Bidding farewell to our graduating editors is always a bittersweet moment: although we hate to say goodbye after countless late nights spent together, our hearts are filled with pride and hope for all that they will accomplish next.
We urge you, your colleagues, and all concerned members of the Brandeis community to put students first and to take concrete, decisive action on campus climate and the state of DEI, anti-racism, and accessibility at all levels within our institution. We repeat that we are living, breathing students suffering from very real problems to address. Let’s do something about them.
We support our professors’ cutting-edge research – and we are the futures of our disciplines. We have invested so much in Brandeis. To realize its values, our University must invest in us as it promised to do when we entered.
This board calls on the appropriate University departments to communicate and coordinate to ensure that important events do not overlap with one another. More importantly, we ask these departments to select dates for these events that do not coincide with particularly busy and stressful times for students.
CAs and students have signed a letter outlining demands that CAs need in order to continue to serve the Brandeis Community to the best of our ability. I, along with other students and CAs now await a response and follow-up actions from administrators regarding our important community impacting concerns. Will Brandeis demonstrate its social justice principles? Finally, are we as students and CAs valued by the administration of Brandeis University or will our concerns, like that of many other students on campus, be pushed aside once again?
In light of a recent petition circulating with the hope that the University would begin compensating meal plans for Community Advisors, this board would like to bring attention to the importance of supporting said petition. While the University has already rejected the previous proposal, we would like to bring light to why it should be reconsidered.
As many students are trying to secure on-campus housing for the next academic year, this board would like to offer some suggestions for the Department of Community Living regarding the current student housing system to streamline the user experience and make it less stressful for students.
Students of various faiths can celebrate with their families, wherever their families might be located. It’s incredibly important for students to take this break, for lack of better wording, to take a break. If you’re one of the many folks who feels like they’ve just been holding it together, or if you’re actually doing pretty well, either way, get some rest. We all need it.
If you have any questions, concerns, or are simply interested in getting to know the Kiwibot team, please get in touch: john.tarin@kiwibot.com. We are always open to feedback and are devout in our belief that students should be at the center of how our new mobility solutions are deployed.
During the time this article was being written, the 22 members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were delivering speeches about their positions on Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court nomination. It would be a travesty if, as predicted, it will be an 11-11 tie, since no Republican members of the committee appear courageous enough to vote for her.
In particular, this board takes issue with the University’s closure of an entire testing site on upper campus, the current policies and practices surrounding contact tracing and isolation for infected students, and the general sense of confusion and difficulty that has accompanied these changes that have hampered experiences in classes and elsewhere.
Brandeis University is to be commended for disassociating itself from MESA, the Middle East Studies Association. MESA has voted to embrace Omar Barghoutis antisemitic genocidal BDS movement
Prioritizing safety is especially important for those who have experienced a potential exposure from a close contact or who are experiencing symptoms. Of course, we should all be following University guidelines and adhering to instructions provided by the Brandeis Community Tracing Program (BCTP) and the Health Center if placed in quarantine or isolation — this is the least we can do to slow the spread and respect our fellow community members. But the apparent delays and communication failures of the BCTP and Health Center in notifying students when they are identified as a close contact have made it clear that simply following instructions is not enough.
Brandeis’ failure to be financially transparent has large consequences in the context of the current conflict in Ukraine. Per the Yale CELI List of Companies, over 450 companies have withdrawn from Russia — either at a reduced capacity or operating in full — but many companies have failed to exit business in Russia. This economic activity funds Putin’s war. Without a specific breakdown of how the University’s endowment is allocated, we have no way of knowing exactly where our financial contributions to the University are going, and, what’s more, we have no idea if any part of this money is aiding Russia’s economy.
Meshulam Ungar is currently running to be the Junior Representative to the Board of Trustees. He can be reached at mungar@brandeis.edu or on Instagram @meshulam4brandeis.
The cruel effects of the United States’ flawed immigration system have massive implications on Cameroonians who are essential members of communities across the United States and those who have demonstrated remarkable resilience in pursuit of safety. In light of the ongoing humanitarian crisis and armed conflicts in Cameroon, it is direly important that President Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas designate Cameroonians Temporary Protected Status. TPS will ensure, safety, security and that Cameroonian families are able to stay together and that those who seek asylum are able to do so without being further subjected to cruelty or harm from deportation forces such as ICE.
Overall, a quick poll of my friends revealed that while most of us don’t like them and find them fairly annoying, we struggled to find a solid reason for this dislike besides the technological privacy aspect. We do agree that the Kiwibots could be really helpful for students, and are likely a good addition to campus.
"Views on the News": The "Don't Say Gay" bill and its impact on education Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., has stated his intention to sign the "Parental Rights in Education" bill, which has been named by those in opposition as the "Don't Say Gay" bill because it seeks to ban instruction of gender and sexuality issues in the classroom. How does this bill negatively impact those who are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community? To what extent does banning or mitigating conversation surrounding gender and sexuality harm students? What can student organizers do to promote more inclusive legislation in conservative states to promote inclusivity?
As students enter the 10th week of the semester, many are just coming out of the long and arduous midterm season. This board requests that the Brandeis administration require a wellness day in March and incorporate it within the academic calendar moving forward.
This board had previously questioned the sensibility of reducing testing frequency at the same time as lifting the campus-wide mask mandate. While we appreciate that community members have been able to continue to test at any chosen frequency, we believe that this campus-wide requirement is best-suited to keep everyone safe.
Graduate research assistants publicize unionization decision
The shutdown of Channel 781 and what it means for political literacy in Waltham
Incumbent McCarthy bests challenger Paz by 9% in Waltham preliminary elections
Maybe it’s not so bad to have some “Brandesian” pride
A look into presidential candidates' polling performances