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The hike up the Rabb steps is a notable part of nearly every Brandeis student's daily commute to class. But seldom known is that, as they climb the steps, under their feet and in the basement of the Rabb Graduate Center is the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Lab, one unlike any other in the world.
On April 19, Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Center for Justice, participated in a discussion in Rapaporte Treasure Hall with Brandeis students, faculty, and the larger Waltham community about the growing need for judicial reform to check the power of the courts. In addition to being president of the Brennan Center, Waldman also served as speechwriter to Bill Clinton for four State of the Union and two inaugural addresses. He talked about his upcoming book, “The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America,” which analyzes how the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court has the potential to undo decades of laws and redirect the future of American democracy.
On Friday, April 21, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion held its first-ever Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Town Hall in the International Lounge where it detailed the University’s commitment to furthering DEI.
The Brandeis Student Union is made up of five executive branches: the Executive Board, the Allocations Board, the Senate, the Treasury, and the Judiciary. The Student Union serves as the student government, as well as community organizers and student advocates. The students elected must follow the Undergraduate Constitution during the time they spend serving. The Bylaws define all Union operations and are carefully maintained by the Student Union Senate.
Brandeis students have been exercising in a gym filled with unsafe and broken equipment.
The Student Union Senate voted to overturn President Peyton Gillespie’s ’25 veto of the Student Union budget for the 2023-24 academic year at its final meeting of the semester on April 23. The Senate also signed onto a resolution condemning the Brandeis Committee on Strategy and Planning for failing to make the softball field Title IX compliant.
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
Students and their families coming to tour Brandeis on Admitted Students Day, April 21, were prepared to walk through campus and learn more about what the University has to offer. However, they could not have anticipated a group of students waiting for them outside the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center with the goal of conveying how the University’s Department of Community Living has wronged students with disabilities by failing to offer them housing that meets their accommodations, as previously promised.
In an April 18 press release, the Division of Student Affairs at Brandeis University announced a multi-phase enhancement project to the Shapiro Campus Center.
In an April 18 email sent to Brandeis students, Gilbert Hinga, interim director at the Brandeis Counseling Center, provided information regarding the BCC’s services for the last few weeks of the semester and during the summer vacation.
On Thursday April 20 student organizers and Brandeis community members gathered at the Rabb steps to commence the annual “Take Back the Night” march through campus — an event “intended to raise awareness about sexual violence, [empower] one another, and [show] solidarity with, or as, individuals impacted by violence,” as explained by event facilitator Priya Sashti ’24. This event was organized by students of the Prevention, Advocacy, and Resource Center, the Department of Sociology, the Jewish Feminist Association at Brandeis, and other affiliated groups.
Fast fashion — the sector of business in the fashion industry that relies on the cheap and hastily-made creations of its clothing, according to Earth.org — is a system that promotes consumption, exploiting most people’s interest in affordable clothing.
On Thursday, March 30, the Center for German and European Studies hosted its Beginning to End the Climate Crisis conference in honor of its 25th anniversary and in coordination with Brandeis’ Year of Climate Action in Sherman Function Hall. The full-day conference included keynote speeches, panel discussions, and an interview with the authors of “Beginning to End the Climate Crisis: A History of Our Future.”
On Wednesday, March 29, the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy welcomed its inaugural Carrie Buck Distinguished Fellow, Laurie Bertram Roberts, for a conversation about reproductive and disability justice.
On March 30, shortly after assigning students with their selection numbers, the Department of Community Living released housing options for students who applied for housing accommodations for the upcoming academic year. However, numerous students have reported that their housing offers have not been suitable in terms of the DCL-approved accommodations. Additionally, many juniors and seniors were not offered housing accommodations because their randomly-assigned housing numbers were too high. In response, two students from the Disabled Students’ Network created a letter template for students to sign and send to DCL to advocate for impacted students. Due to the initiative’s strong support, the plan evolved into a petition that has been signed by 182 students, 19 alumni, and 26 relatives, as of press time.
Students with disabilities cannot currently access the Brandeis Counseling Center because there is no American Disability Act-compliant accessible ramp. Instead of accessing the BCC Mailman House, Brandeis students with disabilities have the option to visit the counseling center in a multi-purpose room in the library accessible by elevator or via telehealth.
The Student Union Senate chartered a new club and heard two Senate bill proposals on April 2, its last meeting before the Passover and Spring Break. Secretary Carol Kornworcel ’26 also presented several minor edits she made to the Student Union Constitution.
MEDICAL EMERGENCY
Editor’s Note: Justice Editor Dalya Koller contributed to reporting for this article.
Orientation Leaders drive the University’s incoming class’s experience on campus as resources and role models to first-years, guiding them through their busy Orientation programs. However, the extent of their involvement in welcoming new students to the community is more taxing than their cheerful dispositions let on. Instead, OLs report that Orientation is an exhaustive experience that has been undercompensated in past years, causing a group of OLs from the August 2022 Orientation to write a petition to the administration, declaring proportional pay to the extent of the work they dedicate to the program.