(05/01/12 4:00am)
Medical Emergency April 24-University Police received a call that a female party had passed out in the Hassenfeld Conference Center; BEMCo treated her on the scene with a signed refusal for further care. April 28-University Police received a call from the Waltham Police Department regarding a 21-year-old female party intoxicated and semi-conscious. The Waltham Fire Department and an ambulance were already on the way to her location, and University Police officers were sent to the area. The party was transported to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital for further care. April 28-A custodian reported a man sitting in one of the vestibules of the Usdan Student Center. BEMCo and University Police were sent to check on the man who was treated on-scene by BEMCo with a signed refusal for further care. April 29-A party in the Foster Mods reported an intoxicated 20-year-old male. University Police and BEMCo were dispatched; the police requested an ambulance. The ambulance transported the intoxicated party to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital while University Police dispersed the party. April 29-University Police received a report of a 21-year-old intoxicated male in Rosenthal South with a possible chipped tooth. BEMCo responded and requested an ambulance to transport the party to the Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Larceny April 24-There was a report of property stolen from the men's locker room in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center. The incident occurred the night of April 23. University Police compiled a report. April 25-University Police received a report of a past larceny of animals from the Foster Biomedical Labs. A report was compiled on the theft. April 27-A laptop and wallet were stolen from an unlocked room in East Quad. University Police compiled a report on the theft. April 28-A party in the Shapiro Campus Center reported that items were stolen from an unattended coat while attending an event. University Police compiled a report on the theft. Harassment April 28-University Police compiled a report on an email sent to the staff of the Rosbash lab. The sender of the email was unknown. Disturbance April 26-University Police received several calls regarding parties in Massell Quad screaming threats and obscenities outside. The area was checked, and nothing was found. April 29-A party in the Charles River Apartments reported that someone banged on his or her window and was talking loudly outside. The caller did not wish to speak to the police but asked University Police to check the area. There was no one in the area upon the police's arrival. Miscellaneous April 23-A party in the Lown Center for Judaic Studies reported smelling smoke. University Police officers were sent to check the area. They reported seeing no smoke, but facilities was advised to check the area for a possible problem with a light. April 28-BEMCo reported that a male party was sleeping in a running vehicle in Hassenfeld Lot. Upon University Police's arrival at the scene, the party would not open the window or door. The party finally responded and was placed in protective custody for alcohol intoxication and transported to the Waltham Police Department. -Compiled by Marielle Temkin
(04/30/12 4:00am)
Despite its magical nature, members of the Brandeis Quidditch team do not simply wave their wands to conjure up success.
(04/24/12 4:00am)
Rachel Klein '12 was inspired by feminist artist Kiki Smith's "Lucy's Daughters," to create an interactive dance piece for the upcoming Festival of the Arts. "Lucy's Daughters" mimics the standard design for a family tree, but replaces names with small, faceless figures in varying shades of gray and black. Klein and her dancers will debut their piece, titled "Rivers are Lost in the Sea" on Friday at 4 p.m. outside the Foster Wing of the Rose Art Museum. "Lucy's Daughters" is on display in the Lois Foster Gallery of the Rose in the Collecting Stories exhibit. JustArts: What inspired you to create this kind of dance work? Rachel Klein: I saw that the Office of the Arts was accepting applications for the Festival, and I really wanted to do something because I've loved being a part of all the stuff at Festival of the Arts, just being a participant, but I never had my own project. I can't do anything in the visual arts, nothing like that. So I thought that I would do a dance. And they wanted it to connect to the Rose in some way, and I work at the Rose. This [Kiki Smith] work was one piece that I had looked at a lot. I thought it was really interesting and that I could take a lot out of it. JA: When did you begin working on the piece? RK: The application process took place last semester, in the fall, so that's when I began. JA: How did you go about creating the dance? Did you first cast the performers or first create the choreography? RK: Well, there are two other dancers and me in the piece. I started with the cast and then from there I worked on choreographing and incorporating all the different ideas I had to tie it back into the artwork. JA: Have you choreographed before, or was this a new experience for you? RK: I went to a high school for performing arts, and I was in the dance department, so I've been choreographing my own stuff since ninth grade. But this is probably going to be my last time. I'm really grateful that I had one last opportunity to do some choreography. JA: Have you been involved in other dance pieces at Brandeis? RK: Yeah, I was part of Adagio for a bit, and I've also done Liquid Latex. JA: Can you describe what kind of dance your piece is? RK: It's modern dance, so there's nothing very technical. It probably wouldn't be the same experience as going to see a ballet or a jazz performance; there're no real moves that you can name. Instead, there's a lot of movement and working with the different props we're going to have. It's more about emotions and being aware of your body. JA: What kind of props are you going to be using? RK: It's a surprise. JA: Where does the piece's title come from and how does it relate to the dance itself? RK: It's a quote I find by Theodore Roosevelt. I was looking for quotes about water, but this quote specifically spoke to me because the Kiki Smith work, the way I interpret it, is about a family tree, and the way that individuals tie in together to make a larger group like a family, including our ancestors and the way we're all connected. And this quote, "Rivers running into the sea": It's all about how smaller bodies of water trickle down into larger bodies of water. JA: When people come to see this work what do you expect them to take away from it? RK: I hope that they enjoy it. I hope that they feel inspired and hopefully moved a little bit. Not just to enjoy watching other people, but to feel that they too can dance and be a part of the art. I don't want it to be something where it's just the dancers and the audience, but something that incorporates everybody. And I think that's what the Festival of the Arts is really about, engaging the whole community. A lot of times dance can be turned into more of a sport or a competition, and I hope that this piece is a chance to show people that dance really is an art and it's a way of expressing emotion. Hopefully that comes across. JA: Have you related at all to the Art Activates theme? Have you seen your own work relating to that on a larger level? RK: Definitely. We're a dance piece inspired by a work of art at the Rose. The idea for the piece is to take something that's a physical object and make it into movement. So it's like we're activating the artwork.
(04/24/12 4:00am)
A caption in sports incorrectly identified a player on the softball team. The player shown is third baseman Mimi Theodore '12, not utility infielder Leah McWilliams '12. (April 3, p. 16) An article in arts incorrectly identified the director, producer, and stage manager of the play Hedda Gabler. The play was directed by Christopher Knight '14, produced by Jesse Field '13 and stage managed by Grace Fosler '14. The Justice welcomes submissions for errors that warrant correction or clarification. Email editor@thejustice.org.
(04/23/12 4:00am)
Brandeis fencers served some justice at the Olympic Games qualifying trials in Virginia City, Va. on April 13 and 14. After two consecutive trips to the Games, sabreist Tim Morehouse '00 cruised to a second-place finish to secure a trip to the London Olympics this summer. He finished only behind national teammate James Williams. Foilist Julian Cardillo '14, however, made quite the statement, falling just short of packing his bags for the United Kingdom at 19 years old. After stringing together five straight wins in the first and second rounds of the match, Cardillo fell in a 15-7 loss to foilist Gerek Meinhardt. However, he can take pride in the fact that he is now the 11th-ranked fencer in the United States and will represent America at the World Cup in Havana this June. Cardillo faced a reality check in the beginning stages of the trials, losing two out of his first three matches. He was defeated in consecutive 5-1 losses by Miles Chamley-Watson, who qualified for the Olympics, and Robert Nunziato, who also qualified and finished third in the tournament. Cardillo, however, said that he quickly found his comfort zone after approaching the matches from a different perspective. "I started fencing not my best, but I started to get comfortable and I started playing my game," he said. "I was ranked 13th after the first round, and I just came out with a different mindset in the second round." His match with Robbie Moore, a top fencer from Ohio State University, proved to be the turning point. Cardillo immediately faced a 6-1 hole but then clawed back to force a tie. However, the parity would not last for long. He once again was down by 12-8, but this time, Cardillo was able to pull through with a 15-13 victory. "It was kind of an elusive match in the sense that I was always down," he said. "But me (sic) and my coach worked on a strategy to settle down and find a tactic that worked." From there, it was smooth sailing. Cardillo earned a hard-fought 15-9 win, his first, against Michael El-Saleh from Pennsylvania State University. While he fell short in a 15-7 loss to Meinhardt, Cardillo was impressed with his effort over the day. "I ended up losing to Gerek 15-7, which is pretty respectable," he said. "I was very happy with how I fenced him, in addition to how I fenced the entire day. This was my best result ever, and there I was, standing on the podium with seven other fantastic fencers." After placing in 8th at the championships, Cardillo reveled in his accomplishment. "I feel that I had gotten to the next level and that there was nowhere to go but up," he said. It was business as usual for Morehouse, though. After finishing 22nd in individual competition in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, he is ready to repeat the effort in London. Morehouse was also prepared to defend his title at the national championships, winning in both 2010 and 2011. Although he performed especially well against many Olympians, he lost to Williams in a hard-fought match in the final round, earning a silver medal in the tournament. "I was hoping for my third title in a row, but it was still an incredibly strong effort, and it definitely helped me in preparing for this summer," he said. Now that Morehouse has been formally announced as a member of the 2012 Olympic team, he faces an extensive training regimen before traveling to London this June. However, he knows it is all for that elusive gold medal - one the United States has failed to earn. "I've been competing for a while in preparing for London," he said. "The training is similar - we know the feel and now we can start to prepare for facing the top fencers in the world." Before the Olympics, Morehouse will host the Fencing Masters Tournament in New York on June 26. He also has just released his memoir, American Fencer: Modern Lessons from an Ancient Sport, detailing his experiences in fencing both at Brandeis and on the national level. *
(04/23/12 4:00am)
Brandeis. Founded in 2000, the club team competes in a Division IV league called the New England Rugby Football Union, participating in tournaments such as the Beast of the East and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Prom Dress.
(04/19/12 4:00am)
This year's Student Union elections have arrived, and six students are contending for the Union presidency. Although several of these candidates demonstrate qualities and goals that the leader of next year's student government should possess, one in particular stands out. This board endorses Joshua Hoffman-Senn '13 for Union president because of his tangible goals and unique approach to improving student life here. Mr. Hoffman-Senn is impressive because of his specific solutions to problems that many students on this campus note on a regular basis: a lack of dining options and difficulties with club management and funding. His plans to bring food trucks to campus and encourage outside sponsorships of clubs to increase their budgets are novel concepts that mark a departure from typical solutions that students have posed in the past. However, we believe Mr. Hoffman-Senn should also consider that clubs may be reluctant to allow outside sources to potentially influence their activities and interests. Mr. Hoffman-Senn must include club leaders in the discussion to ensure productive relations with private sponsors. Even if his specific initiatives turn out to be unattainable, we hope that, if elected, Mr. Hoffman-Senn will continue to take a creative approach to solving pervasive on-campus issues. Mr. Hoffman-Senn's experiences-both within the Student Union as an assistant treasurer and as a club leader through the Economics Society and Business Club-indicate that he will be able to handle the responsibilities as the next Union president. Moreover, his platform and goals demonstrate that he possesses a mindset that can make the Union more effective moving forward. By approaching club chartering and funding pragmatically and forming visible, tangible solutions to student concerns, Mr. Hoffman-Senn will be able to improve the functionality and efficiency of the Union. In that vein, this board would also like to commend candidates David Fisch '13 and Dillon Harvey '14 for their desires to unite the student body through various public relations campaigns and Union-sponsored events. It would behoove the winning candidate to combine Mr. Fisch's and Mr. Harvey's commitment to fostering sense of community and good will between the Union and its constituents. As these candidates have proposed, we hope that the next president recognizes the importance of remaining connected to the student body through social functions that promote school unity, such as the party earlier this semester commemorating the opening of the pool at the Joseph M. Linsey Sports Center. While each candidate has ambitious ideas and plans to transform the University, we hope the next president will realistically approach these issues and remain open to student input. While this year saw some impressive candidates, this board endorses Mr. Hoffman-Senn for Union president because he has identified problems that affect all students on a regular basis and has proposed ways to address those issues that go beyond traditional approaches.
(04/19/12 4:00am)
The six Student Union presidential candidates and two vice presidential candidates participated in a debate cosponsored by the Justice, the Hoot, the Student Union and the Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society last night in Olin-Sang..
(04/18/12 4:00am)
On Thursday, the student body will vote in the first round of Union elections. The open positions are president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, all seats on the Finance Board and representatives to the Board of Trustees, Alumni Association. Senator and Student Judiciary elections will take place in the second round of voting, on Thursday, April 26.
(04/18/12 4:00am)
On Thursday, students will vote in the first round of Union elections. The open positions are president, vice president, treasurer, secretary all seats on the Finance Board and representatives to the Board of Trustees, Alumni Association. Senator and Student Judiciary elections will take place in the second round of voting, on Thursday, April 26.
(04/03/12 4:00am)
JustNews: What are your overall thoughts or reflections on your first year in office? President Lawrence: I think it was a very successful, energizing year. A lot of the year was spent building relationships with faculty, with students, staff, friends of the University, alumni. A lot of that time was spent on campus building those relationships, and a lot of that time was spent traveling all over the country and, indeed, around the world. So I figure that I met literally thousands of alumni in my first year, at events all over. Something like 20 cities in the United States and several cities abroad where we did alumni events. Met long-time friends of the University, from all over. But a lot of time spent on campus, and a lot of that was being able to begin to launch a lot of initiatives here. So, when I think back over the year, I think, structurally, of getting the administration redesigned. Even before I started, we formed the Administrative Structured Advisory Committee, ASAC, and based on that committee's recommendations, we redesigned the provost's position, and then over the course of my first year hired Steve Goldstein ['78] to become our new provost. We redesigned the students and enrollment senior vice presidency, and hired Andrew Flagel for that position. Spent a lot of time with students, at student events, student activities, meetings with students, trying to get a sense of what this 'Brandeisian' thing is and become part of the community. In many ways, that's been the most rewarding thing of all. The opportunity to feel like I've been part of this place. And of course, that includes the opportunity to teach a course last semester. So I've been able to be a new president, but also be a new faculty member. A number of the particular projects that I thought needed attention that I was glad we were able to bring to closure. One was the solution of the Rose Art matter, and to get the museum reopened and reenergized and to be launching forward, and we are well along now in the search for a new director, and I hope that we will have that concluded relatively soon. Another was to reopen the [Joseph M. Linsey] Pool, and to be able to get the Linsey Pool and all of that structure renovated, so we could have that great opening of the pool, the January pool party on the first Saturday night you guys came back. And finally, I would say it was a year to begin to work on some thoughts about the global footprint of Brandeis. To travel to Israel, travel to India, and in both places see connections that Brandeis can make and collaboration opportunities for our scholars and our students. Actually, one other thing was launching the strategic planning process, which will help provide the blueprint for much of what we're going to try to accomplish over the coming years. I've been very excited about the level of engagement that that has received around the community. And again, from all sides of the community. From students, from faculty, from alumni, from friends, from staff. From all of us engaged in thinking about where are we and where do we want to go. So it's been a busy first year. It's sort of fun putting it all together in one place as we talk and hearing this whole list. It has been a very busy year, but a very good one. What has the transition been like for the University as a whole? I think there's a lot of excitement and energy, I think there's a lot of anticipation. I think we also need to be careful and manage our expectations, because there are a lot of challenges that we face, there are a lot of challenges that American higher education faces. And financial issues coming out of the financial crash of 2008 aren't going to be resolved overnight, they didn't happen overnight. But I think having said that, and still dealing with some of the short term implications of that, I think there is a great deal of excitement about what we can accomplish long term. Could you elaborate a little more about the trips you made to Israel and India? One of the things that the strategic planning process is working on, with my strong encouragement, is giving some focus and shape to our global programs. Let's take a step back. Brandeis has an enormous global reach. We have students from well over 100 countries on campus, 116 countries I think are represented on campus. 12 percent of our undergraduates are international students. A large number of students spend at least a semester abroad at some point in their four years. And if you add to that the students who have spent a summer abroad, or the summer before coming to Brandeis abroad, it's got to be the vast majority. So that's great. And I think that's important and that makes us who we are. I think we need to focus our efforts beyond that on a number of countries where we can have deep and sustained engagements. Israel and India strike me as two very strong candidates for that. There will be others. I think the strategic planning process can talk about that. So my hope is to see that kind of sustained engagement on multiple levels. How would you describe your relationship with the student body? You're my kids. One of the things I love about being here is the opportunity to be as much part of student life as I can. You guys understand that there are a lot of demands on my time and a lot of times that I can't be here. But you also know this is where my heart is. And so the goal has been to try to be involved in as wide a range of activities as possible. So over the course of the year, I try to be at least one match or meet of each of our sports teams, sometimes more, sometimes some of the away games. Certainly as many of the home games as I can. We had a great time with the men's soccer championship in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Plays, concerts, other kinds of cultural events on campus, religious events. I think everyone knows that when I'm in town on Friday night I go to one of the student-led Shabbat services, I rotate around among the services, go to the Catholic mass at least once a semester. Just different ways of being able to connect with students where students live. Nothing wrong with what you and I are doing right now, but I don't want to just talk to students in my office. That's not where students live. Students live in campus, students live in the activities they do, students live in the classroom, which is why I wanted to teach. So it's important for me to be involved in all those levels. What about your relationships with the faculty? First and foremost, the president of a university is the member of the faculty. I always call them my faculty colleagues. The first thing I said when I addressed the faculty, I think I hadn't even become president yet, I think I was president-elect, that among the best piece of advice I ever got was that you should never become dean or provost or president in any place where you are not first and foremost proud to be a member of the faculty, because you are. So I have very much enjoyed my time with my faculty colleagues, on faculty committees, in a range of faculty interactions coming out of the strategic planning process, and in the formal interactions like the faculty meetings, but also the informal interactions socially. It's an extraordinarily gifted faculty in terms of a twin commitment, both to teaching and to scholarship. At the same time, you ask most Brandeis faculty what they like best about being here, and pretty quickly in conversation they talk about the students. And I get it, from having had the chance to teach and to be with Brandeis students in the classroom, I get it. I'd add to that, that these are committed teachers, these are dedicated scholars, productive scholars, but these are also overwhelmingly people who are really involved in helping to run this place. As one of the most prominent representatives of the University, what qualities of the school do you try to reflect to the public? Commitment to excellence in our teaching and excellence in our scholarship. A devotion to social justice, which means giving back. Taking our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. And a sense of great optimism about what we can accomplish together in the future. This is going to send terribly corny, but I do ask myself on a regular basis, "what would Louis Brandeis say." I told you it was going to sound corny. But it's true. Because Brandeis was somebody who understood that theory and practice went together, he was a brilliant scholar, a brilliant Supreme Court justice, but also an extremely effective tactical lawyer. And Brandeis was someone who understood social justice, his nickname was "The People's Lawyer," and that social justice is not spent sitting around talking about it, it's spend out there doing it. He got that. And Brandeis was somebody of moral courage. He stood up for what he believed, even if it put him at personal risk. When he became head of the American Zionist Movement in 1915, it was not an easy thing to do. So I'd like to think this is a school of which he'd be proud, and I'd like to think that he's still giving me advice, it's just that I have to listen pretty hard to hear it. *
(04/03/12 4:00am)
JustNews: What are your overall thoughts or reflections on your first year in office? President Lawrence: I think it was a very successful, energizing year. A lot of the year was spent building relationships with faculty, with students, staff, friends of the University, alumni. A lot of that time was spent on campus building those relationships, and a lot of that time was spent traveling all over the country and, indeed, around the world. So I figure that I met literally thousands of alumni in my first year, at events all over. Something like 20 cities in the United States and several cities abroad where we did alumni events. Met long-time friends of the University, from all over. But a lot of time spent on campus, and a lot of that was being able to begin to launch a lot of initiatives here. So, when I think back over the year, I think, structurally, of getting the administration redesigned. Even before I started, we formed the Administrative Structured Advisory Committee, ASAC, and based on that committee's recommendations, we redesigned the provost's position, and then over the course of my first year hired Steve Goldstein ['78] to become our new provost. We redesigned the students and enrollment senior vice presidency, and hired Andrew Flagel for that position. Spent a lot of time with students, at student events, student activities, meetings with students, trying to get a sense of what this 'Brandeisian' thing is and become part of the community. In many ways, that's been the most rewarding thing of all. The opportunity to feel like I've been part of this place. And of course, that includes the opportunity to teach a course last semester. So I've been able to be a new president, but also be a new faculty member. A number of the particular projects that I thought needed attention that I was glad we were able to bring to closure. One was the solution of the Rose Art matter, and to get the museum reopened and reenergized and to be launching forward, and we are well along now in the search for a new director, and I hope that we will have that concluded relatively soon. Another was to reopen the [Joseph M. Linsey] Pool, and to be able to get the Linsey Pool and all of that structure renovated, so we could have that great opening of the pool, the January pool party on the first Saturday night you guys came back. And finally, I would say it was a year to begin to work on some thoughts about the global footprint of Brandeis. To travel to Israel, travel to India, and in both places see connections that Brandeis can make and collaboration opportunities for our scholars and our students. Actually, one other thing was launching the strategic planning process, which will help provide the blueprint for much of what we're going to try to accomplish over the coming years. I've been very excited about the level of engagement that that has received around the community. And again, from all sides of the community. From students, from faculty, from alumni, from friends, from staff. From all of us engaged in thinking about where are we and where do we want to go. So it's been a busy first year. It's sort of fun putting it all together in one place as we talk and hearing this whole list. It has been a very busy year, but a very good one. What has the transition been like for the University as a whole? I think there's a lot of excitement and energy, I think there's a lot of anticipation. I think we also need to be careful and manage our expectations, because there are a lot of challenges that we face, there are a lot of challenges that American higher education faces. And financial issues coming out of the financial crash of 2008 aren't going to be resolved overnight, they didn't happen overnight. But I think having said that, and still dealing with some of the short term implications of that, I think there is a great deal of excitement about what we can accomplish long term. Could you elaborate a little more about the trips you made to Israel and India? One of the things that the strategic planning process is working on, with my strong encouragement, is giving some focus and shape to our global programs. Let's take a step back. Brandeis has an enormous global reach. We have students from well over 100 countries on campus, 116 countries I think are represented on campus. 12 percent of our undergraduates are international students. A large number of students spend at least a semester abroad at some point in their four years. And if you add to that the students who have spent a summer abroad, or the summer before coming to Brandeis abroad, it's got to be the vast majority. So that's great. And I think that's important and that makes us who we are. I think we need to focus our efforts beyond that on a number of countries where we can have deep and sustained engagements. Israel and India strike me as two very strong candidates for that. There will be others. I think the strategic planning process can talk about that. So my hope is to see that kind of sustained engagement on multiple levels. How would you describe your relationship with the student body? You're my kids. One of the things I love about being here is the opportunity to be as much part of student life as I can. You guys understand that there are a lot of demands on my time and a lot of times that I can't be here. But you also know this is where my heart is. And so the goal has been to try to be involved in as wide a range of activities as possible. So over the course of the year, I try to be at least one match or meet of each of our sports teams, sometimes more, sometimes some of the away games. Certainly as many of the home games as I can. We had a great time with the men's soccer championship in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Plays, concerts, other kinds of cultural events on campus, religious events. I think everyone knows that when I'm in town on Friday night I go to one of the student-led Shabbat services, I rotate around among the services, go to the Catholic mass at least once a semester. Just different ways of being able to connect with students where students live. Nothing wrong with what you and I are doing right now, but I don't want to just talk to students in my office. That's not where students live. Students live in campus, students live in the activities they do, students live in the classroom, which is why I wanted to teach. So it's important for me to be involved in all those levels. What about your relationships with the faculty? First and foremost, the president of a university is the member of the faculty. I always call them my faculty colleagues. The first thing I said when I addressed the faculty, I think I hadn't even become president yet, I think I was president-elect, that among the best piece of advice I ever got was that you should never become dean or provost or president in any place where you are not first and foremost proud to be a member of the faculty, because you are. So I have very much enjoyed my time with my faculty colleagues, on faculty committees, in a range of faculty interactions coming out of the strategic planning process, and in the formal interactions like the faculty meetings, but also the informal interactions socially. It's an extraordinarily gifted faculty in terms of a twin commitment, both to teaching and to scholarship. At the same time, you ask most Brandeis faculty what they like best about being here, and pretty quickly in conversation they talk about the students. And I get it, from having had the chance to teach and to be with Brandeis students in the classroom, I get it. I'd add to that, that these are committed teachers, these are dedicated scholars, productive scholars, but these are also overwhelmingly people who are really involved in helping to run this place. As one of the most prominent representatives of the University, what qualities of the school do you try to reflect to the public? Commitment to excellence in our teaching and excellence in our scholarship. A devotion to social justice, which means giving back. Taking our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. And a sense of great optimism about what we can accomplish together in the future. This is going to send terribly corny, but I do ask myself on a regular basis, "what would Louis Brandeis say." I told you it was going to sound corny. But it's true. Because Brandeis was somebody who understood that theory and practice went together, he was a brilliant scholar, a brilliant Supreme Court justice, but also an extremely effective tactical lawyer. And Brandeis was someone who understood social justice, his nickname was "The People's Lawyer," and that social justice is not spent sitting around talking about it, it's spend out there doing it. He got that. And Brandeis was somebody of moral courage. He stood up for what he believed, even if it put him at personal risk. When he became head of the American Zionist Movement in 1915, it was not an easy thing to do. So I'd like to think this is a school of which he'd be proud, and I'd like to think that he's still giving me advice, it's just that I have to listen pretty hard to hear it. *
(04/03/12 4:00am)
JustNews: What are your overall thoughts or reflections on your first year in office? President Lawrence: I think it was a very successful, energizing year. A lot of the year was spent building relationships with faculty, with students, staff, friends of the University, alumni. A lot of that time was spent on campus building those relationships, and a lot of that time was spent traveling all over the country and, indeed, around the world. So I figure that I met literally thousands of alumni in my first year, at events all over. Something like 20 cities in the United States and several cities abroad where we did alumni events. Met long-time friends of the University, from all over. But a lot of time spent on campus, and a lot of that was being able to begin to launch a lot of initiatives here. So, when I think back over the year, I think, structurally, of getting the administration redesigned. Even before I started, we formed the Administrative Structured Advisory Committee, ASAC, and based on that committee's recommendations, we redesigned the provost's position, and then over the course of my first year hired Steve Goldstein ['78] to become our new provost. We redesigned the students and enrollment senior vice presidency, and hired Andrew Flagel for that position. Spent a lot of time with students, at student events, student activities, meetings with students, trying to get a sense of what this 'Brandeisian' thing is and become part of the community. In many ways, that's been the most rewarding thing of all. The opportunity to feel like I've been part of this place. And of course, that includes the opportunity to teach a course last semester. So I've been able to be a new president, but also be a new faculty member. A number of the particular projects that I thought needed attention that I was glad we were able to bring to closure. One was the solution of the Rose Art matter, and to get the museum reopened and reenergized and to be launching forward, and we are well along now in the search for a new director, and I hope that we will have that concluded relatively soon. Another was to reopen the [Joseph M. Linsey] Pool, and to be able to get the Linsey Pool and all of that structure renovated, so we could have that great opening of the pool, the January pool party on the first Saturday night you guys came back. And finally, I would say it was a year to begin to work on some thoughts about the global footprint of Brandeis. To travel to Israel, travel to India, and in both places see connections that Brandeis can make and collaboration opportunities for our scholars and our students. Actually, one other thing was launching the strategic planning process, which will help provide the blueprint for much of what we're going to try to accomplish over the coming years. I've been very excited about the level of engagement that that has received around the community. And again, from all sides of the community. From students, from faculty, from alumni, from friends, from staff. From all of us engaged in thinking about where are we and where do we want to go. So it's been a busy first year. It's sort of fun putting it all together in one place as we talk and hearing this whole list. It has been a very busy year, but a very good one. What has the transition been like for the University as a whole? I think there's a lot of excitement and energy, I think there's a lot of anticipation. I think we also need to be careful and manage our expectations, because there are a lot of challenges that we face, there are a lot of challenges that American higher education faces. And financial issues coming out of the financial crash of 2008 aren't going to be resolved overnight, they didn't happen overnight. But I think having said that, and still dealing with some of the short term implications of that, I think there is a great deal of excitement about what we can accomplish long term. Could you elaborate a little more about the trips you made to Israel and India? One of the things that the strategic planning process is working on, with my strong encouragement, is giving some focus and shape to our global programs. Let's take a step back. Brandeis has an enormous global reach. We have students from well over 100 countries on campus, 116 countries I think are represented on campus. 12 percent of our undergraduates are international students. A large number of students spend at least a semester abroad at some point in their four years. And if you add to that the students who have spent a summer abroad, or the summer before coming to Brandeis abroad, it's got to be the vast majority. So that's great. And I think that's important and that makes us who we are. I think we need to focus our efforts beyond that on a number of countries where we can have deep and sustained engagements. Israel and India strike me as two very strong candidates for that. There will be others. I think the strategic planning process can talk about that. So my hope is to see that kind of sustained engagement on multiple levels. How would you describe your relationship with the student body? You're my kids. One of the things I love about being here is the opportunity to be as much part of student life as I can. You guys understand that there are a lot of demands on my time and a lot of times that I can't be here. But you also know this is where my heart is. And so the goal has been to try to be involved in as wide a range of activities as possible. So over the course of the year, I try to be at least one match or meet of each of our sports teams, sometimes more, sometimes some of the away games. Certainly as many of the home games as I can. We had a great time with the men's soccer championship in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Plays, concerts, other kinds of cultural events on campus, religious events. I think everyone knows that when I'm in town on Friday night I go to one of the student-led Shabbat services, I rotate around among the services, go to the Catholic mass at least once a semester. Just different ways of being able to connect with students where students live. Nothing wrong with what you and I are doing right now, but I don't want to just talk to students in my office. That's not where students live. Students live in campus, students live in the activities they do, students live in the classroom, which is why I wanted to teach. So it's important for me to be involved in all those levels. What about your relationships with the faculty? First and foremost, the president of a university is the member of the faculty. I always call them my faculty colleagues. The first thing I said when I addressed the faculty, I think I hadn't even become president yet, I think I was president-elect, that among the best piece of advice I ever got was that you should never become dean or provost or president in any place where you are not first and foremost proud to be a member of the faculty, because you are. So I have very much enjoyed my time with my faculty colleagues, on faculty committees, in a range of faculty interactions coming out of the strategic planning process, and in the formal interactions like the faculty meetings, but also the informal interactions socially. It's an extraordinarily gifted faculty in terms of a twin commitment, both to teaching and to scholarship. At the same time, you ask most Brandeis faculty what they like best about being here, and pretty quickly in conversation they talk about the students. And I get it, from having had the chance to teach and to be with Brandeis students in the classroom, I get it. I'd add to that, that these are committed teachers, these are dedicated scholars, productive scholars, but these are also overwhelmingly people who are really involved in helping to run this place. As one of the most prominent representatives of the University, what qualities of the school do you try to reflect to the public? Commitment to excellence in our teaching and excellence in our scholarship. A devotion to social justice, which means giving back. Taking our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. And a sense of great optimism about what we can accomplish together in the future. This is going to send terribly corny, but I do ask myself on a regular basis, "what would Louis Brandeis say." I told you it was going to sound corny. But it's true. Because Brandeis was somebody who understood that theory and practice went together, he was a brilliant scholar, a brilliant Supreme Court justice, but also an extremely effective tactical lawyer. And Brandeis was someone who understood social justice, his nickname was "The People's Lawyer," and that social justice is not spent sitting around talking about it, it's spend out there doing it. He got that. And Brandeis was somebody of moral courage. He stood up for what he believed, even if it put him at personal risk. When he became head of the American Zionist Movement in 1915, it was not an easy thing to do. So I'd like to think this is a school of which he'd be proud, and I'd like to think that he's still giving me advice, it's just that I have to listen pretty hard to hear it. *
(04/02/12 4:00am)
While Brandeis athletics give the University much reason to be excited about the present, the Hall of Fame induction last Saturday night allowed for some reflection on past accomplishments. Held at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, the 2012 induction to Brandeis' Sports Hall of Fame featured the initiation of six individuals. Ruth Porter Bernstein '57, the late Harold Warren Zinn '61, Robert Nayer '70, William Carpenter '81, Geoff Getz '99, and Maya Marx '04 were all recognized for their contributions in front of a crowd of 100 alumni, friends and athletics staff. Speaking at the beginning of the ceremony, Senior Vice President of Students and Enrollment Andrew Flagel explained that athletics exemplify the many positive qualities of the University. "Athletics in so many ways represents the heart of this institution," said Flagel. "Leadership. Commitment. A common thread in our society is excellence in athletics. Camaraderie. Leadership. Putting others above yourself." Porter Bernstein, a Winthrop, Mass. native, was inducted under the contributor category for her service on the board-and as president-of Friends of Brandeis Athletics (FOBA). Bernstein, who was also a member of the first undefeated women's basketball team that went 13-0 in 1956, mentioned that she was glad to have her young grandchildren in the crowd. She expressed her hope that they would understand how she earned her induction. "I want my grandchildren to know that finding something you love and giving your best to it will bring untold reward," she said. "Thank you so much for this wonderful honor." Zinn, honored posthumously, was one of the founding members of the Brandeis golf team. Though he passed away in 1991, his legacy endures as one of the finest golfers in not only school history, but in the New England region. Nayer, who ranks 18th in points and second in rebounds on the men's basketball team's all-time list, said that he was honored to be inducted into such a prestigious group of individuals. "I was very thrilled," said Nayer, who works as the director of operating and capital budgets at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. "Honored. Humbled. Really appreciative, very proud," he said. "It means so much to me." Carpenter, the Greater Boston League MVP his senior year, had a two-year stint in the minor leagues. After a memorable season in which he batted .458 in his senior year, Carpenter remembered the good times he had on the diamond, mentioning how excited he was to come back to campus. "I got just as excited driving down South Street towards the school today as I did 35 years ago," said Carpenter, who currently coaches American Legion baseball in Connecticut. A three-time NCAA Division III National Champion in the 800-meter run, Getz still manages to run competitively at 35 years old. He is currently employed as an IT consultant for Z-TECH Associates, a company he began working for while a sophomore at Brandeis. Though Getz is not as quick as when he ran a scorching time of 1:50 for the 800-meter, Getz, who lives in nearby Wayland, still reflects on his days as a Judge with great pride. "We had some really talented middle-distance runners under [coach] Bruce Bickford [who was at one point ranked first in the world at 10,000 meters]," he said. "I think we got fourth at [NCAA Division III] cross-country nationals one year." Amid his extensive accomplishments, Getz said that he was humbled to be honored. "I was surprised," he added. "I'm flattered, of course. There are a lot of other good athletes here. I don't know what the selection criteria [are], but I'm very honored." Marx, a three-time qualifier for the NCAA Division III Swimming & Diving Championships and three-time All-American in the breaststroke, cited her then-coach [and current Assistant Director of Athletics] Jim Zotz as her mentor. During her induction speech, Marx announced something personal-she and husband, former Judges swimmer Nick Dufresne '04, are expecting their first child this fall. "We hope they'll swim, but we won't pressure them," Marx joked. Though the next induction has already been planned for Oct. 12, 2013, there will be plenty of time for the Brandeis community to commemorate the accomplishments of these individuals. With current success on the fields, courts, trails and track, the task for those selecting future nominees will only be more challenging. *
(04/02/12 4:00am)
JustNews: What are your overall thoughts or reflections on your first year in office? President Lawrence: I think it was a very successful, energizing year. A lot of the year was spent building relationships with faculty, with students, staff, friends of the University, alumni. A lot of that time was spent on campus building those relationships, and a lot of that time was spent traveling all over the country and, indeed, around the world. So I figure that I met literally thousands of alumni in my first year, at events all over. Something like 20 cities in the United States and several cities abroad where we did alumni events. Met long-time friends of the University, from all over. But a lot of time spent on campus, and a lot of that was being able to begin to launch a lot of initiatives here. So, when I think back over the year, I think, structurally, of getting the administration redesigned. Even before I started, we formed the Administrative Structured Advisory Committee, ASAC, and based on that committee's recommendations, we redesigned the provost's position, and then over the course of my first year hired Steve Goldstein ['78] to become our new provost. We redesigned the students and enrollment senior vice presidency, and hired Andrew Flagel for that position. Spent a lot of time with students, at student events, student activities, meetings with students, trying to get a sense of what this 'Brandeisian' thing is and become part of the community. In many ways, that's been the most rewarding thing of all. The opportunity to feel like I've been part of this place. And of course, that includes the opportunity to teach a course last semester. So I've been able to be a new president, but also be a new faculty member. A number of the particular projects that I thought needed attention that I was glad we were able to bring to closure. One was the solution of the Rose Art matter, and to get the museum reopened and reenergized and to be launching forward, and we are well along now in the search for a new director, and I hope that we will have that concluded relatively soon. Another was to reopen the [Joseph M. Linsey] Pool, and to be able to get the Linsey Pool and all of that structure renovated, so we could have that great opening of the pool, the January pool party on the first Saturday night you guys came back. And finally, I would say it was a year to begin to work on some thoughts about the global footprint of Brandeis. To travel to Israel, travel to India, and in both places see connections that Brandeis can make and collaboration opportunities for our scholars and our students. Actually, one other thing was launching the strategic planning process, which will help provide the blueprint for much of what we're going to try to accomplish over the coming years. I've been very excited about the level of engagement that that has received around the community. And again, from all sides of the community. From students, from faculty, from alumni, from friends, from staff. From all of us engaged in thinking about where are we and where do we want to go. So it's been a busy first year. It's sort of fun putting it all together in one place as we talk and hearing this whole list. It has been a very busy year, but a very good one. What has the transition been like for the University as a whole? I think there's a lot of excitement and energy, I think there's a lot of anticipation. I think we also need to be careful and manage our expectations, because there are a lot of challenges that we face, there are a lot of challenges that American higher education faces. And financial issues coming out of the financial crash of 2008 aren't going to be resolved overnight, they didn't happen overnight. But I think having said that, and still dealing with some of the short term implications of that, I think there is a great deal of excitement about what we can accomplish long term. Could you elaborate a little more about the trips you made to Israel and India? One of the things that the strategic planning process is working on, with my strong encouragement, is giving some focus and shape to our global programs. Let's take a step back. Brandeis has an enormous global reach. We have students from well over 100 countries on campus, 116 countries I think are represented on campus. 12 percent of our undergraduates are international students. A large number of students spend at least a semester abroad at some point in their four years. And if you add to that the students who have spent a summer abroad, or the summer before coming to Brandeis abroad, it's got to be the vast majority. So that's great. And I think that's important and that makes us who we are. I think we need to focus our efforts beyond that on a number of countries where we can have deep and sustained engagements. Israel and India strike me as two very strong candidates for that. There will be others. I think the strategic planning process can talk about that. So my hope is to see that kind of sustained engagement on multiple levels. How would you describe your relationship with the student body? You're my kids. One of the things I love about being here is the opportunity to be as much part of student life as I can. You guys understand that there are a lot of demands on my time and a lot of times that I can't be here. But you also know this is where my heart is. And so the goal has been to try to be involved in as wide a range of activities as possible. So over the course of the year, I try to be at least one match or meet of each of our sports teams, sometimes more, sometimes some of the away games. Certainly as many of the home games as I can. We had a great time with the men's soccer championship in the Eastern College Athletic Conference. Plays, concerts, other kinds of cultural events on campus, religious events. I think everyone knows that when I'm in town on Friday night I go to one of the student-led Shabbat services, I rotate around among the services, go to the Catholic mass at least once a semester. Just different ways of being able to connect with students where students live. Nothing wrong with what you and I are doing right now, but I don't want to just talk to students in my office. That's not where students live. Students live in campus, students live in the activities they do, students live in the classroom, which is why I wanted to teach. So it's important for me to be involved in all those levels. What about your relationships with the faculty? First and foremost, the president of a university is the member of the faculty. I always call them my faculty colleagues. The first thing I said when I addressed the faculty, I think I hadn't even become president yet, I think I was president-elect, that among the best piece of advice I ever got was that you should never become dean or provost or president in any place where you are not first and foremost proud to be a member of the faculty, because you are. So I have very much enjoyed my time with my faculty colleagues, on faculty committees, in a range of faculty interactions coming out of the strategic planning process, and in the formal interactions like the faculty meetings, but also the informal interactions socially. It's an extraordinarily gifted faculty in terms of a twin commitment, both to teaching and to scholarship. At the same time, you ask most Brandeis faculty what they like best about being here, and pretty quickly in conversation they talk about the students. And I get it, from having had the chance to teach and to be with Brandeis students in the classroom, I get it. I'd add to that, that these are committed teachers, these are dedicated scholars, productive scholars, but these are also overwhelmingly people who are really involved in helping to run this place. * As one of the most prominent representatives of the University, what qualities of the school do you try to reflect to the public? Commitment to excellence in our teaching and excellence in our scholarship. A devotion to social justice, which means giving back. Taking our work seriously without taking ourselves too seriously. And a sense of great optimism about what we can accomplish together in the future. This is going to send terribly corny, but I do ask myself on a regular basis, "what would Louis Brandeis say." I told you it was going to sound corny. But it's true. Because Brandeis was somebody who understood that theory and practice went together, he was a brilliant scholar, a brilliant Supreme Court justice, but also an extremely effective tactical lawyer. And Brandeis was someone who understood social justice, his nickname was "The People's Lawyer," and that social justice is not spent sitting around talking about it, it's spend out there doing it. He got that. And Brandeis was somebody of moral courage. He stood up for what he believed, even if it put him at personal risk. When he became head of the American Zionist Movement in 1915, it was not an easy thing to do. So I'd like to think this is a school of which he'd be proud, and I'd like to think that he's still giving me advice, it's just that I have to listen pretty hard to hear it.
(03/27/12 4:00am)
Last week, the Club Support Committee of the Student Union's Senate continued their mandatory club renewal project first initiated last November. In the email to select club leaders, the committee members asked students for a second time to promptly fill out the club renewal form to avoid dechartering and de-recognition. While we commend the committee for continuing to weed out idle clubs, we also encourage club leaders to consider absorbing other smaller clubs with similar agendas into their own organization. By undertaking these steps, both club leaders and the Senate can work to effectively increase the overall productivity of clubs and funding allocations. As this most recent email indicates, 83 clubs passed the Nov. 23 deadline from last semester without filling out the appropriate form. Among those included in the email were Women's Ultimate Frisbee, Voices of Soul and the Ski Team-clubs that routinely demonstrate their active club membership and role on campus. Instead of dechartering these clubs, the committee took the extra step to allow leaders another chance to reiterate their interest and commitment to operating their club. Further, according to the chair of the committee, Shekeyla Caldwell '14 in an email to the Justice, the committee members are also personally emailing club leaders and only plan on dechartering non-existent clubs, "not clubs that are, even slightly, active." We appreciate their intentions to help club leaders rather than simply dechartering clubs that missed a deadline. While the committee works to increase the productivity of the myBrandeis page, we urge club leaders to also consider the productivity of their own clubs and the benefit of incorporating their functions into a larger club that has a similar interest and purpose. For example, while currently two separate clubs, the Mountain Club and the Alpine Snow Sports Club are both chartered clubs that plan and execute trips specifically for snowboarding, rock climbing and hiking among other activities. Though both clubs have very similar functions, they each receive separate funding from the Finance Board and further deplete our resources. Aside from affecting funding, clubs whose purpose and level of activity change over time are then also hurting new prospective clubs that hope to become chartered as well. As the committee moves forward with the club renewal process, we urge them to remember the purpose of the undertaking. Clubs that do not fill out the form again-if the committee follows through with their second warning-should effectively be dechartered. While we appreciate the second attempt at eliciting responses, the committee should follow through with the initial purpose of the project to eliminate inactive clubs and help leaders fully maximize the value of their clubs by reducing redundancy. *
(03/27/12 4:00am)
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(03/27/12 4:00am)
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(03/27/12 4:00am)
After questions regarding Pachanga's fate this semester, International Club President Andrea Verdeja '14 and Vice President Michael Mutluoglu '14 said in an interview with the Justice that Pachanga will not take place this semester. The reason, according to Verdeja and Mutluoglu, is a lack of venue. Pachanga was originally booked to take place in Levin Ballroom, but the International Club members raised concerns about whether Levin's capacity was enough for anticipated attendance. Verdeja said that in the past, tickets for Pachanga have sold out within a few days and attendance would probably exceed Levin's capacity, of about 700 people. For this reason, Verdeja and Mutluoglu said that they attempted to schedule the event at the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, which would be able to hold more people, but all spaces were booked a year in advance. Unless the coordinators of one event agreed to let the International Club use the space instead of them, the club would have to wait until next spring semester to hold Pachanga. In any case, Verdeja said that Pachanga will be held every spring semester, while Rumba will be held every fall semester. In addition, Verdeja and Mutluoglu said that the administration was completely supportive of holding Pachanga again. "The event itself has never been a bad event," said Associate Dean of Student Life Jamele Adams in an interview with the Justice. "It's an incredible event. That's been [the University's] stance since the beginning." Pachanga, which was previously held every semester, was changed to an annual event, according to Director of the Intercultural Center Monique Gnanaratnam in a February 2011 interview with the Justice, following the Oct. 23, 2010 Pachanga, which resulted in overcrowding and hospitalization of multiple attendees, who were treated for intoxication. The decision to hold Pachanga every spring was made in order to avoid "having a duplication of the negative things that surround the event happening," according to Adams in a February 2011 interview with the Justice. Adams said in the recent interview that the University will also work with the International Club to ensure that a location of reasonable size is secured, working with health education resources to educate students on alcohol consumption and addressing the issue of fraudulent ticket sales, which contributed to overcrowding at the last Pachanga. In addition, Verdeja said that Pachanga will eventually be self-sustainable, meaning that although the first Pachanga event will most likely be funded by the Finance Board, all subsequent Pachangas will be funded by their own ticket sales. F-Board had allocated $10,000 to the International Club in the event that Pachanga would be held this semester, according to F-Board Chair Gabriel Weingrod-Nemzow '12 in a February interview with the Justice. According to Weingrod-Nemzow in a recent interview, that money will be returned to the F-Board for reallocation in the future. Mutluoglu said that the next Pachanga will be an "opportunity to show that Brandeis can step it up," and Verdeja commented that their goal is to make Pachanga something "the University can be proud of." "I think the community will love [Pachanga]," said Adams. "I think it will be successful."
(03/26/12 4:00am)
This week, International Club President Andrea Verdeja '14 told the Justice in an interview that Pachanga would not be taking place this year due to lack of an appropriate venue. The Shapiro Gym in Gosman Sports and Convocation Center, the venue chosen for its larger capacity, was unavailable. While this editorial board understands students will be disappointed that the popular event will not be taking place this year, we appreciate that the club has seriously considered the potential dangers of continuing to hold Pachanga in a smaller venue like Levin Ballroom. Overcrowding has been one of the more significant problems with the event in the past, and this board is glad the International Club is taking steps to solve it. For many upperclassmen, Pachanga is an event ingrained in the Brandeis social scene that they look forward to every semester. As a result of the dangers of overcrowding, as well other past complications like the hospitalization of several attendees for alcohol poisoning, the event which was once semesterly became annual, and the University officially suspended last fall it until this spring. In attempting to plan Pachanga this semester, however, the I-Club chose not to hold it in a venue that would create unsafe circumstances for attendees. We applaud the I-Club for considering the safety of the students before the pressures to administer the event. While the I-Club members could simply have continued the tradition and held Pachanga in the same venue, they are actively trying to improve their event to make it as enjoyable for students as possible. If space permits, I-Club plans to hold Pachanga next year in a safer environment. Furthermore, following the release of the Alcohol and Drug report, we expected increased communication between students and the administration to avoid making the same mistakes from last year. We are pleased that the partial result of these talks is an increased focus on safety. While we understand the reasons for this second postponement, we also believe students expected that the I-Club and the administration would be able to follow through with the event after the hiatus. While we are disappointed with the cancellation after its three-semester ban, it is also important that Pachanga live up to the standards of the University in terms of safety. We hope that next year the I-Club and the administration plan accordingly in order to meet students' expectations for this fun and traditional campus event.
