(10/31/06 5:00am)
CORRECTION APPENDED (See bottom)Mark Magidson '09 was sworn in as the new senator for the Charles River Apartments.Senior Representative to the Alumni Association Beth Wexelman '07 said the Brandeis House, an alumni and member-only mansion on Manhattan's Upper East Side, may undergo a significant set of improvements, including the addition of a bar. Wexelman spoke about a proposal for an online interface, tentatively titled "BConnect," for Brandeis alums and recent grads to network.University Curriculum Committee Representatives announced that the Italian Studies interdisciplinary program will be continued after a review and will be reviewed again in another three to four months. The Representatives said they wish to hold an open forum on the possibility of changing the pass/fail policy so passing grades lower than a C- would no longer be covered.Jordan Rothman, president of the Brandeis marching band, submitted a petition with the signature of athletes, coaches and trainers as evidence of the overwhelming demand for the new fight song. The Fight Song Resolution, sponsored by Robbie Schwartz '08, senator for Ziv Quad, and Joshua Karpoff, senator for the Class of 2007, was passed. Senior Representative to the Board of Trustees Albert Cahn '07, Senator for the Class of 2008 Michael Goldman and Union Secretary Alex Braver '09 submitted a bylaw amendment which would have ended mandatory office hours for Union representatives. The amendment was rejected by a wide margin. The Senate approved a request by Castle Quad Senator Eric Alterman '09 for $200 to fund a Castle Quad Barbeque. An emergency request submitted by Senators for the Class of 2010 Jenna Brofsky and Rajiv Ramakrishnan to provide money for face paints and brushes to be used at Louispalooza was passed. -Bernard HermanThis article incorrectly reported that Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe wanted to hold an open forum to discuss changes to the pass/fail system. It was actually student representatives to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee wanted to hold such a forum.
(10/17/06 4:00am)
Director of the Hiatt Career Center Marty Ford addressed the Senate for feedback on recent developments within the department including internships, career counseling and a larger staff size. He spoke of the success of the Hiatt Assessment, a career evaluation targeted toward first-year students, and the sophomore-targeted career shadowing program. Beth Wexelman '07 and Reuven Solomon '08, respective senior and junior representatives to the Alumni Association, approached the Senate for comments in order to represent student opinion at next week's meeting. They also discussed BAMD! '06 (Brandeis Alumni Making a Difference), a program that invites returning alumni to speak about their lives after Brandeis.Director of Academic Affairs Jason Brodsky '07 announced the invitation of Dean of Arts and Sciences Adam Jaffe to discuss the academic pass/fail policy with the Senate.The Brandeis Marching Band distributed copies of its proposed Brandeis "Fight Song."The Senate recognized Students Organized Against Racism, a group that previously existed under the Intercultural Center and involves other local universities. The club advocates pluralism and provides forums for dialogue surrounding controversial issues.Director of Social Affairs Cindy Kaplan '08 discussed plans for Purple Rain on Oct. 20. She said event planners worked with the administration to make the event safer than past Modfests.Senior Representative to the Board of Trustees Albert Cahn '07 and Brodsky proposed a more lenient academic probation policy.Under the current policy, the Committee on Academic Standing can place students with a semester grade below a D or a semester GPA below 2.0 on probation. The senate will introduce a more transparent and "forgiving" policy to administration officials and University committees.Union President Alison Schwartzbaum '08 discussed potential plans for the reconstruction of Ridgewood, which may result in a 70-to-85 net gain of beds. She said the University ultimately aims to accommodate 90 percent of students on-campus. Other potential housing plans include a lower C-store and the eventual renovation of the Charles River Apartments.Brian Paternostro '07, director of communications, said he is considering delivering the Union's new newsletter door-to-door in response to students ripping them down from the walls.The Senate went into executive session for unknown reasons. -Lindsay Vacek
(10/10/06 4:00am)
In their book, The Elements of Journalism, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel lay some pretty hefty obligations at the feet of America's journalists. Members of the Fourth Estate, we are told, are obliged to monitor power, seek and verify "the truth," provide citizens with the information they need to exercise their rights and create a public forum, where the criticism and compromise that are so essential to any democracy can take place.All the while, Kovach and Rosenstiel insist, journalists must strive to be "interesting and relevant."It seems to me that the way reporters and editors can best accomplish this final obligation is by fostering a sense of community through their product. They can monitor power and verify truth all they want, but if their audience has not been encouraged to identify with the power and the truth, journalists will not have met their obligations in a free and democratic society.To foster community, journalists do not always have to focus specifically on such grandiose notions as "power" and "truth." Communities, after all, are made up of people-some powerful, some not-who all have different ways of discerning and understanding the truths in their lives. A good news product will introduce citizens to one another and challenge readers to understand the "different ways of knowing," so to speak, that are expressed by individuals and groups within their community. It will also compel readers to constantly redefine the boundaries of their communities.This brings me to the commitment the Justice clearly has to reporting on the arts at Brandeis. I was delighted to discover that each week, the paper devotes an entire pull-out section to the wealth of artistic expression on this campus-music, theater, photography, sculpture, painting and dance. Not only that, but the writing is good-often very good. I was able to learn from Kendra Fortmeyer '08, for example, that the obscenely wealthy Mexican women in Daniela Rossell's photography exhibit at the Kniznick Gallery are "bored out of their tanned, bleached-blond skulls," and that their houses are full of the "desperate possessions of those who long ago lost all sense of what it was to want." Michelle Minkoff '08 made me sorry I had missed the "camaraderie" that was apparently quite evident between and among the four cellists who kicked off this year's classical music series at the Slosberg Recital Hall. I'll be sure not to miss the next performance.Poetry is another mode of expression the Justice recently touched upon, in the profile of poet-in-residence Franz Wright that was put together by Claire Moses '08 and Shana Lebowitz '10. The feature alluded to some of Wright's poems, but it was really about the man-how he works, what inspires him, and how he feels about his art. In this respect, the piece was similar to the profile of my American Studies colleague, Prof. Brian Donahue, that was written by Rachel Pfeffer '08 and printed the week before. Both profiles provided me with a very personal window (a llama, Brian?) into the lives and motivations of two men who contribute to the unique intellectual identity of this community I recently joined. I encourage the editors at the Justice to continue with these profiles of faculty and to look beyond the professoriate to administrators, staff and students. Each of us brings to this community elements of the other communities that have shaped us-ethnic communities, racial communities, political communities, religious communities.And speaking of religion, it strikes me that a newspaper at "a nonsectarian university under the sponsorship of the American Jewish community" probably ought to have much to say about the issue of faith on campus-starting, perhaps, with an exploration of what that phrase actually means to the people who live and work in this community.The Justice is not alone in the short shrift it has given to religion. Until very recently, mainstream American journalists were quite loath to recognize that as Western democracies go, the United States is a pretty gosh-darned religious nation. Even after the election of 2004 forced members of the media to stand up and take notice, the coverage of religion in America has seemed, at times, to border on pandering. And so I issue a challenge to the reporters and editors at the Justice: Do better than some of the people you aspire to be.The ombudsman serves as the readers' representative, writing a regular column evaluating the newspaper's journalistic performance. Prof. Maura Farrelly (AMST), the director of the journalism program and a former brodcast reporter for Voice of America, can be reached at farrelly@brandeis.edu.
(09/19/06 4:00am)
Two actors climb cautiously onto a wide structure jutting out from the wall and hanging over, like a makeshift balcony, an imaginary audience. They wander together for a minute, practicing an awkward dialogue perfectly matched by the uneasiness of their movements. To a casual observer, the space is nothing special, but once the figurative curtain lifts (this space doesn't have a real one), the room, located in the Lena and Joseph Gluck Building in upper Usdan, turns into an avant-garde performance space.The room will house the upcoming production of Charles Mee's A Summer Evening in Des Moines, directed by Katie Nadworny '09.The newly formed Free Play Theater Cooperative, which is presenting the work along with two other productions this semester, is responsible for the unusual location. The student-run theater company is the brainchild of Josh Mervis '08, its artistic director, and Brian Paternostro '07, its managing director. The two friends, both active participants in theater at Brandeis, were frustrated by the staggering time commitment of the theater department's Brandeis Theater Company and the less professional quality of the Undergraduate Theater Collective, which includes five troupes."We thought that Brandeis students deserved to have a true alternative," Mervis said, "which would mean they could do productions on the high-quality level of the department while still maintaining the flexible and normal life schedule of the UTC." This alternative became the FPTC, organized by Mervis and Paternostro with the help of Prof. Eric Hill, the chair of Theater Arts, and countless other supporters within that department, its graduate program and the undergraduate community.The flexible scheduling of rehearsals and performances is a change for students who want to be involved in professional-quality theater without a heavy time commitment. Mervis and Paternostro, however, want the FPTC to offer more than the typical campus theater group: They want to expose the community to several different kinds of theater experiences which they feel are lacking on campus. "A lot of the works that we would want to do are more controversial than the BTC's," Mervis said. "We hope to bring in the types of shows that other people are afraid to do . they don't want to deal with the subject matter, or they don't want to deal with the idea of not making their money back." Free of the burden to break even or make a profit from productions, the FPTC intends to choose shows that will address important issues or expose students to atypical theater experiences. "We want people to think," Mervis said.Mervis said he hopes to work with Jamele Adams, the assistant dean of student life in support of diversity, and the Intercultural Center (which Adams oversees) to produce one play each semester that promotes diversity or highlights an issue they find important. "I will not shut down a show because someone disagrees with it," Mervis said. "An open forum does not mean that you can say, 'I disagree with it, let's shut it down.' It means, 'I disagree with it, but I acknowledge that . if I want to be able to present my ideas, then I have to listen.'" Later this semester, the FPTC will present The Black Eyed by Betty Shamieh, directed by Jennie El-Far '07. The show is about four Arab women who meet in the afterlife and struggle to come to terms with their lives and their choices. It is the first of many potentially controversial plays that Mervis hopes to produce as the FPTC grows.The FPTC hopes to use not only the Shapiro Theater, which is often used by the UTC, but also unconventional venues like Gluck, and the more professional stages in the Spingold Theater Center. The FPTC's production of Jason Robert Brown's musical The Last Five Years, directed by Justin Becker '09, will be the first undergraduate production ever to go up in Spingold, a personal goal of Mervis'. Mervis hopes the FPTC will become a part of the Brandeis Theater Company eventually, and Leslie Chiu, BTC's production manager, said that anything's possible. "We're definitely interested in increasing undergraduate experience in the department . so [the BTC and the FPTC] both have the same goal." Chiu said that although the department's space is limited, they are working to make sure that Spingold's facilities are available for an FPTC production once a semester.Mervis hopes to produce many student-written works, as well as hosting round-table discussions of scripts in progress. The FPTC is also eagerly recruiting first-years, both to utilize their talents and, as Mervis puts it, to "ensure that we'll stay alive." This outreach includes plans for a musical review and freshman showcase coordinated by Jenny Paul '07.The FPTC's first three shows promise to be thought-provoking, and should prove a strong inaugural semester. Dates have not yet been set for The Black Eyed and Summer Evening in Des Moines, but The Last Five Years will run the first weekend of December. For more information about the Free Play Theater Cooperative, e-mail Josh Mervis '08 at jmervis@brandeis.edu.
(09/19/06 4:00am)
Candidates for Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth John Bonifaz and Jill Stein told students that replacing incumbent William Galvin, a democrat, would restore a responsive and transparent public servant to the post."Most people don't know what the Secretary of State does," said Stein, a Rainbow-Green Party member, last Tuesday in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall to about 45 students."They don't have a clue if he's appointed or elected or what," Stein said "The secretary oversees the infrastructure of democracy. The secretary should be a watchdog of that democracy."The Brandeis chapter of Democracy for America and the Brandeis Democrats sponsored the forum, which was moderated by Julia Gordon '07, director of communications for DFA.Stein and Bonifaz agreed that Galvin, who declined an invitation to attend, does not represent the values of an average Massachusetts resident."He's an insider's insider," Bonifaz said. "He's part of that old-boys network that's been in power for too long."More specifically, the two candidates said Galvin has not been an effective check on the powers of the republican governors who have served during his three terms, has not made Massachusetts elections as fair as possible and did not fight to stop the Massachusetts legislature's universal health care bill, which will provide health care to nearly the entire state by July 2007.Stein, a physician, was particularly vocal about her frustration with that bill, because she said it forces "people to buy a useless policy" that doesn't provide adequate coverage. Worse, according to Stein, is the manner in which the bill was negotiated. "The health insurance lobby spent $7.5 million to basically write the bill to benefit themselves-and not the people of the state needing health care."The vote was passed unanimously by the legislature without lawmakers having even read the bill, at the behest of the powerful insurance lobby, Stein said. "It's really important to note how money is changing hands behind closed doors."Regarding that issue, Bonifaz spoke more broadly about how the "powerful and politically connected are clearly running Beacon Hill."At the state Democratic Party convention, Bonifaz said many delegates told him they wanted to vote for him but said they were afraid of the repercussions because they were either government employees or the family of government leaders."'I would have voted for you, but I'm afraid to lose my job,'" Bonifaz said many delegates told him.One of the most important duties of the secretary is to serve as chief of elections, and Bonifaz and Stein clearly were not happy with the way elections have been handled under Galvin.Bonifaz said his "Voters' Bill of Rights," a list of nine items for increasing voter turn-out, ensuring votes are counted properly and allowing more candidates to receive public funding for their campaigns, would "take our democracy back and level the playing field."Stein lamented what she saw as a "merger of corporations and political power under Galvin's nose.""People are hungering for a change on Beacon Hill-a big one," she said.Bonifaz, who founded the National Voting Rights Institute, received a MacArthur Fellowship for his leadership on voting rights. He served as chief council in a lawsuit against President George W. Bush challenging Bush's authority to wage the war in Iraq without a congressional declaration of war.
(09/12/06 4:00am)
Sitting with his arms and legs extended, Adam Green '07 laughs as he discusses his childhood sports background, which included an uncommon fascination with the 2000 Southern Methodist University basketball team. But when asked about how he became a player in the sports blogging world, Green, a Dallas native and former varsity golfer, energetically recalls the evolution of his sports blogging career. His brainchild, the WBRS Sports Blog, has registered over 30,000 hits since its inception last March and has become a favorite of Deadspin.com, arguably the largest independent sports weblog on the internet.Although Green began the blog as an outlet for Brandeis sports radio personalities to express their views, it has since expanded and moved into the independent sports blogging scene. Green's creativity, enthusiasm, and affinity for obscure sports stories have enabled the blog to undergo this transformation."The blog provides the reader with funny, less known stories that they wouldn't otherwise read about," Green said. Green's journey into sports blogging began differently than most. After he was a mainstay on WBRS as a member of the sports talk show "Overtime," Green was temporarily kicked off the air for neglecting to complete co-op, the required 3 hours per month of outside service to the radio station. Without his show, Green decided the best way to get back on the air was to think outside the box. He entertained the idea of starting a weblog for WBRS sports radio personalities. Faced with the possibility of being off the air for the remainder of the semester, Green decided that convincing WBRS leaders to count the blog as co-op would be his only chance to get back on "Overtime." After initially being denied, Green eventually convinced the station to make the weblog co-op and allow him back on "Overtime" in a series of persuasive e-mails."If co-op means helping the station and trying to making the station more successful by gaining more listeners and helping the station's reputation, then that certainly has to count as co-op," he said. Initially, Green said the WBRS Sports Blog's primary goal was providing a medium for sports department members to express their views. Green worked to ensure that goal was met, signing up past and present WBRS sports personalities to post. Although the blog wasn't a success immediately, it still increased activism within WBRS sports.However, once WBRS sports department members stopped posting during the summer, Green decided to find a niche for the blog in the general sports world. He started commenting on other independent blogs to publicize his own blog using the alias "Mini Me." One weblog he targeted was Deadspin, a website that averages nearly 5 million visitors a month. Green e-mailed Deadspin editor Will Leitch a post he wrote about Daisuke Matsuzaka, a Japanese pitcher who was thinking about jumping to Major League Baseball. The next day, Leitch dedicated one of his posts to Matsuzaka, linking the WBRS Sports Blog in the process. Loads of Deadspin readers clicked on the link and became new readers of the WBRS Sports Blog, giving Green an entirely new audience."Making Deadspin is like an athlete making Sports Center's Top 10," fellow WBRS Sports Blog writer Michael Carnow '07 said. "It's always cool to get public recognition."Green was linked on Deadspin nine other times throughout the summer, posting on a range of topics, including stories about a mistreated Philadelphia Phillies groundskeeper and a rock-paper-scissors tournament that saw the winner claim two tickets to the Ohio State-Texas football game. "[The WBRS Sports Blog] is good because it's not just like 'here's what's going on in sports and here's what I personally think about it,'" Leitch said. "The best sports blogs are not like that."Deadspin wasn't the only sports blog to notice Green's accomplishments. "Most general sports blogs find the basic stories from the AP wire," Zach Landres-Schnur, an independent sports blogger, said. "[The WBRS Sports Blog] finds more interesting stories which add a nice element to a cluttered blogosphere."Now that he's back at Brandeis, Green's primary hope is for the weblog to return to its original purpose as a forum for WBRS sports. Green says that he hopes to pass the weblog down like an heirloom to other WBRS sports members."I think I have built up a reputation, so hopefully the focus will go more towards getting WBRS sports members involved," Green said. "I may be the webmaster, but ultimately, it is WBRS Sports' blog, not my blog."No matter what the future of Green's weblog holds, one thing is certain: WBRS sports, and the world of sports blogging as we know it, will never be the same.
(08/29/06 4:00am)
In a continuing effort to improve the product we provide to the community, the Justice is debuting several new services this semester. Our completely redesigned Web site (www.thejusticeonline.com) will allow the Justice to follow the rest of the media industry in shifting its editorial focus online. The Web site is more interactive and user-friendly than before, and includes podcasts and an article-comments feature that will allow every story to act as an instant forum for community discussion. We will also regularly break stories online between issues, and improvements to the Web site will continue throughout the semester.Starting in October, issues of the Justice will be available in stainless steel newspaper boxes and racks throughout campus and Waltham.Also this semester, the Justice will join a very small number of newspapers by having a readers' representative, commonly referred to as an ombudsman. Prof. Maura Farrelly (AMST), the new director of the journalism program, will write regular columns critiquing and evaluating various aspects of the Justice's journalistic performance. Her columns will never be edited for content, nor will she be given guidelines for subject matter, providing a separated and external check on our credibility.
(05/23/06 4:00am)
The University has had its share of press this year, taking repeated criticism for its various attempts at Arab-Israeli dialogue. But the administration says it's not stirring under the pressure, despite a recent report to the contrary.The Boston Globe reported this week that Brandeis hired a New York-based public relations firm "to showcase its efforts at even-handedness" in Arab-Israeli dialogue.But Lorna Miles, the senior vice president of communications, downplayed the University's relationship with Dukas Public Relations, a firm which she said has been "filling in" the void the last couple months left by former spokesperson David Nathan's move to the office of development in March.The Globe article, "A question of culture," focused primarily on the debate sparked by a column published in the Justice last month by forum editor Matt Brown '08, who asserted that Brandeis is "too Jewish."The article also pointed to the media attention the University has seen recently for removing artwork by Palestinian youths from the Goldfarb Library and presenting playwright Tony Kushner, who has been accused of expressing anti-Israel sentiments, with an honorary degree at commencement. The University "went on the counteroffensive," when it hired the firm, the article said, suggesting that the extra publicity would improve the University's image in the media.But Miles disputed that account. "It wasn't represented in exactly the way that was accurate," she said. It made it seem as though "we had gone out and hired a New York PR firm to do damage control . and that's not what happened." Miles said the University hired Dukas when Nathan's departure freed up funds. It also helps that Dukas has a toehold in New York media, she said. Nathan now serves as the director of communications in the office of development. "We had a big hole in our organization, so I said, 'why don't you guys fill in the work that [Nathan] would have been handling, and they've done a good job," she said. "They've basically acted like another pair of hands for us."Miles said Dukas won't be as "involved" now that a full-time staff member, Marsha MacEachern, was hired two weeks ago. "I like some of the things that [Dukas is] doing, but I probably don't have the budget to keep them, to tell you the truth," Miles said. "If they did stay on it would be in a very specific capacity, not in the day-to-day kinds of things they've been doing with us."Richard Dukas, the President of Dukas Public Relations, said the firm became involved with the University when his client, Michael Steinhardt, a major Brandeis benefactor, donated $12 million to establish the Steinhardt Social Research Institute in Fall 2005.Dukas said his firm works on publicity "placements" for the University in major newspapers, specifically on publicizing its Jewish and Middle Eastern programs. "The idea of the program is to help make the larger public aware of many of the tremendous programs and activities that the University has in relation to the Jewish community [and] in relation to the Middle East," Dukas said. The firm works closely with the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, he said. Crown Center Director Shai Feldman was "prominently quoted" on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle this week, an example of one of their placements.
(04/11/06 4:00am)
Among fans of the Civilization computer game series, Sid Meier is something of a hero. This weekend, he spoke via satellite to attendees at the International Business School's "Get Civilized" symposium and revealed a bit about the vision behind what is widely hailed as one of the best computer games ever made.Unlike Meier, Jeff Briggs, founder and president of Firaxis, the company responsible for the Civilization game franchise, appeared in the flesh. Other prominent visitors were Firaxis Chairman of the Board Jonathan Plutzik '76, global entrepreneur Leonard Asper '86 and Walter Mossberg '69, a leading technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal.The event took place Friday and Saturday to celebrate several happenings within the institution, including the third annual Asper Forum for Global Entrepreneurship, the dedication of the Asper Center for Global Entrepreneurship and the honoring of Firaxis Games with the 2006 Asper Award for Global Entrepreneurship. The symposium began with a short speech by Peter A. Petri, Dean of IBS. He was followed by Asper, who, as the president of Canada's largest communications company CanWest, has not only funded the new Center for Global Entrepreneurship but has also played a vital role in its creation and vision. He expressed commitment on his behalf and for other alumni to maintain Brandeis' reputation as a top business school via the expansion of entrepreneurial studies.Next up was Briggs, who in partnership with Meier, is largely credited with the creation of the "God Game" genre, in which the player directly controls manipulation of a microcosm, including the award-winning Civilization series. Briggs spoke of the game's history and Firaxis' unique, community-oriented business model that has made the company so successful, which includes mantras such as "Never compromise on fun or quality" and "Use profits to invest in employees."The symposium concluded with a discussion panel moderated by Mossberg and involving the Firaxis members, who discussed business and its application in the game industry. The audience was impressed; attendee Alex Toplansky '07 described the event as "an important transition ... Brandeis [has] always been on the cutting edge, and the acceptance of games as a cultural phenomenon marks an important step in [the school's] progression."Afterward, attendees were invited to participate in a hands-on Civilization 4 training session, and to participate in a tournament Saturday to see who at Brandeis is truly the most civilized.
(04/11/06 4:00am)
To the Editor:Matt Brown seems to want to return to the era of quotas limiting qualified applicants ("Brandeis: too Jewish for its own good," April 4 issue). He openly declares the campus should be 30 percent Jewish so it is not so "suffocating." If he had written the campus should only be 10 percent black or 20 percent Christian, he would have been branded a racist and bigot.I hate to be so direct to a young student, but I can't hold back: Brown is a self-loathing Jew. For some reason, it seems to be OK to ridicule Jews for being Jews. What would happen if a black student at Howard University wrote in the forum pages the "road to recovery" involved limiting black admissions?He would be called an Uncle Tom. It is disgusting that it is normal in society for Jewish people to still be seen as somehow inferior to people of other faiths. It is also disturbing that having a large Jewish community somehow must be fixed by Brown and others. What makes the problem even worse-as evidenced by Brown-is that the view is held by so many well-educated Jews.I wish there were a reasonable and comprehensible explanation for that, but there is not. What sets Brandeis apart from the approximately 25 schools that it is competitive with in terms of prestige?Its rich Jewish community. Brandeis wouldn't be Brandeis if it weren't for its "Jewish feel." It provides a place for a shomer shabbos student not to feel so isolated. It provides for a Jew who may have not been from a Jewish area to experience the joys of the Jewish traditions. Just as the Jewish religion and tradition has a place for non-Jews, Brandeis provides ways for everyone to feel welcome and included. From the Transitional Year Program to the Muslim Student Association to the Brandeis Christian Fellowship (to name a few), Brandeis allows all people to enjoy what Brandeis is: a living tribute to the American Jewish traditions of education and social justice. - Carol MaymudesSyosset, N.Y.
(04/04/06 4:00am)
WBRS, BTV and he Archon are committed to serving the Brandeis community. We recognize the flaws in the current SAF structure and want to see responsible reforms which make more money available to chartered clubs. The SAF reforms proposed by the Student Union, however, do not do nearly enough to remedy the key flaws in the current system. As our school has grown, our organizations have strived to use our resources to improve social life on the Brandeis campus. Using money from the SAF, WBRS deejays, co-sponsors events and organizes free concerts. BTV uses its portion of the SAF to provide the campus with access to recent Academy Award-winning blockbusters such as Brokeback Mountain and King Kong. The Archon gives a yearbook to graduating seniors. These services are provided without an additional charge in order to enhance the overall social atmosphere at Brandeis. The centerpiece of the Union proposal is an increase in funding for all chartered clubs. The proposed system, however, would merely provide the Finance Board with increased funds. Because the Finance Board operates independently of the Senate, the chartered clubs are not assured an increase in their funding despite repeated Union guarantees. Giving more money to the F-Board does not mean that the F-Board will change the way it distributes money. The Union proposal merely places new stresses on an already overwhelmed system. While WBRS, BTV and the Archon support SAF reform in principle, we believe it must go beyond simply cutting the budgets of secured groups and increasing the burden on the F-Board.Public debate is crucial to the democratic process. While Union officials have made initial efforts to keep secured groups informed and to seek their input and concerns, the Union constructed the majority of the amendment without consulting us. More importantly, the amendment was constructed with no time allotted for public comments; public forums were only held once the amendment was fully formed. This amendment, if passed, will have a far-reaching impact on the student body and yet the student body was not consulted. We cannot support this lack of transparency. At WBRS, BTV and the Archon we are all students, we are all active members of chartered clubs and we are all a part of the Brandeis community. We want to see chartered clubs get what they need not simply to function, but to succeed. At the same time, we cannot support an amendment that does not address the roots of the problem. But regardless of the outcome of this vote, we are, and will remain, committed to serving the Brandeis community.Craghead, Gedalius and Schnitzer are presidents of WBRS, the Archon and BTV, respectively. Members of each group's executive boards contributed to this op-ed.Editor's note: Gedalius is a copy editor of the Justice.
(04/04/06 4:00am)
Three students and a professor spoke to a packed room Thursday about how their disabilities have affected their lives at Brandeis and elsewhere. This Disability Panel, organized by the Student Committee on Disabilities, was the first event of its kind at Brandeis and sought teach the audience that one definition of disability does not fit all. Hearing the daily struggles that each person experienced on account of his or her disability was very moving. "Weird" is a term that my family and I have coped with almost my entire life. Growing up with a brother with Asperger Syndrome-a well-known form of autism that typically induces extreme social awkwardness, among other things-I have heard and witnessed every cruel joke and name imaginable. Harmless fun is always seen differently from the receiving end of the line and can often cause serious repercussions. Educating people about disabilities would do a substantial amount to make the lives of people like my brother much easier. The committee's coordinator, Mara Blumenthal '06, along with Gabe Sassoon '06, Noah Wolfson '08, and Prof. Stephen Gulley of the Heller School, made it clear from the beginning that they hoped telling their stories would help to raise the shocking lack of awareness present on this campus. As Gulley so quaintly said, the fact that these people each have a disability does not make them particularly inspiring or brave. Rather, they are courageous because they exposed themselves to a large crowd in order to help better educate people about the extensive meaning of the term disability.Getting up in front of a crowd is not easy to begin with, but to open up your private life in a public forum must take a level of bravery that many of us may never know or understand. At a campus like Brandeis, which prides itself on its supposed dedication to social justice, why is there so much widespread ignorance on the issue of disability?True, there is an amazing course offered each fall, currently taught by Gulley, called "Sociology of Disability," which presents the topic of disability by requiring students to think beyond the traditional view of disabilities, which classifies people as "invalids," and to instead understand that individuals with disabilities do in fact lead very valid lives. After taking the course last semester, I definitely believe its content challenges conventional thinking, but I still feel as though so much more could be done to keep people informed. We need campus-wide events seeking to educate and enlighten, such as information sessions where people can feel free to ask and receive answers to their questions about disabilities. The campus should also be improved so that those with physical disabilities don't need to find longer and inconvenient routes in order to get around.Despite the fact that Brandeis does meet the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, which mandate that all new buildings built after 1990 must be fully handicap-accessible, there is more the school could do. For example, panelists spoke of the difficulty that a student with cerebral palsy faces in climbing the Rabb steps alone due to the lack of railings. While railings may not be covered under the act, clearly they are a necessary accommodation for someone who has difficulty walking, and one that Blumenthal said she has long sought.Having worked closely with adults with both physical and mental disabilities at the Life Focus Center in Boston for seven years, I have witnessed how difficult it is to push or self-navigate a wheelchair up or down an incredibly steep hill, such as the one leading up to Kutz or down to East Quad due to a lack of efficient ramps. At least a portion of the exorbitant $42,000 we pay in tuition and fees should fund the much-needed campus work, such as adding railings to Rabb steps that would eliminate such unnecessary struggles. Most buildings, rooms and classrooms should also be fully handicap-accessible so that students and visitors, as well as professors, are not restricted to the few rooms on campus that they can easily reach.Though the panelists all said that they have never suffered blatant discrimination due to their disabilities at Brandeis, I myself have witnessed, and verbally stopped numerous students exhibiting open hostility and mockery towards students classified as "weird." While it might be annoying when a perfect stranger attempts to sit with or speak to you as though you're life-long friends, but mild annoyance is not a reason to overreact and say something nasty or rude. Something that you perceive as socially inappropriate can seem entirely normal to someone else, especially someone dealing with disabilities that restrict perception of societal norms.College students are supposed to be too mature for such displays of ignorance. Simply knowing that students with disabilities attend Brandeis should inspire the proper authorities to organize events to educate the student body in which these individuals must exist, and ultimately survive. The Student Committee on Disabilities seems to go forgotten under the giant umbrella of the Diversity Committee.The committee's efforts are also diminished because its events, such as the panel, are poorly advertised. Students were only notified of the panel via an all-campus e-mail the day before, and no fliers or advertisements appeared anywhere on campus. It is highly revealing that the entire student body is notified and encouraged to attend dances weeks in advance and only given a day's notice in a small e-mail to come listen to an hour-long Disability Panel attempt to raise awareness. Clearly, something is drastically wrong with our priorities.
(03/21/06 5:00am)
Plans to reform the club funding system have shifted course somewhat, primarily with the elimination of a proposed board to fund social events. Campus entertainment will continue to be planned and funded by a slightly modified Student Events, while six of the eight secured groups will lose their guaranteed funding and protected statuses.The proposal is the result of a yearlong review by Student Union officials of the current model by which student organizations are financed. The specifics of the proposal were presented to near-unanimous support at the senate meeting Sunday evening as amendments to the Union constitution. The proposal will be put before the student body April 6. Any amendments to the Union constitution require the approval of two-thirds of voting students to take effect."People have been to afraid to tackle [the issue] because of the power or supposed power of secured groups.," Union President Jenny Feinberg '07 said. "We've addressed the major concerns." Nearly all student groups on campus are funded through the Student Activities Fee, which is paid by every student and is equal to one percent of gross tuition.Under the current system, eight secured groups, including the Justice, receive approximately 62 percent of the fund, while more than 200 chartered clubs request funding from the Finance Board, which has less than $400,000 to distribute.The ChangesMost notably, Feinberg abandoned her initial idea of a Student Programming Board, made up of representatives from major campus groups, which would have been granted about $100,000 to allocate money to other groups for events. Such a board would have taken significant control of event planning out of the hands of Student Events, the campus's primary programming group. Although she initially said the board would increase the range of campus events by not leaving all decisions to Student Events-which has fallen under scrutiny for not incorporating sufficient student input-Feinberg said she withdrew the idea because of concerns voiced by both students and administrators that two event boards would be "cumbersome." Union officials said they have instead started working with Student Events leadership on making event planning a more collaborative process. Also changed in the proposal are details of an emergency fund to provide relief to secured groups in the case of one-time expenditures outside of their normal operating budgets. The Capital Expenditures Fund, which under both forms of the proposal would be monitored by the F-Board, would originally have been capped at $100,000. But after leaders of the BEMCo became concerned the fund would be unable to pay for vehicle replacement, the proposed cap was increased to $150,000. The fund would be created by siphoning off two percent of the F-Board's semesterly total, and the F-Board would have discretion to make additional deposits into the fund.The Big PictureFrom its beginnings, the reform attempt has aimed to allocate more money for chartered groups that are often under-funded, while placing more accountability on secured groups that have for years received guaranteed funding-with little oversight.With the exception of the Union government and the Justice, secured organizations that previously only had to have their budgets approved by the Union treasurer would now have to go before the F-Board each semester to receive their SAF allocation. Each group has been assigned a "baseline" amount, which is a recommended level of funding required for their operations. With the exception of BTV and the Waltham Group, the secured groups' baselines will be significantly lower than amount they are guaranteed under the current system. The constitutional language stipulates that the F-Board cannot deny secured groups' "reasonable operating expenses consistent with the approved purpose." Any further costs can either be requested directly from the F-Board's general fund or from the Capital Expenditures Fund.If secured groups spend less than their baseline amount, any remaining money would revert to the F-Board."We're not going to require the same stringent proof-of-cost for every item as we do now [for chartered groups]," F-Board chair Harrison Chizik '07 said. "But we're not giving $50,000 checks and saying, 'Have fun,' anymore."Chizik attempted to assuage the fears of several secured group leaders by saying that "groups have nothing to worry about if they articulate why they need things."Only the Justice and the Student Union would remain financially secured. The newspaper will not need to consult the F-Board to receive its funding, which will be reduced by about 25 percent under the proposal to only cover its printing. Feinberg has this measure is to protect the newspaper's journalistic independence. The newspaper should not need to have its budget approved by the government it writes about, she said. The Justice will also not have access to the Capital Expenditures Fund or any money controlled by the F-Board.With significant cuts to the Union, WBRS, Archon, Student Events and the Justice, an additional sum of more than $100,000 would be made available to chartered groups that request F-Board money.Student EventsStudent Events, which currently receives 22.47 percent of the total fund, or about $218,000 this year, would see a cut of about 10 percent under the proposal, setting its minimum funding to about $196,000.After both administrators and Union officials questioned the group's transparency over the last year, Director of Student Events Helen Pekker '06 said she is willing to make Student Events more open and inclusive in its planning.To this end, the group has opened up the selection of its new director to its entire organization, instead of a closed committee, Pekker said. The group has also invited all students to hear the candidates speak, although they will not have a vote.In the future, Student Events plans to decide positions through campuswide elections, and to add appointments of minority representatives, Pekker said.The group's budget cut would come from money the group uses to co-sponsor events, and its ability to turn to the emergency capital fund. Some smaller programming will also be eliminated, according to the proposal.The ArchonThe Archon, the University's yearbook, currently receives 8.35 percent of the total fund, equal to about $81,000 this year. The proposal will cut the group's funding by about $25,000.The Archon has fallen under recent scrutiny by Union officials who said some of the group's funding was unaccounted for. The 2005 Archon was only recently mailed to students late.Rebecca Gedalius '06, the editor in chief of the Archon who is also a copy editor of the Justice, said she didn't approve of the reduction in the Archon's funding because she worried it would lead to a decline in quality of the yearbook."If we're being told, don't worry, you'll get your money [from the F-Board], why not just go to the treasurer?" she said.BEMCoBEMCo, which currently receives 3.14 percent of the total fund, or about $31,000 this year, will face a cut of $7,000 under the proposal.Jonathan Sham '06, the group's operations officer, said he approved of the cut, but that he was "a little weary about F-Board having control of the Capital Expenditures Fund. It's the only recourse the club [would have] for capital expenses."He said BEMCo couldn't endorse the amendment. Sham said he fears the F-Board will not be able to provide the approximately $65,000 to buy new emergency vehicles every seven to nine years.But Feinberg said that the F-Board would have "more than enough to fund the truck."WBRSWBRS currently receives nearly nine percent of the total fund, about $87,000 this year. The group would see a cut of about $26,000.The radio station's $10,000 emergency fund would no longer be needed in light of the Capital Expenditures Fund, Feinberg said. WBRS would also no longer be able to co-sponsor campus events. The station's general manager, Julie Craghead '07, said she was pleased WBRS would no longer be responsible for numerous co-sponsorship requests. She declined to comment on how she felt about the proposed budget cut and having to seek F-Board approval for its budget.Waltham Group and BTV Both the Waltham Group and BTV's baseline funding would be equal to their current allocations.But the Waltham Group's coordinators Cassandra Shamallas '06 and Liz Steinfield '06 said they were opposed to having to go before the F-Board.Steinfield called the increased oversight "a little bit unnecessary because it will take time away from our mission to spend our time serving the greater Waltham community."Ari Schnitzer '07, BTV's president, said he was pleased with the recommended funding level. "We've have achieved more parity just on the fact everyone else's funding has gone way down," he said.The Justice and the Student Union: the lone secured groupsThe Justice--which would have nearly a quarter of its current allocation reduced to cover only its printing costs--will continue to be guaranteed funding without F-Board approval. Feinberg has said she does not want to see the Justice's objectivity hindered if it were required to have its entire budget approved by a Student Union panel.That aspect of the proposal seemed to be the most controversial at an open forum last Tuesday.Feinberg said it was necessary to "prioritize" the oldest publication on campus. If other media outlets "can prove themselves to be as well-read and as thorough [as the Justice], they absolutely have right to be considered for secured status" in the future. She said it was much too soon to secure The Hoot, a newspaper that was founded in 2005.Heather Zajdel '07, the editor in chief of The Hoot, said that only securing the Justice and claiming that this move is to maintain journalistic independence is "backwards logic" because securing one media group is like "an endorsement."The Justice's editor in chief, Dan Hirschhorn '07, said the Union's plan to only cover the Justice's printing cost is "more than fair." As the only secured group that "acts as a watchdog on the government," he maintained that not guaranteeing the Justice's funding would be a "disservice to the community." He declined to comment on if The Hoot should be secured.Of all eight groups, the Union government would face the biggest budget cut, giving up more than 40 percent of its current allocation under the proposal. This will prevent the Union from planning events such as ModFest, putting more pressure on Student Events.
(03/21/06 5:00am)
To the Editor: An article was published last week about both a student event and a student movement ("Group provides relief for hunger, disease and illiteracy in Africa," March 14 issue). Unfortunately, the two were unjustly morphed into one. I am the co-chairman of the Brandeis Social Justice Committee (SJC), a subsidiary of the Student Union. I have devoted the last two months of my life to creating something that this campus has sorely needed, a place for activists to unite their different causes. With great support from the highest levels of the Student Union, the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance and activist leaders, the SJC hosted the first annual Brandeis Activist Gala. This Gala brought together over 70 core members of the activist community and Student Union officials. However, there was no adequate news coverage for this event, except for a misleading article that mentioned the Gala only as an afterthought. Student leaders from the Activist Resource Center, Students for a Just Society, the Radical Students Alliance, the Brandeis Labor Coalition, Student Global Aid Campaign, Students Take Action Now: Darfur, Democracy for America, 'Deis for Deval and Positive Foundations all addressed the audience. The theme of continued energy and support for each other's efforts became the centerpiece of a very successful and empowering event. The Gala's featured project was the Millennium Project, a global initiative to end extreme poverty (not just in Africa). Positive Foundations and a SJC co-chairman, Sam Vaghar '08, are spearheading this movement. As the Gala was meant to be a forum on various issues and projects within the community, the Millennium Project was chosen as a feature because it was perceived to have a uniquely broad appeal to many organizations. Although the SJC does see poverty as one of the world's greatest injustices, this project is just one of the many which the SJC intends to support. This fact was somewhat misrepresented in last week's article. The SJC is also working with the Student Global Aids Campaign on instituting campus-wide HIV testing and the Brandeis Labor Coalition on aiding Aramark employee contract negotiations.I agree with previous letters that Student activism is very much "alive and well" at Brandeis. It is in that spirit that the Activist Gala must be recognized as an important event for the solidarity of activism in all of its forms.-Jamie Ansorge '09
(03/21/06 5:00am)
Members of the Activist Resource Center are campaigning to turn a vacant space across from the Village Quad fitness center into a meeting place for student activist clubs. Students will be able to write in suggestions for the room in a poll during Wednesday's Student Union election. The debate gained gained steam after the Union opened an online forum to discuss how to use the space. The space has been unoccupied since 2003 when the building was completed, Chief Operating Officer Peter French said. The space was left empty because the project budget could not cover its completion at the time. ARC coordinator Josh Russell '06 said a lack of club space on campus has left over 19 political and activist clubs without a place to meet or store club materials. "This is a real need," he said.While STAND coordinator Weldon Kennedy '06 stores STAND material in his car, Russell said he uses his own closet as storage space for the Radical Student Alliance. Michelle Feldman '08, a campus activist said Democracy for America and the Radical Student Alliance meet in the Castle Commons because they have nowhere else to meet. "An activist center would alleviate some of that pressure, but it would also encourage cooperation between these groups," she said. "[There's] a general need for a central location," said Jamie Ansorge '09, co-chairman of the Brandeis Social Justice committee, who is also the director of legislative affairs for the Brandeis Democrats and the campus coordinator for Democracy Matters. "ARC wanted to make that their focus and we support them 100 percent."In addition to serving as a meeting place, the space could include a social justice library, materials on ongoing projects, a calendar of all activist events and contact information for club leaders, Ansorge said. Russell said ARC has been without an office since moving to the Shapiro Campus Center when the building was completed in the fall of 2002. ARC members have been circulating a petition among activist clubs to sign onto the effort, and once they see the results of Wednesday's poll, they plan to meet with administrators. "We've been doing a lot of work trying to connect clubs, but we're sort of at an impasse until we have a physical space," Russell said. Russell said the space is in line with activist principles, as it is both handicap accessible and has card access, making it an accessible space to all. Sarah Blaker '07 agreed that activists need a central location, but said the Village space is more residential, and that perhaps Shapiro or Usdan would be better-suited to activist headquarters. She said she would like to start a bakery- jokingly dubbed "the Blakery"-in the space, to be run and managed solely by students. She said the campus needs a space open when other dining locations are closed. "On the surface, it sounds really good," Russell said, but noted that non-Aramark options do already exist nearby. He added that an activist space and a student-run eatery are not mutually exclusive, adding that ARC has discussed opening a Fair Trade certified caf in the space. French said that while the University originally considered putting a caf or convenience store in the space, the small size of the Brandeis community means that "there simply would not be enough foot traffic to support such a commercial venture." Still, French said he was open to the idea of a late-night eatery. Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennet said a new dining location might be unrealistic. "I cannot imagine how much work it would be to coordinate [and] manage a food service operation in this space," Bennett said.Director of Union Affairs Aaron Gaynor '07 said that any plans for the Village space are still in their early stages and that it would be premature for the Student Union to make an official declaration in favor of any proposal. Gaynor said the Union's concern is that the space be utilized by as many students as possible. "We don't want its use to be too narrow," he said.Some students said the space should be incorporated into the Village for living space. "What this school really needs, in the sense that it can't continue to function well without it, [is] housing," Alan Meyerson '08 said. He said the University should not "cave into special interests" by allocating the space to specific clubs or organizations. Russell said the ARC has been meeting with administrators and hopes to have a space in Usdan by the end of the year as another possible solution.
(03/07/06 5:00am)
Editors everywhere have spent the last few weeks deciding how to report on the firestorm of often violent protests over cartoons of Muhammad that were published in several European newspapers. The media response has been almost as complex and disquieting as the maelstrom itself. The central question editors faced was whether to publish the cartoons that inspired this outrage. Many shied away. Locally, The Boston Globe refused to print them, shrinking from the task for the sake of "tolerance." Meanwhile, the alternative weekly, The Boston Phoenix, took an oddly upfront, but possibly overblown, approach by printing an empty black box alongside the editorial and saying the paper felt intimidated by "radical and bloodthirsty Islamists.""As we feel forced, literally, to bend to maniacal pressure, this may be the darkest moment in our 40-year publishing history," The Phoenix wrote.At least six college newspapers have entered the fray by printing the cartoons. There is a temptation to say, as The Phoenix did this week, "Score one for uppity, principled 22-year-olds."But exactly what principles led college papers to publish these cartoons? Since the resignation of several editors from the national paper The New York Press to protest their publisher's decision to yank the cartoons from an issue about the controversy, printing the cartoons-or fighting to do so-has stopped being about the violence in Europe, and has become merely an assertion of the sanctity of the First Amendment. Such assertions are expected from college publications like the conservative Harvard Salient-one of the six in the country to print the cartoons-whose editorial mission includes an ideological stance. But that cannot be said for other university papers whose general interest content and representative coverage make them forums and sources of news for communities that extend over ideological borders-papers like The Daily Illini at the University of Illinois. Under the guise of stirring discourse about the passionate and bloody reaction, the Illini's cavalier editor in chief and opinion editor published six of the 12 cartoons. But by fanning the flames of controversy, they rendered their opinion section unable to create the very discourse that they sought to engender. The issue argued in its pages-and on campus-became not about this serious global conflict, but about whether The Daily Illini made the right decision in printing the cartoons. It was now personalized-it became about that newspaper's decision and that campus's reaction. Initially, the decision of whether to publish was a tug-of-war between smarting the already wounded sensibilities of Muslims and a feeling that the public should see what exactly was causing this crisis.But it has become something else: a diversion from the real story. You will not see these cartoons in our pages. Originally, we reasoned that although there would come a point at which talking about something without showing it would be ridiculous, our coverage did not reach that point. Now, it's because printing the cartoons has become part of the story. And, in order to cover that story and in order for our community members to comment on it freely-we need to keep our distance.
(02/14/06 5:00am)
The twenty-three female cast members of The Vagina Monologues who filed onto the stage of the Shapiro Campus Center Theater Sunday night did so as one, clad in elegant outfits that accentuated their differences even as the identical shades of black and gold lent them an air of solidarity. So began the Vagina Club's annual production of Eve Ensler's controversial play, a collection of genital-themed interviews with women representing a multitude of ages, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities and backgrounds, read off of cue cards to further emphasize the reality of the stories.This marks the fifth year The Vagina Monologues has been performed at Brandeis, always in honor of V-Day, Ensler's reinvention of Valentine's Day as a global movement to stop violence against women. In honor of the event, the Vagina Club has vowed to donate all proceeds from the play to both the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC) and organizations supporting this year's V-Day cause: assisting the surviving "comfort women" who were forced to serve as sexual slaves to Japanese soldiers during the Asia/Pacific Wars between 1932 and 1945.Each piece contributes to the general purpose of attempting to remove the "darkness and secrecy" surrounding the vagina, which is viewed as a taboo, almost dirty subject for discussion by nearly every society; however, the monologues are as varied as the women themselves. They can be poignant, as was "The Flood," the tale of one old woman (read with a perfect quivering scold by Sarah Krevsky '08) who rejected what her vagina had to offer decades ago; funny, as was the artsy and breathy "The Vagina Workshop" (performed by Gillian Richter '09); defiantly vulgar (unfortunately, we can't print the vaginal synonym which Aileen Gleizer '08 encouraged the audience to yell at full volume in the monologue of the same name); and beyond.At its most effective, though, The Vagina Monologues acts as nothing short of a rallying cry to action. In "Say It," Amanda DiSanto '09, Ma'ayan Friedman '09, Erika Geller '09, Hilary Spear '08 and Xela Stitz '06 made the theme of V-Day 2006 come utterly alive, taking on the roles of several comfort women as they pleaded, demanded and even screamed for justice. Nor could many members of the audience remain unmoved during Sanhita Choudhury's '07 and Barri Yanowitz's '06 electrifying rendition of "My Vagina Was My Village," the harrowing account of a Bosnian woman who was savagely raped by a band of soldiers. As Choudhury spoke of the idyllic imagery with which the woman once viewed her vagina, Yanowitz responded with a graphic description of the bloody aftermath, powerfully imposing a realization of the physical agony of the act.Independent of the wonderful performance itself, however, there is something about The Vagina Monologues itself that I find a little... well, disquieting. As a woman, I recognize the play's intention to serve as a healing balm for millennia of violence and repression, but as a critic, I question any play that defies, by its very nature, any negative comments about its style or content. Since the play's theme is one of empowerment to say the forbidden, let those involved allow, rather than reflexively attack, the inquiring spirit with which this proud feminist offers the following thoughts:The women's rights movement is one that seeks to lift up an entire gender, so that women may be defined not only by their physical form and traditional place in society, but by what they can do and what they can be. This concept is indeed explored within The Vagina Monologues, but it is always, unrelentingly, seen through a sexualized lens. I find it hard to see the pivotal importance, for example, of discussing whether an anthropomorphic vagina would be more likely to wear a leopard hat or sweatpants, as Lindsay Donohue '07, Samantha Hermann '07 and Miriam Sievers '06 pondered in "The 'Wear' and 'Say' List." On the contrary, it seems to point back to the same phenomenon about which the recently passed Betty Friedan warned in her vital book The Feminine Mystique: that modern women, long defined as purely sexual beings, are in danger of focusing obsessively on their sexual liberation, without giving a fair share to other areas (professional, cultural, educational) of equal or greater importance.It is excellent that women have such a wonderful outlet as The Vagina Monologues to express their sexual wants, thoughts, needs and fears in a public forum, but especially on this day, V-Day, women must take care not to let the vagina symbolize the entire woman-body, mind, soul and heart. Vagina-gazing should not, and must not, become the new navel-gazing.Editor's note: Samantha Hermann '07 is a staff writer for the Justice.
(01/17/06 5:00am)
Human rights activist Prof. Kanan Makiya (IMES) has spent most of the last four years in his native Iraq gathering evidence and accounts of human rights abuses committed under Saddam Hussein's Ba'th Party regime. He returns to Brandeis this semester to teach "Describing Cruelty" (NEJS), which he said explores the importance of remembering and memorializing cruelty. He will also teach a new course on the post-Saddam era titled "War and Reconstruction in Iraq" (NEJS). "It's useful to take [the course] both for myself and for the students, to sit there and reflect on the last three years," Makiya said.As the founder and president of the Baghdad-based Iraq Memory Foundation, Makiya said that over the last three years, he and his team have amassed approximately 11 million Ba'th Party documents, primarily from the party's intelligence services, have conducted around 100 interviews with survivors of atrocities and have collected between 50 and 60 pieces of artwork on "cruelty, violence, war, [and] uprising" by Iraqi artists."This is an enormous archive that will shape how future generations remember the Saddam era, remember what the war was all about and also begin to shape who they are in relation to that past," Makiya said. The foundation is an outgrowth of the Iraq Research and Documentation Project (IRDP) at Harvard University, which Makiya began in 1992 to collect evidence of human rights violations committed under Saddam's regime since the first Persian Gulf War. Makiya was granted extended leave from Brandeis in 2002 to relocate the research program to Iraq.Makiya said he is looking forward to returning to teaching. "While I've had a very exciting four years it's going to be very interesting to try to bring that to bear in the classroom," he said. As the foundation of research in Iraq is in good shape right now, he said, he can afford to be away for a few months. "I felt Brandeis had been very generous in allowing me without questions to stay away for so long and it was time to come back." As a principal author of the draft Iraqi constitution following the war and the convener of the Human Rights Committee in the Iraqi National Congress in 1992, Makiya said it was his duty to return to Iraq and hear victims of the regime express "the real experience of Iraq" and help create a new identity outside of the "rhetoric of the Ba'th Party [and] nationalist mythologies." "I'd been an important person in the argument for the removal of this regime so going back was not even a choice," Makiya said. Additionally, the foundation has aired 40 interviews with survivors on Iraqi television, and is in the process of working on 50 more interviews. "We'll have 100 in-depth interviews with individuals who've suffered terrible, terrible pain and cruelty in their lives." Makiya said in the next few months the foundation will also make its holdings available to scholars and researchers over the Arabic and English translated Web site, which already has an active discussion forum. Continuing as president of the foundation, Makiya plans to visit Baghdad for ten days during the mid-semester break. "I think that should just allow me to do what I have to do," he said. University President Jehuda Reinharz, "delighted" that Makiya is returning to Brandeis, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that Makiya's knowledge of human rights abuses under Saddam's regime and his experience creating the Iraqi constitution offer a magnificent learning opportunity. "Students will gain a unique first hand perspective from his experience as one who has been involved in the day-to-day struggles of the Iraqi people during and after Saddam." Makiya is the author of three books, including Republic of Fear, a 1989 bestseller, and Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World, which received the 1993 Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations in English.
(01/17/06 5:00am)
Last Friday, student newspapers across the country finally heard the result of a lawsuit that has been pending for two-and-a-half years. The players: The Harvard Crimson newspaper and Harvard University. The background: The Crimson requested records related to incidents reported in the Harvard University police log, and that request was denied. The argument: Harvard University Police, because endowed with the same powers as a municipal police force, should be obliged to release police records that would be considered public information in any city in Massachusetts. The verdict of the Supreme Judicial Court: A loss for The Crimson, a win for Harvard University. The law stands as it always has: Private university police are part of a "private institution," and therefore not obligated to disclose the same level of information to the community. Thankfully, campus police are required to release certain crime statistics, according to the Clery Act, a federal law passed in 1998.The Justice grappled with this issue all too painfully last semester with a forum piece about alleged rape on campus; this bizarre loophole in public disclosure law makes up just one level of the legislative quagmire that paralyzes college newspapers throughout the country. Complicated privacy laws layer upon complicated privacy laws, to the effect that administrators-often not absolutely sure themselves what they might be liable for-do their best avoid inquiries from college newspapers. Despite The Crimson's admirable efforts, the Justice, and other campus publications, will still find their investigative articles stymied by one more legislative roadblock.One person not disappointed by the court's verdict is Robert W. Iuliano, Harvard's general counsel. "The opinion upholds the University's decision to protect our students' privacy," he told The Crimson.The logic behind this reasoning is baffling, to say the least: The media circus that often follows an appalling crime is indeed unfortunate for the victim, but the Supreme Judicial Court long ago declared that information about crimes is important for the community to know, despite the victim's discomfort. So why don't University students, faculty and staff also deserve the right to know what transpires in their community?A cynic would suggest that the tight-lipped approach of universities like Harvard and Brandeis is not so much inspired by a kindly concern for their students' privacy, but rather by a cold, hard, capitalist reality. The more visible university crimes are, the less attractive schools become to prospective students and donors. Crimson President Lauren Schuker, Harvard class of 2006, told the Justice the verdict was "disappointing news," and said "things like rape and assault probably happen all the time," and it was frustrating not to be able to report on them because of lack of access to police records. The fight is far from over, however. Ms. Schuker said The Crimson hopes to collaborate with Massachusetts State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, who has already introduced a potential bill forcing campus police departments around the state to release more detailed crime reports. If a new case on the matter is opened, as Ms. Schuker hopes will take place this spring, the Justice will stand fully behind The Crimson both on this page and in the courtroom.
(01/17/06 5:00am)
The Justice is not my newspaper-it's yours.The Shapiro Campus Center is almost always bustling, even at 2 a.m. when Java City closes. Between countless club activities, students studying into ungodly hours of the night and new buildings rising by the handful, I see Brandeis as a place of dedication and excitement.The Justice does its best to capture this energy and preserve it in print.We have covered campus news for 57 years, and I am proud to continue that tradition as the paper's newest editor in chief.The Justice office was one of the first things I saw when I arrived at Brandeis. Wide-eyed and enthusiastic after a sportswriting internship at a newspaper in Worcester, I was ready to help represent the school. But I never could have anticipated the extent to which my life would be swept into serving the campus community through journalism. After working as a sports writer, sports editor and deputy editor, my peers elected me to my current position in November, and I am ecstatic at the opportunity to make the Justice a newspaper everyone in the community can look to with pride.But this cannot be accomplished without your help. I want to know what you want from your newspaper, and how you think the Justice can better serve you.Although a newspaper can never please its entire readership, there are many ways to make sure the Justice represents you. I openly welcome criticism of the Justice, no matter how large or small. You can e-mail me anytime at justeditor@brandeis.edu, or come to my office hours, held Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the Justice office, on the second floor of the Shapiro Campus Center.And if you would like to voice your opinion about the Justice in print, send us a letter to the editor for publication. As long as it meets our very basic guidelines (responding directly to an article, 400 words or less), we print every letter we receive. Furthermore, everyone has the right to compose an op-ed of general interest to the community, although space in the forum section for this is generally more competitive. Letters can be e-mailed to justletters@brandeis.edu or submitted on our Web site, thejusticeonline.com, and op-eds can be e-mailed to justforum@courier.brandeis.edu.The Justice is not perfect. But we are strongly committed to producing a newspaper deserving of our readership. I invite you to look at our corrections box every week on page two. If there's an error we've missed, you can point it out by e-mailing justcorrections@ brandeis.edu.And although we work tirelessly to find the stories that inform you, there are always things we miss. You can always contact our news editors, Rachel Marder and Noah Bein, with any tips at justnews@brandeis.edu. The greatest way to help, though, is to come join us. Everyone is welcome, and from reporting to writing, photography, illustrating, advertising and helping us with countless other tasks, there is no shortage of help needed at the Justice. No matter your experience, you are welcome, provided you come with the desire to improve, and to help the Justice improve. I invite everyone to attend our recruitment night next Tuesday at 8 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.Journalism, though too often viewed in a negative light, still serves a noble purpose at its root: to inform citizens so that they may be knowledgeable members of society, and to act as a watchdog on large powers, be they governments or any other entities. I am proud to serve this role at a university as unique as Brandeis, and to work every week to bring you the news you need. I'll see you on page one.
