the number of campus police officers that will be armed were among the concerns students raised at last Tuesday's forum on the procedures for the arming of University Police. Approximately 18 students attended the forum, which was organized by the Student Union Outreach Dream Team, a task force to communicate between the Union and the student body. Student representatives on a firearms advisory committee formed by University President Jehuda Reinharz at the end of October, including Matt Rogers '08, Fanny Familia '09 and Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09, will bring the concerns raised at the forum to their first committee meeting.Reinharz reached the decision to arm campus police last September after the recommendations of a committee of students, faculty and staff that convened over the summer. The date for the first meeting of the new advisory committee, the members of which also also include Prof. Robert Moody (THA), Prof. Paul Jankowski (HIST), Chief Operating Officer Peter French and Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan, has yet to be determined, according to Rogers.Senator for the Class of 2009 Julia Sferlazzo, who led the forum, and representatives on the advisory committee said student response is extremely important in communicating ideas to the administration during meetings. "What's really important is that we continue these forums [as decisions are being made]," Sferlazzo said. Concerns brought up during the forum included whether all public safety officers will be armed, proper procedure in using or motioning towards guns worries about intimidation by public safety officers and how the decision to arm public safety officers will affect the cost of events on campus that require security. The psychological effects that could result from having guns on campus were also discussed."There's a lot of elements that go into the [gun] policy," Sferlazzo said, "and we just want to gauge what students want."Etta King '10 raised the issue of students' lack of knowledge about the policy to arm Brandeis police and called this "one of the greatest issues surrounding guns on campus." Students don't have the time to gather the information they need, she said. According to student representative Fanny Familia '09, representatives will put minutes from the advisory committee meetings online so that students can access them. King agreed this would be beneficial and added that having resources online would allow parents and those outside the Brandeis community to know what is going on regarding the arming of campus police. "To be able to have that be a transparent process would be most comfortable for me" and for other students, King said. Other students brought up the issue of having protocols for when officers are allowed to draw their weapons, and if they do so, how it should be done.I want to make sure that if a police officer gets upset for some reason, he won't just be able to pull out his gun, Sahar Massachi '11 said. According to Senator-at-Large Jessica Blumberg '09, there should be clear steps that all public safety officers must take before pulling out their guns or certain phrases they must say. "If all students know what those phrases are . that would be a good way for people to have that extra level of checks on [the proper use of guns by police officers]," Blumberg said. Students then discussed whether or not all public safety officers should be armed. "Arming campus police does not necessarily mean that every police officer has a gun in their holster," Sferlazzo said. "There's a big spectrum between every police officer having a gun in their holster and no guns at all.""I think the ability to stop violent crimes is a lot greater with guns," Sarah Bernes '10 said. Ben Serby '10, who formed the group Students Opposed to the Decision to Arm, disagreed. "I really don't see a need for any [public safety officers] to carry their weapons on a day-to-day basis," Serby said. "[Virginia Polytechnic Institute] police were, in fact, armed, and it didn't really serve as a deterrent to the shooting that ensued." Jamie Ansorge '09, however, said that with respect to Virginia Tech, "the idea was to have quicker first-response time with armed officers," and that here at Brandeis, public safety officers know the campus and would be able to arrive at the scene of emergency situations quicker than the Waltham Police Department would. Students also expressed the need for an improved relationship between students and public safety officers at Brandeis, adding that intimidation is a big factor introduced with guns. "Especially at night when they're breaking up parties, that's the only time when people come into contact with public safety officers," Senator for Racial Minority Students Gabriel Gaskin '08 said.
(11/20/07 5:00am)
The Senate unanimously passed a resolution calling on the administration to deny a request from Student Events to receive money directly from the Student Activities Fee. The Senate confirmed Matt Rogers '08 and Fanny Familia '09 as the student representatives to the Firearms Advisory Committee established by University President Jehuda Reinharz. The Senate confirmed the change of the Outdoors and Mountaineering Club's name to Brandeis Mountain Club to reflect the club's commitment to organizing a variety of activities.The senate recognized the Gen Ed Now Club, which aims to emulate a speaker series program organized for seniors at Brandeis during the 1950s and 1960s. The club hopes to organize thematic speaker series open to the whole campus speaking on topics such as climate change or political satire.The Senate recognized the Brandeis IT Entrepreneurship club, which has the goal of providing a forum and networking opportunity for students interested in business opportunities related to information technology. The Senate recognized the ONE Brandeis chapter. ONE is a national campaign lobbying elected officials to allocate more foreign aid toward alleviating poverty and fighting diseases such as AIDS and malaria. The senate did not recognize the Choon Woo Ha: Get a Girlfriend club, presented by Yuki Hasegawa '09, senator for the Class of 2009. The Senate tabled a bylaw amendment that would confirm renaming the Student Union Office for Judicial and Academic Advocacy to Student Union Office for Student Conduct Advisors.?The amendment didn't pass.The Senate tabled a bylaw amendment to change the name of the Project Brandeis University Spirit Committee to the University Spirit Committee. It shifts focus to encouraging University Spirit in general. Director of Academic Affairs Kimberlee Bachmann '08 reported the take-your-professor-to-lunch initiative would take place again next semester after a number of successful years.Senators Tamar Ariel '10 for East Quad, Jenna Brofsky for the Class of 2010 and Rebecca Wilkof '10 for the Castle reported that big-screen plasma TVs would be set up in the Castle Commons, the East Airplane Lounge and the Shapiro Lounge. Director of Union Affairs Jason Gray '10 said there were processes by which Finance Board funds could be reallocated. Student Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha '08 said that in discussions with Student Events Director Lauren Adler, the F-Board had established that it could provide Student Events with some discretionary funds. -Miranda Neubauer
(11/20/07 5:00am)
The Union Senate confirmed two students who will serve as representatives on the new Firearms Advisory Committee last Sunday.Student Union President Shreeya Sinha '09 chose Matt Rogers '08 and Fanny Familia '09 to join her. Professors Robert Moody (THA) and Paul Jankowski (HIST), Chief Operating Officer Peter French and Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan will also serve on the committee. French will chair the committee. University President Jehuda Reinharz formed the committee at the end of last month to advise the University as it implements its policy of arming officers, a decision he reached in September after the recommendations of a committee of students, faculty and staff that convened over the summer. Reinharz originally ordered that the new committee be comprised of two faculty members, two graduate students, two undergraduate students and two staff members. Sinha e-mailed an application for the committee to the entire student body Nov. 5. The committee will convene after Thanksgiving, she said, adding that the student representatives' goal will be to gather student opinions on the issue through forums and visits to club meetings. Sinha said Reinharz charged her with organizing the selection of the students. Together with three senators and Vice President Alex Braver '09, she selected the students from a group of 25 applicants, she said. Senator for Ziv Quad Justin Sulsky '09, who helped Sinha with her decisions, said the additional panel members each viewed some of the applications before they came together to interview five finalists. Rogers said he wanted to be on the committee "to ensure that all students' interests, regardless of what those interests are, were represented." He added that he didn't think the fact "that there's just three of us means that other student input will be ignored."Rogers said he was still undecided about his opinion on the decision to arm. "I feel like there were issues with the process itself but that the decision .was made by people who have the best interests of the university in mind, and therefore I would tend to say that I don't have a particular problem with the decision."In an e-mail to the Justice, Familia wrote that she saw two sides to the arming issue. "One is that it is a bad decision to arm Brandeis officers because these students already feel unsafe and intimidated by the officers," she wrote. "On the other hand, with recent tragedies in colleges and Universities, . arming Brandeis officers will delay response time and can be the difference in the outcome if such an event were to occur on our campus." At last Sunday's senate meeting, Familia said she aimed to "be a messenger of student's concerns." She added that "Shreeya, Matt and I . all recognize that our role in the committee is to convey the information we gather from students." Some members of Students Opposed to the Decision to Arm, a campus club formed by Ben Serby '10, also applied to serve on the committee. "I'm disappointed that nobody who's actively been working on the issue in any way is going to be participating on the committee," SODA member Phil Lacombe '10, one of the five finalists for the committe, said.He added that he thought SODA members could also be open-minded about arming. "Someone from our group should have been selected specifically because it's very important.that you have someone who can take a critical look at whatever anyone suggests," he said. Lacombe said at least one other student from the group had applied. Braver said the Union's selection panel "didn't immediately rule out anybody from SODA," and looked for students who could advocate for their peers as well as work with administrators. However, Class of 2008 Senator Darren Gallant, another member of the panel, said "It's hard to choose someone whose organization is against [the] decision." Rogers and Familia, Gallant explained, "were very focused on the implementation, not the [past decision]."Braver, one of the student representatives on the committee that reached the decision to arm over the summer, said he "found it difficult to communicate with my constituents over the summer because they weren't all here." He said he hoped for better communication this time around. Sinha said the panel unanimously agreed on the final selection. "They both came from different communities that had issues with the arming of campus police," she said, noting that Familia is involved with the Intercultural Center and Rogers was a member of the Activist Resource Center. "[Familia] is a student who keeps in mind that many of her peers do not have a one hundred percent positive view of the police," Sulsky said. "We feel it was very, very important to have that type of view on the committee.
(11/20/07 5:00am)
An article in News incorrectly referred to Prof. Jeff C. Hall (BIOL) as Prof. John C. Hall. (Nov. 6, p. 5)An article in News misspelled Avigdor Levy's name as "Avigor" on one reference. (Nov. 13, p. 3)A paraphrased quote in News by TYP Senator Kamarin Lee should have indicated the difference between Africans and African Americans, but not compared Africans to black people. (Nov. 13, p. 5)B-Talk in Forum mixed up two names. The first photo is Matt Wakim '08 and the bottom photo is Olen Shen '10. (Nov. 13, p. 10)An editorial in Forum misspelled Student Union President Shreeya Sinha's '09 name as Sreeya on one reference stated that she was a member of the Class of 2008. (Nov. 13, p. 10)In a letter to the editor, the class years of Alison Schwartzbaum '08 and Jennifer Feinberg '07 were incorrect. (Nov. 13, p. 11)A photo caption in Arts incorrectly stated that Rachel Jarman '08 and Rachel Pfeffer '08 are members of the Class of 2007. (Nov. 13, p. 20) The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. E-mail corrections@brandeis.edu.
(11/13/07 5:00am)
The Asian nation's state's new interest in managing domestic life, particularly sexuality, was examined in a three-panel symposium sponsored by the Asian Diaspora Working Group called "Sexuality and the National Body in Asia" last Tuesday. The event began in the Rose Art Museum and continued in the Women's Studies Research Center.The Working Group on Asian and Asian Diaspora Studies, formed last year, is a group of students and faculty who are interested in both Asian and Diaspora studies. The group emphasizes study involving different parts of Asia, such as India and Japan, in conjunction with one another. "We look at the links and connections between the various fields," Prof. Sarah Lamb (ANTH) said."The three of us [Profs. Ellen Schattschneider (ANTH), Harleen Singh (WGS) Lamb] have been involved in the Asian Diaspora reading group, a loose association of faculty and students meeting from time to time to read material of mutual interest. We are trying to bridge the more conventional divides of, oh that's East Asia, that's Japan. It's so easy for academic work like this to get pigeonholed, but [the symposium] was really an open forum for discussion between different groups," Schattschneider said in an interview after the symposium.The symposium portion was divided into three panels: Figuring the National Body in South Asia, Sexuality, Power and Literature in Japan and Reports from the Field: Transnational Asian Sexualities.Schattschneider talked about some of the overarching themes of the conference. "In relation to the nation state and the nation state's interest in the national body, there's this interesting transformation in the Asian context between the state's lack of interest in mediating sexuality in the private sphere prior to the late 1860s, and then suddenly the nation state's interests become allied with managing the domestic sphere," she said.During the first panel, presenter Jyoti Puri of Simmons College addressed sodomy law in India. "The discourses of sexuality permeate the state," Puri said. "The state is now a sexual domain, it is saturated with biopolitics."Raji Mohan of Haverford College examined issues of femininity and sexuality in the film The Terrorist, released in 1999. The film follows a young girl, Malli, who is given a suicide mission to assassinate an influential person in the Indian government. The director used the assassination of India's Prime Minister, Rajiv Ghandi, in 1991 as his inspiration, though the film is not meant to be a representation of actual events."The film reverses traditional gender roles," Mohan explained. "The main character is deliberately unfeminized." "In [the film], Malli's sexuality is something different and unpredictable, which goes back to the theme of the state's interest in individual sexuality; it turns that [idea] on its head," Schattschneider said.In the second panel, Keith Vincent of Boston University spoke about gender and sexuality in the Japanese context in terms of literature. "In some sense [the ideas were] written out through narrative, especially in the relationships between male writers who were deeply involved with scholarship and poetry," said Schattschneider.The third panel provided an opportunity for graduate students to showcase their fieldwork. "We all really wanted to provide a forum in which grad students could provide some of their work and show what kind of things they're finding in the field, which I think we did successfully," Schattschneider said.All three panels were followed by commentary and discussion.The symposium was preceded by a tour and discussion of the "Tiger by the Tail!" exhibition in the Rose Art Museum with scholars from the symposium, students and women brought to Brandeis from the Waltham community. The "Tiger by the Tail!" exhibit features work by Indian women artists in a variety of media. The artwork explores Indian culture as it pertains to issues such as feminism and sexuality.Schattschneider, Singh and Lamb coordinated the event, which was co-sponsored by the Women's and Gender Studies Program, the Department of Anthropology, the Masters of Arts program in Cultural Production and the Japanese Studies colloquium series."A lot of students are interested in seeing a sexuality studies program that really takes not only gay and lesbian studies seriously but also transgender and queer studies seriously," said Prof. Mark Auslander (ANTH). "It's very encouraging to see so much student interest.
(11/13/07 5:00am)
The Finance Board will run a pilot program next semester in which all events it funds will be free of charge to Brandeis undergraduates, according to Student Union Treasurer Choon Woo Ha '08. Several changes will also be instituted to the guidelines and rules governing the allocation of club funding, he said.Clubs will not be allowed to require Brandeis undergrads to pay any extra fees for entrance or for other items and services funded by the F-Board, Ha announced in a campuswide e-mail Sunday night. Under the F-Board's new allocation rules, clubs can request full funding for lodging and transportation costs except for car travel, among other changes, to its policy. The F-Board says the new process for allocating funds will be more club-friendly."We opened [the funding] scope up a little more and made it more lenient," Ha said in an interview Monday. Under the old plan, clubs could request up to $20 per room per person per night in funding for lodging, he said.Ha emphasized, however, that "clubs should not feel that [just] because it's opened up, that they will always get full funding." The amount of money allocated will still depend on the amount available to the F-Board and on whether the Board deems the funds necessary for the club, he explained. Two semesters ago, the F-Board did not fund transportation and lodging costs at all, Ha said. "We saw that there was more demand for this kind of [thing], so we decided to fund everything," he said. "We realized that many, many clubs really need this kind of funding for their clubs to function smoothly."Ha added that the F-Board will also be more lenient toward the funding of decorations, publicity and advertising when it is evident that they are necessary for a club's activities and purpose. According to Ha, the free admission policy grew out of concerns over the amount of money undergraduates pay for events. Every semester, 1 percent of the tuition fee for Brandeis undergraduates goes toward the Student Activities Fee. The F-Board is responsible for allocating that money to chartered and secured clubs.Ha said the ability of clubs to sell tickets is an incentive for club leaders to organize events in order to get money beyond the F-Board funds. Ha said the F-Board decided on the test run for next semester to get an idea of the policy's effects. He said the F-Board and clubs could discuss a cap on ticket prices, "but there really is no point in talking about it because this kind of [thing] you can only know once you've experienced both ends of the spectrum." Next semester, he said, "we're going to experience the completely opposite end of the spectrum, which is no tickets at all." The Union will solicit feedback on the new policy from students and clubs through forums, online surveys and meetings to determine further action, Ha said. Scott Frost '09, a coordinator for the Liquid Latex Club, said he disagreed with the F-Board for making this decision without speaking to club leaders. "I feel like a guinea pig," he said. "[It will make] expensive events on campus difficult to have."Anna Umanskaya '10, president of the Russian culture club, said she agreed with the decision. "We are already paying event fees, so I don't believe we should be paying twice."Anya Bergman contributed reporting.
(11/06/07 5:00am)
The University disciplined a longtime politics professor last week after concluding that he made "inappropriate, racial and discriminatory" comments during a class in late September which violated University nondiscrimination policy, according to documents obtained by the Justice.Prof. Donald Hindley (POL) was notified of the action against him last Tuesday in a letter from Provost Marty Krauss, which he provided to the Justice. Krauss assigned Assistant Provost Richard Silberman this week to begin attending POL144a-the Latin American politics course in which the infraction allegedly occurred-to "monitor" Hindley's lectures for speech that might violate University nondiscriminatory policy, the letters said. The University will also require Hindley to complete anti-discrimination training.Hindley, who is in his 47th year teaching at the University, called the charges against him "ridiculous" and "totally out of the blue." He said that he has appealed to the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee and that his case has been accepted.Many students enrolled in his course voiced opposition to the sanctions. In a show of support for Hindley, a group estimated at around 13 students, about a third of the class, walked out before Hindley's lecture last Thursday. The students marched from Rabb to the Bernstein-Marcus administration building, where they met briefly with Krauss before returning to class."We asked to know what was going on, why we weren't informed," said Lily Adams '09, who participated in the walk-out. She added: "It's become a sort of guilty until proven innocent. There's no dissenting view or no forum for students to speak out on his behalf."Krauss said she told the students that the process was "confidential" because "it's important that people have the courage to come forward once they have a complaint."At least one complaint appears to have stemmed from Hindley's reference to the term "wetbacks," a derogatory expression used to describe illegal immigrants who have crossed the Mexican border. Hindley defended his discussion of the term, saying he had used it to describe racism of a certain historical period. Throughout American history, he said, "When Mexicans come north as illegal immigrants, we call them wetbacks." Adams also denied Hindley had used the term in an offensive context. "If he had made comments that were legitimately racist, the whole class would have complained," she said, adding, "It was never him saying, 'This is what I call them,' or, 'This is an appropriate term.'"In an interview, Krauss declined to elaborate on the specific nature of Hindley's comments, citing a need to protect the complaintants. "I know some are upset about this, but there should be some confidence that a detailed process was followed that allows people to come forward with complaints against their supervisors and/or faculty," she said.Hindley defended the right of a student to object to the content of his lectures, but said the source of the complaint had been "used by vengeful people." He attributed the vigor of the University's reprimands in part to his outspoken comments on a number of issues, including a dispute over his salary and his opposition to some Israeli tactics in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I object loudly to what I see to be arbitrary and unjust authority and that includes within the department and within the administration," he said.Although Prof. Steven Burg (POL), chairman of the Politics department, received the complaints first, Hindley said, the issue was referred to Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe and later Krauss, without an attempt to mediate the solution. Section 7a of the Faculty Handbook requires department chairs to "resolve issues concerning faculty rights or responsibilities . through direct discussions with the faculty member involved and/or through mediation."The University's Non-Discrimination and Harassment Policy recommends that problems be resolved "informally" and states that the Human Resources and Employee Relations Department can "assist in this process."Hindley said he was first alerted to the complaints Oct. 22 after receiving an e-mail from Jesse Simone, director of employment, employee relations and training, requesting a meeting that day. Over the course of the nearly two-hour meeting, Simone and Hindley discussed the allegations in the presence of another man, who took notes but did not speak. "She said, 'Did you use the word wetback?' Well, I teach Latin American politics and I'm currently teaching Mexican politics, and of course I use the word wetbacks, [but] not in any derogatory sense," Hindley said, adding, "I thought it was just ridiculous charges, totally resolved, and they were being just silly about it."Hindley said Simone also asked if he had referred to "young, white males having contact with women of color," which he said he had.Hindley said he didn't hear more about the charges until receiving a phone call on the evening of Oct. 29 from Krauss, who told him that he would receive two letters in his mailbox the next day. He read the letters from Simone and Krauss informing him of their decisions before his morning class, and entered to find Silberman present as a monitor.
(11/06/07 5:00am)
Prof. Michael Rosbash (BIOL), a 31-year faculty member whose research has focused on human sleep cycles, was elected by his peers in the American Academy for the Advancement of Science as a Fellow of the international nonprofit organization last month.The AAAS is dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, spokesperson and professional organization, according to its Web site. Fellows attend a forum in February at which they're presented with an official certificate and a rosette pin, the blue and gold colors of which represent science and engineering, respectively. The distinction is granted to those whose social or applied work is viewed as having advanced his or her scientific field."It's a nice thing to receive," Rosbash said. Some of his other achievements include an appointment as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in 1989 and membership to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001.Rosbash has spent his time researching a range of topics, including metabolism and the processing of RNA, a crucial factor in building protein in human bodies. For the past 25 years, his interests have been rooted primarily in circadian rhythm and biological clocks. "It's related to how and why we sleep," he said about his research. "The ticking of the clock has impact on alertness and sleep." Rosbash's research looks at why people sleep and what purpose sleep serves, as well as the molecular basis for sleep. When he first came to Brandeis as an assistant professor, Rosbash was interested in how genes influence behavior. His specific fascination with circadian rhythms was inspired in part by his friendship with Prof. John C. Hall (BIOL), another new member of the science faculty. When they were both starting out, Hall told Rosbash of his previous experience in a lab studying how genes influence circadian rhythm. "The personal friendship was really the driving force behind the beginning of this work," Rosbash said. Together, he and Hall have used research on fruit flies to identify numerous genes involved in the sleep and waking cycles of humans. They also proposed a potential mechanism to explain how a 24-hour biological clock might work. Rosbash doesn't spend all his time in the lab, though. Although his professorial work mostly involves guiding students through senior research or dissertations, he has, in the past, taught undergraduate classes such as cell biology. This year, he teaches the University Seminar for first-years in the Life Science Scholar program. This yearlong course familiarizes LSS students with Brandeis' researchers and their techniques for achieving success in their various fields.
(10/30/07 4:00am)
'Beauty and the Geek'The CW's show Beauty and the Geek is looking for beauties and geeks for its fifth season and encourages all Brandeis students to audition. Saturday from 2 to 9 p.m. at "The Estate," 1 Boylston Place in?Boston.?For more information, contact andrea@tripple7pr.com. Microcredit Awareness Come to Click Drive's Microcredit Awareness Event with speakers from Oxfam America, Brandeis Faculty. Tuesday from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in?Lown 2. "Hold Power Accountable"John Dean, a central figure in the Watergate scandal, will discuss how well American investigative reporting meets its constitutional goal of keeping American citizens informed and democracy safe. Co-sponsored by the International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life. Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the main dining hall in the Faculty Center. For more information, contact the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at (781) 736-3870.Tobacco on TrialProf. Allan M. Brandt from Harvard Medical School will speak about the rise and decline of cigarette smoking in the United States. Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. in Zinner Forum room in Heller. For more information, contact Nancy Feldman at nfeldman@brandeis.edu. The Life of a Forensic AnthropologistWilliam Haglund, the U.N. senior forensic advisor for two International Criminal Tribunals and senior consultant to Physicians for Human Rights, reveals the details of daily life as a forensic anthropologist. The speech is part of a weeklong residency cosponsored by the Hiatt Career Center. Thursday from noon to 2:45 p.m. in the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex Atrium. For more information, contact bstrauss@brandeis.edu. Indian festival of LightsA religious festival and fair including: Diwali Puja, religious acts, henna, free food, and Garba, a traditional Indian dance. Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m. in the Levin Ballroom. Sophomore Year ExperienceThe first Monday of every month, members of the Sophomore Year Experience team will have a table in the Usdan Dining Hall staffed with advisers from these various officers. Learn about sophomore-specific topics/events/deadlines. Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the dining hall of Usdan Student Center.
(10/23/07 4:00am)
When University President Jehuda Reinharz decided last month to arm campus police officers, he made a choice necessary to ensure the safety of this campus. However, in matters such as that which affect the day-to-day lives of every student, staff and faculty member here, more than just the merits of the actual decision matter. While Mr. Reinharz made the right call, he hasn't been sufficiently transparent with the community about his decision-making process.Mr. Reinharz made the decision after a firearms committee consisting of students, faculty and staff convened over the summer and recommended the course of action to him, but he said he could have proceeded even without that level of approval. "I could have come to this decision without a committee," he said last week. "But I decided to have a committee, and it did not make sense to me to waste a single moment once I had their recommendation, which was a unanimous one."The community at large, however, is far from a consensus on this issue. The newly formed Students Opposed to the Decision to Arm presented to Reinharz a petition signed by 830 undergraduates, 16 staff members and 20 faculty members protesting the decision arguing that students and faculty should have been consulted about the decision before it was made.Mr. Reinharz can't go back in time and change how he reached the decision, but he should explain his rationale to the entire community. On top of that, the administration hasn't revealed details on new protocols regarding how officers will use or access the guns. We appreciate Mr. Reinharz e-mailed out the advisory committee's report. We also appreciate that Mr. Reinharz plans to form a firearms policy group that includes students faculty and staff as well as hold a forum sometime before the end of the spring semester. We hope these events will welcome community input. We also hope that Mr. Reinharz will speak to the campus about the decision and allow for a question-and-answer session. Whether or not we agree with major administrative decisions, transparency is a necessary courtesy on the University's part.The decision is also more complex than Mr. Reinharz has acknowledged. This page has argued that campus officers must be armed in order to protect themselves and the community, especially in light of April's shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. But we admit that there are potentially harmful consequences of having guns on campus, such as the promotion of a culture of fear and anxiety, as well as the possibility of weapon abuse by some officers. While these factors aren't enough to hold back the arming initiative, Mr. Reinharz-instead of just stating the benefits of arming the police-must admit the existence of these potential pitfalls and state how the University will deal with them.With Mr. Reinharz's decision to arm officers, we know that he is doing his best to protect our campus from violence. Now, however, it's important that he protect community dialogue. Be open with us, and explain your decision. Without giving us that knowledge, you are leaving us in the dark.
(10/23/07 4:00am)
An article in News incorrectly stated that Tony Williams Jr. was the founding director of the Transition Year Program. Williams was not the founding director, and the program is the Transitional Year Program. (Oct. 16, p. 1)The unrelated photo caption in News said that students played soccer on the Great Lawn. The students were playing on Gordon's field. (Oct. 16, p. 2)An article in News identified a midyear as Faith Bowman '10. The student quoted is midyear Beth Bowman '10. (Oct. 16, p. 7)Brandeis Talks Back in Forum misspelled Alex Melman's '11 name. (Oct. 16, p. 10)A photo credit in Arts misspelled Univesity photographer Mike Lovett's name. (Oct. 16, p. 23)The Justice welcomes submissions of errors that warrant correction or clarification. E-mail corrections@brandeis.edu.
(10/16/07 4:00am)
Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, will speak at the University Dec. 3, in honor of the late Eli Segal '64, a former Clinton adviser who died in February 2006, University President Jehuda Reinharz announced in a campuswide e-mail Monday afternoon.Clinton, who served two terms between 1993 and 2001, is delivering the inaugural memorial lecture for the Eli Segal Citizen Leadership Program, a new fellowship initiative for civic-minded undergraduates and graduate students within the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. Segal's widow, Phyllis Segal '66, initiated the program, Reinharz wrote in his e-mail."It's a phenomenal honor to have a former president speak at the school, particularly one who has really championed so much of what the Heller School stands for in terms of social justice and promoting the kinds of activities that create social justice," Heller School Dean Stuart Altman said in a phone interview Monday evening.The lecture will be held in the Shapiro Gymnasium in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, and is tentatively scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Reinharz wrote. Tickets will be free but limited due to space considerations, he wrote, and simulcast presentations will be broadcast in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater and in the Zinner Forum at the Heller School. Clinton informed Eli's widow about a month ago that he would be "honored" to speak at Brandeis in Eli's honor, said Provost Marty Krauss, who has been working with Phyllis on this project. "The Segals and the Clintons were very close throughout their lives, and Bill Clinton agreed to be the inaugural lecturer for this program," Krauss said Monday evening.Segal, who died at age 63, and helped run Clinton's 1992 campaign as well as Democratic Senator Eugene McCarthy's run for president in 1968, also created two prominent social justice projects as Clinton's assistant in the White House, including AmeriCorps and the Welfare to Work for Partnership, and was a trustee of several nonprofit organizations such as CityYear, the National Alliance to End Homelessness (both of which he chaired) and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.Segal was also a chair for the Brandeis Transitional Year Program and a member of the Board of Overseers at the Heller School."Eli Segal was a practical prophet," Reinharz wrote in his e-mail. "He knew that a strong democratic society depends on support for volunteerism, good citizenship and citizen leadership."Although the purpose of Clinton's address will be to memorialize Segal, Altman said he hopes the former president will also speak about general social justice issues and his new book about philanthropy, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, which was published last month. "I'm sure President Clinton will talk about Elliot Segal, but I'm hoping he will go beyond that to talk about the broader issues of the need for all of us to do more to promote social justice around the world, which is what the Heller School stands for," Altman said.Phyllis' goal is to raise a $4 million endowment for the program through a national fundraising campaign for the new program, Krauss said. "We are providing [Phyllis] assistance in her fundraising efforts, but she is primarily using her own networks of donors, of friends who are involved with Eli Segal and who are excited with this new program," Krauss said.Phyllis was at a conference in New York City Monday night and wasn't available for comment by press time.The program will have three components: a paid summer internship for selected undergraduates and Heller students in civic-minded organizations, the creation of an alumni network for the program and an annual public lecture on civic engagement by a "high profile" individual, the first of which will be given by Clinton. A group of mentors drawn from Eli's friends, family and colleagues will choose the interns and internship sites, Reinharz wrote.Clinton will be the second former president to visit Brandeis within a year. Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, spoke on campus last January about his book on Arab-Israeli relations, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Having two former presidents speak at Brandeis "shows what a terrific place this is, what an exciting and dynamic university we have here," University Spokesperson Lorna Miles said Monday evening.Krauss said that cost for bringing Clinton and the exact security provisions for the event haven't been determined.Security for Carter's visit last January cost the University $95,000. "We are just beginning to get down to that level of detail," Krauss said.Miles, however, said that any security implemented on campus for the event will follow the requirements of the Secret Service, a security force that accompanies current and former presidents. She added that the Office of Communications will create a Web site soon with more details about the event.
(10/16/07 4:00am)
Paul Farmer, the founder of Partners In Health, a global humanitarian organization, spoke about the need for "pro-poor" international policy at the opening of the renovated Heller-Brown building at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management last Thursday morning. Farmer, an infectious disease expert, Harvard Medical School professor, anthropologist and author of four books, has opened and run hospitals in Haiti, Peru, Russia and Rwanda to treat patients suffering from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, among other illnesses. He challenged "the state religion of public policy," which, he said, cowers from alleviating the suffering of the poor in the modern world. For years, Farmer said policymakers told him it wasn't "cost-effective" or "sustainable" to confront AIDS and other infectious diseases in the third world. Economists, namely, argued that it would be too expensive to fund treatment drugs."I learned that these conversations are not meant to start a conversation, but meant to end it," Farmer said. Instead, Farmer said he decided to "leave the policy community behind" until they caught up with him. In 2002, the new Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria gave Partners In Health a major grant to build Zanmi Lasante (Partners In Health in Haitian Creole), a health clinic in Haiti, and train and pay local community workers to help run the clinic and care for patients. "We have built up a system in Haiti that is robust and pro-poor," he said. Farmer urged the students, professors and donors in the audience to focus on global health equity and develop "pro-poor policies" in their research."We don't have a good plan as a research and teaching community," he said. "We've got to learn how to link our teaching and research to service." Partners In Health's new policy, Farmer said, is to focus on strengthening the public sector. "[In] all of these places we have gone into the public sector and built infrastructure and public sector facilities owned by the people of Haiti," he said. Farmer's work isn't just about treating illness; he said funding for clinics also creates jobs, advocates for clean water and encourages primary education. "Haitians use money to do water projects, to organize patient groups, food and agricultural intiatives," he said. Farmer displayed several maps showing the prevalence of AIDS in Africa, the number of physicians there, and before and after photos of now-recovering patients. One from Rwanda, he noted, looked near death and now needs to worry about his expanding gut. "He went from looking skeletol to looking like he needs lipitor," he said jokingly. Farmer also realized clinics must have a local name, despite the pronunciation problems that might occur for English-speakers. If everything were named Partners In Health, that would be a form of "anthropological machismo," he said. That is why his Rwandan clinic is called Inshuti Mu Buzima (Partners In Health in the Rwandan national language, Kinyarwanda). Farmer's organization has brought its successful strategies back to Boston. "All we're trying to do is raise the Harvard level of care to the Haiti level," he said jokingly.During a question-and-answer session, Farmer discussed why policy makers avoid pro-poor policy."People want to talk about sustainability, but they don't want to talk about history," he said. "It's as if poverty arose de novo from the earth. They want to erase history. Erasing history is the oldest trick in the book for policy people."What we need to sustain, Farmer said, is "our willingness to fight for what's right."Thomas Glynn, Ph.D. '77, chair of Heller's Board of Overseers and chief operating officer of PIH, introduced Farmer, characterizing his life and work as "audacious." As first-years, the Class of 2008 read Tracy Kidder's 2003 biography of Farmer, Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World for its new-student forum. Undergraduates watched the speech through a live video in the Shapiro Campus Center Theater due to space limitations in the Schneider Building, where the event was held.
(10/16/07 4:00am)
A story summary in News said that three students and an alumnus were arrested by Waltham Police. Two students and an alumnus were arrested. (Oct. 9, p. 1)An article in News was attributed only to Shana D. Lebowitz. Ruth Orbach also contributed. (Oct. 9, p. 3)An article in Features about Ramadan said that "their voices were aligned" in prayer. The article should have said "their bodies were aligned," as Islamic prayer is silent. (Oct. 9, p. 9)The quote in the last paragraph of a News article about students who were arrested was incorrectly attributed to Ed Callahan. It should have been attributed to Jimmy Fruchterman '09. (Oct. 9, p. 5)An editorial in Forum said that a debate was sponsored by Democracy for America. The debate was sponsored by Brandeis Democrats and Brandeis Students for Barack Obama. (Oct. 9, p. 11)The answers to the crossword in Arts are the answers to the puzzle from Sept. 25, instead of the answers to the Oct. 2 puzzle (Oct. 9, p. 20). The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. E-mail corrections@brandeis.edu.
(10/16/07 4:00am)
Plans for the interior design of the Carl J. Shapiro Science Center are becoming more concrete as construction on the complex goes underway, including the design for an atrium serving as the Center's public space, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Peter French said.Planning groups consisting of faculty and administrators are focusing on specific issues such as furniture, signage and graphic displays in the atrium. The new $154 million Science Center is slated for completion at the end of 2008. Payette Associates, a leading architectural firm in Boston, is heading the project.The first phase of the whole science complex's construction, which commenced in spring 2006 and is expected to be complete in Spring 2009, includes the construction of the new science building, followed by the demolition of Kalman and Friedland, and eventually Edison-Lecks, all built in the 1950s.With the atrium, there is an opportunity for a "social hub that we haven't had in the science complex," Feldman said. French said that there will an Einstein Bros' Brothers café in the atrium."People are very interested in the [atrium] being a flexible forum," Feldman said. The goal, Feldman said, was to create a space that could host both formal and casual events. He added that science faculty members are interested in the possibility of being able to arrange "poster sessions" to present their research. Feldman also called the new center "a great opportunity to tell the history of science at Brandeis" and to present current research projects. He said planning groups were exploring the use of graphics and electronic displays to that end.Faculty members emphasized the need for more modern facilities in the new center Prof. Neil Simister (BIO) said he would like to see bigger and better lecture facilites. "Some of the early lectures in the biology track have 200 students and there's really only one lecture theater in the science area that can fit that class adequately," Simister said. "With the conflicting demands of biology and chemistry, it's often hard to schedule the large classes for that theater."Simister added that the current labs are very old. "To have new labs . new benches in a new building, I think would make it a much more agreeable place for students to do their bio labs." Prof. Irving Epstein (CHEM), who was consulted in the construction process by the University and the architects, also stressed that the buildings' age necessitated the construction of a new complex. "The space we're in now is almost 40 years old, and so things like temperature control, the ability to control the level of lighting [and] the quality of the water are not as good as they might be in a building, so we're hoping that those sorts of things will be much better [in the new complex]," Epstein said. Feldman and French said that many faculty members were consulted prior to the conceptual design of the new buildings was set. "With each group that's involved in the building, we showed them the final proposal for design, and we got sign-off from each and every one that they were satisfied [that the changes] were going to meet their needs," Feldman said. He emphasized that the University and the architects had worked hard in meetings with faculty to accommodate suggestions such as "I need more bench space" to "Wouldn't it be great if that door was here?
